Antichrists?

You may or may not recognize the name Peter Thiel. His short bio is Stanford law, founder of PayPal, first investor in Facebook, founder of Palantir, destroyer of Gawker, high contrarian, disciple of Girard, heterodox Christian and homosexual dabbler in rightwing politics. I don’t know if he’d accept the term, but I’d call Mr. Thiel “the philosopher of the age (1 Corinthians 1:20).” That’s leaning on Paul’s contrast between the wisdom of the world and cross, but it is also leaning on an older definition of a Philosopher. When we think of that term, we jump to academics and eggheads. Socrates would aghast at that. Philosophy used to be a way of life. Socrates did not flee Athens when condemned to death. That is what those in control of Athens wished he would do. For Socrates, his philosophy of the City, the Polis, required that he stay and accept its judgement, as terrible as it might be. Call it Socrates the Christ figure who prefigured Jesus crucified under Pontius Pilate and judged by his own people. Peter Thiel is the Philosopher of the Age in that he has very specific ideas and he lives by them. He always has skin in the game.

Now, Philosopher Peter Thiel has latched onto a very Christian term which Paul discusses in our Epistle lesson today (2 Thessalonians 2:1-17) – the antichrist. He’s got a very specific definition. Per Paul in his first letter to the Thessalonians the watchwords at the end of all things will be “peace and security (1 Thessalonians 5:3).” Peter Thiel is an investor is technology. In his original book Zero to One, one of the concepts he discusses is the dichotomy of technology and globalization. Globalization takes already existing technology and as the name implies spreads it across the globe. The ultimate purpose of globalization is to make all things equal. Now that might be an equality of a miserable fight of all against all, but it is an equality. Contrary to globalization, technology makes something new, it goes from zero to one. And everybody gets richer going from zero to one. We’d all like the one of a cure for cancer. But the person or group that makes the one gets outsized gains. Hence why Peter Thiel is a Billionaire. His story of the antichrist is the story of a one world government that kills all new technology – all zero to one – in the name of peace and security. Because technology is disruptive. Of course Philosopher Peter Theil could also just be talking his balance sheet. He has billions riding on technology, not globalization, especially not a global government.

Now Peter Thiel’s concern is not without some very old biblical passages and interpreters. Daniel 7:8 talks about a “little horn” that arises and rules all the others. And Origen and other church fathers would all conclude that the little horn, the final tyrant, was The Antichrist. But Mr. Thiel’s concern also departs from how John would talk of the Antichrist. From 1 John 3:18, “Children, it is the last hour, and as you have heard that antichrist is come, so now many antichrists have come.” Far from a single embodied one world ruler, in John the antichrist is everyone who “denies that Jesus is the Christ, who denies the Father and the Son (1 John 3:22).” Paul in our lesson talks about the antichrist as “the man of lawlessness…the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of god, proclaiming himself to be god (2 Thessalonians 2:3-4).” And it is here where Mr. Thiel’s conception runs into trouble. Because it is often those who march under the banner of technology – “move fast and break things” – that would most resemble lawlessness. It is the technologists – from Bacon onward – that often claimed the power of god and the worship of god with signs and wonders. And in Paul’s writing there is something right now that restrains the lawless one so that he might be revealed in his time (2 Thessalonians 2:6). And most interpreters have said that restrainer was the Ur One World Government – the Roman Empire and any of its descendants.

So you have both technologists pointing the finger at globalists, and you could have globalists pointing the finger at technologists as the Antichrist. But neither John’s nor Paul’s point of bringing up the Antichrist is to frighten the Christian or spur them to some heroic stand. In fact something of the opposite. These things have to happen. You are not going to stop them. And if it were possible, they might even lead astray the elect (Matthew 24:24). But it is not possible. Because you are Christ’s. You have been baptized into his name. You have taken his body and his blood. “To this he called you through our gospel, so that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ (2 Thessalonians 2:14).” So stand firm. You know God – Father and Son. You know the temple of God – your heart where the Holy Spirit dwells. “Stand firm and hold to the traditions that you were taught.” Technologists and Globalists will both rage. Antichrists have gone out into all the world. But your life is with Christ.

