Pious Lutheran

The Martyrdom of Saint Lawrence , Jose Juarez, 1650 Be faithful, so that you may obtain a better treasure Faithfulness under trial Example of Lawrence The better treasure we are looking forward to What it means to be faithful today “ Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. ” Take heart, brothers and sisters in Christ, and do not be anxious about the cares and worries of life. Trust me, I’m fully cognizant that there are many things which make us anxious, and for good reason. The Lord knows about all of these things as well, which is why He speaks as He does; the Lord, knowing your griefs and worries, encourages you to be faithful in the midst of so many sorrows, so that you may obtain a better treasure than could be found on earth. Jesus admonishes us: “ Stay dressed for action. ” Or quite literally, He says: “Let your loins be girded.” This is battle language meant for a soldier, or instructions for someone about to engage in hard physica...

Christ with Martha and Mary , Joos Goemare, circa 1600 Receiving God’s Service God serves His people first Our service must respond to, but not distract from, God’s service Listening to Jesus is the one thing needful What’s the point of going to church? Why should people come here? Obviously I don’t need to convince you into coming to church, since you’re already here. But when you’re having a conversation with someone, and you tell them they should come to church, and they ask you why, you need to have an answer, and you need to have the right answer. The simple answer is: we go to church to be served by God. We go to church to be like Mary, “ who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to His teaching. ” This question of why you should go to church has been a major disagreement among Christians on this continent for the past few hundred years. In the 18th and 19th centuries Christian Revivalism and the First and Second Great Awakenings were huge movements in Christianity, attempting to r...

The Good Samaritan,  Rembrandt, late 17th century Love your neighbor To love is to devote yourself to another My neighbor is whomever God has placed near to me The Lord Jesus selflessly devotes Himself to us and our salvation We must devote ourselves to our neighbors How do you receive eternal life? That’s not a difficult question posed to Jesus, and in fact it’s a question any average Israelite would’ve been able to answer. The lawyer simply recites the Shema from Deuteronomy: “ Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. ” The reason any Israelite could’ve recited this is because the Shema continues: “ And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your ...

Saints Paul and Peter , Santa Maria Maggiore Altarpiece, 1427 The Rock of Bold Confession Sts. Peter and Paul made bold confessions and were executed for it Their bold confession is the gospel of free forgiveness for the sake of Christ Jesus Let us confess boldly, and not even the gates of hell shall prevail against it A blessed Feast of Sts. Peter and Paul, dear brothers and sisters in Christ! On this day, June 29th, the church remembers our brothers in Christ and fathers in the faith, Peter and Paul, who were on this day 1,957 years ago, in the year of our Lord 68, martyred for their faith by Emperor Nero in Rome.  Peter, perhaps the most prominent of the twelve apostles, had preached the faith to Jew and Gentile alike. We remember Peter especially during Holy Week, when Jesus told him that he would be sifted like wheat and deny Jesus three times before the rooster crows. Sadly, the Lord’s words were accurate, and Peter denied Christ. Yet, at the end of John’s Gospel, we see Pete...