​It would be easy to celebrate Reformation Day (October 31st) as nothing more than a Lutheran pep rally. “We’ve got the Spirit, yes we do, we’ve got the Spirit how about you?” To which cheerleaders of another denomination – any Christian denomination – could respond with the very same cheer… But then we could respond, “We’ve got God’s grace, yes we do, restored by Luther, how about you?” And proponents of a certain Christian denomination, the one Luther tried to reform, could say, “We’ve got more. We’ve got more” meaning more than God’s grace, meaning we’re saved by Jesus plus what we do. That’s the official teaching. And we would be quick to respond, “You’re. So. Wrong. You’re. So. Wrong., etc.”
 
Let’s be clear: Reformation is not a time for denominational dissing or for misplaced pride in Lutheran heritage/history. I mean, take a real good look at what passes for much of Lutheranism today. There’s quite a bit of “Lutheran in name only.” Reformation isn’t about Martin Luther or Lutherans. It’s about God’s grace, how God restored the truth of his pure Gospel to the Christian church after it had long been obscured by the church of the Middle Ages. Simply put, Reformation is about Jesus. It’s always about Jesus and his truth, truth that grants us spiritual freedom.
 
In John 8, we find yet another testy exchange between Jesus and the Jews, a verbal showdown between law or Gospel, works or grace, as the way to heaven. To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you remain in my word, you are really my disciples. You will also know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (John 8:31,32  EHV)
 
The response? Pride in their pedigree. Huffing about their heritage. “Wait just a minute – have you seen our birth certificates? We’ve got the blood of Abraham flowing through our veins. We’ve never been slaves of anyone. We’re free.”
 
But they were not free. Because of our sinful nature, no one is free by nature and no one can get himself out of this fatal dilemma. We and all people are born slaves to sin. We don’t need pedigree. We don’t need the filthy rags of our own works. We need the Word. We need Jesus. We need grace.
 
It couldn’t be clearer. Jesus says, “If the Son sets you free, you really will be free indeed.” (John 8:36) Freedom! Freedom from sin, fear, guilt, death, and hell. Freedom from having to do the impossible and try to save ourselves. Freedom to know and believe that Jesus became your/my sin on the cross. Freedom to know and believe that his righteousness is credited to us as a gift through faith, which is also God’s gift. Freedom, blessed freedom to know and believe that heaven’s gates are open wide. Freedom to respond to God’s amazing work in our lives by doing what Jesus tells us to do here, to hold to his teaching.
    
When did reformation really begin? The most famous date (and the reason we celebrate this festival this weekend) is October 31, 1517, when Martin Luther posted the 95 Theses on the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany.
    
Others prefer a different date. June 25, 1530, the day when a group of German princes presented Emperor Charles V with the Augsburg Confession, a document that defined and defended the teachings of the Lutheran church. This date is often referred to as the birthday of the Lutheran church because of the bold unity expressed that day.
    
If you don’t like those dates, how about 1514? That was when Luther had his so-called “tower experience,” when the Lord led him to realize that the righteousness that matters before God is not the righteousness that individuals bring to God by obeying the law. Instead, the righteousness God demands is the righteousness God himself gives through faith in Jesus Christ.
    
When did reformation begin? It wasn’t in 1514 or 1517 or 1530. Reformation began in the Garden of Eden, and it was the Lord himself who did the reforming. He promised restoration to Adam and Eve and he delivered. He’s been restoring and reforming ever since. Reformation continues today, October 28, 2020, right now, in your heart and life, through his Word.
    
The Son has set you free. You are free indeed.
 
To God alone be the glory,
 
Pastor Stephen Luchterhand

​Are you of the Pelagian persuasion? Do you have semi-Pelagian tendencies?
 
About 400 AD, Satan attacked the Christian church through a man named Pelagius. Appalled by the lax morals of Roman Christians, Pelagius advocated strict moral teaching. He placed all the emphasis for improving human behavior on the human will. How could he do this, in light of the fact the Scripture says that we are sinful by nature and unable to produce any righteous living on our own?
 
Simple. Pelagius denied the existence of original sin. He denied the need for infant baptism. He argued that the corruption of the human race is not inborn, but is due to bad example and habit. He argued that mankind was not adversely affected by Adam’s Fall into sin.
 
These denials of Scriptural truth made it easy for Pelagius to assert that human beings can lead righteous lives and merit heaven by their own efforts. He taught that true grace lies in the natural gifts of humanity, including free will, reason, and conscience. For Pelagius, faith and doctrine hardly mattered because the essence of religion is moral action.
 
The above tends toward wonkishness and deep theological discussion. Is there a point? Again, the questions: Are you of the Pelagian persuasion? Do you have semi-Pelagian tendencies?
 
Our sinful nature has definite Pelagian tendencies. Why can’t I make it to heaven on my own efforts? I’m “better” than people on death row and just about everyone who lives on my block! Even after we come to faith, sin and Satan try to make semi-Pelagists out of us. Surely, I must do something to earn God’s favor! Surely, some of what I do and who I am counts toward my salvation!
 
A large segment of Christianity today still holds to semi-Pelagianism, that there can be righteousness within us that God accepts toward salvation, that is, we are saved by Christ plus works.
 
Except that Scripture says differently…This is the text that made Martin Luther and fueled the Reformation: “In the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: ‘The righteous will live by faith.’” (Romans 1:17)
 
Where does righteousness come from? Not from self. From God through Christ! Our salvation is all God’s doing. Thanks to God for his wondrous, complete grace! Thanks to God for his servant Martin Luther through whom He restored the truth of the Gospel at the time of the Reformation.
 
Live free, especially free of Pelagian ideas. Live at peace. Live confidently. Know that your salvation is complete…in Christ alone.
 
