Anthropology – What Does This Mean?

The World, The Devil and Our Sinful Desires

Encore Post: [Forty-Six in a series of posts on Martin Luther’s Small Catechism] “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 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.

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

Daily Bread

Encore Post: [Forty-Four in a series of posts on Martin Luther’s Small Catechism] 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 differs from what we actually pray for. Our every day 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 this 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.

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

Dear Children and their Dear Father

Encore Post: [Fortieth in a series of posts on Martin Luther’s Small Catechism] 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 to receive the desired result. These spirits are distant, not so interested in us or are 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 so 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.

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

And He Shall Reign Forever and Ever

Encore Post: [Thirty-Ninth in a series of posts on Martin Luther’s Small Catechism] When Handel’s Messiah premiered in London, even the King of England attended. When the choir sang, “The Kingdom of this world is become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ,” King George II, moved by the music, stood and with him all the audiences from that day forward to the present — or so the legend goes. These words from Scripture set as a liturgical gospel verse capture a profound truth. No matter how evil and chaotic the world looks, God’s kingdom rules the universe.

So, why does Jesus have us pray: “your kingdom come?” Luther explains that God’s kingdom comes whether we pray for it. But we pray it will come to us. Jesus himself suggests this when he sums up his message: “the kingdom of heaven is here! Repent (literally: change your mind completely) and believe the good news.”

God’s kingdom comes to us in two ways. First, when God the Holy Spirit plants faith in our hearts, we believe our sins are forgiven because of the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. We turn away from our sins and desire to live according to his word. We do this together with all our fellow citizens of his kingdom. Our prayer is that God will give us the strength to live this way.

The second way the kingdom comes when, on the day known only by the Heavenly Father, Jesus returns with his angels to bring an end to sin, disease, grief and death, to open the graves of all people, raise them from death and bring them before his throne. On that day, all will be set right. The devil, his angels and unbelievers cast into hell and God’s children go to live with him forever. Then he will reign forever and ever.

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 Resurrection of the Body

Encore post: [Thirty-Eighth in a series of posts on Martin Luther’s Small Catechism] To the ancient Greek philosophers, and many people today, it is nonsense. (Acts 17:32) We all know what happens to the body after death. We’ve seen it on T.V. In crime shows and in horror films. Some families have the bodies of their loved ones cremated. It decays and eventually turns to dust, just as God promised Adam. (Genesis 3:19)

Yet God clearly promises this wonderful miracle. While we cannot understand how this can be true, we know that God, who is almighty and who created us and the whole world, can do whatever he wants to do. (Matthew 22:23-33) The resurrection of the body is the bottom line for the Christian hope. Because Christ rose from the dead, we will rise from our graves on the last day. (1 Corinthians 15:12-58)

The resurrection teaches us a few very important things. First, the body matters. The way we talk about the death of a loved one makes it sounds like only our spirit matters. Yet God did not make us to be spirits only, but both body and spirit. Death unnaturally separates the two. But on the last day, when death is defeated, we will be restored and our bodies glorified like that of Jesus. Job’s prophecy will come true for him — and for us. (Job 19:25-27) Our bodies are good, even if the evils of this world mar them. We can accept ourselves the way he made us.

We also can live life in hope of the next. We grieve when death separates us from loved ones. But we will see them again, quicker than we suppose. We can face down the demands of an evil world, knowing it is temporary and life eternal awaits. Best of all, we will live forever with him who bought us, shed his own blood for us and broke the power of sin and death over us. He is with us always, today and 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, Indiana

The Forgiveness of Sins

Encore Post: [Thirty-Seventh in a series of posts on Martin Luther’s Small Catechism] King David was a prime example of someone who needed forgiveness. In one episode, he managed to shirk his duty as a commander, lust after his neighbor’s wife, use his power to rape or commit adultery with her, lie to her husband, send him on a suicide mission to murder him then marry Bathsheba to cover it up. He sinned against everyone, it seems. Yet it is to God he goes for forgiveness. In the end, all sins are rebellion against God. (2 Samuel 11:1-12:25 and Psalm 51)

Forgiveness is hard to come by in this world. When we are hurt, we want to return that hurt in kind. Eastern religions like Hinduism and Buddhism have no forgiveness — you pay back the bad karma you give with suffering in this life or nearly endless reincarnations. Mormon must cease sinning to pay for forgiveness and progress towards godhood. Pagan religions require a suitable sacrifice to an appropriate spirit.

