Musings from a Renegade Lutheran Pastor

He is considered the Rock Star of meteorologists, a face and name synonymous with extreme weather. He became famous for reporting on the scene of major weather events – and he may even be credited with making bald look cool.

But while Jim Cantore has developed a reputation for reporting for The Weather Channel no matter what the conditions are, Jim Cantore never stopped a storm.

Jim Cantore may be an extreme weather rock star, but there is only one man in the history of the world whom even the winds and waves obeyed.

The disciples were on a boat on the sea of Galilee, and a violent storm had blown up, and it was extreme weather. Had Jim Cantore been there reporting, he would have been sliding back and forth on the deck of the boat, wondering how anyone could possibly survive this, let alone sleep through it.

But while the disciples were fighting for their lives to keep the boat upright, Jesus was asleep. And once the disciples realized the situation was out of their control, they woke Him up: “Lord, save us! We’re going to drown!”

Now, if it wasn’t weird enough that Jesus was sleeping through the storm of the century, what happened next is beyond weird.

First, Jesus rebuked the disciples: “What are you so worried about?” And then… Jesus rebuked the winds and the waves.

What do you think He said?

“Hey! I’m sleepin’ here!”

Whatever it was, it worked, because it was immediately…completely… calm.

Rain, wind, thunder, clouds, waves, everything. Stopped.

The Bible says “the men were amazed.”

You think?

That is power we can’t even begin to imagine.

It’s the kind of power that only the God who created the winds and the waves could possibly have over them.

It is power that is kind of scary to think about.

And we don’t like to think of the scary side of Jesus. It’s not an easy aspect to consider, and it’s certainly not as nice or comfortable as the fully human Jesus. We love human Jesus: sitting on a rock surrounded by children or carrying a lamb on His shoulders with a comforting smile, He makes us feel good about having a God who loves us.

And those aren’t wrong images. They just don’t tell the whole story.

The problem with picturing Jesus only in ways that make us feel safe and comfortable is that we are essentially attempting to tame Jesus – to domesticate Jesus. And that is not Jesus. Yet we often treat Him like He has been house-broken – like the family dog everyone loves having around, as long as He loves us unconditionally and never needs anything from us…

But Jesus is not the family pet – He is the Lord and Savior of all Creation! The Bible calls Him our “advocate with the Father,” which means He is at the Father’s side in heaven, arguing on our behalf – fighting for us (1 John 2:1). He is the Good Shepherd, who tends to His flocks (John 10:11-15). And yes, “Your rod and your staff, they comfort me,” says the 23rd Psalm, but the shepherd carries a rod and a staff to defend the sheep against wolves and lions and anyone else that would endanger them!

So the picture of a Jesus who is calm and serene and loving is a beautiful and right and biblical picture of Jesus. But it is not the whole picture of Jesus. And the problem with not seeing the whole picture of Jesus, is that unless you see all of Jesus, you don’t really see Jesus, at all.

Muslims talk about the same God we do. The name in their holy book is Allah, the name in ours is Elohim, but both mean “God,” the title we use. But when God chose to reveal Himself as His Word become flesh, His only Son, Jesus Christ, our eyes were opened to the fullness of the picture of a God who would become one of us to save all of us. Muslims, along with many others, shut their eyes to that picture, and reject the name above all names. And so Islam is a Christian heresy: a false teaching about God.

When you refuse to see the whole picture of Jesus, you aren’t seeing Jesus, at all.

On that first Palm Sunday, the crowds all waved palm branches and shouted “Hosanna,” “Save us,” to Jesus, who they thought was their coming King.

But when the Jesus of reality failed to match the picture they had in their minds, they stopped shouting “Hosanna,” and started shouting “Crucify Him!”

They were scared of the Jesus who didn’t fit inside their little box.

