Crisis in the Episcopal Church

http://mcj.bloghorn.com/2775

Sunday Sermon

When Meg invited me to preach here a few weeks ago, she said you could preach on any text you wanted, and any subject you wanted. This invitation left me with quite a few possibilities. I thought of what other Pastors might be preaching this morning around the Twin Cities.

I figure you might have some preachers talking about this week’s elections, and how their congregation can try to make this world a better place by working for justice

I also figured you might have some preachers talking about people’s moral fallings, and how they need to try harder to live better lives or else!!!!

But I decided to instead preach on some different, and that is the --------Gospel. Here this morning.

And since I don’t really feel like giving you a, song and dance number, a motivational speech or a lot of pop psychology. I figured a good place to preach from is the Holy Scripture and some of its most important words in Romans 5:6-11.

6For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7For one will scarcely die for a righteous person--though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die-- 8but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. 10For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. 11More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

Let’s look at these verses.

Verse 6- For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For Verse 6 here lays out the Gospel in 5 words- Christ died for the ungodly.

Some might ask who are the ungodly, since there seems to be a lot of pious people in the churches today. But the ungodly consist of everyone who isn’t God. The ungodly consists of anyone who has ever sinned. The ungodly consists of everyone who has fallen short of God’s salvation. The ungodly consists of everyone in this room and this world.

One thing that should be noted from this verse is that it presents no distinctions about the ungodly- It doesn’t say Christ died for those who-

are kind of ungodly-thereby stating how Christ died for those people who might have sinned in the past, but live holy enough lives to really not be that sinful before God.-

or Christ died for those who-pause used to be ungodly- stating how Christ died for those who might have sinned before, but now they are so righteous, holy, and perfect they have no need for Christ, -

or Christ died for some- - but not the really ungodly- Saying that Christ died for some people, but not the ones that commited the really bad sins.-

This verse speaks of how Christ died for all the of us. For Christ died for all sinners, of which we are all equal.- Christ died for those whose very nature is against God in word and deed. For Christ died because nobody is able to save themselves.-

Verses 7-8 For one will scarcely die for a righteous person- though perhaps for a good person- one would dare even to die. But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

These verses speak of the love God has for us, inspite of us being sinners.

To illustrate this Imagine this, you are walking down the street today, and someone comes out from the behind the bushes and assualts you up leaving you bloody, dinged up, and sore. -

Now imagine, that the Cops catch this person and this person is brought to court, and going to be thrown in jail. -

What Christ- Did for us- is the equivalent of you standing up at the trial and saying- that you are going to serve the criminal’s punishment on his behalf, even after he beat you up. -

For inspite of us being against God because of our sins, Christ still loved us so much, he endured our punishment of death , and overcame it so we may inherit eternal life. -

Christ doesn’t love us because we are perfect and holy. Christ loves us even though we aren’t perfect and holy. Christ loves us even though we are sinners. And this love is so great, Christ values us more than his own life.

Verse 9-9Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. This verse Makes the points- We are justified by Christ’s blood alone, and Christ saved us from the wrath of God. For since Christ loved sinners like us, he did the unthinkable in the cross to save us. He shed his blood on the cross, so we can be justified. For we are justified by Christ’s blood alone meaning that it is only through Christ no doing on our own that we are saved.

For we are more likely to swim across the Atlantic Ocean than we are to earn our salvation.

This verse makes clear that it is because of only the Grace of God that are sins are completely forgiven, not through our works, but only through the complete payment through Christ’s blood.

But yet many churches will still drive home the message of the Gospel plus, the message churches will still say is-Christ died for your sins, now you better do this or else. Churches will preach the Gospel then add moral requirements necessary for salvation still. For the absolute hardest thing for people to grasp is that Christ did it all for our salvation, without our help, without asking us for a thing

I am a big football fan, so let me use an analogy to illustrate this. Many churches it seems view salvation like a football game. Christ’s cross allows you to play in the Football game. Then if you do some good deeds, you score a few points with God, if you do something bad you lose a few points with God, and at the end of your life- If you have done more good things than bad things- God lets you into heaven.

But God doesn’t leave you doubt, For while we sit as spectators, God has achieved victory through Christ Jesus and the score is final. .

For this verse contradicts this thinking of God’s grace allowing us to earn salvation.

For this verse teaches it is by Christ alone that we are saved. Not by Christ with some help from ourselves. For it is by Christ that we are saved from God’s wrath and the fires and torment of hell. But ultimately it is through Christ we know that we have a God that loves us so much, he will go to the cross to bring us to him for all eternity.

Verses 10- 11-10For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. 11More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. These verses speak of how we have been reconciled with God, these verses speak of how we have been made right with God. –

These verses speak of the total, and complete forgiveness of our sins through Christ Jesus.

This happened, because Christ was put to death- Pause-

the very thing that separated us from God because of our sins.

