The Danger of “Convenience”

Having spent a good amount of time this past week evaluating the ministry at our church, I started to ask the question, “Is the commodity of convenience really beneficial to our church body?”  Some argue that convenience, say for worship, is a good thing, that it offers more opportunities for worship for those who absolutely cannot physically attend church on the regular day of worship, which for most churches is Sunday morning.  I can see how that could be true!

But I wonder if, many times, we confuse necessity with convenience!  Because of our culture, we think that convenience is necessary – that the world must revolve around each individual and therefore, God must accommodate himself to the conveniences of man, which never happens in Scripture.  Convenience is necessary and what is necessary must be convenient!  Could this be one of the devil’s clever traps?

I have often heard over the years from various preachers, and especially seminarians in their chapels how we don’t put God first in our lives, and the examples they cite are so ordinary – going  fishing, golfing, sleeping in, all of those things that some would regularly associate with 1st and 3rd commandment issues.  But it goes far deeper than that.  It isn’t just the fact that you can’t worship God properly on a fishing boat, or on a golf course.  It’s the overall attitude that God better accommodate himself to MY schedule or I’m going to kick him out of my life!

Talk about a 1st commandment issue!  The attitude that convenience is necessary could very well lead to the thought and the conviction that what is necessary, word and sacrament, better be convenient.  A devilish trap – one that has so often led to the severing of one’s relationship with the Savior. Why? Because if our spiritual habits are based upon convenience, then something else will surely come along that will be MORE convenient than the convenience which is offered in the first place.

Finally, what is convenient is not necessarily beneficial.  What is necessary need not be necessarily convenient.

Holy Scripture: Complete, Simple, Harmonious

“They really ought to be few lest what ought to be famous for religion become cheapened by multitude; yet there ought not be so few that we must not wonder at their harmony.”  (St. Augustine, De civ. Dei)

The last few months of my systematic theology devotional time has been devoted to the study of the canon; what books ought to be included in the canon and which should not be included.  Pages upon pages of Gerhardt’s Loci Communes detail the arguments between the Catholic bishops and the Lutheran reformers over the inclusion of, or exclusion of apocryphal books from the canon of Scripture, as well as other arguments that many might consider to be minuscule details, but ones, nonetheless, that are of the essence to the Christian perspective and faith.

Two questions really struck me as I read through paragraph 109 of Gerhard’s Loci.  Do we have all the books that were considered to be God’s Word?  There are several occasions in Scripture, especially in 2 Chronicles, where the Jews, in their mistreatment of the Word of God and their unbelief and syncretistic practices, allowed certain important collections of information to be lost – many of them burned in the Chaldean invasion.  But does that mean that we are without the full testimony of God?  What about the “Book of the Wars of the Lord” from Numbers 21:14, or “The Book of the Just” from Joshua 10:13?  What about the prophetic books of Nathan and Gad (1 Chron. 29:29) and Ahijah and Iddo (2 Chron. 9:29), Shemaiah and Iddo (2 Chron 12:13), Jehu (2 Chron 20:34) and Hosai, otherwise known as the “Chronicles of the Seers” (2 Chron 33:19)?

An excellent point was cited, one by St. Augustine in paragraph 109 of the Loci.  Even though we cannot be sure that every single holy book has survived into the canon this day, we can be sure that everything that is necessary for the salvation of man, everything a person must hold dear to to enter eternal glory is in our canon today.  Gerhardt speaks of quantitative perfection of the canon, of which we can never be sure.  But superseding it all is the objective perfection of the canon, that everything that we need to know and believe unto everlasting life is revealed in absolute clarity and harmony in the Bible.

What man creates through disobedience and mistreatment, namely fear that we do not have all of God’s communicated Word, (a fear that is both unfounded and miscalculated), God stifles through absolute harmony of the canon.  Nothing more needs to be added. Nothing can be taken away.  For “The Word of the Lord stands forever.” (Isaiah 40:8)

Universalism Kills Evangelism

One might wonder why we read in the religious section of newspapers about numerous people finding “peace” after they converted to Islam, but you rarely, if ever read such things about people coming to Christianity and finding peace in the loving arms of the Good Shepherd.  Perhaps it is because the one is more socially acceptable than the other.  But if one looks deeper, if we begin to peel back the layers of the onion that is the visible Christian Church, we find a trend that is much more disturbing than the striving for social acceptance.

