Life is Misery and Joy

and the altar confesses

1/ Fear is the Beginning (Psalm 111:10)

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom;
all those who practice it have a good understanding.
His praise endures forever!

2/ Announcements, lots of announcements

Conferences Upcoming:

• October 22: Theology of Pronouns, a Young Adult Conference (St Paul Austin, Pastors Kachelmeier and Wolfmueller, link for more info)

• November 5: Creation Conference (St Paul Austin, Dr Heck and Pr Wolfmueller, link for more info)

Substack Subscriptions

• You can now Subscribe to Wednesday What-Not for $5 a month. What will change? Nothing. Everything published here will be free. (I always want to make as much as possible available for free, including all these books.) But, your subscription will help continue the production of joyful theology. (And there are some exciting plans in the works which your support will make possible. I’m looking to hire a part-time producer and editor to help me keep cranking out all the stuff.)

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Reformation Heritage Tour, 2023

• We’ve got the dates for our Germany tour next summer: May 31-June 12, 2023. We'll start in Frankfurt, end in Berlin, and dive deep into the history and Biblical theology of the Reformation.

  We’ll study the Heidelberg Disputation in Heidelberg, and read some of Luther’s letters to Melanchthon written from Coburg while we visit the Coburg Castle. We’ll be in Leipzig for the Bach Festival and Wittenberg for the marriage festival of Martin and Katie.

  Click here for more details, and to let us know you are interested.

  

3/ Life is Misery

Ha! Here’s an encouraging quotation from Luther:

“Bear in mind that this life is nothing else than misery itself.” (Luther on Genesis 28:1)

Alright, here’s the context. Not as gloomy…

Therefore take heart, and bear in mind that this life is nothing else than misery itself. You will overcome the troubles, toils, and difficulties of this misery if you look to God, your Creator and Father, to whose will and ordinance you should submit yourself in humility and patience by concluding as follows: “I believe in God, who has created me a man; and I shall thank Him that I have His Word and that it has pleased Him for me to be a husband, to be a wife, in order that I may bring up offspring and govern the household, and that through the Gospel I have the promise of eternal life and consolation in this present life.” Thus Paul says in 1 Tim. 4:8: “Godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come.” And in Rom. 15:4 he writes: “Whatever was written … was written for our instruction, that by steadfastness and encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.”

This came up today in the Worldwide Bible Study. There is some really profound stuff in there about being Creature.

4/ Ignatius to the Ephesians

The church was faithful to the truth, and that was Ignatius’ joy.

Now the way is unerring, namely, Jesus Christ. For, says He, “I am the way and the life.” And this way leads to the Father. For “no man,” says He, “cometh to the Father but by Me.” Blessed, then, are ye who are God-bearers, spirit-bearers, temple-bearers, bearers of holiness, adorned in all respects with the commandments of Jesus Christ, being “a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people,” on whose account I rejoice exceedingly, and have had the privilege, by this Epistle, of conversing with “the saints which are at Ephesus, the faithful in Christ Jesus.” I rejoice, therefore, over you, that ye do not give heed to vanity, and love nothing according to the flesh, but according to God.

The Christian as “God-bearer” is profound. That name is most often associated with Mary, the Mother of our Lord.

When we were driving from New Mexico this weekend Keri asked me, “How do you defend closed communion from the Scriptures?” I outlined an argument that I think will make a helpful video, but one of the main parts of the conversation had to do with what an altar means.

The Bible understands “Altar” as confession. “Consider the people of Israel: are not those who eat the sacrifices participants in the altar?” (1 Corinthains 10:18). Ignatius has something of this too. “Let no man deceive himself: if any one be not within the altar, he is deprived of the bread of God.” (Ignatius to the Ephesians, V)

5/ Lutheran Liturgy Explained

Two Weeks ago we included explanations of the liturgy in the service at St Paul. If you are interested, you can watch that unfold here:

6/ Images of Hope: The Pieta

Here is a nice article on an artistic masterpiece. Thank you for the recommendation, Laurie.

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Remember to go to your pastor's Bible Class this week and, read old theology books. (If you don't have a pastor or congregation, click here. If you don't have old theology books, click here.) 

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Thank you, again, for your time and attention, and for your prayers. Please keep in touch. 

Lord's Blessings, Pastor Wolfmueller

2 Corinthians 1:3-4

www.wolfmueller.co

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