Pastor's Message
On the Other HandAs our nation prepares to celebrate our 232nd ‘birthday’ on July 4th, as Christians we find ourselves in an increasingly difficult situation. When I was a lad, in our public school we had a Christmas play, had an Easter break, could find a Bible in our public library, had the Ten Commandments inside courthouses, and the town square had a Christmas manger scene with the Baby Jesus happily snuggled in the hay. While in many communities a person can still find such, for which we thank our Lord, in many towns, counties, and state & federal buildings, such proofs that our nation was founded and populated by Christians are becoming both increasingly scarce and perhaps are even a sort of ‘endangered species’ without federal protection. Of course, believers of all ages have seen an ebb-and-flow between groups of faithful believers of the LORD and His promised Messiah, for two millennia now revealed as Jesus Christ, and their relationships with secular rulers whom God has given earthly authority. Today these relationships are less-than-accurately referred to as [a separation of] ‘Church-and-State.’ Lutherans prefer the better, Biblically accurate phrase, “the Two Kingdoms,” arising from Christ’s Parable of the Sheep and the Goats in Matthew 25. Our Creator, Whom the authors of the Declaration of Independence accurately describe as giving us “certain inalienable rights, among which are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness,” rules heaven and earth in two main ways. From His ‘Left Hand’ He rules through earthly kings, presidents, legislatures, etc., giving gifts for good behavior and punishing evil behavior. He gives ‘power’ and responsibilities to individuals (not to a ‘State’ in the Platonic / Marxist sense), and He Himself rewards or punishes those rulers in accord with how they exercise the power He gives them. Police, soldiers, parents, governors, teachers, and most every human being has particular authority and responsibilities under this “Left Hand Kingdom.” On the other hand, from His ‘Right Hand’ He rules through His Son, Jesus, among the whole body of the saints on earth and in heaven. This is the true ‘Kingdom of Heaven,’ where He rules only in mercy, love, peace, and the giving of good gifts, especially the Gospel, Baptism, and the forgiveness of sins. Here believers are totally free, with no ‘power’ or duties, but we willingly choose to serve God and man in love. But God in both ways rules sinners. So, the Church’s relationship to secular rulers will always be a precarious, and perhaps a dangerous one for Christians. Sometimes we get along splendidly with earthly rulers. Other times, enemies of Christ and the ‘spirit of anti-Christ’ seizes hold of secular power, and unbelievers decide to abuse their Kingdom-of-the-Left-power and try to suppress or destroy the Church and the Gospel. Christ uses such times to test the genuineness of your faith, as gold is refined in fire, as St. Peter writes. But the LORD is free to give or take earthly authority at a moment’s notice. Most of all, the authority He gives His Son Jesus to rule in love, life, and resurrection, is eternal. He will never allow earthly powers to triumph over His merciful rule of the Gospel in His Church. His loving message of the Gospel will be heard by His lambs, and keep you safe while His Kingdom comes on earth as it does in Heaven. May His rule of freedom daily set you free to love and rejoice in His love for Christ’s sake!
Your Servant-in-Christ, Pastor Jeffrey Gross.
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