If you knew what God looked like and made an image of that likeness, would you be able to fear the image? I suppose you could, but it would be irrational to do so.
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The command to have no other gods is packed with things to consider. Having another god means to own the god, as one could an idol. But we cannot own Yahweh, in that sense, unless we try to make him into an image that we would worship instead of Yahweh himself.
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You may initially counter that God did not bring you out of Egypt. It was the Hebrew people whom God led out of slavery to pharaohs. They were enslaved for over four centuries in Egypt, waiting for God to send Moses to lead them out.
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Exodus 20:2 does not simply say, “I am the Lord God.” It reads, “I am the Lord your God.” Without God revealing himself to the people of Israel, he may have been any deity, any one of the gods of the land.
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The commandments bring God to the forefront of our hearts and minds; the actual commandments seem almost secondary. They are commanded because of the nature of God.
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The commandments begin with a brief foreword that is the condition for the words to follow. Why should we do and not do these certain things? What is the condition for our obedience? God said so.
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Gratitude from the world? Too often, it seems like there is not much gratitude even from the church. That is a reason why a minister’s sufficiency must come from God.
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The primary task of ministers is two-fold. First, they must teach the law so that people understand they are sinners in danger of God’s judgment.
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We have no life in ourselves. Nevertheless, our old, inborn natures want to keep trying to live. Though drowned and buried with Christ in baptism, we must be reassured of our death.
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Some people think of Holy Communion as a sort of magic act: a specific incantation recited by an approved class of people. Others think of it as a legal act, something one must do in order to be right with God.
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It is clear Luther consider the catechism part of the wider education of children. Further, he believed the catechism could instill in them a heart to serve both church and community.
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We should not simply learn God's commandments and acts, fearing, loving, and trusting God above all things, we should learn about God, his character, his inclination toward us.
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You will find different areas of emphasis in your ministry—whether it be a commandment, article, petition, or Sacrament that needs stressed in the lives of your flock, or in your own life.
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It is inconceivable that a person would say of the one she loves, I’ve had enough of him; it’s time for a new stage of life.
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God’s word opens the door of the mind. Yet it does far more since it is not merely that which opens, but is itself the gateway to a person’s spirit.
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Too often, we hear something along this line: We have decided to let our children make up their own minds. All the while, the rest of the world has free access to the minds of these same children.
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The point here is that our people are to take the catechism seriously. But why?, one might object. It’s only some program Luther invented.
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What does it mean to “impress” the word of God on your heart and soul but to memorize Scripture? Other translations use “place,” “deposit,” “lay up,” and “fix.”
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Walking to elementary school, I would stop by Chris’ house so we could walk together. Many mornings I had to wait for him to finish writing the 50 states and their capitals on yellow, lined paper.
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Our culinary palates may develop, given experience, but the basics remain the same. The food groups used to make exotic dishes are the same as simple dishes.
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This is a charge that may be leveled at all pastors, not merely bishops. How can pastors avoid God’s disapproval (to put it mildly) of neglecting their calls?
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Luther visited the parishes of Saxony and Meissen from October 22, 1528, through January 9, 1529. Years before this visitation, he had spoken of writing a catechism for the instruction of children.
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There is something more to these articles than doctrine; there is an attitude expressed at number 32 below that would serve the Church of Christ well.
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It is bad enough when the person outside the church swindles people so that he may live in excess. When leaders of the church of God do this to the very ones whom the Lord has called them to serve, it is nothing short of an obscene blotch on the character of the whole church.
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Those who oversee the affairs of the church are not to be loathed because of their office, whether it be called overseer, bishop, president, or otherwise.
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Scripture provides abundant comfort and assistance on the specific subject as well as on general topics that are helpful to a marriage.
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While pastors should be concerned that the Word of God is upheld in the church, they should do so only from the position of the Word’s authority. Otherwise, they have no authority.
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When the institutional church acts like the world system, there is only one answer: faith in Christ — complete trust in the truth of his gospel. Christ alone will see you through.
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The story of Haman in the Old Testament book of Esther may not be as well known as it should be. Haman was that sort of dishonorable civil official who purchases position and favor.
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If anyone does not obey the apostolic word, it is the responsibility of pastors to offer a biblical corrective to that sister or brother —even if that correction goes so far as terminating church ties with those who are not faithful
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