Tag: Second Coming

AUTUMN GRACE & GRATITUDE

As I write this October newsletter article, it’s the first day of Fall (September 22nd) and it’s three days before the beginning of the Hebrew festival of Sukkot. In our American life, Autumn is marked by harvest festivals, Halloween celebrations, and the initial rumblings of plans for Thanksgiving and Christmas. And for the Church of Jesus Christ, Autumn is a season that the Holy Bible itself associates with themes of stewardship, harvest, gratitude, and the giving of thanks.

Ancient Israel knew this well. After the grain had been threshed and the grapes pressed, God commanded a joyful Fall festival called Sukkot — the Feast of Tabernacles. Families left their solid houses and lived for a week in temporary tented shelters called booths (or tabernacles). They remembered that God did not abandon them after they had fled Egypt, but he dwelled with them by tabernacling (or tenting) with them in the desert wilderness. They also brought the fruit of the land and appeared before the Lord at the place he chose. Deuteronomy is very clear about the grateful intent of this…

“They shall not appear before the Lord empty-handed; all shall give as they are able, according to the blessing of the Lord your God that he has given you.” – (Deuteronomy 16:16b–17)

Notice that the giving of offerings comes in response to God’s blessing. Consequently, stewardship is not a tax levied on us by a distant God; rather, it’s the grateful response of a people who have already received God’s good gifts. In other words, the harvest is the Lord’s before it’s ours. We can only give back to God what he has first given to us. Therefore, we do not appear before the Lord empty-handed because he has not first appeared before us empty-handed.

Yet Sukkot was never only about the crop harvest. The temporary booths were a symbolic confession of faith. That is, we are merely pilgrims in this life. Our best houses are ultimately temporary. Our strongest barns will one day stand empty and derelict. Furthermore, this biblical feast did not only look backward to the desert wilderness. It also looked forward to a day when God would not merely visit his people for a time but permanently dwell with them forever.

While most Christians do not observe the festival of Sukkot, the foreshadowing and prefiguring of Sukkot have met their fulfilment ultimately in Christ. By God’s grace, the meaning of this Fall festival is completely fulfilled both already and not yet in Jesus Christ. Already the Word became flesh and tabernacled among us. Already the crucified and risen Lord is present through his Word and Sacraments, gathering a harvest of souls from every nation. And yet the Church and all creation await the return of Christ. Then and only then, at his great Second Advent to come, the booths of this age will be dismantled and the New Jerusalem will descend from on high, and the voice from the heavenly throne will be heard in full…

“Behold, the dwelling place of God is with mankind. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.” – (Revelation 21:3)

The biblical Greek word translated “dwelling place” in Revelation 21:3 is the word for tabernacle. So, Sukkot’s eternal meaning is completed in Yeshua (Jesus) the Divine Messiah. Here in Revelation 21, the temporal world gives way to the eternal world, and the impermanent realm gives way to the unshakable City of God. The temporary pilgrims become the everlasting household of God. God himself will tabernacle with a redeemed humanity forever — not for seven days as is symbolically observed during Sukkot, but without end in a world where death, mourning, crying and pain have passed away.

This is the free gift (by God’s grace and the power of the Holy Spirit) that we have received from the One Lord and Savior who first pitched his tent in our human flesh 2000+ years ago, who bore our sins on a cross, and has risen to make us his own. Christian faith and life flow from here! Moreover, Christian stewardship and gratitude do not flow from a fearfulness that we haven’t given enough but from the confidence and blessed assurance that Christ our Savior is entirely enough (infinitely more than enough!), and he has gone to prepare a feast for us that has no expiration date.

So, this October, as the leaves change and the Sunday morning offering plate is passed, our congregation will continue doing two things at once: [1] We will give thanks for the earthly harvest we can see, and [2] We will look to the heavenly harvest we cannot yet see — the day when all believers shall not stand before the Lord empty-handed, because Christ himself will have filled every hand by his infinite atonement and unlimited grace freely received through faith.

