Fellow Cross Bearers:

Sharon and I recently returned from a five thousand mile trip to visit our children and  grandchildren. Along the way I spent a week in Eau Claire, WI attending the 29th Convention of  the Church of the Lutheran Confession. It was a demanding week that involved a lot of sitting,  a lot of listening, and a lot of prayer. It was good to get back home again. But guess what – the  problems that were here when I left are still here. It was back into the demanding regular work  of the pastoral ministry. Someone said that convention will help you appreciate your  congregation and your calling. Sometimes I experience a letdown when I try to turn the  excitement and possibilities of convention into the reality of my ministry.

If you are following the Christian Worship Three-Year Series based on the ILCW three-year  series, the Gospel readings for the Pentecost season are taken from the Gospel of Luke. The  Gospel readings for June stressed the cost of discipleship and the necessity of denying yourself  and taking up your cross. These readings are sandwiched around Luke’s account of the  transfiguration in chapter nine. I have always been struck by the contrast of the revealed glory  on the Mount of Transfiguration and the fact that Jesus then set his face toward Jerusalem and entered the valley of death.

On the Mount Of Transfiguration Jesus revealed all the glory that was rightfully his as the Son  of God. Peter later wrote that he was an “eyewitness of his majesty” (2 Peter 1:16). Peter was  so overcome by the experience on the Mount of Transfiguration that he wanted to build three  tents to capture the glory of the moment. The Father testified, “This is my Son, my Chosen  One; listen to him! (Luke 9:35).

Jesus came down from the mountain and set his face toward Jerusalem. Moses and Elijah had  discussed Jesus’ departure which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem on the mountain.  Now it was necessary to go to Jerusalem to suffer many things and be rejected by the elders  and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. The glory of the  transfiguration would be replaced by the shame of the cross. In the cross is ultimately revealed  the glory of our salvation. The Son of God gave himself up as the once and for all sacrifice for  the sins of the world. This is the miracle of the Gospel.

In a sense, we experienced the high of our celebration of our 50th anniversary at convention.  For me the highlights were the devotions, the memorial service and the two essays reminding  us of redemption for the past and the certain hope for the future. This culminated in the special  convention communion service. The music especially took us to an emotional high during this  service. The blessings of God and the opportunities to lift high the cross fired up the delegates  to go out and conquer the world for Christ. It seems so easy during convention to increase our  commitments to ILC and in the mission fields.

Then we leave convention and settle back into the routine of our pastoral ministries. Each of us  has our own problems and weaknesses. Our congregations are not made up of the perfect  Christians we expected from our seminary days. Within a few months, we may hear the  realities of budgetary shortfalls in our congregations and in the CLC budget. We also struggle  to remain confessionally faithful to God’s Word. We seek to aid each other in applying the  principles of God’s Word to everyday situations within our own congregations. It is easy to  become tired and worn out from the constant struggle of contending for the faith. “Therefore,  since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight,  and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,  looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him  endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God”  (Hebrews 12:1-2).

At convention we set a budget based on lower CBP estimates from our congregations. This  was based on a projected $40,000 deficit which would be covered by the Reserve Fund.  However, this could deplete the Reserve Fund. Major cuts would then have to be made in the  second year of the biennium. These are the realities that a convention has difficulty dealing  with. We need to realize that the accomplishments of God’s Word do not depend upon our  budgets or even our church body. God will accomplish his purposes. We can share the  Gospel with our people and put before them the opportunities we heard about convention.  Some times pastors and congregations become so concerned about their own struggle to exist  that they fail to consider the needs of the larger church body. There is much for us to do. Pray  the Lord of the harvest would send forth laborers into his harvest.

The end of the year financial report reported some good news. The offerings for June were  higher than normal ($115,000). We had projected a spending deficit of $40,000 for the fiscal  year. The deficit projected at convention based on normal receipts was $49,000. The large  offering enabled us to end the year with a $30,000 deficit. A large part of this deficit was due  to higher commodity prices in the ILC kitchen budget. This means the Reserve Fund now has a  balance of $72,000. Having called us to come and follow him, Jesus now tells us to go out in  his name (Luke 10).

I encourage you as you leave the mountain top of our celebration at our last convention to denyyourselves and take up your crosses and follow Jesus.

