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Psalm 124
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If it had not been the LORD who was on our side - let Israel now say - if it had not been the LORD who was on our side when people rose up against us, then they would have swallowed us up alive, when their anger was kindled against us; then the flood would have swept us away, the torrent would have gone over us; then over us would have gone the raging waters. Blessed be the LORD, who has not given us as prey to their teeth! We have escaped like a bird from the snare of the fowlers; the snare is broken, and we have escaped! Our help is in the name of the LORD, who made heaven and earth.
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Know Christ Know Love
Jeremiah
26 June 2012
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Love and harmony are important, yes. But not at the expense of the truth. Luther was confronted by this problem when the sectarians attacked him for declining to show love and compassion to them, all the while they were teaching contrary to the biblical gospel. Luther was not against love and harmony. He was opposed to giving up any of the articles of the faith. To teach and believe contrary to the Word of God is to reject Christ whose Word it is. All the while the sectarians proclaimed their love both of their fellow human and Christ Himself. But where our human opinions trump the divine revelation we are being neither faithful nor loving. Our first order of business is love God above all things, including above our own opinions (Lk 10:27). Our second order of business is our love of our fellow human. That cannot happen when we deliver to the world a teaching that is contrary to the divine truth (Lk 10:27). What is loving about giving false teaching to those who will listen? It is like the claim of the mercy murderer who kills the gravely ill, by arguing that it is loving to feed the suffering a deadly poison.
What is loving about feeding the hungry theological poison? False teaching is not loving toward humans or toward God. Yet it puts on the mask of open-mindedness, compassion, and love. It claims that it is unkind to ask people to conform their minds to the Word of Christ and be obedient to cross of Christ. People should be free to believe whatever they want. What would make us think that abandoning Christ is true freedom? Is it not a slavery; to self and to Satan? What could we possibly gain that is good or right if we abandon Christ and His Word? What superior knowledge is ours that enables us to tell Christ what He ought to believe, rather than permitting Him to speak to us with ears of faith open to His gracious speech? It is a wild satanic delusion that honors human reason above the Word of God. Yet this the common and incessant demand of the world around us.
Love does not save. Christ saves. Love is of no value if Christ is lost in the process of loving. If Christ and His truth are ours, then there is enormous opportunity for love to follow upon the gift of Christ. Let us lose the love of the whole world and retain Christ and we will have all that is necessary for live and salvation. If we know and confess Christ we will have all the articles of the faith, for His Word will be all our hope and support. No Christ. No love. Know Christ. Know love. |
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Martin Luther
"We could easily overlook these outrages and receive them [the sectarians] and renew them with the spirit of meekness, if they would only return to the correct path and march with us in the right order, that is, if they would speak and teach rightly about the Lord's Supper and the other articles of Christian doctrine, and with unanimous consent with us that they would preach not themselves, but Christ, so that the Son of God might be glorified by us, and through Him the Father. We must not bear with them when they glorify charity and harmony, while diminishing the importance of the sacrament, as if it were of very little importance, even though we know about the Eucharist, that it was instituted by our Lord Christ.
"However so much they preach harmony of life, so much more should we proclaim the harmony of doctrine and the faith. If they concur with us in the integrity of the doctrine, we shall so proclaim our unity with them also in the harmony of love, which must be so long postponed in favor of harmony of the faith and spirit. For if you reject this, you reject Christ. Love helps you not at all, if you are deprived of Christ. On the other hand, if you retain the unity of the spirit and Christ, nothing will out of place, even if you dissent from those who corrupt the Word and because of this rend the unity of the spirit. I would rather that they depart from me, and with them the whole world, rather than be one with them, than that I depart from Christ and hold him to be my enemy. That is what would happen if I adhered to their empty dreams, which they will not abandon with a simple and open declaration, by which they distort with their own opinion the words of Christ. One Christ is much greater than an infinity of harmonious charity.
Martin Luther, Lectures on Galatians, 6.1
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Prayer
Almighty and eternal God, since You have revealed Your glory to all nations in Jesus Christ and in the Word of His truth, grant us right understanding of the works of Your mercy so that Your Church, spread throughout all the nations, may be defended against the adversary and may serve You in the true faith and persevere in the confession of Your name; through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.
For Laura Colle, who is undergoing surgery that the Lord would grant to her healing and a full recovery
For those who are unemployed that they might find work in keeping with their vocation
For Matthew Hardaway, who will be ordained to the holy ministry this Sunday, that the Lord would grant Him the gifts of clarity and faithfulness to Christ in His ministry
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Art: CRANACH, LUCAS Altarpiece, Wittenberg, Germany
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 © Scott R. Murray, 2012
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