Therefore Christ paid the penalty in full for sin- that made us enemies of God. So it was in Christ’s death- we were made right with God. For it is because of Christ’s resurrection in overcoming death for us through life- that we are able to overcome death for eternal life. -

It is for this fact that we rejoice. It is this belief and no other on which the Church must be centered on. It is because of Christ’s death and resurrection alone do we gather here for worship. It is because of Christ’s death and resurrection- that we know that inspite of our sins, no matter how bad we have committed- we are forgiven. It is because of Christ’s death and resurrection- that at the time of our deaths or the deaths of our loved ones- we are assured that God loves us and forgives us because of his cross, and that because of God’s love we can overcome death and pass

into eternal life. For it is this belief that makes all the difference in our life and death –

For Christ Jesus- Died for the Ungodly- He died for you and he died for me. This passage from Romans speaks of how we are sinners, yet Christ loves us, and died for us and rose again, so we may be completely forgiven by God.

For this is the Gospel- Amen.

Luther Seminary- Great Moments in Heresy-Professors

1. The current president of the Seminary who is seeking to give Luther a Missional focus declaring that he considers himself a Christo-Centric Univeralist.

2. A Pastoral Care Professor saying "In Pastoral Care, we don't worry about saving souls, whatever that means, when we think of salvation, we think of what you do to the least of these you do unto me"

3. This same Pastoral Care professor praising John Shelby Spong as a theologian who has greatly shaped him in the last few years.

4. An Old Testament Professor saying that "We can't proof-text seven verses on Homosexuality and come to resolution on this manner."

5. A different Old Testament professor declared "God is doing a new thing in Homosexuality and citing Isaiah 43:19"

6. A meeting being hosted on campus led by the ecumenical coordinator for a group called Prayerfully- Pro-Choice.

7. A supposedly conservative Systematics Professor openly denying the Virgin Birth in class.

8. A New Testament professor saying "Morality is ascerned communally". This professor had students read a book written by Dale Martin of Yale which said that "If you really love Jesus you would want to f%&* him"

9. An education professor saying "All truth is Relative"

10. A New Testament Professor promoting Sacramentalism the idea that if you are baptized as an infant whether you have faith or not as an adult- you are saved.

Lutherans For Life on Missouri's Amendment 2

http://www.lutheransforlife.org/PDF_Files/MO_stem_cell_initiative_2006.pdf

Heresy Warning-

Two

1. I was talking to a seminary classmate, and he had a CPE experience with a girl who was pursuing ordained ministry in the ELCA. She openly said to her whole group "She didn't believe in God, but in the concept of love instead." -Yikes.

2. In this month's Lutheran magazine, their is an ad for Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary which promotes as its four core principles: Lutheran Identity, Multi-Cultralism, Public Sphere, and Religious Pluralism- Yikes

Stem-Cell Article

This being one of the most divisive issues this election season, due to controversial measures like Missouri's Amendment Number 2. The debate over Stem-Cell research is terribly misconstrued by the media. Here's an article from Ryan T. Anderson of First Things from the Weekly Standard


http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000
/012/861hhanx.asp?pg=1

New Writer

I have doubled the writing staff to the Emerti Blog to 2 people. My good friend Carl Fiskness will also be giving commentary from time to time. Carl is another Lutheran who offers a Bible-Based Christ-Centered persepctive to the debates of our ages.

Back and Proof-Texting

I'm back I have had some personal turmoil for the last several months that has occupied time away from blogging. But I am back ready to confront the false doctrine and heresy that has perverted itself throughout Christendom. This perversion most specifically plays itself out in Mainline Denomiations, like the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America to which I formerly belonged. I am currently in my last year at a Seminary in this denomiation- Luther Seminary.

At Luther, we have a Senior Biblical Theology class led by a professor who seems to consider himself "confessional" and "conservative", this might sound good but it's not. To give you an example of this guy's Biblical Hermaneutic, he has said on more than one occasion in regards to Homosexuality- "That we can't just proof-text seven verses and come to an answer on this question" . This professor also wrote an article entitled "The heresy of infalliability". So this should give you a good idea who you are dealing with.

So I better respond to his objections over proof-texting. Well this is a ridicolous statement in the first place since most major doctrines especially within Lutheranism are based on a few scripture texts. No one would ever say something like you can't just base a doctrine of the Lord's Supper on 1 Corinthians 10, or a doctrine of Baptism on Matthew 28. No one would say you can't just proof-text Romans 1 for the doctrine of justification. All major doctrines are based on specific texts.

I would also challenge whether this is proof-texting this isn't some argument citing some scripture passages against the other, the whole weight of Biblical evidence states that Homosexuality is sinful. A proof-text is meant to state what the Bible says and it seems to be pretty uniamous as to it's statement.

The last idea I should challenge is with such a statement as the professor's proof-texting statement. It would seem scripture has no authority, which it really doesn't but he wouldn't open say that. Instead, what has authority is some Christian-Centric hermeanutic. Never mind this hermeanutic often makes the end result totally subjective. I talked about it some here http://emerti.blogspot.com/2005/09/generic-gospel.html.

The idea that since Christ was welcoming, or tolerant, or loved people this argument takes many forms, we should bless homosexual behavior. Never mind that Jesus constantly tries to change people from their live of sin.

This also raises a problem since it is poor scripture intrepretation. For scripture speaks as either law or gospel to the situation it address. In Romans 1:26-27, it is addressing homosexuality as sinful behavior. You can't just make up some vague ethic and apply it however you want. Scripture still determines doctrine as it did for Christ. Scripture either has authority or it doesn't, it doesn't have authority in the sense we want it to have authority.