Lutheran treasures & lessons - Trons grund

* Memorial moment (Rev. Dr Scott Murray)
* Two words (Rev. A.R. Voltattorni)
* The danger of spiritual satiety (Paul T. McCain) Warning! Warning!

"Christ Himself is the fullness of piety and holiness for us Christians. We must come again and again to Jesus as our holiness and righteousness before God, because Him "God made our wisdom and our righteousness and sanctification and redemption"

A pious and Christian manner

"Piety is a worthy pursuit. Holiness is to be sought. The Word of God commands it. But how is it to be pursued, how do we seek it? Often we are like the man for whom, as Alexander Pope offers in his translation of Virgil, "Hills, vales and floods appear already crost; And, ere he starts, a thousand steps are lost." When the question of piety is asked we think we already know the steps that must be taken and lose a thousand in the process. We think that piety is reached by being pious. We think that holiness is reached by acting holy. It seems so simple. Yet, in our simplicity we have already headed in the wrong direction. We have failed to count the cost; we don't have a proper battle plan (Lk 14:28-33). We have not been rightly equipped for piety and holiness in our daily lives.

Christ Himself is the fullness of piety and holiness for us Christians. We must come again and again to Jesus as our holiness and righteousness before God, because Him "God made our wisdom and our righteousness and sanctification and redemption" (1Co 1:30). While pursuing "our own" holiness we will have started out on a path that most certainly leads away from Jesus and God's true ways of holiness in Him. "Our own" is but filthy rags (Is 64:6) in the sight of the One who knows what is in man (Jn 2:25). Our own piety fails the test every time, because it is not the piety of Jesus. In fact, reliance on our own piety will lead inevitably to the opposite result from what it claims to do. Our own piety claims to be meritorious in the sight of God and that it contributes to our own salvation. But should no more want our own salvation than we should want to produce our own piety. They are equally useful, in other words, they lead away from Christ and His salvation, which is His gift to us.

Your own piety is as useful as swimming away from the life raft when your ocean-going vessel founders in a storm. Yes, you are doing it your own way. But the chance that you will find your way to safety is nil. The waves will easily swallow you. The cross of Christ is our salvation, it is the life raft that will bring us to the harbor of the church and to our heavenly home. To strike out on our own will bring death and separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord (Rm 8:39). Any piety won't do. Only the piety of Jesus will avail before God. Therefore we cling to Him as our only hope, trust Him for every good gift, and pass through this life with all its trials and troubles with Him as our comfort and strength. This is what it means to live in a pious and Christian manner."

Psalm 65: 
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm%2065&version=ESV


Augustine of Hippo:

"If you wish to live in a pious and Christian manner, cling to Christ according to that which He became for us, that you may arrive at Him according to that which is, and according to that which was. He approached, that for us He might become this; because He became that for us, on which the weak may be borne, and cross the sea of this world and reach our native country; where there will be no need of a ship, for no sea is crossed. It is better not to see with the mind that which is, and yet not to depart from the cross of Christ, than to see it with the mind, and despise the cross of Christ. It is good beyond this, and best of all, if it is possible, that we both see where we ought to go and hold fast that which carries us as we go.

"This they were able to do, the great minds of the mountains, who have been called mountains, whom the light of divine justice pre-eminently illuminates; they were able to do this, and saw that which is. For John seeing said, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." They saw this, and in order that they might arrive at that which they saw from afar, they did not depart from the cross of Christ, and did not despise Christ's lowliness. But little ones who cannot understand this, who do not depart from the cross and passion and resurrection of Christ, are conducted in that same ship to that which they do not see, in which they also arrive who do see."

Augustine of Hippo, Tractates of John 2,3


A Prayer:

Lord Jesus, You are my piety. Keep giving me Your cross, that I might live in its benefits unto my salvation. Amen.

Memorial Moment Sept. 9. 2013 Rev. Dr Scott Murray







Two words by Rev. A.R Voltattorni:

"Those who have no concern for rejecting the false teachings that oppose the pure doctrine of the Gospel, also have no concern for the pure doctrine of the Gospel. For there is no reason to attack false doctrine, or even simply say that what someone is doing is wrong, except for the fact that false teaching in Christianity threatens to usurp the very heart of the Gospel, the justification of sinners by grace through faith according to the life, suffering, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ."

http://allbeggars.blogspot.fi/2013/06/two-words.html






"The danger of spiritual satiety: "Warning! Warning!:
http://cyberbrethren.com/2013/09/06/the-danger-of-spiritual-satiety-warning-warning/
"It is a very great temptation when we become satisfied and sated with the Word and develop disgust for it. For after Satan at first attacked the doctrine with force through the princes of the world, and then, after that, he cleverly stormed it through heretics."

Satan at first attacked the doctrine with force through the princes of the world, and then, after that, he cleverly stormed it through heretics. - See more at: http://cyberbrethren.com/2013/09/06/the-danger-of-spiritual-satiety-warning-warning/#sthash.jpYW6Lfo.dpuf

 




Förnyelse-iver? Tänker du avstå bibelundervisningen till förmån för annat? Läs och lär:

"Trons grund

Den tjugoandra söndagen efter pingst ägnas minnet av reformationen. Söndagens texter ansluter sig nära till reformationens centrala betoningar.

Gud glömmer inte sitt folk utan ger kyrkan tider av förnyelse. Han sänder människor som kallar oss tillbaka till grunden för vår kristna tro, till bibeln och till förkunnelsen om den rättfärdighet som vi äger genom tron." 

Källa: evl.fi Reformationdagen (Evangelieboken och Kyrkoåret)








Foto: KL