Anthropology – What Does This Mean?

You’re No Angel: Things Angels are Not

Encore Post: Beautiful young women in long, flowing white gowns, with big, downy wings, with a glowing, gold halo. A chubby, winged baby. The spirits of deceased Christians, also bearing wings and a halo, carrying a harp, floating on clouds. Images like these fill our pictures, movies, TV shows and songs. Yet none of these are real nor share much in common with God’s Holy Angels. They are very different creatures and are not mild, gentle beings. They are God’s Heavenly Army, powerful and, when they appear, command respect.

First of all, angels are not people. They are spirits created by God to serve him. (Hebrews 1) Christians do not become angels when they die. Our spirits are unnaturally separated from our bodies at death — bodies which decay. But we do not remain in that state. On the last day, God will raise our bodies from the dead and reunite our spirits with them.

Angels are powerful beings, sometimes tasked with battling Satan and his demons (these are fallen angelic creatures). They guard us, plead for us before the throne of God and stand in his eternal presence. When they appear to people, they so often inspire fear that almost always their first words to humans are “fear not.” Some of God’s people are even tempted when they appear to fall down in worship. Scripture even poetically refers to them as gods.

Unlike the popular TV series and movies, angels are not like humans with flaws, prone to temptation and sin. Good angels are now eternally sinless, having been tested by Lucifer’s rebellion. They have a perfect knowledge of God. While they always take the form of a male human when they appear to humans, they never marry. They also are not young, having existed since before the fall of Adam and Eve, nor are they ever female. The scriptures do not mention halos (these are put into medieval art to draw eyes to images of holy people and beings, especially in stained glass) and only describe angels with wings when referring to seraphim and cherubim).

Most importantly, they ministered to Jesus during his earthly ministry. Angels are used by God to draw us to Jesus. On our last day and the last day, they will escort us to the throne of God, where we will live with God forever. So we thank God for the ministry of Angels and sing with them his praises, both here on earth and forever.

Rev. Robert E. Smith

Pastor Emeritus

Fort Wayne, Indiana

Sunday School: Job and Suffering Even Though We Don’t Know Why

Encore Post: Job was a good man. He loved God and served Him well. When Job lost everything he had, his friends thought he must have done something very evil. Yet Job insisted he did nothing wrong. He could not figure out why these things were happening to him. Job was right. God allowed Satan to attack Job to test his faith, not to punish him.

When Adam and Eve disobeyed God, sin, sickness, disaster and death entered the world. Most of the time, innocent people suffer from them. Because God loves us, He does not want people to suffer and to die from these things. He wants us to live the way He intended us to live when He made the world and called it “very good.” So He sent His Son to die in our place and pay for our sins. Now our sins are forgiven and we will live forever with Him. One day, Jesus will return to bring a final end to sin, suffering, grief and death. In life everlasting, He will dry every tear from our eyes.

Yet sin, suffering, grief and death continue in this world — even for us. When Job finally lost his health, he complained to God that it wasn’t fair. He was, after all, a good man. God pointed out that Job should trust Him, even though Job could not understand why he was suffering. God knows what’s best and sometimes He allows evil to happen because ending it is worse than allowing it to take its course. God can use the evil of the world to strengthen our faith — our trust — in him and his promises. Job repented of questioning God and placed his trust in God’s love. In the end, God restored Job’s prosperity.

Rev. Robert E. Smith
Fort Wayne, Indiana

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Church Word #13: Omnipotent

Encore Post: People respect power and ability. They admire the powerful, dream of what they could do if they had more power are will to fight for power, sometimes doing things they hate along the way. Money speaks because it brings with it power. They are willing to sacrifice almost anything to gain power. It really is not power itself that is so attractive. Power lets you do whatever you want to do. The problem with power is sinful people cannot be trusted with it. “Power tends to corrupt,” said Lord Acton, “And absolute power corrupts absolutely.”

The only one who truly is all-powerful — all-mighty — omnipotent is God. God can do anything he wants to do. When God speaks, the world was created. (Genesis 1) By his word, he keeps the universe running (Hebrews 1:3) Even when things seem impossible to us, for God, all things are possible. (Matthew 19:26) What this means for us is that he can and does keep his promises to us. The real question, then, is not what can God do, but what does he want to do for us?

