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Hope AFLC Church of Enderlin

We Believe as the Word Declares

6/25/2019

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by Pastor Christian Andrews

            I attend very few funerals where I am not the pastor. But, I have heard it is rather common to hear that the dearly loved departed one is in heaven merely on the condition that he or she was baptized. In no way do we deny that Baptism is a means by which God gives us grace. However, neither of the Sacraments are in and of themselves effective for salvation. The Word and the Sacraments must be joined with faith in order for them to work salvation and keep us in a right relationship with God.
            The whole of the Letter to the Romans is based on the thesis found in 1:16, 17: “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, ‘But the righteous man shall live by faith’” (NASB). In the original language the same root is found in four words which are translated here “believe” and “faith.” We are told four times in these two verses that faith is absolutely essential to our salvation. If we do not believe, or have faith, God’s power for salvation has no effect in our lives. If we do not have faith, if we do not believe, we cannot be declared “not guilty” in God’s court of law. We must have faith, we must exercise belief, if we are to be forgiven of our sins and be covered in the righteousness of Christ.
            We believe that God saves us through the gift of Baptism (see here). We believe our old nature is put to death and a new nature given us in Baptism. However, we also believe that it is completely possible for us to deny or reject the new life God gave us. Consider this question: “Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness?” (Romans 6:16). If we deliberately continue to sin after we have received the gift of salvation, eventually we place ourselves back into slavery to sin the result of which is death. Instead of deliberately sinning, then, we are encouraged to deliberately do what is right, to live in faith, not to earn salvation but because it is the way of the new nature. We do what is right because we have faith, because we believe that we have been given a new nature through Baptism. We continue to live in a saving relationship with God because we exercise the faith He gave us through His Word and in Baptism.
            It is the same with eating the Bread and drinking the Cup of Holy Communion (see here). The Holy Spirit gave these instructions about partaking in the Lord’s Supper: “Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner, shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord. But a man must examine himself, and in so doing he is to eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For he who eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgment to himself if he does not judge the body rightly” (1 Corinthians 11:27-29). Participating in Holy Communion without believing Christ’s words about the Holy Supper is dangerous. We don’t come to the Table because it is the “thing to do.” We don’t come to the table because it is in the traditions of the Church. When we come, we come believing that Jesus is truly present as the words “this is my Body” and “this is my blood of the covenant” declare. We come believing that the forgiveness of sin is “for me.” The promises are ours because we believe them.
            Apart from faith, there is no value for us in the Word or in the Sacraments. In and of themselves, simply as acts, the Sacraments do not save. The Sacraments are means of grace to us when we receive them and live in them in faith. We believe that God does give us new life and that God does forgive our sins in them as the Word declares.

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Poured out for the Forgiveness of Sins

6/18/2019

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by Pastor Christian Andrews

            We parents are often tempted to emphasize with our children the need for obedience with the words, “Because I said so.” While we might want to help them obey by giving them other reasons, we still want them to be obedient based on the parent/child relationship we have. Our unique beliefs about Holy Communion are very much a “because that is what God said” understanding. We believe in the real presence, the forgiveness of sins, and the need for self-examination because God’s Word says so.
            Among all the groups that fall under the umbrella of Christianity, we Lutherans are the only ones who confess a true real presence in the elements of Holy Communion. On one side of the spectrum is a teaching that the bread and fruit of the vine in the Sacrament actually become the physical body and blood of Christ. We don’t agree because we know that we are still eating bread and drinking the fruit of the vine. On the other side of the pendulum swing is the belief that Jesus is present symbolically or that the elements are representations of Him. Again, we disagree. Our disagreement is based simply on a plain acceptance of the words Jesus spoke when He celebrated the Passover with His disciples. When he gave them the bread to eat, He said, “Take eat; this is My body.” When He gave them the cup to drink, He said, “Drink from it, all of you; for this is My blood of the covenant…” (Matthew 26:26-28a NASB). We accept that there is mystery here. We don’t try to explain it. We don’t try to humanly understand it. We take Jesus’ words just as they are and believe that He is truly present “in, with, and under” the elements. We call this the real presence.
            Intimately connected to the real presence is the forgiveness of sins. Again, we don’t know how it is or how it can be. We simply accept that because Jesus said so, it is true. When He gave His disciples the bread and the cup, He finished by saying, “which is poured out for many for forgiveness of sins” (Matthew 26:28b). Jesus told us that the cup over which He gave thanks, the cup He shared and called His blood of the new covenant, is indeed poured out for the forgiveness of sins. When we respond to His invitation to eat and drink, we do so believing that we are eating and drinking the body and blood of Christ as the words declare. We receive Christ’s real presence believing that through the gift He is forgiving our sins and giving us the assurance that our sins are forgiven.
             Finally, we are encouraged as the Holy Spirit speaks through the Apostle Paul’s first letter to the Christians at Corinth, “Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner, shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord. But a man must examine himself, and in so doing he is to eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For he who eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgment to himself if he does not judge the body rightly” (11:27-29). Receiving the elements of this holy act without faith is dangerous. Yes, God is giving us a gift. Yes, this gift is marvelous and beyond compare. But if we come to the Altar (also why we call it the Sacrament of the Altar) with an unbelieving heart, not having taken into account our dreadful sinfulness and unworthiness, there is no benefit in coming. Also, because of the need for self-examination, we do not commune our children before they are able to understand their dire need. We receive believing. We receive in faith. We receive God’s gift based on what His Word says.
            The holy act of the Holy Supper is a mystery. We accept that Jesus is really present, we accept that in the meal He forgives our sins, and we take to eat and drink in faith because we are told to do so in Holy Scripture. When in our need we hear God’s invitation and accept it, we come believing in the real body and blood of Jesus poured out for the forgiveness of sins.