On the Soul at Halloween

Hallow’een – with the original apostrophe – signals where it came from, All Hallows Eve. Of course you have to have an understanding of what the slightly archaic word Hallow means. We still use it in the Lord’s Prayer, Hallowed be thy name. If a saint is a noun – a person, place, thing or idea – to hallow is the verb that makes a saint. Yes, 3^rd grade grammar, which is also something that isn’t taught anymore, can be useful. To hallow, is to make Holy. Hallow is a good old Anglo-Saxon word. The words that have replaced it – saint and sanctify – come from the Latin. Hemingway liked short sentences and Anglo-Saxon words. He thought those old words were closer to the living core than the more intellectual Latin. You take off your shoes when your gut senses the hallowed; the sanctified is something you ponder with your head. Which cuts to the quick?

And that distinction is something I want to think about here. All Hallows Eve was of course followed by All Saints Day and All Saints was followed by All Souls. The distinction is the medieval one – between those in heaven and those in purgatory. And hence it was something in need of Reform as medieval purgatory is not part of the true teachings of the church. Christ actually did save us. The Holy Spirit actually does hallow us. We do not owe the Pope penance or need to buy indulgences. A Reformed understanding of All Souls might simply be that the judgement as to our final hallowing is not up to us. We can grasp with surety the promise of souls with Christ, which is better by far (Philippians 1:23), for those who evidenced belief. But there are many who might have been baptized but did not evidence belief. Or had not in a long time. We do not know. And judgement is not ours to make. We commend their souls to the grace of Almighty God. All Souls Reformed is the shadow of All Saints. If we hold up the Saints as examples of faith to follow. We should also remember that everyone we meet has a soul with all that implies.

And that brings up the question, what is a soul anyway? Modern philosophers would dismiss the word. Tom Wolfe – the guy who wrote The Right Stuff – also wrote a famous article “Sorry, Your Soul Just Died.” What might be shared between ancient philosophers and modern would be that your Soul is what makes you, you. Plato and most of the ancient world asserted that your soul was eternal. It was a little spark off of the eternal one. And you – your soul – would eternally separate from the one and eventually return to the one. Eastern religion would call it the Wheel of Samsara. Modern philosophers, contrary to the ancient, would say Tom Wolfe’s title. Your soul dies with your body, sorry but nothing of you is immortal.

The Philosophers might bounce between eternal and mortal, but the Psalm writers are the greatest biblical students of the soul. Your soul is not eternal. You are not Christ, begotten of the Father before all world, God from God, Light from Light. You are not a spark off the eternal one. You are a creature. You were created. “You knitted me together in my mother’s womb (Psalm 139:13).” But neither are you reducible to just atoms. The Psalmist knows that he can’t boldly state the immortality of the soul. Lions might tear the soul (Psalm 7:2, 57:4). The soul might melt away (Psalm 119:28). One pleads that the soul might live (Psalm 119:175). Your soul depends upon the grace of God. But it is that gracious God who sustains you. “Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death…He restores my soul (Psalm 23).” It is God who redeems your soul/life from the pit/sheol (psalm 103:4). It is the LORD who is the consolation of the soul (Psalm 94:19) and makes you the apple of his eye (Psalm 17:8). All this is why the Psalmist says many times, “Praise the LORD, O my soul (Psalm 146:1).”

We might think, and when we think we worry, about our souls – what makes us who we are. But our worry is unnecessary and often unhelpful. It leads us to false hopes like an eternal soul. It leads us to despair like a dead soul. Instead we put our trust in the LORD, our strength and tower. For He knows our worth. And he will hallow and keep you – keep your life – in Christ. Know it in your gut. You are being hallowed.

God’s Word is Our Great Heritage (A Reformation Day Reflection)

It’s an internet joke these days that if you identify something you don’t like you can blame it on Luther. The more ridiculous the claim, the better the joke. It’s a little like playing “Seven Degrees of Kevin Bacon” that old game of connecting any actor however young, old or foreign to Kevin Bacon with a maximum of seven movies. Which itself was an absurdist take on the sociological observation that we are all within seven degrees of separation from anybody on the planet. Blame it on Luther takes a modern problem and through a Rube Goldberg string of other bad things eventually ends with ‘See Martin Luther started all bad things.” Now the Roman Catholic apologists meant it for evil, but the internet – and maybe God – has turned it into good (Genesis 50:20). As every time someone blames Martin Luther, the Great Reformer’s actual words eventually get quoted. And those Words almost always are firmly established on God’s Word.

