Jesus Christ at the Center

None of my own words today. I give you the God-blessed wisdom of the Rev. Daniel Preuss, first vice president of the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod:

Why am I a Christian? Because Jesus is at the center and it's all about Him. I am a Christian by grace, a simple yet profound work of the new creation in water and Word. I know Jesus loves me because "[His] Word gives life to water poured." Because of Jesus, I face no punishment for sin, nor do I face an eternal death. I am God's child, and He has given me His family of believers wherein He feeds me. God is so kind and gracious. Thus I live with faith in Him and hope that is born from His promises.

I am a Lutheran for the same reason I am a Christian. It is not by choice but by grace. The teachings of the Lutheran Church place Jesus at the center because the teachings of the Scriptures place Jesus at the center. No other confession demonstrates such fidelity to the truths of God's Word. No other confession so glorifies Christ by placing Him at the center of all it confesses and teaches. Being a Lutheran is truly all about Jesus.

• The entire sinful world is loved by Jesus.
• God saves us through the life, suffering, death, and resurrection of Jesus.
• The Holy Spirit creates faith by showing us Jesus.
• In Baptism, we die and rise with Jesus.
• In the Lord's Supper, we receive our inheritance with the body and blood of Jesus.
• The pastor proclaims and distributes the merits of Jesus.
• All our prayers go to the Father through Jesus.
• All our good works flow out of hearts that trust in Jesus.
• In the bearing of all crosses in this veil of tears, our eyes are fixed on Jesus.
• We wait with joyous hope for the day when we will see the face of Jesus.

Thus the Christian faith is all about Jesus. Being a Lutheran is all about Jesus. St. Paul says, "No one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ" (1 Corinthians 3:11). St. Peter says, "There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved" (Acts 4:12). That's why we sing: "On Christ, the solid rock, I stand; All other ground is sinking sand." Christ the solid Rock remains always at the heart of our confession as Lutherans and as God's people. The mission of the church becomes clear when it flows from Jesus and His work. Faith is living and grows where it is confessed because Jesus enables it to live and grow. We lift high the cross because on that cross is Jesus, the Savior, the hope of the entire world. Him we proclaim until everyone throughout the world praises Him with us.

Source: "Why I Am a Lutheran," by Daniel Preuss, ©2004, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, pp. 194-6.

No End-Runs Around the Cross

My dear brothers and sisters in Christ- as my very first blog ever on this newly designed website... I have decided to say a few words about the cross of Christ and how vitally important it is that His cross be central in the lives of God's people and God's Church.
Below is a graphic that has been posted on the web in various places. It was designed by a member of LC-MS congregation St. Athanasius Lutheran Church (Vienna, Virginia) to illustrate a point which his pastor had been teaching about the cross. I have eagerly seized it as my own because it beautifully illustrates the centrality of the Cross of Christ in the life of God's people.

The point is that, as people who have been drowned in the waters of Baptism and reborn as New Creations (as people who have thus died the death of Christ on the cross and been resurrected with Him), the Cross of Christ becomes the central and most important factor in our relationship with God. That is, to say, there are "no end-runs around the cross."
Take for example a question that we might struggle with in a time of doubt: "Am I really saved?" It's a question every one of us asks at some point. What happens if you try to answer this question without the cross? Without the Cross of Christ, it is impossible to answer the question in a meaningful, hope-filling way. Any potential answer is a despair-filled answer.
The same applies to other questions. For example, in the wake of the Haiti earthquake, the thousands dead, the untold sufferings and privation of the survivors, we ask "Why?" "Why did God allow it?" In each case, as I said before, if we leave out the Cross of Christ, questions like these can drive us to despair or insanity.
But, by contrast! Consider these questions in the light of that cross... Christ volunteering to lay down His life through His passion (His terrible suffering, humiliation, excoriation, and death)... and everything is different. At the risk of sounding trite, it's a paradigm shift. When we view things through the lens of the Cross of Christ, now we see that I am saved because Christ paid my penalty. I have the assurance of salvation (as we say in the funeral litany, "the sure and certain salvation") which comes only through the Cross of Christ.
God has placed my sins, you see, on the Cross of Christ. And as Christ Jesus dies, God's anger against my sin also dies. Because of the Cross of Christ, I know that God loves me. Because of the Cross of Christ, God forgives me. Because of the Cross of Christ, God hears me when I pray. God even names me worthy because of the Cross of Christ.
As Gene Veith stated so eloquently in his blog, "end runs around the Cross lead to doubt and torment, but considering God through the lens of the Cross, and understanding that God considers us through the lens of the Cross makes all the difference."
Posted by Pastor Matt on the 19th day of January, in the year of our Lord 2010.
Soli Deo Gratia.