Has the Christian Church lost its desire to reach lost souls?  Every year, around this time, we hear in our readings, especially on Pentecost Sunday and beyond, that there are needy souls in the world who are living in darkness without the good news of salvation through the suffering and death and resurrection of Jesus.  What we begin to realize in the light of that truth is that the desire to reach souls is always indicative of a church body’s theological stance.

Universalism, the idea that everyone really worships the same God but just has different names for the divine being and different ways of worshiping, is one of the great killers of evangelism efforts.  And I suppose it stands to reason.  Why would there be a need to share the gospel of Jesus Christ if it is believed that there are alternate and equally acceptable ways to the Father other than through faith in Jesus?  If the theological systems of the world’s religions are viewed as simply acceptable alternatives to Biblical truth, then there would be no reason to share the main message of the Bible, because each group would be able to find their own way to the holiness and heaven of God.

So, then, why would Jesus tell us to “Go and make disciples of all nations…baptizing…and teaching”?  Because he knew, even in the first century, how compromising and how socially pleasing the idea of universalism really is, and how theologically dangerous and unsound it is.  I suppose the world would see me and my church and my synod as “exclusive” and label me an “exclusivist” because I refuse to teach that all religions of the world lead to the same God and the same place.  I refuse because they don’t actually do that.  I pray, though, that in my own rejection of one of the devil’s great lies, that our efforts as a church body and congregation may make it visibly evident what the true Biblical stance is, which we adhere to:  That there is only one way to heaven…by grace alone through faith alone in Jesus Christ….that there is “one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one God and Father who is over all and in all and through all.”  Without that one basic fundamental theological truth, there is no reason to do evangelism.  But because Jesus alone is “the way, the truth and the life,” we must endeavor to continue to reach the lost with the good news of forgiveness, with the gospel of Christ which saves.

In short…a theology of universalism will ultimately stifle and kill evangelism.  The theology of the cross will drive evangelism forward.

When Freedom Leads to Bondage

Part of me sees this blog as an opportunity to spend time in reflection upon a portion of God’s Word that I read, a section of a doctrinal theses I’m engrossed in, or a snippet of pastoral or systematic theology that I am focused on.  I pray that the things that I write on this blog may not only be beneficial for self, but give others an opportunity to think about various topics which, in one way or another, have worked their way into my personal devotional life.

Part of that devotional life is the Wisconsin Lutheran Quarterly.  What a Lutheran gem!  For 4 years, I didn’t receive the quarterly to my own detriment.  God forgive me!  Now, I can’t put it down…and oh, how I’ve benefited from it.

Pastor Hirsch’s article in the Spring quarterly had an excellent quote which, I think, came from another source…a quote that will end this particular blog entry (scroll down if you want to read it first).  In speaking of the freedom of the will, the assertion is that in our cultural climate in America, the idea of “free-thinking” has naturally spilled over into the realm of theology and religion.  How naturally is comes to Americans that in a land of freedom, where freedom is our most prized possession as citizens, something that is valued, that is fought for, something that soldiers die for all over the world…how naturally the thought process comes that leads people to think and truly believe that they are “free” to do what is right in God’s sight, “free” to choose whom they will serve in worship, faith and life, and that all expressions of worship are acceptable to God, “free” to choose whether to be a good person or a bad person and to receive the recompense from the divine judge for whatever behavior they choose.  I hear Dr. Phil often say (in a non-theological context), “You choose the behavior, you choose the consequences.”

