The Side Door

In 2006, I had the pleasure of visiting Wittenberg, Germany. I arrived by myself on the early train from Leipsig, and from a station near the Elbe River I walked a few hundred yards to Lutherhaus which had been the Augustinian monastery where Martin Luther lived, first as a monk and later as owner with his family.

The early summer morning was peaceful, and the cloister was empty. I could explore undisturbed and had little trouble imagining the place as it must have appeared in the 16th century. Then, with backpack and camera, I walked the two kilometers from Lutherhaus to the Castle Church where, 492 years ago today, the great Reformer posted on the church door his 95 theses regarding repentance, confession, and against indulgences and false satisfactions.

Luther's first statement was, "Our Lord and Master Jesus Christ, when He said, repent ye, willed that the whole life of believers should be repentance." He also declared in Thesis 62, "The true treasure of the Church is the Most Holy Gospel of the glory and the grace of God."

He was so exactly right. The greatest prize and treasure you and I possess as baptized believers in Jesus Christ is the glorious news of justification for sinners by the life, death, and resurrection of Christ. Jesus gave Himself that we may live. It was the truth of Christ that Luther continued to defend and proclaim for the remaining 30 years of his life, and it is the legacy bequeathed to us in the Gospel. We must never forget it.

Even though the Reformation is celebrated today, it is really only rightly observed through a life of repentance in which we daily confess remorse for our offenses against God and hold by faith to the Word He has spoken. We come in contrition and with dependency upon God's mercy alone for the sake of Christ. Repentance and forgiveness of sins through the Gospel is the seminal reality for every Christian.

Contrary to my imagination, the church door on which Luther posted his famous theses was the side door of the Castle Church. Not having visited Wittenberg before, I naturally thought the 95 Theses were posted on the church front doors, but Luther, certainly not knowing then the impact his actions would make, considered it no consequence which door was used as a public bulletin board.

Which door is still immaterial, just as which pew you occupy on a Sunday is inconsequential to the glory of the Gifts you receive in the holy means of grace.

And yet, I have reflected on that minor detail of the door. The side door (or what we used to call the "back door" where I grew up) was not where you received important guests. The side door was never elegant or stylish. That's where a drifter would come for a hand-out or the neighbor for a cup of sugar. The formal entrance, the proper entry would have been the front door into a foyer and reception area. That's where the genteel company would arrive. The side door, the unsightly door was, by contrast, beside the garbage cans and dog dish.

And yet, the side door was always the door used by the family. It was the door my father used to go back and forth to work past the shed. It was the door my mother, in her house dress, would use to take laundry to the clothes line. It's where I would leave muddy galoshes. Remember those rubber boots from the 50s with the side clasps? You never wore those in the front door.

It just seemed poignant to me that the Lutheran Reformation began at the side door. It seemed fitting to me somehow that the restoration of the evangelical truth to its rightful place would begin at the side door.

Some artwork depicting Luther unremarkably nailing up his parchment shows him observed only by a vagrant or two. I seem to remember the old movie having one of these itinerants get up to see what Luther had posted only to shrug his shoulders at the Latin or because he couldn't read.

This was the side door. An aristocratic elector, the nobility, or the monarch would have processed through the front doors, but this side door was the bulletin board. It was where someone would tack up a message.

But isn't the Reformation all about a message? Not a message for the peacock or the prosperous, not a message for the braggart or the vain, but for the beggar. The Lutheran Reformation was all about the message of Jesus Christ who entered this world by the back door. Turned from the door of an inn, he was born by the dog dish and the rubble of a shed. He came and went in humility as a workman to his ministry. By this means he also laundered the unmentionables of the family and welcomed both grimy vagabond and solicitous neighbor.

492 years ago today, Martin Luther nailed the 95 Theses to the Castle Church door. A church with the name "Castle" sounds impressive, and it is. A tall, substantial tower rises above it, inscribed today with the words, "Ein' feste Burg ist unser Gott" (A mighty fortress is our God). The original door is gone, weathered or burned no doubt, and replaced in 1858 by a double brass door with Luther's theses written on it which people see today.

But it is still the side door, the door which, if you look closely, leads directly into the sanctuary, to where the real action takes place, where God's family gathers to rejoice in the message of His Gospel and to receive the gifts of Christ. Ironically, the front door is farthest from the chancel. So, let us humble folk be satisfied with the side door. That's the family's door, the Father's door, the Message door, and the beggar's door where anyone and everyone is welcome.

Have a blessed Reformation.

You Can Sing Again

He was excluded from singing at Yankee Stadium for a racial joke. The Irish tenor, Ronan Tynan, who is well known for singing "God Bless America" during the seventh inning stretch, was overheard to make an anti-Semitic remark at his Manhattan apartment building.