Christianity is different. We have a loving and merciful God, who in Jesus died to pay for our forgiveness and through the Holy Spirit gives faith, the forgiveness of sins, life and salvation. The Spirit uses his Church to bring this forgiveness to all. In the Church, the Gospel is preached, God adopts his children through baptism, Jesus gives his body and blood for the forgiveness of sins and he hears our confessions and absolves us of our sins by pastors he sends to do so.

So, then, the Church is not a country club, a place where only good people need apply. It is a hospital, where we who are sick can get well, taking the only medicine that can make us well. We are, after all, beggars telling other beggars where they can find bread.

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 Marks of the Church

Encore Post: [Thirty-Sixth in a series of posts on Martin Luther’s Small Catechism] The word “Church” is used in many ways by Christians. We call our buildings churches. We name our local gatherings of Christians churches. We talk about national organizations of Christian believers, congregations, colleges and seminaries churches. We even call worship services church — in a way. Strictly speaking, the Church is all those who have faith in Christ. Even though only God knows for sure who is a Christian or who is not, the public confession of Christians and their good works reveal them to us and to the world. The same thing is true for the Church as a whole. When the Gospel is preached and the sacraments are offered, there you will find the visible Church. So, these things are called the marks of the Church.

The Means of Grace are the instruments that the Holy Spirit uses to call people to faith in Christ and to strengthen and maintain that faith. He places these gifts into the hands of the church and the pastors he calls to shepherd them. They are the masks God wears to seek and to save the lost. He calls them together to receive these gifts, to encourage each other and to thank and praise him. This divine service is what we often call worship.

The church in this sense is also called the church militant — the fighting church — because it is at war with the World, the devil and his forces and our sinful desires. These earthly organizations formed by members of the Church are plagued by the same things individual Christian are. Because its members are sinful, the congregations also sin, are persecuted by the world, tempted by the devil and suffer along with the Christians who form them. Unbelievers may also belong to them, all the while deceiving themselves and others, behaving like any other Christian.

Yet, as flawed as they are, God loves his people and chooses to use them to proclaim his Gospel, create faith, forgive sins and bring the lost home. After all, the Lord of the Church, her Good Shepherd, laid down his life for them. And the day will come when he will return to bring his bride, the church, home to enjoy the marriage feast, which has no end.

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 Holy Spirit seeks the Lost

Encore Post: [Thirty-first in a series of posts on Martin Luther’s Small Catechism] Evangelicals are looking for seekers. These are people without Christ, who are looking for someone or something to fill the God-shaped hole in their hearts. Evangelicals believe that when they hear the gospel, they are won over by the preacher and accept Jesus as their savior. Or perhaps they responded to an altar call and prayed the sinner’s prayer. This decision theology maintains that it is something we decide that saves us. Lutherans believe they are mistaken. Why?

Because the Holy Scripture describes people without faith in Christ as dead in their sins, unable to accept the things of the Spirit. (Ephesians 2:1-3, 1 Corinthians 2:14) Nowhere in the Bible do we find a passage commanding us to accept Jesus as Savior. In fact, if you review in your mind all the Sunday school lessons about people God used in his plan to save us, you will discover God came looking for them. They didn’t seek him. Faith is not accepting a series of facts as true or choosing to follow Jesus.

