Month: November 2025

I’m compiling an ever-increasing list of errors, failures, and generally bad advice that rose to prominence in the 20^th century. While the list is mostly church-related, there are familial and societal issues mingled in. This topic is more familial with theological undertones. Following are five good standards for young people to find a mate (or having one found for them).

First: Faith & Practice

Coming into the 20^th century, the prevailing wisdom for young people was to find a husband or a wife within their church tradition, even within their language group (Wendish, German, Polish, Czech, French, etc.). At the turn of the 21st century, that wisdom faded into a hollow hope. Certainly, you’ve heard some statements like these: “At least they’re a Christian.” “I think they believe.” “They might convert when kids come along.”

An unbeliever or a noncommittal Christian is unlikely to have a proper moral compass either. Husbands and wives are bound closer or separated further from each other by their adherence to God’s law. Dishonesty and unfaithfulness are two major disasters that may be averted by similar faith, practice, and commitment to the faith.

Should we be surprised at the rate of marital failure? Is the lack of families growing up in church any surprise? No, in both cases, this is entirely predictable. Confusion or uncertainty about the church in a marriage will lead to confusion, uncertainty, or, more likely, complete apostasy (abandoning the faith) among any children.

The older course is the better course. A generic believer or Christian isn’t good enough for your kids. They need a suitable mate with a high likelihood of marital success. Young people should look for a mate in the churches of their tradition and of close practice to their own. It’s no secret that a huge church in Houston, Dallas, or San Antonio and a small church in Fayette County are unlikely to gather for worship in similar ways. Encourage the young to look in familiar-sounding and looking churches. There are endless battles in marriage.  Every sword we can take out of the hands of a world that hates faithful marriage is worth doing.

Second: Money

The number one cause of divorce in the United States remains money fights and money problems. The value of agreeing on how to manage our money before we earn it can’t be undersold. Along with Dave Ramsey, I suggest that giving, eliminating debt, and saving are the most peaceful ways for couples to manage their finances. Regardless of how, we have to agree on how to manage our money.  Well-managed finances in a marriage are actually a tactic in fighting off divorce.  It’s another weapon taken out of the world’s hand.

This one has a unique ability to be rectified on the fly.  Couples can change the whole trajectory of the marriage or the failure by straightening out finances. Working together towards a common goal helps rebuild trust and intimacy. Fighting off the wolves at the door will steel us in our resolve toward each other.

Third: Kids

How many children will we have? How soon will we try? As an extension of the first point, what church will they attend? How will we be doing schooling? How will we guide them in dating? Disagreements here can easily shipwreck a marriage.

I encourage young people to marry young and have children early. My own life is a predictable, negative example.  Waiting to marry and have children can place you outside the biological window. The desire to have children doesn’t automatically agree with God’s blessings in opening and closing the womb.

Modern medicine may be a tool to fight back, but not necessarily always advisedly.  There are moral concerns with the unnecessary products of fertility. In some cases, those “products” are fertilized human embryos, you know, living babies, unneeded and presumably frozen in a suspended, unliving state forever.

It’s far simpler to marry well, marry young, and have babies soon.

Fourth: Attraction

He ought to find her pretty. She ought to find him handsome. We often downplay these criteria among Christians. “We should look for what’s inside.” Attraction is far more complex than it looks.  However, physical attraction is an inseparable element. It makes a suitable shorthand for the whole of attraction.

Fifth: Submission & Headship

This was largely taboo for discussion among Christians in the mid to late 1900s. Fortunately, Christian gender roles are seeing a resurgence recently. For gals, y’all need to be hunting for a man who’s willing to lead. Leadership is not simply authority; it comes with responsibility. A man doesn’t get to shift blame. His leadership comes with being the sole culprit in our failures.

For the fellas, y’all need to be looking for a woman who can follow and support you. Power struggles within a marriage are a recipe for disaster. This disaster comes to us from the fall into sin. The native sin of the man is to shirk authority. The native sin of the woman is to seize it.

“To the woman He said: ‘I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception; In pain you shall bring forth children; Your desire shall be over your husband, And he shall rule over you.”