He said it was a joke and has profusely apologized to the degree that he is donating to a health services foundation with which the woman who felt offended is associated. He has expressed his remorse on the public airwaves, clearly explaining his understanding of how inappropriate his remark sounded to the woman who overheard him. And lastly, has given a complimentary recital to atone for his lapse in judgment.

Dr. Gabrielle Gold-von Simson, the offended person, has said she has accepted his apology. So has the Jewish Anti-Defamation League. Case closed.

I expect there will be an interval of chastisement maintained by the Yankees before he sings again just to make sure they look sufficiently removed from the offense and have shown adequate disapproval. I doubt Tynan will sing for any of the World Series games.

You see, Gold-von Simson has accepted the apology, but she has told reporters, as published widely, that she is "still horrified by his conduct."

What's missing here?

This man erred. That's a fact. His offense was made known to him. That's a fact. He apologized. That's a fact. His public apology was publicly accepted. That's a fact. Isn't this the way it's supposed to be?

No, this is not the way it's supposed to be. The boomerang offense was worse than what began the whole story, but you can bet there won't be any talk about that. You see, taking offense, being racially or politically prickly has become a refined art. Indignation over the sins of others and righteous annoyance when others fail, many use as a wide open door through which they will drive a truck-load of disapproval and umbrage.

I don't approve any anti-Semitic remark. Whether Tynan meant it as a joke is beside the point. If I say something insulting or harmful, I am wrong-- flat wrong. But here is where the way of Christ radically departs from the "correctness" of the world.

The way of the Lord teaches that rebuke, correction, and restoration only take place where no further injury is given. Privacy of correction, genuineness of forgiveness, humility in both the offender and the offended, is the character of true absolution, repair, and peace between people.

What happened here was that the person insulted apparently knew nothing about God's word in Matthew 18:15 or ignored it. Objectionable as Tynan's remark may have been, it was privately expressed. Yes, it was careless and rude. But what did the good doctor do? She took her insulted self-esteem to the front offices of the New York Yankees. She doesn't intend to afford this man what he needs which is correction and restoration.

Oh, no, she intended to see him penalized. And she succeeds. It is no price to her now that he has apologized. He has eaten sufficient "crow" to make those offended now appear magnanimous in their pardon. Perhaps there is someone in the Jewish Anti-Defamation League who will have enough consideration for this woman to take her aside privately and tell her that she did a much greater disservice to Ronan Tynan than he did to her.

It is not just that he now has a stigma affixed to him. In the public eye, the worst lesson is that forgiveness has a price other than what Jesus Christ paid for all sin on the cross. With Christ, the supreme gift is sin forgiven, not just "apology accepted" after you pay down the offense.

The price is not giving a contribution to your favorite charity, but the penalty of our sin imputed to Christ. The price is not enduring a probationary period before you can get back into the good graces of the New York Yankees, but the charge laid on the head of Jesus. The price is not your own shame and embarrassment paraded about on news programs, but the shame borne by an innocent man who carried His cross to Calvary. The price is not being made to behave like a good little boy again. It is the infinite cost Jesus rendered so his righteousness could be exchanged for our guilt.

This is not the way the world operates. But this is what Jesus Christ came into the world to provide.

There will always be giving offense and taking offense. One error is not more or less than any other sin. But the only remedy which is truly the answer, treatment and solution to sin is the free, full forgiveness which Christ earned by His death on the cross. This genuine forgiveness does not come at the cost of our reputation but at the cost of Christ's. This amnesty is not paid for by our "pound of flesh" or reprimand, but by the slain body of Jesus on Calvary for the sins of the world.

What we may hope and pray is that someone can personally, in grace and love, explain to everyone involved here that long before we ever gave offense or took offense, Jesus pronounced absolution on us all by his sacrificial, substitutionary death.

No one in the history of mankind ever endured the unjust indictments and undeserved finger-pointing Jesus bore. He was insulted, abused, scorned, and finally crucified though He had done no wrong whatsoever. He was innocent, as harmless as a lamb, and utterly pure. And yet he paid the price for us all.

The news media, the Anti-Defamation League, the neighbors in Ronan Tynan's building, the American public, the New York Yankees, and every mother's son may never hear the juicy details. But what a beautiful and truly loving thing it, if someone fails, that a Christian goes to them privately to show them their fault and forgive it. Then, humbly remembering that each of us have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, both people believe in the Son of God through whom all forgiveness is received, and share reconciliation within minutes of the offense.

That's how Jesus dealt with the fallen and has acted for you and me. He forgives us-- and we can sing again.

