Day 12: Living Justified

Readings for January 12: Ezekiel 34:1-24, Psalm 63:3-11, Romans 3:19-31

First of all, to go along with the Ezekiel reading, I thought I would share a song that came to mind while reading it.  Hope you smile.

Would Jesus Wear A Rolex?.

Now, on a more serious note: justification.  How are we justified?  Through the blood of Jesus.  We have to do nothing except believe in God and believe in Christ as our Lord and Savior.  But that can be difficult, sometimes seemingly impossible to do.  That is why we are granted the Spirit.  It is the Spirit who brings us to faith in God.  It is the Spirit who helps us stay steadfast in the faith.  And it is through the Spirit that we do the good that we do.

So when we sin, the Spirit is no longer with us?  No.  We have simply turned our back on God.  God forces no one to believe in Him.  But He never stops seeking either.  He is the Good Shepherd.  The one who continually takes cares of those in His fold and continually seeks others to add to it.  He will never stop searching for you.  Even when you run away, whether for a moment or for years upon years.  He will always be there, trying to get your attention, and trying to give you salvation and justification.

“You desire to go to Confession and to the Holy Lord’s Supper and ask: “How should I begin?  How might God look upon my works favorably so that I will be blessed? So that I will receive the body and blood of the Lord not to my judgment, but to my soul’s salvation?”  Listen to the answer which the apostle Paul gives in 1 Cor. 11:28: “A man,” he says, “ought to examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup.” But you ask, “How should I examine myself? What do I examine myself for?”  The apostle holds the Law before your eyes and says to you: “From the Law comes recognition of sin!” Therefore look into the Law, in this mirror of the Law, and compare the purity of the Law with the purity—rather, the impurity—of your heart and changes so that you will receive the first grace, namely, recognition of your sins.  But because the bling man can recognize neither what is beautiful nor what is ugly, he calls upon the Lord, “Have mercy upon me!” Because human beings according to their nature cannot correctly recognize their sins, you should turn to the Father of light, from whom all good and perfect gifts come from above, and to the Son, who is that Light, who enlightens all humans and pray…

“Lord God, Holy Spirit, You are the true and constant support in every need, a Spirit of truth and promise, God’s finger, the water of life, a heavenly fire, which warms cold hearts and ignites them with true love for God.  You have revealed Yourself to the apostles with wonderful gifts in a powerful wind and fiery tongues.  We ask You now therefore to come into our hearts, to strengthen and gladden out ignorant consciences.  Sanctify us with Your blessing and be unto us the holy assurance of our redemption and our salvation.  Amen”

And so my prayer this day is this:

Dear Heavenly Father, please keep us steadfast in the faith.  We daily turn away from you, just as a small child will quickly run away from their parents.  Help us.  Grant us Your Spirit that we may daily live our lives justified by You and glorifying you.  This we pray through Jesus Christ, our Good Shepherd and our Redeemer.  Amen.

May the peace of God, which surpasses all human understanding, keep your heart and mind in Christ Jesus.  Amen.

Day 11: Living Righteous

Readings for January 11: Ezekiel 33:1-20, Psalm 7:1-5, 8-11, Romans 3:1-18

“None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God.”

“Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness.”

If no one seeks God, then why does Matthew say first to seek the kingdom of God?  We, of our own nature, apart from God, are not righteous, nor can we ever be.  Original sin, the sin that consumes the entire human race, keeps us from the Father.  However Christ died for us.  He went to the cross and took up all of our sin upon himself so that we may have grace and have it to abundance.  This grace, through the Spirit, is what comes into us.  It is only through this grace that we are able to seek God.  Once we have this grace, we have salvation.  And from salvation we get the fruits of the spirit: first love, for God and then for one another; then faith and hope; then all the other fruits that abound from grace and salvation, and which lead us to do good to others.  Doing good works is a gift of grace, not a prerequisite for it.