We are saved because God seeks and saves the lost. The Holy Spirit used the Gospel, shared by parents, friends and love ones with us, read in the pages of the Bible and preached to us, and when we are baptized. He used it to create faith our hearts which trusts in Jesus to save us. He calls us by the Gospel, enlightens us with his gifts, sanctifies and keeps us in the faith. We can be confident of our salvation because it depends on God and not on our own strength.

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

Remember that You Are Dust…

Encore Post: Ash Wednesday works like a kind of speed bump in the lives of Christians. After celebrating the birth of Jesus, listening to how God revealed himself in the person of Jesus Christ, God’s Son, seeing him in his full glory on the Mount of Transfiguration, we’re tempted to bask in the glory of God’s grace and love. Yet still our stubborn Old Adam or Old Eve clings to us and threatens to take over our lives. Lest we forget, Lent comes to help us discipline ourselves, repent of our sin and live life, trusting in God and his promises. Ash Wednesday greets us with the words God spoke to Adam — and to us — when imposing the curse that resulted from the first sin: “Remember that you are dust and to the dust you will return.” (Genesis 3:19)

This phrase is a part of the ancient discipline of remembering mortality. (Memento mori — “Remember death”) It is the conscious meditation on the cold, hard truth that all the pleasures and blessings of life are temporary and that death comes to all of us, often suddenly. Ash Wednesday calls on us to stop what we are doing, consider the damage our sin does in our lives — both now and eternally. The collect for the day sets the tone: “Almighty and everlasting God, You despise nothing You have made and forgive the sins of all who are penitent. Create in us new and contrite hearts that lamenting our sins and acknowledging our wretchedness we may receive from You full pardon and forgiveness; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.”

Repentance is more than saying you’re sorry. The Greek word the New Testament uses for repentance is μετάνοια means “to completely change your mind.” It includes recognizing your sins, being sorry for them and to stop doing them. All of this is only possible for Christians because it is the work of the Holy Spirit that makes us holy. Ash Wednesday wakes us up, reminds us how to use the disciplines of fasting, prayer and meditation, gives us the forgiveness of sins through confession, absolution and the Lord’s Supper. It sets the tone for our forty-day meditation. It marks our sorrow with the ashes of the palms from the previous Palm Sunday and with the sign of the Holy Cross, reminds us of the redemption that is ours in the passion, death and Resurrection of Jesus.

May God grant you a blessed meditation on the suffering and death of Jesus that you will be well prepared to celebrate with joy the coming Easter celebration.

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

Christ is Risen!

Encore Post: [Twenty-Eighth in a series of posts on Martin Luther’s Small Catechism] From ancient times, Christians first greet each other on Easter: “He is risen!” or “Christ is risen.” The words of the angel to the women at the tomb (Mark 16:6) are still joyful to this day. In Lutheran churches it is common for pastors to open sermons throughout the Easter season with these words. The greeting is repeated at the end of Lutheran burial services, reminding us of the resurrection. So, why does the resurrection strike such a chord with Christians? After all, the full price for our salvation was completed when Jesus died on the cross.

The reasons we cling to the Resurrection of Jesus are many. The most important is that the resurrection of our bodies is tied to it. In baptism, we die with Christ and when he rose, we rise to new life. (Romans 6:3-4) If Jesus did not rise from the dead, we would remain in our graves. We would have believed in a lie. But Christ did rise from the grave, the first harvest of God’s children. (1 Corinthians 15:20) His resurrection broke the seal of the grave. On the last day, we will rise, body and soul, to live with Christ forever.

The resurrection of our Lord also fulfilled all the promises of God’s word and the predictions of Jesus himself. When he rose, he demonstrated that God’s promises are kept. The three days in the grave — Friday afternoon, Saturday and Sunday evening — fulfilled these in great precision. So, with the Church of all times and places, we confess, “on the third day, he rose from the dead,” knowing that it makes our resurrection a sure and certain hope. So, we can face death, knowing it has no sting any longer.

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