Daily Devotions from Lutheran Hour Ministries b
Ephesians 2:8-10 - For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
y Pastor Ken Klaus, Speaker Emeritus of The Lutheran Hour
"Martin Who?" for Friday,
October 20, 2017
For years Germany has been gearing up for the 500th-anniversary celebration of the Reformation.
They are getting ready to celebrate the fellow who nailed his 95 debating points to the church door in Wittenberg, the fellow who had to have a Diet of Worms. And, no, kids, Luther didn't really have a diet of worms; he just had to go and defend himself to some important people in the German city of Worms. For a lot of folk, I think this anniversary is a big deal.
Still, if you do a search for "Martin Luther" on Google, before you get to anything on the reformer, you will have to wade through a whole bunch of articles on "Martin Luther King." Just for the record, last century's MLK was named that because his father was so impressed by the theologian of 500 years ago.
So, the question is was Martin Luther really that big a deal?
A few years ago, the TV series Biography had a countdown of the 100 most influential people of the past 1,000 years. Do you know who was first? No, it wasn't Luther. It was the movable-type German printer, Gutenberg. But do you know who was second? No, it wasn't Luther. It was Sir Isaac Newton who contributed to physics, math, and the far reaches of the universe.
Do you know who was third? Yes! Luther. The guy who wasn't a scientist, who never led an army, ruled a country, or painted a masterpiece. But there's more. You should know the folks on Biography weren't alone in their feelings about Luther. TIME Magazine put Luther in the second position of 100 most influential individuals of the last millennium.
Now that may seem like a pretty lofty position for a fellow who wrote some debating points and went to a debate or two. And if that is all Luther did, it would be a lot. But Luther did more, much more. He gave people the Bible in their own language, promoted education, wrote music, and did things to touch almost every aspect of religious and secular life.
Still, there is one thing Luther did not do. He did not want people to call themselves "Lutheran."
In 1522, Luther, in his own colorful way, wrote, "I ask that men make no reference to my name and call themselves not Lutherans but Christians. What is Luther? St. Paul would not allow Christians to call themselves Pauline or Petrine. How then should I, a poor evil-smelling maggot sack have men give to the children of Christ my worthless name?" (Luther had a way with words, didn't he?)
Luther took that position because, above and beyond everything else, Luther used the Bible to point people to the grace of God which is found only in Jesus Christ, God's Son, the world's Savior. Luther pointed out that the Bible wanted lost and sinful souls to realize that when the Holy Spirit gives them faith in the Savior, there is forgiveness and life eternal.
And, if Luther had done nothing else, that would have been enough.
THE PRAYER: Dear Lord, in Your time, and according to Your will, You raise up individuals who are heroes of the faith. It is not that they are not sinners, they are. But they are also people to whom You give the gifts to accomplish Your purposes. We give thanks for Martin Luther, and others who have pointed us clearly to Scripture and the salvation story of the Savior. Use us to share that gracious plan with the lost of our own age. In Jesus' Name. Amen.
The above devotion was inspired by a number of sources, including one written for RARE on October 3, 2017. Those who wish to reference that article may do so at the following link, which was fully functional at the time this devotion was written: click here.
In Christ I remain His servant and yours,
Pastor Ken Klaus
Speaker Emeritus of The Lutheran Hour
Lutheran Hour Ministries
Today's Bible in a Year Reading: Jeremiah 6, 11-12; Acts 27:27-44
Jeremiah 6:1 “Head for cover, people of Binyamin,
get out of Yerushalayim!
Blow the shofar in T’koa,
light the beacon on Beit-Hakerem.
For disaster threatens from the north,
with great destruction.
2 Although she is beautiful and delicate,
I am cutting off the daughter of Tziyon.”
3 Shepherds advance on her with their flocks;
all around her they pitch their tents,
each grazing his own plot of pasture.
4 “Prepare for war against her!
Get up! Let’s attack at noon!”
“Woe to us! for the day is waning,
evening shadows are lengthening.”
