Luther's Second Gospel Sermon - Festival of Pentecost. John 14:23-31

Norma Boeckler

Luther's Second Sermon for PENTECOST, OR FESTIVAL OF THE OUTPOURING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.     




KJV John 14:23 Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. 24 He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father's which sent me. 25 These things have I spoken unto you, being yet present with you. 26 But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you. 27 Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. 28 Ye have heard how I said unto you, I go away, and come again unto you. If ye loved me, ye would rejoice, because I said, I go unto the Father: for my Father is greater than I. 29 And now I have told you before it come to pass, that, when it is come to pass, ye might believe. 30 Hereafter I will not talk much with you: for the prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me. 31 But that the world may know that I love the Father; and as the Father gave me commandment, even so I do. Arise, let us go hence.


This sermon, which is also not found in edition c., appeared in pamphlet form under the title: “A sermon on Pentecost, the Gospel of John 14. ‘He that loveth me, keepeth my Word.’ Preached by Dr. Martin Luther, Wittenberg,” (1522). Another edition was issued in 1523.

German text: Erlangen Edition, 12:282; Walch Edition 11:1389; St. Louis Walch, 11:1032.

CONTENTS:

A SERMON OF COMFORT CHRIST PREACHES TO HIS DISCIPLES.
I. THE INTRODUCTION WHICH TREATS OF LOVE TO CHRIST.

1. Whoever does not show signs of this love is no Christian

2. This love must make us able and fit to retain the Word of God 1-2.

* What we are to think of people being forced to believe 2-4.

3. The Christian character consists in this love 3-4.

4. In what way this love works 5-7.

* The power of the knowledge of Christ

5. The glorious fruits of this love. a. The first fruit 8. b. The second fruit 9-10.

* The miserable state of a man in whom God does not dwell * How Christ seeks to draw humanity to God 11.

II. THIS SERMON OF CONSOLATION.

1. The first consolation 12.

2. The second consolation 13ff.

* The difference between the peace of the Spirit and of the world 14- 15.

3. The third consolation 16-17ff.

* The more a Christian suffers outwardly the greater his peace inwardly 18-19.

4. The fourth consolation 20-21.

III. THE CONCLUSION OF THIS SERMON OF CONSOLATION.

1. The conclusion 22.

2. An objection raised by this conclusion, and its answer 23.

I. THE INTRODUCTION TO THIS SERMON OF COMFORT, TREATING OF CHRIST’S LOVE.

1. In today’s Gospel Christ says plainly and bluntly: “If a man love me, he will keep my Word; he that loveth me not, keepeth not my words.” The text stands there clear; whoever loves God keeps his commandments, and on the contrary, whoever does not love God, does not keep his commandments. Christ here simply casts out of his kingdom all who do not keep his commandments with pleasure and love. Let us thoroughly understand this. It is briefly pictured to us here who are and who are not Christians. No one is a Christian unless he keeps Christ’s Word, as he here says. And no one can keep it, unless he first loves God. God had tested the plan of making people godly by means of force. For, in olden times, God dealt severely with his people, so that they were forced to keep his Word, and not to blaspheme God; to observe the Sabbath and to obey all the other commandments. To this end he threatened to afflict and punish them, severely, as is written in Leviticus 26:14ff. Thus, God from without coerced the people to be pious by means of the fear of punishment; but their hearts were not obedient. The result is the same in the present day.

Therefore, to keep God’s Word is a thing that can be accomplished only by divine love.

2. Accordingly, in the New Testament, God ceased to punish and only administered the Word; for the means must yet come to the point that the divine love be present. Neither the stake, nor bulls nor bans help in the least. Where this love is not, all amounts to nothing, do as we will. If one were to take all the swords in the world in his hands, he would not bring a single heretic to the faith. The people may, indeed, appear to accept the Word, but in their inward hearts there is no faith. Hence God has abolished the sword in this matter and his plan of salvation aims to possess the heart.

The bishops are commanded first to take the heart captive, so that it may find love and pleasure in the Word, and the work is then accomplished.

Hence, he who wishes to be a true bishop, arranges all his administration to the end that he may win souls and develop a love for and a delight in God’s Word and be able to oppose the false babblers with sound teaching, and to stop their mouths. Titus 1:2. This will never be accomplished by means of commandments, bans and bulls.

3. Thus the true spiritual leaders fight. They strike Satan dead and rescue souls from him; for to pierce Satan to death is nothing else than to rescue from him a human being whom he has taken captive by deceitful teaching.

And that is the right kind of spiritual tactics. But in case people will not outwardly obey the Word, their parents should educate their children, and the civil government its subjects, to obedience. However, by this method, none are yet brought to believe. For it is affirmed in our text: “He that loveth me not keepeth not my words.” Thus you hear what a Christian life is, namely to love God; it is not to storm about, eat flesh, destroy pictures in churches, become monks or nuns — neither a married nor a single life avails here. It means to love, and they do this who keep his Word.

4. Now, what is God’s Word? It is that we love one another as Christ loved us, and that we believe on him. If one truly possesses the Word, it must break forth out of-the heart from pure love. One may possess the words and commands of man, even if he does not love; he may receive the command of a superior and execute it. But the only thing that will keep God’s commandments and Word is love. Therefore, observe how foolishly our princes and bishops act, in that they coerce and constrain the people to believe by means of force.

5. How does one now acquire this love? The human heart is so false that it cannot love unless it first sees the benefit of loving. When, in the Old Testament, God struck blows among the people as if among dogs, and he dealt severely and fearfully with them, they naturally had no love for him.

