Pious Lutheran

"Jesus and Nicodemus" Matthias Stom, 1615-1649 “ If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. ” Freedom is a topic which has interested people in the West for thousands of years. It’s difficult to define freedom without saying what it is not. Namely, freedom is to not be enslaved to another. Freedom is to not be a slave. This freedom is what Christ has come to give us. “ That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit. ” Through rebirth of water and the Spirit, the Christian is made free. But freedom from what? Who is the slavemaster?  Usually when we think of freedom and slavery we’re thinking of worldly masters. So we think of the Israelites being freed from their Egyptian masters. Or we think of slavery her...

"Pentecost Sermon" by Gebhard Fugel, 1863-1939   A blessed feast of Pentecost to you my friends in Christ! The word pentecost means very simply the “fiftieth” day after Easter. Today, the 50th day after Easter, we celebrate that the Holy Spirit descended upon the Apostles as tongues of fire, because the Spirit put into their mouths fiery tongues, which boldly preached of Jesus Christ in various languages as the Spirit gave them utterance. Pentecost was an exciting and thrilling day! Seeing the change within the Apostles after receiving the Spirit is remarkable! Previously these men were cowards. They’d been hiding in a house for fear of the Jews. Peter, the one who had spoken that mighty confession that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God, was even a coward at Jesus’ trial. When he was confronted by a servant girl, he denied any acquaintance with Jesus. Peter, a grown man, was terrified of speaking the truth in front of a little servant girl! But now having received the Spirit...

  "The Christian Martyrs' Last Prayer," Jean-Léon Gérôme, 1824-1904 Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia! Early on in the nation of Israel, after God had brought His people out of bondage in Egypt, He established laws among them. Rather than setting over them an earthly king, He was their King who had written their laws and provided for their needs. On earth the Lord had established judges who would judge the people on the basis of His laws.  However, the Israelites didn’t like that they didn’t have an earthly king like all of the Gentile nations. They didn’t like being different from everybody else. So they said “ appoint for us a king to judge us like all the nations. ” The Israelites didn’t like being different, they didn’t like that God had set them apart and established holiness laws, distinguishing the Israelites. What the Israelites wanted was conformity with this world. This conformity is what many people want; it’s a human characteristic to wan...

  "The Ascension," Rembrandt, 1636 Unsurprisingly, over the past year or so I’ve noticed a general unease and anxiety among many in our nation. People are a bit more on edge and impulsive, with shorter fuses. I know there are many factors which contribute towards this, not least among those factors is the feeling that our nation is rapidly changing before our very eyes. Particularly as faithful church going Christians we’re also a bit nervous about the future of the church here in America. We’ve had a few generations of comfortable Christianity, but now things are looking quite uncomfortable. The Equality Act is looming, which threatens all of our Concordia Universites, since none of them could currently survive without government money. Our tax exempt status as congregations is thus threatened, and could make it even more difficult for us to pay our bills. Not to mention that all the while our membership is shrinking and aging, and the programs and activities we’re used to a...

"Christ Taking Leave of the Apostles" by Duccio di Buoninsegna, 1255-1319 “ In the world you will have tribulation. ” Ain't that the truth! The world is filled with tribulation! Especially lately it seems everything is all mixed up and confused, just one big mess. Globally, the world is rather tumultuous. We sometimes get under the impression that things will always be as they are currently, as if the days of war are long past us and couldn’t come again. But Christ prepares us: “ You will hear of wars and rumors of war. See that you aren’t troubled, for all this must happen, but the end is not yet. ”  Nation will always rise up against nation, kingdom against kingdom; they will rise and fall. Just as nations have always conquered other nations and taken their land, the same will one day happen in our land, it’s inevitable unless Christ returns first. Not only is our world broiled up internationally, but within our own country there is much unrest. Things have not been wel...

"The Holy Spirit,"  Corrado Giaquinto, 1703-1766 Jesus said to Pilate: ““ For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world - to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.” Pilate said to Him, “What is truth?” ” Pilate’s questioning of truth has been echoed throughout the generations. It does sound a bit postmodern of him, as if he’s questioning the reality of objective truth. But outside of that, it’s not a bad question, though perhaps I’d phrase it differently: “What is the truth?” In this world you can’t believe everything you hear. St. John teaches us: “ Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. ” Demons are active in the world. There are lying spirits sent by the father of lies to deceive the world into sin and false belief. There are false teachers. There are lying pastors. This is why Jesus’ promise to the ...