Then to Adam He said, ‘Because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat of it’: Cursed is the ground for your sake; In toil you shall eat of it All the days of your life. Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you, And you shall eat the herb of the field. In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread Till you return to the ground, For out of it you were taken; For dust you are, And to dust you shall return.’” (Genesis 3:16-19 KNJV)

Bonus: Parental Approval

Yes, your parents do need to approve. It may seem fun or edgy to rebel against their wisdom. It’s not to your benefit. They are God’s gift to you. Some of the stupidity they’re trying to preserve is their own. Your parents want a better life for you than their own.

Older wisdom is often better.

Originally posted at What does this Mean? Blog: https://whatdoesthismean.blog

The posts in the blog What does this Mean? are now available at What does this Mean? | Rev. Robert E. Smith | Substack

Rev. Jason M. Kaspar
Sole Pastor
Mt. Calvary Lutheran Church & Preschool
La Grange, TX

©2025 Jason Kaspar. All rights reserved. Permission granted to copy, share and display freely for non-commercial purposes. Direct all other rights and permissions inquiries to cosmithb@msn.com.

Lent Midweek V
Malachi 3:1-7b
April 9, 2025

          Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

          What better way to close out this sermon series on the Minor Prophets than with the prophet Malachi? The timing is impeccable. Every one of these prophets spoke about the coming Messiah, and this sermon leads us straight into Holy Week, where we hear about the suffering, death, and resurrection of that Messiah.

          And while I know that Malachi is the last book of the Old Testament and that Matthew’s Gospel follows immediately afterward in our Bibles, you need to know that there was about four hundred years of history in between Malachi and Matthew. That’s a longer period than the history of America, and many things that happened during that time directly relate to the context in which Jesus was born and lived and died and rose again.

On that note, it is worthy of your time to seek out the history of the “Time between the Testaments,” which we call the Apocrypha. You may have seen these books if you have perused a Roman Catholic Bible once. Or maybe you have heard about those books on a TV program. And I bet you did not know that Luther’s German Bible included all of those Apocrypha books in it until very recently. What you need to know is this: The Apocrypha is good history, but the books are not biblical books and they are not written for faith and salvation.

But I digress. This is not a sermon on the Apocrypha. I just want you to know that there was a four hundred year gap between Malachi and Matthew. That realization makes Malachi’s message even more profound for us. These were the last words heard by God’s prophets and His beloved people: “Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. You and I both know that this refers to John the Baptizer, the cousin of Jesus. This word from Malachi sounds like Advent to us. That John the Baptizer will prepare the way of the Lord and make straight the highway of our God. But it also sounds like a Lenten theme, especially on a week like this. For Malachi’s words come true in the clearest way as Jesus enters into Jerusalem on a donkey.

At that point, the way had been prepared and God came to town. Malachi lays it out for us in so clear a way when he says, And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple. The Lord Jesus Christ came to Jerusalem. The High Priest Jesus came into the temple, His Father’s House. There are at least three stories related to this prophecy. First during Jesus’ childhood, He stayed behind when He was a boy and Joseph and Mary had to come back to find Him. Second during His ministry, Jesus overturned the tables of the moneychangers and declared the temple a House of Prayer rather than a den of robbers. And then finally, during this Holy Week, the Lord came to Jerusalem to “celebrate the Passover” as the Passover Lamb who took away all the sins of the world. Christ certainly came to His temple.

Christ certainly came to His temple and what a message this was for Malachi’s people who had not seen the glory of the Lord in the temple for over a hundred years and who would not see the presence of the Lord for another 400 years. The thought of God returning was yes joyful, but also a quite fearful thing for the people, especially as the years went on and on and God did not return. Malachi himself asked the congregation, But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? This too we see in the Scriptures. Who could endure the day of Christ’s coming? Did Peter, who denied Him three times? Did Judas, who betrayed Him into the hands of the chief priests? Did the chief priests and Pharisees, those who should have welcomed our Lord to the temple, did they endure the day of Christ’s coming? What about the other disciples? They all scattered and only John was left there at the cross. Who can endure? Who can believe? Who can stand?

It turns out that following Jesus at the time of Malachi and at the time of Holy Week and even during our own lives now is incredibly difficult. Consider one simple example, who could commit on one week of the year to go to church so much, Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Easter Eve, and Easter Sunday? I completely admit, that it’s a lot of time and effort just to commemorate the days of Holy Week, but imagine if you lived in those days? Imagine if the events transpired in your lifetime, and you were eyewitnesses to the day of the Lord who came to die on the cross!