From the Epitome of the Formula of Concord I: pts 3-4, 8-10

“2. We believe, teach, and confess that this distinction [between man’s nature and original sin] should be maintained with the greatest care. For this doctrine (that no distinction is to be made between our corrupt human nature and original sin) conflicts with the chief articles of our Christian faith about creation, redemption, sanctification, and the resurrection of our body. It cannot stand with them. [4] God created the body and soul of Adam and Eve before the fall. But He also created our bodies and souls after the fall. Even though they are corrupt, God still acknowledges them as His work, as it is written in Job 10:8, “Your hands fashioned and made me.” (See also Deuteronomy 32:18; Isaiah 45:9–10; 54:5; 64:8; Acts 17:28; Psalm 100:3; 139:14; Ecclesiastes 12:1.)….

“3. On the other hand, we believe, teach, and confess that original sin is not a minor corruption. It is so deep a corruption of human nature that nothing healthy or uncorrupt remains in man’s body or soul, in his inward or outward powers [Romans 3:10–12]. As the Church sings: Through Adam’s fall is all corrupt, Nature and essence human. [9] This damage cannot be fully described [Psalm 19:12]. It cannot be understood by reason, but only from God’s Word. [10] We affirm that no one but God alone can separate human nature and this corruption of human nature from each other. This will fully come to pass through death, in the ‹blessed› resurrection. At that time our nature, which we now bear, will rise and live eternally without original sin and be separated and divided from it. As it is written in Job 19:26–27, “After my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold.”

And so my prayer for this Saturday is this:

Dear Heavenly Father, enthroned in heaven above, your mercies are new every day, thank you for granting us another restful sleep and another day to live in your grace and to share you with others.  Father, keep us true to Your Word, so that we may realize that, even as we need breath to live, we need Your Spirit to truly live.  Keep us faithful to You and to Your Word, for we know that we cannot make it through this life on our own.  This we pray through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord and Savior, who reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, One God, now and forever.  Amen.

May the peace of God, which surpasses all human understanding, keep your heart and mind in Christ Jesus.  Amen.

Day 10: Living Heartfully

Readings for January 10: Ezekiel 18:1-4, 19-32, Psalm 85:1-4, 7-8, 10-13, Romans 2:17-29

Are you baptized?  Really, you are?  Good.  So what of it?  What right have we to boast in our baptism if we do not then live as one baptized?  How are we different from the Jews who were circumcised and did not follow the law.  They say actions speak louder than words.  Why?  Well because lies easily come out of the mouth, but we cannot lie about what we do.  A hypnotist cannot command someone to kill themselves if they did not prior have suicidal thoughts, or, likewise kill someone else if they did not have murderous thoughts beforehand.  Likewise, even though we can say all we want, we can say we have the greatest faith in the world.  But if we do not do what is right, if we do not do what is commanded, so what of it?  “Faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.”

Does that mean we are saved by our works?  Certainly not.  It is only through Christ and His death and resurrection that we are saved.  However, if we simply say we believe, but continue to live as though we did not, then we believe in God with our mouth only, and not with our heart.  And it is not our mouth that God wants, but our heart.

“Furthermore, the slave and the hireling have a law, not from the Lord, but of their own contriving; the one does not love God, the other loves something else more than God….Each man is a law unto himself, when he sets up his will against the universal law, perversely striving to rival his Creator, to be wholly independent, making his will his only law. What a heavy and burdensome yoke upon all the sons of Adam, bowing down our necks, so that our life draws near to hell. “O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?' (Rom. 7.24).

“In this life, I think, we cannot fully and perfectly obey that precept, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all you mind' (Luke 10.27). For here the heart must take thought for the body; and the soul must energize the flesh; and the strength must guard itself from impairment….It is therefore impossible to offer up all our being to God, to yearn altogether for His face, so long as we must accommodate our purposes and aspirations to these fragile, sickly bodies of ours. Wherefore the soul may hope to possess the fourth degree of love, or rather to be possessed by it, only when it has been clothed with that spiritual and immortal body, which will be perfect, peaceful, lovely, and in everything wholly subjected to the spirit. And to this degree no human effort can attain: it is in God's power to give it to whom He wills. Then the soul will easily reach that highest stage, because no lusts of the flesh will retard its eager entrance into the joy of its Lord, and no troubles will disturb its peace.”