Just like the Pharisees, who saw the Jesus who turned their self-righteousness inside-out and began to plot His murder. Just like the money changers in the temple, who saw the Jesus who flipped their extortion businesses upside down and chased them away with a whip. Just like the demons, who saw the Jesus who scared them so much they begged Him to cast them into a herd of pigs just to escape.

And just like us, if we are not careful to consider the real Jesus. If we really want to know Jesus, we need to be courageous enough to see the whole picture of Jesus, even if it makes us uncomfortable.

It’s time to stop pretending that being a Christian is supposed to be easy and comfortable. Because the hardships we experience in our lives is nothing compared to facing those same hardships without hope. And it is our friends and family and neighbors in our community who face this world and an eternity without hope if we do not introduce them to the Jesus who humbled Himself to die on a cross for them. And He is the same Jesus who will return at the end of days, when it will be too late for introductions.

Because the Jesus who is coming back is not a safe or comfortable Jesus – He is the One about whom it is written,

“Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems, and he has a name written that no one knows but himself. He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God. And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses. From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords (Revelation 19:11-16).”

That’s a scary Jesus. But see, that Jesus is coming for us – to save us!

And like the disciples in that boat, we are never in danger when He is with us!

C. S. Lewis writes of Aslan, the great Lion who stands in for Jesus, in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe:

“Aslan?” said Mr. Beaver. “Why, don’t you know?  He’s the King.  He’s the Lord of the whole wood…”

“Is—is he a man?” asked Lucy.

“Aslan a man!” Beaver said sternly.  “Certainly not.  I tell you he is the King of the wood and the son of the great Emperor-Beyond-the-Sea.  Don’t you know who is the King of Beasts?  Aslan is a lion—the Lion, the great Lion.”

“Ooh!” said Susan, “I’d thought he was a man. Is he—quite safe?  I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion.”

“That you will, dearie, and no mistake,” said Mrs. Beaver; “if there’s anyone who can appear before Aslan without their knees knocking, they’re either braver than most or else just silly.”

“Then he isn’t safe?” asked Lucy.

“Safe?” said Mr. Beaver. “Don’t you hear what Mrs. Beaver tells you?  Who said anything about safe?  ‘Course he isn’t safe.  But he’s good.”

It is tempting to domesticate Jesus.

I mean, a lion is an awesome animal – a majestic beast – and if you had one of those as a pet, you’d be the coolest person around.

No more unwanted guests, no more door-to-door salesman – and you can forget about the Jehovah’s Witnesses!

There’s just one problem: lions are not tame.

You cannot domesticate a wild beast.

Roy, of Sigfried and Roy, was attacked by their tiger.

The Crocodile Hunter was killed by a Sting Ray.

The Grizzly Man was eaten by a bear.

You can’t tame Jesus.

He said “I am the way, and the truth, and the life.”

But He also said “No one comes to the Father except through me.”

You can’t tame Him, but you would never want to, either.

The real Jesus conquered death and promises everlasting life – to you.

He is the only person in the history of the world whom even the winds and waves obeyed.

Because He made the winds and the waves.

So remember that, the next time you feel like your life is out of control.

Like you are being tossed about by the wind and the waves.

Our Jesus made the wind and the waves, and you are more precious to Him than silver or gold.

Tumnus said to Lucy, “Don’t worry. We’ll see him again.”

“When?”

“In time. One day he’ll be here and the next he won’t. But you must not press him. After all, he’s not a tame lion.”

“No,” Lucy said, but he is good.”

It’s a fascinating question, and a question that has fascinated people for as long as people have been around. We barely like to admit we are aging, let alone deal with our own mortality, so the idea of immortality – living forever, living again, or living in paradise – is one that at least give us hope that this life is not all there is.

And while the Christian understanding of what happens after death has also become muddled by an assortment of ideas from other religions, philosophers, confused preachers and pop culture, the biblical idea of everlasting life is actually pretty straightforward:

We (human beings) were created in God’s image as both body and soul, beautifully intertwined. Death is the separation – the tearing apart – of eternal soul from mortal body.

