a Lutheran’s Confessions

     Charles Porterfield Krauth, an eminent 19th century Lutheran scholar, wrote that error always begins in the church by asking for toleration. Its friends say to the majority: “You need not be afraid of us, we are few and weak; only let us alone and we will not disturb the faith of others.”
    Later, error goes on to assert equal rights. Error claims that it is bigotry to insist on any superior right for the truth. We must agree to disagree, and any favoring of the truth is partisanship. Anyone who stands up for truth is labeled a disturber of the peace. Balance must be maintained, and truth must be muzzled for the sake of peace.
     From this point, error goes on to its natural end, which is to assert supremacy. Error claims a preference for its judgments on all disputed points and it will not tolerate the truth to remain.
     If you doubt Dr. Krauth, just look at all the mainline denominations and their seminaries, including divinity schools such as Harvard. These once great institutions are now bastions of unbelief, and no one who believes in the cardinal doctrines of Christianity and in the inerrancy of Holy Scripture is allowed to hold any position of authority.
    Speaking up for truth, in a loving but firm way, is vital to maintain the life and health of the church.

The following comments are from Gene Edward Veith’s book,
The Spirituality of the Cross.

Lutheran spirituality begins with the insight that all human effort to reach God is futile. The will is in bondage—we do not fulfill the moral law, and we do not even want to.
The intellect is also in bondage to sin, as are the emotions. Our emotions are more apt to lead us astray than to lead us to God.
Far from ascending to God, we spend our time running from Him.
But God is no passive force. God is spiritually active, not us. We do not ascend to God. He descends to us.
Lutheran spirituality is all about what God does. To rescue us from the punishment of our sins, He became a human being Himself. He accomplished perfection in our place and died in our place as our Substitute.
The spiritual life is all about recognizing God’s work—what He accomplished at the cross and what He continues to accomplish today through the Word of the cross (Gospel) and the Sacraments of the cross (Baptism and Lord’s Supper).

     Rev. Klemet Preus, in his book, The Fire and the Staff, includes the following story.
    

Tom was raised Baptist, but at the insistence of his wife, received in instruction in the Lutheran faith and was persuaded to have his infant daughter baptized.
Pastor Preus had the honor of baptizing the baby and of explaining to Tom the blessings of God in Baptism. One day, Tom stopped by the pastor’s house and said, “I don’t think I would have come to a true knowledge of grace apart from my daughter’s Baptism.”
“How so?” the pastor asked.
“Well, when I looked down at that little child who had never made a decision in her life, and I saw the water poured on her head and I heard God’s Words being spoken, I saw grace alone for the first time in my life. Before the Baptism, I believed it, but that day I saw it.”
“The morning of her Baptism we had to dress her and feed her. We chose her food and her clothes. We had set up her crib and painted her bedroom. We did everything for her. She did nothing.”
That, my friends, is how God deals with all of us, physically and spiritually. He does it all! To God alone be the glory!

     No bands, no rock-climbing walls, no large-screen infotainment.
     Those things are not sinful. At best, they are beside the point. At worst, they are a distraction from the real attraction, which is Jesus Christ.
     When you invite someone to Divine Services at Grace Lutheran, you are not inviting them to the latest man-centered fad. You are inviting them to Jesus.
     When you bring someone to worship at Grace, you are bringing them “to the faith once for all delivered to the saints” (Jude 3). You are bringing them “to Mt. Zion, to the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God…to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, and to the souls of righteous people made perfect.” (Hebrews 12:22-23)
     That sure beats the band!