Beginning later this year (Fall 2010, September), St. Mark Lutheran Church will undertake a study of the doctrine of God’s eternal foreknowledge and election based on the Formula of Concord’s 11th Article.  Over the next few weeks, leading up to that study, we will present the article from the Solid Declaration (the long version).

⁴¹ Few receive the Word and follow it. Most despise the Word and will not come to the wedding [Matthew 22:3–6]. The cause for this contempt for the Word is not God’s foreknowledge, but the perverse human will. The human will rejects or perverts the means and instrument of the Holy Spirit, which God offers it through the call. It resists the Holy Spirit, who wants to be effective, and who works through the Word, as Christ says: “How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not!” (Matthew 23:37).

⁴² Many “hear the word, receive it with joy. But these have no root; they believe for a while, and in time of testing fall away” (Luke 8:13). The reason is not that God was unwilling to grant grace for perseverance to those in whom He “began a good work,” for that is contrary to St. Paul (Philippians 1:6). The reason is that they willfully turn away again from the holy commandment, grieve and embitter the Holy Spirit, involve themselves again in the world’s filth, and redecorate their hearts as homes for the devil. For them their last situation is worse than the first. (See 2 Peter 2:10–20; [Ephesians 4:30;] Hebrews 10:26; [Luke 11:24–26].)

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Faith Looks in All the Right Places

In the name of Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh.

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ:

Abraham was 75 when he left his relatives in the east and headed for Canaan.  All Abraham knew was that God told him to go and that blessings would follow, one of which would be an abundance of offspring.  The hitch: Abraham was old and his wife was barren.  But, Abraham went.

Time passed.  Abraham found success.  After squabbling with the employees of Lot, they divided the land and went their separate ways. And again, the LORD says, I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth. Still, Abraham had no children.

Shortly after this, the LORD appeared to Abraham.  The LORD says:  Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward. But for the first time, Abraham has a question: What can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?  You have given me no children; so a servant in my household will be my heir. And the LORD responds:  This man will not be your heir, but a son coming from your own body will be your heir.  Look up at the heavens and count the stars – if indeed you can count them.  So shall your offspring be. And Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness.

Ten years after coming to Canaan, still no son.  Sarah gets an idea.  She says:  The Lord has kept me from having children. Go, sleep with my maidservant; perhaps I can build a family through her. Abraham does the math and realizes that he’s not getting any younger; Sarah’s not getting any less barren.  He sleeps with another woman and, lo and behold, Ishmael’s born.  Perhaps this is what God meant.

But it isn’t.  

Beginning later this year (Fall 2010, September), St. Mark Lutheran Church will undertake a study of the doctrine of God’s eternal foreknowledge and election based on the Formula of Concord’s 11th Article.  Over the next few weeks, leading up to that study, we will present the article from the Solid Declaration (the long version).

³⁰ For this reason the elect are described as follows: “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. I give them eternal life” (John 10:27–28). “In Him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will” (Ephesians 1:11). They hear the Gospel, believe in Christ, pray and give thanks, are sanctified in love, have hope, patience, and comfort under the cross. (See Ephesians 1:13; Romans 8:25.) Although all this is very weak in them, they hunger and thirst for righteousness (Matthew 5:6).

³¹ “The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.… The Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words” (Romans 8:16–26).

³² Holy Scripture also testifies that God, who has called us, is faithful. So when He has begun the good work in us, He will also preserve it to the end and perfect it, if we ourselves do not turn from Him, but firmly hold on to the work begun to the end. He has promised His grace for this very purpose. (See 1 Corinthians 1:9; Philippians 1:6; 1 Peter 5:10; 2 Peter 3:9; Hebrews 3:2.)

³³ We should concern ourselves with this revealed will of God. We should follow and diligently think about it. Through the Word, by which He calls us, the Holy Spirit bestows grace, power, and ability for this purpose. We should not sound the depths of Godhidden predestination, as it is written in Luke 13:23–24, where one asks, “Lord, will those who are saved be few?” and Christ answers, “Strive to enter through the narrow door.” So Luther says:

But you had better follow the order of this epistle [of Romans]. Worry first about Christ and the gospel, that you may recognize your sin and His grace. Then fight your sin, as the first eight chapters here have taught. Then, when you have reached the eighth chapter, and are under the cross and suffering, this will teach you correctly of predestination in chapters 9, 10, and 11, and how comforting it is. [Preface to the Epistle of St. Paul to the Romans (1546); LW 35:378]

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Faith Answers “Why?”