Then God thought: I must show my love to you and be so affectionate that you cannot help but love me. Then he took his Son and sent him into our filth, sin and misery, pouring out his mercy so freely and fully that we had to boast of all his treasures as if they were our own. He thus became a loving Father, and he declared his mercy and caused it to go forth into all the world that whosoever believes this and lays hold of it with his heart shall have a gracious and merciful God, who never becomes angry nor deals blows, but who, instead, is kind and affectionate. Now, where a heart believes and experiences this, and gets glimpses of so much, then it must place all its confidence and affection in God, and deal with its neighbor as God has dealt with itself. As a result the Word of God goes forth out of the heart, and his commandments will be kept with pleasure. Thus, first, there is no other God; secondly, man calls upon the name of the Lord; and thirdly, he lets God reign — God can do as he will, and he possesses his soul in quiet and observes the Sabbath. In this way, the commandments of the First Table are fulfilled. Henceforth, he is kindly and humbly disposed toward all persons, he honors his father and mother and serves his neighbor as his highest pleasure and with all the love of his heart. His thought is ever this: I wall do to my neighbor, as God has done to me. Thus love alone is the fulfillment of the Law, as Paul says to the Romans 13:10.

6. Now, no man can bring this love into the heart. Therefore, God struck in among the people with the Law that man might experience and feel that no human being could love the divine, righteous, just and holy Law. In view of this he gave us his Son, thus graciously poured, out his greatest treasures, and sunk and drowned all our sins and filth in the great ocean of his love, so that this great love and blessing must draw man to love, and cheerfully be ready to fulfill the divine commandments with willing heart. In no other way can the heart love or have any love; it must be assured that it was first loved. Now, man cannot do this; therefore, Christ comes and takes the heart captive and says: Learn to know me. Then the heart replies: Aye, who art thou? I am Christ, who placed myself in your misery to drown your sins in my righteousness. This knowledge softens your heart, so that you must turn to him. Thus love is awakened when one learns who Christ is.

7. And a Christian should glory in this knowledge, as God says in Jeremiah 9:23-24: “Thus saith Jehovah, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches; but let him that glorieth in this, that he hath understanding, and knoweth me, that I am Jehovah who exerciseth lovingkindness, justice, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight, saith Jehovah.” So also, Peter in his Second Epistle ( 2 Peter 3:18) says: “But grow in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” In all the prophets and especially the Psalms and in many places in the Bible there is much written about this knowledge. It is this knowledge of Christ that must convert or it will never be accomplished. No one is so hardened that he will not be converted and made tender if once his heart knows Christ. And the same knowledge causes one to steadfastly live a godly life. Isaiah says, The time will come when this knowledge shall flow forth like a deluge. This came to pass in the time of the apostles.

Therefore, whoever loves God will keep his commandments, and that love brings a knowledge of God. Now Christ says, further, in our Gospel: “And my Father will love him.”

8. It comes to pass in this way: I know first, that Christ has served me by his whole life, and that Christ is God; thus I see that it is God’s will that Christ should give himself for me and that the Father commissioned him to that end Thus, I climb to the Father through Christ. Then my confidence in him begins to grow, so that I esteem him as a loving Father. Christ here means to say: Man must begin with my love and then he will come to the Father; Christ is a mediator. Therefore, I must first be loved — must first feel the great treasure and blessing in Christ. Hence, God takes the very first step and allows his dear child to die for me, before I ask him to do so, yea, before I ever know him. Then a confidence in and love to God grow in me; this I must feel. Christ also says here: “And my Father will love him;” that is, the convert will feel that he is placed with me in the same kingdom and co-inheritance, and will, through me’ and with me and with my voice, say to the Father in comforting confidence: Dearly beloved Father. Then the text continues: “And we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.”

9. When I come to the point of knowing that God is my Father, then I let him rule in my heart according to his pleasure, and allow him to be all in all. Therewith, my heart becomes a quiet, humble abode of God. Thus, God is a co-laborer with me and assist me as he says in Isaiah 66:1-2 and in Acts 7:49-50: “Thus saith Jehovah, Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool: what manner of house will ye build unto me? and what place shall be my rest? For all these things hath my hand made, and so all these things came to be, saith Jehovah: but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and that trembleth at my Word.”

The heart must come to the point where it knows God’s glory. God’s power and God’s wisdom: and lets God rule in everything. It knows that all is God’s work; therefore, it cannot fear anything, cold, hunger, hell, death, Satan, poverty or any like thing. Then the heart says: My God, who has made his abode in me, is greater than Satan, death and all the powers of hell.

10. Thus there develops in man a confident defiance of everything upon earth, for he has God and all that is God’s. He does all that he is now required to do, and fears not. On the contrary, where there is no love of God, that heart does not keep God’s Word; and if the heart does not keep God’s Word, the hand never will. There God will never enter and make his abode. There the devil dwells, until the weak and despairing soul will even fear the sound of a driven leaf, as Moses says in Leviticus 26:36. Man cannot endure the gnawing of conscience. The conscience can never know any peace when oppressed by sin, nor can it experience a joyful confidence in God yea, it will sink lower than hell, while confidence is higher than the heavens. There is then nothing but despair and fear for that heart. All creatures are above it. Such is a picture of the kingdom of Satan. Christ continues by saying: “And the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father’s who sent me.”

11. These words Christ speaks only in order to bring us to the Father, either in a gracious or ungracious way, either with pleasure and love or with fear, for all must lean and depend upon him. Hence, whoever will not understand these words scorns God. Then no teaching, no words nor anything else will help in his case. Now Christ comes and says: “These things have I spoken unto you, while yet abiding with you.

But the Comforter, even the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said unto you.”

II. THE SERMON OF COMFORT.

12. Here Christ says, The Father will send you the Holy Spirit, who will bring to your remembrance what I told you, and the same Spirit will explain it to you. In other words: Your hearts are as yet rough and untutored and you cannot understand what I have spoken to you; but when the Holy Spirit comes he will make all so plain to you that you will experience the assurance that it is as I told you before. Thus, the Holy Spirit, and he alone, has explained the Scriptures and Christ, and made them clear. This knowledge, then, is sufficient for me and enables me to fulfill God’s commandments. Beyond this, however, I have no obligations.

