"He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set
my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand. He put a new
song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God" (Ps. 40:2-3).
We've heard the tune before. We heard it from the Pharisee in the
temple who boasted of himself before God. We heard it from the poet
who bragged: "I am the captain of my soul, the master of my destiny."
We heard it from a popular advice columnist who assured her 60,000,000
readers: "God will not deal harshly with you as long as you're nice
and kind to others." Like a broken record we keep hearing it over and
over again. It's the song of What must I DO to be saved?
A New Song For The Middle Ages
Loud and proud was heard that song during the Middle Ages. With a
heavy emphasis on making satisfaction for one's own sins, Roman
Catholicism held the people in a bondage of fear. The monk Martin
Luther tried hard to dance to the church's tune. He beat and starved
himself in an effort to drive sin from his soul and merit God's favor,
but to no avail. Of his experience he would later write: "Life had
become a living hell, so firmly sin possessed me."
But one day while reading his Bible, Luther came across a passage in
Habakkuk which read: ". . . the just shall live by his faith." It was
then that Luther said that heaven itself was opened to him. The Spirit
caused him to discover that salvation is a free gift through faith in
Jesus Christ. With great relief, Luther, like David before him, could
now say: "He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire;
He set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand.He put a
new song in my mouth."
Luther was whistling a different melody, one soon heard all across the
land: Ninety-five theses pounded to the Castle Church in Wittenberg
rang with the promise of liberty for all. Flyers and books, circulated
throughout Europe, praised the blood and merits of Jesus as full
payment for all sin. Salvation through Christ alone sweetly sounded in
the hymns of Luther and the other reformers: "Salvation unto us has
come by God's free grace and favor!"
Now, true, the new song of the Gospel had been playing from the
earliest moments of history, when God first promised Adam and Eve a
Savior to crush the power of Satan. Yet its amazing message was new to
the hearts and ears of most of the people living during the Middle
Ages. Satan, through the antichrist Church of Rome, had managed to
muffle its glad tidings so that they were barely audible in the days
prior to the Reformation.
A New Song For The Modern Ages
In this modern age we see Satan working harder than ever to muffle the
sound of God's gracious new song. As a pop hit from the sixties once
said: "The beat goes on!"
Satan's handiwork is seen in the "look inside yourself" doctrine of
the self-esteem movement. It appears in the "I keep myself . . .
morally straight" oath of the Scouts. We see it in churches which have
abandoned Gospel truth for work-righteous based human psychology. It
is shown in the TV evangelist who teaches his audience that they must
cooperate with God in bringing about their salvation. "Have you made
your decision for Christ?"
In each case "the arrangement" might be slightly different, but it is
always the same song of self-salvation.
There remains today, as much as ever, a crying need for the pure,
unconditioned song of "a man is justified by faith apart from the
deeds of the law" (Rom. 3:28). Today, as in every age, the sinner must
be pointed entirely away from himself to Jesus' cross where full
satisfaction for all sin has been accomplished! Only then can the
unbeliever be lifted out of the mud and mire of damning sin. Only then
can the believer maintain full confidence of his acceptance by God.
Only then can the guilt be driven away and the accusing tongue of
Satan be silenced.
May our new song be the same song of Luther, of Paul, of David. For it
is God's everlasting song of triumph for all through Christ. What
music to the soul -- a new song to give us peace, joy -- to bring us
safely into the new heavens and the new earth!
--Pastor Michael Wilke
Innumberable volumes and articles ahve beenw ritten about Luther and
the Reformation. We quote here some comments from the Reformer
himself, giving his own impression of the Lord's work that had brought
the true light of the Gospel back to the church.
The numbers following these quotations indicate paragraph numbers from
the topical collection of Luther's writings entitled What Luther Says,
copyright 1959 by Concordia Publishing House, St. Louis, Missouri.
When the Word of God first arose, twelve or fifteen years ago, people
diligently listened to it, and everybody was glad that "good works"
were no longer to plague them. They said: God be praised that we now
have water to drink. For them we were thirsty, and the doctrine tasted
fine; we drank of it and found it a precious teaching. But now we are
sated; we are tired of the drink and are surfeited with it, so that
our Lord God must depart and let us die of thirst; for He remains only
with those who feel their misery. But there are few who know this. The
majority turn the Gospel into liberty for the flesh. (3817)
Oh, with how great an effort and exertion, also with proof from Holy
Scripture, did I barely succeed in justifying before my own con-
science that I, a lone man, dared rise against the pope, consider him
the Antichrist, the bishops his apostles, the schools of higher
learning his houses of ill fame! How often my heart struggled, rebuked
me, and threw up to me their one and strongest argument: You alone are
wise? Can it be that all the others are erring and have been erring
for so long a time? What if you are erring and leading into error so
manypeople, all of whom will be eternally damned? Such questions
continued until Christ strengthened me and settled me by His own
certain Word so that my hear no longer struggles but confronts these
arguments of the papists as a rock-bound shore confronts the waves
and laughs at their threatening and storming. (3576)
I do not like it that folk call our doctrine and people "Lutheran" and
that I must suffer them to disgrace God's Word with my name in this
shameful manner. Nevertheless, they shall let this Luther, the
"Lutheran" doctrine and people, remain and come to honor. . . . I am
not asking anyone to believe me, but I am asking men to believe the
plain words of God. (4412, 4413)
This message is not a novel invention of ours but the very ancient,
approved teaching of the apostles brought to light again. Neither
have we invented a new Baptism, Sacrament of the Altar, Lord's Prayer,
and Creed; nor do we desire to know or to have anything new in
Chrstendom. We only contend for, and hold to, the ancient: that which
Christ and the apostles have left behind them and have given to us.