In the name of Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh.

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ:

It’s almost second nature to ask “Why?” isn’t it?  “Honey, come here?”  “Why?”  The word rolls off our tongues even before we’ve had a conscious thought.  We want to know why we’re going where we’re going.  We want to know the benefit.  We want things explained to our satisfaction.  To the asker’s annoyance, right?

It’s no different with God, is it?  The same question we ask parents, spouses, teachers, and bosses, is the question we ask God.  “Why?”  And if parents, spouses, teachers, and bosses are annoyed by it…how do you think God feels?  “Adam, don’t eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.”  “Why?”  “Noah, build me an ark.”  “Why?”  “Abraham, sacrifice your son Isaac to me.”  “Why?”  “Joshua, take the Israelites and march around Jericho seven times.”  “Why?”  “Baptize your babies.”  “Why?”  “Go to church.”  “Why?”  “Pray to me.”  “Why?”  “Marriage is between one man and one woman for life?”  “Why?”  “Women can’t be pastors.”  “Why?”  “You must agree in doctrine before worshiping, communing, and praying with others.”  “Why?”  Why, why, why?  If it annoys me, it most certainly annoys God.  And yet we continue doing it.  Because there had better be a good reason for what God is telling us to do, or else I’m not going to do it.  Because, in the end, we know better, because we’re here, we’re on the scene, we’re going through it.  So, God, you can offer your advice, but I’m not just going to go along because you say so.

Which is evidence that we don’t really believe the Word of God.  

Jonah.  To say the name is to bring to mind what happened – swallowed by a big fish and made to wait for three days until God let him out.

Yet, this incredible event – three days and nights inside the fish – serves in three different ways:  as the holding area to get Jonah’s mind rightly fixed on following God’s call; as a type of the death and resurrection of Jesus; as the setting for the prayer that’s part of our Easter celebrations (Year A of the three year lectionary).

Note Jonah’s call, Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it…(1:2). He was sent to non-Jews, to Gentiles, highlighting once more that God is not the God of Jews only, but of all people (Rom. 3:29).  All are saved in the same manner – by faith in Christ!  Away with all talk of a Messiah only for Jews and the Jews as God’s eternally chosen people and none other.  God has mercy on whom He will have mercy!

Note that of all the prophets Jesus could have likened Himself too, He chose Jonah.  Then some of the Pharisees and teachers of the law said to him, “Teacher, we want to see a miraculous sign from you.” He answered, “A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a miraculous sign! But none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. ^For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. ^The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and now one greater than Jonah is here (Matthew 12:38-41).

Finally, the prayer.  With nothing else but to sit, think, and pray, Jonah grapples with God’s Law and revels in God’s Gospel, In my distress I called to the Lord, and he answered me. From the depths of the grave I called for help, and you listened to my cry. You hurled me into the deep, into the very heart of the seas, and the currents swirled about me; all your waves and breakers swept over me. I said, ‘I have been banished from your sight; yet I will look again toward your holy temple.’…  [Y]ou brought my life up from the pit, O Lord my God….  Salvation comes from the Lord (2:2-9).

While loading audio file of this past Sunday’s sermon, it was noted that anyone using GoogleChrome as a web browser might have some problems downloading one of the audio file formats.  That’s why we have two options.

If you are unable to play the audio file by clicking the arrow button on the top of each sermon post, just click the “Downloadable Version” link and your default media player should open and the sermon will play fine.

Checking other browsers, like Mozilla Firefox, revealed that no such problem existed.  It seems to be limited to GoogleChrome, and hopefully is just a “today” problem that might get resolved in the near future.

The point is, if one format for listening to the audio sermon doesn’t work, the other one should.

Beginning later this year (Fall 2010, September), St. Mark Lutheran Church will undertake a study of the doctrine of God’s eternal foreknowledge and election based on the Formula of Concord’s 11th Article.  Over the next few weeks, leading up to that study, we will present the article from the Solid Declaration (the long version).

²³ God has prepared salvation not only in general in this counsel, purpose, and ordination. In grace He has considered and chosen to salvation each and every one of the elect who are to be saved through Christ. He has also ordained that in the way just mentioned He will, by His grace, gifts, and efficacy, bring them to salvation. He will aid, promote, strengthen, and preserve them.

