Wrestling with Theology

  "Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image." (Genesis 9:6) Eye for an Eye In this discourse by God to Noah after departing the Ark, we have the first of the "eye for an eye" passages. God reminds Noah that He made man in His image in the beginning. Our first parents fell from that image through their sin in the Garden. It was the first...

1 Clement 3-8

  Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. "Honor your father and mother" (this is the first commandment with a promise), "that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land." (Ephesians 6:1-3) With a Promise St. Paul calls this "the first commandment with a promise" because God gives a promise for its fulfillment: "that it may go well with you and that you...

  "Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, a holy convocation. You shall do no work. It is a Sabbath to the LORD in all your dwelling places. (Leviticus 23:3) Day of Rest The Third Commandment takes us from acknowledgment to personalization to worship. Now that God has told us that He is the only true God and has given us His name, we're given the comm...

  "You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain." (Exodus 20:7) Not Guiltless After His existence as the only true God, God moves onto His name. We should not take the Lord's name in vain. What does the phrase "in vain" mean? Primarily, it means using His name uselessly or carelessly. Like many of us, God doesn't...

  "I am the LORD; that is my name; my glory I give to no other, nor my praise to carved idols." (Isaiah 42:8) God Doesn't Share One of the many things we try to teach our children is the ability to share. We try and we try, but sometimes that doesn't happen. They don't want to share. Unfortunately, they have a most wonderful role model: God Himself. He says Himself through the prophet Isaiah,...

  Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law. (Romans 13:10) Commandments God gives us Ten Commandments to govern our lives in a moral and ethical manner. The only problem is that He didn't give us the proper numbering. I apologize in advance to my non-Lutheran listeners, but I'll be using the Lutheran numbering this month because I'm Lutheran. But the one t...

 Original Broadcast: September 2008 Monthly Theme: Stewardship As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God ... thus storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is truly life. (1 Timothy 6:17-19) Truly Rich For whatever reason, stewardship...

 Original Broadcast: September 2008 Monthly Theme: Stewardship [Jesus] did not count equality with God something to be grasped, but made Himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. (Philippians 2:6-7) A Servant If we go all the way back to the Old English meaning of steward, we see that it is, above all, a "household keeper". In its basic essence, a stewa...

This week is a double-dip of study with this month's Confessional Corner and Digging Deeper. Confessional Corner: AC XV-XIX Digging Deeper: Exodus 9:13-10:29

 Original Broadcast: September 2008 Monthly Theme: Stewardship For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for Him who for their sake died and was raised. (2 Corinthians 5:14-15) Controlled No one likes to give up control. It doesn't matter if it's the remote control for the televisi...

Original Broadcast: September 2008 Monthly Theme: Stewardship   Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, (Romans 12:2) "Be Transformed" St. Paul reminds us that Christians are to be in the world but not of the world. Jesus prayed for this while in the Garden of Gethsemane the night before He was crucified. But what does it mean to be transformed? Tran...

 Original Broadcast: September 2008 Monthly Theme: Stewardship As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace. (1 Peter 4:10) "God's Varied Grace" They say no two snowflakes are exactly alike. They say no two fingerprints are exactly alike. They say no two people--not even identical twins--are exactly alike. The same is true when it comes to t...

 Original Broadcast: September 2008 Monthly Theme: Stewardship To put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life ... and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. (Ephesians 4:22-24) Old and New St. Paul writes to the Ephesians that we should put off the old self and put on t...

 Original Broadcast: September 2008 Monthly Theme: Stewardship The earth is YHWH's and the fulness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein. (Psalm 24:1) Renters David brings about the next logical step we need to see in our understanding of proper Christian stewardship. Everything belongs to God. He created it and He has entrusted it to us. With that trust, we become, in a sense, rente...

 Original Broadcast: September 2008 Monthly Theme: Stewardship We were buried therefore with Him by Baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of God the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. (Romans 6:4) "Newness of Life" This month we'll meditate on Christian stewardship. What is it? What isn't it? That we'll see firsthand as we look at S...

 Original Broadcast: August 2008 Monthly Theme: Gospel in Country Music Country Song: "Desperado" by the Eagles And [the thief] said, “Jesus, remember me when You come into Your kingdom.” And He said, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise.” (Luke 23:42-43) Desperado The repentant thief on the cross next to Jesus is the greatest example that it’s never too late to come to...

 Original Broadcast: August 2008 Monthly Theme: Gospel in Country Music Country Song: "Big Bad John" by Johnny Cash He is without father or mother or genealogy, Having neither beginning of days or end of life. (Hebrews 7:3) Drifter This verse from Hebrews about Melchizedek brings to mind Johnny Cash’s song, “Big Bad John.” “Nobody seemed to know where John called home. He just drifted into to...

 Original Broadcast: August 2008 Monthly Theme: Gospel in Country Music Country Song: "Long Black Train" by Josh Turner [The serpent] said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” (Genesis 3:1) "Long Black Train" Josh Turner’s first hit was the song “Long Black Train.” In one of the verses, the engineer’s said to be “makin’ you wonder if the ride is w...

 Original Broadcast: August 2008 Monthly Theme: Gospel in Country Music Country Song: "Standing Outside the Fire" by Garth Brooks But who can endure the day of His coming, And who can stand when He appears? For He is like a refiner’s fire and like fuller’s soap. (Malachi 3:2) Inside or Outside? Garth Brooks sang, “Life is not tried, it is merely survived if you’re standing outside the fire.”...

 Original Broadcast: August 2008 Monthly Theme: Gospel in Country Music Country Song: "Me and God" by Josh Turner [Jesus said:] “For where two or three are gathered in My name, there am I among them.” (Matthew 18:20) Not Just Me and God The greatest asset of American civil religion is its individualistic nature. The greatest problem with American civil religion is its individualistic nature....

This week, we wrestle with the commonalities between Lutherans and Roman Catholics on Jesus' State of Humiliation

 Original Broadcast: August 2008 Monthly Theme: Gospel in Country Music Country Song: "I Saw God Today" by George Strait [Jesus said:] “No one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal Him.” (Matthew 11:27) Seeing God George Strait’s song, “I Saw God Today,” shows just how much we take God for granted in our everyday life. Over the last decade or so, many te...

 Original Broadcast: August 2008 Monthly Theme: Gospel in Country Music Country Song: "The Devil Went Down to Georgia" by the Charlie Daniels Band Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the Devil. (Matthew 4:1) The Devil's Undoing One of my favorite country music songs of all time is “The Devil Went Down to Georgia”. It tells of the fiddling duel between a yo...

Original Broadcast: August 2008 Monthly Theme: Gospel in Country Music Country Song: "Three Wooden Crosses" by Randy Travis  And when they had mocked Him … They led Him away to crucify Him…. Then two robbers were crucified with Him, one on the right and one on the left. (Matthew 27:31-38) "Three Wooden Crosses" In 2003, Randy Travis had the hit song, “Three Wooden Crosses.” It talks about fou...