Fellow Servants:

While I was at ILC attending the recent Co-ordinating Council meeting, I listened to a chapel
address reminding us that the greatest quality for leadership in Jesus’ Church is service. This
is contrary to the thinking of the world. The apostles were incensed because the mother of
James and John had asked Jesus that her two sons be permitted to sit at the right and left
hands of Jesus in his kingdom. The apostles were indignant not because she had asked, but
because James and John might have gotten in the front of the line. Jesus acknowledged that
this is the way it is among the rulers of the Gentiles who lord it over you. But Jesus said, “It
shall not be so among you.” Jesus turned everything upside down, “Whoever would be first
among you must be your slave.”

Through the Apostle Paul, Jesus calls his people to have this humble, serving attitude, “Have
this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 2:5). But Jesus
especially reminded those he called as shepherds of his flock of the need for humble service
when he washed the feet of the apostles the night he was betrayed.

A pastor is especially vulnerable to feelings of pride, arrogance, self-interest. This is because
he is called to occupy a position of leadership as the minister. Sometimes the pastor feeds off
the love and respect for the office. Pastor MJ Witt use to warn me about the pastor who,
because he is the pastor, thinks that he has the best answer for everything. It is hard for a
pastor to allow others to do things if he thinks that he can do them better himself.
There are dangers of conceit in pastors today. It is possible that a pastor feels that he
deserves a higher salary because of his education or his position. We get caught up in the
world’s evaluation of worth and job based on salary. It is also possible that a pastor takes for
granted his calling and does not give his all in his work effort. Your dedication and your going
the extra mile is totally voluntary. You don’t even have to keep regular hours. It is also possible
to compare our work in terms of the recognition we receive. The modern evangelist feeds off
the recognition and power he receives in his ministry. The modern large church para
organization is based on the personality of the pastor or leader.

These are real dangers for the Church of the Lutheran Confession and our ministry. There is
the danger that the ministry becomes all about us, and we become dissatisfied with simply
preaching Christ crucified. On the one hand, there is the danger that those in leadership
positions think that they have all the answers and do not listen to others. On the other hand, it
is easy to criticize those who make decisions and like Absalom say, “Things would be different
if I were king.” Our arrogant pride can ride roughshod over the concerns others may have
about the applications we make of Scriptural principles, or we may seek to impose our
conclusions upon others (members or other pastors).

Jesus is the answer for these very real dangers. Jesus reminds his servants, “The Son of Man
came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.” Jesus was the
suffering servant of Isaiah 40. We cannot even imagine the love of Jesus which moved him to
serve his apostles and to serve us with the ultimate sacrifice of the cross. Jesus humbled
himself and became obedient unto death even the death of the cross.

There are a few practical ways that you as pastors can carry our your servanthood:

1. Send in your Lutheran Spokesman subscriptions to Benno Sydow by the end of May.
I would encourage you to have the Spokesman sent to the homes of your members and
then ask them to make an extra contribution to your budget. Let Benno know if you will
not have any subscriptions in your congregation.

2. Go online and fill out your congregation’s statistical report today. This is an important
part of the snapshot of where our church body is today and is useful as a planning tool.
This is one of the easiest things to put off and forget to do.

3. Send in your equalization form to Mark Bernthal so that he can get this back to you in
time for convention. Again fill it out, even if you are not attending.

4. Encourage your congregation to send delegates to the convention. Fifty years ago,
the CLC made a conscious decision to load the convention with lay delegates for better
representation and input.

5. Pray for servants in the CLC: boards, elected officials, professors and administration
at ILC, missionaries, committees, all who are called to serve.
Like John the Baptist, each of must decrease so that Jesus may increase. May the Lord bless
us with a spirit of humility as we again gather in convention this June.
With a confession that I find it difficult to serve and delegate, but with the assurance that God is
working on me

1 Corinthians 15:35-38; 42-50

Fellow Under-Shepherds in Jesus, the Resurrection and the Life:

