Pious Lutheran

Why do you work? I’m not just talking about a job you do which brings home a paycheck, although that too. I’m talking about all of the work, labor, and toiling you do throughout your life. From tending a garden or livestock, to raising your kids, to maintaining a house, the whole thing. Why do you do it? Well I’ll tell you why you ought to do it as a Christian; Christians labor for the sake of the Word of God and their neighbor. But that’s not why non-Christians work, and perhaps that’s not why you work either. If we ponder this question for a little bit, we can come up with at least four reasons why most non-Christians work. Firstly, I suppose many people work for the simple reason that they have to work. If they don’t work, then they’d lose the necessities of life, such as shelter, clothing, and food. Thus many people work because they believe that they take care of themselves. They work because they believe that they’re their own god who takes care of them. But You see a Chri...

“ Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful. ” Mercy is at the heart of Christian living. We ought to show mercy to others since our heavenly Father shows such mercy to us.   But before we even begin to discuss this mercy, we first need to dispel a common myth regarding mercy and judging. For decades, if not centuries, our gospel lesson has been misunderstood and misapplied. Christ says “ Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned. ” Yet, those important words are used by many today to reprimand and shame those who judge false doctrine or judge that certain people are living in sin. So often I hear preachers who cling to pure doctrine and reject all heresy accused of being loveless crazy men because Christ told us: Judge not! Condemn not!  But their accusation rests upon a false understanding of Christ’s words. When Jesus says not to judge or condemn, He is most certainly not commanding us to stop condemning false doctrine. A...

How much worse are the sins of another than our own? If a man were to come into town guilty of murder, we would all avoid him as the worst of sinners, desiring him to be locked up in a prison cell! But when we hate our own neighbors, holding onto grudges and seeking revenge, we call it strength and pride, while the scriptures call it murder. If we were to see a poor man lying drunk in a gutter, we would disdain him as the scum of the earth. But when a rich man turns a blind eye to the poor and feasts sumptuously every day, stumbling into bed drunk each night, we consider him a great rich man who has worked hard for his wealth, while the scripture still calls him a drunk and a glutton. I tell you, whether one is engaged in manifest sins or hiddens sins, both are sinners. While the world may despise the one and honor the other, Christ looks upon both with mercy. Truly, Jesus doesn’t pass by either sinner, but instead both are lost, and Christ seeks the lost.  It’s just as Jesus ...