5 “Get up! Let’s attack at night!
Let’s destroy her palaces!”
6 For Adonai-Tzva’ot says this:
“Cut down her trees, and raise a siege-ramp
against Yerushalayim!
This is the city to be punished;
in her there is nothing but oppression.
7 Just as a cistern keeps its water fresh,
so she keeps her wickedness fresh!
Violence and destruction are heard within her,
always before me sickness and wounds.
8 Accept correction, Yerushalayim,
or I will be estranged from you
and turn you into a desolate waste,
a land without inhabitants.”
9 Thus says Adonai-Tzva’ot:
“They will glean the remnant of Isra’el
as thoroughly as in a vineyard —
one last time, like a grape-picker,
pass your hand over the vines.”
10 To whom should I speak? Whom should I warn?
Who will listen to me?
Their ears are dull, they can’t pay attention.
For them the word of Adonai has become
unattractive, an object of scorn.
11 This is why I am full of Adonai’s fury;
I am weary of holding it back.
“Pour it out on the children in the street
and on the groups of young men gathered;
for husbands and wives will be taken together,
seniors as well as the very old.
12 Their homes will be turned over to others,
their fields together with their wives.
Yes, I will stretch out my hand against those
who are living in the land,” says Adonai.
13 “For from the least to the greatest of them,
all are greedy for gains;
prophets and cohanim alike,
they all practice fraud —
14 they dress the wound of my people,
but only superficially,
saying, ‘There is perfect shalom,’
when there is no shalom.
15 “They should be ashamed
of their detestable deeds,
but they are not ashamed at all;
they don’t know how to blush.
Therefore when others fall,
they too will fall;
when I punish them,
they will stumble,” says Adonai.
16 Here is what Adonai says:
“Stand at the crossroads and look;
ask about the ancient paths,
‘Which one is the good way?’
Take it, and you will find rest for your souls.
But they said, ‘We will not take it.’
17 I appointed sentinels to direct them:
‘Listen for the sound of the shofar.’
But they said, ‘We will not listen.’
18 So hear, you nations; know, you assembly,
what there is against them.
19 Hear, oh earth! I am going
to bring disaster on this people;
it is the consequence
of their own way of thinking;
for they pay no attention to my words;
and as for my Torah, they reject it.
20 What do I care about incense from Sh’va
or sweet cane from a distant land?
Your burnt offerings are unacceptable,
your sacrifices don’t please me.”
21 Therefore thus says Adonai:
“I will put obstacles in the way of this people
that they will stumble over —
fathers and sons, neighbors and friends,
all will perish together.”
22 Here is what Adonai says:
“A people is coming from the land of the north,
a great nation will be aroused from the ends of the earth.
23 They will take hold of bow and spear;
they are cruel; they have no compassion:
their noise as they ride on horses
is like the roaring sea;
and they are equipped for battle
against you, daughter of Tziyon.
24 ‘We have heard the news,
and our hands fall limp;
anguish has seized us,
pain like a mother’s in childbirth.’”
25 Don’t go into the countryside,
don’t walk out on the road;
for the sword of the enemy is spreading
terror in every direction.
26 Daughter of my people,
put on sackcloth, roll in ashes,
mourn as if for an only son,
wail most bitterly;
for suddenly the destroyer
will come upon us.
27 “I have made you a refiner and tester of my people,
to know and test how they behave.
28 All of them are total rebels,
spreading slanderous gossip;
they are bronze and iron, [inferior metals,]
all of them corrupt.
29 The bellows blast away;
and though the lead is consumed by the fire,
in vain has the smelter refined,
for the wicked have not been separated.
30 They are called ‘rejected silver,’
because Adonai has rejected them.”
