The Real American Idol (Part 2)

Newsletter article for April 2003

© 2003 by Rev. Paul A. Wolff

In last month’s newsletter article I noted that the selfishness of Americans has reached idolatrous proportions. Since in His First Commandment (“You shall have no other gods.”) God condemns all idol worship and idolatrous practices this is a very serious offense against God. However, the offense is multiplied when such idolatry reaches into the church where God’s people gather around the common ground of God’s Word and His holy Sacraments.

Americans have turned their “Liberty” into a selfish desire for making their own personal choices about nearly everything, including things for which no real choice exists (especially life and death issues, which God alone controls). Consider how God would feel if His people would want to make decisions about things for which He has already graciously given them. Would Jacob, for example, choose not to accept a flock of sheep and goats simply because they were spotted and speckled (see Genesis 30), or would Jacob rather give thanks to God for giving him wealth despite the wicked greed of his father-in-law, Laban? If Jacob had chosen to reject God’s gift then what else would God do but say, “then you shall starve to death because you have rejected what I have given you.” Or what if Jacob had made a big deal out of accepting God’s gift, even then wouldn’t he still have made God angry by making it seem like he was blessed with riches because he had made some kind of right choice, rather than being blessed simply because it was God’s good pleasure to bless him? Either way he would have been insulting God.

In the above example God blessed Jacob despite the fact that Jacob had used trickery and deceit to steal the blessing and birthright from his brother Esau. The choices Jacob made were selfish and sinful and although God blessed him and gave him wealth and a large family, it wasn’t because Jacob was so good, it was because God is so forgiving and good.

The only “choice” which plays a significant role in the life of the Christian is the choice that God made to save us from our sins. God’s choice is the only one that matters, and because of that all people can be saved because Jesus died to pay the price for all the sinful choices that we make. True Christians know that it is an insult to Jesus and the sacrifice that He made for us to say that “I am saved because I chose Jesus as my savior.” That person is likely wrong on both counts. Jesus accomplished everything that needed to be done to bring us salvation, and for us to take even the smallest credit is stealing that praise and glory from Jesus.

The appeal is often made to “free will” as proof of our cooperation with Jesus in our salvation. However, this denies the fact of original sin which means that we are all born sinful (see Ps. 51:5). The Holy Bible clearly states that because of our sinfulness that we cannot contribute anything to our own salvation, and our own will is completely corrupted by sin. Even the great evangelist, St. Paul, struggled greatly with his sinful nature and recognized the corruption of his will. He says in Romans 7:15-20, “What I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do…. I know that nothing good live in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.” It was not St. Paul’s choice to serve Christ, in fact it was Paul’s choice to persecute the church and imprison and kill Christians, but God chose him anyway despite this.

God works the same way in our lives, too. Whether we are converted at our Baptism when we are still infants, or whether we are converted as adults after hearing God’s Word and believing and then being Baptized, God gets all the credit in both cases. The choices that we make are connected to our “free will”, but whenever we exercise that will we are doing so in opposition to God, as the Scripture says, “everything that does not come from faith is sin.” (Rom. 14:23) Faith is all about submission to God and to His will, and about the subordination and subjugation of our own sinful will. Faith has nothing to do with making “right choices.” Even Jesus would not have chosen to die on the cross if He had done what He wanted to do, as He said in Luke 22:42, “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.” Since Jesus subjected His own will to God the Father’s will even though His human will was perfect and sinless, then we ought not claim that our “free will” or our choice means anything because our will is always tainted by sin. Instead we ought to thank and praise God for His good and gracious will through which He provides forgiveness and salvation for us.

The Meaning of “Is”

Newsletter Article for August 1999

© 1999 Rev. Paul A. Wolff

One of the most bizarre bits of information to come out of the investigation and impeachment of President Clinton was a sound bite of him trying to avoid admitting his sexual relationship with a young woman who was not his wife. He said the following on August 17, 1998 to the grand jury investigating the Jones' harassment case. What Mr. Clinton said was, “That depends on what the meaning of 'is' is.”

As soon as this statement became public Mr. Clinton was (and continues to be) harshly derided for this transparent effort to avoid giving a straight answer to a direct, although poorly worded, question. He was asked, “Is there a relationship?” instead of “Was there a relationship?” Taking advantage of this small mistake, Mr. Clinton focused on the tense of the verb, saying that “is” doesn't mean “was” or “will be.” The verb “to be” is one of the most basic verbs in the English language, or any other language for that matter. To quibble over the meaning of “is” is to be completely ignorant, or desperate, or malicious.

