Jackson Scofield

Value

The value of human life is at the core of many current issues in society: the right to own firearms for defense even as some use them for evil, the right to life for a fetus at any stage as opposed to a person with a birth certificate and the protection of civilians in times of war when the enemy blends right in. While all legitimate issues for government and society to sort out, we must consider what is that value and where does it come from?

Man was created in the image of God, and woman from man before the fall into sin. But what was then a perfect piece of art was tarnished and torn as we fell unsatisfied and desired to be like our Creator, only to our own detriment, knowing both good and evil but being unable to handle it like God. We let the temptation of the serpent and our own hearts be lifted up above the pedestal of God’s will and ways. We turned Creation from its holy perfection to a shattered image. Would you pay top dollar for the Mona Lisa missing her face or any Picasso piece blotched and missing great portions?

I had a 1999 Concorde for many years that’s as in constant need of repair (hit-and-run result pictured) and I was often pouring money into it for repairs. In fact, I paid far more for repairs than I paid for it in the beginning. The value of its repairs was worth more than the car itself ever was. Even when it was totaled, I continued to drive it instead of replacing it.

While the reason I kept driving that car for so many years without a passenger’s side mirror, working windows or air conditioning remains a mystery and had no good reason, God kept His broken Creation with better reason. God preserved our rebellious and unfaithful race of man as He made us to have dominion over this planet He created for us and He made promises to our fathers to preserve our great nation Israel forever. But God, as the greatest steward, would not let his Creation continue forever in that same decaying state I left that car in on its way to the end. Rather, he paid the price needed for a full repair and renewal to keep his people “running” forever. That price was higher than what we were worth even when perfect, as we were always made to worship and adore Him. God the Father gave God the Son, our Savior, our God and our Lord, to die in human flesh that we may last forever, be reconnected to God and be restored to the perfect condition in which we were made to remain as we receive the Holy Spirit in the Word, the water of Holy Baptism and the Body and Blood of God Himself shed for us.

God so loved His people that He gave His only Son to cover our sin.

The Church’s One Foundation

“The Church’s one foundation is Jesus Christ, her Lord; she is His new creation by water and the Word. From heav’n He came and sought her to be His holy bride; with His own blood He bought her, and for her life He died” (LSB 644 st. 1).

The Church’s One Foundation beautifully captures the Christian faith in its five verses, and while modified and shortened in today’s hymnals from Samuel John Stone’s original 1866 text, the hymn stands just as firm in the Church’s triumph over heresies by way of sound teaching.

“The Church is the congregation of saints, in which the Gospel is rightly taught and the Sacraments are rightly administered” (AC VII). On what ground could such a Church be built? Surely, on the only place these are found! “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.” (John 1:1-2 ESV). That Word became flesh and that Word, our Christ, is Lord of the Church.

“All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made” (John 1:3 ESV). Our Foundation is the source of all things, for all things were made through Him. All things were made perfect, as He is perfect, but desecrated itself and became unholy and without hope. “By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return” (Genesis 3:19 ESV). The old creation, our old Adam, was cut off, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23 ESV), and damned itself. But this Foundation brought forth His new creation, the Church. By the power of His Word and the saving grace in His baptismal waters, His Church is born, and to each of us is left the gift.

The Foundation came from heaven and deliberately sought out the Church. It is not by chance when one comes to faith by grace alone. “I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians” (Exodus 3:8a ESV). Even when the chosen people Israel, the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were enslaved in Egypt, it was not they that came to God for help, but God who came down to them to deliver them from their slavery in Egypt. In the same manner, the Lord finds us and never the other way around. “For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the Church, his body, and is himself its Savior” (Ephesians 5:23 ESV). The Lord has committed Himself to the Church as a husband to his wife to love and care for as oneself. “Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh” (Genesis 2:24 ESV). As husband and wife are one flesh, the Lord took on our human flesh when He came down from heaven that He may be flesh with us.

With that flesh came blood, and with that blood came our salvation. “Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins” (Matthew 26:27c-28 ESV). This covenant is a unilateral move He made for what we could not otherwise attain without Him. “Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood” (Acts 20:28 ESV). The Lord bought this Church by His very own blood, and for His Church He died. With the words, “It is finished,” the debt was wiped free and He breathed His last breath before resurrection.

“Elect from ev’ry nation, yet one o’er all the earth; her charter of salvation: One Lord, one faith, one birth. One holy name she blesses, partakes one holy food. And to one hope she presses with ev’ry grace endued” (LSB 644 st.2).

God made covenants with the patriarchs and with David, among others. From Abraham would come a multitude of nations, and all nations would be blessed by the one coming from his grandson Jacob, His chosen people Israel. Yet by the Messiah who would come from David, all nations are blessed and the covenant is extended that all may be of the Lord’s kingdom.

Today we hail from Germany, England, Ireland, Mexico and Japan among others in the so-called “melting pot” of the United States. In the one everlasting kingdom these distinctions need not be made. Whether we are citizens of the United States or of any other country on the map, “our citizenship is in heaven” (cf. Philippians 3:20 ESV), and the elect who comprise that kingdom cross all sorts of the national borders on this map. The elect cross not only these physical barriers, but also those of time. The Kingdom was, the Kingdom is and the Kingdom forever will be. Called from all nations, we are all of one nation. “For I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham” (Matthew 3:9c ESV).