Where people come to doubt God’s power or his existence, it almost always because he does not do what they think he should do. “If there is a good god,” they say, “then he would…” — eliminate disease, suffering and death — right now! He would shower them with blessing, making you rich and comfortable. When he does not do these things — and on their timetable, people will complain. What they should do is ask: “what is God’s will?” “what does he want to do?”

What God wants to do is to save us and to live with us forever. He loved us before he made the world, chose us to be adopted as his children, to make us holy and blameless in his presence. This he accomplished through the sacrifice of His Son on the cross by which he redeemed us, earned for us the forgiveness of sins and sealed us for eternity by His Holy Spirit. (Ephesians 1:3-14)

So, what God wants to do is seek and save the lost. With his power, he is able to do this and has already done it for us. What he also wants to do is to work his power through us. He sends us with his word to proclaim, his sacraments to share and gifts to care for our neighbors. So, we are a part of his plan to execute his will. It is through us he chooses to exercise his almighty power, for the praise of his grace, the salvation of the lost and the restoration of his creation to perfection. For with God, nothing is impossible.

Rev. Robert E. Smith
Concordia Theological Seminary
Fort Wayne, Indiana

Church Words #3: Communion of Saints

Encore Post: Every Sunday, we confess that we believe in the “communion of saints.” This phrase is not about the Lord’s Supper (yes, I know we sometimes call it Holy Communion !) It refers to the fellowship between members of their invisible church, both in the paradise with the Lord and with us on earth.

Theologians call Christians who have died trusting in Jesus for their salvation the Church Triumphant. They have been cleansed of their sin. God has dried every tear in their eyes. They praise the Lamb of God night and day with great joy. In Jesus, they have conquered sin, death and the power of the devil. On the last day, God will raise them from their graves and we will join them forever at the Marriage Feast of the Lamb.

The Christians in this world, who still fight every day with the Devil and his forces, the world and its pressures to worship other gods and the old Adam, are called the Church Militant. The word is Latin for “to fight like a soldier.” When the Christian dies, he or she enters the Church Triumphant. William W. How describes the relationship between the two states of the church well in his beloved hymn, “For All the Saints:”

O blest communion, fellowship divine
We feebly struggle, they in glory shine;
Yet all are one in Thee, for all are Thine.
Alleluia! Alleluia! (TLH 463 Stanza four)

When a Christian dies and enters eternal life, they no longer are aware of this world. We do not pray for them, because they no longer need prayer. We do not pray to them, because they do not answer, nor is there anything they can do for us. We pray to the Father and the Son and sometimes the Holy Spirit. They are where help can be found.

But there is a time when we pray with them. When we gather for worship, we are not just praying with those in the room with us. We pray together with the whole church — both the Church Militant around the world of all nations, races, languages and places, with Angels and Archangels, and the Church Triumphant, the whole company of heaven. The day will soon enough come — today, tomorrow, decades from now, or at the end of time — when we will worship in the presence of God as members of the Church Triumphant. For now, we join them every time we gather to praise God. It is why theologians often call Sunday the eighth day of the week. It is a time outside of time itself in eternity, when the clock stops for us until the pastor makes the sign of the cross at the end of worship and we realize about an hour has past in the world around us!

Rev. Robert E. Smith
Concordia Theological Seminary
Fort Wayne, Indiana

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Vocation and the Table of Duties

You probably have heard the phrase “purpose driven life” or something similar within the great “Christian” sphere of influence. With some of that teaching, it can go awry because the “purpose” becomes singular, and unfortunately it can make you abdicate other duties or vocations in pursuit of that singular purpose. Instead of a single purpose, God, having justified us by grace through faith has also created us in the image of Christ Jesus for good works, that we should walk in them.

What are good works? Good works are those things which flow from faith in Christ Jesus as well as those things that are carried out within our vocation. Where do you find yourself? In the Small Catechism after the 6 chief parts there is a lesser known but ultra important section called the Table of Duties.

The Table of Duties is a listing of Bible passages addressing the common but holy vocations of Christians in their daily lives. The table begins with vocations within the church, out to the public square, then back into the household. The Bible passages compiled are not an exhaustive list of the duties that comprise each calling or vocation, but they give a good overview of the most common vocations: pastors, laypeople, children, parents, worker, employer.

