Fix your eyes on Jesus!

How are you? How are you doing? How are you feeling?  How's your family?  

The question is phrased in many different ways.  From people who are close family & friends to people across the counter, the question comes to us.

And, of course, it seems to be an ongoing question that we are always asking ... of others, but also of our own self.

Certainly, there are times when the question is very specific ... How did the job interview go? ... How did you do on the exam?  But very often, perhaps even most of the time, it is much more general and much more vague ... How are you?

Sometimes we know right off what the answer is ... I feel awful!  Perhaps it is a nasty cold ... or the effects of chemotherapy ... or that ugly slip of the tongue that just injured someone for whom you dearly care.  We don't even have to pause to consider our answer because it seems to be screaming loudly from our entire being.

However, sometimes when the question is asked one is truly unable to come up with an immediate answer.  It may be that it is too early in the process or the situation for me to know how I feel about it ... or to understand what is really taking place ... or to realize what the consequences are going to be.   I may feel torn between a number of thoughts and feelings ...  there being certain aspects about which I am feeling positive and good ... but then there are little red flags popping up that give me pause and with the appearance of those flags, this tiny uneasy feeling that there be something very negative taking place here as well.

Having said all that, it seems to me that the whenever I consider the question ... whether I am asking it of myself or someone is asking it of me ... that the question itself sends me off in a less than satisfying and healthy direction.  "I" become the focus.  It becomes all about "ME."  Very quickly the question  places "ME" front and center.

And the truth be told, that is where I, by nature, want to be.   And I am not unusual ... that is where each human being by nature want to be.  Certainly sets the stage for conflict.  

And in that Garden of Eden, when the man and the woman crossed the line and sought to become the  "one" in the center of it all ... the "one" on the throne ... the "one" Creator ... to become "gods" ... there it might well be said that "all hell broke loose."  

From Paradise to hell in an instant ... from life to death in the twinkling of an eye ... eternal life to eternal death.  And, of course, conflict is immediately seen ... the man and the woman now in conflict with their Creator, their God, their Father ... seeing Him now as their enemy, one whom they do not trust, one whom they fear, one whom they hate ... they hated the sound of his presence and they hid.  Very soon it becomes apparent that there is no longer trust between the man and the woman as the man is ready to sell out everything and everyone for the sake of his own skin, his own self.  And Cain does no less.

St. Paul says, "in my flesh, I find no good thing."  No matter how when I look or how carefully I look, in my sinful and broken nature there is no thing that is good in the sight of God.  As Isaiah says, "Even our righteousness is as a filthy rag."  

How am I doing?   I am by nature spiritually blind, spiritually deaf, spiritually dead ... an enemy of God; that is, I am by nature one who hates God.  That is my real situation in life ... in spite of what the devil and the world and my own sinful nature may be telling me ... in spite of my winning the lottery, or the Boston Marathon, or the World Series ... in spite of my many toys and all the good times we are having ... in spite of all that seems to be the "abundant and good life."

And deep down within the recesses of our being, we all know this to be true ... that we are lost and without certainty and hope ... God's law speaks to each of us there, no matter how much we may try to hide it or deny it.   

God came to the man and the woman in the Garden ... finding them when they did not want to be found.  He spoke to them of Jesus, the One who would crush the liar under His feet and redeem and rescue the man and the woman from death and hell, bringing them back into the Garden relationship with the one and only God and Creator ... a relationship of love and trust as it once had been.  

In that moment, in the twinkling of an eye, the man and the woman were born again, brought from spiritual death to spiritual life.  Once again they were empowered to see God as their God and Creator, their Father ... and in a new light as their Savior and Redeemer.  By the power of the Holy Spirit they fixed their eyes on Him, they fixed their ears on His words, their hearts on His promises ... and in Him alone they were able to see and to find love and peace and joy and life and eternal salvation ... to find once again that "it was good" ... that God's words were true of His creation ... "It is good."

So it is with you and me ...  God has found us, spoken to us, opened our eyes, enlivened our hearts with faith and life, empowered us to see Him as our God and Savior, empowered us to fix our eyes on Jesus ... and to find that indeed in Christ "it is good."  Or as the Shunammite woman answered the question of the prophet Elisha in 2 Kings 4: 26, "It is well."( NIV - "Everything is all right.")  And in that same faith, with our eyes fixed on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, we sing, "lt is well, it is well, with my soul."

There's a war going on ...

So by year's end the United States troops will be out of Iraq and a war that has been part of our daily experience in one way or another will have been brought to an end.  But the wars nevertheless go ... in Afghanistan and other parts of the world ... and the men and women of our military are involved and often at great risk.
There's always a war going on ... somewhere.  
The war that presses harshly against my life ... the war that never ends ... the war that has me on the front lines 24/7 ... the war from which I can take no furlough ... the war of wars ... is the war within.  Paul cries out in from the battlefield of his inner war ... "What a wretched man I am!  Who will rescue me from this body of death?"