Christ courts his disciples further, and says: “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give unto you; not as the world giveth, give I unto you.”

13. As if he had said: I shall now leave you. Farewell! It was a common greeting among the Jews, in the Hebrew language, when they met or parted, to say: Peace be with your That is as much as to say: Take good care of yourself, be of good spirits, hope you may prosper; as we in German say: God greet you (Gott grusze euch), or God bless you!

14. And the Lord adds the kind of peace he wishes them to have, and says:

My peace I give unto you; not as the world is in the habit of giving peace.

In plain words he distinguishes between his peace and the peace of the world. The disciples, however, did not understand it, just as they did not understand what it was to love and to keep God’s commandments. Now, it is the nature of the world’s peace that it consists only in outward things, in eating and drinking — and dancing; its pleasure is in the flesh. Christian peace, however, is in the heart, although at the same time the heart may suffer great persecution, fear, want and opposition. The Lord had told them of all these things in the words: “Ye shall weep and lament.” The world will persecute you, will reject your teaching, will scourge, banish and finally put you to death; but in the midst of all ye shall have peace and rejoice. Cling only to me and my Word!”

15. And his words were soon fulfilled. When they had received the Holy Spirit, Luke writes in Acts 5:41, Peter, John and the other disciples, though scourged and forbidden to preach, departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the Name. But the disciples (lid not at this time understand and they were troubled because of the Lord’s discourse. Therefore, he gives them further comfort and says: “Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be fearful.”

16. These are consoling words, but for the time they are not effectual. Be not afraid, he says, for you have my peace. No one will harm you; only cling to me. The words they indeed hear, as do we, but without seeing their significance. Therefore he says in clearer language: “Ye heard how I said to you, I go away, and I come unto you.”

17. As if he said: Be not fearful because I said to you! go away from you: I will come again to you; yea, it is especially for your sake that I go away, that afterwards when! return to you, you may be the happier and be of good spirits. But neither did they understand this until the Holy Spirit later interpreted it to them. Just so it is with us in the time of temptation: we do not then understand what God intends to teach us; but later, when grace and comfort return, we understand it very well. The Lord says to the disciples: “If ye loved me, ye would have rejoiced, because I go unto the Father.”

18. His words mean: The only failing you have is that you do not love me, or do not understand what it is to love. If ye loved me, ye would gladly let me go; yea, ye would laugh for joy, because I depart from you. And the more you are visited with ill-fortune and adversity, the happier you should be. But human reason does not understand this. It is certainly true that the more a Christian suffers persecution from without, the happier he is in heart, and the more peace he possesses. The reason is that he loves Christ.

This St. Paul well understood from his own experience when he wrote to the Corinthians in the second epistle ( 2 Corinthians 4:4-10): We are pressed on every side, yet not straitened; perplexed, yet not unto despair; pursued, yet not forsaken; smitten down, yet not destroyed; always bearing about in the body the dying of Jesus, that the life also of Jesus may be manifested in our body.”

And again, he says, in verses 16 to 18: “Wherefore we faint not; but though our outward man is decaying, yet our inward man is renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is for the moment, worketh for us more and more exceedingly an eternal weight of glory; while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.”

19. This is the experience of the Christian heart when the Holy Spirit has entered it. St. Paul writes more about this later, in the sixth chapter of Second Corinthians. It made an impression upon the heathen when they saw the Christians thus hastening to death; they thought the Christians were foolish and intervened to spare their lives. The Gentiles did not understand what it meant; but the Christians very well knew whence it came. Therefore the Lord adds: “For the Father is greater than I.”

20. Even if I should tell you many things, ye would not understand them; they reach no farther than the ears and never enter the heart. However, when I return to the Father, then I will take upon myself the power to send into your hearts the Holy Spirit, through whose help ye may understand all that I said to you. For the present I am in the service of my ministry upon earth; I only speak and preach the Word as it has been commanded me by my Father. The Arians paid no attention here to the words: “I go to the Father,” which means nothing more than, I go and receive the honor the Father has. It is as if the Lord had said to his disciples: I have two offices.

At present I am upon the earth, where I am performing my office of preaching, for which I was sent by the Father. When I come to the Father I will fulfill the other office, namely, this. I will send the Holy Spirit into your hearts. The disciples could not understand this, and neither do we understand how he administers the gift. He concludes by saying: “And now I have told you before it come to pass, that when it is come to pass, ye may believe.”

21. The meaning is: I know very well that you do not understand this now; but I tell you it now so that, when it comes to pass as I have told you, you may remember that I declared it to you before, and you can then say: It is true. In what follows now in this Gospel, the Lord speaks of the hour of his suffering, that it is at hand, and says: “I will no more speak much with you, for the prince of the world cometh; and he hath nothing in me; but that the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father gave me commandment, even so I do. Arise, let us go hence.”

III. THE CONCLUSION OF THIS SERMON OF CONSOLATION.

22. In other words: The time of my suffering and death is at hand. The prince of this world, the devil, is present in his adherents, and will seize me.

But he will accomplish nothing, for he will unjustly lay hold of me, desiring to ‘crush me. His tactics will fail; I will triumph over him, and I will do it justly.

23. One may reply: Did not Satan conquer Christ? Did he not put him to death? Christ himself answers this and says that he dies for the very purpose of satisfying the will of the Father. It is not due to the power of Satan that Christ dies, but to the will of the Father, who would blot out sin through the death of his only begotten Son. Hence, it does not rest in the power of the world nor of Satan to put to death either Christ or any of his followers. But it does rest in the will of the Father, who reveals his power through our weakness, before all his creatures; as St. Paul says in Corinthians 15:27. In view of this, Christ here says to his disciples: I will indeed die, but I will rise again. I die to the end that the world may know that I love the Father and that I do what my Father hath commanded me. I seek the Father’s glory in this, who wills that I should so do. And all this for the sake of your salvation and blessedness. Therefore, be of good cheer and let not your heart be troubled; for you will have great joy because of my death and my leaving you.