Together in Christ, Pastor Tim

SOLUS CHRISTUS

In Luke 12:35-40, our Lord Jesus talks about spiritual preparedness and faithful readiness — about staying faithful, staying awake, staying alert, because we don’t know the hour when the Son of God will come again to make all things new. In fact, Jesus says, “Be dressed ready for service and keep your lamps burning, like those waiting for their master to return…”

So, how do we stay “dressed ready” with our “lamps burning” when the world around us is shouting at us from every direction? How do we avoid getting tangled up in the lies and deceptions that surround us? How do we endure in true faith when the pressures of life and the noise of the culture try to lead us astray from Jesus Christ our Savior?

Well, the answer is the living and active Lamp of God’s Word within the Holy Scriptures that lights our path and keeps us from stumbling in the darkness of this world’s falsehoods. It’s trusting in the Word of God come what may, just like Abraham and Sarah, Zechariah and Elizabeth, and Joseph and Mary. That’s faith — trusting in what God says, even when the world says it’s foolish.

In Hebrews chapter 11, we hear about a kind of Faith Hall of Fame, listing those who lived by trusting in God’s Word, even when they couldn’t see the whole picture. They didn’t see the fulfillment of all God’s promises in their lifetime, but they kept their eyes on the “city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God” (Hebrews 11:10). They stayed faithful because they anchored their lives in what God had spoken, and that’s what we’re called into as we await the eventual return of Jesus our Lord.

But let’s be honest: There’s so much confusion, so many voices telling us what’s true, telling us what’s up and what’s down. For indeed, it’s spiritual warfare we’re engaged in! And our Lord Jesus warned us in Matthew 24 that many will come in the last days claiming to have the truth, with false teachers and deceivers trying to lead even God’s people astray.

Now, I have to confess that I consider myself to be a very ecumenical person. That is, I’m someone who respects and encourages interdenominational relations and cooperation within the Universal Church of Jesus Christ. In other words, I’m broadly supportive of Team Jesus in all its forms and expressions. In addition, I also consider myself to be generally affirming of interreligious dialogue, which means I’m supportive of conversation between the different religions of humanity for the purpose of mutual understanding and nonviolent coexistence. However, as a Christian of the Lutheran Confession, I am bound by conscience to the Word of God to always assert and freely declare the preeminent gospel truth that reconciliation and salvation with God comes in/with/through Christ alone — which is the Solus Christus of the Protestant Reformation. (Solus Christus is Latin for “Christ Alone.”)

Honestly, I really don’t like being controversial in my gospel proclamation, but the New Covenant gospel principle of Solus Christus will always be controversial no matter what, in all times and places. As a result, the following is some straightforward gospel controversy… Like the TV streaming platforms of Apple+, Disney+ and Paramount+, our fallen and sinful humanity will always prefer a “Christ+” belief (so to speak) over and above the gospel principle of Christ Alone. Consequently, throughout history we have seen attempt after attempt to uplift some sort of Christ+ theological scheme. There was the “Christ + good works” theology of the opponents of the Apostle Paul, as they tried to add our good works in cooperation with Christ’s atoning work for our salvation. But St. Paul, in no uncertain terms, completely and categorically rejected any idea of our ability to add anything to Christ’s work for our eternal salvation.

Not that our good works are bad, of course. In fact, good works are very much a part of our Christian faith. We are saved by God’s grace alone through faith in Christ alone, not by our good works; however, we are saved by God’s grace in Christ for the sake of living a Christ-like life of good works as best we can — for doing good works as our way of life in response to God’s free grace given us (see Ephesians 2:8-10).

Continuing on, there was also the “Christ + secret esoteric knowledge” of the ancient Gnostics, seeking to add secret spiritual knowledge to Christ for our salvation. But here’s where it gets even more controversial… Much later, in the Seventh Century AD, the “Christ + a Prophet” theology out of Arabia came along and insisted on the addition of the ministry of Muhammad for the salvation of the human race. Then fast-forward to the Nineteenth Century AD, when there arose yet another “Christ + a Prophet” theology that promoted the idea of an additional lost-and-found testament to Christ that had been buried away by an ancient American named Moroni. And then, during that same Nineteenth Century, in the Year of our Lord 1854, there was the “Christ + Mary” dogma of the Immaculate Conception of St. Mary, stating that Mary herself was born without sin — which arguably, and in all actuality, elevates Mary to the status of co-redeemer with Christ our Lord.

