Robert Smith – Page 2 – What Does This Mean?

To Live Well, Honor Your Parents

Encore Post: [Thirteenth is a series of posts on Martin Luther’s Small Catechism] The Fourth Commandment is different. This commandment is positive. It urges us to honor our father and mother rather than the “nots” of most of the commandments. It comes with a promise — that you will live a long life. It is the first commandment that even non-believers can keep and their lives will be better in this world. It is the first of the Words to explain what it means to love your neighbor — to do to others what you want them to do to you.

So, why is honoring our father and mother the first commandment about loving our neighbors? Of all the vocations (callings) that God gives to us, parenting is the most basic. We are not all blessed with children, professions, businesses or crafts, but everyone of us has one father and one mother. A parent is for us a mask that God wears to care for us in this world. When the evil of this world deprives us of a loving father and mother, adoptive father and mother, a stepfather or mother or a foster father and mother, life is profoundly more difficult and troubled. When a father and mother serve God by caring for their children, providing for their needs, disciplining them and loving them, their children have the best chance of living a happy and productive life. When we love them, thank them, care for them in old age and illness, we encourage them to serve faithfully. Most of all, we set an example for those we care for.

Martin Luther also saw in fathers and mothers a model for all people God calls to care for us. Employers, rulers, pastors, teachers, first responders, husbands and others are called to lay down their lives for those in their care. We benefit from their leadership and protection. When we honor them, we honor God, who called them. We, in our turn, then serve those in our care, as Christ loved us and gave his life so we can live. When we honor all our leaders, we live longer, simpler, and happier lives in the balance.

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

The Sabbath Rest

Encore Post: [twelfth is a series of posts on Martin Luther’s Small Catechism] The Sabbath rest is ancient. God himself rested on the seventh day, just after he created the world in six days. When God gave his law to his people, the command to rest on the seventh day made the top ten. God knew that working without rest would damage his creatures. So he built it in — rest every night and the seventh day. It provided time for his people to worship and to meditate on his word.

Yet for Christians, the day they worship — and rest — is a matter of freedom. It belongs to the civil law, the law for the nation of Israel. It is not a part of the moral law, the law for all people. We know this because Jesus called himself “the Lord of the Sabbath” and St. Paul describes that freedom in Romans and Colossians. Still, the church chose from the beginning to rest every Sunday, the first day of the week, to remember the Resurrection of Jesus.

While Christians should worship God every and any day, resting on Sunday brings with it the opportunity to hear God’s word preached, to receive his gifts of baptism and the Lord’s Supper, to meet with each other and pray for each other and to study the Word of God. It is not so much that we have to go to church than that we get to go to church. At many times and in many places that freedom does not exist.

So we honor Sundays and Holy Days. We used the opportunity to receive the forgiveness of sins and bread for our daily lives. We rejoice to honor our Lord Jesus, who died for us, rested in the tomb three days and rose again, so that we might rest with him forever.

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, Indian

Pray, Praise and Give Thanks

Encore Post: [Eleventh is a series of posts on Martin Luther’s Small Catechism] A name has a lot more packed into it than we often realize. It carries a person’s reputation, authority and power with it. In ancient magical lore, if you know a person’s true name, you can have power over them. God’s name is the most important of all, not because it is magical, but because God has promised to hear us when we call to him.

The Second commandment is all about using God’s name in prayer, to act as his tools in this world to bring the Gospel to the lost and do his will as we serve him and our neighbors. We baptize in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We teach all that he commands us to teach. When we make promises to tell the truth and make promises to each other in his presence, we commit ourselves to keep them.

The problem is our sinful nature wants to use God’s name to cover lies and to make people believe we intend to do what we have no intention of doing. We want God to give us things that we desire, treating God as if he were some kind of cosmic vending machine — insert prayer. Believe you will get it and it will come to you. We are inclined to say “O my God” when we are surprised or shocked rather than as a prayer for help. These uses are misuses of God’s name and what the command tells us not to do.

