Pious Lutheran

Jesus Christ the King of Kings and Great Bishop, circa 1600 Jesus is our King He rules over us with gentleness He has come to save us. Happy new year dear christians! This world orders the days, seasons, and years by the movement of the sun and the moon in the sky. We christians however order our days not by this creation, but according to the Creator. The Christian year of grace doesn’t follow the sun in the sky, but follows the Son of God, Jesus, our Redeemer and Savior, our King who comes to save us. So the Christian year begins with Advent, four Sundays with which to prepare our hearts for our coming King. Today we reflect upon the profound reality that Jesus is our King. As our King He rules over us with gentleness and He has come to save us. In recent years the idea of a monarchy and having a king has been becoming increasingly popular. Part of the appeal is, I would guess, the result of romanticized kings in books and movies. Like the ancient Israelites who demanded earthly king...

The Rich Man and Death , David Kindt, 1580-1652  Life consists in being rich toward God.  Earthly riches are blessings from God, but they’re not the main thing. Having God and being filled with the Spirit is the true treasure. A happy and blessed Thanksgiving to you, my dear friends in Christ Jesus! I commend you for taking some time out of your busy day to blend your voices in praise and thanksgiving to God for all of His many gifts which He lavishly showers upon you. Indeed, God’s gifts are many and without number.  Some families and communities have traditions of listing out-loud some of the things for which they’re thankful. But we Lutherans could just recite our catechism. In the first article of the creed we say: “He has given me my body and soul, eyes, ears, and all my members, my reason and all my senses, and still takes care of them. He also gives me clothing and shoes, food and drink, house and home, wife and children, land, animals, and all I have. He richly an...

Parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins , 1616, Hieronymous Francken II The readiness of faith while awaiting Jesus’ return We must always be ready for Jesus to return by having faith Jesus’ return is joyful and hopeful news for the faithful We mentioned this last week, but it happens again this week; at the end of a long project we need two things: encouragement and sobriety. Last week the encouragement was a reminder of God’s abundant forgiveness, and the sober warning was a reminder that we must also abundantly forgive each other. Last week was about God’s abundant grace, this week is about the readiness of faith while we’re awaiting Jesus’ return. So the joyful and hopeful encouragement is that Jesus is returning. The sober warning is that we must always be ready for Jesus to return by having faith. In St. Paul’s letter to the church at Thessalonica it appears as if the Thessalonians understood quite well that Jesus’ return was imminent. “ You yourselves are fully aware that the da...

Parable of the Unforgiving Servant,  Claude Vignon, 1629 The Abundance of God’s Grace God’s forgiveness is boundless Our forgiveness must also be boundless As we approach the end of the church year we begin to think about the end times and the last day when Christ shall return to judge the earth. Whenever you are nearing the end of any long and difficult project you need two things: encouragement and sobriety. You need encouragement so that you don’t give up and quit. You need sobriety so that you don’t get sloppy and ruin everything. Since the end of this life is so near Christ does those two things for us: He encourages us and He warns us to keep us sober. Jesus assures us of His grace, and He warns us of dangers that may lead us astray from His grace. Indeed, today is about the abundance of God’s grace , and so we’re encouraged to hear that God’s forgiveness is boundless, and we’re warned that our forgiveness must also be boundless. This is a crucial reminder for us Christians i...

The Eight Beatitudes , Philip Galle & Hendrik Goltsius, circa 1578 The saints are blessed. Saints on earth Saints in glory The Feast of All Saints’ Day is fairly popular among us. It’s a day in which we celebrate the fact that the saints are blessed. Usually on this day we focus on those saints who have fallen asleep in the Lord and are now at rest from their labors. That’s certainly part of what this day is about, as we hear in Revelation about the saints in glory. That said, there’s another part of this day which is often neglected, namely that the saints are blessed even while here on earth. On other saints’ days, such as the feast of St. James from a few weeks ago, we don’t just rejoice that the saints rest from their labors, but we rejoice that the saints labored ! Afterall, you can’t really delight in rest unless you first labored and have a reason to rest. Thus when we’re considering our loved ones who have died in the faith and are asleep in the Lord, we don’t just take no...

Dear Susanna, family and friends of Tom: May God’s peace be with you today and always. Christ Jesus was crucified, died, buried, and raised for the forgiveness of Tom’s sins and your sins. Because of Jesus’ death and resurrection you have been brought out of death to life eternal, and shall with all the saints together be risen from your graves when our Lord returns, and dwell with Him in paradise forever. God promises this, so let us not doubt but firmly believe that He shall raise all believers from their graves and give them the fruits of heaven just as Jesus was risen from His tomb. In talking with Tom’s pastor, Pastor Cowell, and with Tom’s family and friends, I was given a brief glimpse into Tom’s 76 years of life on this earth. Like anyone, he had his ups and downs. He was hit with agent orange while in the military and then after many years of trucking he was injured on the job. Of course those things didn’t prevent him from enjoying life, such as watching the races or loving h...

The Order of Creation is under assault. But what is the Order of Creation? God created all things and He created all things within a particular order so that everything might operate together properly. For instance, God created humans, animals, and plants; all of them are living, but not all of them are the same. God created man to have dominion over this creation, so we work the ground, kill the weeds and pests, cultivate crops, and raise livestock. Among mankind there is also order; God created us male and female, husbands and wives, parents and children, leaders and followers.  Different people are given different work to do based upon who God created them to be. Additionally, God created people differently with unique skills and characteristics unique to their station in life. This is apparent in our bodies, but it’s also evident in our personalities. Thus it really should go without saying, men and women are different from each other, they can’t do all of the same things, nor ...