The Miracle of Pentecost

Coming up in the May "Hope Lutheran" (my congregation's monthly newsletter):
 

We are fast approaching the Day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit came upon the Apostles, and they proclaimed the Gospel in different languages (Acts 2:1-21). When God the Holy Spirit manifested Himself in the rushing wind and the tongues of fire, He was just getting started. The real miracle is that the Gospel was being proclaimed to people of various nationalities. As the Apostles proclaimed God’s works of saving us sinners and giving us life in Christ, people could “hear them telling in [their] own tongues the mighty works of God” (Acts 2:11).

But what about today? It’s one thing to hear this story and look back in time. It’s quite another to experience that miracle today. Could that miracle still be going on? Some Christians look back on the Day of Pentecost with great longing. They try to imitate what that day “must have been like.” They even try to restore the Church to some kind of pristine, Day-of-Pentecost purity and simplicity. But is that really necessary? What if the miracle of Pentecost is still going on?

As we approach the Day of Pentecost—May 19 this year—I encourage you to remember that the miracle of Pentecost is still going on. Through the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church the Gospel is being proclaimed, and in various languages around the world. We don’t need to “recreate” the day or miracle of Pentecost. God is already doing that every Lord’s Day, every time the Gospel is proclaimed and we sinners are comforted and enlivened in Christ’s forgiveness and life!

A sermon from an unknown 6th century African preacher says it this way:

They speak in every tongue. It was God’s will to demonstrate the presence of the Holy Spirit at that moment by enabling those who had received him to speak in every tongue. For we must understand, my dear brethren, that it is through the Holy Spirit that love is poured out in our hearts.

Now the love of God was to gather together the Church all over the world. Consequently, while a single man, if he received the Holy Spirit, could speak in every tongue, now the one Church in its unity, which is established by the Holy Spirit, speaks in every tongue.

And so if anyone says to one of us: “You have received the Holy Spirit; why do you not speak in tongues?” he should reply: “I do speak in every tongue. For I am in the body of Christ, the Church, which speaks in every tongue. For what did God signify by the presence of the Holy Spirit if it was not that his Church would speak in every tongue?”

In this way the Lord’s promise was fulfilled: “No one puts new wine into old wineskins, but new wine is put into fresh wineskins, and so both will be preserved.”

It was with good reason, then, that some people, when they heard the apostles speaking in every tongue, said; “They are filled with new wine.” For they had become fresh wine-skins, they had been renewed by the grace of holiness, so that when they were filled with the new wine, that is, with the Holy Spirit, they spoke with fervour [sic] in every tongue; and by this spectacular miracle they foreshadowed the spread of the Catholic Church [that is, the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church] through all nations speaking every tongue (For All the Saints, vol. II, p. 187, emphasis added). 

So the miracle of Pentecost is still happening! Every time the Gospel of the Risen Christ is proclaimed throughout the world and in the many languages around the world, it’s still a miracle!

One Sinner Repents!

Jesus said:
"I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance" (Luke 15:7).

"I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents" (Luke 15:10).

In case you've learned via the secular media about latest controversy brewing in the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod (LCMS)--over reactions to an interfaith service held after the tragedy at Newtown, Connecticut--you really should read the statements put out by the LCMS itself.

You can find Pastor Rob Morris' letter here,
President Matthew Harrison's first letter here, and
"Pastoral Letters on the Newtown Tragedy" here (includes "A Statement of Unity," "Pastoral Letter and Apology from President Harrison," and "Pastoral Letter from District President Tim Yeadon").

When things such as this happen, the secular, mainstream media just cannot appreciate, let alone accurately report, the issues of doctrine and soul-care that are involved. Matters such as this need to be dealt with in the church, not in the mainstream, secular media, and certainly not in social media, where vile vindictiveness and disinformation rule the day in the "Comments" sections.