But this we did do. Since we found all of this obscured by the pope
with human doctrine, aye, decked out in dust and spider webs and all
sorts of vermin, and flung and trodden into the mud besides, we have
by God's grace brought it out again, have cleansed it of the mess,
wiped off the dust, brushed it, and brought it to the light of day.
Accordingly it shines again in purity, and everybody may see what
Gospel, Baptism, Sacrament of the Altar, keys, prayer, and everything
that Christ has given us really is and how it should be used for our
salvation. (3771)
A Message From Our CLC President --
Reformation 1996
In 1529, the year that Martin Luther prepared the Small and Large
Catechisms, he wrote the classic Reformation hymn A Mighty Fortress Is
Our God. Luther wrote:
Though devils all the world should fill,
All eager to devour us . . .
There are no new tricks in the devil's arsenal. He needs none. He
stays with the tried and the true. "Has God said . . . ?" By that
question he introduces false doctrine into the world and into the
church. "You shall not surely die." By that bald-faced lie the devil
succeeds in creating indifference in sinful man who thinks that he
shall live forever, or at very least that he need not be responsible
for his actions. "Your eyes shall be opened, and you will be like God
. . ." So the devil creates conflict between man and God; man thinks
that God is not treating him fairly, or that somehow he knows at least
as much as God, if not more.
The reaction of Adam and Eve to the presence of God in the garden
changed. They lied! "I was afraid because I was naked . . . ." Their
sin was not their fault. "The woman whom you gave to be with me . . .
." "The serpent deceived me . . . ." It is not our fault. It's
yours.
So how are we different? "The problem in my family is not my fault
. . . The problems in the church are not my fault. . . . I am not
responsible for the evil in the world. I am a victim, not a
perpetrator." Dear reader, look at yourself in the mirror. The face
you see in the mirror of the Law is yours. The roaring lion you see
behind you is not after another. He is after you!
Nevertheless, we are bold to sing:
We tremble not, we fear no ill,
They shall not overpower us.
This world's prince may still
Scowl fierce as he will . . .
Those words of this treasured hymn can be sung confidently and with
meaning by such as have faced the reality of personal sin, who then
have been drawn to Christ to find mercy. Yes, the face you see in the
Gospel is that of your Savior. The battle is no less strenuous for
such as see His face (it may be even more so), but the outcome is
assured. The scowl of the evil one, so menacing to us in the weakness
of our flesh, turns into the scowl of apprehension and frustration for
he knows what we know when we believe the Word. Christ Jesus was
manifested "that He might destroy the works of the devil" (1 Jn. 3:8).
Therefore:
He can harm us none,
He's judged; the deed is done;
One little Word can fell him.
If we would continue in the confidence of victory over the devil, we
will joyfully heed the Word of God. For the Word alerts us to the
wiles of the evil one; it minces no words about our sinful condition.
The Word shows us the Savior who has by His grace taken our sin on
Himself, acquiring for us the forgiveness of sin, life, and salvation.
And while we wait for the ultimate fulfillment of the Father's
gracious promise, the Word is our contnuing shield and weapon against
the foe.
This Reformation season will be meaningful if we remember that it was
really about nothing other than the Word and its restoration to the
central focus of the church. For without the Word of God, nothing else
could have been in focus.
In the words of another hymn of Luther: "Preserve Thy Word, O Savior,
to us this latter day . . . ." --Pastor Daniel FleischerAfter the Death of Luther --How the Formula Of Concord Was ForgedPart Nine
The Crypto-Calvinists Self-destruct
After Luther's death in 1546 Melanchthon's followers, with his help,
conspired to replace Luther's doctrine with Calvin's, at Wittenberg,
Leipzig, and across Germany. Their stealth book, Exegesis Perspicua,
revealed their dishonesty and allegiance to Calvin. Elector August, a
faithful Lutheran who had been deceived by the Crypto-Calvinists, was
angered and humiliated.
