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Introduction
I enjoy a good story and one of my favorite scenes from a great story takes place toward the end of JRR Tolkein’s The Two Towers. Frodo Baggins, the main character of the story, is extremely tired from his quest to destroy the “one ring of power” in the lake of fire at Mt. Doom. He is so tired and worn out that he tells his best friend, Samwise Gamgee, that he can’t continue in the journey any longer. In response, Sam helps Frodo to understand their story in light of a much larger story that had been going on for ages. In those stories, too, people had plenty of chances of turning back and giving up, only they didn’t because they were holding on to something important, life-changing and worth fighting for – they were part of a story that really mattered. Encouraged by those words, both Frodo and Sam continued their journey to the lake of fire in order to complete their quest and “save the Shire” (along with the rest of middle-earth). One way that we can explore the question of what is Lutheran education is through the interpretative lens of story. Life is all about stories and every person, and every culture, has a story. Matter of fact, the way we understand life depends on what conception we have of the human story. The challenge for each human being is that making sense of one’s life story is not that easy to do and that the vast majority of the world’s population never does figure out the meaning of life and the way of salvation in Jesus Christ (Matthew 7:13-14; 13:1-9). There is hope, though, for human beings as they seek to make sense of life: God has a story that makes sense of every human story. The aim and goal of Lutheran education is to help people make sense of their story in light of God’s story. In order to accomplish this purpose of God for every human life, it is essential that those who believe in and know Him to hear, know, tell and live the stories that really matter and serve others, as His edifying and evangelistic people. A biblical foundation for Lutheran education There are many Biblical passages that could ground our understanding of Lutheran education but the primary passage is 2 Timothy 3:14-17. Lutheran education is predicated upon: + making known in the lives of all people the holy Scriptures which are able to make a person wise for salvation through faith in Jesus Christ (for it is in the stories of Scripture that we are able to see His heart revealed, and His saving intentions made known, through His words and actions) + thoroughly equipping, from infancy, God’s people for every good work that God has prepared for them to do through the use of Scripture for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness. In other words, Lutheran education seeks to make disciples through evangelism and edification. In this passage from 2 Timothy we have the testimony of Paul that ever since Timothy was an infant, Lois and Eunice were active in making known “the stories that really matter” in the life of Timothy so that he could know of his Savior Jesus and be thoroughly equipped for his life as a disciple. Just as Jesus grew “in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men,” so Lois and Eunice, along with other believers in Lystra as the body of Christ in that place, taught and modeled a way of life for young Timothy so that he could grow “in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ” (Ephesians 4:13) and live a life that was pleasing in the presence of God (coram Deo) and a blessing in the presence of others (coram hominibus) as a disciple of Jesus. Lois and Eunice understood and lived out the admonition that Moses gave to God’s people during their wilderness journey. As the Israelites journeyed toward the Promised Land, they were to “love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength” and to impress His commands upon their hearts and upon the hearts of their descendants (Deuteronomy 6:5-6). Wherever the Lord led them, they were to talk about the stories of the sacred Scriptures and impress His design for living upon one another as they sat in their homes and walked along the road, when they laid down and when they got up (Deuteronomy 6:7). The mission and ministry of the church’s educational agencies The mission and ministry of the church’s educational agencies is to make disciples of all nations. Therefore, every task of the church makes sense only if it serves His mission of making disciples of all nations whether this ministry takes place in the home, in the Sunday school classroom, in catechetical instruction for all ages, or in the classroom and hallways at one of our Concordia Universities or Seminaries. A few concluding thoughts Life is all about stories and life is all about hermeneutics – that is, making sense of life’s story. Thus every person who dwells upon the face of the earth has a need for some kind of interpretative story line, a metanarrative if you will, that is able to help them make sense of their story, and to live out their story, in ways that are pleasing in God’s sight and a blessing to others. Consequently, Lutheran education knows and believes that: + the most important place for discipleship formation is the Christian home as parents are equipped to teach and model the Christian faith and life, instill a Biblical worldview and to live God’s design for living; + to change a life for eternity, you have to tell a different story (John 3:1-8) -- we know from the Scriptures, and from human experience, that a person cannot by his or her own reason or strength come to Jesus Christ nor believe in Him but must be called by the Gospel and enlightened by the gifts of the Holy Spirit; therefore someone must be sent, and someone must preach the Good News, for “faith comes from hearing the message and the message is heard through the word of Christ” (Romans 10:11-17); + it is the mission of every believer to pray for the lost and, like their Lord who came to seek and to save the lost, to be the friend of sinners so that they may hear the Good News, confess by the power and work of the Holy Spirit that Jesus is their Savior; and join His people in the continuing search that “the found” undertake by God’s grace for those whom He loves – “the lost” May you, like Lois and Eunice and the ancient people of Israel, live out this admonition of Moses in your life: “These words are to be upon your hearts. Impress them upon your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.” (Deuteronomy 6:6-7)  The highlighted themes of this blog were presented by Dr. Walt Stuenkel at the Synod's first Great Commission Convocation, with much of the commentary coming from Martin Franzmann's commentary on the Gospel of Matthew. We were all blessed that day when Walt shared these major themes on "discipleship" and I hope that they will be a blessing to you this Easter season and beyond.
