Matt Witman is the host of the Ten Minute Bible Hour, a YouTube channel that talks about "God, Christianity, Church History, and most of all the Bible itself." This is an open letter to Matt.
Matt,
Like you, I didn't grow up Lutheran. As I watched your visit to a Lutheran church and listened to your interview on Lutheran Public Radio, I kept thinking, "I know where Matt's coming from." This letter is my input and response to your conversation.
1. I previously thought that the greatest good was to get wisdom, knowledge, and understanding from God's Word. But in becoming Lutheran, I now realize that God's Word is true, even if it doesn't seem logical or make sense to me. And that's comforting. I don't have to do mental gymnastics or to understand His Word for it to be true. My salvation isn't on me or my understanding.
For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. Isaiah 55:8-9
2.
The
Ten Commandments are often wrongly viewed as just a checklist for Christian
living. Jesus teaches that the commandments also must be kept "from the heart" when He equates anger with
murder and lust with adultery. And the Lutheran understanding is that we break those commandments daily. We can't stop sinning; I can't stop sinning. That's a hard pill to swallow about oneself. It also goes against a lot of popular, Christian self-help teachings.
3. The confession and the absolution are the coolest and most unique parts of the Lutheran service.
People may think that having a pastor absolve a person of sins will somehow give that person a license to sin. People may also object and say, "I can confess my own sins to God. I don't need the pastor to do it for me."
The truth is, the confession and absolution are gifts from the Lord to me. I need to hear that forgiveness, for my heart, my conscience, my peace, so I know and believe. It's for me. And it's Biblical.
If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld. John 20:23
4. People often ask, "Do you believe baptism is salvific? Is the Lord's Supper salvific?" I think the question should be, "How does one receive forgiveness of sins and salvation? Through what means does God give faith?"
And for the individual Christian whose conscience may bother him, "How does he know he's saved? What can he point to for assurance that's not inside his own understanding, feelings, or behavior?"
So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ. Romans 10:17
Baptism...now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. 1 Peter 3:21
"Take, eat; this is my body." And..."Drink of it... for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins." Matthew 26:26-28
Baptism, the Lord's Supper, God's Word are all gifts given to us, to me, to give me forgiveness and faith, so that I don't doubt the validity or strength of my faith, or wonder if I really do have faith or am really a Christian.
5. Finally, the Lutheran pastor you visited nailed it in equating worship with breathing. To live as Christians, we need to continually "take in" His Word, to be reminded of our baptism, to hear the forgiveness of sins, to know the forgiveness that's given in the eating and drinking of the Lord's Supper.
I need to be pointed again and again to the cross, to Jesus. I need to know the love of God, of my Father in Heaven. Without that continual "breathing" my faith will grow cold and die.
Matt, thanks for taking the time to explore the Lutheran church and teachings and to share your journey. God's blessings and encouragement to you.
Kathy Mokris - baptized child, saint and sinner, always a beggar.
The Book of Revelation has always confounded me. In my early Christian life, I was exposed to Dispensational Pre-Millennialism, or the Left Behind scenario. And I always thought, "This is hokey. This makes no sense." For a time, I rarely read Revelation, and I avoided studying the End Times issue.
Likewise, the Old Testament is abundant in history, in people, in teachings, and I often found it confusing and overwhelming. But because it's history, I kept reading it and studying it.
And over time, I've come to understand that the Old Testament is "all about Jesus." In Genesis, the Lord promises that a seed of Adam will crush Satan's head. Later, the Lord promises to Abraham that from his line all nations on earth will be blessed.
Over and over, the Old Testament accounts reveal the Lord working in a situation so that both the nation of Israel is protected, and the line of Christ is preserved. It's God fulfilling His promise to send a Messiah, one born from the tribe of Judah, a king descended from David.
Recently, I heard a sermon on Revelation 12.
[A woman] was pregnant and was crying out in birth pains and the agony of giving birth...And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she bore her child he might devour it. Revelation 12:2, 12:4
The pastor said something like, "Ever since the promise was given, Israel has been a pregnant woman waiting for the birth of the Messiah. And the devil [the dragon] has been waiting to devour the Messiah. And that's how we can understand all of the Old Testament."
In the Old Testament, Israel was always waiting for the Messiah to be born, and Satan was always trying to destroy Israel, to destroy even the hope of a Messiah.
And there it is, the gospel and all of the Old Testament in Revelation! Maybe I'm just fanatical, but that excites me.
And as if that wasn't enough, the sermon continued with a description of God's throne room as described in Job, the throne room where Satan accuses people. And that was compared with Revelation 12, and the picture of Satan being throne out of heaven, where he can no longer stand and accuse men. Satan can no longer accuse because Jesus has defeated him.
...And the dragon and his angels fought back, but he was defeated, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, "Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God." Revelation 12:7-10
Again, I'd never connected those two accounts - the throne room as described in Job, and Satan thrown down from heaven as described in Revelation.
There's always something intellectually satisfying when Bible passages are clarified. But the real excitement for me is in the big picture. It's a picture of a God whose love is never changing, a God who keeps His promises, who reconciles man to Himself, who saves even me.
And His Word, His truth, is always and continually proclaiming that salvation...to me and for me. It's all about Jesus!
During the first days of Plebe Summer after I entered the Naval Academy, my squad leader called us all together in my room and taught us how to make a rack, or bed, demonstrating with my rack. Shortly thereafter, another squad leader poked his head in our room, commented on how good my rack looked, and he was gone before I could explain.
And I felt sick.