Mighty Thunderstorm Soaking the Roses, Germinating Dill, Filling the Rainbarrels

In Midland, someone asked,
"Do you have dill growing everywhere?"
I would use some on tomatoes and sow the rest.

Low pressure fronts are my Kryptonite. Twice I have pulled the car over and stopped, because I felt so weak and sleepy. A tornado was close by, both times. Last night I had some grading to do, but that same drowsiness stopped me from finishing.

I was watching the weather websites, and they agreed about a powerful storm rolling through late at night. I bribed Sassy with Blue Buffalo bites to take one last visit outside. We all fell asleep, waking hours later to the crashing lightning, distant thunder, and heavy rainfall.

The non-arrival of storms is a regular issue in this area. Do the Ozarks north of us and the Boston Mountains south serve as a jetty to hurry the storms past us? From our front porch - Sassy and I watched a 4 PM storm race past us recently, clouds without rain, much like the speakers at Luther Days.

White Profusion Butterfly Bush will add to the
insects, butterflies, and hummingbirds in the backyard.

Rain benefits the Butterfly Bush outside our window in two ways. When a serious rainstorm threatens, I dump the large bird bath and the rain barrel on the Butterfly Bush area. If it also rains, the bush is really ready for growth. I want fresh water and protection against mosquitoes breeding in the rain barrels. The bush is growing accordingly, so Mrs. I looked out the window at the storm and said, "Look at the weed growing up to the window."

I said, "That is the white Butterfly Bush I am coddling so we can watch hummingbirds and butterflies from the window. And - I let some grassy weeds grow high too."

This time Mr. Gardener joined us in mowing before the storm, which seemed predicted by the stillness and the humidity. Our helper beat back some of the bordering weeds with his whining weed-wacker. However, we kept a swath of Dutch white clover, almost knee-high, and areas of tall grass.
The aim is to develop more self-sowing plants that favor beneficial insects and feed the birds.

Pokeweed has interesting white flowers that
redden as they ripen into berries.

Weeds We Should Appreciate
Weeds also provide beneficial insects with alternate hosts. A species of tachinid fly, for example, can use a ragweed stalk borer as a host when its preferred host, the European corn borer, is not available. Ragweed, as a matter of fact, is shown to support many alternative hosts and therefore to increase parasitism rates of the desired target pest. The same can be said of smartweed, pigweed, stinging nettle, lamb’s quarters, goldenrod, and other plants commonly thought of as weeds. Weeds also bring more prey insects like aphids and mites; this could lead you to believe that their presence means beneficials might prefer to visit them and eat their associated pests rather then gobble down the aphids in your lettuce, but most of the time this isn’t the case. All that extra prey means more reproduction, a greater chance of survival, and improved parasitism rates. However, in some situations, particularly on farms, natural enemies do prefer to stay in sheltered weedy habitats rather than moving into open fields. Some farmers solve this problem by timing the mowing of weed habitats to force predatory insects to move into crop fields and orchards when they are most needed.

Walliser, Jessica (2014-02-26). Attracting Beneficial Bugs to Your Garden: A Natural Approach to Pest Control (Kindle Locations 1614-1622). Timber Press. Kindle Edition.

Before the storm I planted and sowed Feverfew, Comfrey, and Dill. Amazon offered some large packets of Tansy and Yarrow, so I ordered them for a future rainstorm.

Weeds are plants whose virtues have not yet been discovered, so many of those listed by Jessica Walliser above are now on my wanted list. Fortunately we can easily grow weeds loved by birds, because those plans grow wherever birds roost. Thus a Wild Garden can be built with roosts and even with a wire stretched across supports to encourage bird planting.

As I wrote before, I found he giant Pokeweeds intimidating until I realized birds planted them after enjoying the berries. The weed can grow in the cracks of a sidewalk, in the shade, or in the sun, so its berries soon arrive and attract dozens of bird species. Pokeweed is easily pulled up when it is not wanted and does not have the allergic effects of some  noxious plants for beneficial bugs (Cow Parsnip, Poison Ivy). A large plant hosting many insects at once could be trouble, as one reader told me. He developed a horrible rash from pulling up Cow Parsnip. I did the same, long ago, after pulling up Poison Ivy with my  bare hands.

Clearly God has created hundreds of plants to bloom at various times, feed a variety of creatures designed for that purpose, and set up a management system to keep this process going in all climates.
Creation, engineering, and management are all evident in the garden.

Grow vines, like this honeysuckle.

New Roses Leafing Out
My classmates are exploring exotic locations around the world. In contrast, I survey the backyard or the rose gardens. Weed identification is one hobby. Another is rose identification. I cannot figure out how one beautiful floribunda (with dense flower clusters) was planted along Mr. Gardener's fence. The rose has dozens of dark rose clusters, which I should remember from the rose magazines and rose websites I enjoy. But no - I am puzzled.

This thunderstorm will finish the new mulch, by soaking and pressing down the cardboard layer. New mulch could have a drying effect by soaking up moisture from the ground.

I dote on new roses by showering them with rainwater from the barrels or hosing the canes to keep them moist. Nothing can compare to hours of rainwater fertilizing the yard with usable nitrogen compounds, minerals from the dust in the air, and soft pure water.

As one farmer in Minnesota told me, "Irrigation keeps the crops alive. Rain grows them."

Rain, as designed by the Creator, washes the trees and plants, adding to the particulates useful for soil chemistry and soil life. The trees and plants enjoy a good bath, and by shedding their mantle of dust, debris, and animal excrement, fertilize the foundation of their health.

Earthworms, bacteria, protozoa, fungus, nematodes, and all life perk up with a rainfall. The amount of life sustained in the soil increases with moderate rain, so the roots can bargain with the fungi for he nutrition needed.

All We Do Is Tilt the Playing Field a Bit
So much is already in the hands of the Creator that we can only tilt the playing field.