This is not the first time in history that the meaning of “is” has been called into question. A long, long time before our scoundrel President tried to weasel his way out of admitting his sordid affair with a young intern some prominent theologians in the sixteenth century debated the meaning of Jesus' words about the Lord's Supper, “This is my body”. The meaning of “is” which was at issue then compares two equivalent things, or states that one thing is exactly the same as another, or that two things are, in fact, the same thing. This incident is particularly meaningful for Lutherans so I would like take this opportunity to review this historical debate.

The focus of the dispute in 1529 was the Lord's Supper. Specifically, it was the question of the real, physical, bodily presence of Jesus in the bread and wine of the Sacrament. Ulrich Zwingli was a Swiss reformer who could not accept the miraculous nature of the sacrament. Since it is naturally impossible for a body to be physically present in two or more places at once, Zwingli claimed that when Jesus said, “This is my body” He really meant, “This represents my body.” By saying that “is” means “symbolizes” or “represents” Zwingli was saying that the physical body of Jesus is not present in the bread and wine of the Lord's Supper even though Jesus says it is.

Martin Luther, the German reformer, maintained that the words of Jesus are clear and unambiguous. When Jesus said, “This is my body” and “This is my blood” that is exactly what He was giving His disciples in the bread and wine. Luther claimed that Jesus wasn't speaking figuratively or metaphorically, but literally.

Luther didn't try to explain how Jesus could give His body and blood in bread and wine to His disciples, instead Luther simply trusted that because Jesus is both God and man, He has the power to do whatever He says. If Jesus says that the bread is His body and the wine is His blood, then it must be just as He says it is. The words of Jesus are clear about what He was then giving to His disciples, and what He now gives to all who receive the Sacrament to this very day. Even if a billion Christians around the world receive the Lord's Supper each Sunday each receives the body and blood of Jesus for the forgiveness of their sins and the strengthening of their faith.

To try to explain away miracles such as the real, bodily presence of Jesus in the Sacrament is to cast doubt on Jesus, on His power, on His person, and ultimately, it casts doubt on Christ's ability to save us from our sins. After all, if Jesus cannot personally give each communicant His body and blood to eat and drink in the Lord's Supper, as He says He does, then we cannot be sure that He can reach us with His forgiveness, as He also says He does.

If we claim that Jesus isn't really present in the Sacrament, how do we suppose that Jesus will recognize each of us when He returns to judge us? Jesus says in John 10:14, “I know my sheep, and my sheep know me” and we should trust that he is telling the truth there, too, but in the Lord's Supper we have His promise made more sure because He personally gives us His body and blood. We are in Christ because He makes us part of His body as 1 Corinthians 12:27 states, “Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.” So when Christ returns, He will know His people because He is a part of them, and they are a part of His body.

It is truly a mystery how Jesus can give His true body and blood to each person in the world who receives the Sacrament. Fortunately for us Jesus doesn't ask that we understand it, or be able to explain it, He simply asks us to believe it. And although Jesus doesn't tell us how He does this, He does tell us why. Jesus' body and blood is “for you” (1 Corinthians 11:24 and Luke 22:19-20) and “for the forgiveness of sins.” (Matthew 26:28)

You don't have to be a scholar to understand what “is” means. We all use it every day. I have used a form of the verb “to be” in each paragraph of this essay, and I didn't even try to do this, it came naturally. People's inability to believe God's word doesn't come from a lack of understanding of the grammar of Scripture. Instead unbelief comes from a lack of faith in God and in His power to save us. We may not always understand why God does what He does, but we should trust that God loves us all, and that everything He does, He does because of His love so that we will be saved from our sins and receive eternal life through Jesus Christ our savior.

P.S. I found it interesting when looking up the definition for “be” in my dictionary among several examples of the usage of this verb and its cognates there were two examples from Holy Scripture: “God is love” 1 John 4:16 ; and “Christ is risen from the dead” 1 Corinthians 15:20.