4: A disciple is an active student of God’s Word and builds one’s life on the person and Word of Jesus Christ. Jesus, in John’s Gospel, identified two marks of a disciple: (1) “If you hold to My teaching, you are really My disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free…he who belongs to God hears what God says” (John 8:31-32, 47); and (2) “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:34-35) Jesus, toward the end of His teaching on a mountain one day, talked about people who are wise and people who are foolish. A wise person is someone who hears the words of Jesus and puts them into practice so that when the storms of life came (and these storms come to every person during this lifetime, especially the great storm of death), they are able to stand because they are built on the Rock Jesus Christ. “But everyone who hears these words and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who build his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash” (Matthew 7:24-27). The disciple of Jesus knows that there are many important things that are part of life such as food and clothing, work and relationships with others, but that there is ONE THING that is above all others: to seek FIRST HIS KINGDOM AND HIS RIGHTEOUSENESS (Matthew 6:33). Because Jesus alone has the words of eternal life, they study His words, build their lives on Him and His Word (John 6:60-69), and obey all that He has commanded. 5: A disciple does more than just master the Word, a disciple is stamped and fashioned in the mold of Jesus Christ and is a living witness to Him. When Jesus said, “follow Me,” He was confiscating the hearer for Himself. Jesus was laying claim to people in Messianic authority and with Messianic grace. The message and life of the Kingdom was to determine THE WHOLE EXISTENCE OF THE DISCIPLE. When Jesus opened His mouth and TAUGHT, He was more than a master teacher enunciating a higher system of ethics; He was the Messianic Master molding the wills of those whom He had claimed by His call. Those who receive His mercy, He makes them to be merciful; those who know and experience His peace, He makes them to be peacemakers. They are salt and light and, as salt and light, they are to have a salutary effect upon their surroundings: salt seasons and preserves and light dispels darkness. As they live out their new existence in Christ, their lives are to reflect the implications of their new existence: they can no longer veil their lovelessness with cultic performances such as animal sacrifice for, in Jesus, they are confronted with the God who desires MERCY and not sacrifice. The religious scribe haggled with the question “who is my neighbor?” and sought to find areas in one’s life where a man did not have to love but Jesus removed every limitation from love by teaching His disciples to “love your enemies” and to “do good to those who hate you.” As Paul reflected on the life that he had received from the Lord, he described this way of life of being fashioned and molded in the image of Jesus in this way: “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me; and the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me” (Galatians 2:20). 6: Disciples are members of Christ’s body, each with just the right spiritual gift(s) to serve the others. “Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms” (1 Peter 4:10). The basic reality is that the church is a living organism, with Jesus Christ Himself functioning as the Head. A living organism can have only one head and the function of the head can never be delegated to another part of the body. A church in which one person preaches, a few teach, and a few others work in an administrative ministry, but the vast majority simply listen, learn and follow without becoming functioning members of the body, is not an integrated organism. Instead it is God’s design for His people, gathered around Word and Sacrament, that each believer use his or her gifts for the common good. These gifts are gifts freely bestowed and graciously given by the Holy Spirit to every believer. No Christian is left unregarded or without at least one gift. These gifts are different in each Christian according to the grace given to each. There is diversity dependent upon God’s will and wisdom, but there is unity of purpose since every believer is to use his or her gift(s) for the good of all. Finally no one believer is self-sufficient and each person needs to receive as well as give to others. 7: The Great Commission lays the double obligation upon us: the strengthening of present disciples in their already existing discipleship AND reaching out to those who are not yet disciples with the hope that they will become His disciples. Christianity is a simple yet complex process: conversion, as unbelievers are brought to faith in Christ Jesus as their Savior; maturation in the Christian faith, as believers are incorporated into the community of believers and become mature as they grow up into Christ who is the Head; and incarnation as His living letters, believers who are equipped and sent for witness and service in the world so that they can minister His mind and word and demonstrate His love and compassion for humankind. Fundamental to the strengthening of disciples in their life of discipleship was their devotion to four things: the apostles’ teaching, fellowship, the breaking of bread, and prayer. Throughout the New Testament, this ministry of strengthening each other is described in additional, but complementary, ways: honor one another; live in harmony with one another, accept one another, have an equal concern for one another, serve one another in love; carry the burdens of one another; be patient, bearing with one another in love; be kind and compassionate to one another; forgive one another, just as in Christ God forgave you; and since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. Fundamental to reaching out to those who are not yet disciples is the sending by Jesus of His disciples into the world to be His witnesses. Mission begins in the heart of God and the Bible, in its totality, ascribes only one intention to God: to save humankind. Therefore, every task of the church makes sense and has a purpose only as it leads to His mission of making disciples of all nations. In order to bring people to salvation, God woos them through His revelation, through His Word. Through this sending, and the message proclaimed by His witnesses, unbelievers are placed before the living God. Their formers gods and their false ways of salvation are declared false for He alone is salvation and He along brings salvation. For those who believe, the Gospel becomes a proclamation of RESCUE; for those who refuse the Gospel, it becomes a proclamation of DAMNATION. 8: The entire mission and ministry of a Christian congregation must be geared toward fostering discipleship and discipling. May you be a "wise disciple" -- someone who has built his or her life on the words of Jesus and who puts them into practice.  The highlighted themes of this blog were presented by Dr. Walt Stuenkel at the Synod's first Great Commission Convocation, with much of the commentary coming from Martin Franzmann's commentary on the Gospel of Matthew. We were all blessed that day when Walt shared these major themes on "discipleship" and I hope that they will be a blessing to you this Easter season and beyond.