I sat next to a man in the doctor's office who began talking my language in gardening. We laughed about people hauling away all their leaves when leaves are ideal for building up the soil. I told him how I screamed, "Stop! Thief!" when the city truck came by with green bags of leaves I coveted.

Almost Eden told me about all the wildflowers (weeds) that grow in the grass and feed the wild bees as they blossom.



I spotted cardinals nesting in my Crepe Myrtle bush, so I began the tilt by piling sunflower seeds at the base of their home. That attracted squirrels from across the street - not my plan. So now I add plenty of seeds to the platform feeder.


The cardinal now lands on the platform feeder and eats his seeds in peace and comfort. A cardinal will rapidly devour a lot of seeds by cracking them with his powerful beak.

Some readers are saying, "But you get squirrels on the platform feeder, too." Yes, that is part of God's management system. I have four kinds of food in a row, all along the bedroom window. On the far left is the Lowe's $10 hanging feeder, the best buy I have seen. It holds a lot of seed, and multiple birds feed from it at once. Squirrels reach from the window ledge to feed from it, but they do not dominate or wreck the feeder.

Squirrels also like the platform feeder, a favorite hangout for baby squirrels. "Go eat breakfast at the Jackson window, son. We will teach you natural food-finding skills later today." Squirrels eat from the platform, but not all day long. Various species stop by - finches, doves, cardinals, woodpeckers. We also have the alleged squirrel-proof feeder, which the rodents now ignore because I fill it with finch seed. Lastly, I buy seven pounds of suet at the meat market once a month. As long as they are eating the suet, I will supply it. Last summer they left it alone late in the summer and resumed in the cold weather.

I have seen that birds and squirrels flock to food, but they seldom pig out and take it all. Everyone gets a chance. That is good management.


Tilts for the Garden and Lawn:

1. Let all the weeds alone in the lawn and control with frequent mowing. Even crabgrass will mind its manners when cut often. Tiny flowers on various weeds are good for beneficial insects and bees. Dandelions are the only herb that sows itself into the lawn and blossoms cheerfully. 
2. Keep organic matter for yard instead of sending it away. Leaves are great under trees and bushes, and they make a good mulch for the garden. Grass can be left in place, used as mulch, or added to compost.
3. Consider weeds that feed beneficial insects and birds.
4. Avoid pesticides, herbicides, and fungicides in the lawn and garden. God manages the bad stuff quite well, and man-made toxic chemicals do not.
5. Use mulch and red wiggler earthworms for fertilizer.
6. Do not rototill ever. Sell your machine to someone who buys fertilizer at the store.
7. Look for plants with tiny flowers and buy that seed. Dill is a good example of a self-seeding plant that is great for seasoning and ideal for beneficial insects. Borage is a self-seeding herb that can be eaten - loved by bees (Bee Bread). 
8. Place multiple bird baths, the most important attractant for birds. Also place shallow dishes where rain and sprinkling will keep them full and clean. The shallow dishes are for toads.
9. Build stick piles, which birds like, or break them up into the mulch.
10. Hang string on bushes and trees. Birds will use them for nests.
11. Use garbage pails for rain barrels, if you don't have rainwater police. Use them regularly to refresh and save plants.
12. Let tall weeds grow in the back. They are loved by various creatures, and birds will nest there too.

Grow berries for birds, squirrels, and even for the house.

Introduction to the Christian Faith - Jesus Priceless Treasure. Jesus in the Temple

Four: Jesus in the Temple

The only description of Jesus as a child is found in the Gospel of Luke. Almost everyone would like to know much more about Jesus growing up. The Scriptures tell us what we need to know to prepare us for eternal life, leaving out the details that we would like to know to satisfy our curiosity. However, the brevity of the Bible is a blessing rather than a handicap. Every single passage is filled with spiritual wisdom and leads to more passages overflowing with comfort, mercy, peace, forgiveness, love, and joy. Every passage is a goldmine never exhausted by study, always leading to more treasure in additional passages.

 Jesus accompanied His family on their trip to Jerusalem when He was twelve years old. The family went with relatives and friends, so Joseph and Mary did not look for Jesus on the way home. They assumed

He was with His young friends and relations in the group. Joseph and Mary traveled a day before they began to wonder and look for Jesus. Then they headed back up to Jerusalem—an uphill climb to the heights of that ancient city. 

           Joseph and Mary did not find Jesus for three days, finally seeing Him in the Temple talking with the religious leaders. Jesus was in a circle of scholars, listening to them and asking them questions. Mary was angry with Jesus and made it clear that both parents were extremely disappointed and grieved.

 Jesus said, “Did you not realize that I must be doing the work of My Father?” Joseph and Mary did not understand what He was saying. In conclusion, Luke stated that Jesus returned to Galilee with His parents and was subject to them.

Divine and Human Natures

 This Gospel lesson, so well known to children and adults, teaches us about the human and divine natures united in Jesus. In most of the story Jesus seems to be an ordinary boy, doing what most boys will do from time to time, losing track of his parents. However, Jesus stayed behind in obedience to His Father’s will, not to play with friends. When Jesus was in the Temple, His divine wisdom became obvious to the learned scholars.

Luke 2:47

And all that heard him were astonished at his understanding and answers.

The teachers of the Law saw a twelve year old boy, but they heard the wisdom of the Lord of Creation. That is a good example of the divine and human natures of Jesus. Since the Son of God took on our human nature, we use the term God Incarnate (God in the flesh) for Jesus.

 Jesus is both God and man. His divine nature allowed Him to do anything as God, never limited by His humanity. Nevertheless, Jesus chose not to reveal His divinity most of the time, so people saw an ordinary looking man. It is wrong to think of Jesus as only God or as only man. Jesus is not part God and part man. He is both God and man.

Within the Father’s House

Within the Father’s house

The Son hath found His home, And to His Temple suddenly The Lord of Life hath come.

