Lutheran Love Week 2: Law and Gospel

Ever remember something that was standard at your house that was not so standard at someone else’s? We have been on vacation a couple times this summer with different families. When you live with another family, you get to learn the way they are used to doing things. It shows the uniqueness of every family. It is a great exercise everyone should experience.

There are also times when you find similarities between families. One of those instances happened when one of the families cooked dinner for us. The husband was playing music and cooking, and the wife was sensitive to make sure she wasn’t overstepping her bounds trying to help. What they didn’t know is that I always listen to music while making dinner, and even while eating. My kids are very familiar with this so it was no big deal.

Another practice I talked about with many couples this summer is whether or not the couple goes to bed at the same time. The wives found unique ways to sneak this topic into conversation. This is actually a big deal. A husband and wife living in a busy world need that pillow time to reconnect. I advise this in my marriage counseling sessions. I’ve had a number of times in my own marriage when this has not been on track, and then when it gets back on track, I remember why it is so important. The problem is, when I don’t remember why it is important, I can get caught up in a Netflix series or a baseball game, making those more important than connecting with my wife.

This week we hit on a subject that is very important in the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS), but not every denomination sees it that way – Law and Gospel. This teaching is very important in helping us understand our sin against God’s will (law) and why we need Jesus (gospel). It changes our language and the way we communicate so that we are not just speaking from the law as an obligation, but the understanding of the gospel as God’s free gift. This speaking can be as simple as, “I get to go to church” (gospel) instead of, “I have to go to church” (law). Law and gospel keeps us focused on the purpose of life. God gave us this life to live according to His will, but we continue to sin and mess it up, and so God comes in to forgive us and restores us to a life of freedom. Unfortunately, we mess up that freedom as well, and the process starts all over again.

As a church body, we know that if we don’t have this distinction of law and gospel, we can easily fall into repeating past mistakes, thinking we can work our way to heaven by what we do rather than by what Jesus has done for us, which is why we clearly distinguish law and gospel in our preaching and teaching. Sometimes we might lift this teaching up so strongly that it can be very intense. This is something that we do in our house (LCMS) and we have a good reason for it.

This weekend we take time to recognize the beauty of law and gospel and why it is so important to Lutherans. Like the couple who goes to bed at the same time, we take time to value the key factors that we see as we distinguish law and gospel.