Our sending hymn this Sunday is God’s Word is our Great Heritage. It comes from Denmark and was published to celebrate the 300th anniversary of the Reformation. It was originally set to the Great Reformation hymn tune of A Mighty Fortress. The tune we sing it to was published in the United states for the 400th anniversary of the Reformation. The text was originally an attempt to extend the work of the Reformation to Danish Pietists. Their heirs in New Ulm, MN thought the text was so important, but in English it would no longer fit A Mighty Fortress, that the choir of St. Paul’s church set it to the current tune. It reflects in itself the idea of a true Heritage. At that 300th anniversary Rationalism – think Thomas Jefferson cutting up his bible to remove the parts that just couldn’t be true – was ravaging the church. Grundtvig the author was originally at odds with his Lutheran pastor father. But in his own studies and work eventually moved closer to Dad. The hymn was a token of that. At the 400th the big question in the US might have been: Can the Gospel withstand the translation from the language of the Old Country to English or would the Heritage be lost? The Choir of St. Paul had an answer. And so we, soon after the 500th anniversary, also have the question that the hymn perfectly presents to us.

The text is worth looking at closer

God’s Word is our great heritage/And shall be ours forever;

To spread its light from age to age/ Shall be our chief endeavor.

Through life it guides our way,/In death it is our stay.

Lord, grant, while worlds endure,/We keep its teachings pure/Throughout all generations.

It starts with a gospel promise. God has given us his word and it will always be ours. Now that is a statement of the objective Gospel. The incarnation of Jesus Christ happened, and Jesus lives, the victory is won. The gates of hell shall not prevail against the church with that proclamation. And that proclamation is for you. God has done this for you.

And as with every proclamation of the objective gospel, it subjectively asks us how are we then going to live? Grundtvig’s hymn puts forward three things that are part of our subjective receptance of that gospel. First is the call to evangelism. To Spread its light from age to age. The hymn doesn’t expand on this. But that evangelism can take place in many ways. Something we probably should recover from those pietists, we all need evangelized. The home is a primary location of evangelism. Second, the hymn puts forward the Word of God as our guide in life. The summary of the law is a good place to start. Love the Lord with all your heart, and love your neighbor as yourself. But lastly the hymn says, “in death it is our stay.” Regardless of your evangelism and walk, the gospel is not ultimately about works. It is about faith. It is about believing that the works of Jesus – God’s Word – are our great heritage. And that nothing shall separate us from the Love of God is Christ. Not even death.

And appropriately it ends with a prayer. Something very like “Thy Will Be Done.” Let us keep its teachings pure, throughout all generations. The will of God is certainly done. Hell will not prevail. The church has been built on the cornerstone of Christ. We pray that this gospel would remain ours. Though 300 years, 400 years, 500 years, throughout all generations. Because this Word is life.

Choices, Choices, Choices…

We could say that life is ultimately about making choices, but that doesn’t really capture it. It is more about living with the choices we have made. In multiple fields of study “path dependence” is a meaningful thing. In math there are things that appear reversable, but really aren’t. For example 2^2 (two squared) is 4. But if you take the square root of 4, theoretically reversing the square, 2 is one answer, but -2 is also possible. -2*-2 is 4. Squaring is technically not reversible. Most of life is not reversible. And if we try to reverse things we often end up on the negative side of the ledger satisfying nobody. Moving forward is the only real path.

I’ve been thinking about choices recently for a couple reasons. I’ve noticed in my kids and not just my kids, a hesitancy, maybe even a fear, about making choices. Something that goes beyond the simple procrastination that affects 99% of us. (Yes, I am writing this on Friday, two days after I wanted it done.) I’ll ask my youngest, “how are college applications going? Where are you applying?” And he will leave the room. I’ll ask the middle child, “So, have you had enough time off? Have any initial thoughts? Anything Dad could help with?” And he will continue playing a video game. Or positively start making dinner for us. Path dependent irreversible decisions. But like Rush (the band, not the radio voice) would say, “if you refuse to decide, you still have made a choice.” Unlike math, life comes with default decisions that the world will press on you. And the world’s defaults are usually pretty poor.

The fear of choice, or the fear of living with them, that can paralyze might be the most common, but it isn’t the only reaction. Two others are nostalgia and recklessness. If the kids are paralyzed, there is plenty of longing for the way things used to be. But decisions have been made. And those decisions landed us here. And because it is life, those decisions are irreversible. The problem of sin is that we have to live with its effects. The ultimate one being death. But it is not just sins. Most things we choose in life are not choices of black or white. We are not that good. We choose between different shades of gray. The materialist might point at the 2nd law of thermodynamics – everything ends in heat death. The Christian understands that we live in a fallen world. Perfectly fine choices can still end up troubling. And we find ourselves longing for some time we didn’t have to live with the results. The flip side is recklessness. Sure, why not become a day trader. Bet it all on Bitcoin at $100,000. I have an acquaintance who recently lost $10M paper dollars in just such a way. Easy come, easy go.

