Rev. Cwirla's Blogosphere

OK, so where were we?  Oh, yeah Reformation Day.  2009.  A whole year!  Where have I been?  Well, I've been working The God Whisperers podcast with my cohort Craig Donofrio. Hanging with my 1,070 Facebook friends.  Shooting the breeze with the Liturgical Gangstas which carries on in memory of Michael "Internet Monk" Spencer, the most Lutheran Baptist I've ever known, may God rest his soul.  Tending Higher Things, the greatest Lutheran youth organization on the planet in my unbiased opinion, as its president and irritant-in-chief.  And spending as much time as possible in the wood shop when I'm not doing pastor things.  So it goes.

Since I last wrote anything of substance here, much less style, the wheels of the ELCA have come off, the nation has lurched into socialism, the whole creation groans in travail under disasters natural and manmade, and Osama bin Laden is still enjoying his afternoon cup of tea in Pakistan.  Oh, and the LCMS has a new president, Matthew Harrison, who happens to be an accomplished woodworker and banjo player while also being an ueber Lutheran.  Awesome!

As we gear up for another Reformation Day of Bratwurst Suppers, Catholic-bashing and Trick or Treating, the Latin phrase ecclesia semper reformanda est comes to mind.  "The church is ever being reformed."  That's been so since Paul took Cephas to the Antiochian woodshed for his hypocritizing over the uncircumcized converts and the so-called Jerusalem "council" of Acts 15 which cut an evangelical compromise to keep the peace between Hebrew and Greek Christians.  The apostle Paul even goes so far as to point out that divisions are necessary in the church to demonstrate who is tested (1 Corinthians 11:19).  The Church, as the "bulwark of truth" (I had to use the word "bulwark" at least once in honor of the Reformation), has an immune system that is able to spot anti-Gospel viruses, chew them up, and spit them out.

The Church, as a living body, can never rest on its past any more than I can say I was once in good shape and so don't need to work out any more.  Organizations all suffer from "vision drift," that is, they wander from their original mission as they grow and expand.  Unlike human organizations, the Church as the crucified, risen, and reigning Lord Jesus as her Head, who is enthroned on the captain's chair at the right hand of the Father, breathing out His Spirit upon His Church, calling the Church back to her mission to disciple the nations, keeping the Word of Law and Gospel continually ringing in her ears, continually killing and making alive, that is, re-forming the Church into the image of Christ her Head.

The Church is often depicted as a great ship on the sea.  Narratives of Jesus in a boat with His disciples come to mind.  But the Church is not a speedboat, powering in a straight line through the wind and waves.  She's a sailboat, whose sails are filled with the wind of God, tacking from one side to another yet heading on a sure course with eyes fixed on Jesus.  In other words, the Church is always in need of course corrections to account for changes in wind and current, lest she find herself off course.  Ecclesia semper reformanda est .

In Martin Luther's day, the theological anxiety was over the necessity of good works for salvation.  Luther discovered that God's concern was over the necessity of salvation for good works.  This is the heart of the Reformation.  The sinner is justified before God by grace, undeserved kindness, through faith, trust in the promise, for Jesus' sake, on account of His sacrificial life and death.  Before there can be good works, we must be justified, sanctified, glorified in the good work of Christ. Before Christ dwells in us, we must dwell in Christ.  Before we can serve our neighbor, we must be served by God.

The doctrinal winds blow as unpredictably today, and the waves are just as choppy as in Luther's day.  The tendency to turn mercy into merit, promise into commandment, Law into Gospel ever remains.  Legalism is the old Adam's playground.  So is license, that pernicious notion that because we don't have to do anything to be saved, we are therefore saved to do nothing at all, as though salvation were God adding us to His Precious Moments collection.

We are saved by grace through faith in Christ to walk in good works of love prepared for us in advance and for which we are equipped by the Spirit of Christ with every necessary gift to accomplish God's good purpose.  Good works do not justify, but the justified do good works.  Our Lutheran Confessions bear ample witness to this, as does Luther over and over in his sermons and writings.  Faith, Gospel and sacraments, and good works all flow together, as articles IV, V, and VI of the Augsburg Confession are all one continuous statement, from Christ vine to faith branches to fruit.  The faithful, that is, those who are full of faith, are full of works, as a good tree is full of good fruit.

Our churches also teach that men cannot be justified before God by their own strength, merits, or works but are freely justified for Christ's sake through faith when they believe that they are received into favor and that their sins are forgiven on account of Christ, who by His death made satifaction for our sins.  This faith God imputes for righteousness in His sight.  (Aubsburg Confession, Article IV)

In order that we may obtain this faith, the ministry of teaching the Gospel and administering the sacraments was instituted.  For through the Word and the sacraments, as through instruments, the Holy Spirit is given, and the Holy spirit produces faith, where and when it pleases God, in those who hear the Gospel....(AC V)

Our churches also teach that this faith is bound to bring forth good fruits and that it is necessary to do the good works commanded by God. (AC VI)

Luther nailed it.

Happy Halloween.