Do we really have that “freedom”?  Such concepts completely deny the existence of original sin, which the Bible clearly teaches as truth, that we are conceived in sin, born in sin (Psalm 51:5).  In addition, what of the complete depravity of mankind, and their full-fledged need for rescue from sin’s wages?  Does this not necessarily lead to universalism, the idea that all people worship the same God, just with different names and expressions of faithfulness?  Furthermore, to what end does this lead?  A dangerous one to say the least…it leads to Pharisaism!  We can treasure the freedoms that God has given to us in our country.  Give thanks for them.  Give thanks to the men and women of our armed services who ensure that these freedoms continue to be a part of our lives every single day…but to extend the American concept of “freedom” into the realm of theology is not only a dangerous thing to do, it ultimately leads to removing the need for salvation, robbing Christ of his saving work, and robbing the Christian of true peace, because it ultimately places all responsibility for righteousness on the individual, and not the one who was ordained from eternity to be the Messiah – Jesus.  That’s the problem, that’s the crux…the Church already has its Messiah…and yet, in delusion, American evangelicalism wants to make the individual the new messiah, hiding Pharisaism under the mask of “freedom.”

Is it really freedom to bind oneself to the law, instead of trusting whole-heartedly in the fulfiller of the law, the Lord Jesus?  That would be like saying it is freedom to be behind bars, to be in handcuffs…freedom leads to bondage when “freedom” leads people to reject the one true Messiah, to reject the truth that we are sinful and in need of a Savior.  Freedom leads to bondage when it glorifies sinful man and robs glory from the God-man.  Freedom leads to bondage when, in delusion, it leads people to trust in anything….their feelings, emotions, their outward successes, their reason, logic, their decisions, etc., anything but the cross of Christ, anything but the blood which atones for the sins of the world.

Let us find ourselves to be bound…bound in original sin and in complete and utter need of Jesus.  For the soul that recognizes that it is bound in the shackles of the law is the soul that realizes how desperately they are in need of saving and how utterly hopeless their efforts will be.  Let me be enslaved, not to my “freedom,” but to my Savior, who lived and died for me and calls me to be a servant in the highest calling.

“A faithful confessional pastor must be counter-cultural and must constantly swim upstream in (the waters of free choice), for “…what starts in freedom ends in bondage; what starts in bondage, ends up in freedom.”  (WLQ 115)

I am but an instrument!

Who is the pastor and what does he do?  Those are questions I have had to ponder heavily the last few weeks and months.  I think it’s a tendency for every young pastor (5 years out or less) to think to themselves that they are the messiah’s, that they are the ones who are supposed to save the church to which they are assigned.

I thought that at one time.  It’s up to me to unify this congregation, it’s up to me to give this church energy, it’s up to me to make sure everybody is happy, it’s up to me to find ways to shore up our budget issues, it’s up to me to bring in new people, it’s up to me to ultimately give success to this ministry and to this church – ultimately it’s up to me to SAVE this church.

No, it’s not!  All of the things that I used to think about myself, in sinful pride and arrogance, are only true of God’s means of grace.  What unifies?  What gives energy?  What gladdens the heart?  What motivates the Christian to proper stewardship in time, talent and treasure?  What provides both inward and outward growth to the congregation, growth that we can measure with our eyes and growth that we will never be able to tangibly measure?  Only the means…

I think it takes a young Seminary graduate a while to realize that they are not a replacement for the means of grace.  The pastor is not a means of grace.  His charisma, his passion, his intellect, his people skills, all the gifts the Father has bestowed on his servants are gifts, not means…they do not replace the means, they simply are the gifts through which the means are communicated to God’s people.  Nor can any of those gifts add power or authority to God’s almighty and gracious Word.

I am but an instrument.  In the words of Acts 9:15, a “chosen instrument,” not called by the Spirit to decide what tune to play, but simply to sound the melody of the gospel to the needy souls of this world.  If my mind gets tied up in trying to be a “second messiah” or an alternate means, then I will most certainly fall into despair and fail.  I am but an instrument, a trumpet…not the tune…a herald given a message to sound and that is all.  The Church already has its means of grace, it already has its Messiah who was ordained from all eternity to bring salvation to the world…Lord let me be content to be an instrument.