Not only was I being praised for something I didn't do, but, I thought I'd violated Naval Academy Honor standards.
A midshipman does not lie, cheat, or steal.
And that includes any type of deception.
Before I could even talk to my squad leader, the other squad leader went to him, and they recognized what had happened.
They called us all together and talked about the incident. They absolved me right away, but they also used the situation as an example of our obligation to be honest and trustworthy at all times.
There's no place in the military, especially with officers, for anyone to "make himself look good" or to seek praise. Our military protects our freedom, and it also values and protects the lives of all members, our fellow comrades. When someone is deceptive, lies, or is self-serving, well, lives can be lost. That's the bottom line.
I'm reminded of that incident every time I read Act 5. That's the chapter with Ananias and Sapphira, the couple who sell their field of land and pretend to give all of the proceeds to the church.
And this verse jumps out at me:
Why is it that you have contrived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to man but to God. Acts 5:4b
By nature, we all make decisions for our own advantage, we want to feel good about ourselves and about what we do, and we mostly don't even recognize that we do this.
The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? Jeremiah 17:9
At the Naval Academy, we were made aware of this, and we were taught that it was to our advantage to not seek our own advantage or praise.
The ultimate truth is - God sees all; He knows my heart; He knows what I'm up to; and I can't hide from Him.
For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart. 1 Samuel 16:7b
Every way of a man is right in his own eyes, but the LORD weighs the heart. Proverbs 21:2
It's overwhelming to wrap my head around this and to try to live it out. And the cost of not living this out perfectly - my own soul, my life.
The good news is, Jesus came to die for my sins, all my sins, even my weak attempt at being selfless. He came so that I would be forgiven and have peace with Him, have life and joy.
For one will scarcely die for a righteous person - though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die - but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:7-8
For God alone my soul waits in silence; from him comes my salvation. Psalm 62:1
I was recently at the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, for my 35th class reunion. Navy played (and beat!) Tulane in the homecoming game. And before the start of every football game, Navy jets make a flyover of the stadium, a flyover that's perfectly timed to coincide with the Navy players running onto the field.
We were in our tailgate area before the game, when suddenly, we heard them. The jets! We all got quiet. I forgot how loud and impressive a flyover is!
When the jets had passed, one of my classmates said, "And that's the sound of freedom."
Yeah! "The sound of freedom."
Amidst the festivities of reunion weekend, and all the excitement of seeing old classmates...well, I was reminded what it's all about, what we, as Naval Academy graduates, were and are all about.
"Support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic."
Freedom isn't cheap; and it takes all military personnel - not just infantrymen, sailors, and fighter pilots, but admin clerks, warehouse clerks, military police, mess cooks, truck drivers, mechanics, everyone. All of our military contributes to the "sound of freedom" that we enjoy in this country.
And not to take anything away from our military personnel and veterans...
But it's also the Lord who I give thanks to, thanks that He has given us a country where we live in peace, provision, and abundance, much more than any place in history has ever enjoyed.
And Jesus..
He "set his face to go to Jerusalem" (Luke 9:51) to die for the sins of the world.
He came "to proclaim liberty to the captives" (Luke 4:18), to "set us free" from sin, death, and Satan.
Take, eat, and drink for the forgiveness of your sins.
It is finished.
Your sins are forgiven.
The sound of freedom.
This weekend, remember to thank our veterans and active duty military personnel for freedom in this country. And - Go Navy, Beat Army.
More importantly, thank the Lord for freedom in this life and the life to come.
Amen; Come Lord Jesus.
When I was at the Naval Academy and someone broke a regulation, through either neglect or poor performance, that person was given demerits. And with too many demerits came extra duty or restriction. It's what you'd expect from a service academy.
My son is at a small Christian college, and like every college, it has rules for students' behavior. Before his freshman year, I noted that students who missed a mandatory floor meeting (in the dorm) would be fined; I think it was $25. I sort of chuckled, but...
I've since learned the college has other standards that, when broken, also carry a fine. Hmm.
Is this how a Christian college should teach or enforce desired behavior?
You see, a lot of people think that the main part of being a Christian is following the rules, doing what's right, being a good person.
And they got it wrong.
Yes, Christians are taught and commanded to obey, to follow the law. But the law isn't what saves; it can't save.
It's through the law that we're convicted, that we know our own sin.
Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. Romans 7:7b
God's law, His Word, it condemns; it shows us our sin. It ultimately tells us that we can't keep His law, that we can't save ourselves.
...yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but
through faith in Jesus Christ...because by works of the law no one will be justified. Galatians 2:16
It's when God's law tells us we're guilty, that the door is then opened for us to know the complete forgiveness of sins. In Jesus, all fines have been paid. But if we don't know we're sinners, through and through, then
we don't know or comprehend that forgiveness.
I know that the college just wants to maintain order and wants the students to follow the rules. But I have to ask, "Are they just making Pharisees, Christians who look down on others who
aren't as good as they are?"
I think the college is missing an opportunity to share and reinforce the heart of Christianity in two ways. They should be:
1. Teaching God's love and forgiveness of sins based, not on works, but on the death and resurrection of Jesus.
2. Teaching the importance and joy of loving and forgiving other people.
And having a system of fines - well, it just emphasizes and supports the idea of salvation by a person's own works.
I don't know the answer to this, but I think it starts with hearing and reading God's Word. Our true good works will always flow and follow from our own forgiveness, from the gospel.
Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing
with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving
each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive...Let
the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one
another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs,
with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And
whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord
Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. Colossians
3:12-13, 16-17
