Catechesis – Page 3 – What Does This Mean?

Why Pray for God to Make His Name Holy….

Encore Post:

[Forty-first in a series of posts on Martin Luther’s Small Catechism]

When you think about it, the first request we make in the Lord’s Prayer sounds strange. Maybe it is the old English “hallowed be thy name.” In modern English, we pray to God to make his name holy. To be holy means to set aside, to dedicate for one godly purpose. By definition, God’s name is holy.

In our sinful world, however, God’s name is often used as a cover for other agendas. When preachers stray from God’s word and teach their own ideas as if they were God’s word, they plant confusion and make God seem something he is not. So, for example, when preachers say that all you have to do to become rich is to believe and give money to that preacher, they make God into a vending machine. False religions of all sorts lead people to trust themselves and false gods rather than the God who loves them. This makes God’s name into something you can’t trust — like every other name. It is no longer holy.

So we pray God will send faithful pastors, bless the preaching of the gospel so that the lost might be saved, and we be made by the Holy Spirit to live according to his Word. We can be confident he will do this. After all, he asked us to pray for this.

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 in order to achieve 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 provides 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 through 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 praising 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 audience 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 Jesus’ sacrifice 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 is 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 are 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 TV in crime shows and 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 could be true, we know that God, who is almighty and created us and the whole world, can do whatever he wants. (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 sound 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 can also 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

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. Mormons 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 through 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

Little Sheep that Hear the Voice of Their Shepherd

Encore Post:

[Thirty-fourth in a series of posts on Martin Luther’s Small Catechism]

God the Holy Spirit gives no end of blessings to God’s people. When he calls us by the Gospel and creates faith in our hearts, we hear the voice of our Shepherd. We will live with him forever. “What else can he give us?” we think.

And yet, there is more. He calls us to be members of his church. The Greek word for church is ἐκκλησία (ekklesia) which means literally “to call out, to call up.” Greeks used it for a city council or a militia unit. The Greek translation of the Old Testament (Septuagint, LXX) used it for the gathering of God’s people. Jesus, the Gospel authors, and St. Paul used it in this way. Martin Luther defined in the Smalcald Articles 10.2: “For, thank God, a child seven years old knows what the Church is, namely, the holy believers and lambs who hear the voice of their Shepherd.”

The Holy Spirit calls, gathers, and enlightens the whole church into which he places us. But this church is not limited to our local congregation. It is catholic — a Latin word that means universal. All people who believe in Jesus Christ are a part of this church. It includes people of all nations, races, places, and situations. It also includes the Church Triumphant, Christians who have died in the faith and whose spirits now live with Christ. It is eternal and cannot be destroyed. This Church is one and cannot be divided.

It is also invisible. Since the faith that makes us a member of the Church dwells in our hearts, only God knows who belongs in it. Yet it is very real. It means that we are never alone. Not only is Jesus with us always — not only does the Holy Spirit dwell in our hearts, we have our brothers and sisters to be with us, pray with and for us and to share our burdens with us. And one day, they will be with us before the throne of God, praising God forever for his grace 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

The Holy Spirit seeks the Lost

Encore Post:

[Thirty-Third 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 holds that it is our decision 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 that 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 loved 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 in our hearts that 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 in our salvation because it depends on God, 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

The Judge of the Living and the Dead

Encore Post:

[Thirty-second in a series of posts on Martin Luther’s Small Catechism]

Every action movie, adventure novel, or cartoon has a version of the same plot. A dark cloud comes over people. A sinister force imposes its will upon everyone, enslaving them and bringing misery to all. A hero arises, and with great struggle, defeats the evil swarm and brings justice to them. Everyone lives forever. The real world rarely turns out that way.

When evil people prosper, when sin, suffering, grief, and death dominate, we pray for deliverance. Rarely does it come. In such situations, we long for Jesus to return to earth and finally set things right. The King of Kings and Lord of Lords is what we want. The beauty of that wish is that it will come true, someday, at the right time, set by God’s own choosing.

On that day, all the dead will rise from the grave and will be gathered before the Throne of God, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. The books will be opened and everything that everyone has ever done will be exposed for what it is. All evil will be judged, and the books balanced. The catch — our deeds will be among them. And that is not pleasing at all.

The surprise comes when the verdict is announced. We, the very guilty, will be pronounced “not guilty!” Why? Because the Great Almighty King is the Lamb of God, who took away the sins of the world. Putting our guilt upon Himself, the Author of Life died to pay its penalty in full. We and those who cling to his promise of salvation in faith will live with him forever. By his death, he destroyed death, and by his rising, he opens the kingdom to all believers.

That day will resolve everything, not by defeating our enemies, but by destroying them. Then we will really live happily ever after.

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 Right Hand of God

Encore Post:

[Thirty-First in a series of posts on Martin Luther’s Small Catechism]

In ancient palaces, a ruler exercised power in a very formal way. He would enter the throne room with a herald going before him. All would bow to him and yet watch his every move, every gesture, and listen carefully to every word. His crown identified him as a ruler. The session began when he sat down on his throne. In fact, the word “session” literally means “the time of sitting.” Those who stood near him were very powerful people. Only those of equal power would sit in his presence — especially at his right hand. So, the right hand of the ruler became a figure of speech that stands for his authority, glory, and honor.

When we say that Jesus “ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father almighty,” we confess that he is equal to the Father and is also almighty. (Matthew 28:18). This truth is precious to us for many reasons.

When Satan, the world, and our sinful nature try to rule over us, we can tell them to get lost. They do not rule us — Jesus does. When we baptize and teach others God’s Word, it is not our talents, reputation, or ability to impress others with our words that matter. The authority to do so comes from Jesus, and the power that changes hearts comes from him and the Holy Spirit. When we feel lonely, we are not alone, because he is with us always, until the end of time itself.

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:

[Thirtieth in a series of posts on Martin Luther’s Small Catechism]

Since ancient times, Christians have greeted each other on Easter with “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 thing 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 Saturday 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