What then are we to do? We can’t go back. Wallowing in nostalgia is like Harry Potter staring at the Mirror of Erised. As Dumbledore tells him, many people have lost their one life staring at it. Yet repeatedly going all in doesn’t seem wise. And pushing it all out might be the worst – getting pushed down a path you never even chose. Three things worth keeping in minds at such times. First, “All things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose (Romans 8:28).” That might sound hopelessly polyanna-ish or trite, but it is really the promise that God loves you. His providence is with you. The Spirit helps us in our weakness. Trust that even if you find yourself leaving Ur for a land you do not know (Abraham) that God is working in you for good. And he has good works laid out in advance for you to walk in (Ephesians 2:10). So Walk in them. Second, you really have eternity. This world may feel highly pressured, but try living into that promise. “We believe in the resurrection of the death and the life of the world to come.” The paths that you will walk will be infinite and better than today. So keep walking. And lastly the teacher, “there is nothing better than to be joyful and to do good as long as they live; and to eat and drink and take pleasure in all your toil – that is God’s gift to man (Ecclesiastes 3:12).” Find the joy in what is set before you. Find the joy in the walk. It’s heavenward all the way.

Ruthian Apologetics

You occasionally get asked, “how do you know it is true?” It being the Bible or Christianity in general or maybe even simplistically God. And there are all kinds of apologetic answers. You could start with Anselm’s Ontological argument as one of the oldest and Philosophically speaking still an active form. You could go with Aquinas’ Five Ways. Three of them versions of the Cosmological Argument. The final one an argument from design. All of them fancy ways of saying, “Have you looked out the window? You really think that came from nothing?” I think the Apostle Paul might agree with my tongue in cheek summary, “For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world in the things that have been made (Romans 1:19-20).” Paul saying “look out the window.” The problem with all such arguments is that they are really arguments for a god. And arguments for a god are not the same thing as knowing that the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is real. How Luther would qualify it would be that they are all arguments for the hidden god, Paul’s invisible attributes. And while we can observe the attributes, we don’t’ know God.

The Bible taken as a whole is the story of the Revealed God. It is the story of God no longer hiding behind the masks of power and might riding upon the storm. Ultimately we have the full revelation of God in the person of Jesus Christ. As Jesus replies to Philip’s plea, “Lord, Show us the Father…Whoever has seen me has seen the Father (John 14:8-9).” In Christ we see the steadfast love of God for his creation. We see the God who says he is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. And so Luther would say that when the hidden god troubles us, we turn to the revealed god in faith that “yes, we have seen the father. And he is not the god we so much dread, but our savior.”

But when you ask the “how do you know” question I think someone is asking for what makes it work for you. And the final answer has to be the Holy Spirit. “I believe I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to him. Bu the Holy Spirit has called me by the gospel, enlightened me with His gifts, sanctified and kept me in the true faith.” That Luther’s explanation to the third article of the creed. And final answers are true, but that question might be rephrased as something like “How has the Holy Spirit enlightened you?”

And Pentecostals might say something like “I spoke in tongues.” Likewise people might have seen a miracle. Now I might personally be somewhat skeptical of this one. We seem to have an infinite ability to say “that didn’t happen.” But Jesus does say, “even though you do not believe me, believe the works (John 10:38).” Maybe you had your own personal Eunice and Lois and you believe them (2 Timothy 1:5). “Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed (John 20:29).” That is probably the most common way. But for my part, it is books like the book of Ruth, our old testament lesson for today (Ruth 1:1-19).

There is no way, absent the power of God, that this story survives history. You can place it alongside the lineage of Jesus is Matthew. Not that Luke’s genealogy is bad, but Luke’s goes back to Jesus as “the son of Adam and the Son of God.” And that is something typical for ancient Kings. They were all the son of God. Like Augustus, the Son of the Divine Julius. The story of Ruth is part of the genealogy of David. And it is the type of story that ancient Kings would have stamped out. Don’t focus on the romance of it. The revealed God parts. Focus on foreigner. Ruth was a Moabite. Focus on the poverty. Naomi leaves Israel because they are poor and returns poorer without a husband. Focus on how the family line is all but dead. Focus on how they are nothing and it is the mercy of Boaz that saves. And then realize that Ruth and Boaz are King David’s great grandparents (at least in Matthew’s genealogy.) No ancient human king is admitting any of that. And even if the King does, his line three generations later would clean it up. “We were always royal.” But this is the genealogy of Jesus. This is a King who is not about his invisible attributes of power and might, but about love and salvation. Which is the story of Ruth and Boaz. And the fact that it survives is an act of the revelation of the Father of Jesus, the Christ.