And so my prayer for us today is this:

Dear Father, enthroned in heaven above, Who continually watches and guards us, and who continually provides for us, grant us Your Spirit, that we may learn to live as You want, and learn to love and believe in you with our whole being, not just our mouth.  Cleanse us from all sin, and help us forgive others.  For you reign forever with the Son and the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

May the peace of God, which surpasses all human understanding, keep your heart and mind in Christ Jesus.  Amen.

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Today we celebrate the lives of Basil the Great of Caesarea, Gregory of Nazianzus, and Gregory of Nissa, Pastors and Confessors.  From CPH:

“Basil and the two Gregorys, collectively known as the Cappadocian Fathers, were leaders of Christian orthodoxy in Asia Minor (modern Turkey) in the later fourth century. Basil and Gregory of Nyssa were brothers; Gregory of Nazianzus was their friend. All three were influential in shaping the theology ratified by the Council of Constantinople of 381, which is expressed in the Nicene Creed. Their defense of the doctrines of the Holy Spirit and Holy Trinity, together with their contributions to the liturgy of the Eastern Church, make them among the most influential Christian teachers and theologians of their time.”

Day 9: Living Redeemed

Readings for January 9: Ezekiel 3:12-37, Psalm 62:5-7, Romans 2:1-16

Are you ready to die?  I’m not.  Does death scare you?  It doesn't scare me.  Why?  Because I am a child of God, and I believe that I have been forgiven by Jesus, God’s Son, our Lord who died on the cross so that I will not die eternally.

Can you say that?  It took me a long time to be able to.  Why?  Because I am a sinner.  (It also took me a long time to be able to say that heartfully, even though I grew up a Christian.)  I am a sinner and I know that under the law of God I am condemned, and the only hope that I have is that I die.  However Christ came and died so that I will not die.  Even though my time on this earth may come to an end, I have confidence that I will awake in heaven.  

“[How to prepare for death:] First, one must admonish the people to attend church and listen to the sermon so that they learn through God’s word how to live and how to die.  It must be noted that those who are so uncouth and wicked as to despise God’s word while they are in good health should be left unattended when they are sick unless they demonstrate their remorse and repentance with great earnestness, tears, and lamentation….Second, everyone should prepare in time and get ready for death by going to confession and taking the sacrament once every week or fortnight.  He should become reconciled with his neighbor and make his will so that if the Lord knocks and he departs before a pastor or chaplain can arrive he has provided for his soul, has left nothing undone, and has committed himself to God.  When there are many fatalities and only two or three pastors on duty, it is impossible to visit everyone to give instruction, and to teach each one what a Christian ought to know in the anguish of death.  Those who have been careless and negligent in these matters must account for themselves.  That is their own fault.  After all, we cannot set up a private pulpit and altar daily at their bedside simply because they have despised the public pulpit and altar to which God has summoned and called them.

“Third, if someone wants the chaplain or pastor to come, let the sick person send word in time to call him and let him do so early enough while he is still in his right mind before the illness overwhelms the patient.”

And so, likewise, we should not judge.  Two prisoners are on death row.  As the one is heading down to get executed, the other one yells out to him: “What did you do to die like this?”

“I killed two men.”

“Oh,” the first one replies, “You’re worse than I am.  I only killed one man.”

“What difference does it make?  We’re both going to die.”

Do we do this?  Yes.  Daily.  We look at fellow sinners and judge them.  It may be a dirty look or a dirty word.  It may be harsh words or gossip.  Or we may decide that they need to die.  But the fact is that we judge people every day, and we shouldn't, for we have no place to do it, for we are on the same walk of death, and the only hope that we have is that Christ has saved us.

And so my prayer is this:

Dear Heavenly Father, enthroned in heaven, how great Thou art and how deserving of all of our praise.  Lord, I thank you that you have brought us through this week so far, and I pray that you would help guide us ever toward You.  Let us remember that just as You have loved us and not condemned us, so should we to love and not condemn our neighbors.  This we pray through Christ, our Lord and Savior.  Amen

May the peace of God, which surpasses all human understanding, keep your heart and mind in Christ Jesus.  Amen. 

Day 8: Living Unhardened

Readings for January 8: Ezekiel 2:1-3:11, Psalm 19:1-6, 9-11, 15, Romans 1:18-32

Why do so many people who have grown up knowing God fall away and those who have never known God cling so quickly and easily to Him?  It is a problem that we think is new, but even in Ezekiel it is the Israelites, not the foreigners, who have a hard time believing God.  So why is it?