For Unbelievers, this is the loss of all hope.

When the wicked dies, his hope will perish Proverbs 11:7

At death, until the Day of Resurrection at Jesus’ return, their bodies are in the grave, but their souls are kept “in prison,” in a place of punishment.

For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit, in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison, because they formerly did not obey. I Peter 3:18-20

On the Day of Judgment, the bodies of unbelievers will join their souls in hell.

They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might, when he comes on that day. 2 Thess. 1:9-10

It is unpleasant and horrifying to think about anyone spending an eternity in torment, and even many Christians want to believe that a loving God would not allow anyone to go to hell. God’s Word, though, says otherwise. All who go to hell go there of their own desire to exist without God’s presence, and all have had countless chances to repent of that desire.

And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth will be blasphemed. For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment; if he did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a herald of righteousness, with seven others, when he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly… then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment, and especially those who indulge in the lust of defiling passion and despise authority. Bold and willful, they do not tremble as they blaspheme the glorious ones, whereas angels, though greater in might and power, do not pronounce a blasphemous judgment against them before the Lord. But these, like irrational animals, creatures of instinct, born to be caught and destroyed, blaspheming about matters of which they are ignorant, will also be destroyed in their destruction, suffering wrong as the wage for their wrongdoing. They count it pleasure to revel in the daytime… Forsaking the right way, they have gone astray. For them the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved. For, speaking loud boasts of folly, they entice by sensual passions of the flesh those who are barely escaping from those who live in error. They promise them freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption. For it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than after knowing it to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them. What the true proverb says has happened to them: “The dog returns to its own vomit, and the sow, after washing herself, returns to wallow in the mire.” 1 Peter 2

God has made clear the cost of our sin, and the cost is one we cannot ever repay. But God makes available as a free gift a substitute payment for what we owe: Christ pays our debt.

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 6:23

To reject that payment is to welcome hell. In this sense, God doesn’t send people to hell, people condemn themselves there – and God grants them their desire to be without Him.

But the story is different for Believers. At death, our bodies rest in the grave, awaiting the Last Day, when body and soul will be reunited. Our souls, along with the souls of all who die in the faith, are immediately in the presence of Christ, where they have peace and joy until the Day of the Resurrection of All Flesh.

And (Jesus) said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”       Luke 23:43

The Bible uses comforting images to describe the death of a believer – phrases like “gathered to his people,” “depart(ing) in peace,” “sleep,” “rest,” “pass(ing) out of death into life,” and “gain.”

For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell. I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. Philippians 1:21-23

Through death, the baptized child of God passes into life – into an eternity of peace and joy with our heavenly Father. Far from being the final loss of all hope, the death of a believer is a homecoming; the moment when sorrow and suffering end and they are glorified with the saints in heaven.

And I heard a voice from heaven saying, “Write this: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.” “Blessed indeed,” says the Spirit, “that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow them!” Revelation 14:13

And yet their joy is not yet fully complete until the resurrection:

I tell you this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.” 1 Corinthians 15:50-54

The final restoration of all things will be on the Day of Christ’s return. On that Day, all the dead will be raised, bodies and souls will be reunited, and believers will receive glorified bodies free from pain, suffering, sickness, aging and tears. They will be perfectly renewed and glorified resurrection bodies, in which we will spend all eternity in a new heaven and new earth, in the joy of the presence of God and all the saints, forever and ever.

He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away. Revelation 21:4

Some say death is natural, that it is just a part of the circle of life. Others even say death is a friend! But in truth, Death is the enemy; it is a horrible reality of this sinful, fallen world in which we live. Death is part of the curse of sin.

For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. 1 Corinthians 15:25-26

God did not create human beings to die; He created us to live! Death was not part of our created nature – it came about because of our sinful disobedience; a disobedience passed down to every human being since the first.