The Crypto-Calvinists added to their fame as liars in 1574, when a
Calvinist devotional book was delivered to the wrong person. The sly
letter enclosed with the book, from Melanchthon's son-in-law, suggested
that Elector August be converted through his wife Anna. August ordered
an investigation, which revealed even more intrigue. The Crypto-
Calvinists were thrown into prison. August took on a leadership role
in restoring genuine Lutheran doctrine. Martin Chemnitz, Jacob Andreae,
and Nicholas Selnecker were made trusted advisors to August.
Articles VII (Of the Holy Supper) and VIII (Of the Person of Christ)
refute the errors of the Crypto-Calvinists. One statement is:
"On account of this personal union and communion of the natures, Mary,
the most blessed Virgin, bore not a mere man, but, as the angel
{Gabriel} testifies, such a man as is truly the Son of the most high
God, who showed His divine majesty even in His mother's womb, inasmuch
as He was born of a virgin, with her virginity inviolate. Therefore
she is truly the mother of God, and nevertheless remained a virgin"
(Article VIII, Triglotta, p. 1023).
As horrible as the Crypto-Calvinist reign appeared at the time, their
excesses and sudden collapse provided a God-given way to unite
Lutherans in a common confession. At the Colloquy of Worms in 1557,
the Lutherans were divided, thanks to Melanchthon, and the Romanists
refused to negotiate with them. Many unity efforts failed, until Jacob
Andreae published his Six Christian Sermons in 1573.
Andreae's sermons, the collapse of the Crypto-Calvinists, and Martin
Chemnitz's leadership all combined to generate movement toward the
Formula of Concord. The Formula of Concord required the cooperation of
Andreae, Chemnitz, Selnecker, David Chytraeus, Musculus, and Cornerus.
Most people could not abide Andreae, but he was crucial in getting the
work started and completed. Chemnitz was the dominant theologian, but
the others all contributed significant insights to the Formula, which
was signed in 1577.
The Book of Concord, which includes the Ecumenical Creeds, the
Augsburg Confession, the Apology to the Augsburg Confession, the
Smalcald Articles, the Small Catechism, the Large Catechism, and the
Formula of Concord, was completed in 1580.
--Pastor Gregory L. Jackson
Appreciative heirs watch for significant dates in the life of Dr.
Martin Luther, thus to seize the opportunity another anniversary
affords to highlight God's working in his life. By now most Lutherans
are aware that this is the 450th anniversary of Luther's death. It was
February 18, 1546 when he died, falling asleep confidently in the
faith in Christ Jesus he had so boldly professed.
To mark this anniversary cities around Germany which are in one way or
another associated with Luther are taking part in "Luther Year 1996."
Most religious periodicals are noting the anniversary as well. How
about the Spokesman? We have been marking it coincidently and
indirectly with the very informative series of articles by Pastor
Gregory Jackson called: "After the Death of Luther -- How the Formula
Of Concord Was Forged."
Every Reformation season we give thanks for Luther's life -- that God
used him as an instrument for reforming the church. Seldom do we mark
his death, and even more seldom, I'm afraid, do we pay attention to
the very crucial events which were, in effect, ushered in by his
death.
What happened not long after he died he had, in fact, prophesied:
"This doctrine," Luther said, "will be obscured again after my death."
The doctrine of which he spoke was the doctrine by which the church
stands or falls -- the doctrine of justification by grace alone
through faith alone in Christ alone without the works of the Law.
As Pastor Jackson's articles bring out, Luther proved to be a prophet
indeed. Soon after Luther's death one doctrinal controversy after
another arose. These controversies were eventually settled one by one
over a period of some 30 years, only after much back and forth
wrangling and debate, by the Formula of Concord of 1577. This
confession as well as the rest of our Lutheran Confessions, including
Luther's Catechisms, were published in the Book of Concord of 1580.
In all this there are many lessons for us. One is that, while good men
-- staunch confessors of His Truth -- die, God continues to protect
His Church, raising up other faithful to carry the torch of light and
truth and life.
It has been suggested that Pastor Jackson's informative series of
articles about how and why the Formula of Concord was written be
compiled in pamphlet form. We have reason to believe that this will be
done in due time.
THE FORGING OF "CONCERNING CHURCH FELLOWSHIP"
We give God thanks for the confessions contained in the Book of
Concord. Let us be reminded to give thanks for another confession of
our church body. Earlier this year our confessional document,
Concerning Church Fellowship (CCF), officially adopted by the CLC
in 1961, was reprinted in an independent Lutheran journal of
theology -- Logia.
A Logia footnote explains, in part: "The breakup of the Synodical
conference revolved around many issues, but finally at stake was the
doctrine of fellowship and church relations. We print this
confessional statement here because we believe that it is the last
and most thorough articulation of the doctrine of church fellowship
as it was confessed in the Synodical Conference. . . ."
There is considerable history behind the forging of any confession of
faith. It would be well to acquaint ourselves -- or reacquaint, as
the case may be -- on what was involved in the forging of CCF. Below
we draw from essays on CLC history by Pastor M. J. Witt (1970) and
Prof. C. M. Gullerud (1978).