Unintended Consequence

The very first words God spoke to Adam and Eve upon their creation were, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.” Was this just a benevolent consent to enjoy life, or was God signaling His intention to continually foster and bless the way of life He had given them?

When our nation took a callous, immoral stand against the sanctity of life in 1973, it unleashed a murderous storm of abortions in direct contravention of God's Word in Eden (Gen. 1:28). But neither advocates nor opponents of this terrible slaughter considered all the unintended consequences.

Loss of any life is supremely costly, but with abortion it's not an unintended consequence. Abortion is not a mishap. Abortion never happens accidentally. I tell catechism students 1.5 million more of their equals should be in their grade level. Hardly a fluke.

In 1973, one unintended consequence hardly taken into account was the post-abortion stress syndrome which “Ms Magazine” pooh-poohs as a “bogus affliction.” It’s editors belittle confession and reconciliation as God's way to bringing healing to emotionally and psychologically broken women who elected to employ abortion perhaps many years earlier and now grieve.

But there is another consequence beyond the implications to one unborn child deprived of life or one aching woman deprived of peace. It is the aborticide of our national way of life. Evil is never a private matter. Few have considered the ominous consequences of a declining birth rate and that abortion doesn't just murder a child or make its mother a casualty. It also slays the culture.

Forecasts suggest there will not only be fewer in the American workforce and fewer to remit taxes and fewer schools, etc., but the culture itself is threatened. Once a birthrate declines, there is no way to recover retroactively. The biological clock is ticking. The Lord's exhortation to be fruitful is concomitant with the very perpetuity of life. Christians having substantial families is not just good for the church. It's good for the world.

We may hope beyond mere wishful thinking that trends will change. But ours in an objective hope in the Lord who oversees the passage of humanity through this world. See how he comforted His people during the dark days of Judah’s decline.

“Then I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the countries where I have driven them, and I will bring them back to their fold, and they shall be fruitful and multiply.” (Jeremiah 23:3)

Good Servants

The workforce of the church, its laity, elders, and leaders, its pastors and parishioners are not simply the Lord's servants. They are an appearance of the Lord Himself. They are not only gifts of Christ; they are Christ Himself at work. They not only serve His people; they celebrate the privilege to do so. They are supplied by their Lord, used by Him, and kept by Him for his gracious and loving purposes. An officeholder such as a congregational chairman or a member of a board, doesn't run the church, equip the church, or empower her. Neither do those who tithe fund the church.

They will tell you that is a great relief.

If the fate of the church rested on the ideas, intuition, and energies of those who hold office, or if the church depended on the amount of its offerings, the church would surely lose its way. Each new "administration" would feel compelled to reinvent the organization, come up with innovative objectives and effective ways to achieve them ... a recipe for frustration.

How great it is that God doesn't give us formulas for "doing" church. Real life is not a procedure mastered by following some holy method. Life is born of Christ. The church is not an algorithm or list of instructions for completing religious tasks.

The church is the living, breathing, blood-pulsating Body of Christ. The church is our undivided Lord Jesus into Whom we have been united by baptism and the Word as living components of Christ Himself.

Every Christian is a little Christ. Every Christian is a servant. Every Christian believer is united in our Lord Jesus with all those who have been baptized into His Name. As a part of the body therefore, every member serves and blesses each other. Leaders serve by leading. Those led serve by following loyally. Members share with each other. Believers give and the whole body benefits.

From where did the idea ever come that Christians give away? A Christian never becomes poorer by service. A member of Christ is never drained or diminished by giving. The priest and Levite of Luke 10 are to be pitied far more than the man stripped, beaten, and left for dead.

Why? Because the Samaritan servant came along and rescued the man who fell among thieves. It was really Christ who acts in mercy, who binds up wounds and pours on oil and wine. The Parable of the Good Samaritan is really about Jesus who carries the broken to the place of refreshment, cares for every need, pays for our safeguarding, and promises he will provide if anything more is needed.

Is this not how we then see ourselves as the Body of Christ?

Not to serve is to be deprived. Not to work is the real burden. Not to help is not nearly so much a misfortune for others as it is to those who won't serve.

St. Paul wrote in First Corinthians 12:20-21, As it is, there are many parts, yet one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, "I have no need of you," nor again the head to the feet, "I have no need of you." How wonderful is a body in which the hand serves the welfare of every other member of the body. The eye serves the interests of the limbs and the head governs the welfare of all.

Being the church is about being served before it is ever about serving. We are first given life in our Lord. Then, and only then, may we live for others. One cannot be a servant in the kingdom of God without first being supplied, without first being united to Christ by holy baptism. And once we are united with Christ, all we do for others is essentially Christ working through us.

