A Season of Waiting

“Wait for the LORD; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the LORD!” (Psalm 27:14).

One of the words that best captures the season of Advent is waiting. Now granted, waiting is not something we do very well. No child enjoys waiting until Christmas to open his presents. No adult enjoys waiting in long lines at the store to purchase that last minute gift. No driver enjoys waiting in bumper-to-bumper traffic as the winter snow slows everything down. But when it comes to faith, waiting is an integral part of who we are as children of the heavenly Father.

God’s people of old waited in patience and hope for the coming of the Messiah. Adam and Eve waited. Noah waited. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob waited. Moses waited. King David waited. In fact, every Old Testament saint died waiting for the Messiah. Thus, they died in faith and are even now with Christ in heaven. The One for whom they waited—Jesus, the Christ—was finally welcomed into this world by Mary and Joseph, the shepherds, Simeon and Anna, and the wise men.

We, too, wait. But not for Christ’s first coming. That day has already come and gone. Instead we wait for His second coming. Although we know neither the day nor the hour of His return, we have His sure and certain promise that He is coming again (Matthew 25). Thus, we wait. We are watchful and ready. We wait in patience and hope for the Day when our Lord Jesus will come again in glory to take us bodily to our eternal home. Which is why the Apostle Paul writes:

“Our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ” (Philippians 3:20).

And as we wait, we rejoice that Jesus comes to us even here and now. Every time we gather together in His name, He is here in our midst (Matthew 18:20). Every time we hear His Word, He is here in our midst (Romans 10:17). Every time we receive His true body and blood in the Lord’s Supper, He is here in our midst (John 6:56). In short, He is here in Word and Sacrament to forgive our sins, to strengthen our faith, and to enliven our hope in His second coming!

2000 years ago Jesus became our Emmanuel (“God with us”). Today He is still with us in Word and Sacrament. And someday, on the Last Day, we will bodily be with Him in heaven. Advent wraps up all of these mysteries and beckons us to wait, to anticipate, to prepare. Why? Because...

“Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for Him” (Hebrews 9:28).

Let that be your joy this Advent, this Christmas, and always!

America's Four Gods

Americans are fickle when it comes to God. In fact, there are countless views of who God is, what He thinks, and how He acts (or doesn’t act) in human history. A recent book by sociologists Paul Froese and Christopher Bader—America’s Four Gods: What We Say about God and What That Says about Us—boils down all these views and finds that Americans have four different assumptions about who God is:

1. The Authoritative God is engaged in history and hands out harsh punishment to those who do not follow him. This view of God is held by 28% of Americans.
2. The Benevolent God is engaged in our world and loves and supports us in caring for others. This view of God is held by 22% of Americans.
3. The Critical God keeps an eye on this world—the poor, the suffering, and the exploited—but delivers justice in the next. This view of God is held by 21% of Americans.
4. The Distant God booted up the universe, then left humanity alone. This view of God is held by 24% of Americans. [Note: The remaining 5% of Americans are atheists or agnostics.]

So, what do you think? Is God authoritative, benevolent, critical, or distant? The truth be told, the Triune God cannot be characterized by any of these categories in isolation. In fact, the Christian needs to define these words differently even to make sense of them. Consider the following. God is authoritative in that He is the author of life, governs all things, and everything happens according to His good and gracious will. God is benevolent in that He calls us to be stewards of His creation and to love and serve one another. He is critical in that He hates sin and punishes it with temporal punishments in this life and eternal punishment for those who do not repent and believe in Christ. And He is distant in that we cannot find Him on our own, but have to be called through the Gospel.

And yet, the biggest flaw in the four categories listed above is this: There is no category for The Incarnate God. We cannot know the true God apart from Jesus Christ, “true God, begotten of the Father from eternity, and also true man, born of the Virgin Mary” (Luther’s Small Catechism). “Whoever has seen Me,” says Jesus, “has seen the Father” (John 14:9). Jesus is made visible to us in His holy Word and blessed Sacraments, which reveal to us the heart of God, who loved the world in giving His only Son to die for us and win our salvation. Thus, through Christ, we see God as He truly is. Creator. Redeemer. Sanctifier. Gracious. Merciful. Forgiving. Loving.

Look closely. In Word and Sacrament you see Him, His heart, and His will for you. Isn’t it beautiful! The eyes of faith rejoice, for He “has redeemed me, a lost and condemned person, purchased and won me from all sins, from death, and from the power of the devil; not with gold or silver, but with His holy, precious blood and with His innocent suffering and death, that I may be His own and live under Him in His kingdom and serve Him in everlasting righteousness, innocence, and blessedness, just as He is risen from the dead, lives and reigns to all eternity” (Luther’s Small Catechism).

Simply put, apart from Christ no one can know who God is, what He thinks, and how He acts in human history.

One last word of advice. When it comes to politicians, pundits, and commentators, keep your guard up when they begin speaking about God. In almost every case, their view of God is characterized by one of the aforementioned categories and falls short of the Triune God in several ways. You, on the other hand, know that God has revealed Himself to you in His incarnate Son and now gives you His Word as the source of your life. He—and He alone—is the One True God!

What is man?

“A lawyer speaks of a man as an owner and master of property, and a physician speaks of a man as healthy or sick. But a theologian discusses man as a sinner.”

Martin Luther

AE 12:310

What Would Jesus Do?

Whenever a pastor is tempted to soft-peddle his preaching, he should ask, “What would Jesus do?” Jesus would insist on saying the unpopular thing if it were true. We need to insist that Jesus is the only way to heaven, that you get there only because God draws you, that faith in the flesh and blood is indispensable, that other religions don’t get you there. Jesus preached the theology of the cross, and He suffered for it. Thankfully, our Lord did not measure the effectiveness of His ministry by how many people stayed in His church or by how His messages were received. He was called to proclaim the truth. The result, for Him, was the cross. The result for us is the same.