Spirituality

Newsletter article for June 1998
© 1998 by Rev. Paul A. Wolff

Spirituality is becoming all the rage these days. Earlier in this century many people believed that we were entering into a new age where technology would answer all the mysteries of the universe which were previously unknown, believed by faith, or explained by religion. The trouble with this is that technology has its limits, not the least of which is that it has no soul. As a guiding path for one’s life, technology and science are cold, heartless, and empty. Technology brought us the devastation of World Wars I & II, nuclear bombs, the cold war, and countless other atrocities. Yes, technology also took man to the moon, but despite great romantic visions of life away from the earth, space is no place to be. To live in space you have to carry around all the food, water, and air that you will need for as long as you plan on remaining alive.

Technology has brought us many benefits and prosperity, but its limits are well documented. As we grow increasingly frustrated by the “modern” influence of technology, we are moving toward another age (currently identified as “post-modern”). One of the marks of this age is an increased interest in the spiritual aspects of life.

This would at first glance seem to be a good thing. Anything which leads people to God is a good thing. But, sinful human nature, being what it is (i.e. sinful) doesn’t look for God. It does everything it can to avoid God. It looks for spiritual answers everywhere except where the Holy Spirit really is.
In order for us Christians to avoid godless spirituality, we need to know what godly spirituality is all about. Christians have an advantage over non-Christians when it comes to understanding spirituality. Since God is the one who created us body, soul, and spirit, He is the one who can help us understand the mysteries of our spiritual lives. The Holy Scriptures do not define what spirituality is (after all, the Bible is not a dictionary.) However, whenever it speaks of spiritual things it is always in relation to the Holy Spirit. In his first letter to the Corinthians, St. Paul explains why it is impossible for people to understand spirituality without the Holy Spirit, “This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the (Holy) Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words. The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.” (1 Corinthians 2:13-14)

In reference to John 3:6, “That which is born of the Spirit is spirit” Martin Luther wrote: “But what is spiritual birth? It means that I am born again as a new being by Baptism and the Holy Spirit and that I believe in Christ…. Thus the spiritual birth is brought about by the Word of God, Baptism, and faith. Even now, while we sojourn on this earth, we are already in this birth if we believe…. This birth is invisible and intangible; it is only believed.” Luther emphasizes that the physical life is temporary and will die, but our spiritual life, since it is from God, is eternal and will never die. Therefore our spiritual life is our life of faith given to us by the Holy Spirit through Baptism.

Luther summarizes our need for this spiritual life by explaining, “Physical birth entails physical things … it concerns physical life and no more. But if you want salvation, you need different parents, who will bring you to heaven. This Christ does. By means of Baptism and the Word of God He places you and your Christianity into the lap of our dear mother, the Christian Church. This He accomplished through His suffering and death that by virtue of His death and blood we might live eternally.”

In a magazine article, sociologist William Martin explained “One of the most attractive flaws of the New Age is its extraordinary emphasis on self absorption. Devotees often refer to unconditional love for all humanity, but rarely do they mention an obligation to demonstrate it to actual neighbors.” Contrast this with John 15:13, “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends” and 1 John 4:10, “This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.”

The latest issue of Concordia Theological Quarterly quotes author Charles Colson who writes, “Recently a neighbor told me how excited she was about her church. When I tried to point out diplomatically that the group was a cult, believing in neither the resurrection nor the deity of Christ, she seemed unconcerned. ‘Oh, but the services are so wonderful,’ she said. ‘I always feel so good after I’ve been there!’ Such misguided euphoria has always been rampant among those seeking spiritual strokes rather than a source of truth. But what about the church itself, that body of people ‘called out’ to embody God’s truth? Most of the participants in Robert Bellah’s study saw the church as a means to achieve personal goals. Bellah notes a similar tendency in many evangelical circles to thin the biblical language of sin and redemption to an idea of Jesus as the friend who helps us find happiness and self-fulfillment. These ‘feel gooders’ of modern faith are reflecting the same radical individualism we discussed in earlier chapters.... The new barbarians have invaded not only the parlor and politics but the pews of America as well.”

The Church is a Hospital to Heal Sin Sick Souls

Newsletter article for May 1998

© 1998 by Rev. Paul A. Wolff

After further thought about last month’s article on crime, and discussions with people about it, I believe I made certain assumptions in the article which if you didn’t catch them would give you the wrong idea. Crime is not the problem. Crime is only a symptom of the problem.