So, then, do we go the other way, as Judaism does, and not even use his name at all? No, God wants us to use his name. We call to him in trouble. We are comforted when in his name, our pastors forgive our sins. We draw strength when we remember he came to us in our baptism and put his name on us that in his name we are saved. We call his name like we call a beloved father, mother and grandparent, knowing we are loved and they want to share our lives. We use his name to praise him and thank him for his love and mercy.

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

©2018, rev. 2020 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@msn.com

God’s Name

Encore Post: [Tenth is a series of posts on Martin Luther’s Small Catechism] Moses was minding his father-in-law’s sheep in the Sinai Desert one day. When he saw a bush on fire, he noticed it was not burning up. Curious, he went to see what was happening. The Son of God spoke to him from the bush in the form of the Angel of the Lord. God called him to lead his people out of slavery in Egypt. During his conversation with God, Moses asked for God’s name. That name is Yahweh, which means “I Am Who I Am.” The Old Testament uses this name for God.

After the Jewish people returned from exile in Babylon, they decided never to pronounce this name. Instead, they used the word Adonai, which means “My Lord.” When they wrote down the text of God’s Word to read in the synagogue, they put the vowels of Adonai together with the consonants of Yahweh. This technique reminded the reader not to speak God’s name. When the Old Testament was translated into Greek, the translator used the word Kurios — Lord — in its place. Most English translations follow that custom.

Christians need not avoid saying Yahweh, but by custom often do so. The word Lord has become a cherished name for our Heavenly Father… And his son, Jesus.

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

We Believe in One God…

Encore Post: [Ninth is a series of posts on Martin Luther’s Small Catechism] “All religions believe the same thing, right?” well-meaning people often say to me. They probably know deep down that it isn’t true, but just want everyone to get along. The easiest way to show it is not correct is to explain how various religions answer the question: “How many gods are there?”

Hindus and other eastern religions believe all things and people are a part of god. Mormons believe all gods used to be people who worked their way to godhood and that we, too, can become gods. Judaism, Islam and Christianity believe there is only one God.

The Bible describes the Triune God as the only true God. Moses writes: “Hear, Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one” (Deuteronomy 6:4) God himself says: “I am the First, I am the Last! Besides me, there is no god … Is there a god besides me? There is no rock; I know not any.” (Isaiah 44:6-8) St. Paul tells us that all other things people call gods are not real; There only is one God. (1 Corinthians 8:4-6) Jesus sums it up when he says in prayer that the Father is the only true God. (John 17:3)

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

Blog Post Series

Who is Your God?

Encore Post: [Eighth is a series of posts on Martin Luther’s Small Catechism] When St. Paul first visited Athens as a Christian, he noticed it was a very religious place. Everywhere he went, he found a temple or sometimes just an altar to this or that god or goddess. That he expected. But what caught him by surprise is there was an altar on which to sacrifice to an unknown god. Someone really wanted to cover all their bases! (Acts 17:16-31)

Our world is also a very religious place. Everywhere you go there are churches, temples and gathering places. “In God we trust” appears on the money of the United States. Conversations often invoke a god, even if it just in cursing. At times of death and birth, a god is often called upon to provide blessings or comfort. For a secular society, gods are everywhere.

God made human beings so that we need to depend upon him. So, even when a person is not a Christian, even if they are an atheist, they need to depend upon someone or something, especially in times of need. Martin Luther describes it this way:

“A god means that from which we are to expect all good and to which we are to take refuge in all distress, so that to have a God is nothing else than to trust and believe Him from the [whole] heart; as I have often said that the confidence and faith of the heart alone make both God and an idol. If your faith and trust be right, then is your god also true; and, on the other hand, if your trust be false and wrong, then you have not the true God; for these two belong together, faith and God. That now, I say, upon which you set your heart and put your trust is properly your god.” (Large Catechism 1.1.2-3)

For Christians, God is not some fuzzy concept, one of many competing gods or goddess, or the whole universe merged as a single being or something we are obsessed with or addicted to. God is our Father, who loved us before he made the world, who knit us together in our mother’s womb, who in the person of the Son of God, suffered, died and rose again, so that we might live with him forever. All other things that we can make into a god are a product of human imagination or are not made to take the weight of our trust. Sooner or later, they will fail. But God will never fail. He is with us, now, through death and into eternal life.