So, whether it’s Christ plus good works, or Christ plus a secret esoteric knowledge, or Christ plus some prophet, or Christ plus Mary, or Christ plus any other prophetic addition or unbiblical innovation, we are conscience-bound to the plain and precious gospel truth of Christ Alone. For there is only One who was born without sin: Christ alone. There is only One who is the Almighty God incarnate in human flesh: Christ alone. There is only One who conquered sin and death on our behalf: Christ alone. There is only One who is the Mediator between God and humanity: Christ alone. 

Therefore, regarding Christian faith and salvation? Regarding Christian justification and sanctification? Regarding Christian life and hope? All thanks, praise and glory be to God, because it’s CHRIST ALONE who bestows these all-surpassing gifts!

So again, how do we guard our hearts and stay on the right path? We cling to the Word of God within the Holy Scriptures. For indeed, when we read the Bible regularly, and when we explore it with others in small group Bible studies, then the Word of God within the pages of the Bible becomes a shield around our hearts, keeping our spiritual lamps full with the oil of the Holy Spirit, ready for the Great Day of our Master’s glorious Second Advent yet to come.

In these times of rampant deception, as we wait for the Lord’s return, let’s be a people who cling to the Word of God like all those in the Faith Hall of Fame found in Hebrews 11. The world may try to fool us, but God’s Word will never fail — for the Word of the Lord is our guiding light in the darkness, our spiritual sword and shield in these days. So, let’s keep ourselves in the Word — abide in it and know it well — and by God’s grace and Holy Spirit, it is Christ alone who will keep us firmly grounded in his truth and salvation unto the very end, and beyond the end.

Together in Christ,  Pastor Tim

PLANTING TREES

There is no doubt that we live in a time of colossal and world-shattering change: socially, religiously, culturally, nationally, globally, etcetera. It is indeed the end of the world as we know it.

Historians have recognized that approximately every five hundred years human civilization goes through some kind of major transition from an older structure of things to a new one, and it sure feels like that’s exactly what’s happening in our time. In fact, the last major civilizational shift was the Protestant Reformation, five hundred years ago, when Martin Luther and the other Protestant Reformers sparked this world-changing transfiguration through their reforms of the Medieval Roman Church.

Today, the world as we have known it is rapidly being replace by an emerging reality that is not yet fully clear. Consequently, speculations of the various end times theologies and ideologies abound. And due to the influential pre-millennial theology of the Left Behind novels, some Christians have started to regard any global peacemaking initiative as automatically some kind of great antichrist deception.

Consequently, such Christians (in the name of Jesus) often orient themselves against work for international peace and reconciliation because their Left Behind theology says that such work is always secretly on the side of the evil one. However, our Lord Jesus says, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God” (Matthew 5:9). And when Martin Luther was asked what he would do today if he knew the world would end tomorrow, Luther said, “I would plant a tree.”

In other words, even if we knew that tomorrow the world was going to end and the Kingdom of God was going to come in its fullness, we are called to never stop planting “trees” today (both literally and metaphorically). That is, we are to especially plant the metaphorical trees of peace and truth and grace today, no matter what God has in store tomorrow.

God’s people are to always and continually take part in the creative and redeeming work of God today and every day! By the grace and power of God in Christ Jesus our Lord, we are to plant trees of faith in the midst of fear, trees of hope against all hope, and trees of righteousness and peace. And of course, we are to not forget to plant real trees that give us oxygen and help regulate the balance of life on God’s green Earth. Therefore, to prescribe and do anything other than this is to be “anti” (against) Christ.

As our Lord Jesus declares in Matthew 25:31-46, we are called to continue to labor to make the world a better place right up to the great Day of the Lord, the great Second Advent of Jesus Christ. By God’s grace, we are to continue to work (right up to the very moment of Christ’s return) to ease human suffering, to promote equal treatment under law, and, of course, to be peacemakers in the name of Yeshua (Jesus) our Eternal Savior.

Together in Christ, Pastor Tim