Readings for January 3: Isaiah 63:1-14, Psalm 108: 1-6, 12-13, Luke
2:21-40
Day 1 we looked at living in our baptism, that is, living
life as a redeemed and forgiven child of God.
Day 2 we looked at living worship, that is, living life constantly
praising God for what he has done and praying to continually guide us. And so today we look at living obedient.
What though are we to be obedient to? God, of course. For He is “the author and perfecter of our
faith,” and He knows the plans He has for us.
But how do we stay obedient to Him?
We follow His commandments, detailed in the 10 commandments, and
summarized by Christ into two, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your
heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and
first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as
yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”
(Matthew 22: 37-40) Even Christ was
obedient to the Father’s will, obedient to the cross.
From the Solid Declaration of the Formula of Concord:
“Every penitent sinner ought to believe, that is, place his
confidence in the Lord Christ alone, that He was delivered for our offenses,
and was raised again for our justification, Rom. 4:25, that He was made sin for
us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him, 2
Cor. 5:21, who of God is made unto us Wisdom, and Righteousness, and
Sanctification, and Redemption, 1 Cor. 1:30, whose obedience is counted to us
for righteousness before God's strict tribunal, so that the Law, as above set
forth, is a ministration that kills through the letter and preaches
condemnation, 2 Cor. 3:7, but the Gospel is the power of God unto salvation to
every one that believeth, Rom. 1:16, that preaches righteousness and gives the
Spirit, 1 Cor. 1:18; Gal. 3:2. As Dr. Luther has urged this distinction with
especial diligence in nearly all his writings, and has properly shown that the
knowledge of God derived from the Gospel is far different from that which is
taught and learned from the Law, because even the heathen to a certain extent
had a knowledge of God from the natural law, although they neither knew Him
aright nor glorified Him aright, Rom. 1:20f.
“From the beginning of the world these two proclamations
[kinds of doctrines] have been ever and ever inculcated alongside of each other
in the Church of God, with a proper distinction. For the descendants of the
venerated patriarchs, as also the patriarchs themselves, not only called to
mind constantly how in the beginning man had been created righteous and holy by
God, and through the fraud of the Serpent had transgressed God's command, had
become a sinner, and had corrupted and precipitated himself with all his
posterity into death and eternal condemnation, but also encouraged and
comforted themselves again by the preaching concerning the Seed of the Woman,
who would bruise the Serpent's head, Gen. 3:15; likewise, concerning the Seed
of Abraham, in whom all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, Gen. 22:18;
likewise, concerning David's Son, who should restore again the kingdom of
Israel and be a light to the heathen, Ps. 110:1; Is. 49:6; Luke 2:32, who was
wounded for our transgressions, and bruised for our iniquities, by whose
stripes we are healed, Is. 53:5.”
And so my prayer for this day is this:
Dear heavenly Father,
who has created and orders all things, teach us to live an obedient life to
You, that, just as Christ, Your Son, our Lord, was obedient unto the cross, so
we may also be obedient to whatever and wherever You are calling us. We cannot pretend to know what You have
planned for us, so help us to stay on the path obedience to 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.
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