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

The Two Greatest Commandments

Encore Post: [Sixth post in a series of posts on Martin Luther’s Small Catechism] Because God loved us before he made the world (Ephesians 1:3-4), we love God and want to keep his commandments. But where do we start? The Rabbis count 613 commands in the Torah (the first five books of the Bible, written by Moses) alone! While they kept track of each one in great detail and invented traditions to be sure and keep them, they found it helpful to ask each Rabbi for his opinion. “Which commandment is the greatest of them all?” became a common question for disciples to ask their teacher. So it is not a surprise that people discussed with Jesus this question several times. (Matthew 22:36, Mark 12:28, Luke 10:25-28)

Jesus taught that two commandments summarize the whole of God’s Law — “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength” (Deuteronomy 6:45 ESV) and “you shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Leviticus 19:18) In a sense, the second of the two commandments is contained in the first. Every command in the whole of the Scripture will be kept if you love God with your whole heart.

As sinners, we cannot do this perfectly, of course. But we can do some good works because God loved us first, sending Jesus to die so that we might be forgiven. By his Holy Spirit God has created faith in our hearts, so that we can truly love him. So, then, because God loves us, we also love our neighbor as ourselves and in the same way that we have been loved by God. (1 John 4:7-12)

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

Blog Post Series

Fence, Mirror and Guide Book

Encore Post: [Fifth is a series of posts on Martin Luther’s Small Catechism] “In the day you eat of it, you will surely die,” God warned Adam. (Genesis 2:17) And he did die and all of us with him. (1 Corinthians 15:22) The first sin disrupted everything. It set creation against itself, bringing decay, suffering, grief and disorder. The greatest disaster, however, is the separation of God from his children. Now they were under sentence of death. Yet God did not destroy the world, nor damn Adam and Eve as they deserved. In his love and mercy, God promised instead to send his Son to crush the ancient snake (Genesis 3:15). With his judgment on their sin and the curses that followed, he began to reveal his law to Adam and Eve so that they might learn the consequences of their sin, cling to the promised Seed of Eve for salvation and learn to serve God and others once again.

To this day, the Law of God restrains our sin, drives us to the Gospel for salvation and shows us how, in faith, we can serve God and our neighbors. The law does this in three ways.

First, it stops sin from running free in the world. Through human authorities — parents, governments, employers and others, the law praises and rewards good behavior and punishes evil deeds. It acts like a fence, to contain and restrain sin.

Second, the law tells us what God requires of us, threatens us with eternal death if we do not obey it in thought, word and deed. It reveals every one of our sins, evil motives, and desires. It charges us with rebellion against God in his court. It shows us we are guilty and cannot free ourselves. It drives us to the Gospel and the sacrifice of God’s Son for our salvation. It acts like a mirror that shows us our sin.

Third, the law guides Christians in whom the Holy Spirit has created faith in Christ. Because we love God and want to please him, the law reveals his God’s will for our lives and how he wants us to love him and our neighbors. It acts like a guidebook or a manual that clears away the confusion of life in a sinful world.

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

What is in the Small Catechism?

Encore Post: [Forth is a series of posts on Martin Luther’s Small Catechism] When a young confirmation student first gets his copy of the Small Catechism, his first thought is that it doesn’t look all that small! His shiny new book is hundreds of pages long, with hundreds of questions in it. He panics at the thought of memorizing it all — until he realizes that he only has to memorize the first two dozen or so pages. It still seems impossible — but a little less so!

