The Church Is Invisible

Fifty days after the Passover Festival, Jewish believers in N.T. times celebrated their third great annual festival, the Feast of Weeks (Hag Shabu'ot), literally, the Feast of Seven-periods following the Passover. This feast began on the day after those seven full weeks, the fiftieth day, also called the Fifty Day (Hamishim Yom) Feast. The Greek word for this feast is Pentecost (fifty). It marked the early wheat harvest at about the sixth of Sivan, their month near the end of our own month of May. Later Jews celebrate God's giving of the Torah on this festival.

We Christians celebrated Pentecost this past Sunday as the day when the Holy Spirit was poured out upon the assembled believers in Jerusalem. The Apostle Paul calls Christ the "first-fruits of those who have fallen asleep" (1 Cor. 15:20), linking Him to the Passover and this Festival of Weeks. The first sheaf harvested in the spring belonged to the LORD as a token that all the harvest was His gift to His people. In turn, the resurrected Christ is the first sheaf, the guarantee that all God's people redeemed by Christ will also share in His resurrection. In that sense, the Feast of Weeks or Pentecost is a symbol of the coming resurrection.

Pentecost more specifically marks the birth of the Christian Church by the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. We believers argue back and forth about whose church is the true church. Lutherans like me point out that only God knows that. This is why we've often called the church invisible. By that we've never meant to say you can't find Christians anywhere, because they're not visible to the human eye. That would be silly. What we do mean, however, is that only God truly knows who has faith in Christ and in His sacrifice upon the cross. In that sense the church, the body of Christ, is known only to God and is invisible to us. We cannot see the church here on planet earth. It is hidden. It's what Paul refers to when he says,

If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. - Col 3:1-4 ESV

On the other hand, believers are found wherever the Gospel, the good news of Christ, is proclaimed and taught. We have Christ's Word on that. The Holy Spirit works faith in our hearts by means of God's Word. That's one reason why we call the Scriptures and the sacraments of Baptism and the Lord's Supper the means of grace. So we can trust God to be creating His church wherever Christians gather to hear the Gospel and to celebrate the sacraments. Paul again,

For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. For "everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!" But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, "Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?" So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ. - Rom 10:12-17 ESV

This is also why we may never dare to insist that only Lutherans or only Catholics or only Baptists are the church. But you can probably guess that I'm getting myself—and you—into deep trouble now, because many among each of these named groups like to claim that theirs alone is the true church. Let's look at this more carefully next time.

Salvation for Special-Needs Children

Life With Trig: Sarah Palin on Raising a Special-Needs Child - The Daily Beast:

When I discovered early in my pregnancy that my baby would be born with an extra chromosome, the diagnosis of Down syndrome frightened me so much that I dared not discuss my pregnancy for many months. All I could seem to muster was a calling out to God to prepare my heart for what was ahead. My prayers were answered beyond my shallow understanding of what true joy could be. Yes, raising a child with special needs is a unique challenge, and there’s still fear about my son Trig’s future because of health and social challenges; and certainly some days are much more difficult than if I had a “normal” child.

My parents didn't have a special-needs child, but I grew up with one such in our home. His name was Eddie. He was a teenager when he came to our farm to work for my Dad. He could read at about the third grade level. In a sense, he was always my little brother. He was a ward of the state and remained as my parents' ward until he died in his middle fifties.

Eddie is the source for Orville, one of my favorite characters in the three novels I've written. I touched on this in an earlier Blog: Caring For Mentally Challenged People. You can also read there a brief article about mental retardation and Bethesda Lutheran Homes and Services, now known as Bethesda Lutheran Communities.

In searching for what others have written about the mentally retarded—better 'special-needs'—I came across a most tragic answer to a parent's question about her 20-year old son, with spastic quadriplegia cerebral palsy with cortical blindness, epilepsy and mental retardation. Since he is cognitively less than a year old, she worries he cannot make a decision for Jesus. So she asks, "Will he go to be with the Lord forever?"

The author responds, "Perhaps one of the most damaging doctrines to parents is the one that says children are sinful from birth. The scriptures seem to teach otherwise."

He continues,

Our sons (the author also has a mentally retarded child of 26 years), incapable of understanding right from wrong, are not guilty of sin, and will not be excluded from heaven. Someone once phrased it that they are "not saved, but safe" . . .You do not need to say the 'sinner's prayer' for Elijah (her son). If he needed salvation, which he does not, it would have to be his own decision; you couldn't do it for him. 

How sad. What an incomplete and non-biblical answer to a very critical question. This is the blind alley down which one must go if you are caught up in a theology that makes salvation in Jesus dependent upon your decision!

What will you do with Bible verses like the following?