Our salvation is chartered by “one Lord, one faith, one birth,” and there is no other way. “Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me,’” (John 14:6 ESV). Our one Lord is the one who came and died for us. Our one faith in the Triune God is handed us in the Holy Spirit. Our one birth is not the exit from a mother’s womb, but the cleansing renewal in the never-ceasing streams of Holy Baptism. The Church blesses the one Holy Name. “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:19 ESV).

We partake of only food, the food of our salvation, the price paid for us. Christ institutes in the Synoptic Gospels the Eucharist for the forgiveness of our sins, “as often as we drink of it,” giving us this meal to have time and time again. The true Body and the true Blood of our Lord and Savior are in, with and under the bread and the wine at the Lord’s Table. When we come to the communion rails, we join together with the saints from times of old, here with us and across the globe today and those yet to come as we literally and certainly eat and drink the Body and the Blood of the Christ, shed for us as our eternal Passover Lamb offered Himself on our behalf. As often as we eat His Body and drink His Blood, we remember the sacrifice made for us at Golgotha as our mighty yet humble God suffered the worst death the Romans could offer in crucifixion and descended into Hell, the cost that belonged to us. “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him” (John 3:17 ESV).

To one hope the Church presses on with all grace endued to it by that Lamb. “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope” (Romans 15:13 ESV). “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful” (Hebrews 10:23 ESV). The Church’s hope is a guarantee. We hope in the promise of the God who always keeps them. The hope for justification by a price already paid. We persevere and struggle through trials and tribulations in this sinful, earthly world. We face Satan and his temptations every single day as the devil in all his power seeks to lead astray a sheep grazing too far from the rest of the flock, but we have the Good Shepherd to call us back, welcoming us and rejoicing that He has again found us as we are returned to Him in repentance. “Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance” (Luke 15:7 ESV). Together, in the Church, built on the Foundation that is Christ Jesus, as His bride and as the body of which He is the Head, we flock together and gather in Hos Word and Sacraments, that we may not be led astray and may have the eternal reward provided for us.

“Though with a scornful wonder the world sees her oppressed, by schisms rent asunder, by heresies distressed, yet saints their watch are keeping; their cry goes up, “How long?” And soon the night of weeping shall be the morn of song” (LSB 644 st. 3).

The world is hostile to the church and it always has been, because the Church is set apart from the world. The Anointed One overcame the temptations of the world and its prince, Satan. The church runs countercultural in a world full of the determination for individual gain and glory. The world runs rampant with the sins of greed, covetousness and lust. “Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me’” (Matthew 16:24 ESV). The Church is given very different instructions, something very strange to those who dwell outside the walls of faith. In a society that tells us that we control our own destinies, that great wealth awaits us if we play our cards right and that our goal should always be to get the top and ascend in the ranks of earthly power in various institutions, Jesus tells us differently. “But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:43b-45 ESV). We are not called to seek after earthly treasures, but those that are in heaven. “Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God” (Matthew 19:24 ESV). The world hates these teachings against its desires, and by extension, those who hear them.

The world, with all its negative perceptions of the Church popularized in the media, watches on as the Church faces various plagues, enticed by the thought of her downfall. Schisms run rampant as the church on earth is separated by disputes and unsound teachings from false teachers, waging the various sects of the larger flock against one another. The risings of heresies from those same false teachers lead the flock astray and away from the true Gospel presented us by our one and only God that is the Trinity.

“They cried out with a loud voice, ‘O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?’ Then they were each given a white robe and told to rest a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brothers should be complete, who were to be killed as they themselves had been” (Revelation 6:10-11 ESV). In spite of the disunity among the flock, the false teachings that seek to lead the sheep astray and in spite of the persecution Christians face around the world, God assures us in the Church Triumphant and our eternal peace.

Despite all toils still present in the world around us, “our vict’ry has been won; the Kingdom ours remaineth” (LSB 656 st. 4 vv. 8-9). But why then do these perils still persist? Only because the time has not yet come for the return. “I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world” (John 16:33 ESV). This hostile world that has made itself the enemy of the Church is powerless over it. The very Foundation of the Church has already overcome everything the world has to throw at it. Even Satan’s most cunning attacks are no match for the Son of God, he who death could not contain. We mourn in this broken world, but we rejoice for this battle is already complete and the result is sealed.

“Through toil and tribulation and tumult of her war, she waits the consummation of peace forevermore till with the vision glorious her longing eyes are blest, and the great Church victorious shall be the Church at rest” (LSB 644 st. 4).

Despite what many have said about the Old Testament scriptures being outdated, or “overridden” by the New Testament, Christ Himself said “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them” (Matthew 5:17 ESV). In Christ’s fulfillment, He did not eliminate the Law, but freed us from its condemnation. The accounts of the experiences of God’s people in times of old remain just as relevant today as they were 4000 years ago. After Moses led the People out of Egypt, they wandered the wilderness for 40 years and, of that generation, only Caleb would ever enter the Promised Land. For Israel, the reaching of the Promised Land was a waiting game that transcended the limits of their earthly lives before it was finally theirs. So too we wait in this broken world for the Promise of the perfect life to come, all saints together with our God. Christ and His Bride are united forever.