Scandal, Mercy and Love

In the gospel lesson this week (Luke 17:1-10) there are three distinct groupings. And in a surface reading they might seem to have nothing to do with each other. Random sayings of Jesus collected and roughly situated in the narrative when he might have spoken them, but otherwise not connected. That type of arrangement isn’t unheard of, for that is roughly Proverbs or most wisdom literature. Random sayings collected around some age or event or theme. But I think they might have a better flow than that first glace.

And I think that in the first block, our translations gets us off on a bad foot. They record, “Temptations to sin are sure to come, but woe to the one through whom they come (Luke 17:1).” And they continue with the condemnation of the millstone around one’s neck. It is not that temptation is a wrong translation, but that it doesn’t really capture the effect of what is being said. The word used is the Greek world that we directly take as our English word scandal. And the meaning is not our contemporary celebrity petty “scandals” which are more a humorous public failing. The better meaning is an action that causes someone to lose faith, or maybe an intentional disheartening of the faithful. Scandals are sure to happen. It is a sinful and fallen world. But woe to the one who scandalizes, who intentionally disheartens these “little ones.” Now any such scandal probably involves a temptation. One thinks immediately of the Roman Church’s priestly sexual abuse scandal. But honestly I think what the Pope said this week is also just such a scandal. To have the highest bishop of the largest tradition actively dishearten the faithful in the very area the church is most prophetic is a scandal. And Jesus is talking to his disciples. If you are a teacher or a leader in the church, it is a warning about “Paying attention (Luke 17:3).” Millstones attach to these things!

But that harsh but good reminder is quickly followed up by something unimaginable. Imagining a god of vengeance and wrath has never been hard. Believing in a god who forgives “seven times in a day (Luke 17:4)” is harder. Yet that is the command of Jesus, “if your brother says…’I repent’ you must forgive him.” God is a god of mercy, and he expects his people to have mercy also. Mercy to the extent of that number of completion – “seven.” Full forgiveness. Because in Christ we have been fully forgiven. The disciples’ response makes sense – “increase our faith (Luke 17:5)!” The request feels nonsensical. Scandalize me once, shame on me. Scandalize me twice, shame on you! It only makes sense in the world of faith. When one has faith that The Father is who Jesus says he is, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. When one has faith that Jesus came for sinners. Then anything can happen. Even a tree being planted on the sea (Luke 17:6). The strangeness of the Kingdom.

The last section might be more for those disciples that have been at this a long time. Maybe you are at the end of your forgiveness. Maybe you are just tired of being taken advantage of. Or maybe you labor under some idea that if I do this – live forgiveness in this world – this world will give some back to me. I don’t think that is an uncommon feeling. “No good deed goes unpunished” as the fractured fairy tale has it. Jesus’ gives the disciples a salutary reminder. The rewards of discipleship are not this worldly. In this world we are servants (those translators again, more pungent slaves.) Christ would have been perfectly fine issuing the commands and “we would have only done our duty (Luke 17:10).” But what Jesus precedes this with is telling. No earthly master would tell his slave to “come at once and recline at table (Luke 17:7).” The slave would do the preparation and might get something after. But Christ has prepared a table. And he has told his servants to come and eat.

The Kingdom of God operates differently. It intends to overcome scandals, not with duty, but with mercy and love. Mercy toward one another for the millstones we all might carry. Who among us has not been the cause of scandal? Love from the Father in the body and blood of His Son which covers us and make us whole.

Why That Guy There?

Why did you send that guy to that place? Of all the questions I’ve got queued up for the hereafter, that one is the most frequent. I think it crosses a lot of theological assumptions we make. We make assumptions like everyone in the prophetic role intends for the good of the Kingdom. We assume that even looking at the history of the office. Just the Medici Popes might dissuade us of that. We assume that ministers correctly discern calls with the specificity of the Apostle Paul, the Apostle to the Gentiles. And we do that even after observing our share of 18 month pastorates. Of course Paul himself didn’t tend to stick around that long. And maybe the toughest one to consider is our assumption that God sends the prophets in order that the people might hear and repent. And we assume that even after reading the Old Testament and seeing these cantankerous guys who seem to have no social filter doing anything but persuading. Even Jesus said the parables were so they might hear and not understand (Matthew 13:13). I’ve asked that question of many a place and privately thought, “that is an act of divine judgement.” Of course the LORD has never answered one of those questions of mine, so I can’t say with surety. It remains private speculation, and yours is just as good as mine until that hereafter.