Rev. Klemet Preus
The Fire and the Staff, p. 331

What "Eight" Teaches Us

It was the very first question asked by many of the children on Sunday morning: Why does the floor under the baptismal font have eight sides? The answer: Because the number eight has some very rich theological meaning and reminds us that Christ’s Easter victory becomes ours in Holy Baptism.

On the very first day of creation (Sunday), as the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters, God called light out of darkness. And it was good. God created for six days and then rested on the seventh day (Saturday). Sadly, God’s very good creation did not stay that way very long, for our first parents quickly brought sin and death into the world.

Then, thousands of years later, into this sinful world came our Lord Jesus Christ to re-create fallen man. After being baptized to fulfill all righteousness, after proclaiming the kingdom of God in sermon and parable, after healing the sick and raising the dead, Jesus rode into Jerusalem on the first day of the week (Palm Sunday) to begin His ultimate work of re-creation. He finished this work on day six (Good Friday) by being nailed to the cross, enduring the forsakenness of His Father, and redeeming mankind through His holy precious blood and His innocent suffering and death. Then He rested in the tomb on the seventh day (Saturday).

On the very next day—a Sunday, the first day of a new week—Jesus rose from the dead, never to die again. That Easter Sunday is, in a very unique sense, the eighth day of creation. Like the first day of the original creation, it is the day light was called out of darkness—the Light of the world out of the darkness of the tomb. It is the day Jesus re-created us through His resurrection victory. It is the day—coupled with Pentecost (another Sunday)—the Spirit began hovering over the face of the waters of Holy Baptism to deliver Christ’s resurrection victory to those baptized “in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:19).

From the earliest of times, the one holy Christian and apostolic Church equated Sunday with the eighth day, the day of resurrection, the unending day of Christ’s victory over sin, death, and the devil. The earliest baptismal fonts had eight sides as a reminder that we are incorporated into Christ’s death and resurrection in Holy Baptism (cf. Romans 6). We die to sin in that water (Good Friday) and then are reborn into the eternal life of Jesus Christ (Easter Sunday). Which is to say, we and all the baptized find ourselves living in the eighth day of creation, a day that will never end. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation” (2 Corinthians 5:17). That ancient light spoken into existence on the first day of creation foreshadowed the Light of the resurrection that dawned on the eighth day. This new and better light is “the bright morning Star” (Revelation 22:16) that never sets, “the Light of the world” (John 8:12) who has forever scattered the darkness of sin. Through Holy Baptism, we live in this eighth day with Christ!

There are other reasons eight is significant as well, and each of them is related to Christ’s resurrection and our baptism into Him. Eight people were saved on the ark during the flood, which corresponds to Holy Baptism (1 Peter 3:20-21). Eight day old boys were circumcised under the old covenant, which prefigured Holy Baptism (Colossians 2:11-12). And there are a total of eight resurrections recorded in Holy Scripture.

And so, every time you see the baptismal font, every time you witness a baptism, every time you hear the invocation, every time you walk over the octagonal marble floor on your way up to receive Christ’s true body and blood, remember that the eighth day—Christ’s resurrection—is where you live and move and have your being as the Father’s beloved child, robed in Christ’s perfect righteousness, templing His Spirit in your body.

What, then, does “eight” teach us? Simply this:

Christ’s resurrection victory is ours in Holy Baptism!

How to Read the Bible

Every word of the Bible is to be read as if it were printed with ink that is the very blood of Jesus.

Johann Gerhard (1582-1637)

An Open Letter to Christian Parents

Below is an excellent article written by a brother pastor...

An Open Letter to

Christian Parents

In the name of Jesus. Amen.

Dear Parents, I know you love your children. I can see by the clothes they wear, the iPods and phones they have, and how much time you give to them. They go from school to band to football to soccer. You take them everywhere and give them everything they need. Sometimes it seems that you have given up your lives for them, doesn't it?

Christ. He literally gave up his life for you, me, our children, for all. He died for our sins and was raised so that we would stand before God, forever forgiven. That is the Christian Faith into which you and your children were baptized.

Holy Baptism. You were baptized into the faith of Jesus. Your whole life was washed, made clean, and forgiven by the Blood of Christ. Your children too.

Yet studies show that these days more young people are falling out of the faith than ever before. Only fifty percent of adults who attended church weekly as a child still attend church weekly as an adult. Only thirty-five percent of adults are currently attending church weekly who attended church two to three times a month as children.

It's more telling when you consider teenagers: of those teenagers who attended church weekly as teenagers, only fifty-eight percent attend church weekly as adults. And if they attended church less than two to three times a month? The number of weekly attendance for those teenagers when they become adults drops to a staggering thirty percent.

The answer isn't simply take them every week to church. It isn't even to take them to Sunday School, Weekday School, Youth Group, and Bible Class. You already know that you should be doing these things!

I'm asking -- I'm pleading with you -- to take the time to teach your children this Faith. Pray with them. Read the Word with them. Sing hymns with them. Practice their Confirmation memory work with them. Discuss with what you believe and why Jesus is your Savior.

Receive Jesus in the Word at church, washed down your forehead in baptism, and put into your mouth at His Supper. Receive Him for their salvation too -- modeling the Faith to them, living it out right there with them.

When they sin, forgive them in Christ. When you sin, ask them to forgive you in Christ. Live your lives as the baptized -- forgiven, washed, made holy by Jesus.

I know you love your children, dear Parents. I can see you do. I'm writing to remind you to love them in Christ.

In the name of Jesus. Amen.

Rev. George Borghardt

August 17, 2010