Merry Christmas!

The days that are really important, those that are really big deals, are marked with traditions and activities. I pray that in the midst of all the business of this Christmas you would not lose sight of the importance of this day. It is a holy day because it is the day that we remember that our God, out of great love for all the people of this world, became one of us, became a human being, so that we might have forgivness, and life that never ends. God became one of us so that we would be reconciled to God and be able to live in relationship with him. It is a great and amazing thing, and I pray that you would know the blessings and joys of that relationship and living and experiencing life in it. Take a few moments to sit in awe of the mystery and joy and wonder of the incarnation (God in the flesh). Merry Christmas!!

Christ in Scripture

I'd like your insight on Christ's role as "the Word." I'm confused about this aspect of God's character. Is Christ the one who speaks when God speaks? For instance, was it Christ acting as the Word who spoke to Adam and Eve in the Garden? Was Christ the Word that Moses heard from the burning bush?

This is one that may be a little more than what can be handled in the confines of a blog post. But I won't let that stop me from trying. We know that the Old Testament Scriptures point to Christ. After Jesus' resurrection one of the things that he does for the disciples is to open the Scriptures to them. In other places he talks about fulfilling the Scriptures. So this is nothing new. Now where that is seen exactly will always be surrounded by debate.

One idea is that the Angel of the LORD that we see from time to time is the pre-incarnate Christ. This is because the Angel will often speak in words that only God would say; words that would be inappropriate for an angel to speak. This would be like what we see in the burning bush. St. Paul identifies the rock that follows the Israelites in the wilderness as the presence of Christ. Now that one is a little beyond me to fully understand, but St. Paul knows better than I do, so I am willing to trust him on that one.

Now when you get to the prophets, and the Word of the Lord appears to so and so. Well that certainly could be another pre-incarnate Christ. But you want to be careful to understand the context of these writings and be aware that we are not adding to them things that were never intended to be a part of the text.

John's understanding of the "word" in John 1:1 has with it a certain context. It is with that context that he is writing. I am not saying that there is no correlation. There ultimately probably is, but we must always be careful as we do that.

Luther described the Scriptures as the cradle that holds Christ. That is ultimately what is important. All Scripture ultimately points us to Christ. All Scripture shows us him and the work that he did in order for us to have salvation. So in others words, it is all good.

Animals in Heaven?

For all those who have submitted questions, thank you. Here is this week's question.

We had a 14 week old puppy that we had to put down a few weeks ago b/c of a failing liver. He was a very loving puppy who we grew very close to. Although puppies don't have souls, do you think puppies (or animals in general) will make it into heaven?

First, I am sorry for your loss. That is something that is so hard to go through.

When Jesus comes back, creation will be restored. There will be a new heaven and a new earth. The current heaven and earth are corrupted by sin. They are twisted and distorted, and that this why they will have to pass away. But in the new heaven and new earth there will be no more sickness or suffering or death. This new heaven and new earth is a way of talking about the creation being made new. That is, it is a way of talking about the creation being restored.

You can read throughout the Scriptures, but especially in the prophets, that God will make the creation the way that it was intended to be. This includes the presence of animals. Animals were part of the creation before the fall into sin. Animals were saved when the waters of the flood covered the earth. I believe that animals will also be a part of the creation in the new heaven and new earth.

God loves his creation and cares for it, and will restore it at the end. And on that glorious day when we get to see this amazing sight, it will be awesome. And so we pray, "Come, Lord Jesus. Come quickly. Amen."

I pray that the promise of the restoration and the new heaven and new earth would be a source of comfort and strength for you in this Advent season, and always.

Sincerely,

Pastor CJ

A Question about Creation

Here is the question for the week. Thanks for the post.

This isn't about speechless pastors, but rather a question that has been in the back of my mind for a while...

I think I'm a good steward of the earth: I recycle, don't litter, am conscious of fossil fuels and mindful of innovative energy sources. And so forth.

However, if it's all going to burn up in the end anyway, and we will have a new heaven and a new earth, isn't it a fantasy to think that we can prolong the life of the earth by our efforts--or that it's even worth it? I'm all for honoring the earth because it is God's creation, I'm just thinking that our intervention is not going to make any real difference in the end. As in The End.

Now I'm going to reveal my ancient status by saying that I lived through the "Go green" (and I'm not talking Spartans!) era of the 70s. It was a fad that passed. In the meantime, lots of folks made lots of money by promoting "green"...

So what part of this is godly admonition and what part is sociology?

I expect this fad to pass by, oh, about 2012. Unless Jesus comes back first. Your thoughts?

Who exactly can say how much is godly admonition and how much is someone trying to make a quick buck, or many, many quick bucks as the case may be? There is no doubt that some will use this as a way of manipulating and hurting other people, but that does not mean that the idea is bad in and of itself. Will our efforts at "being green" prolong the life of the earth? No. Not really. No. I've even seen some good evidence that recycling and all that jazz requires more energy than just throwing stuff away. The problem is that this is a debate. There are two sides and both claim that they are right and the other side is terribly misguided.

Without wanting to get caught up in the midst of the debate, let's talk about why caring for the earth would be a good thing. Because, as you noted in your post, the creation is important to God. Part of caring for the creation is a way of honoring the creator. We care for the earth, in the same way that we care for the other things that God has given to us, because we know that they are important to our God. Caring for them is a way of loving the lord our God with all that we are and have.

