The Secret Wireless

Rejoice in the Lord always!  I say again…yeah right.   Why is Paul always so happy?  Why is he so insistent that the rest of us be happy too?  Rejoice?  Be gracious?  Don’t be anxious but be at peace?  Oh, give me a break. Seriously, Paul was in prison.  What did he have to rejoice about?  And as far as peace goes, he was forced to be at peace, because the Romans would have killed him if he did anything rambunctious.  He can tell us to be happy until he is blue in the face, but we know the truth.  There are too many things in this world to not be happy about-too many reasons for sadness, anger, or just plain old melancholy. Rejoice?  You mean like when you have been looking for a job to pay off all those student loans you took out to attend that university that sold you on the idea that 90-some percent of their graduates find work after graduation and the best you can do is minimum wage? Rejoice?  We sho...

God commands us to do good works.  He wants us to do them for others.  You cannot read the Bible, especially the Gospels or the letters of Saint Paul, and miss this.                 Jesus teaches His disciples to avoid anger, resentment, lust, divorce, lies, vengeance, harsh judgments, and anxiety about the future.  He teaches them to care for the poor, to pray, to practice self-discipline, and to treat others the way they wish to be treated.  Obviously Jesus wants His followers to see this as their way of life.                 Paul says very similar things at the end of each of his epistles.  Romans, Colossians, Philippians, Ephesians, and others all end with encouragement for these people to act like Christians, to be what God created and redeemed them to be.      ...

"Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of the water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish." [Ephesians 5:25-27] Let's take another look at what it means for a husband to love his wife as Christ loved the church.  Rightly, much of the emphasis in those talks, discussions, and articles, centers of the sacrifice of Jesus.  He literally died for the church.  A husband must be ready to do the same thing. Yet the verses above, from Ephesians 5, also make a connection to baptism-the washing of water with the word.  What is the connection between baptism and the manner in which a man should love his bride? Perhaps Romans 6, another baptism text, can give us some insight: "Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ...

"You can't stop yourself from breaking the _______ commandment, so you might as well______." You can fill in the blank. "You can't stop yourself from breaking the 6th commandment, so you might as well watch movie with sexually explicit content." "You can't stop yourself from breaking the 5th commandment, so you might as well just drink and drive." I have never actually heard anyone say these exact words, but I have heard and read similar arguments used by different Lutherans as rationalizations for other behaviors.  The thinking is that if I am a sinner through-and-through (which you are) then the commandments cease to have any real value in terms of guidance.  If I cannot stop myself from breaking the commandments then I should just ignore them altogether. This is folly, especially since it confuses the three different functions of the Law of God. Lutherans have traditionally and popularly divided the workings of God's Law ...

"The Law always accuses."  It is axiomatic in Lutheranism.  When the will of God is announced in the ears of His sinful creatures their consciences are stricken with guilt.  It cannot be otherwise.  Sinners will always stand accused before the Law of God. Yet I do not think we preach like we believe this.  We preach more as if we are afraid that the Law will fail in its accusations, so we have to do that work, even if that means leaving out the Law's other functions. "The Law always accuses, but it does not only accuse."  It also acts as a curb for evil in the world, threatening would-be thieves, murderers, and adulterers with proper punishment.  If you live by the sword you will die by the sword.  There is no honor among thieves.  The house of the adulteress sinks down to death.   The Law too imparts wisdom to the child of God, teaching him the works that God desires of him.      He learns what is true, honor...

bigfoto.com You are a star.   But probably not the kind you think.   In modern America “star” has become synonymous with “celebrity”.   But that is not what I, nor Saint Paul, mean when we say that you are a star.                   “ Do all things without grumbling or questioning, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast to the word of life .” [Philippians 2:14-16a]                 You shine as lights in the world.   The word “lights” has the meaning of stars.   You shine as stars in the world, as you hold fast to the word of life.   But only as you hold fast to the word of life.           ...