As it stands, this is our earthly life is but a second, and all these struggles and tribulations pail in comparison to the ultimate and everlasting glory we will inherit. While war it surely is today, the Church will be blessed to find its everlasting peace in glory.

We live in the last days of this conflict, the war’s climax is long behind us. The war that began perhaps 5,000 to 6,000 years ago had its equivalent of V-Day nearly 2,000 years ago. There was no storming of Normandy and the death toll of this particular theater was one; albeit, that one death was the most important death, and that one death meant life.

With those words, “It is finished,” and that final breath, the victory in this war was secured. Yet like in any of those historic anecdotes from the Civil War and other armed conflicts, the last battles actually still come after victory is declared and the enemy has officially surrendered.

There has not been that rest, that peace, that is set soon before us since before the war began. The Church has at all times been bombarded by the threats of Satan and the world from the outside and from within by the heresies and schisms they managed to plant.

As in our vocations in the workforce, for the vast majority of people, work needs to be done seemingly endlessly from the time we finish our education until the day in our 70s when we have enough money saved up that we can rest from such labors.

So it is with the Church. For all this allotted time, the Church perseveres through the defeated terrors of this world and suffers through all that is targeted for it until the day the mortal lives of the saints end and paradise is had and the day the Lord returns to establish His everlasting Kingdom.

“Yet she on earth has union with God, the Three in One, and mystic sweet communion with those whose rest is won. O blessed heav’nly chorus! Lord, save us by Your grace, that we, like saints before us, may see You face to face” (LSB 644 st. 5).

She, the Church, even in this world, has union with God, the Three in One. What other faith can make such a claim? In all other faiths, the divine is something the faith’s adherents constantly reach out for, eager to grasp it, but it always seeming to be just outside of reach. But our God is not like the other gods worshipped by man. Our God is not far off and distant, but here with us, dwelling both among us and within us. Our God became flesh while followers of other gods fall into the trap of trying to become as one of the divine. We can reach God because God has come down to us, shown Himself to us and lived as one of us, and forever will be with us. “And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20 ESV). We all have death ahead, but He suffered for us that our death may only bring forth life. Christ gave us His baptismal waters and His Body and His Blood that we may be forever covered by His mercy and frequently consume He who was perfect and sacrificed Himself for us. At the Lord’s Table, we consume the price paid for our sins, our iniquities, our wrong. The Husband of the Church made the ultimate sacrifice for it, and the Bridegroom’s love is never ending.

Likewise, we are forever united with all those faithful ones before us. All believers from the beginning to the end of all times, are gathered together in the one body that is the Church, with Christ at our head. “For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit… Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.” (1 Corinthians 12:12-13, 27 ESV). We have all joined together in the cleansing of Holy Baptism and reclined at the same table at the Last Supper, united in this one body. We all believe in One True God: Father, Son and Holy Ghost. Regardless of what building we physically dwell in for worship, we are all side by side with those at other congregations, those who came before us, those yet to come and the entire host of heaven that makes up the chorus.

Together, all us people cry out in prayer. We have one request, and only one place to go with it. We have fallen short of the expectations set out for us and we cannot save ourselves, but there lives and reigns One who can. We call to the Lord for our salvation, not by a recognition of our works – for that book is what we damned ourselves with to begin with – but by grace alone through faith alone, as promised in the Scriptures. We yearn and long for the day when we, undeserving as we are, may see our Savior Lord face to face and rejoice as we reside in His Kingdom forevermore.

That day will come. That great fate is sealed. Come soon, Lord Jesus. Amen.

“I believe in God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth.

And in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried. He descended into hell. The third day He rose again from the dead. He ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty. From thence He will come to judge the living and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Christian Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen” (Apostle’s Creed).

All Saints Day 2018

“For all the saints who from their labors rest, who Thee by faith before the world confessed, Thy name, O Jesus, be forever blest. Alleluia, Alleluia!” (LSB 677).

Today we remember those who lived like us, worshipped liked us, prayed like us and rejoiced in God’s word like us. They also failed like us. They did not love God with their whole hearts and they did not love their neighbor as themselves. Even those we remember dearest were broken sinners in a broken world, in desperate need of God’s grace and mercy. They were just like us.

But they are like us in that sense no longer. These saints of ages past, whether the famous prophets of the Old Testament or our great-grandmother who died in recent years, have left this sinful world in gladness.

Today we commemorate those who stood firm in faith, despite all their shortcomings; who did not give into the world and its desires to abandon the One True Faith, and as a result of God’s grace, are experiencing life everlasting.