Greek philosophy and culture ridiculed the idea of the physical resurrection of the body. Today also the here and now existence of this world is the most important thing. No one wants to think about the inevitability of death. In the beginning of chapter 15, the Apostle Paul emphasizes the reality of Jesus’ physical resurrection from the dead and therefore the reality of our bodily resurrection from the grave. “But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep” (1 Cor 15:20). Greek philosophy and culture ridiculed the idea of the physical resurrection of the body. Today also the here and now existence of this world is the most important thing. No one wants to think about the inevitability of death. In the beginning of chapter 15, the Apostle Paul emphasizes the reality of Jesus’ physical resurrection from the dead and therefore the reality of our bodily resurrection from the grave. “But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep” (1 Cor 15:20).
Paul’s proclamation of the fact of the resurrection of the body raised all kinds of questions for the Corinthian believers. These all boiled down to the rational question, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come forth?” What about the fact that when our bodies are put into the grave, they decay and turn to dust. And what kind of bodies will these be? The Corinthians scoffed saying, “The resurrection of the body is an impossibility.” Today also we have many questions about how this could be possible. Many simply believe that dead is dead, and this life is all we have, so eat, drink, and be merry because tomorrow we die. The Bible
describes death as a sleep from which we will awaken on the Last Day. The Bible does not tell us anything about what happens between death and resurrection day. You need to realize that we are in an area that is a mystery and beyond human understanding. We walk by faith.

How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come forth?

Let’s begin by realizing that we are asking foolish questions, when we try to figure out how all of this happens. We need to realize the principle of life, “What you sow does not come to life unless it dies.” In nature there can be no life without death. The Apostle uses the picture of planting a seed. Jesus used this same illustration to try to teach His disciples about His death and resurrection. ”The hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified. Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain” (John 12:23-24).

When the farmer or gardener wants a crop, he plants a seed in the ground. This seed then rots and dies. But out of the death of this seed comes a plant which is totally different from the seed. This plant produces a harvest of seeds. You plant a grain of wheat or a watermelon seed. There is nothing in the seed (size or color) itself that gives you an idea of what kind of plant it will produce. That seed will not produce a plant unless it is planted in the ground and dies. God, with the miracle of DNA, has determined what kind of body or plant will be produced by each seed. This is the miracle of life which we can observe but we cannot understand. A seed is planted; it rots and dies; then comes a new plant which is able to produce grain or fruit or flowers.

The Bible tells us foolish question-askers, “God has a plan for life. God created plants with the ability to produce life through death.” This is pretty amazing stuff if you think about it. It is this wisdom and power that the Creator God exhibited in the natural world that Paul now uses to make his point regarding our bodies after the resurrection from the grave.

“So it is with the resurrection from the dead!” The body that is planted into the ground is one kind of body. It is buried a lifeless corpse. Our present body which is sown or buried is perishable. The fact of death illustrates just how tenuous our hold on earthly life really is. Our present body is sown or buried in dishonor. There is nothing more dishonorable than seeing a corpse at an autopsy or morgue. Our present body is sown or buried in  weakness. The weakness of our human body is revealed as we age and is punctuated by the fact of death. It is sown or buried a natural body. This term “natural body” means our earthly life. We were born in the image of sinful Adam who brought death into this world. We, like Adam, are dust men as our bodies return to the ground from where they were taken.

Our resurrection body will be totally different. We will be raised imperishable. Our totally new body (the plant that comes from the dead seed) will not be subject to the ravages of sin which place our present body in a constant state of dying. The resurrection body will not be subject to MS, heart disease, cancer, arthritis. Our resurrection body will be raised in glory. The glory of our resurrection body will reflect the glory of our  resurrected Lord Jesus. There will be no more pain, no more sorrow, no more dying. Our resurrection body will be raised a “spiritual body.” This phrase is difficult to understand because spirit and body seem opposites. Our new body will be spiritual. It will be a body lived on a perfect spiritual plane. Our resurrection body will be like Christ’s perfect and glorified resurrection body.

The conclusion is revealed in verse 50, “I tell you this, brothers, flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.” The term “flesh and blood” means the physical body. It refers to our natural body as it has been affected by sin. This body corrupted by sin and subject to disease, pain, and death cannot inherit the kingdom of God. This body which by its sinful nature is in a state of perishing cannot inherit the imperishable life in heaven. This corrupt and decaying body is not able to enter the glorious kingdom of heaven. This natural body (flesh and blood) will be changed in the resurrection victory on the last day.

We believe in the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting. This is what we proclaim in our Gospel ministry. This is the message our present age needs to hear. Sometimes we get sidetracked by the world around us and wonder what we need to do to make the message attractive. We have the most powerful message in the entire world. Jesus died according to the Scriptures. He was buried. The third day He rose from the dead according to the Scriptures. The resurrection of the body needs to be proclaimed more than just on Easter or at funerals. We bask in the afterglow of Easter as we await the day of our resurrection.

