Dear Members and Friends of St. John,
During this 500th anniversary year of the
Reformation, we have been using a Lutheran Hour video series at St. John to
study about Martin Luther and the events surrounding the Reformation. In one of the video classes, Dr. Joel
Bierman, professor at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, points out that Luther
grew from an initial concern about church practice and abuse, to a more
complete understanding of God’s Word and God’s grace. Dr. Bierman teaches in this video class that
Luther was led by God’s Word to a “theology of the cross,” “the idea that the cross challenges and undoes everything that makes
sense to us, everything that seems reasonable to us.”
Another way to state how God works, a Biblical way to
consider this “theology of the cross,” is to remember that Jesus, the Son of
God, suffered and died to save
us. Since the Lord Himself suffered and
died, we also can expect trials and suffering.
For example, Jesus taught His disciples in John 15, “18 If
the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. 19 If you belonged to
the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the
world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.
20 Remember the words I spoke to you: 'No servant is greater than his master.'
If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also.” (John 15:18-20 a)
Most Christians know these words of Jesus. But, sometimes God’s people long for and even
expect success, expect glory. The
thinking goes this way: since we are serving the Lord of the universe wouldn’t He want to bless our effort? Doesn’t God want us to be successful, to be
well off, to show His power through blessings in our lives?
That kind of thinking makes sense on a human level. Unfortunately, we live in a sinful world. Our
sin and the sin in the world around us caused Jesus to suffer and die to pay
for our sins. Our rebellion, our
selfishness and greed, and those sins in the world around us bring trials and
suffering to our lives. We like the idea
of success and prosperity, but that is not how God worked in Jesus’ life. So, like Jesus, we too face troubles,
suffering, tribulation, and death.
This past Monday we saw another evil act of terrorism,
this time against our own country. I’m
sure you have heard about the terrorist attack in New York City. All of us might ask, “Why would God allow
such violence and hate?” We don’t know
all the answers to how God works.
Personally, I am just finishing reading the book of
Job. Throughout this book, Job asks why
there is evil and suffering in the world. He wants to know why he suffers as a
child of God. Job can’t understand why
there is suffering, because Job cannot totally understand God. However, we
could ask a similar question to Job’s question, “Why is there evil?” Consider the question, “Why did Jesus come into
the world and die to save us?” After
all, we have rebelled against the creator of the universe. Even though we know Jesus’ love, we often still
stray. Yet God continues to call us to
forgiveness, to eternal life through faith in Jesus. Why?
Thankfully, in spite of our sin God loves us and He did
send His Son. In Jesus, God does not cast off sinners as unlovable, but He
reaches out to all, in love, in sacrifice, and in forgiveness. By God’s love and grace in Jesus, He works
through the cross of Jesus and in the midst of the suffering we face in life to
show us His love. So, a better question
than, “Why do we suffer?” is “How is God using my suffering to point to His
love and bring me to Himself?”
We often don’t understand how God is working through the suffering
and the trials of life. But we do know,
God uses the cross of Jesus to save. We
do know that we too will face trials and failures, suffering and death. Jesus picked up His cross to save the world, so
we who follow Jesus do not always find success and glory. We often find trouble, failure, resistance,
and hate as disciples of our Lord.
This Sunday, the first in November, we celebrate “All
Saints Sunday” We hear about God working
through Jesus to make people holy by His grace, and to bring them to His
kingdom. But, all the assigned readings
point to the trials of God’s people, and then point to His grace in the midst
of our trials. So, “How is God using my
suffering to point to His love and bring me to Himself?”
In this 500th year of the Reformation Lutherans
and other Christians remember Martin Luther’s “theology of the cross.” We did not develop this theology of the cross
from our own minds. We see how God works
in Jesus, and we try to faithfully follow our Lord, even through life’s trials.
A Child of God, Seeking to Trust And Follow My Savior
through Life’s Trials,
Pastor Jonathan
P.S.
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ABOUT ‘THOUGHTS FROM THE
PASTOR’ - I am sending these e-mail messages, hopefully weekly, to
all St. John members and friends whose e-mails I have. (I am regularly
adding new names of friends and members – in case you are just receiving this
e-mail for the first time.) However, if you do not want to receive this
e-mail, please let me know, and I’ll gladly leave your name off my list for
this message.
******
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