²⁴ All this, according to the Scriptures, is included in the teaching about God’s eternal election to adoption and eternal salvation, and is to be understood by it. It must never be excluded or omitted when we speak about God’s purpose, predestination, election, and ordination to salvation. When our thoughts about this article are formed according to the Scriptures in this way, we can simply adapt ourselves to it by God’s grace.

²⁵ The following issue also belongs to the further explanation and saving use of the teaching about God’s foreknowledge to salvation: Only the elect, whose names are written in the book of life [Revelation 21:27], are saved. Therefore, how can we know, or why and how can we perceive who the elect are and who can and should receive this teaching for comfort?

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When God Speaks…

In the name of Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh.

By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family. By his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ:

One of the great comedy routines of all time is Bill Cosby doing Noah.  If you’ve never heard it before, find it.  Google it.  Search YouTube.  Go through old records.  It’s worth the effort.

It’s funny, not just because Bill Cosby is very funny fellow, but because he catches how sinners react to situations like Noah’s.  If I heard a voice say, “Build me an ark,” I might think I’ve been out in the heat too long.  If I said, “God told me to build an ark,” you might say “He’s been out in the heat too long.”  If I spent 120 years on a seemingly useless project for God – an ark in the middle of hot and dry Texas – I might begin to wonder just what the point of all this is and why God is making me do all this work.  That seems like how we would react to these things.  But both Genesis and Hebrews gives us no indication that that is how Noah reacted.  When God spoke, warning Noah about things that he couldn’t yet see, Noah’s faith jumped into action.  He did everything just as God commanded him. Let this example spur your faith.  WHEN GOD SPEAKS….  WE BUILD….  WE PREACH…. WE LIVE!

Cosby begins his routine with Noah cutting some lumber, when all of a sudden God calls, “Bing!”  “Noah!”  When Noah realizes it’s the LORD, he asks God what he wants.  “I want you to build me an ark.”  And Noah says, “Right!  What’s an ark?”  Noah and God then go back and forth about arks, animals, and cubits.

In the Holy Spirit’s version, there’s none of this give and take.  God speaks; Noah builds.  

Look out world, we’re using technology! You can now read AND listen to sermons from St. Mark!

Click here and begin listening to sermons preached since Maundy Thursday 2010!  Files are available to listen to immediately on the website, or to download for later listening pleasure.

Many thanks to Bryan Boswell for providing the digital recorder and aiding in the set-up and uploading of these files!

Some interesting news items from various religious news sites:

• Ecumenical Catechism Proposed by Cardinal Kasper

The Vatican’s head of Christian union issues has proposed that Catholics, Methodists, Anglicans, Lutherans, and the Reformed churches should get together and write an “ecumenical catechism.”

Why?  “We have affirmed our common foundation in Jesus Christ and the Holy Trinity as expressed in our common creed and in the doctrine of the first ecumenical councils.”

It’s an interesting idea, since Cardinal Kasper acknowledges that he has no idea how it would be done and or structured, especially since these church bodies have major differences of “opinion” on various doctrinal topics like — the ordination of women, homosexuality, the papacy, the Church, church government.

The end result of such an effort would be not edifying, but rather another  “Five Views on…” volume.  This is not faithfulness to Scripture but rather another attempt to scratch itching ears.  Such a catechism would not be a clearly sounding trumpet, but rather an ugly cacophony of pious sounding platitudes and wishy-washy statements filled with wiggle room.  This is not what the Church does.  Paul writes, “Watch your life and doctrine closely, persevere in them, because if you do, you will save yourself and your hearers” (1 Timothy 4:16).

• South African church takes on rival vuvuzela maker

Apparently, the now well-known (and not universally loved) vuvuzelas were originated by the founder of this South African denomination, and they want to retain the rights to make the original vuvuzela.

• Satanism Wrongly Used at trial, death row inmate argues

A man on death row in Texas claims that his religious affiliation with the Church of Satan should not have been presented as evidence in his murder trial, since that is an infringement of his First Amendment rights.

• School District Sued for Banning Bibles on Religious Freedom Day

Maybe this school district doesn’t teach the word “irony.”

• Nomadic Monks bring troubled past to Canfield

Watch out for these guys.