1: The right to discipleship was earned for us by the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The kingdom of God is not the development of forces latent in humankind and in history but it comes by way of a direct intervention of God in history. Because humankind cannot save itself, due to its bondage to sin and death, God Himself must intervene on humankind’s behalf and provide a way of salvation. GOD IS LOVE and, out of His great love for all people, He devised a plan. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God sent the Son into the world, not to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through Him” (John 3:16-17). In order to accomplish our salvation, and for us to experience new life and to be His disciples, the Son of Man came not to be served, BUT TO SERVE, and give His life as a ransom for many (Mark 10:45). At His baptism by the prophet John, Jesus was baptized in order to “fulfill all righteousness” so that He might be “the Lord, our Righteousness” (Jeremiah 23:6). But not only is He our righteousness, He is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29). Paul ties together and explains the content of this Good News from God in these words: “but now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from law, although the law and the prophets bear witness to it, the RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction; since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, they are JUSTIFIED by His GRACE as a GIFT, through the REDEMPTION which is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as an EXPIATION BY HIS BLOOD, to be received by FAITH” (Romans 3:21-25a). Daniel 2 made plain that the Kingdom of God would come solely by a sovereign act of God. The dream of the king, as interpreted by Daniel, sets the imposing colossus of the world empires over against the Kingdom of God. The mighty figure of gold and silver and bronze and iron and clay (symbolizing the ancient world empires) is struck by a stone (the Christ and His Kingdom) and is broken to pieces and becomes like chaff of the summer threshing floor and the wind carries it away, so that no trace of it remains, while the stone becomes a great mountain and fills the whole earth (Daniel 2:31-45; Matthew 13:24-32; 36-43). That stone, when compared with the colossus of the world’s empires, is not an impressive entity but it is the Lord’s way to choose the things that are base, despised and are nothing in the world in order to confound the things that are. A Child is born in a stable and the world’s Savior is rejected by His own people (John 1) and crucified on a cross, yet this unique plan of salvation is God’s way for the sinner to be reconciled to God (2 Cor. 5:14-21) and experience the abundant life (John 10). Luther called this the “theology of the cross” in which God accomplishes the greatest of things – our salvation – in the most hidden and despised of ways, that is, the cross. Luther also called this saving activity of God the “great exchange” in which Christ gets our sin and we receive His righteousness; He gets our death and we receive His life; He gets our wrath and we receive God’s grace and mercy. In order to prepare people for the coming of their Savior, John proclaimed that every person is sinful and living under God’s wrath. God is like the great Winnower standing on His threshing floor, with His winnowing fork in His hand, in order to clear His floor; therefore everyone is to REPENT and turn to the Lord for mercy and forgiveness. Those who heard John were to rend their hearts and not their garments, that is, God desired a deep repentance of the heart and of life and not a superficial, ritual repentance. God, through the message of His prophet John, demanded repentance not only of the prostitutes and tax collectors but also of the "outwardly" pious. Yet John was not just a messenger of wrath, for John’s name means “the Lord is gracious” and GRACE is the burden of his message (Ephesians 1:8). Dietrich Bonhoeffer described it as “costly grace”: it is costly because it costs a man his life (Mark 8:34-38) and it is grace because it gives a man the ONLY TRUE LIFE (John 10:7-11); above all, it is costly because it cost God the life of His Son (for you were bought with a price) and it is grace because God did not reckon His Son too dear a price to pay for our life, but delivered Him up for us all. 2: What is a disciple? A disciple is a learner. A disciple always involved a relationship to a person, not just a relationship to a book or a teaching. The usual rabbi-disciple relationship had its basis in something that transcended both rabbi and disciple: the Torah. Within Judaism, it was the disciple’s respect for the rabbi’s knowledge of the Law, and his skill in expounding the Law, that drew the disciple to the feet of his rabbi. The relationship to Jesus is much more than the wisdom that Jesus had in expounding the Scriptures. This intimate and dynamic relationship of Jesus with His followers can be seen in the behavior of the disciples at the death of Jesus for none of them takes comfort in the fact that, at least, they have the legacy of Jesus’ teaching given to them – instead, the Master meant everything to them and gives us some insight into the depth of grief that the disciples experienced on Good Friday when Jesus died. That is why those first disciples gathered in Jerusalem, after His resurrection and ascension, DEVOTED THEMSELVES to the apostles’ teaching that they had received from Jesus (Acts 2:42). That is why Jesus did not leave them, nor does He leave His followers today, as orphans in this world, but gives to them the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth, who: dwells in them (John 14:16-18), teaches them the things of Jesus (John 14:26), bears witness to Jesus (John 15:26), and guides them into all truth (John 16:13) through the witness of the inspired Sacred Scriptures. This living relationship with the risen and ascended Christ is experienced wherever two or three are gathered in His name, there He is in the midst of them. 3: A disciple is always chosen by Jesus Christ, the Teacher. Within rabbinic circles, the disciples “followed” their master and the initiative lay with the disciple to “take to yourself a teacher.” The call of Jesus was much different in this regard. “You did not choose Me, but I chose you to go and bear fruit – fruit that will last” (John 15:16). As Jesus called His disciples, there was no stress placed on the quality of the person called. There are no likely candidates for discipleship. The twelve disciples were an oddly assorted group of men but there was one characteristic of them all – they were like forgiven debtors, men who were living a lost and forfeited existence, but who were released from their sins and bondage and restored into God’s family. In the call, God was laying claim to the person and the person called was to obey and obey they did. The four left their boats, their nets, and their fathers’ house in order to follow Jesus. Matthew left his tax office when Jesus called him. To the candidate who wanted to go home and first bury his father Jesus replied, “leave the dead to bury their own dead.” In other words, nothing was allowed to impede the person from following Jesus, not even filial piety, a piety rooted in the fourth commandment and strongly felt in Judaism and by any culture that values parents. Yet, in His call, Jesus is evangelist and not a legislator. His claim and call is the personal claim of grace, not the external pressure of the Law. The renunciation that He claims is the renunciation of the man who, in his joy, sells all that he has in order to buy the one field that contains the great treasure (Matthew 13:44) and why the merchant searching for costly pearls sells all he has to possess the one pearl of great value (Matthew 13:45-46). Toward the middle of April, I will share the remaining five major themes from Walt's lecture on discipleship with you. May you be a "wise disciple" -- someone who has built his or her life on the words of Jesus and who puts them into practice.  As Holy Week approaches, I am drawn to reflect upon Jesus as the Suffering Servant; especially these words from Isaiah:
"Surely He has borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows; yet we did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God and afflicted. Yet He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon Him and with His stripes we are healed...all we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all." It was at Bethany "beyond the Jordan" that John announced that this prophecy of Isaiah had been fulfilled when he declared that Jesus was "the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world" (John 1:29) -- all of our transgressions and all of our iniquities as sheep who have gone astray -- have been "taken away" by the Lamb of God. It was the very next day that John, as he was standing with two his disciples, pointed them to Jesus as He was walking by: "Behold, the Lamb of God!" -- and they followed Jesus. Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, was one of those two disciples who began to follow Jesus -- and he went and told Simon Peter that they had found the Messiah. And so the journey to the cross began at Bethany "beyond the Jordan" as Jesus begins to draw and call disciples to Himself. As they heard His words and saw His ministry actions (John called them "signs"), they became convinced that Jesus "is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name" (John 20:31); for "there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved" (Acts 4:12). Because of the Spirit's work in your life, as you have come to know who Jesus is through the testimony of those who journeyed with Him in the Scriptures, and through the witness of other Christians in your life, you have become convinced that He is the Christ and believing you have life and salvation in His name and have become one of His disciples. One consequence of reflecting upon Jesus as servant is that he desires us to be servants -- "for the greatest in the kingdom is the one who serves." The background for these words from Jesus came about when James and John had asked Jesus if they could sit at His right and left side when He came in glory; and when the other disciples heard what James and John had wanted, they were indignant at them. So Jesus used that occasion to help them understand what their "life together" was to be like -- "whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. For the Son of man came not to be served but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many" (Mark 10:43-45). One of my favorite stories about servanthood comes from Anthony Campolo, retired professor at Eastern College in PA. Each year at the church where Anthony attends worship -- the congregation celebrates "student recognition day" -- and, at one of those annual occasions the pastor at his church got up and said: “Children, you are going to die! You may not think you’re going to die but you’re going to die. One of these days, they’re going to take you out to the cemetery, drop you in a hole, throw some dirt on your face, and go back to the church and eat potato salad.” “When you were born,” he said, “you alone were crying and everybody else was happy. The important question I want to ask is this: When you die are you alone going to be happy, leaving everybody else crying? The answer depends on whether you live to get TITLES or you live to get TESTIMONIES.” “When they lay you in the grave, are people going to stand around reciting the fancy titles you earned, or are they going to stand around giving testimonies of the good things you did for them?” “Will they list your degrees and awards, or will they tell about what a blessing you were to them?” “Will you leave behind just a newspaper column telling people how important you were or will you leave crying people who give testimonies of how they’ve lost the best friend they ever had?” “There’s nothing wrong with titles. Titles are good things to have. But if it ever comes down to a choice between a title or a testimony – go for the testimony!” It is my prayer that when your life has been completed, that this will be the testimony of Jesus as He speaks these word to you: "well done, good and faithful servant...enter into the joy of your Master."  I am sure that all of us have seen pictures that depict someone "before" and "after." A man goes on a diet; before the diet he is a very large 325 pounds but after the diet he is a slim, trim 175 pounds. In a significant way he has become transformed into a healthier individual since, before he lost the weight, his additional weight would have been a burden to him; but now his body has been transfigured into the physical figure of the person that God had intended his frame to be.
The end was drawing near for Jesus and, before His death on the cross, Jesus wanted to spend some special time with Peter, James and John...so He led them to the top of a high mountain. It would have been a long, hot, dusty, sweaty climb to the top; yet, when they got there, it would have offered a spectacular view of the world below. While He was praying, His face shone like the sun; His clothes flashed like lightning; and He was joined by Moses and Elijah, the two great prophets of the Old Testament people of God. For that brief period, Jesus was seen in all His power and glory. Peter is so excited at what is taking place that he decides that he wants to stay there for a while. He was "living the dream" of every Israelite...to be on the mountaintop with the Messiah, Moses and Elijah...so let's just tabernacle up here and forget the world below. Yet Jesus stays just long enough for these three disciples to be confirmed in their faith and then He leads them down into the valley. Immediately Jesus is confronted with a boy who has been disfigured by the marks of his demon-possession...for whenever he became possessed by the demon, he would roll in the fire. Jesus, in His compassion and mercy for the boy, delivers him from his possession and transfigures his life. Our God is a missionary God. Jesus, on that mountaintop, was strengthened for His mission by His visit from, and conversation with, Moses and Elijah. The Law must be fulfilled; His blood must be shed. He must travel to the mountaintop of Calvary and give His life on the cross so that everything would be fulfilled to accomplish our salvation. God has a mission for our lives and it is to make this Good News known in the lives of others. He wants us to gather weekly at our unique "mountaintop" locations so that we might be with Him and be fed by His Word and Sacraments; and then He wants us to go out into a world that is disfigured by sin...to be, and to live as, a people who have been healed by the transfiguring power of the Gospel and the Holy Spirit. One of the great privileges we have as His forgiven people is to forgive others when they have disfigured our lives with their words and actions; and to be forgiven by others when we have disfigured their lives. May the Lord richly bless your ministry of bringing, and making known, the transfiguring power of the Gospel as you forgive; and may you experience that same blessing as the Father, and others, forgive you. One of the more interesting, and thought-provoking, Lenten sermon series that I came across during my years as a parish pastor was titled: Who Wants Jesus to Die?