Sin is the real problem. Sin is the cause of all crime. Sin is the cause of broken relationships and broken families. Sin is the cause of racism. Sin is what makes people distrust one another. Sin causes envy and obsessive jealousy which destroys people. If we want to get rid of the symptoms of crime, violence, and hatred, we need to address the cause, not just the symptoms.

In last month’s article I in no way meant to suggest that there are somehow two or more societies within American society. Nor did I intend to suggest that black society is somehow responsible for all the problems of crime. There is no such thing as a white society in our country which is removed from, and unaffected by, a separate black society. My assumption is that we are all in this together. What hurts (or helps) one part of our one society, hurts (or helps) all the other parts. White people cannot say, “It’s a black problem, it doesn’t affect me.” Black people cannot say, “It’s a white problem, it doesn’t affect me.” If there is a relaxed attitude about crime and violence in America, it certainly didn’t originate among the African American segments of society, but as the newspaper article I cited pointed out — the black segments of our society are suffering a disproportionate amount of the tragic consequences. My point is that this hurts us all.

The trouble with sin is that it is an incurable disease, and we are all infected. Sin is not limited to any national borders, or racial differences, or gender differences. Sin is much worse than AIDS or cancer, or any other disease, because the mortality rate is 100%. Every day of our lives is a battle against sin. The question is, how can we fight against sin?

Sin cannot be overcome by attacking the symptoms. We cannot become less sinful by sinning less. It sounds like a paradox, but only if we think of sin as only something we do, and not something that infects us. A person with AIDS cannot be cured by simply avoiding sickness. Even if we somehow could stop sinning (an impossible task) the disease would remain.

The danger with treating only the symptoms of sin is that if you are even a little bit successful in keeping yourself away from committing sins, you might convince yourself that you had overcome the disease. This is called “self righteousness.” If you convince yourself that you are healed from sin, or at least that you do not need the cure, then you won’t look for the cure, or you will reject it when it comes.

The only cure for sin is Jesus. He is the only way that we have any hope of surviving this disease called sin. Jesus cured our disease when He died on the cross. Unfortunately, we must wait to see the full benefits of the cure. The good news is that the cure (Jesus) gives us life that lasts forever. The bad news is that we must still struggle against sin and its consequences as long as we live. However, even this bad news is tempered by the fact that we are not alone in this struggle. Even in this life, Christ himself gives us the power to love one another and do the good works that God wants us to do.

The Church plays a strong role in helping us overcome the problems that sin causes. If sin is our disease then the Church is the hospital where we go for treatment. The “medicine” which God gives us for healing are called the “means of grace.” They are God’s Word, and the sacraments. Church is where we hear the good news about Jesus, and where our faith in Jesus is strengthened through personal contact with Him in the sacraments. Just like in the Old Testament where the people who were bitten by the snakes had to look up to the bronze snake on the pole in order to be healed, so we need to look to Jesus for the healing of our sin-sick souls. The focus of our worship at St. Timothy is always on what Jesus has done to save us. When we meet together to worship Jesus we are strengthened for our battle against sin. Those who do not attend worship regularly are at a disadvantage.

Where can a person find strength in Christ, if not at Church? Some may say that they can worship Jesus just as well at home or at the golf course, but do they? That’s like me saying that my car can get over 30 miles per gallon. It can, but I’ve only done it once in two years. If I drive on the assumption that I am currently getting 30 mpg then I will soon run out of gas.

My friends, if we wish to get rid of the problems which plague our society, then we must treat the cause, not the symptoms. Although we all contribute to the problem of sin in the world, Christ’s cure is much more powerful than all our diseases. Christ has rescued us from the deadly infection of sin. We should not be content to stand by and watch others be consumed by this disease when we know the cure, but we need to keep ourselves strong through faith in Christ. If you do not make it a habit to strengthen your faith through regular worship and prayer, then you are depriving yourself of a strong weapon to help you survive your battle against sin. We should also encourage one another to attend worship regularly so that we can help build them up too, as St. Paul gave encouragement to the church in Rome, “May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow Christ Jesus, so that with one heart and mouth you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (Romans 15:5-6)

Since Sin is a spiritual problem and a spiritual disease, next month I intend to discuss what it means to have a spiritual life, and what Christian Spirituality is about.