Pious Lutheran

The past few weeks this Lent we’ve been considering how the Christian life is a battle that we’re engaged in. We’ve discussed how Jesus goes to battle for us against our enemies of sin, death, and the devil, thus triumphing over them in His crucifixion on the cross. We’ve also considered how we are engaged in this battle daily; facing temptations, our sins, this world, and even the devil himself; we are at war.  This war is no little skirmish that will be soon ended either, but it’s a daily battle which won’t come to an end until we die. Something we often take for granted in long wars has nothing to do with fighting the enemy, but it’s nonetheless crucial for us to claim the victory: nourishment, food, daily bread! Without sustenance, our enemy doesn’t even need to fight us, because we will simply starve ourselves and die without even having to pick up a sword.  Our Lord who goes before us into battle knows this important detail, and so He feeds us. While He has provided...

“ The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to be silent. ” Silence. Silence really is a difficult thing to accomplish. Tell a group of 12 year olds to be silent, to play the quiet game, and suddenly even the shiest and most reserved child is struggling to say nothing. But sometimes it’s all too easy and even tempting to remain silent. Rather than confessing your guilt, it’s easier to keep your mouth shut. It’s not uncommon that when people in a city witness someone being brutally beaten, instead of calling the cops they close their blinds and keep silent.  But why does Moses instruct the Israelites to be silent in this situation? Doesn’t our Lord command His people to cry out to the Lord in their time of need? Doesn’t God expect us to pray? The Psalmist admits, “ When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all the day long… therefore let everyone who is godly offer prayer to you at a time when you may be found. ” If we’re supposed to pray, why does God te...

Do you like to walk the middle of the road? You know, carry the neutral position and not take sides? It’s the nice thing to do, afterall. I’ve heard a slogan just recently about being nice, it goes like this: “It’s so nice to be nice, and to let others see that you are nice.” I’ll agree that it is nice to be nice, and it’s nice to be around other nice people who are also nice to you. But you can’t always walk the middle of the road, nor should you. Especially when it comes to your walk of faith. In today’s Gospel Jesus teaches us that there are two kingdoms: the kingdom of light and the kingdom of darkness; the kingdom of God and the kingdom of the devil; the kingdom of heaven and the kingdom of hell. There’s no third kingdom you can dwell in, either you’re in the one or the other. You can’t walk down the middle of this road. You can’t straddle this fence. For on the one side you have the kingdom of Beelzebub. In this kingdom the devil reigns supreme. Indeed, all mankind has been ...

“ The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually… But Noah found favor in the eyes of God...Then the LORD said to Noah, “Go into the ark, you and all your household, for I have seen that you are righteous before me in this generation. ”  The world prior to the deluge of water was flooded with the wickedness and evil of man. The Lord does not abide with such evil. God and evil are fundamentally opposed to one another. We see the evidence of this from the flood account just read, where our Lord sent rain upon the earth for 40 days and nights, and every living creature not inside of the ark was blotted from the face of the earth. But you might be thinking, we’re supposed to hate the sin and love the sinner. However that statement is a little too simplistic. God hates sin such that God hates those who do sins as well. We learn this from Psalm 5, “ For you are not a God who delights in ...

Last Sunday we heard the Gospel lesson where Jesus was led out into the wilderness by the Spirit to be assaulted by the devil’s temptations. We heard how Christ went to battle for us, He fought our ancient foe, He strove victoriously and won the battle on our behalf. His battle with Satan began in the wilderness and it has been finished when He was crucified on the cross. From that lesson we furthermore learned that every Christian will do battle with Satan in this life as well. Job learned this lesson the hard way since Satan pushed him hard, such that Job said “ Has not man a hard service on earth, and are not his days like the days of a hired servant? ” St. Paul struggled with the temptations of the flesh all his life, such that he told St. Timothy, “ An athlete is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules. ”  The Christian life is a battle, make no mistake. It’s a grievous error when some pastors tell people that after a person is converted and has come to Chri...

“ In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth...Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness... And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. ” Out of God’s great love for us, He created us and this whole planet in order to care for us, and even through our fall into sin He promises to rescue us from our punishment of death.  Today I would firstly like us to consider the immaculate care and concern God has given to provide for us, His beloved children, through the creation of the world. For we have not simply spontaneously appeared here on earth, as if by accident or mere chance, but God has created us and this whole universe that we see around us. His love for us is so magnificent that He put us in a fully stocked mansion, filled with all that we need to thrive. On the first day of creation, He set up and got everything ready to build the earth and the heavens above. He called forth light out of darkness for God is Hims...

A week ago, we heard how the Lord called the youthful shepherd boy, David, to be the king over Israel. Today, we heard the well known exciting story of David, who was “ but a youth, ruddy and handsome ” who went against the giant of Gath. You see, the Israelites and the Philistines were about to go to war with one another. As the battle was about to commence, a nine foot tall giant, named Goliath of Gath stepped forth from the camp of the Philistines. He put forth an offer of a duel with an Israelite soldier; if the Israelite should win, then the Philistines would be their servants. If on the other hand Goliath won, then the Israelites would be forced to serve the Philistines.  For forty days the giant repeated his challenge, but no one was brave enough to do battle with him. When finally, the shepherd boy, David, son of Jesse stepped forward, he said of this Philistine champion: “ Who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?... Let no ...