The Secret Wireless

  I don’t believe there is much need for Law today.   I don’t need to yell at you or condemn you or remind you that you have broken the commandments.   On All Saints Day, similar to a funeral, we have a built-in reminder of the Law.                    Death is the great reminder.   The grave screams to us not only of our own limited time here on this earth, but of our lackluster performance in this life.   When we remember those who have died, whether it be in a funeral, a memorial service, or on All Saints Day, we see clearly what we already fear in our hearts: we are mortal…and we deserve it.                 If we had no sin, we would not die.   If we were free from all transgression then the grave would hold nothing against us.   The fact of death holds up for us all a stone-...

You spend your whole life banging on the door of heaven, beating your head against the iron bars, begging for one little strip of recognition from God.  And it never seems to come.  Why is that?                 To understand we need one of the gifts of the Reformation.  We need Law and Gospel.  Today we will apply this beautiful distinction to Romans 3, and see what God is saying, how we can stop banging on the gates of heaven, and watch them open before our eyes.                  The Law is completely inclusive .  It applies to all people at all times and in all places.  This is why Paul states that every mouth will be stopped and the whole world will be held accountable.                 Earlier in this same lett...

Jesus reveals to the Pharisees that human beings exist and live in two realms, and that He (Jesus) is the Lord of both.                 The Pharisees bring some friends along as they attempt to catch Jesus in a trap of His own words.  They ask whether it is right to pay taxes to Caesar.  And everyone knows it is a loaded question.                 To say “yes” is to offer support to the Romans who everyone despises.  If Jesus says that they should indeed pay Caesar’s tax, then He could very well lose the favor of the people.                 To say “no” is to call down the wrath of the Romans.  If Jesus tells the people that they should not pay the tax, then He could be arrested or killed.       ...

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 ...