Pastoral Letter February 2010

Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast Save in the death of Christ, my God;

All the vain things that charm me most, I sacrifice them to His blood.

TLH 175:2

Next Wednesday, we begin another Lenten journey that ends at the foot of the cross. The cross is where the saving glory of the Lord is revealed to sinful men. The foolishness of the cross is indeed the power of God. Our lives and our ministries are lived under the cross. The cross is the proclamation of the Gospel of God’s saving love. Second Corinthians reveals the paradox of the Gospel and the Gospel ministry of reconciliation which has been entrusted to us. The preaching of the cross is foolishness and weakness to the world. The glory of the Gospel and the glory of our ministry is hidden to the world because it is the opposite of what the world considers important and world-changing.

So at first, it is strange to hear the Apostle Paul boast of his ministry in chapters 10 and 11 of Second Corinthians. He begs your indulgence as he is forced to defend his Gospel ministry. “Oh, that you would bear with me in a little folly; and indeed you do bear with me” (2 Cor 11:1). Paul boasts not in what he has done but in what God has done through his clay pot ministry. “We, however, will not boast beyond measure, but within the limits of the sphere which God appointed us; a sphere which especially includes you” (2 Cor 10:13). God had used Paul to bring the Gospel to this area of the earth, and it was Paul’s prayer that this base of operations would enable him to preach the Gospel in lands beyond Corinth and Acacia. The principle of grace is clear, “But he who glories, let him glory in the LORD” (2 Cor 10:17). This reflects the theme already set forth in Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians, “But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God; and righteousness and sanctification and redemption; that, as it is written, ‘He who glories, let him glory in the LORD’” (1 Cor 1:30-31). This anniversary year we need to be careful that our boasting and celebration is centered in the Lord and the cross and not in ourselves.

Secondly, it is strange to hear what the Apostle Paul boasts about in his ministry. He does not boast in apparent triumphs as the world numbers them but in what he suffered for the sake of the Gospel. Sometimes we complain and become discouraged by things which, when compared to Paul’s problems, are petty and insignificant. In chapter eleven, Paul foolishly dares to boast of his background. And then like a madman, he boasts of his imprisonments, his beatings, and his encounters with death for the Gospel’s sake. We have experienced none of these things in our Gospel ministry. But we have shared Paul’s concern and empathy for the people we serve as pastors. “Besides the other things, what comes upon me daily: my deep concern for all the churches. Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to stumble, and I do not burn with indignation” (2 Cor 11:28-29)? Like Paul, we need to glorify in (boast of) our weaknesses which highlight the glory of the cross.

This anniversary year the weakness of our collective ministry is made evident by the fact that we can not do the things we would like to do. Like many church organizations, our congregations our church body faces financial challenges which humanly seem to limit our ministry. The CLC adopted a budget of $1,634,264 knowing this was $40,000 more than the congregation’s CBP estimates. We did this with the knowledge that we had a Reserve Fund of about $100,000, hoping that we would not have to make drastic cuts in our operating Mission and ILC budgets. At this point (after seven months) it appears that we will be $30,000 additionally short in CBP offerings. It is also likely that there will be a large deficit at ILC because of increased commodity (food) and utility costs ($20,000+). It is possible that this year’s deficit will consume the entire Reserve Fund. This would mean that we will have to make real cuts in the Mission budget and ILC for next year. The Lord is teaching us to boast only in Him and in the cross of Christ. We realize through this that we are fully dependent upon God for our daily bread and the resources to do His work in these last days. If we are going to boast about anything, it is only in what the Lord has done for us.

I would also remind you of Pastor’s Karp’s surgery for bladder cancer. He does not have medical insurance and will need help with ongoing expenditures. I have authorized the appeal for funds for Pastor Karp through you. Gifts may be sent to Pastor Karp or to his congregation.

With awe and humility we once again enter into the holy season of Lent. Preach nothing but Christ crucified.

John Schierenbeck

Please be sure your congregation’s CBP figures are in the hands of Pastor Mike Roehl by Ash Wednesday.