And in case you are at all interested in how Christians go about settling problems and "putting out fires," let's learn from one of the best. The key is repentance. Here's President Matthew Harrison's video on the Newtown matter:


Prayer for the Synod:
Almighty God, merciful Father, keep and preserve our whole Synod, its teachers and officers, true to Your Word. Cause the work of our Synod to grow and flourish. Guard and protect all members of our Synod against the danger of sinful ambitions, the love of dissension, and the spirit of indifference in doctrine and practice. Preserve us from all heresy and false belief. Bless and defend the seminaries, colleges, and universities of our Synod. Give us faithful pastors and teachers of Your Word. Accompany all missionaries on their perilous ways, and help them to perform their work faithfully. Gather the elect from every nation into Your holy Christian Church, and bring them at last into Your Church triumphant; through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

Prayer for brother pastors and all fellow servants in the Church:
O Lord, to Your grace and mercy I commend all my fellow pastors and every brother and sister who hold office in Your Church. Remove any discord and dissension from among us. Give me a brotherly heart toward all in true humility, and help me to bear with compassion the burdens of others. Grant that we may act as true brothers and sisters in all circumstances; through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

(Prayers from Pastoral Care Companion, pp. xxviii, xxvii, respectively)

Eating Sprinkles Shows Original Sin

For those who deny Original Sin - and claim that children are innocent until some dreamed up "age of accountability" - get a load of this. A young lad denies his obvious eating of sprinkles even though the evidence is clearly "sprinkled" all over his face. Don't tell me these little guys (and gals) are innocent until proven sinful!



But there is hope. Check out Acts 2:38-39:

“Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.”

It's not the gun ... it's the sinner behind the gun.

Two more gun-related tragedies have recently taken place: a shooting at the Clackamas Town Center near Portland, Oregon, and, most recently, the horrific, barbaric shooting of innocent children and teachers at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. (I refuse to glorify the monstrous gunmen by mentioning their names here; they don't need such "fame" for their heinous deeds.)

Our hearts ache and our eyes weep with those who have lost loved ones, those who have been injured, those who have had to witness the carnage, and those whose lives have been changed forever! Lord, have mercy! Lord Jesus, come soon and "lighten the darkness of our hearts by Your gracious visitation" (Collect for Advent 3).

So many people are looking for answers to the questions of "Why?" or "Where was God?" or "How could God let something like this happen?" However, let's always remember that it was not God who brought evil into the world. It was us human beings, when we turned away from God. And let's also remember that our true comfort and peace come in this glorious Good News: God is still with us. In His eternal mercy, He has not abandoned His fallen world, nor His fallen creatures. That's what the Christmas message is all about: God came down to us in His Son Jesus Christ--the Word made flesh--to rescue us from the darkness of our sinful nature, of the fallen world, and of evil itself.

And when folks start blaming the guns ... and when politicians and media types start clamoring for stricter gun laws, as well as lurching toward confiscating guns from those who legally and responsibly own and use them ... let's remember one simple fact. The guns do not pull their own triggers. It takes fallen, sinful human beings to do that. It's not the gun that's the problem in these horrific shooting events; it's the sinful human being behind the gun.

Just in case that point is a bit difficult to swallow, consider this little-reported detail from the recent shooting near Portland, Oregon. It would appear that another sinner and another gun were involved, and for a beneficial and salutary end. But we won't hear that from the national media. And we certainly won't hear that this sinner and his gun actually may have reduced the carnage that the gunman, who did make the news (and generated the hype ... and received his "15 minutes of fame"), could have inflicted.



The gun is not the problem; the sinner behind the gun is!

"Lutheran" Way to Beat Debt?

Some people lament that Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University is "not Lutheran." Well, duh! Dave's not a Lutheran and never claims to be.

But that raises a different question: Is there a specifically "Lutheran" way for beating debt, building wealth, and learning to give?

Or could Dave's (and grandma's) ways of avoiding debt, growing wealth, and giving generously be just good ol' First Article wisdom--which itself *is* very Lutheran?

Besides, how much Lutheran theology does one need in order to beat debt, build wealth, and give lots of it away?

