http://ichabodthegloryhasdeparted.blogspot.com/2012/04/luthers-sermons-matthew-91-8-nineteenth.html
Luther - Trinity 19, Second Sermon:
12. For this reason the greatest skill and intelligence is needed to grasp and understand this righteousness, and in our hearts and before God rightly to distinguish it from the above mentioned outward righteousness. For this is, as has been said, the skill and the wisdom of the Christian, but it is so high and great that even all the beloved Apostles could not speak enough of it; and yet it meets the painful misfortune that no art is mastered as soon as this.
There is no greater theme for a preacher than the grace of God and the forgiveness of sin, yet we are such wicked people, that, when we have once heard or read it, we think we know it, are immediately masters and doctors, keep looking for something greater, as though we had done everything, and thus we made new factions and division.
13. I have now been teaching and studying this subject with all diligence for many years (more than any one of those who imagine they know it all), in preaching, writing and reading, yet I cannot boast of having mastered it and am glad that I still remain a pupil with those who are just beginning to learn. For this reason I must admonish and warn all such as want to be Christians, both teachers and pupils, that they guard themselves against such shameful delusion and surfeit, and understand that this subject is most difficult and the greatest art that can be found upon earth; so that even Paul had to confess and say ( 2 Corinthians 9:15) that it is an unspeakable gift, that is, one which cannot be described among men with words so that they may regard it as highly and dearly as it really is in itself.
14. The reason for this is, that man’s understanding cannot get beyond this external piety of works, and cannot comprehend the righteousness of faith; but, the greater and more skillful this understanding is, the more it confines itself to works and rests upon them. It is not possible for man in times of temptation and distress, when his conscience smites him, to cease from groping around for works on which to stand and rest.
***
GJ - DP Jon Buchholz contacted me in Phoenix and wanted to have lunch with me. That was four years ago. He wanted to talk to me about his version of justification. He obviously considered himself quite an expert, because he interrupted me when I started to object to the errors of WELS. He used that "I know better than you" attitude so common and so inappropriate in WELS. By that I mean - they are trained to be full of themselves and talk down to everyone. The less they know, the more boastful they are.
Since Buchholz actually mentioned the Means of Grace, I told him he was getting there. He went back to his office and wrote to Brett Meyer that I agreed with him, Buchholz, and disagreed with Brett. Brett had found my blog earlier, based on my writings against Church Growth and UOJ. Not only were Brett and I in complete agreement, but he has been a constant source of additional learning for me. Brett forwarded the Buchholz email to me.
I was not impressed with Buchholz' tactics. We met either three or four times. Pastor Steve Spencer asked me to give SP Mark Schroeder and DP Jon Buchholz a chance, so I did. One thing I tried to do, since I loathe the Church Growth Movement as a prostitution of the Gospel, was bear down on the Jeff Gunn situation.
Buchholz response to Gunn was, "I am concerned about hundreds of souls." He had to move slowly. Very slowly. In fact, he had two studies going at the same time. Buchholz was supposedly against the sheep-stealing, Rick Warren copying operation of Gunn. At one point local Phoenix funding for Gunn was cut way back and Gunn went looking for work at Wisconsin Lutheran College.
I was told that SP Schroeder asked WLC not to hire Gunn as a second chaplain. They hired Paul Calvin Kelm instead! Gunn was voted onto the WLC board, which listed three people from his congregation on the board of the college. At that point the congregation was not approved as a member of WELS, but three (3) members were from CrossWalk. The three were the new president, Jeff Gunn, and another board member. I could see that Jon Buchholz was really gung-ho against Church Growth! Schroeder, too! After four years of study, DP Buchholz welcomed Gunn's congregation into WELS. Various observers told me it was a real love-fest. They were disgusted. The fix was in, from the start.
The report was typical Diaprax - process. Let everyone bellyache about Gunn and list all their concerns, and then vote the heretics in, while criticizing the critics. That is what Buchholz did. He responded to the Gunn critics, which he had once pretended to be - "He has repented. Have you?" Haha. Barrel of laughs, that DP.
Meanwhile, Gunn was also a speaker for Mark Jeske's youth shindig, and Buchholz promoted it in his own congregation.
Besides, Buchholz was critical of Rick Johnson and other Church and Changers. He said the problem was with the Boomer DPs. That was the great drama set forth by Schroeder and Buchholz - they were going to battle against the Church and Changers and purify the sect. Schroeder even claimed in his report that WELS was getting "more confessional." The only thing I have seen since the neo-Reformers have assumed office is a massive promotion and protection of the Changers and their false doctrine.
It is difficult to judge one situation over a short time, but when all of the actions point toward support of blatant false doctrine and funding of false doctrine, no criticism is too harsh or too hasty.
I do not recall Buchholz ordering Rick Johnson to recant for his promotion of Leonard Sweet. Instead, Pastor Rick got a sweet grant of WELS offering money to pursue his emergent church day-dreams. Likewise, Kelm never recanted to sponsorship of a Leonard Sweet retreat for WELS, and he was never out of work for more than five minutes.
Everywhere I look in Lutherdom, truth is on the scaffold, error on the throne. Yet Lutherans are supposed to spend millions to fund the excessive salaries of these apostate leaders and put their congregations in the prone position for the ministrations of Thrivent and its Planned Giving Counselors (insurance salesmen earning a commission).