The idea for the confession was born before the CLC existed -- by a
small group at a Free Conference in Lyons, Nebraska. "From the very
start," explained Prof. Gullerud, "it has been evident that this was
not the product of hasty and ill-conceived composition but rather a
document thoroughly Scriptural which grew out from the life of a
small, tried, and tested fellowship of believers at a time when such a
confession was sorely needed."
Let's trace the forging:
Free Conference at Lyons, Nebr. (Oct. 1957) -- "At this meeting it was
mutually agreed that there was a need for an Article to be drawn up on
the doctrine of Church fellowship. (It had been noted that the 16th
century Lutheran confessions did not treat the subject at any length
-- ED.) This was the initial move toward the framing of the document
later to be known by the title: 'Concerning Church Fellowship.' ... "
"All who were interested in contributing to this study were invited to
participate freely ..."
Free Conference at Cheyenne, Wyo. (May, 1958) -- "The first draft of
the essay on church fellowhsip was thoroughly reviewed and examined in
the light of Scripture. Certain changes were proposed and received
..."
Meeting at Spokane, Wash. (Aug. 1958) -- "After more polishing the
document on fellowship was again read and then accepted as to its
essence." It was reported that "special attention was given to the
false doctrines to be rejected."
Interim Conference at Mankato, Minn. (Jan. 1959) -- "The minutes of
this conference indicate that a lively and fruitful discussion was
carried on in connection with . . ." the document on fellowship.
Interim Conference at Red Wing, Minn. (Aug. 1959) -- "It was a happy
moment when some who had made far-reaching protests and charges
concerning our confession Concerning Church Fellowship found that the
discussion and study at this conference revealed the obstacles to be
misunderstandings. . . ."
Interim Conference at Mankato, Minn. (Jan. 1960) -- "The editing
committee chosen to edit Concerning Church Fellowship reported, and
assignment was made for the writing of a preamble to it."
Constituting Convention at Watertown, S.Dak. (Aug. 1960) and recessed
to Sleepy Eye, Minn. (Jan. 1961) -- "The minutes (of the Watertown
meeting) show that the essay Concerning Church Fellowship was adopted
unanimously as a confessional statement of the conference. . . ."
Those who trace this history are surely inclined to agree with Prof.
Gullerud's summary:
"Upon examining the records, reports, and minutes of the above-cited
conferences and meetings one is impressed with the careful and
conscientious deliberations on the part of the participants as they,
under God, were moving toward the establishment of a sound and
Scripture-grounded church body which might serve as a truly united
fellowship-assembly dedicated to the Lord's work in the widening field
of activity which the Spirit of God was opening in those formative
years."
As a CLC member, do you have a copy of the 45-page pamphlet Concerning
Church Fellowship? More importantly, are you familiar with its
contents? Ask your pastor, or write to the Spokesman editor, if you
would like to order a copy. It is available, for a nominal price,
in the tract racks of most of our churches and/or through the CLC
Bookhouse in Eau Claire.
May our Lutheran confessions -- each of which was painstakingly forged
and molded by our fathers, be more than dust catchers in our tract
racks and on our desks and end tables. Based as they are on the time-
less Word of God, all of them have an urgent message to the current
generation. The need spoken of in Lyons, Nebraska for a confessional
statement on church fellowship has hardly decreased 40 years later.
If we would remain a confessional church body in the polluted sea of
doctrinal compromise, unionism, and ecumenicalism all around us, we
need to be acquainted with -- and pray to practice in accord with --
the contents of Concerning Church Fellowship.
WHO CHOOSES WHOM?
To answer the question posed in last month's issue: It was a Church of
Christ (Reformed and Calvinistic) which advertised itself on an
outdoor sign with the statement: "God allows our choosing of Him to be
His choosing of us."
We hear a lot about "choices" today, also in the realm of the
spiritual. In that connection consider these quotes:
". . .The Holy Scriptures ascribe conversion, faith in Christ,
regeneration, renewal, and all that belong to their efficacious
beginning and completion, not to the human powers of the natural free
will, neither entirely, nor half, nor in any, even the least or most
inconsiderable part, but in solidum, that is, entirely, solely, to the
divine working and the Holy Ghost. . . ." (Concordia Triglotta, T.D.