On the night in which Jesus was betrayed, He laid aside His garments, like a slave, and began to wash the feet of His disciples. Look at the kind of men that He was serving...Judas would betray Him...Peter would deny Him...and the other disciples would flee from Him when things got too dangerous in the Garden of Gethsemane. But His service did not end with the washing of their feet, His work of service would cause Him to be lifted up on that cursed tree of the cross. After Jesus had washed the feet of them all, Judas leaves them in order to set into motion the events that would bring Jesus to the cross; and, waiting in the background, were all kinds of individuals who would want Jesus to die. The Jewish leaders want Jesus to die for He had confronted them with their false beliefs and false way of salvation. Their plan was simple -- this Jesus must die so that they can keep their place, their nation, and their position of power. The Father wants Jesus to die. Not many earthly fathers want their children to die; matter of fact, most fathers would give their lives for their children. Yet, already in the Garden, the Father promised that the Son would come so that Satan could be defeated (1 John 3:8b) and eternal life be given to those who looked forward to the Son's coming and the salvation that He would bring (1 John 5:11-12). At the very beginning of His ministry, as He was being baptized in the Jordan River by John, the Father revealed that this Jesus must die in order to fulfill all righteousness (Matthew 3:15). At the Mount of Transfiguration, Moses and Elijah review with Jesus all that must be done so that the Law and the Prophets would be fulfilled (Luke 9:30-31). Isaiah summarizes His saving work in this way: "He was wounded for our rebellious acts. He was crushed for our sins. He was punished so that we could have peace, and we received healing from His wounds" (Isaiah 53:5). And as Paul writes: "for our sake God made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God" (2 Corinthians 5:21). Satan wants Jesus to die. Satan, throughout the Old Testament, sought to stop the world's Savior from being born. Three examples for your consideration: at the time of the flood, only Noah and his family is left yet God was able to make a new beginning with them; and, at the time of Jesus' birth, King Herod sought to kill Jesus by killing all of the baby boys two years and younger in the region of Bethlehem; and, at the time of His crucifixion, we hear Satan shouting through the voices of the religious leaders, and the people of Jerusalem, demanding that Jesus be crucified and not realizing that His death on the cross would bring about his defeat. Barabbas wanted Jesus to die so that he could be set free. Barabbas deserved to die because of the criminal acts that he had done; as we know from the life of our Lord, He was without sin and should have been the One to be set free by Pilate that day, not Barabbas. And that is why it was so difficult for the disciples to understand Jesus’ message when He, on three separate occasions, told them that “we are going up to Jerusalem; and the Son of man will be delivered to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn Him to death, and deliver Him to the Gentiles; and they will mock Him, and spit upon Him, and scourge Him, and kill Him; and after three days He will rise!” (Mark 10:33-34). In a way we are like Barabbas, we needed Jesus to die...so that He could become our substitute and fulfill all righteousness and be the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. "For the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many." May you experience a blessed Lenten journey to the cross and to His resurrection! I enjoy a good story and one of my favorite scenes from a great story takes place toward the end of JRR Tolkein’s The Two Towers. Frodo Baggins, the main character of the story, is extremely tired from his quest to destroy the “one ring of power” in the lake of fire at Mt. Doom. He is so tired and worn out that he tells his best friend, Samwise Gamgee, that he can’t continue in the journey any longer. In response, Sam helps Frodo to understand their story in light of a much larger story that had been going on for ages. In those stories, too, people had plenty of chances of turning back and giving up, only they didn’t because they were holding on to something important, life-changing and worth fighting for – they were part of a story that really mattered. Encouraged by those words, both Frodo and Sam continued their journey to the lake of fire in order to complete their quest and “save the Shire” (along with the rest of middle-earth).
One way that we can explore the question of what is the mission of the church is through the interpretative lens of story. Life is all about stories and every person, and every culture, has a story. Matter of fact, the way we understand life depends on what conception we have of the human story. The challenge for each human being is that making sense of one’s life story is not that easy to do and that the vast majority of the world’s population never does figure out the meaning of life and the way of salvation in Jesus Christ (Matthew 7:13-14; 13:1-9). There is hope, though, for human beings as they seek to make sense of life: God has a story that makes sense of every human story. The aim and goal of God's people is to help people make sense of their story in light of God’s story. In order to accomplish this purpose of God for every human life, it is essential that those who believe in and know Him to hear, know, tell and live the stories that really matter and serve others, as His edifying, evangelizing and missionary people. Everyone has a mission. Everyone has a mission, that is, everyone is being sent by God to do something, somewhere, at sometime; whether they fulfill the purpose for their sending, that is another matter. Personally I have embarked on many mission projects in my life. Some of them are rather trivial, such as my fifty-year quest now to get a hole-in-one in golf. But other mission projects are much more important such as earning a paycheck to provide for my family; being a loving spouse and caring father to my four children and grandson Jack; and being a good friend to many. Yet my primary mission, the foremost reason that I exist according to God’s plan, purposing and sending, is to “go and make disciples of all nations.” This mission is to permeate all of my life and, if you are a Christian, it is to permeate your life as well. Forrest Gump, in the movie Forrest Gump, would periodically ask his mother, “Momma, what’s my destiny?” Your destiny, as a Christian, is to be and live as His disciple and to make disciples of the nations. Abraham, and his descendants, is blessed by God in order to be a blessing to the nations This was the missionary call that Abram received from God when God asked him to “leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land that I will show you” with the purpose that all the nations would be blessed. God is the One in search of the lost and, in His grace He called Abram, the idolater (Joshua 24:2), and placed him into the service of those whom he did not yet know and who lived in places where Abram had never yet been. After the calling of Moses and the dramatic deliverance from Egypt, Israel’s understanding of its covenant relationship with God as His chosen instrument of blessing to the nations was more fully developed and strengthened. Through