The doctors of the Law

Gaze on the wondrous Child And marvel at His gracious words Of wisdom undefiled.

Yet not to them is given

The mighty truth to know,

To lift the earthly veil which veils Incarnate God below. ^[1]

---

[1] James Woodford, “Within the Father’s House,” The Lutheran Hymnal, #133. 

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Introduction to the Christian Faith: Jesus Priceless Treasure - The Angel of the Lord

Three: Angel of the Lord

The Son of God appeared many times in the Old Testament as the Angel of the Lord. God created angels to be His messengers and servants, so we know there is a great difference between a created angel and God the Creator. An angel speaks in the name of God but is not God. In the same way, an ambassador speaks for the President of the United States but does not call himself the President. An ambassador will say, “The President has decided to do this.” He does not say, “I am the President.”

For this reason we can see from the very words of Scripture that the Angel of the Lord is not a created being but God. He is called God and calls Himself God. The Angel of the Lord appeared to Moses in the form of a burning bush that was not destroyed by its fire.

Exodus 3:2

3:2 And the Angel of the LORD appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed.

The Angel of the Lord called Himself God.

Exodus 3:6 Moreover he said, I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face; for he was afraid to look upon God.

When Moses asked for the name of the name of God, he received this answer:

Exodus 3:14 And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.

 The name of God, I AM, is used by Jesus to identify Himself and to show that He has always existed.

John 8:57

John 8:57 Then said the Jews unto him, Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham? 58 Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.

As we will see later in this book, the I AM passages in the Gospel of John are very important for all believers to study, understand, and believe. This particular verse, John 8:57, identifies Jesus with God in the burning bush. The Angel of the Lord revealed in the burning bush is the Son of God before He came to live among us.

 When we start to recognize the Son of God in the Old Testament, many more passages take on new meaning. To show this, I capitalized The Word in the following passage.

Genesis 15:1

Genesis 15:1 After these things The Word of the LORD came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward.

The Word is the name for Jesus in John 1:1. In Genesis 15:1, The Word of the LORD said, “I am thy shield.” Knowing that the Bible is one unified truth, we can see:

1.        God promised Adam and Eve a Savior.

2.        The Savior spoke to Abram (Abraham) in a vision.

3.        The Savior appeared to Moses as a burning bush and spoke to him.

When we read the Old Testament, we should not think of it as a long prelude to the New Testament Gospel of Jesus. Instead, we should read the Old Testament as the first part of the Gospel of Jesus, filled with promises, blessings, comfort, love, mercy, and forgiveness.

 The Savior’s appearance as the Angel of the Lord is worth special consideration in the story of Abraham and Isaac. The Lord promised Abraham that he would be the father of many nations. In fact, as the first believer of modern times (after the Flood), Abraham became the father of all Christians across the earth. But when Abraham and his wife Sarah were considered too old to have children, they were promised a son.

Sarah laughed, so the baby was named Isaac, a pun on the word for laughter in Hebrew.

 Have you ever known a man who had his first child in old age? It is obvious how deeply Abraham loved his only son with Sarah. Nevertheless, God commanded him to sacrifice his only son on a distant mountain. Abraham obeyed and took his son Isaac with him on a three day journey to Mount Moriah. When the boy noticed wood and fire for the sacrifice, he wondered why he saw no lamb to be slaughtered. His father said, “God will provide Himself a lamb for the sacrifice.”

 Abraham left his servants and took his son up on the mountain. He tied Isaac and placed him on the wood on the altar. Any father who loves his only son can imagine the unbearable pain felt by Abraham as he lifted his knife over Isaac, obedient to God’s command. The Scriptures indicate no struggle from the son, who obeyed his father. Then the Angel of the Lord called out his name twice:

Genesis 22:11-13

22:11 And the Angel of the LORD called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here am I. 12 And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me. 13 And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns: and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son.

 The almost-sacrifice of Isaac remained a mystery to everyone until the Father sent His only-begotten Son to be a sacrifice for all sins. The Son obeyed the Father’s will and laid down His life to redeem the world from sin. Once the apostles understood and believed in the cross and resurrection, the ancient story became clear. God intended that Abraham and Isaac would help all people identify with the Father sacrificing the Son. Although the story of Abraham and Isaac turned out well, just as the sacrifice of Christ did, both events are filled with agony and wonder. We can appreciate the cross of Jesus better by understanding how this story of Abraham and Isaac was told with agony and wonder for centuries before the baby Jesus was born.

 The Angel of the Lord stopped the sacrifice. He was not a created being, because He identified Himself as God. Abraham feared God and did not hold back his only son from Me. 

Genesis 22:12

And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from Me.

The Savior was present to give Abraham a substitute for the sacrifice. The substitute was a ram, representing the Man Who would be our substitute through His atoning death. 

The God of Abraham Praise

The God of Abraham praise;

All praised be His name Who was and is and is to be And still the same!

The one eternal God,

Ere aught that now appears;

The First, the Last: beyond all thought

His timeless years.^[1]

---

[1] Thomas Olivers, “The God of Abraham Praise,” The Lutheran Hymnal, #40. 

Preview of May 16, 2016 Issue of Christian News. Reading CN So You Don't Have To

Not much is in Christian News this issue.

Seminex was re-visited for the 293rd time. But at long last, the right conclusion was reached - Seminex won. Even the so-called conservatives in Missouri go along with the apostate trends. And why not?

Otten has been the stealth Seminex cheerleader all along. When Braaten wrote about how the Seminex professors ruined the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago, Otten defended his St. Louis classmates as rather conservative.

Otten follows the WELS rule that one's seminary classmates are always defended, especially when they are in the wrong. Commit adultery? Leave the Lutheran church? no problem for a classmate - he is still hailed as a great teacher of the Bible.

UOJ is just like the Roman Empire - embracing all doctrines except the One Truth of justification by faith. Therefore, what seems to be a tangle of contradictions in Christian News is simply the outgrowth of UOJ: "Everyone  is forgiven and saved without faith."