II. Free Will, p. 891)
"It is also taught among us that man possesses some measure of freedom
of the will which enables him to live an outwardly honorable life and
to make choices among the things that reason comprehends. But without
the grace, help, and activity of the Holy Spirit man is not capable of
making himself acceptable to God, of fearing God and believing in God
with his whole heart, or of expelling inborn evil lusts from his
heart. This is accomplished by the Holy Spirit, who is given through
the Word of God, for Paul says in 1 Corinthians 2:14, 'Natural man
does not receive the gifts of the Spirit of God.'" (Augsburg
Confession, Art. XVIII, Freedom of the Will) Compare the above
statement to what is said in
As we sing in the hymn:
Lord, 'tis not that I did choose Thee;
That, I know, could never be;
For this heart would still refuse Thee
Had Thy grace not chosen me. (cf. TLH #37, Stz 1)
I have heard many Christians say that evolution doesn't concern them
because, after all, it's "only a theory." Presumably they think that
the word "theory" means about the same thing as a "pipe dream." But
the term theory, at least as it applies to experimental science, has a
much nobler meaning than that. A scientific theory is a careful
attempt to explain certain observable facts of nature by means of
experiments. Since many Christians have concluded that evolution is
incompatible with the Biblical account of creation, we would do well
to investigate if evolution is a fact or a theory -- or perhaps
neither.
There is a widespread misconception that good theories grow up to be
facts and that the really good ones finally become laws. But these
three categories of scientific description are neither directly
related nor mutually exclusive. It often occurs that a single natural
phenomenon can be described in terms of a theory, a fact, and a law --
all at the same time!
Consider the well-known phenomenon of gravity. First, there is a fact
of gravity. While we cannot actually see gravitational force itself,
we do observe the effects of this force every time we drop something.
There is also a theory of gravity that addresses the question of how
this force we call gravity really works. While we don't know how
gravity works, there are theories that attempt to explain it. Finally
there is the well-known law of gravity. This law, first formulated by
Isaac Newton, a Bible-believing Christian and creationist, is a
mathematical equation that shows a relationship between mass,
distance, and gravitational force. So, in summary, a scientific fact
is an observable natural occurrence; a scientific theory is an attempt
to explain how a natural occurrence works; and a scientific law is a
mathematical description of a natural occurrence.
Science itself is the whole process of making careful observations of
certain facts of nature and then constructing and testing theories
that seek to explain those facts. Scientists call these attempts to
test their theories experiments. Experimental science, better known as
empirical science, is the kind of science that is responsible for the
marvelous technological achievements that make our life easier. One
has only to consider what it would be like to endure surgery without
anesthesia to appreciate the contributions of empirical science to our
lives.
The most important requirement of empirical science is that any object
or phenomenon we wish to study must first be observable. While we may
assume the existence of events not witnessed by human observers, such
events are not suited to study by empirical science. Secondly, the
event we wish to study should be repeatable. Unique and unrepeatable
events, such as the Babylonian Empire, are the subject of history, not
empirical science. Finally, any theory we might propose as an
explanation for an observable and repeatable event must be testable:
we must be able to conceive of an experiment that could refute our
theory if it were wrong. If one were to propose an explanation for an
event in such a way that one could conceive of any way to test or
refute it, it wouldn't be a theory at all, but rather a belief.
Beliefs, of course, are not necessarily wrong, they just aren't well
suited to study by empirical science.
What then shall we say of evolution? First, evolutionists tell us that
major evolutionary changes happen far too slowly, or too rarely, to be
observable in the lifetime of human observers. The offspring of most
living organisms, for example, are said to remain largely unchanged
for tens of thousands, or even millions, of years. Second, even when
evolutionary changes do occur, evolutionist Theodocious Dobzhansky
tells us they are by nature "unique, unrepeatable, and irreversible."
Dobzhansky concludes that the "applicability of the experimental
method to the study of such unique historical processes is severely
restricted." Finally, evolutionist Paul Ehrlich concedes that the
theory of evolution "cannot be refuted by any possible observations"
and thus is "outside of empirical science."
Still, the occurrence of evolution is widely believed by the
scientific community to be a "fact" and those who dare to doubt it are
not endured gladly. The Encyclopedia Britannica confidently assures us
that "we are not in the least doubt as to the fact of evolution." In
his textbook Evolution, J. Savage says "we do not need a listing of
the evidences to demonstrate the fact of evolution any more than we
need to demonstrate the existence of mountain ranges." In another
textbook, Outlines of General Zoology, H. Newman arrogantly declares
that evolution has no rival as an explanation for the origin of
everything "except the outworn and completely refuted one of special
creation, now retained only by the ignorant, the dogmatic, and the
prejudicial."
What exactly is the "observable fact" of evolution? First you should
be aware that evolutionists recognize two types of "evolution" --
microevolution, which is observable, and macroevolution, which isn't.
So called "microevolution" is a process of limited variation among the
individuals of a given species that produces the sort of variety we
observe among dogs. Macroevolution, on the other hand, is a
hypothetical process of unlimited variation that evolutionists believe
transforms one kind of living organism into a fundamentally different
kind of living organism into a fundamentally different kind such as
the transformation of reptiles into birds or apes into people.
Obviously, no one has ever observed anything remotely like this
transformation.