The message of Christianity is not about good people going to heaven and bad people going to hell. The message of Christianity is simply the Good News that whatever you’ve done, whatever you’ve failed to do, God sent His Son to pay the price for all of it – and to conquer death forever. And if you can believe that there is a God who loves you enough to save you in spite of yourself, then death is not the end.

And if this post makes you angry, then I am truly sorry. No Christian truly wants anyone to go to hell for eternity – it is our desire, as it is God’s desire, that all would hear the good news and believe it in order that we may all live without sorrow and pain and hate and bigotry – as we were meant to live when we were created.

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. John 3:16-17

Perhaps this post will seem a little late. Good Friday was months ago, so perhaps it’s not very timely. But I wanted to write about it, because I’ve seen and heard it said jokingly for years now:

“What do you mean ‘Good’ Friday? It wasn’t very good for Jesus!”

So, why do we call it “Good” Friday, the day Jesus suffered and died upon the cross?

It’s about blood.

Blood and water, actually. Continue reading “Good” Friday?

Independence Day.

It’s an awesome thing, to celebrate freedom.

But the truth is, freedom is an awesome responsibility.

Because true freedom is not limitless; true freedom is only freedom within limits.

Have you ever gone swimming by yourself in a lake – the water feels good, you feel really peaceful, until suddenly you look up and you are a long way from shore? Not only that, but you can’t figure out where on shore you came from and need to get back to? Suddenly the freedom you felt a moment before turns into a fear that makes you feel lost, alone and very, very vulnerable.

The same thing can happen when you’re alone in a field and you lose sight of the house, or when you’re alone in the woods and you suddenly feel like someone – or something – is out there with you. That’s when you realize that you would feel a whole lot more comfortable – a whole lot safer – a whole lot more free to relax… if you were protected by a fence, or four walls and a door with a deadbolt.

Because freedom requires safety. And safety requires limits.

And sure, we think of limits as bad because well, they are limiting, after all…

We feel trapped within limits, like prisoners, subject to someone else. This is the very reason so many people resent and reject God – the very idea that there is someone or something greater than themselves who knows better and places limits on them is galling.

But the freedom we think we want – freedom without responsibility – in actuality becomes a prison for us.

Cheating on your husband or wife isn’t freedom from a boring marriage; it’s a complicated web of lies and deception and guilt and shame and resentment.

A life addicted to prescription drugs is not freedom from pain, it’s an intricately complicated system of fooling doctors and family as your body and mind and spirit break down and the meds become too familiar to have the same effect they first had.

Lying to your parents isn’t freedom and independence; it’s a lonely and pointless existence filled with bitterness and hurt because you’ve put up a wall between yourself and the only people who truly want what’s best for you.

And living a life that denies God and denies the reality of sin isn’t a life without religion and rules; it’s a life with a hole in it – a life that desperately seeks to feel accepted and to be known by a loving God.

Without Jesus Christ, we are enslaved to our fickle ideas and desires and tastes that are always changing, constantly contradicting each other and never giving any satisfaction.

But freedom in Christ means that we are free to be the people we were called to be.

No matter how much I may want it, I am not free to be a billionaire televangelist with a private jet – any more than I am free to be Justin Verlander. I am also not free to be anyone else I might be jealous of, or to have what they have.

But when I live according to my calling and not someone else’s – when I learn to be content with the limits God has placed on me – then I experience the freedom of being me! I can stop worrying about what everyone else has, or what I don’t have, and start seeing clearly all of the many wonderful things I do have.

And then, maybe, if I live in God’s Word, I can stop hating myself and start seeing myself as He sees me – and Maybe I can even start loving myself. And the same is true for you.

Freedom is knowing that you’re not God! Freedom is knowing that someone truly greater than you – someone all-knowing, all-powerful, unchanging and perfectly good – holds your life in His hands! Freedom is knowing that all of your pain, all of your hurts, all of your wounds and all of your scars will not last forever.

Freedom is knowing that all the hurts you’ve caused, all the mistakes you’ve made, all the shameful things you’ve said and done have been washed away by the blood of Christ.

