Allen Lunneberg

 

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Text: Matthew 5:1-12
Date: All Saints Day + 11/1/09
Lutheran Church of the Incarnate Word, Rochester Hills, MI
In Memoriam: Ronald Archie Smith, August 12, 1939—June 11, 2009; Paul O. Manz, May 10, 1919—October 28, 2009.

“Peace be to you, and grace, from Him who freed us from our sins.”

In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. (more…)

 

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Text: Romans 3:28
Date: Pentecost XXI + Reformation Sunday + 10/25/09
Lutheran Church of the Incarnate Word, Rochester Hills, MI

When the Apostle Paul wrote, “For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law” (Rom. 3:28), he was speaking, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, for the whole Church of Jesus Christ. Now, on Reformation Day it’s too easy especially for Lutherans to attempt to confiscate or kid-nap these apostolic words to serve as a protest against other Christian denominations as if the Apostle were saying, “For we LUTHERANS hold this-and-that” over-against the Papacy on the far right or the Reformed on the far left. As true as that may be, there were no Lutherans or so-called “denominations” when Paul wrote those words. There were those already, however, who were allowing the innate legalism of our common, fallen, sinful nature and spiritual blindness to get in the way of the Gospel. The “we” in “we hold that one is justified by faith” are all those who hold to the pure, central Biblical doctrine of the Gospel of salvation, the justification of the sinner by God’s grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone, apart from works of the law. This is no new teaching of the 16^th century but the apostolic Gospel from the beginning. (more…)