Faithful Christians don't have the church put into their hands to run it. They become the hands of Christ. He uses each to care for His Body, the church. Someone who doesn't serve cannot truthfully call himself a Christian. Anyone who means to live without the Lord's Word, the Lord's supply, or the Lord's keeping and loving purposes is an impostor and hypocrite.

Not part of the workforce; not contributing, not serving or supporting negates the very meaning of being a Christian. Ironically, to those who do nothing, give nothing, and support nothing consider this a great relief-a fortunate circumstance that serving, responsibility, participation, problems and accountability can fall to others. They turn the wealth of Christ upside-down.

That is why I am so thankful for the many blessed true servants we have at Grace. They will be the first to tell you they often feel ill equipped, overloaded, or puzzled how best to go about their tasks. They worry and wonder why the tasks are hard. They don't always have the answers. They struggle, but they do so with the confidence that by themselves they accomplish nothing.

It is Christ who builds His church, and He does so, not with great, powerful human ideas and resources, not with deep financial reserves or the assembled notions of smart people with the latest brainstorm. He does it by serving us with the means of grace, the unpretentious elements of water, bread, and wine united in His Word.

He serves us. He endows us with His own life. Then He sends us to participate in the great benefit and joy of blessing others by service. I am enormously grateful to the Lord for those at Grace who serve in exactly that understanding. God bless you.

Pastor's Web Log (blog)

Christ crucified is a declaration. It is not a line of reasoning or argument. It is not making a case or offering conjecture. It is news-- good news, great news, spectacular news, life altering news!

The truth of God's incarnate Son is not made more persuasive by the voice or media which announces it. It is the power of God in itself. A mother who whispers the love of God in Christ to her child delivers nothing less than St. Peter in his sermon on the Day of Pentecost. A faithful preacher of the Gospel teaching in a tiny congregation like Pastor Seaver in Neuendettelsau who may have only his family to hear, lacks nothing. They have the good news of Christ. God doesn't need a giant media network.

It is never the media but the substance of God’s Word which transforms lives. The content of all Christian proclamation is Christ Himself. Let the world know, whether this News is carried by voice, print, radio, lyric, stained glass, sign language, or smoke signal I suppose, that Jesus Christ is Lord and Savior, that He has conquered sin and death, reconciling the world to Himself. (2 Corinthians 5:18-19)

God has committed to us the message of reconciliation. This one wonderful announcement surpasses any other conversation between people. The supreme news is that God, the Father delivered his own eternal Son into this world of sinful people to be our substitute in life and in death. God became a man for one purpose, to reunite us with God through the supply of Christ’s life, death, and resurrection we could not otherwise acquire, earn, or deserve on our own.

To speak of Jesus is the greatest privilege. To do this the Lord has given us a voice and multiple ways to speak it. Electronic media is not necessarily a new way. Radio and even the Internet have been around for a while, but they are far from having been fully exploited for the sake of the Gospel.

Our own vocal cords are hardly exhausted from sharing Christ. Am I right? We still have breath, and we still have time, but how much and for how long we don't know. But this we do know: we have neighbors who need to hear God's Word. We have family members who need to be encouraged in their faith. We have friends who need to encounter Christ.

I don't think I even heard the word “blog” prior to a couple years ago. “Blog” is a condensed form of the term 'WebLog" a kind of web diary, I guess. But if the Lord has given this means of modern communication, there is every good reason to use it as long as it does not overtake the message. Some media does. Some media is so flamboyant and ostentatious that it leaves little room for truth.

Could we have too much media today? Are there too many voices, too much noise, too great a flood of images and information thrown at us? In my opinion there is not too much media. But again, it's not essentially the media but the content message in the media that matters. Media is not neutral. That’s a topic for another time, but wherever a voice can be used for the sake of the Gospel, let the truth of Christ be preeminent.

Up through last spring I had been sending pastoral devotions to many of our members under the title “Cross Points” through an Internet distribution resource called “Constant Contact.” I’d like to revive that and also use this blog in much the same way. Experts tell us people like to receive information in different ways. But what concerns me most as a pastor is that many of our people don’t have a consistent diet of God's Word.

This blog will never be a substitute for participation in the Divine Service. It will never be a proxy for your presence in the Lord's house on the Lord's Day to receive the Lord’s Means of Grace. You cannot have your sins pronounced forgiven on a blog. You cannot receive the true and living body and blood of the Lord over the Internet. But you can be reminded of how gracious and strong our Savior is. You can be encouraged to repent and believe the Gospel.

My hope is that in all our communication, here or elsewhere, we will always be saying, “To me, to live is Christ.”