Live free in Christ!
 
Pastor Stephen Luchterhand

​Has it happened to you? Someone finds out that you are “Lutheran” and the response is, well, underwhelming. And then they find out that you’re a confessional Lutheran – WELS, even (what is that, anyway?!; wait for it, here it comes…), someone who holds to the truth of the powerful, inerrant, unchanging Word of God without reservation. It’s hard, but most people do avoid rolling their eyes and/or making little circles around their ears to indicate that they think you’re, well, less than wholly present.
 
Don’t apologize. Please. Today, there are strains of Lutheranism that are, well, not really Lutheran anymore. But to be a confessional Lutheran is to actually confess and believe some very important, unchanging truths.
 
Martin Luther didn’t want to start a new church. He wanted to reform the existing church from within, but he was kicked out. So he ended up forming a new church. He did say, “The first thing I ask is that people should not make use of my name, and should not call themselves Lutherans but Christians. What is Luther? The teaching is not mine. Nor was I crucified for anyone...How did I, poor stinking bag of maggots that I am, come to the point where people call the children of Christ by my evil name?” It’s not about me, he said. It’s about Christ! 
 
The name took hold and it’s still” Lutheran” 500 years later. But it’s not something to apologize for. It’s not something to be embarrassed about, or to be ashamed of, because Lutherans are Christ-centered. This is a simple truth. It’s a powerful truth, to simply proclaim what the Scriptures do. How can I be saved? How do I get right with God? In Christ alone!
 
This simple, powerful message had been all but lost at Luther’s time. Christianity, believe it or not, was complicated and cluttered in the 1500’s. It was anything but Christ-centered. The church of his day proclaimed Christ, but the message was Christ, plus something else. Christ, plus indulgences. Christ, plus works. Christ, plus penance. Christ, plus piety. Christ, plus prayer. Christ, plus priest as mediator.  But if you add something to Christ, if you add anything at all to Christ, what you end up with is: nothing.
 
Christ plus something equals nothing at all, because, if the way to heaven is Christ plus something then, we’ve got the law in the equation of salvation. But I can’t keep God’s law. No one can. “No one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin.”  (Romans 3:20) In fact, the more we try to be right with God, the more we give him our efforts, the further we are lost.
 
Luther knew the feeling. He lived it the first half of his life. He anguished over the fact that he could not do enough (really, anything!) to be right with God. Sin and guilt stood in the way for him and for us; an impenetrable, immovable, unclimbable barrier. But then, Luther discovered this, “But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify.  This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe.” (Romans 3:21,22)
 
The righteousness that saves does not come from us.  It is not found in the world. It comes from God. It’s a gift from God through faith, as it is found only in Christ.
 
It’s Jesus righteous, perfect, sinless life, a life that ended in death, a death that was the perfect, bloody, innocent sacrifice on Calvary’s cross, that paid the high, high price of all of our unrighteousness. That this is all God’s doing, is highlighted by these words, “There is no difference because all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”  And then Paul goes on, “And all are justified freely by his grace, through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.” (Romans 3:23,24) It’s all about Christ, His righteousness, His sacrifice, His resurrection.
 
Luther wrote, “God would tie and attach us to this one person, Christ, born of Mary, and having real flesh and blood.  We’re neither to seek, nor to find God, for we are to grasp and find God only through faith in the flesh and blood of Christ.” Well, how do we grasp God?  How do we become part of his family? It comes through the Gospel, the good news about Jesus. 
 
To say that Lutherans are Christ-centered is also to say that Lutherans (confessional Lutherans) are very serious about the Word and the Sacraments, which are the means of grace, the means by which God gives us his grace.  We have the Word of God.  Every time we hear it, every time we read it, we see Christ.  Romans 10:17, “Faith comes from hearing the message and the message is heard through the Word of Christ.”  Every time we see a baptism, every time we remember our own baptism. We see Christ. Every time we receive the Lord’s Supper, we see, and taste, and touch Christ, and his forgiveness, in a very personal way.  It’s all about Christ!
 
This devotion is a bit longer than usual and perhaps a bit more theologically heavy than usual. Reformation (October 31) is coming. I won’t apologize! If you made it this far, good. May God continue to strengthen you through his Christ-centered Word offered through the blessing of a Christ-centered Lutheran congregation. Please, don’t apologize for being Lutheran. Rejoice, and praise Christ!
 
In Christ,
 
Pastor Stephen Luchterhand

Hectic. Hassled. Hurried. And that’s before you get out of bed in the morning. Rising COVID cases, mandates, emergency orders, restrictions, things “not normal.” Upcoming: the election, Thanksgiving, Christmas, navigating family gatherings. Distractions, busyness, stress will rise faster than those positivity rates for coronavirus (at least in WI.)

Throw in a huge unexpected challenge or two (my family has at least one “extra” at this time) and “distracted” doesn’t even begin to describe the feeling.

Overwhelmed. Frustrated. At wits’ end. At a loss for words. Or deeds. Helpless. Hopeless. Don’t know where to begin.

What to do? Even the “normal” stress of life throws us off. How to handle all of this? As younger folk among us like to say: “I can’t even…”

No preaching here. No lengthy dissertation or involved Scripture study. Just one thing – take Jesus up on his invitation: “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.” (Mark 6:31)

One more thought. It isn’t mine; it’s from God. But it’s one of my favorites. It’s a “go to” for me. “Be still, and know that I am God.” (Psalm 46:10). Two reminders here: I am not God; He, God, is God. Thank goodness. And, calm down/be quiet/stop!/be still. In his presence.

Exactly what I need. Gotta go…be with Jesus.

Peace in Jesus,
​
Pastor Stephen Luchterhand