Moses at Mount Sinai a covenant was made with Israel, an election not only to privilege but also to service, to further God’s purposes for the nations. God did not choose Israel because they were more worthy than other nations or because He had no interest in the other nations; He chose Israel because He had a concern for all the earth and that all of the earth would know of His salvation. However, as time passed, Israel neglected her mission to the nations and came to see herself as the sole object of God’s mission. Consequently, they came to see their mission as one of preservation rather than of proclamation; of determining “who was in” and “who was out.” This was a far cry from the conversation, and the sending, that God intended for the descendants of Abraham as His missionary people for, and to, the nations so that they might be blessed (Genesis 12:1-3; Galatians 3:6-9). By the time of Jesus, a Pharisaical spirit permeated the land so that when the "friend of sinners" came, there could not recognize Him (John 1:1-14). In baptism God reaches into the life of the baptized and claims him or her to be His own. The newly baptized is commissioned into His service and mission with the words, “through baptism God has added you to be His own people to declare the wonderful deeds of our Savior, who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.” Every baptized believer has been called, and set apart as the temple and instrument of the Holy Spirit, to be a Kingdom of priests and to be His light to people walking in darkness so that they might know Him who is the Light of the world (Matthew 4:13-16; John 1:9-14; 8:12). As His Reformation people, saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, may you be faithful children of Abraham... a people sent on His mission to be a blessing to the nations through your Gospel words and loving actions. In the spring of 1541 Luther gave his account of his role in the Reformation…and these were a few of his recollections:
…a man named John Tetzel carried indulgences about and sold “grace” for money, as expensively or cheaply as he could by the exertion of all his powers…at the same I was a preacher here in the monastery and a young doctor, brand-new, fervent and zealous in Holy Scripture…then, when many people of Wittenberg ran to Tetzel for indulgences, and I did not know what these indulgences were, I began to preach gently that one could do something better, something that would be more certain than the buying of indulgence. I also did not know at that time for whom the money was intended…then a booklet came out, beautifully adorned with the arms of Bishop Albert in which the indulgence peddlers were commanded to preach…so it appeared that Bishop Albert of Mainz had hired this man Tetzel because he was a great crier and peddler of indulgences…with half the money raised to go to the bankers who financed the loan so that Albert could acquire his bishop’s position, and the remaining half of the money would go toward the erection of St. Peter’s Church at Rome. So I wrote a letter with the Ninety-five Theses to the Bishop of Magdeburg, admonishing and beseeching him to stop Tetzel and to prevent the preaching of such unfit things but I received no answer…I also wrote the same thing to the Bishop of Brandenburg; in his reply he said that I was attacking the power of the church and would get myself in trouble; he advised me to keep my hands off. So my Propositions (95 theses) went forth against the articles of Tetzel…in fourteen days they actually passed through all Germany; for all the world was complaining about indulgences but all the bishops and doctors remained silent and no one wanted to “bell the cat” (from a medieval fable in which mice want to put a bell around the cat’s neck but cannot agree who should do it because of the danger involved to the one who attempts to “bell the cat”): There is no divine authority for preaching that the soul flies out of purgatory immediately the money clinks in the bottom of the chest (Thesis 27)…it is certainly possible that when the money clinks in the bottom of the chest that greed and love of money increase (Thesis 28) Any Christian who is truly repentant enjoys forgiveness of sins and this is given to him or her without letters of indulgence (Thesis 36) I did not relish this task that became mine…and the song threatened to be too high for my voice – this is the true beginning of the “Lutheran disturbance”…and if it developed into a “disturbance” that hurt the Roman Catholic Church, they have to thank themselves for it – since they handled this matter so foolishly. Reformation Gem: the Reformation was about the Gospel of Jesus Christ -- the Good News that a person is saved by grace, through faith, in Jesus Christ “for I am not ashamed of the Gospel: it is the power of God for salvation to every one who has faith” (Romans 1:16) “for God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God sent the Son into the world, not to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through Him” (John 3:16-17) In 1531 Luther gave a series of lectures on the book of Galatians. The following are some Reformation Gems from Luther -- for your reflection and the strengthening of your faith: Two great enemies of a person are sin and conscience...and that is why Paul, in this epistle, talks about God's grace and peace -- for grace contains the forgiveness of sins and peace gives to us a quiet and joyful conscience. Christ is no lawgiver, no tyrant, but a mediator for sins, a free giver of grace, righteousness, and life -- who gave Himself, not for our merits, righteousness, and godly life, but for our sins. For we are sinners yet Christ took our sins upon Himself and for them died on the cross -- Christ was accounted to be the greatest sinner whoever lived, having all sins imputed to Him -- that He might make satisfaction for them with His own blood. For it is the office of the mediator to pacify the party that is offended (God) and to reconcile to Him the party that is the offender (the sinner)...for if Christ is made guilty of all the sins that we all have committed, then we are delivered from all sins, but not by ourselves, not by our own works and merits, but by Him...but if He is innocent, and He did not bear our sins, then we still bear them and in them we shall die and be condemned. Christian righteousness consists in two things: (1) faith in the heart and (2) God's imputation of righteousness, which we obtain through Christ, and for Christ's sake, who is given to us and received of us by faith. For he that believes has as great a sin as the unbeliever but to the believer, it is forgiven and not imputed...to the unbeliever the sin is not forgiven but is imputed. We seek not the favor of men by our doctrine (of justification), for we teach that all men are wicked by nature, and the children of wrath. We condemn man's freewill, his strength, wisdom and righteousness, and religion of man's own making, and, to be short, that there is nothing in us to deserve grace and the forgiveness of sins...but, we preach, that we obtain this grace, by the free mercy of God only, for Christ's sake. For the Gospel teaches that He came that He might be made a blood covering for the sins of the whole world and that our sins might be forgiven and everlasting life given to us for His sake, and not for the works of the law or for our own righteousness. Who was Martin Luther? Well, these things could be said about Martin.