The very name "microevolution" is intended to imply that it is this
kind of variation that accumulates to produce macroevolution, though a
growing number of evolutionists admit there is no evidence to support
this. Thus, an observable phenomenon is extrapolated into an
unobservable phenomenon for which there is no evidence, and then the
latter is declared to be a "fact" on the strength of the former. It is
this kind of limitless extrapolation that comprises much of the
argument of evolution.
In conclusion, macroevolution is not observable, repeatable, or
refutable and thus does not qualify as either a scientific fact or
theory. Evolution must be accepted with faith by its believers, many
of whom deny the existence, or at least the power, of the Creator.
Similarly, the Biblical account of creation is not observable,
repeatable, or refutable by man. Special creation is accepted with
faith by those who believe that the Bible is the revelation of an
omnipotent and omniscient Creator whose Word is more reliable than the
speculations of men. Both evolution and creation, however, can be
compared for their compatibility with what we do observe of the facts
of nature. In the months ahead, we will see that creation by
intelligent design is a vastly more reasonable explanation for the
origin of the complexity we see in living things than is evolution by
mere chance and the intrinsic properties of matter.
-- Dr. David N. Menton
Jacob had had a hard life. The flight from his brother, the deception
of his uncle Laban, the loss of his beloved Rachel in childbirth, evil
reports about the behavior of his elder sons, and the supposed death
of his favorite son, Joseph, all must have weighed heavily on the old
man.
As he looked back on his life Jacob may have wondered what he might
have done differently to have kept his older boys in line. He had
taught his sons of the love and might of their Savior-God, and yet the
only son which had seemed interested in following in his father's
footsteps was gone.
Little did Jacob realize how the training of that son was going to
affect him, his family, and in essence all of God's people.
Even More Problems
But for now Jacob had even more problems. Two years of famine had been
gnawing away at the family resources. The only place food was
available was: Egypt. There his sons had to deal with a particularly
suspicious and harsh Egyptian prince.
Joseph, Jacob's long lost son, was that Egyptian prince. After twenty
odd years Joseph now saw the fulfillment of his dreams. Here were his
brothers groveling at his feet. Now he had the opportunity to exact
his revenge!
But we see that Joseph's thoughts were of his father as he anxiously
asked: "Is your--really, "our"--father yet alive?" How then could he
do harm to his father by harming his brothers?
Joseph's revenge was that he showed his brothers pity when they had
showed none. He showered kindness, mercy, and brotherly love when they
had spewed hatred, bitterness, and cruel jealousy. Joseph was able to
treat his brothers in such a Christian fashion not just out of love
for his father, but out of love for his father's God whom he had been
taught to serve.
After revealing himself to his brethren and assuring them of his
forgiveness, Joseph's next move was to ask them to bring their father
down to Egypt as quickly as possible. Joseph couldn't wait to see his
father again and he couldn't wait to share with his father and
brothers the abundance the Lord had provided him.
The brothers brought the news to Jacob -- Joseph is alive! He wants us
to move to Egypt! Jacob couldn't believe his ears, yet his eyes beheld
the riches and the carts sent by his son to carry him to this far off
land.
The tables were now turned for Jacob. All of those hard years of
laboring for the Lord in order to provide for his family, and now a
son would be able to provide for him. Joseph not only showered the
riches of Egypt on his father and brothers, but he provided the best
of the land as well, settling his family in the fertile land of
Goshen.
Two God-fearing Examples
Joseph's love for his father went beyond the superficial things of
this world. He was not at all embarrassed by his own humble beginnings
nor those of his father. Quite to the contrary, Joseph presented his
aged, weather-worn, limping, blue-collar laborer father to mighty
Pharaoh himself. Pharaoh's response: any family of Joseph is a friend
of Egypt. He then allowed the sons of Jacob to inhabit the verdant
pastures of Goshen.
Jacob's love for his Lord and Savior prompted him to raise his sons in
the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Not all was smooth sailing.
Not all of the sons took readily to the instruction of their father.
Yet Jacob remained a God-fearing example to his sons throughout his
life.
An earthly reward Jacob received for this service is proclaimed in
these verses: "Behold, thus shall the man be blessed who fears the
LORD. Yes, may you see your children's children. Peace be upon
Israel!" (Ps. 128:4,6) To be sure Jacob had seen the children of his
sons living with him in the land of Canaan, but now his eyes even
beheld the two sons of his beloved Joseph as well. How faithful and
generous our God is, even in these temporal matters!
Throughout his life Joseph had shown himself to be a true Christian.
His concern for the spiritual well-being of his brothers, his
willingness to suffer evil for the Lord's good, his readiness to
forgive, and his eagerness to provide for his aged father are all
proofs of his love for his God.
We read in Exodus 10:12: "Honor your father and your mother, that your
days may be long upon the land which the LORD your God is giving you."
Even though this commandment was given to God's people many years
after the death of Joseph, we can still see the blessings God bestows
on the faithful.