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Our New Birth

6/11/2019

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by Pastor Christian Andrews

         When you ask, “What is baptism?” many people will likely reply with a description of the act. It is being dipped in water. It is having water poured over our heads. Baptism, however, is much more than just an act. The true nature of baptism is found in the promises that are associated with it in God’s Word. It is a means of grace. It is the putting to death of the old nature and the birth of a new one. It is a gift given for all to receive.
         In baptism we receive the forgiveness of sins and salvation. At the end of his Pentecost sermon, Peter, a disciple of Jesus’, gave this invitation: “Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins…” (Acts 2:28a NASB). Peter told his audience that baptism would result in the forgiveness of their sins. When he wrote his letters, Peter again emphasized the saving effects of baptism: “Corresponding to that, baptism now saves you—not the removal of dirt from the flesh, but an appeal to God for a good conscience—through the resurrection of Jesus Christ…” (1 Peter 3:21). Writing through the Apostle Paul, the Holy Spirit confirms to us that it is in baptism through faith that we are clothed in Christ: “For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ” (Galatians 3:26, 27).
         The forgiveness we receive is possible because in baptism our old nature is put to death and a new nature is born. “Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; for he who has died is freed from sin” (Romans 6:3-7). Death is the necessary consequence of sin. The judgment against us is death, eternal separation from God. In order for us to die and still live, God in Christ died in our place. He took on Himself the death we deserve. He then invites us into His death by drowning our old nature in the waters of baptism and raising us to life in His resurrection from the dead.
         Because all the benefits of baptism are given to us as a gift, these benefits are available to us all regardless of age or mental maturity. When we continue reading Peter’s Pentecost sermon, we hear, “…and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself” (Acts 2:28b, 29). The promise of forgiveness and the gift of the Holy Spirit are for us and our children. Again, grace is a gift as is seen in Romans 3:24, “being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus” and Ephesians 2:8, “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God…” Because grace is a gift, because faith is a gift, because forgiveness is a gift, we trust God to give us these promised gifts even if we don’t or can’t understand their value when they are given. Then we trust that as we grow and mature, God will give us a better understanding of the gifts. We trust that God will cause us to apply the faith He has give us so that we will continue to live in the forgiveness and new life He gave in baptism.
         The true meaning of baptism is found in God’s promises given to us in His Word. God gives us the gift of forgiveness of sins by bringing us into the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus through baptism. This participation in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus results in the death of our old, sinful nature and our new birth.


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The Church's Two Holy Acts

6/4/2019

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By Pastor Christian Andrews

     We have at least two meanings for the word “holy.” That God is holy means that God is perfect. That something is holy is that we have set that something aside for special use in the Church. We have a set of plates that we use to collect our tithes and offerings. We might say we have taken regular plates and set them aside for a special use in the Church; so the plates, in a sense, become holy. There are two events in the life of the Church that have very regular application in life. We bathe. We eat. In the Church, we baptize and we eat the Lord’s Supper. We identify these two holy acts by five characteristics.
     First, Baptism and Holy Communion are holy acts. Baptism in not just a bath. Holy Communion is not just a supper. Baptism is a holy “bath,” and Holy Communion is a holy “meal.” They are events that God set aside for us to do in the Church each having a special purpose and meaning. Because they are holy acts, we call them “sacraments” from the Latin word sacra which means “holy.”
     Secondly, these two holy acts are commanded by Jesus Himself. The number of sacraments has been debated throughout the history of the Church. However when we apply these five traits to the holy acts, and especially that they are specifically commanded by Jesus, we find that He did tells us to baptize (Matthew 28) and that He did tell us to eat and drink (Matthew 26, Mark 14, Luke 22, and 1 Corinthians 11). Jesus did also tell us to repent; but as we look at the other characteristics of the sacraments, we’ve come to the conclusion that the call to repentance is actually part of the command to live our baptism.
     The third trait of a sacrament is that is uses visible elements. By nature and definition, baptism is in water. The word Jesus used when he commanded baptism actually means “to dip into” with the presumption being that the dipping is into water. We believe that the actual activity is less important than that we use water. We can immerse, but sprinkling is also fine. The elements of Holy Communion are specifically stated in each of the four places the event is described. Jesus was celebrating Passover with His disciples. He took unleavened bread from the meal and told His disciples of its true meaning. He took a cup in the meal and gave His disciples its true meaning. (The content of the cup in the Passover was wine. However, the word Jesus used is a generic term that means simply “the juice that comes from grapes”; it can refer to either grape juice or wine.*)
     Fourth, the act is made holy because it always happens in conjunction or union with God’s Word. We quote God’s Word when we baptize. We quote God’s Word when we eat the Meal. The command is in God’s Word; the promises are in God’s Word.
     Finally, God promises in His Word that He gives us forgiveness, faith, and eternal life through these holy acts. We call these acts a means of grace because God has promised grace through them, and in the giving of grace we get also forgiveness, faith, and eternal life. These are gifts, so we say that God gives spiritual gifts through the Sacraments. (Stay tuned: the next two articles will explore God’s Word about this promise.)
     We can clearly and specifically identify two holy acts which were commanded by Jesus Himself. These acts use visible elements, are practiced always with God’s Word, and are means through which God give us His gift of grace. We confess and believe that Baptism and Holy Communion are the two Sacraments of the Church.
                                                                                                                                                     
* http://www.lavistachurchofchrist.org/LVanswers/2008/04-10b.html

​NOTE: Inclusion of this link is not an endorsement of LaVista Church of Christ. It is only an “easy” reference that has gathered a number of sources to explore the meaning of the word “wine” as found in the New Testament.
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