October 2009

2 Corinthians 5:17-21

We continue our study of Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians. In this letter the Apostle Paul presents the glory of the Gospel and the Gospel ministry in contrast to the weakness of those called to proclaim the Gospel. This Reformation month, Paul reminds us of the essence of the Gospel Ministry entrusted to us. God through Martin Luther restored the Gospel truth of salvation by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. The sedes doctrina of the universal Gospel of reconciliation is revealed in this section of Paul’s second letter to the saints in Corinth.

In This Year of Jubilee We Are Reminded that the Ministry of Reconciliation Is That

“In Christ God Was Reconciling the World To Himself”

The message of the Gospel is what God has done for the entire world. This reconciliation is not something we did or agreed to. God in one act of grace unilaterally reconciled the entire world to Himself. This reconciliation took place solely through Jesus Christ. For God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself.

God did not simply ignore our sins or like a benevolent grandfather say that our sins are all right because we are His grandchildren. The Lord God is a holy and just God. Every sin under the law has to be punished. God did something greater because God so loved the world that He gave His only Son. We are controlled and changed by the love of Christ. We are convinced by the Gospel that one died for all. Jesus, God’s holy Son, became man so that He could take the place of every person who lived and died under the law. Jesus perfectly kept the law of God in the place of every person. Jesus then died to bear the punishment of hell deserved by every person. These are the facts: Jesus died for all and was raised again in triumph.

This changes God’s perspective or view of us. He no longer regards us as sinners deserving of His just punishment. God views us as new creations in Christ. Old things have passed, beyond all things are new. If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come. And so we look at ourselves and at each other in a different way. The Gospel ministry regards no one from an earthly perspective or a worldly point of view.

And how did God do this? God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing or counting men’s sins against them. This is the heart of the Gospel. God, in Christ, does not charge to your account the sins you have committed. You have been declared righteous in God’ sight. The cost of this reconciliation is beyond belief. God charged the sins of the world to His sinless Son, Jesus. Consider the Gospel message of the last verse of our text. “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21).

The message of the Gospel is that God was in Christ reconciling world unto themselves not imputing their trespasses unto them. However, this is not the end of the story. It does not follow that the entire world having been reconciled to God will be saved. This message has to be proclaimed so that people will believe the Gospel of Christ and be saved. The sad fact is that through unbelief people reject God’s act of reconciliation and forgiveness which was accomplished though Jesus Christ.

For that purpose God has committed unto us the preaching or message of reconciliation as God pleads through us, “Be reconciled to God.” We have been made God’s ambassadors as though God Himself were directly making His appeal through us. The preaching of the Gospel, this message of God’s reconciliation through Jesus’ life and death for us brings people to faith in the Jesus through the power of the Holy Spirit. The Gospel creates faith in the hearts of those who hear the preaching of the Gospel and keeps them in that faith until their end. The Gospel ministry is the link between the universal act of reconciliation and the individual appropriation of that reconciliation through faith in Jesus. The Gospel is all about Jesus and the power of God.

Think back to that familiar Gospel passage of John 3:16, “God so loved the world (universal reconciliation) that He gave His only Son that whoever believe in Him (individual reconciliation) should not perish but have everlasting life.” This is the glory of the Gospel ministry of reconciliation which has been entrusted to us as we plead to people everywhere “Be reconciled unto God who has reconciled the world unto Himself through Christ Jesus.”

This message of reconciliation changed Martin Luther and set in motion a true reformation of the organized church. The Reformation began with one man and his need to find oneness with God. When Luther could not find peace through his works in the Catholic Church, the Holy Spirit through the Scriptures revealed the simple fact of salvation by grace. It is an unbelievable message that God made His holy Son totally sinful so that He could declare sinners like us totally righteous.

If there is to be a reformation today, we as pastors in the CLC need to continue proclaiming this message of reconciliation which has been entrusted to us through those who began the CLC fifty years ago. In Luther’s day the Law predominated. People were inculcated with the preaching of an angry God who had to be appeased. The problem was that method of reconciliation (works of the law) only produced a self-righteous Pharisee or a guilt driven sinner. Today the culture of the world and the organized church does not recognize the existence of a Creator-God Who will call all people to answer for their behavior. The law has been watered down to a pablum of “do-your-own-thing” relativism. There is no consciousness of sin or its consequences. So we need to preach the Law in all its condemnatory force. However, we need to realize that the Gospel is the power of God unto salvation. We need to proclaim the life-giving message of reconciliation that in Christ God was reconciling the world unto Himself.

