Monday, March 10, 2008

What Does It Mean to Be Lutheran? Part II

Lutherans stand in contrast to the rest of Christianity in that their adherence to the Word of God, without regard to human or ecclesiastical (church) tradition, prevents them from interpreting the Word of God to accommodate errant thinking / beliefs which might be part of a current cultural trend. This means that regardless of what popular beliefs might be, the Word of God is to stand without change or adaptation to the culture or society of the day. In a way, this adherence to the Word of God makes true Lutherans unpopular with most of society at any given time in history.

For example, today, when many churches are putting their stamp of approval on fornication (a couple living together without benfit of marriage), Lutherans continue to believe and teach that God intended for man and woman to live together only in the context of holy marriage. Any other arrangement which society today allows and even encourages is, and will always remain, damnable (I Corinthians 6:9-11). Such fornication is forgivable by faith in Jesus and Spirit-inspired repentance, but it cannot be approved by the true church. To approve of such arrangements calls God a liar at worst or in the least makes Him out to be incompetent because He has declared an activity wrong than man has determined is right and beneficial. Such attitudes break the First Commandment.

To be a Lutheran also means to focus worship upon God, not upon self as is often the case with today’s praise services which serve to lift the human spirit through a "worship" experience, otherwise known as entertainment. In today’s world where so much "worship" seems to focus upon the entertainment of the individual, Lutherans still believe that it is absolutely critical to worship God.

The old German word, Gottesdienst, (Service by God) explains true worship. Worship is a time when we gather to let God work on us through the hearing of His Word as read in the lessons and spoken in the sermon, even declared through the words of hymns as well as through the reception of Holy Communion. Worship is a time to let God work on us and to give Him glory for the work He does in us and through us. To gather simply for praise is OK but such “worship” misses the point: God is not given the opportunity to work on us.

—Dr. Paul Hunsicker, Abbotsford, Wisconsin

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Now, if we could just get we Lutherans to actually live what we purportedly believe. In my experience in conservative Lutheranism, there is a huge disconnect among laity between orthodoxy and orthopraxy. Many pastors even seem so terrified of having "TOO MUCH LAW" that they fail to teach their supposedly rich doctrine of sanctification at all. There is little instruction in many Lutheran churches on how we must live as believers in Christ according to the Word. That's why fornication is commonplace among our young people and that's why the Lutheran college campuses look no different than their secular counterparts when it comes to attitudes towards drunkenness, fornication and filthy talk. The 15 minute devotional sermons that are the standard in most Lutheran churches today explain why the LCMS at least is a dying denomination. The pulpits are not just weak, they are at a terminal stage. Another 15 years and many LCMS churches, particularly urban ones, will have had to shut down for financial reasons. The schools that once thrived are now closing up all over the country. Lutherans pride themselves on their correct theology, but correct theology does not produce life by itself. (The devils believe and tremble.) Having looked at this problem from the inside of our churches, I think the problem actually is theological at bottom. Children are told from their earliest days that their baptisms have guaranteed their entrance into the Kingdom of God. They are reassured over and over again that the external act guarantees them a ticket to heaven. They are never called to repent and believe the gospel, because supposedly they are already in. How many thousands of times did I hear the words, "when your sins were washed away in the waters of holy baptism..."? But the fact is, 90% of our church's confirmands disappear after confirmation. They're living in the world's system, have no heart for God and no love for Jesus. Rotten fruit. They're not converted at all, most are reprobate concerning the faith. They were lied to about their ticket to heaven, and our dead churches are proof of it. Frighteningly, many of these young people (and many old people) believe their souls are OK because of what was done to them as babies, regardless of what they've done with Christ since. Pastors slap anyone who talks like I do with the label, "legalist". They seem oblivious to the fact that the moral/spiritual condition of their congregations is in serious trouble. Maybe that's because many of the pastors are feasting off the same Hollywood garbage as their parishoners. They are not serious men of prayer and burden over their flocks. Their sheep are terribly ill in many of these churches, but the best you can expect is a Portals of Prayer sermon on the "flowers of God's garden" or some such pap. Sorry this is so long, but it's on my heart.