Liturgist: “For the faithful who have gone before us and are with Christ, let us give thanks to the Lord.” Congregation: “Alleluia.” (or, during Lent, “Thanks be to God.”) Liturgist: “Help, save, comfort, and defend us gracious Lord.” (Evening Prayer, LSB)

We give thanks to God for those who came before us and for the good works they did in faith. Christ commissioned the Church, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:19-20 EV). It is by these faithful people that God handed down His message of salvation to us, evangelizing us through these people who brought us to the Word and to the Lord’s Table. These saints in faith did good works, those which we are incapable of doing outside of the faith. Every Christian has been taught the faith by other Christians or read Bibles typed and printed by other Christians. We remember these faithful ones who have gone before us, thanking God for them and rejoicing for them who live today with Our Lord free from sin and evil. At the same time, we pray that to our Lord to help us, save us, comfort us and defend us who are left in this world, looking forward to the day we too will be with Him forever as we enter into our silent, individual prayers.

Liturgist: “Rejoicing in the fellowship of all the saints, let us commend ourselves, one another, and our whole life to Christ, our Lord:” Congregation: “To You, O Lord.” (Evening Prayer, LSB).

We may mourn when these saints depart from us, missing their company and the times we have with them, but we rejoice exuberantly as we are drowned in the same baptismal waters that have covered them, when we come to the same Table, eating of the same Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ and sing the same words of praise as they. Together always we are connected with our brothers and sisters across the globe and from all time in Christ Jesus, our Passover Lamb, who suffered in death that we may be brought up and not carried down when our time in this world comes to an end.

With the saints who have gone before us, yet remain with us in this holy fellowship, as an example, we push forward in the faith in this earthly habitation, not by our own reason or strength, but by that given to us by the Holy Spirit in the same way as to they. We commend ourselves and each other to Christ, Our Lord.

“And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, [Jesus] said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit: and having said thus, he gave up the ghost.” (Luke 23:46 KJV).

Come soon, Lord Jesus.

The Christian Difference

Typically, when one thinks about what it means to be a god, concepts of power, strength and might are prevalent. A god is something so far beyond the concept of humanity, and the world is there for them to rule as they please and perhaps they occasionally may offer a sliver of their time to talk to us lowly humans and offer some insight, but surely wouldn’t bother with us much beyond that.

Of course, the ultimate goal of this thinking is to earn one’s way up the ladder to reside with the gods and perhaps even become a god. The very concept of the religions of man is to find out how to get into heaven, or reach enlightenment or be fused into Brahman.

For some, these goals are sought after by submitting to certain laws and tasks in an outward expression of piety; for others, constant meditation, or in some cases with the checkbook. In the end, it all comes down to hoping that one did “good enough”.

Yet there is one faith that never seems to fit in with the others, and makes very little sense to base an institution on. Why tell people there is nothing they can do to secure eternal life, for it is already done? How will that motivate them to be “good people” and form a moral community? How do we expect that not to result in essential anarchy?

The eternal life in this faith is offered freely to imperfect human beings, but the price was still paid for it. By righteous blood, all the unrighteous of the world are atoned for and absolved.

When one thinks of the concept of heaven, one should know that it is perfect. What is perfect must be maintained perfect. Therefore, just as you pour out spoiled milk rather than mixing it with the new gallon, the unrighteous cannot attain the glory of heaven or enter such a kingdom by their own power or strength.

The second we fall into sin, we are severed from any path leading to heaven by a chasm too wide to cross. When we breathe our last on this earth, we are only left with one destination and one path: that is, into the eternal sorrow of the place of weeping and gnashing of teeth.

And this is where we all stand as humans judged by our works: you, me and all others. No matter how much “good” we have done, it never is enough to counterbalance our sin, for all fall short of the glory of God.

And this is the place where the religions of man falter. They can strive and strive for the kingdom, for the peaceful and blissful eternity; but in the end, none of us are good enough. We cannot possibly earn it and not one of us deserves it. Our damnation is just, and truly our own doing. Damnation is not so much God punishing us as it is us saying no to His gift and bringing it upon ourselves.

What then? We cannot do anything about it, for that bridge is irreparably broken. To whom shall we look?

We have a God, we all do whether we currently acknowledge Him or not, who looks with compassion on his creation. We wage war against Him every day as we live in our sin, but He does not turn away from us.

Our God had a plan set in place from the foundation of the world. When the serpent deceived Eve and Adam willfully ate of the forbidden fruit, God wasn’t surprised. There was no shock. Though the sin was not His will, He knew it would come and planned for it. Over the next several thousand years, God spoke by His prophets and constantly left hints as to what was to come.

The flood cleansed the unrighteous world and the parting of the sea made way for the Hebrews to be saved from their Egyptian rulers. Melchizedek broke bread and drank wine with Abraham, through whom all nations would be blessed according to God’s Promise. Priests made sacrifices, shedding the blood of the lamb. Abraham did not need to sacrifice Isaac as God provided a replacement. The descendant of David would rule and the prophet like Moses would come. One would come, be brought out of Egypt, be pierced for the transgressions of the people, bearing our sin and making our intercession.

And we have seen the fulfillment. These texts were written hundreds to thousands of years before the man Ιησους walked the Promised Land. Yet that man fulfilled all that was written in the Scriptures. This is not a coincidence, but the clear origin of the texts being God Himself, who gave these signs and prophecies to us that we may know this to be true.

Of His twelve apostles – excepting Iscariot who betrayed Him – all were put to death for professing His Gospel. If the Gospel was not true, these men would have known that it was not true. They had nothing to gain financially, but made less money for themselves in spreading the Gospel. These men would not have been put to death still confessing this Gospel to be true if it were merely a lie. At least one of them, and more likely all of them, would have renounced the false faith if only it were false, rather than suffer horrible deaths.