One of my absolute favorite passages in all of Scripture is This:

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life has set you free from the law of sin and death. Romans 8:1-2

Our freedom – true freedom – comes in knowing God, studying His Word and living by His commands – trusting that He wants what is best for us and knowing we are forgiven when we fail.

So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.” John 8:31-32, 36

One of the many uninformed criticisms of the Christian faith is that:

1. Christians claim to base their faith on the Bible.
2. Christians profess the Trinity.
3. The Trinity is not in the Bible.

Obviously, points one and two are not in dispute. Point three is the misinformation – a part-truth that is intentionally misleading. So perhaps it’s not all that uninformed; however, it gets repeated by those who are uninformed.

All lies contain a portion of truth. In this case, the truth is that the term ‘Trinity’ is not in the Bible. The concept, however – the idea – better yet the description and assumption of God as triune, or one God in three persons – is everywhere; woven throughout the Bible.

Of course, someone might argue that Jews do not acknowledge the Trinity, so perhaps it is strictly a New Testament concept. Modern Judaism and even the Judaism of Jesus’ day, however, are very different from the religion of the Old Testament, or Hebrew Bible.

The Israelites understood the oneness of God, and yet they also understood the limitless nature of God. God is described as spirit, as Word, as wisdom. There is even an incarnate Word of God who shows up several times in the Old Testament, though that is a post for another time…

At any rate, however difficult it may be to understand the Trinity (and it is impossible to fully understand the nature of God, limited as we are in our capacities as “not God”), it is how God describes Himself, and is therefore foundational for the Christian faith. If we do not take God at His Word, then we elevate ourselves above God, and make gods of ourselves.

OK, so proof time:

Helpful Bible Passages on the Trinity

God the Father

There is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist. 1 Corinthians 8:6a

For this is what the LORD says– He who created the heavens, He is God; He who fashioned and made the earth, He founded it; He did not create it to be empty, but formed it to be inhabited– He says: “I am the LORD, and there is no other…and there is no other god besides Me, a righteous God and a Savior; there is none besides Me. Turn to Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other.” Isaiah 45:18, 21b-22

(There is) one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. Ephesians 4:5-6

God the Son

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. John 1:1, 14

(Jesus) said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”  And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.” Matthew 16:15-17

After Jesus said this, He looked toward heaven and prayed: “Father, the time has come. Glorify Your Son, that Your Son may glorify You. For You granted Him authority over all people that He might give eternal life to all those You have given Him. Now this is eternal life: that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom You have sent. I have brought You glory on earth by completing the work You gave Me to do.  And now, Father, glorify Me in Your presence with the glory I had with You before the world began.” John 17:1-5

God the Holy Spirit

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. Genesis 1:1-2

(Jesus said), “These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.” John 14:25-26

Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be uninformed. No one can say “Jesus is Lord” except in the Holy Spirit.  Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone. All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit. 1 Corinthians 12:1, 3b-6, 11a

One God in three Persons

Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. Deuteronomy 6:4

And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” Matthew 28:18-20

But when the fullness of time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” Galatians 4:4-6

By the way: once you understand (or at least accept by faith) that God is triune (one God in three persons), the Bible starts to make a lot more sense. After all, who hasn’t asked why God talks to Himself in the plural so often in Genesis?

Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.” Genesis 1:26a

And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of man had built. And the LORD said, “Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language, and this is only the beginning of what they will do. And nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them. Come, let us go down and there confuse their language, so that they may not understand one another’s speech.” Genesis 11:5-7

So the people who say that the Trinity is not in the Bible are taking the absence of a word and using it as evidence that there is no teaching. But the Bible does not work this way. Scripture interprets Scripture. We don’t take a single verse out of context to prove a point – we read all of Scripture as the Word of God written to different and various contexts. When all of the Scripture is taken into account, then the reality that the Word of God takes for granted that God is one God in three persons becomes evidently clear.