In his battlefield diary Paul writes, " For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. ... For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. ... So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand.  For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being,  but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. "


My battlefield diary expresses the same thing ... though not nearly as clearly and concisely as does that of Paul.  


And my cry is an echo of his ... "What a wretched man I am!  Who will rescue me from this body of death?"

It is by the grace of God that the Good News of God in Christ Jesus has reached my ears and heart and life so that I am empowered by the Holy Spirit to say and confess with Paul ... "Thanks be to God who has given us the victory through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!"

Monday, Monday!  A new day ... a new week ... but the same old battle and war.   However, in the midst of the battle and war there is also victory and peace in Christ Jesus.  It is as constant as the war ... as 24/7 as the war.  In fact, the life that is ours in Christ is the reason there is "the war."  Without the new life we have in Christ, without our being a new creation through faith in Christ, without the "new man" coming forth from the waters of Holy Baptism ... there would be no war.

So strange as it may seem ... and as weird as it may sound ... I am thankful for the war that is raging within.  It means for me that the "new man" in Christ is alive and well by the power of the Spirit and the grace of God through the nourishing food of Word and Sacrament ... and the "old man," my old sinful nature, does not hold sway, does not have control, does not have the last word.  Christ gives the last word, Christ is the last word ... He is life and He is salvation.  

"Be still, my soul, the Lord is on thy side."

Just how precious is Holy Baptism?

October 19, 2011 

"Lord, keep us steadfast in Your Word." 

This is my prayer ... for He alone is able to keep me in His Word and faith unto the end.

I am looking for help and assistance with something with which I have wrestled most of my adult life.

I have discussed this with fellow pastors throughout the years and thus far have not been able to come to any peace regarding our stewardship of the Sacrament of Baptism,  ... the Sacrament entrusted to us by Christ Jesus Himself ... for us to administer in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit

My struggle is not with what we believe, teach and confess ... or, perhaps it is ...

if one includes practice and tradition as a public expression of what one believes, teaches and confesses.

I am not at peace because I am unable to understand why we "tarry" (my viewpoint) in the baptizing of newborn children of Christian parents. 

In light of Jesus' command and promise it seems to me that it is crystal clear as to when Jesus would want to take these little ones into His arms and bless them through the water and His Word. 

In addition, knowing from Holy Scripture the state of all humans at birth, including, therefore, the state of my child; I know of no greater need that my child has from the moment of birth than the life and salvation which only Jesus can give ... Life and salvation which Jesus promises to give in Holy Baptism. 

Here in Baptism is the Real Presence of Jesus working though the Holy Spirit to do that which no human can do either for himself or for another ... 

"I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to Him; but the Holy Ghost has called me by the Gospel, enlightened me with His gifts, and sanctified and kept me in the true faith ... even as He calls, gathers, enlightens and sanctifies the whole Christian Church on earth, and keeps it united with Christ Jesus in the one true faith ..."

Almost always among parents and grandparents, family and friends there is great and eager anticipation of the sight and sounds of the newborn child.  There is the anticipated thrill of holding the child in one's arms, of kissing the wondrous face of this amazing creation, of speaking to the child tender and gentle words of love. 

If this is how sinful and weak Christian parents and family anticipate and then relate to the newborn ... how much more the heart of the One who died and rose for this little one whom He created and whom He now seeks to recreate in His image through Baptism.   How much more do the arms of Christ yearn to hold this little one and the lips of Christ seek to speak Words that are Spirit and Life into the ears and heart of this little one.

Should we not be straining at the bit to bring to this little one the greatest blessing of all ... the blessing of faith in Christ … saving faith that receives all other blessings that flow from the Father's hand ... the blessing of faith that God the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit give through Holy Baptism?

I seek peace.  I seek to be corrected and enlightened from God's Holy Word regarding  stewardship of Holy Baptism in the Christian Church, regarding our practice and administration of Holy Baptism in our own LCMS and our congregations.   

I am torn

... on the one hand 

... it seems so very simple and clear as to the joy and excitement, the awe and humility, the worship and praise that springs from within our hearts as Christian parents who are able to bring salvation to our newborns within moments of their birth ... they need not remain in darkness and death, unbelief and the dominion of Satan for another moment as with anxious and joyful anticipation of their birth, with water and His Word in hand, we stand ready as Christ's servants to do His bidding in relation to this child for whom He died and rose again ...

but on the other hand

... I hear little of this matter and concern anywhere in the Church.  Rather, it seems to be good and proper to wait a few days or weeks to baptize our newborn children. 

Our preaching and practice seems to proclaim that it is God pleasing to baptize within a reasonable amount of time following the child's birth.   I wonder who decided that ... and who decides what is reasonable ... and does God agree with our position and practice?  Is His command not clear regarding His will in the matter of baptizing ... and does not He also make it very clear that “Now is the acceptable time” and “Today is the day of salvation.”

I fear that we do not stand in awe of God's presence and actions in Holy Baptism. 

As you can see, I am a bit of a mess.  I seek the counsel and wisdom from those so much more learned and wise in the matters of faith and God's Holy Word.  Thus I turn to you.

RAR