With this Gospel, the bridge we burned in our sin has been replaced, and we can cross that chasm by way of the Cross. Unlike the religions of man that seek to reach God by works of the hands and mind, salvation in the One True Faith comes by the work of God.

God, the Holy Trinity of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, orchestrated the greatest redemption in history. The Father so loved His creation, that He sent the Son into the flesh to become man, entering the realm of the created. The purpose of the Son’s coming was consummated at Golgotha. The leaders of the Jews, the chosen people of God’s covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, handed over their king to be put to death.

As when Abraham was prepared to sacrifice Isaac and God provided a replacement, God again provided the sacrifice. Jesus Christ of Nazareth, true man and true God, died so that we may live eternally, giving us the Holy Spirit to sustain us.

What other religion speaks of their God dying? What other religion has a God who loves us more than Himself, so much so that He would become our sacrifice?

Christ confirmed the validity of His sacrifice when He rose on the third day, and He appeared to many before ascending to His Father in heaven. He conquered death. The deed is done. Through faith in Him, we live eternally.

The One True Faith is set apart from the religions of man. We have no system to achieve our salvation, but our God sacrificed Himself that we all may live.

“For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.” – John 3:17 ESV

Sticking to Faith

What do we do when we just don’t have the answers? When we’ve exhausted every possible solution and are still at square one? When everything feels horrible and this issue is a cloud over our heads?

What do we do when we can’t find regular employment and have bills to pay and mouths to feed? What do we do when the road to recovery from a major injury seems like it never reaches its destination? What do we do when we’ve lost a loved one? What do we do when the world seems to stop and turns dark around us?

Do we try to fix it by ourselves? We are only capable of so much, and if these issues were something we could simply take care of, they really wouldn’t be all that concerning, would they? Do we rely on others to solve our problems for us, then? Well, others can most certainly help and make these things much easier to cope with, but the ultimate solution is beyond them as well. So, what then, do we just sit idly by and seep in every moment of pain these struggles can cause us? Surely not! Yet, too often any of these three solutions are looked to, and anything outside of them is ignored.

Or, we do what we should have from the very beginning. We open our Bibles and read Scripture, pull our hymnals off the bookshelf and sing praises to the Lord, pray earnestly – and not just before eating and going to sleep – and come to the Lord’s Table as often as possible. We wake up in the morning and find that our trouble remains, as of yet unsolved. Yet for some reason it doesn’t feel as crushing as it had the day before; the weight on our chest is lightened and we have room to breathe. When we, as part of the New Israel of all believers, trust the God of our faith, who saved Noah from the flood and Lot from the destruction of Sodom, led Moses and the Hebrews out of Egyptian slavery and toward the Promised Land, rescued Meshach, Shadrach and Abednego from the fiery furnace and Daniel from a den of lions, healed the lame, gave vision to the blind, raised up Lazarus and others from the dead, gave His Son to suffer and die by crucifixion that we may have life eternal, and has been merciful to His people so many times that this sentence realistically should have been its own paragraph (and it’s list is far from comprehensive still), the nature of the outcome is certain.

Now, we don’t always know what that outcome will look like, how it will transpire, or even how long it will take before it comes to fruition, but we know that it will be good and according to God’s will. Abraham desperately wanted a son to whom to pass on his inheritance. God did him better, raising up for him offspring as numerous as the stars of the sky or the grains of sand in the desert. Joseph only wanted out of prison after being falsely accused of rape, yet God rose him up to be Vizier (essentially second in command beneath Pharaoh) over the land of Egypt, was told how to prepare for the famine (and forewarned of the famine) by God, and later brought his father down to be Egypt to be taken care of, forgiving his brothers who sold him into slavery. Paul wanted power in the Temple and killed Christians to achieve it. After an encounter with Christ Himself to show him the error of his ways, Paul was not only forgiven, but made to be an apostle and the author of a large portion of our New Testament.

No matter what it is that we ask for, God always delivers more. Even with the most basic – but also greatest – gift He has given us, He finds ways to make it better than what we request. We seek forgiveness from God for the sins we have committed against Him. He not only just forgives us and frees us from Hell, but invites us into His Kingdom beyond our days in this world, rather eternally. Not only are we freed from sin, but also from death. There is only one end to this road – and that end is ironically the lack of an end. That gift of grace, held firm by a hand of faith, is that one-way ticket to a tropical paradise you’ve yearned for (if only that tropical paradise was a true paradise without sin and death).

The price for our sin, the root of all suffering, was paid for by the very Body and Blood of God incarnate. Why try to pay our own way through? Praise the Lord for all his mercy and remember in faith that Jesus Christ, the Alpha and the Omega, is the way, and the truth, and the life.

Inequality

What may be a given for one may bring great joy for another. Likewise, what may be a given for one may devastate another.

We live in an unequal world. This isn’t just seen by comparing one side of town to another or the United States of America to the Kingdom of eSwatini (as the former Swaziland now prefers to be called), but also from one brother to the next, two childhood friends or two classmates.