For God shows no partiality. For all who have sinned without the law will also perish without the law, and all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law. - Rom 2:11-12 ESV

Surely there is not a righteous man on earth who does good and never sins. - Ecc 7:20 ESV

I suppose you might say, as did the author quoted above, that the challenged are not men, that they are not capable of making decisions to sin. But you still have the problem with other teachings such as,

Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. - Psa 51:5 ESV 

The wicked are estranged from the womb; they go astray from birth, speaking lies. - Psa 58:3 ESV  

Jesus answered, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. - Jhn 3:5-6 ESV

All the fears and doubts about our mentally challenged, special needs children go away when you understand that salvation is a pure gift of God's grace. It does not and it never has needed anyone's decision, be they young, old, brilliant, retarded, challenged, difficult or anything else. The Apostle, following our Lord's comments above to Nicodemus, writes,

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. - Eph 2:8-9 ESV

That includes, by the way, the work of making a decision. The challenged share their parents' sinful nature, as do we all. We cannot be separated one from the other. We are all children of Adam and Eve. By Adam's sin we all died (1 Cor. 15:22). But the blessed good news is that in Christ we shall all be made alive. In truth, all who are buried with Christ in baptism already share in His life. When the waters of Holy Baptism are poured upon us we have His Word that He has taken us with Him into death and from death to life. If this is so, then we, including the special-needs, will certainly be united with him in his resurrection (Romans 6:3-5).

If you are a Christian, born anew by the power and blessing of the Holy Spirit, and are troubled about your retarded or special-needs child's salvation, fear no longer. Bring her or him to the waters of Holy Baptism. Let Jesus speak to you and to your child the comforting words of the Gospel. Listen as Jesus joins your child to His baptism. There are not many, many baptisms! There is no such thing as making a decision to be baptized! There is but one baptism, the baptism of Jesus.

There is but one Lord, one Faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. - Eph 4:5-6 ESV 

And rejoice. You and your baptized child will be with Jesus forever. You have His Word! 

 

Eternal Life Here And Now

Over the years I've used many different approaches to the study of the Bible for both personal and professional spiritual growth. For instance, when I served full time as a parish pastor I spent most of the week studying the texts for the upcoming Sunday's liturgy--the appointed OT lesson, Epistle and Gospel lessons. More often than not, liturgical churches of many denominations used the same lessons. I usually preached my sermon on one of those same lessons. My study then served to strengthen my faith and, in turn, allowed me to share what I was hearing from God's Holy Spirit with my parishioners.

More recently I've been working my way through one of the Gospels--in the original language. While I have studied both Greek and Hebrew I've never felt I was a master of those languages. And in these days I do not need to be, because some wonderful helps are available either on CD, DVD or online. One of my favorite online resources is the Blue Letter Bible. One doesn't need to be a master linguist to use that website, I find. Of course, it is most helpful to be able to read the languages, but beyond that the work of discovering things like the tense, verb form, etc. is all done for you. A less extensive, but nevertheless helpful website is Bible Gateway with all those translations by which you can compare how others viewed the passage before you.An approach I've been using this summer is to read a book by a systematic theologian in a devotional manner. That is to say, I've been studying a couple theologians' works very carefully, meditating and pondering the Scriptures quoted as I do and opening myself to the guidance of God's Spirit for my personal life. The book I'm currently using is from the Confessional Lutheran Dogmatics series, XII: The Lord's Supper by Dr. John R. Stephenson. As I read Dr. Stephenson's words today I was very comforted when he pointed me to the words of our Lord Jesus recorded in John 17:3:

"Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.""Eternal life," writes Dr. Stephenson, "is not merely a future state, but rather the one true life whose fullness we already possess, albeit hiddenly. Along with His presence in the other means of grace, Jesus sacramental presence sustains the struggling, pilgrim church as a prolepsis of His future parousia."

Now there you have it, a sentence by a theologian with mysterious words and phrases like means of grace, sacramental presence, prolepsis and parousia. I'll do my best to translate and share why this became so important to my heart this day.

When Jesus comes to us, he comes through means, not directly out of thin air as some suggest. He comes to us through His Word, our Baptism, His Supper, the words of forgiveness spoken by another believer and through the words and thoughts of others based upon His Word. These are the means by which His grace and mercy enter our lives to strengthen and confirm our faith.

The Bible further teaches that the same Jesus who was crucified upon the cross of Calvary is present in the Lord's Supper. In this Supper He is as bodily close to us as He was to Mary and Joseph, His disciples and apostles. In His Supper He meets us to comfort and encourage us with His presence.

The Supper thus becomes a prolepsis. In it we have a foretaste of what is to come - we with Him and He with us forever. Meanwhile we await His parousia, His return in glory. However it has been two thousand years that we have been waiting. Where is He? The answer lies in the promises and reminders from the Apostle Peter (2 Peter 3:8-9):

"But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance."
It's coming. It truly is. This is as certain as the fact that Jesus rose from the dead. Meanwhile, we are not anxious. We already have eternal life in Him. He has claimed us. We are His. He is with us, here and now in bodily form in the Supper as He says, "This is my Body . . . my Blood." So we are patient, because we knows He wants everyone to come to repentance and find in Him the joy that we already have.

The wonder is we have so much to look forward to. So we join the early church in that prayer spoken in the Aramaic language used by Jesus: Maranatha! Come, Lord Jesus. Come back and make all things new. Come Lord Jesus. Come even now in the blessed Supper to be with us, to comfort and strengthen us for the journey that still lies before us. Be for us the Bread of life, our Manna in the wilderness. Come, Lord Jesus, come!