I believe that it is because as Christians our hearts get hardened by the what that we lose sight of the Why.  It is like a man who works with his hands all day.  They get calloused by the labor that he does, helping him with the ability to do it longer.  Eventually however, those callouses get so large that they block off all sense of feeling to the hands.  Now the hands can continue to work but they no longer feel anything.  We become this way.  We put so much work into God’s Kingdom that we lose the feelings behind it.  We get so caught up in the what that we lose sight of the Why.

How can we mend?  Just like callouses, our hardened exterior can be scraped off.  It will hurt.  It will be painful.  But it will be revitalization.  Pray that God can open your eyes back up to the Why of things, so that we may continue to do the work He has called us to do.  Likewise it is through accepting the Gospel that we can realize the truth of the law.  As is written in the Solid Declaration of the Formula of Concord V 10-11:

“Merely preaching the Law, without Christ, either makes proud people, who imagine that they can fulfill the Law by outward works, or forces them utterly to despair. Therefore, Christ takes the Law into His hands and explains it spiritually (Matthew 5:21–48; Romans 7:14; 1:18). He reveals His wrath from heaven on all sinners and shows how great it is. In this teaching sinners are directed to the Law, and from it they first learn to know their sins correctly, a confession that Moses could never wrestle out of them. For as the apostle testifies (2 Corinthians 3:14–15), even though Moses is read, the veil he put over his face is never lifted. So they cannot understand the Law spiritually, and what great things it requires of us, and how severely it curses and condemns us because we cannot keep or fulfill it. “But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed” (2 Corinthians 3:16).

“Christ’s Spirit must not only comfort, but also through the office of the Law “convict the world concerning sin” [John 16:8]. In the New Testament, as the prophet says, He must do the work of another (reprove), in order that He may ‹afterward› do His own work, which is to comfort and to preach grace [Isaiah 28:21]. To this end the Spirit was obtained for us through Christ and sent.”

And so my prayer this day is this:

Dear Heavenly Father who created the heavens and the earth, and felt such love for it that You sent Your Son to be our Savior and to die on the cross for our sins, let not our hearts become hardened to the works we do in Your name, and let not our hearts be calloused by this world.  Help us, Lord, to always have such a faith in You that keeps us feeling and knowing You.  This we pray through Jesus Christ, our risen Lord and Savior.  Amen.

May the peace of God, which surpasses all human understanding, keep your heart and mind in Christ Jesus.  Amen.

Day 7: Living Unashamed

Readings for January 7: Ezekiel 1: 1-14, 22-28, Psalm 46: 4-6. 8-22. Romans 1: 1-17

“I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes.” Romans 1:16.

Romans, the book that was the game changer for Martin Luther, John Wesley and I am sure many other people.  One reason for such is that it gives us a strong view of the Gospel.  It challenges us to live unashamed, of Christ and of being a Christian.  Each day we need to be proud of being a Christian, even though we may receive persecution because of it.  Why?  Because when we live ashamed, we try to over things up from the world.  When we cover things up from the world, we begin to cover them up also in our minds and eventually our hearts.  When this happens we no longer can believe.  And living under the Gospel and forgiveness is so wonderful.  As Martin Chemnitz wrote:

“There remains, therefore, the doctrine of the Gospel, which instructs us concerning the twofold benefit of Christ, namely, reconciliation and sanctification or renewal. It contains the promise of the remission of sins, free reconciliation, adoption, and acceptance unto eternal life, for the sake of Christ the Mediator. It also contains the promise of the Spirit of renewal, who works in us both to will and to do, so that after we are justified we can also begin the new obedience.  Therefore, because justifying faith seeks reconciliation with God, forgiveness of sins, adoption, and acceptance unto eternal life, it is manifest what the proper and principal object of faith is, namely, the promise of grace for the sake of the Mediator.  In respect to this and by laying hold on it we are justified.

“These things are confirmed by sure and clear passages of Scripture which establish that the object of justifying faith is not the Word of God in general, but the promise of the benefits of Christ the Mediator….