President Harrison on "Free to Be Faithful"

Check out: "Religious Liberty: Free to Be Faithful"

"His Time" Audio Archives

Check out the audio archives from today's "His Time" on Worldwide KFUO:

1. A brief interview on Financial Peace University, and

2. An interview with Rev. Greg Seltz, Lutheran Hour Speaker, on "The Intersection of Church and State."

"Those Who Serve"

"His Time"

Check out "His Time," every morning, Monday - Friday, 7:00-9:30 a.m. (Central Time) on worldwide KFUO radio.

“His Time” starts your day by sanctifying it with the Word of God and prayer. Based on God’s time in the Church Year, we feast on God’s Word in daily Scripture readings and interview guests on various topics vital to your daily life. The “Morning Prayer” segment features devotional meditations by pastors from around the country.

Does the Declaration of Independence Still Matter?

Thank you, Heritage Foundation, for expressing not only what's on my mind this Independence Day, but also what truly needs to be said, read, heard, and pondered by all Americans. This from "The Morning Bell" put out by the Heritage  Foundation:

The Declaration of Independence was partly intended as a list of grievances against a distant monarch. And both George III and the colonists who disagreed with his rule are long dead. But so are many of those who’ve argued that the Declaration is obsolete. In fact, this is exactly what those who called themselves “progressives” were saying a century ago.

Woodrow Wilson, one of the most famous early progressives, argued during the 1912 presidential campaign that “all that Progressives ask or desire is permission…to interpret the Constitution according to the Darwinian principle,” meaning that it should promote an ever-expanding set of powers for an ever-expanding government. The problem, he declared, was that pesky Declaration of Independence: “Some citizens of this country have never got beyond the Declaration of Independence,” he remarked. “The Declaration of Independence did not mention the questions of our day.”

But in fact the Declaration is more than a litany of complaints. Its greater meaning is as a statement of the conditions of legitimate political authority and the proper ends of government. It proclaimed that political rule would, from then on, reside in the sovereignty of the people. “If the American Revolution had produced nothing but the Declaration of Independence,” wrote the great historian Samuel Eliot Morrison, “it would have been worthwhile.”

The ringing phrases of the document’s famous second paragraph are a powerful synthesis of American constitutional and republican government theories. All men have a right to liberty as they are by nature equal, which is to say none are inherently superior and deserve to rule or inferior and deserve to be ruled.

Because all are endowed with these rights, the rights are unalienable, which means that they cannot be given up or taken away. And because individuals equally possess these rights, governments derive their just powers from the consent of those governed. Government’s purpose is to secure these fundamental rights and, although prudence tells us that governments should not be changed for trivial reasons, the people retain the right to alter or abolish government when it becomes destructive of these ends.

The Declaration also insists we have the right to “the pursuit of happiness.” A higher component of that pursuit, of course, is being able to worship as we please. What right is more fundamental than religious liberty? Yet as Heritage’s Sarah Torre wrote recently, that right seems to be under attack.

Obamacare’s anti-conscience mandate has a narrow religious exemption that applies only to formal houses of worship. Countless other religious employers, like Catholic schools, hospitals, and crisis pregnancy centers, are forced to provide coverage for the mandated services despite moral or religious objections—simply because they step outside the four walls of a church to serve others.

Insinuating that faith should remain behind closed doors, not influencing or inspiring care for others, the government’s narrow view of religion has created what some have called a “religious caste system.” Only those considered “religious enough” by government bureaucrats are awarded religious freedom under the mandate.

Churches across the country have been pushing back against the regulation since its promulgation. A national “Fortnight for Freedom” has been spotlighting the erosion of religious freedom and helping Americans learn how to defend their freedom. Torre notes that “the freedoms enshrined in our founding document will be hard to ignore on July 4. As the Fortnight for Freedom concludes, church bells across the country will ring simultaneously at noon (Eastern time), declaring loudly: Let Religious Freedom Ring.”

On Independence Day – and every day – Americans should remember and celebrate the Declaration’s timeless expression of our God-given rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness and recall all those – past, present, and future – who pledge their lives, liberty, and sacred honor to upholding these truths.