11:1 Here is the word that came to Yirmeyahu from Adonai: 2 “Listen to the words of this covenant; then speak to the people of Y’hudah and the inhabitants of Yerushalayim; 3 tell them that Adonai the God of Isra’el says: ‘A curse on anyone who does not pay attention to the words of this covenant, 4 which I enjoined on your ancestors at the time that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, out of that iron-smelter. I said,
“Listen to my voice,
and carry out all my orders;
then you will be my people,
and I will be your God;
5 so that I can fulfill the oath
that I swore to your ancestors,
to give them a land flowing with milk and honey,
as it is today.”’”
Then I responded, “Amen, Adonai.”
6 Adonai said to me, “Proclaim all these words in the cities of Y’hudah and in the streets of Yerushalayim: ‘Listen to the words of this covenant, and obey them. 7 For I solemnly warned your ancestors at the time when I brought them out of the land of Egypt; and until this day I have frequently warned them, “Listen to my voice!” 8 But they have not listened or paid attention; instead, each one has lived according to the stubbornness of his own evil heart. For this reason I have brought upon them all the words of this covenant, which I ordered them to obey, but which they did not obey.’”
9 Then Adonai said to me, “The men of Y’hudah and the people living in Yerushalayim have formed a conspiracy. 10 They have returned to the sins of their ancestors, who refused to hear my words, and they have gone after other gods to serve them. The house of Isra’el and the house of Y’hudah have broken my covenant which I made with their ancestors.” 11 Therefore Adonai says, “I am going to bring on them a disaster which they will not be able to escape; and even if they cry to me, I will not listen to them. 12 Then the cities of Y’hudah and the people living in Yerushalayim will go and cry to the gods to whom they are making offerings; but they will not save them at all in their time of trouble. 13 For you have as many gods, Y’hudah, as you have towns; and you have erected as many altars for sacrificing to that shameful thing, Ba‘al, as there are streets in Yerushalayim.
14 “So you, [Yirmeyahu,] don’t pray for this people! Don’t cry or pray on their behalf, because I won’t listen to them when they cry to me because of their troubles. 15 What right does my beloved have to be in my house, when she has behaved so shamelessly with so many? Offerings of consecrated meat can no longer help, because it is when you are doing evil that you are happy.”
16 Adonai once called you an olive tree,
beautiful, full of leaves and good fruit.
Now with the roar of a violent storm,
he has set it on fire;
and its branches will be consumed.
17 For Adonai-Tzva’ot, who planted you,
has decreed evil for you.
“It is because of the evil which the house of Isra’el and the house of Y’hudah did to themselves, provoking me with their offerings of incense to Ba‘al.”
18 Adonai made this known to me, and then I knew —
you showed me what they were doing.
19 But I was like a tame lamb
led to be slaughtered;
I did not know that they were plotting
schemes against me —
“Let’s destroy the tree with its fruit,
we’ll cut him off from the land of the living,
so that his name will be forgotten.”
20 Adonai-Tzva’ot, righteous judge,
tester of motives and thoughts,
I have committed my cause to you;
so let me see your vengeance on them.
21 Therefore, here is what Adonai says concerning the men from ‘Anatot who seek your life and who tell you, “Stop prophesying in the name of Adonai, or we will kill you ourselves” — 22 this is what Adonai-Tzva’ot says: “I will punish them. Their young men will die by the sword, their sons and daughters will die by famine. 23 None of them will remain, for I will bring disaster on the men from ‘Anatot when the year comes for them to be punished.”
12:1 Adonai, although you would be in the right
if I were to dispute with you,
nevertheless I want to discuss
some points of justice with you:
Why do the wicked prosper?
Why do the treacherous all thrive?
2 You planted them, and they took root;
they grow, and they bear fruit.
You are near in their mouths,
though far from their hearts.
3 But, Adonai, you know me and see me;
you test my devotion to you;
drag them away like sheep to be slaughtered,
and set them apart for the day of slaughter.
4 How long must the land mourn
and the grass in all the fields wither?
The wild animals and birds are consumed
because of the wickedness of those who live there;
for they say, “He will not see how we end up.”
5 If racing men on foot exhausts you,
how will you compete against horses?