Malachi expresses this endurance and faith as a process of purification. He says to us today, For he is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap. He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, and they will bring offerings in righteousness to the Lord. Consider then these Holy Days of Holy Week not as a burden, but rather as the work of God upon your soul, to refine you like silver, to purify your minds toward God, and to strengthen your faith in Him. Consider then this Holy Week not as your work or obligation, but rather as the opportunity that God works on you, saying to you, Take eat and Drink of it all of you for the forgiveness of your sins. That God works on you and says, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.” That the Lord works on you and says, “On the seventh Day God rested from all His work in the tomb.” That God works on you and says, “He is not here. He is risen just as He said.”

Malachi speaks four hundred years before the life of Christ, but his message is fulfilled even among us. And this final thing I leave with you. That Jesus is enough. That Jesus’ work during this Holy Week justifies and sanctifies you. That Christ’s death on the cross atones for you. That God the Father’s offering of His only-begotten Son for the sins of the world is enough. Malachi himself declares, Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord as in the days of old and as in former years. That offering, Jesus Christ the Lord, is sufficient for your salvation. This messenger was sent, and this message was preached and even you believe it, that Jesus Christ died on the cross for the forgiveness of your sins, and that He rose again so that you too shall live forever.

In the holy name of Jesus. Amen.

Originally posted at What does this Mean? Blog: https://whatdoesthismean.blog

The posts in the blog What does this Mean? are now available at What does this Mean? | Rev. Robert E. Smith | Substack

Rev. James Peterson
St. John Lutheran Church
Curtis, Nebraska

©2025 James Peterson. All rights reserved. Permission granted to copy, share and display freely for non-commercial purposes. Direct all other rights and permissions inquiries to cosmithb@msn.com

Encore Post: Martin Chemnitz was a gifted churchman. He reformed churches, examined and taught pastors, preached, and brought doctrinal unity to regions he supervised. As a skilled ecclesiastical diplomat, he helped to settle disagreements between theologians. As a careful, well-read, and thorough author, he clarified Martin Luther’s teachings and forged bodies of doctrine for Lutheran territories. Most importantly, he led a team of theologians in crafting the Formula of Concord and gathering the chief confessions of the Lutheran church into one volume, The Book of Concord.

Martin Chemnitz was born in Treuenbrietzen in Brandenburg. Saxony, Germany, on 9 November 1522 to Paul and Euphemia Chemnitz and baptized in St. Mary’s Church. His father died when he was eleven years old. To help support the family, he first became a weaver’s apprentice and later worked for his brother in the family business. When he was twenty, he began his university studies, interrupted by the need to work to finance his education, teaching school, and collecting local taxes on fish. He briefly attended the University of Wittenberg, where he studied under Philipp Melanchthon, and heard Martin Luther lecture and preach.

After the death of Luther, Chemnitz attended the then-new University of Königsberg, where he served as the librarian for the Duke of Prussia and the University. He used the time to read widely and begin his study of theology. He returned to Wittenberg in 1554 to study under Melanchthon and lecture on the reformer’s Loci Communes.

Martin Chemnitz was ordained in November of 1554 by Johannes Bugenhagen to become co-adjutor of Joachim Mörlin, who was ecclesiastical superintendent for the Duchy of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel and a leader in the Gnesio Lutheran movement. In 1566, he succeeded Mörlin as superintendent, in which office he served until his death.

Originally posted at What does this Mean? Blog: https://whatdoesthismean.blog

The posts in the blog What does this Mean? are now available at What does this Mean? | Rev. Robert E. Smith | Substack

Rev. Robert E. Smith
Pastor Emeritus
Fort Wayne, Indiana

©2022 Robert E. Smith. All rights reserved. Permission granted to copy, share and display freely for non-commercial purposes. Direct all other rights and permissions inquiries to cosmithb@gmail.com

Campus Ministry Night
Micah 5
January 15, 2025

Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

The theme is this: The Lord shall come from Bethlehem to rule over His people and be their Shepherd.

In these sermons during Epiphany, I want to show to you that each of these Old Testament characters point us to Jesus. On Sunday, it was clear that Joshua walking through the Jordan River pointed us to Jesus walking into the Jordan River to be baptized.