I bring that up as a reflection upon our Old Testament reading today from Amos 6:1-7. Of all those cantankerous guys, Amos might be the most. And he seems to be specifically chosen to get under the skin of those he is sent to. One of his famous lines is “I was neither a prophet, nor the son of a prophet (Amos 7:14).” We tend to translate that line in the past tense “was”, but the Hebrew could also be rendered the present tense – “I am neither a prophet, nor the son of a prophet.” As if that office in the Northern Kingdom of Israel has become so polluted Amos would not claim it. I’m sure that went over well with the court prophets. But even more it is followed immediately by what Amos does claim he is “A herdsman and a dresser of sycamore figs.” And what does that call him out as? Primarily poor. Sycamore figs were not the plump figs that we think about. They are more like crab apples compared to apples. It grows in abundance and it is edible, but you won’t find them on the tables of Kings. And one last thing about Amos, he is from Tekoa, a village near Bethlehem which is the very heart of the Southern Kingdom of Judah loyal to the line of David.

This poor crabby Southerner is sent to the heart of the rich Northern Kingdom. And he is sent at the height of the Northern Kingdom’s influence and extent. He was sent in the days of Uzziah king of Judah and Jeroboam II King of Israel. Both long ruling kings of peaceful kingdoms, Uzziah reigned 52 years and Jeroboam II 41 years. Both had extended their borders almost to the extent of Solomon and the United Kingdom. And the Northern Kingdom had become very rich. But “Jeroboam II did evil in the eyes of the LORD and did not turn away from the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat (2 Kings 14:24).” You couldn’t pick someone less likely to be heard by the court of Jeroboam II than Amos. And that is exactly the response, the priest of Bethel – the Northern counter Temple to Jerusalem – tells Amos, “Seer, go, flee, prophesy there, but not here, for it is the King’s sanctuary and the temple of the kingdom.”

What does Amos say to them? “Woe to those who feel secure on the mountains of Samaria. (Amos 6:1).” How does he classify them? As those whose every moment and thought is about leisure. “Woe to those who…stretch themselves out on couches (6:4)…who sing idle songs…and invent for themselves instruments.” And of their ways? “Who drink wine in bowls and anoint themselves.(6:6).” But what is Amos’ greatest charge? “You are not grieved over the ruin of Joseph.” You can imagine the laughter that might cause. What ruin? The GDP is higher than it has ever been. Our plumbers live in ways that would have made the old Kings blush. Maybe even God has blessed us from the Temple at Bethel. Long live Jeroboam the King. But the ruin was not the wealth. The ruin was spiritual. They cared not for their fellow countrymen (Amos 8:4), and their worship was correct in form but absent of meaning (Amos 5:21ff) as it did not change their hearts.

I don’t know why some are sent. But Jesus tells the story with these lines, “They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.” Do we care about the ruin of Joseph?

Subjected to Futility…in Hope

For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope – Romans.8:20

I’m sorry this corner is not about one of the lessons of the day. I commend Amos to your personal piety this week. But this is something that has been in the bones for a while and I have to get it out.

If you’ve ever played team sports or especially ever coached them you will recognize this kid immediately. He’s not the fastest, or the strongest, or the meanest, or the absolute best in any category. But he will run through brick walls. He’s the first in the gym, the last guy out, and he probably goes home and does some practice there too. Absolute coach’s dream. And if you are chasing a glory story, you need that kid. When you need the ball, he will get you the ball. When you need someone to lean into the fastball, or put down the bunt, he’ll do it. And he’ll play hurt. You can’t get him off the field. You love that kid, or you think you do.

As much as I like sports movies or TV shows, sometimes they tell the truth, but more often they lie. The greatest liar in these regards was maybe the most heartfelt dream – Coach Taylor played by everybody’s all American Kyle Chandler in Friday Night Lights. He had a phrase “Clear Eyes, Full Hearts, Can’t Lose.” Absolute catnip to that kid. And it’s a great phrase. Because 95% of the time, it’s true. Maybe even 99% of the time. The Law of God is good and wise. Aristotle wasn’t an idiot. If you do this, you will become this. This being courageous, strong, whatever virtue you seek. And that kid who will run through brick walls? He’s amped up. He’s doing it. Full heart, clear eyes. Can’t lose, right?