You may feel secure in a land at peace,
but how will you do in the Yarden’s thick brush?
6 For even your own brothers
and your father’s family are betraying you;
they are in full cry after you.
Despite all their nice speech, don’t believe them.
7 “I have abandoned my house,
I have rejected my heritage,
I have given my heart’s beloved
over to the hands of her foes.
8 For me, my heritage has become
like a lion in the forest —
she roared out against me;
so now I hate her.
9 For me, my heritage is like a speckled bird of prey —
other birds of prey surround her and attack her.
Go, gather all the wild animals,
and bring them to devour her.
10 Many shepherds have destroyed my vineyard,
they have trampled my plot of land,
they have turned my desirable property
into a desert waste.
11 Yes, they have made it a waste;
wasted, it mourns to me;
the whole land is wasted,
because nobody really cares.”
12 On all the desert’s bare hills
plunderers have come;
yes, the sword of Adonai devours the land
from one end to the other;
nothing alive is safe.
13 They sowed wheat and reaped thorns,
they wore themselves out and gained nothing.
So be ashamed of your [tiny] harvest,
the result of Adonai’s fierce anger.
14 Here is what Adonai says: “As for all my evil neighbors who encroach on the heritage I gave to my people Isra’el as their possession, I will uproot them from their own land, and I will uproot Y’hudah from among them. 15 Then, after I have uprooted them, I will take pity on them again and bring them back, each one to his inheritance, each one to his own land. 16 Then, if they will carefully learn my people’s ways, swearing by my name, ‘As Adonai lives,’ just as they taught my people to swear by Ba‘al, they will be built up among my people. 17 But if they refuse to listen, then I will uproot that nation, uproot and destroy it,” says Adonai.
Acts 27:27 It was the fourteenth night, and we were still being driven about in the Adriatic Sea, when around midnight the sailors sensed that we were nearing land. 28 So they dropped a plumbline and found the water one hundred and twenty feet deep. A little farther on, they took another sounding and found it ninety feet. 29 Fearing we might run on the rocks, they let out four anchors from the stern and prayed for daylight to come.
30 At this point, the crew made an attempt to abandon ship — they lowered the lifeboat into the sea, pretending that they were about to let out some anchors from the bow. 31 Sha’ul said to the officer and the soldiers, “Unless these men remain aboard the ship, you yourselves cannot be saved.” 32 Then the soldiers cut the ropes holding the lifeboat and let it go.
33 Just before daybreak, Sha’ul urged them all to eat, saying, “Today is the fourteenth day you have been in suspense, going hungry, eating nothing. 34 Therefore I advise you to take some food; you need it for your own survival. For not one of you will lose so much as a hair from his head.” 35 When he had said this, he took bread, said the b’rakhah to God in front of everyone, broke it and began to eat. 36 With courage restored, they all ate some food themselves. 37 Altogether there were 276 of us on board the ship. 38 After they had eaten all they wanted, they lightened the ship by dumping the grain into the sea.
39 When day broke, they didn’t recognize the land; but they noticed a bay with a sand beach, where they decided to run the ship aground if they could. 40 So they cut away the anchors and left them in the sea; at the same time, they loosened the ropes that held the rudders out of the water. Then they hoisted the foresail to the wind and headed for the beach. 41 But they encountered a place where two currents meet, and ran the vessel aground on the sandbar there. The bow stuck and would not move, while the pounding of the surf began to break up the stern.
42 At this point the soldiers’ thought was to kill the prisoners, so that none of them would swim off and escape. 43 But the officer, wanting to save Sha’ul, kept them from carrying out their plan. He ordered those who could swim to throw themselves overboard first and head for shore, 44 and the rest to use planks or whatever they could find from the ship. Thus it was that everyone reached land safely.
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Use these devotions in your newsletter and bulletin! Used by permission; all rights reserved by the Int'l LLL (LHM).
CHANGE THEIR WORLD. CHANGE YOURS.
THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING.
THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING.
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