But today we take a look at Micah chapter 5. And believe it or not, you have heard this prophecy before. This is one of the big prophecies in the Old Testament that give very specific details about Jesus. It is in this chapter that the priests and the scribes tell Herod about where Jesus is to be born.

I’ll admit that it’s difficult to imagine the context for this passage. For we in America are the biggest and strongest nation, and we have few threats against us. We have all lived our lives in relative peace and there has not been a land war on American soil. Most of us have never seen war up close, only on the news. But that being said, imagine that we are under siege by the enemy. Imagine that we are trapped and surrounded by people who do not like us. Imagine that you are the underdog and you are about to lose your homes and your jobs and your wives and your children.

Imagine that you are about to lose a battle and the war. That might not be a common context for us, but that was the daily fear of the people of God. For the people of God had been slaves for 400 years. The people of God had enemies all around them, the Canaanites, the Philistines, the Amalekites, the Moabites, all the -ites. The people of God were threatened in this Micah passage with destruction from Assyria. And the southern kingdom would later be exiled to Babylon. Then the Greeks and the Romans would rule over them. God’s people were rarely free. They were constantly under siege or made to be slaves.

In truth, I want you to know that the people of the Middle East have always been at war and have always wanted to destroy one another. It was true back then and it is true today.

But even with that context, even if we can imagine being under attack, God never forsakes His people. God promises to fight for them. God has promised to deliver them. But He does not call on Jerusalem to muster up troops. He does not expect to use the powerful and populous to protect His people. Again and again, the Lord God does not use the strength of the army to win the war because God wants us to trust in Him to overcome our enemies.

He uses the weak and the small for His purpose, and He delivers them. Hear the words of the Lord. But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel. Imagine for a minute that North Platte was coming to ransack Curtis. It’s a crazy thought. But rather than calling upon Lincoln to save us, God would tell us that Stockville and Moorefield will come to save us. That’s no insult to Stockville or Moorefield, but that is so few people in comparison to North Platte. How could God do it?

That’s how it is, when God calls upon Bethlehem to save the nation. God uses the few to save the many. God demonstrates His power over against all the nations of the world to keep His people safe. He shall take from the least of these and from that small town shall be born a Savior. That’s why the priests and scribes tell Herod about this passage. Micah’s words had lain dormant for hundreds of years, but they were fulfilled in the birth of Jesus Christ.

And it’s a shame that the New Testament stops the prophecy there for it goes on when Micah says, Therefore he shall give them up until the time when she who is in labor has given birth; then the rest of his brothers shall return to the people of Israel. In other words, the battles will be waged, and wars will be lost. Land will be taken and families will be dispersed. The people shall be given up. Israel will lose. And they certainly did throughout their history. But when the virgin gives birth to Jesus, then the people will be saved. Seven hundred years later, God enters Bethlehem as a baby boy and all the angels announce it.

And here’s the Epiphany theme. When it says that the rest of the brothers shall return to the people of Israel, that means the Gentiles. That means us. In the grand scheme of things, one lost battle and one ransacked city does not compare to the love of God for His people. In the long range of history, the most significant moment was when Jesus was born in Bethlehem and died in Jerusalem. For this is a salvation that is way more than 1,000 people waiting to be delivered. In fact, through the birth and death and resurrection of Jesus, the whole earth has believed in Jesus the Savior and the rest of the brothers have joined in the heavenly host.

And here again Micah describes your Lord Jesus Christ when He says, He shall stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God. And they shall dwell secure, for now he shall be great to the ends of the earth. And he shall be their peace. That’s the comfort that we need to hear. That’s the comfort that we know so well. That’s what Jesus Christ has accomplished, that He defeated our enemies. And that’s what He has accomplished, that He has established His Church. And we the rest of the brothers have joined the Bethlehem band of believers. And He, Jesus Christ the Lord, shall rule over us now and always and He shall be our Shepherd forever and ever. Amen.

Originally posted at What does this Mean? Blog: https://whatdoesthismean.blog

The posts in the blog What does this Mean? are now available at What does this Mean? | Rev. Robert E. Smith | Substack

Rev. James Peterson
St. John Lutheran Church
Curtis, Nebraska

©2025 James Peterson. All rights reserved. Permission granted to copy, share and display freely for non-commercial purposes. Direct all other rights and permissions inquiries to cosmithb@msn.com