Author: Rev. Harrison Goodman

Pr. Goodman serves as associate pastor at Mount Calvary Lutheran Church in San Antonio, Texas.

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The Largely Catechized Life

The last one

“Therefore let every father of a family know that it is his duty, by the injunction and command of God, to teach these things to his children, or have them learn what they ought to know. For since they are baptized and received into the Christian Church, they should also enjoy this communion of the Sacrament, in order that they may serve us and be useful to us; for they must all indeed help us to believe, love, pray, and fight against the devil.Therefore let every father of a family know that it is his duty, by the injunction and command of God, to teach these things to his children, or have them learn what they ought to know. For since they are baptized and received into the Christian Church, they should also enjoy this communion of the Sacrament, in order that they may serve us and be useful to us; for they must all indeed help us to believe, love, pray, and fight against the devil.”

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The Largely Catechized Life

Who would win? 1 Supper vs. the devil, the world, and our own sinful flesh

Luther tells us what the Lord’s Supper is. He reminds us that God commands us to eat and drink it. He assures us that God attaches promises of forgiveness, life, and salvation to it. He also warns us what we’re up against. Our sinful flesh. The world. The devil. The Lord’s Supper grants victory over all 3

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The Uncultured Saints

Ep. 1: What Do We Call This…??

What’s the big deal about saying my nature is sinful or my nature is corrupted by original sin? It seems like a puny detail to focus on…but it’s really not. If we get this wrong, it messes up all our theology. Sin isn’t just the actions we do, it’s hereditary, a fatal disease we ALL inherit. And yet, sin is not who we are, it’s a condition we have. Original sin means that something has changed from the way we’re supposed to be, the way that God created all of humanity to be. This doesn’t mean that we have an excuse to sin just because it comes naturally to us. It means that we need a Savior.

 

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Ep. 2: The No-Jesus Coin is Bad

In spite of all the smiles and material successes, at the end of the day, most of us know we’re not doing and being our best selves. We can always do better. There is a huge chasm between who we are and who we want to be. The entire self-help industry has been built up to try and bridge that divide. When Christians talk about sin, the world hears it as a religion trying to prevent people from fully and freely living out their lives the best they can. But the reality of the situation is that sin is exactly WHY we fail, and why we never really get to where we want to be.

 

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Ep. 3: A Horse Named Sin

When we change the clear words and teachings of Scripture to make things more palatable for sinners, the meanings change too. We actually begin to believe we can say things better and more logically than God’s Word. Applied to the doctrine of original sin, the way we talk about sin affects the way we talk about God. If God wants things to be this corrupted, sinful way and does nothing about it He’s an evil god. But if He wants it to be better, and doesn’t want to just burn it all down and start over, He works through brokenness and sin to bring about good for us.

 

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Ep. 4: Free Will(y)

We can make choices about all sorts of things in our lives. But the theological doctrine of free will is not about whether you can choose what to eat for breakfast or which color shirt to put on. It’s about whether we’re able to contribute anything to our own salvation, whether we can choose to believe, whether we can “help” God help us. When it comes to worldly things, we are free to make choices as we encounter the different options. But when it comes to the things of God, not only can we not choose to help ourselves be saved, we even fight against God saving us.

 

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Ep. 5: Jesus over Journey

Justification is a fancy $5 church-word that makes us sound smart when we use it. But what does it mean? It’s all about how we are saved and made right before God. As sinners, we look to ourselves — our choices and our actions — to gauge whether we really are Christians and measure how we’re doing to stay Christians. That’s probably not the best way to go about things. It actually gets dark and twisted. When we put the focus on us, even just the tiniest bit, it’s not on Jesus. If our faith is a process, it’s not finished. If it’s about our journey, it’s not about Jesus or what He did on the cross for us.

 

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Ep. 6: Good Works…Are Still About Jesus

It makes for viral social media statements to say that not only do good works not save you but they’re harmful to salvation. But it’s totally not true. Necessary doesn’t necessarily mean that you have to be forced to do something. It can also mean that it just happens through you, necessarily, and make you love it. Nobody is saying that sinning is great, you should go out and sin more! But bragging about how we are fulfilling the law, demeaning others for not talking enough about good works, measuring of other peoples’ good works…all of it pulls away from Christ. Our peace is not in saying we should talk more about doing good works. Our peace is found in Christ forgiving sinners and making us so holy that good works would manifest themselves.

 

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Ep. 7: The Law is Bullwinkle. The Gospel is Rocky.

Moose meets Squirrel

Sometimes we think it’d be helpful to use character voices to distinguish Law and Gospel. The Law is that which God demands from us. And if you don’t fulfill it, the Law will also threaten punishment. It kind of offers salvation…if you keep it perfectly. God gives the Law to us for three good purposes, none of which are to frustrate us, but to show us who God is. In contrast, the Gospel has no threats, demands nothing from us, and doesn’t command anything from us. Instead, it proclaims that everything that needs to be done to save us all been done for us through the death of Jesus Christ on the cross, and that all of our sins are forgiven in Him.

 

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Ep. 8: Don’t They Know it’s the Third Use of the Law?

Once upon a time, there was a controversy among Lutherans. (Shocker!) One camp said the Law has no place in the life of the Christian anymore and good works will spontaneously spring forth without any sort of instruction or guidance. But when we work to set aside the Law, to free ourselves from the Law’s curse, we forget that we already ARE free of the Law’s curse, in Christ. Jesus didn’t need the Law to command or threaten Him about how to best love God and us, but He still kept it. And because we are not yet perfect in this life, we still need the Law to guide us and show us what love looks like. 

 

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