A man can devote decades of his life to a company and suddenly find it over… nothing more than a distant memory. Months go by hopelessly with no end in sight as the money runs out and no more is coming while another person still works. A boy may seem like he has everything material he could ever ask for, only to see it fall apart while others still have what they had. One classmate may have a full ride scholarship or a wealthy family while another scrapes through school, working every second possible to ensure he has enough money just to continue.

In today’s society, there is more and more frequently a view that these inequalities are injustices, whereby the fact that one has what another has not must mean that the perceived more fortunate has wronged the less fortunate in some way or form.

But these inequalities are just that – perceived. This is not to say there are no differences, for we have already observed that there are. And, as in the case of the man or of the boy, there are times when people have much and other times when the same people have little. There are times when it would seem there was nothing more to hope for, and other times when everything looks so bleak that hope is lost. These differences are not limited to being between two entities, but even within one.

While one may seem to be at a disadvantage in one sense, they are blessed with their own advantage as well. While not all become famous enough for us to mention them by name and to immediately know their story, there are examples in the public eye. When a young boy growing up in the Dominican Republic in poverty picks up a baseball bat and years later finds himself earning millions of dollars for the New York Yankees, a homeless child finds his way into the NFL or a student who grew up poor earns a college degree, the strengths they have been blessed with are put on full display. These rags-to-riches stories are everywhere, but it isn’t all about money.

When you study for hours and hours to get the C on a test while your brother barely glances at a vocabulary list and gets an A, you put in several extra hours of practice a week but still find yourself on the bench or you put in your maximum effort and someone else gets the promotion you desire, you too are not any less blessed than they.

While everyone certainly has the tools they need in this life, so long as the choice is made to pursue it, it ultimately does not matter when it comes down to it.

In fact, any amount of accomplishments or lack thereof, any test score, any athletic record or any other achievement we may feel good about have only temporary value.

Even if the poor man never finds solid employment and has to work until he drops or the rich man never ceases to have an abundance, the same result comes for each… or so we hope.

It may very well be that the poor man ends up better than the rich man, even if the poor man can’t afford to be buried while the rich man has a celebrity appear at his funeral. Yet the opposite could be true.

The previous statement that inequality is only perceived probably requires an asterisk. The equalizer is available for each and every person, but not all receive it. The lack of reception may be from missing the memo or from flat out rejection, putting the invite through the shredder.

As those blessed with the equalizer, we can spread it to others, by its work rather than by ours.

This equalizer is the Gospel message, the good news. This message tells us in our abundance that we shouldn’t get too attached to that abundance, for even better times await without it. The message tells us when everything else looks scarce, limitless joy awaits. Abundance today may as well be scarcity, for it will never compare to what is to come nor be of any value in that future time. Scarcity today may as well be abundance, for the gift of greatness beyond comprehension has been given at great expense to the giver, and that gift has no end.

The jobless man is blessed far beyond his comprehension. The boy who lost something has something greater coming. The hard-working student has the same. The same is true for their job-keeping, no-loss and less-studious counterparts. The gift is for all and from one.

Knowing that Jesus Christ, true God and true man, suffered and died in our place, that our eternal salvation in the glory of God the Father may be had despite each of us falling so short of it, we are all truly as rich as Solomon… and moreso than anyone else without this message, no matter how much financial luxury they live in. And hopefully, this good news makes its way to them as well through us.

“The Word they still shall let remain

Nor any thanks have for it;

He’s by our side upon the plain

With His good gifts and Spirit.

And take they our life,

Goods, fame, child, and wife,

Though these all be gone,

Our vict’ry has been won;

The Kingdom ours remaineth.” LSB 656 st. 4

Found Innocent

Discovering how to use fire. The beginning of civilization in the Fertile Crescent. Rome building a mighty empire. The invention of controlled electricity. The Declaration of Independence and the subsequent Treaty of Paris.

All major moments in history, yet they are not even worthy of a footnote in the light of the greatest moment.

Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” – John 2:19 ESV

Sure, all of those events have had major effects on our lives today – and they wouldn’t be the same otherwise – but the fact that life is ours is greater than that all.

Without the raising of that temple, we are inmates on death’s row. And we closed our own cells, throwing the keys away out of reach.

While none of us could avoid our death row sentence, hope and even certainty persist – not of death, but of life. Not by our own works, but by the grace and mercy gifted to us. As we sat in the darkness of the cell, a great light shined, and shines, and will shine forevermore.

The people who walked in darkness
have seen a great light;
those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness,
on them has light shone. – Isaiah 9:2 ESV

We find ourselves sitting not in that cell that is such a blurred and distant memory, but walking as citizens in the kingdom of light. Walking free, and never to be subject to that eternal sentence of death. Life eternal is our new verdict, as the judge proclaimed us innocent.

Of course, though the cup of the eternal consequence is removed from us, the case doesn’t just close. Rather, someone else is investigated and tried. In this case, the innocent dies for the guilty, the pure for the wicked, the perfect for the corrupt, the worthy for the unworthy.

The crowd chanted “Crucify him!” and the temple was torn down in the most painful way 1st century torture could produce (and it hasn’t been matched since).