Another way that I see it is in the light of making a confession about what we believe about the future of the creation. Scripture tells us that there will be a new heaven and a new earth. That is there will be a new, material, real, physical creation. It will not be a bunch of spiritual beings floating around on clouds, but real life in real bodies on a real earth. Therefore we care for the creation because we believe that the creation will exist after Jesus returns in that time that is everlasting. Our caring for the earth, does not get the earth to that point. But it does make a statement about what we believe about the earth at that time. The reason why the earth will be first destroy is not because we threw our beer cans in a landfill, but because the fire will be a purification. The earth as we know it is corrupted by sin. The new earth will not have that same corruption.

I hope that I have shown that caring for the creation is important. When we adopt this viewpoint, there is one other benefit. That is it gives us common ground to share with people who are dearly loved by God, but do not know of his grace and mercy and forgiveness in Jesus. Not that we would ever use it to manipulate them. But it would give us common ground to build real and genuine relationships and friendships and give us opportunities to show to them the love of God in Jesus.

Good question. Thanks for sharing. Please feel free to continue this discussion. See you next week. God bless.

Sincerely,

Pastor CJ

Happy Thanksgiving!

You have responded well to my request for questions. I will begin answering them as we move forward next week. For this week I would like to say thank you to all of you who read and contribute to this blog. It is a lot of fun for me and I pray that it is a blessing to you too. I give thanks for you and celebrate what we have together. God bless you. Have a happy thanksgiving.

Sincerely,

Pastor CJ

What do you think?

Have you ever known a pastor to be speechless? Believe it or not, it does happen on a rare occasion. It is not necessarily a bad thing, especially when said pastor wants to give others an opportunity to speak, or at least to ask some questions. The Bible in 90 days is a program that has been going on at Our Father since September. We will finish up in December and then a new sessions of classes start in January.

However, I am thinking of doing something new for CrossRoads during that 9:30 time, and I want to give you an opportunity to let me know what you think. I am thinking that we would be downstairs in the community room and what we would do is have a series of discussions on a variety of topics. What those topics are would depend on the people who show up. We could talk our way through a book of the bible. We could look at theological concepts or talk about something that is happening in the news. It would not be a formal class, but would be more of a discussion of a whole hosts of things. It is a good time to ask questions and to dig deep. It is a good time to hang out and be together. It is a good time to learn and grow.

The conversation would then continue throughout the week on this blog. I think that it could provide some exciting opportunities for discussion, and would allow people to participate even if they are unable to make it on Sunday mornings.

I am excited about the possibilities of what this presents and wanted to throw it out there to see what you think. There are so many wonderful things in life and theology to explore together, and I pray that this opportunity will be a blessing to all involved. Please feel free to share your thoughts and comments.

I pray God's peace and blessings for you this week and always.

Sincerely,

Pastor CJ

P.S. There will be no blog next week, as I will be on vacation. But we will be back on schedule the following week.

A Question about Isaiah

The topic for this week's blog comes from a question from the readings of the Bible in 90 days program. As always, if you have any questions about theology or Scripture, send them to me and I will address them in future posts.

 

I have the Concordia Self-Study Bible and so I have those helpful introductions to read.  So, I am reading Isaiah and in the very beginning is says "The vision concerning Judah and Jerusalem that Isaiah Son of Amoz saw . . ."

 

So my confusion is this, I am just now at Chapter 4 and I have been asking myself the following . . .

 

All the condemnation that I am reading about . . . is this still the vision that Isaiah is talking about, or has this already happened?  Furthermore, it was a vision can one suppose that Isaiah is talking about the vision he had (as in past tense) or are we reading it as though it was "freshly occurring".

 

The main question I have is, at this point in Isaiah, am I reading prophecies, or am I reading what has already happened?  (You know it shouldn't surprise me that I have these questions when I read when I am tired!!!)

 

 

Are you reading prophecies or are you reading what has already happened? The answer is yes. Don't you love those good Lutheran answers? So let me explain what is going on.

 

1. What you are reading is something that was, in some cases, spoken or received before they happened, and then written down latter.
   
2. You are reading some things that have a meaning for the current time and place, but also pointed to something in the future. So when we are told that the virgin will conceive and give birth we are reading about a short period of time in that specific time and local, and at the same time a prophecy about the birth of Jesus.
   
3. You are reading some things that promise a future that has not yet happened. So when we read about the wolf lying down with the lamb.
   

 

So what does this mean, or how do you keep this straight? Well, for starters don't lose sight of what the words are actually saying. Context is indeed important. You can't sell that short. But don't, miss the words for the sake of the context. What is God saying? What is important to God? Where do these verses intersect with my life? If a place is being condemned, why? If promises are being made, what are they?

 

You get the idea. Isaiah is one of the greatest books of the Hebrew Scriptures. You don't want to miss too much of it.

 

I hope that helps. If you need more clarification, let me know.

 

I cannot understate how blessed we are to be able to freely read and study and discuss God's word like this. I pray that for all of you who read this blog, whether or not you are doing the Bible in 90 Days program, that your time in God's word is a source of strength and blessing to you now and always.

Sincerely,

Pastor CJ