Some vocations can be chosen. Others are handed down to you without your consent. I am a son. I am also a brother. I was not asked how I felt about that. I learned quickly what it meant to live in the vocation of son and brother. But other vocations came through my own choosing. I am a husband and I am a father. Now that I have become a husband and a father, however, I am called upon and admonished to do the duties required of me from Scripture.

You might consider each kind of job a vocation. You might even say you are called to a certain job, etc. But we must be careful how far we take that discussion because what would happen if we left that job? Would it be sinful to switch your career? We should not go that far, but understand that we are accountable to the more general descriptions of being a worker, etc.

The term vocation is freighted with all kinds of weight. But we Christians should turn our attention to the table of duties and ask ourselves, “Where do I find myself?”

Rev. Jacob Hercamp
Christ Lutheran Church
Noblesville, IN

Why Confess Your Sins?

Encore Post: After the Sacrament of Holy Baptism in Luther’s Small Catechism we find the section on Confession. Pastors get the question from time to time, “Why do we keep confessing our sins? Especially if we are baptized?” Confession is the natural extension of our Baptism because in Confession and Absolution we are brought back to the promises of our Baptism. Think back to the 3rd and 4th parts of Baptism. While we did die with Christ in Baptism, we still live in the body of sinful flesh. Only when we die do we stop sinning.

Sin is a fearful thing. And continuing to sin even after our Baptism can catch up to us. Continuing to sin without sign of contrition/repentance can lead a person to walk away from their Baptismal Identity and lose their faith. Confessing our sins is needed, even after Baptism for the forgiveness of sins and strengthening of our faith.

In Confession we hear plainly God’s two words: Law and Gospel. He is the One who has given us the 10 commandments. He is the one who tells that we have fallen short of his glory due to our sins. But, He is also the One who promises us that even though we are sinners He does love us and forgives us on account of the only begotten Son. He made that clear at our Baptism, but if we don’t hear the words of absolution spoken by Pastor in the stead and mandate of Christ we tend to forget God’s love for us in Christ.

There are some Christians who say that the Pastor cannot say, “You are forgiven.” But Christ our Lord commands his apostles to speak the forgiveness of sins to those men and women who repent of their sins. Confession of sins leads us to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Pastors are in the unique situation to be the very people that God uses to speak this truth to the repentant sinner. They are also the ones who are called to retain the sins of the unrepentant.

Our Lord searches us out, and calls us to the promise He made at our Baptism again. He does not want us to forget our baptism, so he speaks tenderly the same word to us each time we come to Him to confess our sins.

Rev. Jacob Hercamp

Christ Lutheran Church

Noblesville, Indiana

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Stay Calm and Remember Your Baptism

Encore Post: While Baptism is a one-time event, its blessings last a lifetime. Baptism is an event outside of us, observed by witnesses and recorded in books. Especially when we are baptized as children, there is no question that God loves us, that he adopted us as his children and that we will live with him forever. When we are baptized, we realize that we are not seekers, but that God sought us and found us. We can be sure that we are saved and that we will live with God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit forever.

In our sin-filled world, where we are at war with the world, the devil and our flesh, life can get confusing very fast. As we are confronted with our sinful nature, we may wonder how God can love us, whether we please him or can ever measure up to his standards. At times like these, we can remember our baptism. No matter what happens, this is the central fact of our lives. I am baptized.

St. Paul reminds us that in baptism, we are united to Christ in his death. (Romans 6:3-11) Christ bore our sins on the cross, suffered and died to pay the full penalty we deserved for them. Because we are baptized, when he died, we died. When He rose from the dead, we rise to new life. Now we can face anything that comes our way.

Each day, we can prepare ourselves in prayer for the day. We can make the sign of the cross, remembering that we are baptized, thank God for his mercies and remember that nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:37-39)

Rev. Robert E. Smith

Concordia Theological Seminary

Fort Wayne, Indiana

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The World, The Devil and Our Sinful Desires

Encore Post: “Lead us not into temptation” is the one petition in the Lord’s Prayer that puzzles some Christians. God loves us, so why would he set us up to be tempted? That instinct is very good. The Book of James explains: “Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.” (James 1:13-15)

Part of the problem is the word “temptation” has changed since it was first used in the Middle Ages in the English version of the Lord’s Prayer. To tempt means to test someone to see what they will do. In modern English, we think of it to mean to lure someone into doing evil. The other problem is that, as we’ve seen with the other parts of this prayer, that we forget that God already does this. He already makes his name holy, his kingdom already comes to us and will come to us, his will already is done on earth and in heaven, he already gives us daily bread and forgives us. So, of course, he already does not lead us into temptation, but delivers us from evil. We pray so that he will guard us and strengthen us when our enemies tempt us to sin. They are the unholy trinity — the World, the Devil and our flesh — our sinful desires. Many Christians make the sign of the cross when they pray this petition, reminding them that because of the death of Jesus on the cross, God promises to do this — and does.