On the third day, the stone was moved and the tomb was empty. The temple was not a corpse, but was living. The Word of God who had taken on human flesh in our world He crated, came to suffer and die on our behalf. But no longer is death known as the end, for it has been conquered and defeated.

When the temple that is the body of Christ rose again on Easter Sunday and came to walk among us once again, offering to the world His Gospel message.

God Himself entered the world that we may live forever and not suffer damnation, as He took it upon Himself to suffer such a fate.

Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, – John 11:25 ESV

The Road to Death

When Christ came to Bethany, a village about a mile and a half from Jerusalem, six days before the Passover, the story of the week to come was foreshadowed. He came to Lazarus, one He had risen from the dead. They gathered together for dinner, Jesus’s feet were anointed [later in the week, it would be Him washing the feet of his disciples], Judas was – well… Judas – attempting to take advantage of a way to make some quick money under impure circumstances, and the chief priests plotted the death of an innocent man. That Saturday came and went.

Sunday, Jesus made his triumphant, yet humble, entrance into the Holy City of Jerusalem. The crowds were jubilant, offering shouts of “Hosanna!” to their Lord and Savior, their King the Christ. As Jesus sat on the young donkey and proceeded into town, He rode to his very death, His largest triumph. Little did the crowd know they were witnessing the fulfillment of the prophecy of Zechariah 9:9:

Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion!
    Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem!
Behold, your king is coming to you;
    righteous and having salvation is he,
humble and mounted on a donkey,
    on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

Monday, Christ entered the Temple and began to overturn the tables of the money-changers and those selling pigeons for offerings, driving out all those who would defile the Temple in such a way. He proclaimed, “Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations’? But you have made it a den of robbers.” (Mark 11:17b). He cleansed the Temple mere days before the Temple of his body would be raised.

Tuesday, Christ again came to Jerusalem, making the daily journey from Bethany. The chief priests, scribes and elders sought to challenge our Messiah yet again, something he was quite accustomed to. They questioned, “By what authority are you doing these things, or who gave you this authority to do them?” (Mark 11:28b). Jesus responded, “I will ask you one question; answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things.Was the baptism of John from heaven or from man? Answer me.” (Mark 11:29b-30). Their plot was defeated yet again, as they knew if they were to say it came from heaven, they would be called out for not believing in it, while if they were to say it came from man, the crowds would rise against them. He would be questioned many more times that day. After speaking the Parable of the Talents (Mark 12:1-12), Jesus responded brilliantly to the questions of the Pharisees and Herodians regarding taxes and the Sadducees regarding the resurrection. A scribe asked what commandment was greatest, and He responded with two: “The Lord our God, the Lord is one.And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength,” (Mark 12:29c-30) and “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” (Mark 12:31b). The scribe responded in agreement and Christ told him that he was not far from the Kingdom. He continued to speech, but nobody dared to question him again. Leaving the temple, he foretold the destruction and rebuilding of the temple in three days, referring to his own body, but angering the Pharisees and Sadducees even more as word spread.

Wednesday, Judas went to the Temple and offered to hand Jesus over to them, and they gladly gave him his payment.

Thursday, Jesus and his disciples gathered for the Passover feast. Here, he washed the feet of his disciples, another case of his humiliation. He also instituted the Lord’s Supper Christians have gathered together for ever since, offering his very body and very blood for the forgiveness of our sins. He let Judas go, knowing he was about to betray Him, and later went in the garden of Gethsemane to pray, showing his humanity by praying to the Father with the request of “removing this cup” from him, but only if by the Father’s will. When Jesus would come to die, he suffered like any other man would. Despite being fully God, he was fully man and felt pain just as we do. Judas came with the temple guards and handed Jesus over that night.

Friday, Jesus was beaten, mocked and flogged – enough to kill many – before he even made it to the cross after offering no defense against the accusations under trial. Bearing his cross, and was crucified at Golgotha. With the words “It is finished,” our Savior breathed his last and completed the greatest sacrifice in history. No amount of sin offerings at the temple could ever compare to the sacrifice made by God at the hands of the faithless. God offered God that we may be forgiven, washed clean in baptism and receive eternal life rather than eternal damnation our actions have sentenced us to.

He proved his sacrifice that Sunday, leaving the tomb empty. He who once was dead, is living. There is no doubt, but only certainty, that by the grace of our Lord, we are destined to live eternally. Though we will die in the flesh in this lifetime, our souls live on in Paradise, and our bodily resurrection is assured.

Much more happened that week that led to the Death that brought forth Life that was not covered here. Matthew, Mark, Luke and John all covered in much detail the events of the week, and each account is definitely worth a read. Find it in your Bible in Matthew 21-28, Mark 11-16, Luke 19:28-24:53 and John 12-21.

God’s Blessings!

Genesis 3:21

And the LORD God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them. – Genesis 3:21

Immediately after the Fall into sin, Adam and Eve heard the sound of God walking in the garden, and now aware of their own nakedness, hid from Him in the trees of Eden. God called out to Adam, and he answered, later admitting to the sin he committed by eating of the tree and corrupting God’s perfect creation permanently (until the creation of a new heaven and a new earth), but not without passing the blame to Eve – and perhaps to God himself “The woman whom you gave to be with me”(!)

