Two Dailies - Luther and Hebrews

 

I have had many responses - all favorable - about the Daily Luther Sermon Quotes, which are verbatim from the Lenker series - Luther's Sermons.

I decided to read through Hebrews slowly, so I added that for daily encouragement. Hebrews is so rich in language, eloquence, and meaning that a few verses at a time are plenty to consider. A pastor in a far-away land thought it was a good idea, so that became a second daily series.

Whenever I see a new corporate church fad being peddled, I think, "How far from the Gospel can these troglodytes go?" The latest was Unstuck, which sounds exactly like the baloney they used and abused so many times before. Their patron saint, Donald McGavran, was a sociologist from the Leftwing Disciples of Christ denomination. He advocated Planned Parenthood as a parish project in his classic book. Did the "conservative" Lutherans know, or care, or bother to read it?

What members, pastors, deaconesses, and teachers need is the substance of Luther and the fuel of regular Scripture reading. Both are radical and new, but well worth trying. 

Hebrews - Daily Verses - "Let All the Angels of God Worship Him."

 

KJV Hebrews 1

3 Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high:

4 Being made so much better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.

5 For unto which of the angels said he at any time, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee? And again, I will be to him a Father, and he shall be to me a Son?

6 And again, when he bringeth in the firstbegotten into the world, he saith, And let all the angels of God worship him.

7 And of the angels he saith, Who maketh his angels spirits, and his ministers a flame of fire.

Explanation

Angels are dominant figures in our society. This passage emphasizes how much greater the Savior is.

1. He displayed His divine glory
2. He accomplished all things by the Word
3. He atoned for our sins
4. He sat at the right hand of the Father to manage the true growth of His world-wide Kingdom.

The Lord Jesus Christ is above all angels, for Jesus alone is the only-begotten Son of the Father. The angels were established and commanded to worship the Son.

Daily Luther Sermon Quote - Trinity 2, Second Sermon - "For It Must Ever Be an Unspeakable Love, That He Shows in These Words That He Is So Desirous for Our Welfare And Salvation."

 

Click here for the Complete Second Sunday after Trinity, Second Sermon

39. Therefore these words, “Constrain them to come in?’ are for the poor, miserable multitude of those who are constrained, that is, especially we, who before were lost and condemned heathen, the lovely and comfortable from the masses, by which God desires to forcibly portray and show unto us his unfathomable grace. For it must ever be an unspeakable love, that he shows in these words that he is so desirous for our welfare and salvation, that he commands us not only friendly to call and encourage poor sinners to come to this supper, but also desires them to be urged and constrained, and that such urging is not to cease, that they may only come to his supper.

By this he sufficiently shows that he will not cast them away or permit them to be lost, wherever they themselves will not only through malicious contempt and hardened impenitence oppose such efforts to constrain them.

So that he is as Tauler said, immeasurably more anxious to give and help us, than we are or ever can be to receive or to pray, and demands and requires nothing more difficult from us, than that we should widely open our hearts and accept his grace.

40. This constraining, however, is necessary in preaching both repentance and forgiveness of sins; for without repentance we remain too hard and obdurate under his wrath, in our sinful nature and in the kingdom of the devil. And moreover, when the terror of divine wrath strikes us, we are again too fearful, modest and disturbed, to take this to heart and believe, that he will show us such great grace and mercy, and we are always full of anxiety that we do not belong to them, and that he will reject us because of our sins and great unworthiness. Therefore he must himself command and work that men continue and persevere evermore to constrain and urge as much as possible, both by holding forth wrath for the wicked and grace for the faithful. Wrath and repentance urge man to run and cry for grace. This is then the right way a person goes to this supper, and thus from Jews and Gentiles there will be one Christian church, and all will be called alike poor, miserable people, lame and crippled, for they accept the Gospel heartily and with joy.