God allows testing of our faith because it strengthens us. We often do not know why God tests us in particular, but it has the effect of taking away from us anything we might trust other than God and his promises. Yet even though God will let these things challenge us, he promises to give us the strength to withstand it. (1 Corinthians 10:13) We remember that Jesus was tempted in every way that we are, except he did not sin. (Hebrews 4:15) So, we pray that we withstand temptation and remain faithful until the day we are with him forever.

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Daily Bread

Encore Post: In the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus teaches us not only how to pray, but what to pray for. Out of all the petitions he invites us to bring to the Father, only one talks about physical needs. So far, we’ve prayed for God’s name to be made holy, his kingdom to come, his will to be done. We will also pray to be forgiven, spared from temptation and to be delivered from evil. Into this one petition, Jesus packs all of our physical needs for food, shelter, health, good government — in short — happy lives. This is very different from what we actually pray for. Our everyday struggles fill our prayers. Only occasionally do we get around to praying for spiritual blessings.

Why is this? To begin with, it is not wrong to pray for such things. This petition, in fact, invites us to do so. Also, Jesus very often calls on us to be persistent in prayer, to bring all our needs to God, to cast our cares on him. Prayer, in fact, is all about our relationship with the Father. What it is about is a matter of perspective.

Just like a good earthly father, God is at work providing for our daily needs. A small child does not see his father’s hard labor to make a living. How he pays the bills to keep the utilities on and put away money for education. She doesn’t see how he and her mother go to the store to buy food, tend a garden, buy or sew clothes and much more. All these he does because he loves her, even when she isn’t a model of sweet behavior. Yet he and her mother delights when the child comes and endlessly asks for these things.

So, God works to provide everything we need. We pray for them so that we remember all that he does for us, so that we do not worry about such things and so that we can focus on the work he gives us to do. It encourages us to remember how Jesus laid down his life for us, died for our sins and rose from the dead. In our greatest need, he provided what we most need — forgiveness of sins, life and salvation. When we pray for what we need, we see how he gives them to us and remember they are not so important. It allows us to remember that life is forever, and he will always care for us and be with us, in life, through death and into the life to come.

Rev. Robert E. Smith

Concordia Theological Seminary

Fort Wayne, Indiana

Dear Children and their Dear Father

Encore Post: There is nothing subtle about little children. When loved ones come home after being away, they scream, “Daddy!” “Grandpa!” “Mommy!” “Grandma” and dash across the room to hug them. They have plenty to say, are ready to play and enjoy being with them. Martin Luther in the Small Catechism compares prayer to a child who comes to talk to his father. (Small Catechism, Lord’s Prayer, 3.1) God wants us to come to him and to ask for anything, knowing that he loves us, cares for us, wants the best for us and will answer our prayer.

In many religions, prayer is more about getting what you want from a god, an ancestor, a spirit or some other supernatural being. It is often filled with attempts to manipulate the deity and receiving the desired result. These spirits are distant, not so interested in us or fearful beings. Like the Wizard of Oz, you just don’t get near them.

Not so with our Heavenly Father. Prayer is more about our relationship with our Father, who loved us before he made the world, who made us and cares for us daily, who sent his Son to die for our sins and rise from death that we might live with him forever. He wants us to come with him, to share our lives with him and to see how he acts to provide for us. After all, Luther points out, God knows what we need before we pray. We pray so that he will be a part of our everyday lives.

In our culture, there is no problem with talking to God. It is when he talks back that they think we’re crazy. But God speaks through his word, through the events in our lives and other Christians. We see his love in what he has done and will do for us. So it is that we pray to him in many ways, from a short one-liner or making the sign of the cross, to praise of him in hymns, to the formal prayers of the divine service and other times we gather as a church to pray. When we do so, we grow closer to our father in heaven, who loves it when we come to him and share our lives with him.

Rev. Robert E. Smith

Concordia Theological Seminary

Fort Wayne, Indiana

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