Active Meaning of God's Word

The Fiddler on the Roof has a long history in our family. We took little Ichabod to the movie when he was still in a baby seat. At the end of the movie, when the baby cries, he opened his eyes and echoed that cry. "Let my people go already." The audience heard it and laughed.

We played the record over and over at home.

Now I am reading the literature behind the movie and musical. We went to a live performance Saturday at the Arizona Broadway theatre.

The literature and muscial remind me of the constant theme of Judaism - that God's Word equals God's will. The Calvinists divorced Word and will by separating the work of the Holy Spirit from the Word.

"But the sacraments properly fulfill their office only when the Spirit, that inward teacher, comes to them, by whose power alone hearts are penetrated and affections moved and our souls opened for the sacraments to enter in. If the Spirit be lacking, the sacraments can accomplish nothing more in our minds than the splendor of the sun shining upon blind eyes, or a voice sounding in deaf ears."
Benjamin Charles Milner, Jr., Calvin's Doctrine of the Church, Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1970, p. 119. Insti. IV.xiv.9

"The nature of baptism or the Supper must not be tied down to an instant of time. God, whenever He sees fit, fulfills and exhibits in immediate effect that which he figures in the sacrament. But no necessity must be imagined so as to prevent His grace from sometimes preceding, sometimes following, the use of the sign."
Benjamin Charles Milner, Jr., Calvin's Doctrine of the Church, Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1970, p. 121. Against Joachim Westphal

"The offspring of believers are born holy, because their children, while yet in the womb, before they breathe the vital air, have been adopted into the covenant of eternal life."
Benjamin Charles Milner, Jr., Calvin's Doctrine of the Church, Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1970, p. 123. True Method of Reforming the Church

"We must establish such a presence of Christ in the supper as may neither fasten Him to the element of bread, not enclose Him in bread, not circumscribe Him in any way (all of which clearly derogate from His heavenly glory)...."
Benjamin Charles Milner, Jr., Calvin's Doctrine of the Church, Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1970, p. 128. Insti.IV.xvii.19

"Because saving grace is particular, according to the teaching of the Calvinists, there are no means of grace for that part of mankind to which the grace of God and the merit of Christ do not extend. On the contrary, for these people the means of grace are intended as means of condemnation. Calvin teaches expressly: 'For there is a universal call, through which, by the external preaching of the Word, God invites all, indiscriminately, to come to Him, even those for whom He intends it as a savor of death and an occasion of heavier condemnation' (Institutes, III, 24, 8)."
Francis Pieper, Christian Dogmatics, 3 vols., trans., Walter W. F. Albrecht, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1953, III, p. 118f.

The Lutheran view of uniting the work of the Holy Spirit with the Word is not true because of the brand name, Lutheran - but because of its Biblical truth. In Jewish stories a rabbi's word had the same force as God's Word. If a rabbi declared something, it happened immediately.

Lutherans have abandoned the Biblical view. The laity are as much to blame as the clergy. Visit any council meeting. The overwhelming concern is that the bills are being paid and everyone is happy. No one says, "At least we are faithful to the Scriptures and the Confessions." One can hardly distinguish between the clergy pandering to this view and the laity prioritizing buzz words from work.

Hence, no one has faith in God's Word or His wisdom. Instead, they boss God around just as they do their subordinates at work. They tell him, in prayer, which is even more ridiculous, "We want 10% growth in membership each year, for three years." I read that posted on a church bulletin board.

Fuller Seminary apostasy has so infected the denominations that no one has any resistance to the Fuller-trained dictators who bully their subordinates the same way they command God to part the seas for them.

Fiddler's perspective is entirely religious, even though the plot involves the marriage of three daughters and Russian persecution of Jews. God's Word and will are central to every aspect of the work.

The Church Growth Movement is entirely man-centered.

Is there a blessing for the Church Growth Movement?

There is a blessing for everything.

May God bless, and keep the Church Growth Movement far away from, us.

[Commas edited by Brett Meyer]
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rlschultz has left a new comment on your post "Active Meaning of God's Word":

Although Lutheran clergy can shoulder some of the blame for misleading their flock, the laity are equally culpable. Many will not test the spirits and are willing to jump on the bandwagon of the latest fads. They are ripe for the picking from the Church Growth Movement. My opinion is that it is more than just the council meetings that are doctrinally weak. I served on the Board of Elders for three years. I had naively harbored the illusion that this was going to be where it was at when it came to doctrinal discussions. The other men on the board were well-intentioned good men to work with. A lot of our effort was just rubber stamping routine resolutions.
In my experience, the worst to serve on was the stewardship committee. Looking at individual giving records, statistical breakdowns or groupings of giving ranges vs number of giving units was all just a huge exercise in futility.

When you adopt the Reformed view of prayer as a means of grace, it is just a matter of time before you start bossing God around and demand numerical growth and an end to the congregation's financial woes.

Another aspect of this is incorporating anticipated growth in numbers and giving amounts so that you can qualify for a loan for that building project.
After awhile, it can be rather discouraging that so much of the activities on the boards and committees amounts to no more than busy work. Even heartfelt thanks from called workers cannot fill the vacuum inside those of us who long for solid, doctrinal teaching and discussion. Of course, to fill this void, there is always that latest Bible study from the synod on how to get along with your in-laws.