“Then how many blessings come to us along with this object of our faith: free reconciliation, remission of sins, imputation of the righteousness of Christ, free acceptance before God, adoption, freedom from the Law, liberation from the curse of the Law, propitiation for our sins, eternal life, communion with God, the inheritance of life and salvation, peace, joy, and hope of the glory of God! These are the words of Scripture.  When in this way the object of justifying faith is unfolded before us, the entire matter becomes clearer.

“There must be a continuous progression from Sinai to Zion, so that the object of justifying faith does not become Epicureanism or, as Peter says, “a cloak for maliciousness” (1 Peter 2:16).”

And so my prayer today is this:

Dear Heavenly Father, enthroned in heaven above, give us Your Holy Spirit that we may go through this life unashamed of You.  We love You.  We want to live a life that is glorifying and proclaiming You.  Give us the strength to do this.  This we pray through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord.  Amen.

May the peace of God, which surpasses all human understanding, keep your heart and mind in Christ Jesus.  Amen.

Day 6: Living Epiphany

Living Baptized: Day 6

Readings for January 6: Isaiah 66:1-20, psalm 45: 1-7, Luke 3:21-38

Today is the Feast of the Epiphany of our Lord, although in most churches I am sure it was celebrated yesterday.  This is the day that the Wise Men came to the toddler Jesus in the house where He and His parents were living.  Epiphany means “a usually sudden manifestation or perception of the essential nature or meaning of something” (Merriam-Webster Dictionary.)  How fitting then that on this day we read not the story of the wise men, but the story of His baptism.  It is at His Baptism that we get a clear vision of who Christ is.  As the Voice that came from heaven said, “You are My beloved Son; with You I am well pleased.”

“Jesus goes up out of the water...for with Himself He carries up the world...and sees the heaven opened which Adam had shut against himself and all his posterity, as the gates of Paradise by the flaming sword. And the Spirit bears witness to His Godhead, for he descends upon One that is like Him, as does the Voice from Heaven (for He to Whom the witness is borne came from thence), and like a Dove, for He honours the Body (for this also was God, through its union with God) by being seen in a bodily form; and moreover, the Dove has from distant ages been wont to proclaim the end of the Deluge. But if you are to judge of Godhead by bulk and weight, and the Spirit seems to you a small thing because He came in the form of a Dove, O man of contemptible littleness of thought concerning the greatest of things, you must also to be consistent despise the Kingdom of Heaven, because it is compared to a grain of mustard seed; and you must exalt the adversary above the Majesty of Jesus, because he is called a great Mountain, and Leviathan and King of that which lives in the water, whereas Christ is called the Lamb, and the Pearl, and the Drop and similar names.”

We first realize the glory of Christ at the annunciation of His birth by the Angel Gabriel to the Virgin Mary; then again when Mary visits Elizabeth; then again at His birth; then again on Epiphany; then again at His Baptism; then again at His transfiguration; then again at the triumphant entry into Jerusalem; then again on the cross; then again at His resurrection; then again at His ascension; and finally we will see it when He comes again in glory.  Think about that.  Think about how those stories are so different, yet so interconnected.  On opposite ends of His life, you have His birth and His death on the cross, both humble, both small, both fully in power and seemingly powerless.  We have next Epiphany and the triumphal entry, both glorious, both involving other people realizing who Christ is.  And in the center we have His baptism and His Transfiguration, both times heaven and earth God the Father and God the Son in communion with one another.  And to mirror this we have His resurrection, fully in power from being seemingly powerless; His ascension, where the disciples see him Ascend in glory, and they realizing who Christ is; and when He comes again in Glory and we shall see Him face to face, just as we got glimpses of His glory at His baptism and transfiguration.

And so my Epiphany prayer is this:

Dear Heavenly Father, on this day when the magi traveled to greet Your Son, may we journey ever closer to You.  Shine in our hearts like the star that led the magi so that we may have a light to follow to the path of righteousness.  Keep us ever strong in our faith, and when we fall off the path, help us back on.  For you live enthroned in Heaven above with the Son and the Holy Spirit.  This we pray through Christ our Lord and Savior.  Amen.

May the peace of God, which surpasses all human understanding, keep your heart and mind in Christ Jesus.  Amen.