Nevertheless, as His first created people, whom he walked and talked with, played blame games as if God did not already know exactly what had happened, God showed mercy immediately.

When Adam and Eve became aware of their nakedness, God gave them clothes He made. Yet it was not the only clothing God provided. Not only were the bodies of Adam and Eve naked, their spirits were as well. Surely as God remedied their physical nakedness, he would provide a spiritual cover as well. The latter was and is the greater gift. God clothed Adam and Eve with His own righteousness, taking their sin upon Himself and giving them the garments of eternal life. All this by the suffering of Christ on the cross, He has done for us too.

“It is finished.” – from John 19:30

“The Lord is righteous in all his ways
and kind in all his works.” – Psalm 145:17

Surpassing All Understanding

“And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:7).

St. Paul has always been known for his boldness, and was never one to shy away from astonishing proclamations. We may not think about it too much, having always been taught it and knowing it to be true. But these words carry great weight.

We look to God and his peace to guard our hearts and our minds and put our trust in Him. Yet we are completely incapable of understanding Him. The desire to rationalize God and his workings has persisted since the beginning, and is why we see doctrines of methods such as transubstantiation concocted. In our human nature, we all – perhaps to varying degrees – have some form of resistance to what is unknown. If we can’t observe it with our five senses or understand the exact way something happens or what the effects of it are, we usually don’t want anything to do with it. But there are times when that unknown pulls at us in a way such that we make decisions that don’t otherwise make sense. St. Paul was no exception.

[Now, the term unknown isn’t perfectly applicable to God Himself or to His will, for He has blessed us with the Scriptures. We know His laws for us, and the saving grace provided for us in Christ. Yet what is unknown to us is the direction in which He will pull us; which doors will be opened for us and which ones will be closed. He never forces us into anything but clears paths in front of us.]

Paul’s mission was to eliminate the followers of Christ and suppress His teachings. A Pharisee, Paul concerned himself only with the Law (and all the unwritten laws the Pharisees developed themselves). To him, the proclamation of this man who walked among the people just a couple years prior as God was blasphemous. To fight this blasphemy, the punishment was death, and Paul positioned himself to lead the persecution.

Paul was on his way to Damascus for another round of persecution. Heading that way to persecute Christians, he returned after an occurrence as one of them instead.

It was never a path Paul expected God to lead him on. He built up the persecution to new heights, and now was among those whom the persecution targeted. He who persecuted Christians now had to seek their trust and acceptance when he set out to proclaim the Gospel. And yet God chose him to help build the early church, and to write letters that have survived for two millennia and form much of the basis of New Testament doctrine.

Why God chose this most certainly surpassed Paul’s understanding, and yet his faith did not waver even when he was sent to be executed on account of his faith and the spreading of the Gospel.

Like the wolf dwelling with the lamb, the cow grazing with the bear, or the lion eating straw like an ox (c.f. Isaiah 11:6-7), God called Paul to turn around 180 degrees in his tracks, literally to repentance, and utilized him in doing great things.

God’s work in this way did not stop with Paul. In fact, it persists today. Like Paul, who proclaimed “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost,” (1 Timothy 1:15b) we see even today persecutors of the Church become leaders within it. There are numerous stories of ISIS militants becoming Christians and even preachers in these past few years. And then there are all the common stories that occur everyday in less extreme settings. Perhaps the Gospel was revealed to you when you weren’t looking for it, or were brought into the church in unexpected ways. Perhaps, metaphorically speaking, one path you were going down had the door slammed before your face and the next walkway brought you closer to the Gospel.

God will choose whoever he wills, and it is important to remember that none of us who have been called to Him and into His Church were worthy of the call on our own merits that others don’t have. When it comes to proclaiming the Gospel in a world where more people are non-Christian than those who have the Gospel, we all have a bit of Moses at the burning bush in us. “But behold, they will not believe me or listen to my voice” (Exodus 4:1b). “Oh, my Lord, I am not eloquent, either in the past or since you have spoken to your servant, but I am slow of speech and of tongue” (Exodus 4:10b). Yet we learn, from Moses and from Paul, that no matter our weaknesses, God’s strength and the Gospel will prevail. Sure, we wouldn’t have been capable of leading our people out of slavery in Egypt and crossing the Red Sea by ourselves, but neither was Moses. Paul again tells us, “I can do all things through him who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:13).

Paul’s mission turned from that of persecution to that of love and proclaiming God’s Word. Paul, like Moses, shows us that God’s will is stronger than our weakness and will prevail. But there is still another important aspect to their stories. Moses was a murderer and Paul oversaw many murders of Christians. Yet both were called by God into his family in addition to being leaders in it. So not only did God work through these people to do his work, but God came to these people in his Gospel and gave them the promise of salvation all Christians today have. The major thing to draw from this is that there is nobody in this world that is beyond the reach of the Holy Spirit. Our mission is to spread the Gospel to all people in all nations, no matter how unlikely it would seem to us that they may become believers. Our mission is that all people from our local communities to Southeast Asia and the heart of the Middle East would come to know the salvation that is in Christ Jesus.

“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matthews 28:19-20).