Not only did Joseph enjoy a long and prosperous life in the land of
Egypt, but he also received a double inheritance from his father. For
while there is no tribe of Joseph listed among the Israelites, each of
Joseph's sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, were given that blessing.
May we use the examples of Jacob and Joseph, so whether we be father
or son, mother or daughter, we each do our duty as to the Lord.
--Teacher David Bernthal
St. Paul Evangelical Lutheran Church
Golden, Colorado
St. Paul Evangelical Lutheran Church is located just west of Denver in
Golden, Colorado--settled in a valley between two table mesas on the
east and the foothills of the Rockies on the west.
The congregation was formed in 1993, resulting in a merger of St. Luke
of Denver and St. James of Golden. Both of these congregations were
formed in the early 1940's. Orval Krei was the first pastor of St.
James, followed by Victor Schultz and then Herold Schulz. When St.
Luke was established, Victor Tiefel was pastor. He faithfully
shepherded the congregation for several decades, and at age 84 he is
still serving as associate pastor in the newly formed congregation.
After World War II, St. James congregation purchased one of the
chapels at Camp Hale in the Colorado Rockies, where soldiers trained
for winter and alpine warfare. This was utilized in building the
church where the congregation is presently worshiping in Golden. We
say "presently" worshiping, because the congregation just sold the
church property in July. As we are looking for a site and building a
new place of worship, we have an arrangement to use our former church
building for Sunday worship services, Lenten services, etc. at no
charge for two years.
The current pastor of St. Paul's is Delwyn Maas. Pastor Maas was born
and raised in the Denver area, growing up in St. Luke's congregation.
He graduated from Immanuel Lutheran High School and Immanuel Lutheran
College in Eau Claire. In 1980 he graduated from Colorado Lutheran
Seminary in Denver. He and his wife Jody have three children: David
(15), Timothy (11), and Heidi (8).
The congregations which merged into St. Paul's have weathered many
controversies over the years, not unlike many other confessional
Lutheran congregations. Through those experiences the Holy Spirit
granted the increase of faith and knowledge by compelling us to
fervently study His Word. He has instilled within us a love for His
Word so that we cherish it as a "pearl of great price." Our one
abiding goal has been faithfulness to God's Word. This path has not
always been an easy one. Truly, it has been sprinkled with many tears.
As difficult as it was to endure such events, the Lord of the Church
never failed to sustain and prosper our congregation. He has now
created a blessed union between us and the Church of the Lutheran
Confession, with whom we share the goal of faithfulness to God's Word.
We count this fellowship as precious indeed! "But if we walk in the
light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and
the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin" (1 Jn.
1:7).
As we prepare for the next phase in the history of our congregation
(new location, new building, new fellowship), we pray for the Lord to
bestow His blessings on our sister congregations, and we ask them also
to keep us in their prayers as we undertaken the tasks ahead of us.
St. Matthew Evangelical Lutheran Church
Colorado Springs, Colorado
Below the snow-capped visage of Pikes Peak lies the city of Colorado
Springs, population 306,000. Here you can visit such places as NORAD,
the Air Force Academy, and the training facility for the U.S. Olympic
team. Colorado Springs is known as a very conservative community and
there are many churches and religious organizations. For example, the
headquarters for Focus on the Family is located here.
Among all these high-profiled localities, you can also find St.
Matthew Evangelical Lutheran Church. Here a congregation of faithful
Lutherans gather together every Sunday afternoon at 3:30 for worship
services.
Like many confessional Lutheran congregations, St. Matthew's was born
of controversy. having departed from WELS, their congregtiion had been
independent for several years. In the early 1990's a division arose
within the congregation. The question was: "Does the authority to
receive or remove members from the congregation reside with the
congregation or solely with the pastor?" The pastor maintained that he
had unilateral authority in this area. Many in the congregation
disagreed, citing Matthew 18:17 and other passages to demonstrate that
this responsibility and authority belong to the body and not to any
individual.
The ensuing separation resulted in the formation of St. Matthew's in
1991. Delwyn Maas has served as the pastor of this congregation since
its inception. From his home in Golden it is about 80 miles to St.
Matthew's.
At the Convention last June, Pastor Maas spoke for St. Paul of Golden
and St. Matthew of Colorado Springs when he said: "We rejoice that the
Holy Spirit has created a scripturally based and therefore
God-pleasing agreement between us." After the Convention St. Matthew
voted to apply for membership in the Church of the Lutheran
Confession. The Lord has truly blessed our congregation through His
precious Word, and we trust that He will enrich us further through the
fellowship which He has created between us and the CLC.
Editor's Note: It was at our request that Pastor Delwyn Maas submitted
this information to introduce our readers to the congregations he is
serving. We thank him. We implore the Lord to bless the work he and
St. Paul and St. Matthew congregations are doing.