He was born of Christian parents. Because of his many writings, several of which were viewed as heretical by the Church of his time, he was excommunicated and a death sentence was placed on his life. During his lifetime he accomplished many things; foremost in his own estimation was the translation of the Scriptures into the German language, along with writing two very significant books: the Small and Large Catechisms and The Bondage of the Will. Most interesting, though, was the life of Martin Luther and his spiritual journey. From my perspective, the Reformation began with a thunderstorm back in July 1505. Luther was studying to be a lawyer and one day, as he was approaching a village in Saxony Germany, a lightning bolt knocked him to the ground. As he tried to get up, he cried out to St. Anne, the patron saint of miners (Luther's father was a miner and even owned a couple of mines), "St. Anne, help me and I will become a monk!" He who called upon a saint for help was later to denounce praying to saints; he who vowed to become a monk would later reject monasticism; he who was a devoted servant of the pope would come to accuse the papacy of being the "anti-christ" for it robbed people of the Gospel through its false teachings. His followers would call him "Elijah, the prophet of God" to the people of Germany; his opponents would call him the "son of the devil" and the destroyer of Christendom. So who was Martin Luther…he was a man who lived in FEAR, especially as he lived in fear of Jesus -- only knowing and believing Jesus to be the great JUDGE who would condemn to hell all those who were not holy in His sight. Like the other people who were trying to get to heaven, Luther laid hold of every help that the church offered: to be baptized; to take the Lord's Supper often, daily if possible; to do penance, that is, to confess every wrongdoing and to seek His forgiveness; to make pilgrimages to holy places and to view sacred relics; to pray to the saints (Luther turned to twenty-one different saints for help with his sins, three different saints for each day of the week); to purchase a letter of indulgence so that one could be granted the remission of all sins and be restored to the state of innocence that one received at the moment of one's baptism and be relieved from the pains of purgatory; and finally, to live the life of a monk with its vows of poverty, chastity and humility. Yet, "who can ever do enough" became the resolve of Martin Luther...for no matter how much Luther sought out the help of the church, he still did not have peace inside. HOW CAN ANYONE BE SURE THAT THEY HAVE DONE ENOUGH TO EARN GOD’S GRACE AND FAVOR? But on one lonely night…a breakthrough occurred. Luther was preparing for a lecture on the Psalms and he came across the phrase: "in Your righteousness, O Lord, deliver me!" Luther was puzzled because he had always understood "righteousness" to be something that God demanded of us -- something that we must do. So Luther began to search the Scriptures for every passage that spoke of "the righteousness of God" and this lead him to Romans 1:16-17: For in the Gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: the righteous shall live by faith. It was in that text that Luther realized what God was saying to him and to all people. God does not demand this righteousness from the sinner; instead, God gives this righteousness to the sinner by grace, through faith, in Jesus Christ. As a result of Luther's faith in this promise, he no longer saw God as an angry judge but as a loving and gracious God. The indulgence controversy strengthened his belief that the righteous are those who are saved by grace, through faith, in Jesus Christ alone; since how can salvation be purchased by a piece of paper sold by the church? And it was Luther's theological reflection upon Scripture that caused him to write these selected theses (from the 95 Theses) posted on October 31, 1517: "When our Lord and Master Jesus Christ said "repent," He called for the entire life of a person to be one of repentance!" (Thesis 1) "Any Christian who is truly repentant enjoys remission of sin and this is given to him or her without letters of indulgences" (Thesis 36) "The true treasure of the church is the holy Gospel of the glory and grace of God" (Thesis 62) As a result of that posting, an amazing thing happened: within 30 days all of Germany of was talking about these things...within 90 days all of Europe...and the indulgence revenue was reduced by 80%. As we move toward our remembrance of October 31, 1517, and the posting of the 95 Theses on the door at Castle Church in Wittenberg Germany, we celebrate and embrace these Reformation "solas": BY GRACE ALONE...we are saved by grace alone, not of works BY CHRIST ALONE...for He is the world's only Savior and Redeemer BY FAITH ALONE...as faith lays hold of the promises of God that the Son has set us free from sin, death and the evil one and that we have eternal life in Him BY SCRIPTURE ALONE...for God has revealed to us the Good News of our salvation in Jesus Christ in the Sacred Scriptures so that we might know His heart and His love May you all enjoy a blessed Reformation celebration as we remember His grace and goodness in our lives. May this eternal Gospel be proclaimed "to those who dwell on the earth, to every nation and tribe and tongue and people" (Revelation 14:6) so that they might believe in Him who is "the Way, the Truth, and the Life" (John 14:6). [Personal note: On October 29th, I will be preaching at a Lutheran Church in South Africa; finally returning to Botswana and South Africa after seventeen years in order to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Lutheran Church in Southern Africa and the 500th anniversary of the Lutheran Reformation with our brothers and sisters in Christ there] In 1523, Martin Luther wrote a treatise to the Bohemian Christians titled Concerning the Ministry. In that treatise, he dealt with two ministry situations: (1) the right of congregations to elect their own pastors[1] and (2) the right of, and command to, God’s people, as the priesthood of all believers (1 Peter 2:4-10), to be engaged in the ministry of the Word (Matthew 13:3-9, 18-23, 51-52; Romans 10:13-17).[2]
That is why we, as Lutherans, affirm that the Predigtamt[3] (AC V) is the highest office in the church and from it flow all other offices in the church. Consequently, both the office of the pastoral ministry and the office of the priesthood of all believers have been entrusted with the ministry of the Word so that they might make known this “justifying faith” (AC IV) in the lives of others as they proclaim, tell, share, and witness the Gospel through the spoken Word in its various forms (Predigtamt).