LCMS Pastor Flo writes for CN. He is a nice considerate guy, but stuck on UOJ like his badly taught classmates. Does anyone read Luther or the Book of Concord on his own? Or the Bible? These matters are clear to everyone except Synodical Conference graduates post 1932, when Seminex really started because the Brief Statement canonized UOJ.

I paraphrased Romans 4:24-25 for Flo, and he erupted in accusations. This was on FB and copied into this blog. He had challenged me to restate the Gospel, so I did - and he blew up. I asked him to express Romans 4:24, and he said "If we believed in the God who already forgave us..." I am paraphrasing - it was more awkward than that - exactly what happens when Scripture must conform to Halle Pietism.

David Becker is still doing PR for Brock, who claimed to have written a letter to me denying a homosexual encounter, etc. I have no such letter and as the lawyers say, "Just deny it." So I cannot refute a denial. Becker is the one who raised the issue  anew in Christian News. I read it before, looked it up, and linked it. So believe what you want. I can only report what is out there already.

"Husband of but one wife" but never married - Brock.

England has their Ministers without Portfolio, but CN has Experts without Education.

Here Is the Real Problem
No one stands for anything. The pastors are scared to death to disagree with anything, which breeds apathy and flourishing false doctrine.

If someone can come up with grants, no matter how rotten the source, the clergy and the synodical leaders will bow and scrape to get their trotters in the trough.

Through the Faith of Jesus - New Passage - Philippians 3:9

Philippians 3:6 Concerning zeal, persecuting the church; touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless.

7 But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ.

8 Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ,

9 And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:

---

Romans 3:21-26King James Version (KJV)

21 But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets;

22 Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference:

***

GJ - This is a topic worth studying at great length. The modern translations seem to be universal in translating the clear, plain Greek as "faith in Christ."

But the genitive means the "faith that belongs to Christ." The house of the governor is the governor's house, so the faith of Christ is Christ's own faith. 

I believe that casts a different light on justification by faith, another nail (among hundreds) in the UOJ coffin.

Faith in Christ suggests "my faith in Christ," which is not bad or wrong, but through the faith of Christ emphasizes the human nature in Christ and all He did to redeem us from sin and Satan. The UOJists rave about "faithians" not being "Christians" but Luther identified himself as a "solafideist" virtually the same thing. Too bad he did not study under David Scaer and other Enthusiasts at Ft. Wayne, where they have improved upon Holy Writ and clarified everything via the Great Prophet CFW Walther. 

Sola-fideist!

I am thinking out loud about this, so I welcome emails about your insights or refutations. I posted the graphic below, which I always liked, and it quotes Luther's Galatians Commentary on the same phrasing.

Braaten's Apostate Memories - From 2011 - Warn Us about the Apostasy He Midwifed in the LCA

Carl Braaten enjoyed a charmed life in ELCA academics.
Then they threw him under the bus.

Carl E. Braaten, Because of Christ, Memoirs of a Lutheran Theologian, Eerdmans, 2010, 210 pages paperback.

When Mrs. Ichabod and I were in college at Augustana, Braaten was the boy wonder at the newly merged Lutheran School of Theology in Chicago. LSTC included Augustana Seminary, the ULCA Maywood Seminary, a Nebraska seminary, and some easily forgotten promises to the Finns.

The seminary merger was one reason why I never considered going to LSTC.

Braaten was the son of Norwegian Lutheran missionaries to Madagascar, growing up on that gigantic island. He came back to the States in 1946 to attend St. Olaf College (ALC) and Luther Seminary. In between he got a Fullbright Scholarship to study philosophy in Paris.

Braaten graduated from Luther Seminary in 1955 and entered the doctoral program at Harvard University. "Paul Tillich meant a lot to me," he wrote on page 32. Nothing is said about the appalling infidelities of Tillich, whether marital or doctrinal. Tillich's wife published a book about her wandering husband, who liked photos of women crucified, slept with the wives of his students, and behaved like a jerk. For example, he sold the same theology title to two publishers at once. The Fortress Press biography of Tillich, written by one of his academic friends, noted Tillich's bizarre inclusion of pagan myth in his Systematics. Tillich also bragged up his own importance in various ways. He wanted a job in Hitler's Germany because he was instrumental in promoting the cause of national socialism. His biographer said that Tillich did little beyond talking in coffee shops! Similarly, Tillich acted as though Columbia University's philosophers had great respect for him when he taught at Union Seminary (The Devil's Playground) in NYC. In fact, they did not.

But one does not make a dent in academic theology while pointing out these verities, even in class. I dared to mention some details in the Frank Fiorenza class at Notre Dame. Fiorenza (Roman Catholic) and Tjaard Hommes (liberal Dutch) were furious that I dared to say such things, even though I left out the whips, affairs, and girls-on-crosses. Frank said, "Lutherans do not understand Tillich." I responded with, "Lutherans do not understand a Lutheran?"

Tillich wrote from a philosopher's point of view, which must have harmonized well with Braaten's interests. Modern philosophy displaces theology, using the categories while expelling the content. Almost all of modern theology is written that way, providing a nifty income for closet atheists who moan about teaching nine hours a week - if that.

Tillich won many awards, which allowed him to study in Europe. He also heard Karl Barth lecture in Basel. He was thrilled to hear Barth, but Tillich was clearly his favorite. Tillich and Braaten worked closely together, so Braaten was happy to see Tillich emerge as a famous theologian in Germany and in America. Tillich was on the cover of Time magazine at one point. Few theologians can equal that.

Tillich and Barth are in the same boat as intellectual frauds. Neither one was remotely Christian in thought. Both of them borrowed heavily from the labor of others. Barth let his mistress, Charlotte Kirschbaum, do most of the work in the Dogmatics. Tillich let his grad students did an inordinate amount of his work. Graduate students were not going to kick about doing Tillich's work for him, since he had the power to make careers, as he did for Braaten.