So, what is in the Catechism? When Luther began his work, just three pieces — the Ten Commandments, The Apostles’s Creed and the Lord’s prayer. These three main parts are still the heart of the catechism. The Ten Commandments or Ten Words tell us what we should do to be like God. God intended it exactly backwards from the way we learn it. It is at its base a guidebook — the third use of the Law. When original sin comes into the picture, the first and second uses we first think of comes into play. The Apostles’ Creed tells us what God did to make us, redeem us, and make us holy so that we can keep God’s law. The Lord’s Prayer tells us about our life of fellowship with God. Luther wrote simple explanations of these in everyday German.

Soon, questions about Baptism and the Lord’s Supper were added, along with simple answers to them and the main Scriptures that teach them. These helped the students come to understand the treasures awaiting them in the divine service. A brief form of confession was also added to prepare students for confession and absolution before a pastor in private. After Luther’s death, information about the Office of the Keys rounded out the six main parts of the catechism.

In Luther’s day, when you bought a book, you bought just the pages — like you copied an entire book on a photocopier. You would go to a bookbinder, who would put a cover on it. The book was still so small that people added small tracts to fill it out a bit. Several have remained in most editions — Luther’s chart of duties — scriptures that talk about people with different roles in life should do, a marriage service, a baptism service, Christian questions and answers.

Over the centuries, the catechism became so popular teachers wanted more questions and answers that addressed the theological issues of the day. Thus, many catechisms have explanation sections with bible stories, scriptures that support the points of these questions and many other things. That is how the book grew to what we know it today.

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

Why is Luther’s Small Catechism so Popular?

“Mercy! Good God! what manifold misery I beheld! The common people, especially in the villages, have no knowledge whatever of Christian doctrine, and, alas! many pastors are altogether incapable and incompetent to teach … Yet they [do not understand and] cannot [even] recite either the Lord’s Prayer, or the Creed, or the Ten Commandments”
— Martin Luther, “Preface” in The Small Catechism 0.1

Encore Post: [Third is a series of posts on Martin Luther’s Small Catechism] Luther was shocked and dismayed. His prince had sent him and his friends on a mission to go throughout Saxony and see what needed to be done to reform the church. There was no bishop who came over to the Reformation to provide care for the people, so the prince had to act. Luther knew the everyday people were badly educated — but he didn’t know how bad it was. He had instructed his friends to write catechisms to help fathers and priests teach the people. He was not at all satisfied with their work and it clearly was not working. So he produced two Catechisms — the Large Catechism for pastors and fathers learn how to teach children and the Small Catechism for the children to memorize.

Luther produced two classics. The Small Catechism revolutionized Christian education of children — even beyond Lutheranism, resulting in basic catechisms for children appearing in all denominations. Wherever the Lutheran Church and its missions went in the world, the Small Catechism soon followed. As soon as the Bible appeared in a new language, the Catechism and the liturgy were sure to soon follow. It is among the most translated works in Western civilization. When the first Missouri Synod Lutherans emigrated to America, among the essential books packed in the trunks were the Bible, the Catechism, a prayer book, a hymnal and a book of sermons. Wherever the Missouri Synod organized congregations, they would immediately set up schools — sometimes multiple schools — where at first the pastors would teach, you guessed it — the Catechism, the Bible and then other subjects. As soon as a congregation could afford it, they would also call a school teacher.

The Small Catechism was so popular because it was so basic. It taught the bedrock doctrines needed to live a Christian life — the Ten Commandments and with it God’s law in its three uses; the Creed and with it the Gospel, which saves us and gives us the power to live the Christian life and the Lord’s Prayer, and with it the building of a life centered around Jesus. He also translated these treasures into the child’s native language, so they could comprehend them. He then explained them carefully, sweetly, in easily memorizable words. He did all this without using combative language. The result is that even non-Lutherans cherish the Small Catechism.

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

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