[4] One normative example from the Book of Acts, in which His people are actively engaged in the Predigtamt, is recorded in Acts 8 and 11. It is the account of how the the priesthood of all believers (Priesteramt) are scattered because of a significant persecution that broke out in Jerusalem in response to Stephen's witness and message[5] -- and wherever His people were scattered, they "went about preaching the Word" (Acts 8:4)... “and on that day a great persecution arose against the church in Jerusalem; and they were all scattered through the region of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles...now those who were scattered went about preaching the Word. Philip went down to a city of Samaria and proclaimed to them the Christ” (Acts 8:4-5) “now those who were scattered because of the persecution that arose over Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch, speaking the word to none except Jews. But there were some of them, men of Cyprus and Cyrene, who on coming to Antioch spoke to the Greeks also, preaching the Lord Jesus. And the hand of the Lord was with them and a great number that believed turned to the Lord” (Acts 11:19-21) In these selected verses from the Book of Acts, we have the priesthood of all believers engaged in “the ministry of the Gospel -- the spoken Word” (Predigtamt); and we witness the Holy Spirit bringing people to saving faith, whenever and wherever He wills, just as Augsburg Confession Article V declares. The following excellent and extensive quotation is from Dr. Robert Preus regarding the meaning of Predigtamt (AC V) and its relationship to the ministry and work of the whole church. “Notice that in this passage no mention of the office of the pastor is made, no mention of man, of rank, or ordo. Rather an activity is spoken of, a function, a preaching activity (ministerium docendi evangelii). This is the means whereby faith is created and nourished, the means whereby the church is born and nourished. And thus this ministry becomes the essential work of the church. Notice the prominent place given this ministry by Melanchthon. The article on this ministry of the Word follow directly upon his presentation of the work of Christ and justification by faith, and it precedes the articles on the new obedience and the church (Art. VI-VIII), for there can be no new obedience or church without this ministry. It is important to note the functional non-institutional nature of this ministry. Melanchthon is simply speaking here, as elsewhere, of the preaching of the Gospel Word, or of the work of the Gospel Word. This fact is illustrated clearly in the Schwabach Articles VII as they speak on this point. "To obtain this faith, or to bestow it upon us men God has instituted the ministry of the oral word (Predigtamt oder inundlich Wort) namely, the Gospel through which He causes this faith and its power and use and fruit to be proclaimed, and through it as through means He gives us faith along with the Holy Spirit, as and where He wills. Apart from this there is neither means nor way, neither mode nor manner to receive faith. There can be no doubt that this article, like AC V, describes the work of the church, or more properly, God's work through the church in causing His kingdom to come. This conforms to the Confessional notion that God is the author of baptism and of the Sacrament of the Altar. The church's mission, or ministry, is God's mission through the church. And it is a ministry with a completely soteriological and eschatological goal. The kingdom of power (creation, preservation, providence, civil government) is totally in the service of the kingdom of grace, namely, God's Gospel claim upon men. The Lutheran Confessions see this ministry as the work of the whole church in contrast to a ministerium leviticum which still dominated the hierarchical notion of the Romish church (Tr. 26). This functional view of ministry destroys all ranks (Tr. 7-13). What, then, is the office of the pastor? He is simply the public servant of the church, rightly called to teach and preach publicly and administer the sacraments (AC XIV). The pastor does nothing that the church is not commissioned to do. The ministry of the Word today is seen as the continuation of the apostolic ministry which in turn was the continuation of Christ's ministry (Tr. 9), Christ's opus proprinin, which is to proclaim the Gospel.” (Robert D. Preus, "The Confessions and the Mission of the Church," The Springfielder 39 (June 1975), No. 1: 22-23). [1] “…since they are the people of God it is due them that no one be set over them without their election, and the bishop ought to confirm no one whom they did not know and approve of as suitable” (LW 40:11)…”then call and come together freely, as many as you have been touched in heart by God to think and judge as you do. Proceed in the name of the Lord to elect one or more whom you desire, and who appear to be worthy and able. Then let those who are leaders among you lay hands upon them, and certify and commend them to the people and the church or community. In this way let them become your bishops, ministers or pastors. Amen. The qualifications of those to be elected are fully described by Paul in Titus 1:6ff. and 1 Timothy 3:2ff.” (LW 40:40) [2] “…the command, to declare the wonderful deeds of God, is nothing else than to preach the Word of God” (LW 40:22); “the ministry of the Word is the highest office in the church, that it is unique and belongs to all who are Christians, not only by right but by command” (LW 40:23) and “a Christian is born to the ministry of the Word in baptism” (LW 40:37). [3] “To obtain such faith God instituted the office of the ministry, that is, provided the Gospel and the sacraments. Through these, as through means, He gives the Holy Spirit, who works faith, when and where He pleases, in those who hear the Gospel (Tappert 1959:31).” [4] This understanding of Predigtamt in AC V is predicated upon its definition and usage in the predecessor documents of the Augsburg Confession developed by Martin Luther, Philip Melanchthon and others: "To obtain such faith or to give it to us, God has instituted the preaching office or the spoken word (that is, the gospel) through which He has this faith proclaimed, along with its power, benefits and fruits. God also bestows faith through this Word, as through an instrument, with His Holy Spirit, when and where He wills. Apart from it there is no other instrument or way, passage or path, to obtain faith" (Schwabach Article 7; July 1529). "On the external word we believe that the Holy Spirit, properly speaking, gives this faith or His gift to no one apart from preceding preaching, or the spoken word, or the gospel of Christ. Rather, the Holy Spirit works faith through and with this word when and in whom He wills" (Marburg Article 8, October 1529). [5] "Another example is provided by Stephen and Philip, who were ordained only to the service at the tables (Acts 6:5-6). Yet the one wrought signs and wonders among the people, disputed with members of the synagogue and refuted the council of the Jews with the word of the Spirit (Acts 6:8ff.), and the other converted Samaritans and travelled to Azotus and Caesarea. By what right and authority, I ask? Certainly they were not asked or called by anyone, but they did it on their own initiative and by reason of a common law, since the door was open to them, and they saw the need of a people who were ignorant and deprived of the Word...And the Eunuch converted by Philip (Acts 8:36)...[the Eunuch] undoubtedly taught the Word of God to many, since he had the command to make known the wonderful deeds of God who called him from darkness into His marvelous light (1 Peter 2:9). From his word resulted the faith of many, since the Word of God does not return in vain (Isaiah 55:11). From faith sprang a church, and the church through the Word received and exercised a ministry of baptizing and teaching, and all of the other functions enumerated above [Luther listed seven functions of the priesthood of all believers: "to teach, to preach and proclaim the Word of God; to baptize; to consecrate or administer the Eucharist; to bind and loose sins; to pray for others; to sacrifice; and to judge all doctrine and spirits" (LW 40:21)]. All these things a eunuch accomplished through no other right than that inherent in baptism and faith" (LW 40:38). |
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