Critical thinking is not an attribute of modern theology. To address the theologians' lack of faith in the Word of God is academic suicide. Apostates are quick to put everyone through a quick colloquy. They do not allow believers into their club.

Braaten has nothing but scorn for "Fundamentalists," which is his word for those who still believe in the authority and inerrancy of the Scriptures. Braaten goes back and forth. He condemns his church opponents for not being confessional, but no one opposed Christian theology more boldly than Braaten in his glory years.

He brags about his Braaten/Jenson Dogmatics, which attacks every article of faith in the Apostles Creed. The crucifixion of Christ is compared to a man hit by a truck, an accident meaning nothing. The gigantic two-volume set is a travesty in writing. To borrow from Luther, it is not even a pile of manure served on a silver platter. The serving dish is a garbage can lid, the inept style of closet atheists trying to act important. They wrote about basic Christian doctrine - Luther believed it, we do not.

And they were trying to rescue ELCA from the radicals. Read the paragraph above again, slowly. Add that the Trinity, in that book, is nothing more than "God, the man Jesus, and the divine spirit of the community." (I paraphrased that statement from memory.)

Braaten also helmed a journal called dialog, the lower case title serving as a reminder of how trendy they were - at the time. He enjoyed being a subversive until his troops over-ran his own position, took away his leadership, and kicked him to the curb.

Braaten's Bitter Fruits
Merger was the first game that burned Braaten. The radicals thrown out of their leadership in the LCMS--led by WELS' own Jungkuntz, a UOJ fanatic--were known collectively as the Seminex bunch. They were blooded veterans of many battles, from a synod where vicious in-fighting, kidnapping, and cover stories began with C. F. W. Walther.

The tiny, fading AELC (Seminexers) were allowed to dominate the ELCA merger talks. They created the gay-feminist quota system that would remove every single person like Braaten from any influence. The radicals opposed the traditional Name of God, but Braaten's book did the same. The memoir sounds like "No fair when you play our game of subversion. We had a blast doing it, but you are going too far." I see a parallel with the current leadership of Missouri, WELS, and the micro-mini sects. What they conceived and carried to term is an ugly little bastard child, who keeps growing and biting his parents.

I went to LSTC for research and also to visit the president of the seminary, Bill Lesher, in discussions about publishing the book. He kept confusing the words "biography" with "bibliography," which made the church history professor roll his eyeballs. Lesher pointed out that they could not keep several Midwestern seminaries going at once. Seminex merged into LSTC and Wartburg has been insolvent, but LSTC (Bergendoff's dream school) is still in deep trouble financially. Nota bene, defenders of WELS schools, this seminary meltdown was discussed 29 years ago. Ba-zing.

Seminex Drives Braaten Out
The Seminex faculty came to LSTC as a team, and they quickly took over. The chapel services conducted worship by avoiding male names or pronouns for the Trinity. Braaten was offended and quit coming to chapel. Boo-hoo Braaten. Did he oppose it at the service? No. Did he organize the other students who opposed this? No. He wrote a letter and quit coming. Does that sound familiar, WELSians? He wrote a letter.

The homosexual issue quickly took over, too. Deppe, as a Seminex professor, was arrested for soliciting a male policeman at a public park in St. Louis. Nevertheless, he still came over with the Seminex faculty. The rogue AELC seminary was also the official seminary of the homosexual Metropolitan Community Church, training and certifying their pastors, male and female, homosexual and lesbian. Did that give LSTC pause? Apparently not.

But Braaten complained about the Lavender Mafia's work at the seminary and in ELCA. Braaten stayed in ELCA but left LSTC.

Here are some quotations and insights, from his book, which perfectly parallel the sects considered more conservative than ELCA. The methods are exactly the same.

Page 121
"The theology that backed up the 'paradigm shift' at LSTC was either antinomian or a close relative." (Everyone is already forgiven - UOJ and Seminex's Gospel Reductionism, led by WELS' own Jungkuntz.)

Page 126
Quotas for Blacks did not increase Black membership in ELCA. (Nevertheless, WELS embarked on multi-culturalism with ELCA and Missouri.)

Page 132:
"Nobody who bucks the system gets elected to any office in the ELCA. This is why only retired bishops dare to speak out against the ordination of gay clergy in partnered relationships and the blessing of same-gender unions in the church. Even theological professors have become muted for fear of appearing out of sync with the rising trends in church and society. So much for the 'here I stand' courage of the founding father of the Lutheran movement. not even faint echoes of that are to be heard in the church establishment and its publications, for example, the Lutheran Magazine, Lutheran Partners, as well as books published by Augsburg Fortress Publishing House. Censorship is massive, complete, and effective, however it works."

Page 140
"From where I was sitting, the handwriting on the wall was so clear, I felt a person had to be blind not to see it."

Braaten also wrote about professors telling him they were too terrified to do or say anything about ELCA's deviancy.

Braaten enjoyed the comforts and prestige of an academic life, the security of tenure, high pay, numerous grants for study tours. He created the foundation for everything that turned the ELCA into a nightmare for anyone with a shred of faith. The extreme radicalism finally stirred up Braaten's memories of Biblical memorization, catechetical instruction, the good old days.

That is how the Word blinds people. The more time and energy they devote to attacking the Scriptures and mocking the Reformation, the blinder they become. One cannot juggle the Word, which always has the divine power of God, and come away unscathed.

The faculties of WELS, Missouri, and the Little Sect think they can ignore their own apostasy while saying "Naughty naughty" to ELCA. All Thrivent has to do is toss some money in the air, rent some rooms at the Notell Conference Center, and the Four-letter Synods are there, tongues hanging out.

The Goodsoilers, part of the Lavender Mafia in ELCA...and beyond.

I would have flown to Chicago just to see this chapel service.
The co-founder of Earth Day murdered and composted his girlfriend.