Love 1 Savior

The practical distinctions of the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod may not seem that different from many other denominations.  Those distinctions become evident once you get past explaining why communion and baptism are different in our church; why confession and absolution stand as key elements of our service; and how Law and Gospel are necessary pieces.

            As people have moved farther from understanding membership, or have not seen the need for it, we have seen the Church driven in a different direction.  Some of this formulates itself in “prosperity Gospel,” meaning, believe in God and He will give you riches, wisdom, and so much more.  But it also comes in another format.  That format is “self-help Christian work.”  This has been the new preaching movement in churches, and yes, even some of our Lutheran friends have fallen into a practice more like this.

            The Lutheran Church Missouri Synod is founded on three basics keys: Faith alone, Scripture alone and Grace alone.  Grace and faith bring us to today.  By the very grace of God and faith worked in us by the Holy Spirit, we hear the wonderful Word of God.  This weekend we talk about Mary and Martha.  Mary sat by the feet of Jesus while Martha complained that she was the servant.  So who was right?  It is such a simplistic story that brings out one of the deepest theological points--does love create service?  Or does service define your love?  Simple to answer?  Hardly!  That is because this is the product of our human nature and spiritual nature colliding.

            When we first developed our discipleship model a year ago there was much debate about the essential pieces.  What are the pieces that people need to know about being a discipleship of Christ?  Is this model self-help?  Well, that would be a great question.  But the key elements are founded on the very work of God and our response to Him, so it is not a self-help model.  It is a scriptural model.  First our Worship 1 is a moment to grow in that relationship.  Read 1 is growth in the very Word of God.  But the other two parts were much debated.  I first proposed Love 1 and Serve 1.  A couple people came to me saying that was the same thing.  I was stubborn at first, arguing its plausibility in any way possible.  But it surfaced time and time again.  I let my stubbornness chill and found the truth in their statement.  How can one serve without a Love 1, meaning loving others?  It made it clear there was a much other important piece of discipleship, which is prayer--often something that can be skipped over.  All of these pieces became elements when God sent His Son to redeem us, and out of that comes this response.

            But this brings us back to the Love 1 Serve 1 debate.  When we separate love from service we move into our own self-help ways of being a Christian.  We come back to the check marks that make us a “good” Christian.   Instead of who makes us good, and as a result of God’s making us good, comes the response and work to serve others.  Out of the depth of His love, and our response in love, come the very labors of our hands.  The Mary and Martha story illustrates this beautifully, and this weekend we talk about just that.  We find out who we want to be--Mary or Martha.