May God bless your Reformation/Reconciliation celebrations,

John Schierenbeck

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Journal of Theology Index of Articles

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Here is an extensive index of past Journal Of Theology articles.   Articles are indexed by:

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The main purpose of Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians is to defend the Gospel ministry. Super-apostles had been undermining Paul’s ministry in Corinth because they felt that Paul had a poor speaking ability and was not a very exciting pastor. With their worldly wisdom and influence, they also were confusing the new Christians in Corinth about their life-style as God’s people as well as basic doctrines of the Christian faith such as the bodily resurrection from the dead. They were undermining Paul’s ministry by promoting themselves.

Paul in second Corinthians does not personally defend himself against these attacks. Instead he sets forth the power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the power of a true Gospel ministry. The Gospel ministry does not need gimmicks or worldly advertising techniques to accomplish God’s purposes. After all, God uses the foolishness and weakness of the Gospel to confound the pride of power of men. (1 Cor 1:25) “Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.”

In This Year of Jubilee We Do Not Preach Ourselves But Jesus Christ As Lord Many of the preachers of Paul’s day were full of themselves. They felt that it was the power of their oratory, the charismatic nature of their personality that made the church grow. They were like the preacher who counted the conversions he had brought about in the same way the Indians kept the scalps of those they had killed on their belts. Today more than ever, large churches are built on the sand of the personality of their particular preacher. These ministries often are a tooting of the preachers’ own horns. Paul had a different view of the Gospel ministry. The Gospel ministry is about the treasure of the Gospel proclamation of the forgiveness of sins. The Gospel is all about what God has done for us. This is carried out in a true Gospel ministry. In chapter four, Paul uses the picture of a treasure in a clay pot. The clay pot is simply a vessel in which the treasure is placed. Every pastor is a clay pot. The clay pot is nothing. The emphasis is on the treasure. So we have the treasure of the Gospel in these clay pots – human beings with all their weaknesses and imperfections. Our 50th anniversary highlights the clay pot that is the Church of the Lutheran Confession.

Paul simply states, “For we do not preach ourselves.” The Gospel ministry is not about us and our preaching or our intellect or our power. The spotlight is always to be on Jesus Christ as Lord. We preach nothing else except Christ crucified. This means that we do not promote ourselves and what we do, but Christ and what Christ did for us. Paul now explains why the Gospel ministry is all about Jesus and not ourselves. God planned and carried out salvation through the miracle of the cross. Paul did not create this wondrous salvation. Furthermore, it is God who brings people to faith through the power of the Holy Spirt. The Holy Spirit opens our dead and darkened hearts so that we see the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Paul knew this personally because on the way to Damascus, he was blinded by the bright light of Jesus’ presence. The Holy Spirit brought him to faith in Jesus Christ. It was God who preached Jesus in and through Paul.

To emphasize the power of the Gospel, God gave us this treasure of the Gospel in jars of clay. God chose the weak and the insignificant and nobodies of this world for a reason. Our human flesh loves to take credit for anything good that happens. This human pride is the very opposite of the Gospel of Jesus Christ which gives all glory to God. So God uses the apparent weakness and lowliness of churches and pastors and people to underscore the power of the Gospel. (2 Cor 3:4-6) “And we have such trust through Christ toward God. Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God, who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.” So God uses fragile, ugly clay pots like us to proclaim Jesus Christ and the glory of the Gospel.

The church and God’s people are always under attack. From the world’s perspective, it always looks like Christians are losers. Paul describes our lot in life. (2 Cor 4:8-9) “We are hard pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; {9} persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed.”

This gives us new hope in an age which is increasingly hostile to Jesus and the preaching of the Gospel. This year the CLC is celebrating its fiftieth anniversary. From a worldly perspective, we have not accomplished much. By human standards, we are not very important in the world’s scheme of things. And yet our weakness, highlights the grace of God. God has preserved His Gospel and its preaching among us. The Holy Spirit continues to keep people in the faith and bring people to faith in Jesus. God gives us life in the midst of a dying world. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is effective in our lives today. Our weakness and sinfulness leads us to say this year of jubilee, “To God alone be the glory forever.”

From a fellow clay pot,