There is another football movie that cuts closer to the truth. Keanu Reeves’ The Replacements. Gene Hackman is all his glory playing exactly that coach who assembles a team full of that kid. From the police sergeant linebacker who will get him that ball. To the former Heisman Trophy winner who is all heart. To the deaf kid who can catch anything close and will take all the pain of the hits. They are coached to run through brick walls. The Replacements is not completely honest, it’s Hollywood, so they win the game, but not before they hit the wall. Not before they have to realize it isn’t a glory story. The regulars are better. The sergeant will get bloodied and run over. The deaf kid will get separated from the ball. And all the heart in the world won’t keep you on the field. That takes grace. That takes some intervention.

If you’ve coached that kid, and you think you love him by sending him at bigger and bigger walls, eventually he is going to hit the wall. The one he can’t blow through. Because the creation was subjected to futility. God, I wish I could just preach the law. Do this and you will live. It would be so easy. And if things didn’t work out, even easier. You didn’t follow the rules. Your eyes were not clear enough. Your heart not full enough. You lose, sorry. Do better. The law makes so much sense. But it only works 95% of the time. And it usually fails at the most important moment. Because creation was subjected to futility. And if you really love that kid, you’ve got to be there to pick up the pieces. To tell him Clear Eyes, Full Hearts, Can lose. But this is just a finite game. And you are playing an infinite one.

Because life is not a glory story, it’s a grace story. The Replacements got to play one more game. Something every former player dreams about. Gene Hackman playing another coach in Hoosiers realizes that you can’t just “patch him up” and put your only big guy back on the court bleeding from glass cuts. And most importantly that all your plans are dust. Sometimes you have to rely on the living miracle that is Jimmy Chitwood and give him the ball. He’ll make it. Life is a grace story. We’ve already died to the law. We’ve hit that wall, hard. We’ve tasted the futility. But we’ve done that in hope. Because we have our own Jimmy Chitwood – Jesus Christ. And he’s already made it. We are already playing that one gifted game. And don’t worry, there will be more. It’s an infinite game. The creation was subjected to futility that we might see it’s not about the brick walls to run through. It’s about playing the game. You’ve already been given the victory. Enjoy the play.

Law Used Correctly

We know that the law is good when used correctly. ⁹ For the law was not intended for people who do what is right. It is for people who are lawless and rebellious, who are ungodly and sinful, who consider nothing sacred and defile what is holy, who kill their father or mother or commit other murders. ¹⁰ The law is for people who are sexually immoral, or who practice homosexuality, or are slave traders, liars, promise breakers, or who do anything else that contradicts the wholesome teaching ¹¹ that comes from the glorious Good News entrusted to me by our blessed God. (1 Tim. 1:8-11 NLT)

The biblical books of 1&2 Timothy and Titus are called the pastoral epistles. They are called that because they are a basic church order book. What is the purpose of the pastoral office? Who should be placed in it? How does it carry out its purpose? How should the members of the body of Christ understand if the call is being done? (Cross reference God’s complaints in Ezekiel 34, the Old Testament lesson of the day.) The Apostle Paul makes an assertion right up front, “Certain persons, desiring to be teachers of the law, without understanding either what they are saying or the things about which they make confident assertions, have wondered into vain discussions, by swerving from a pure heart, a good conscience and a sincere faith.” I’ve rearranged the clauses there for a purpose.

There are those who simply want to be known as teachers of law. Jesus points these people out as those who “who like to walk around in long robes, and love greetings in the marketplaces and the best seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at feasts (Lk. 20:46 ESV).” They like the trapping of the office, the job of the office less so. Liking the trappings of the office but not the job, they never really learn what they are saying. They don’t put in the work. They will say it very confidently, but they don’t understand what they are saying. And the inevitable path when you put such people in leadership positions is “vain discussions.”

What are “vain discussions?” They can come in a variety of shapes. We probably jump immediately to the caricature of “how many angels can dance on the head of a pin?” Of course the answer is as many as God wants. The deeper answers are simply “I don’t know” and “how does this effect how we are live?” But there are other vain discussions. When someone is arguing in bad faith that is a vain discussion. When they refuse to use words as commonly defined that is a vain discussion. You think you agree, but later on find out that yes means no to them. When you don’t care about the person you are talking to as an end, but only as a means to getting something else, maybe the good seats at the table. I’m sure you have had many vain discussions in your days.