West Central Pastoral ConferenceDate: September 17-19, 1996
Place: Berea Ev. Lutheran Church, Sioux falls, SD
Agenda:
1) Old Testament Exegesis: Psalm 128 -- Pastor Jay Hartmann
2) New Testament Exegesis: Romans 6:15-23 -- Pastor Peter Reim
3) Isagogical Study of Hebrews -- Pastor Norman Greve
4) Review and discussion: Walther's Law And Gospel -- Pastor Frank
Gantt
5) Study of the "Promise Keepers" -- Pastor James Shrader
6) How To Minister to the Sick and Dying -- Pastor Paul Larsen
7) To Spank Or Not To Spank -- Pastor Michael Roehl
8) Homiletics: A Review of the Importance and the Basics of the Sermon
Outline -- Pastor Joel Fleischer
9) Book Reviews: Pastoral Theology by Walther -- Pastor Walter
Schaller; Getting Into the Book of Concord by Preus -- Pastor David
Fuerstenau
Conference Chaplain: Pastor Michael Schierenbeck
Conference Speaker: Pastor John Johannes
--Pastor Steven Sippert, SecretaryMinnesota Pastoral ConferenceDate: October 29-30, 1996 beginning at 10:00 a.m.
Host: St. Paul's Lutheran Church, Austin, Minn.
Chaplain: Pastor Theodore Barthels
Agenda:
* OT Exegesis of Malachi 3:6-16 -- Pastor Vance Fossum
* NT Exegesis of Jude 16ff - Pastor Rick Grams
* Homiletical Study of Revelation 14:6-7 -- Pastor David
Schierenbeck
* Pastors As Spiritual Physicians -- Pastor Stephen Kurtzahn
* Various ways of encouraging our congregations to study Christian
stewardship -- Pastor em. Keith Olmanson
* Overview of the Smalcald Articles and its Preface -- Pastor L. D.
Redlin
* Luther's "Bondage of the Will" - Review and Application for Today --
Pastor Gregory L. Jackson
-- Pastor Rick Grams, Secretary
Pacific Coast Pastoral Conference
Trinity Lutheran Church
Spokane, Washington
October 8-10, 1996Assignments:
* Old Testament Exegesis: continuation of Hosea at chapter 5:12 --
Pastor Paul Naumann
* New Testament Exegesis: continuation of 1 Thessalonians at chapter
5:12 -- Pastor Michael Sprengeler
* Isagogical study of 2 Thessalonians -- Pastor David Naumann
* Christian Giving: Encouraging Discipline Without Legalism -- Pastor
Michael Eichstadt
* Emotions in the Christian's Life and Faith -- Pastor Robert List
* Paul's Use of the Word "law" in Romans/Galatians -- Pastor Bertram
Naumann
* A Popular Presentation of the Fellowship Question
Chaplain -- Pastor Arvid Gullerud
Speaker -- Pastor Paul Krause
--Pastor Michael Sprengeler, Secretary Addresses
Pastor Delwyn Maas
401 20th Street
Golden, CO 80401
Phone (303) 278-7216
Pastor Victor Tiefel
4311 Osceola Street
Denver, CO 80212
Phone (303) 433-9333
Pastor Bruce Naumann
N1521 State Rd. 73
Markesan, WI 53946
Phone (414) 398-2778
Installations
In accord with our usage and order, Ruth Eserhut, who was called by
Messiah Lutheran congregation of Hales Corners, Wis. to be the lower
grade teacher in its Christian Day School, was installed on August 11,
1996.
--Pastor John Ude
In accord with our usage and order, Bruce Naumann, who was called by
Faith Lutheran congregation of Markesan, Wis. to be its pastor was
installed on August 25, 1996.
--Pastor em. Keith OlmansonCLC Teachers' Conference
Grace Lutheran Church
Valentine, Nebraska
October 16-18, 1996List Of Essays:
* Evaluation of Schools -- Douglas Libby
* The Importance of Arts in Our Curriculum -- Lane Fischer
* Attitudes Toward Public Schools -- James Lau
* Devotions For Teachers -- Seth Schaller
* Humanism in Public School Texts vs. Decision Theology in A Beka
Texts -- Theodore Quade
* Handwriting Textbook Review -- Barbara Hulke and Deborah Johannes
* Title Fives -- Alvin Sieg, Leif Olmanson, Carolyn Gerbitz, Marion
Fitschen, Marlys Gerth (Note: Title Fives is a brief presentation of
new ideas for an area of the curriculum)
--Submitted by Karl OlmansonJoint Reformation Service
The Minnesota conference of the CLC invites area congregations to attend
a joint Reformation service to be held at Immanuel Lutheran Church,
Mankato, Minnesota on October 27, 1996 beginning at 4:00 p.m.
--Pastor Rick Grams, SecretaryCoordinating Council
The Coordinating Council will meet on Wednesday and Thursday, October
23 & 24, at Immanuel Lutheran College, Eau Claire, Wis. The first
session begins at 10:00 a.m. on Wednesday.
--Daniel Fleischer, President