How does the called and ordained servant of the word wind up there? By swerving from a pure heart, a good conscience and a sincere faith. The holders of the office can probably often come off overly earnest. But at the root of the entire office is being willing to look personally stupid because you are preaching one thing: Christ crucified and risen. And that is not a vain discussion where resurrection means some metaphor. If it’s a metaphor, to hell with it all. I want to know the power of His resurrection (Phil 3:10).

And what do those things allow one to do? To use the law correctly. The law isn’t for a people who do what is right. If you are doing what is right, you don’t need a law. The law is for us sinners. It is a curb. Those who are in temporal offices need to arrest and punish murderers. Their job is to protect sinners from the worst of each other. The law tells us that we need a savior. It is a mirror we can look in and see our rebellious and ungodly heart. And the law is a lamp to our feet. This is the way our savior trod. This is the glorious Good News. You have a savior, Jesus Christ. And these are the good works he has laid out in advance for us to walk in following his steps.

If the office is justifying jumping the curb or those who might level it. If it is refusing to hold up the mirror. If it puts the lamp under a bushel. You might be in vain discussion. The good shepherd is honest.

Temporal Blessing of the Land

“The distinction between law and gospel is the highest art in Christendom.” – Martin Luther

When modern Lutherans have thought about Law and Gospel they have tended to do so in two ways. The first is as an individual. The law condemns me; the gospel proclaims my salvation. And that is fine…as far as it goes. The second way is more troubling. We have tended to put law and gospel in contradiction to each other. Because the law condemns me we label it “bad,” while the gospel is “good” because it saves me. And anytime someone brings up the law we dismiss it because we are free in the gospel. Those two ways of pondering the distinction of law and gospel have at least been debated. There are minority reports on the 20^th and 21^st century handling of this highest art which take them to task. There is a third part that just floats under the surface like an iceberg. Everything in law and gospel has been focused upon salvation. And don’t get me wrong, salvation is important. You might even say ultimate. But we are not taken immediately out of this world (John 17:15, 1 Cor 5:10). “How then shall we live” is important. And how we shall live together is also important.

The Old Testament lesson for this week (Deuteronomy 30:15-20) comes from Moses’ final words to Israel after 40 years in the wilderness before they take the promised land. Moses’ worlds are clear law. “If you obey the commandments of the LORD you God that I command you today, by loving the LORD your God, by walking in his ways and by keeping his commandments and his statutes and his rules…”. There are some interesting distinctions made like the gradations in the law – commandments, statutes and rules – which we might think of as the moral law, the civil law and the kosher laws of religious cleanliness. But it is the law which demands that our hearts follow it, but that law has no ability within itself to compel hearts. Israel was always a stubborn and stiff-necked people, like all sinners. But the promise that is attached to this law is neither an individual promise nor a salvation promise. If you keep it…“you shall live and multiply, and the LORD will bless you in the land that you are entering to take possession of it.” The promise, at least this one of the law, is about the here and now, and it is more about the collective.

God in his grace is giving Isreal the land. That is the gospel. God promised that to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and God keeps his promises. Ultimately that gospel promise of the land is fulfilled in the New Jerusalem and the life of the world to come. But the law of God is good and wise. If the society one lives in is one that respects the 10 commandments (commandments), and if that society has civil laws that are both upheld and respected (statutes), and if that society has folk ways that are shared (rules), things will go better. That is not a promise of a rose garden for every individual, but collectively, that is a place where people can live. They are not worried every day about murder and theft and calumny. That is a place where people would desire to have children (multiply). That is a place where “the mandate of heaven” has fallenjoyfully – “the LORD will bless you.” These are not the blessings of the gospel which come to us by grace. No amount of doing these things earns us heaven. But the way the LORD has created this world, these things are part of that natural law.

Sin of course runs in us and we are always looking for ways to take advantage. If everyone else walks in those ways, but I defect from them, I can get all kinds of private benefits. But as everyone defects, it all falls apart. “If your heart turns away, and you will not hear, but are drawn away to worship other gods and serve them, I declare to you today, that you shall surely perish. You shall not live long in the land.”

The law has no ability to enforce itself. But by grace God has given us the land. God has given us the world to come, and God has also given to us this place. He has both given us salvation and everything we need to support this body and life. And our lot has fallen in a blessed place. As Moses said to Israel, “choose life, that you and your offspring may live.” That you may live in eternity, but also that God might bless our native land and firm may she ever stand.