The Authority of the Church.

"One is your Master, even Christ; and all ye are brethren."   Matthew 23:8

Acknowledging no authority but His, the disciples of Christ were to be among themselves a common brotherhood, a spiritual government  — the family of God. And when He withdrew from them His visible presence, He henceforth dwelt among them in His Word and Sacraments. By these means of grace He filled them with all the fruits of His redemption, and these means of grace He committed to His Church as an everlasting inheritance. This, then, is the Church: the company of disciples under the headship and leadership of Christ. Christ is the Euler; for He alone has authority in His kingdom, in His holy Christian Church.

And this authority He exercises through the Word. He there­ fore declares: “If ye continue in My Word, then are ye My dis­ ciples indeed.” To this supreme court our Church appeals to deter­ mine and to decide all articles of faith, to regulate all actions, settle all questions that may arise, adjust all difficulties, end all controversies. That authority is the highest court of appeal. The authority of Holy Writ is final. The rule and standard is: “Thus saith the Lord! It is written! Speak, Lord, for Thy servant heareth.”

No council, synod, or any representative body, much less any Church Father, professor, doctor of divinity, or ministerial asso­ ciation, has any authority in the Church beyond that of the Word of God; no, decidedly not; for — “ all ye are brethren.” But whatever the Bible declares to be the truth, that the Christian Church accepts as true. Whatever the Bible declares to be error, that the Christian Church rejects, though the whole world, aye, an angel from heaven, should commend it as the sublimest wisdom. You cannot evade this authority, my dear Christian. If you do not submit to the Word of Christ, you are a spiritual rebel, a fugi­ tive from divine justice, a standing insult to the divine authority of the King of kings and Lord of lords.

Prayer.

O Lord Jesus Christ, Thou sole Authority and in Thy Church Thou only true Master of all Christendom, help us to labor with might and main to maintain and retain in our midst the Word of God in all its purity, to contribute willingly of our means toward the maintenance of Lutheran churches and schools, that the true visible Church may grow and our children’s children may find in it the way of salvation. And grant us grace to remain saints of the holy Christian Church also by leading holy, godly lives; for we are the temple of God, and the Spirit of God dwells in us. Amen.

Thou holy Light, our Guide divine,
O cause the Word of Life to shine; Teach us to know our God aright
And call Him Father with delight. From error, Lord, our souls defend That they on Christ alone attend,
In Him with living faith abiding,
In Him with all their might confiding.

 DAILY READINGS IN THE LIFE OF CHRIST - J.R. Miller (1890)

March 15. Bread from Heaven

"I have meat to eat that ye know not of." John 4:32

The disciples had left Jesus hungry, when they went away to buy bread; they came back to find His hunger departed, and in these words we have the reason He gave for it. He was intently engaged in His Father's work, doing His will — and in this He found perfect satisfaction. He had found spiritual refreshment — and His bodily weariness and hunger had vanished. His joy in saving a poor lost soul was so great that it made Him forget His hunger. But the joy was not the only food which Christ had; while doing His Father's work special divine grace was imparted to Him from Heaven, which nourished and strengthened Him. He literally fed on bread from heaven — spiritual bread.

We have other examples of the same. When He had gone through His sore temptation and was "hungry," we are told that angels came and ministered unto Him. In Gethsemane also, after His bitter agony, we read that an angel appeared from Heaven strengthening Him. May we not suppose that always when He had any special service, costing Him an outlay of strength, spiritual refreshment was imparted to Him in some secret way by His Father?

Certainly we have the promise of this in our lives. When Paul asked that his trouble, His "thorn in the flesh," might be removed, the answer was," No: my grace is sufficient for you; for my strength is made perfect in weakness." When we are united to Christ, our weakness is united to His strength, our emptiness is united to His fullness, for all our need — there flows to us from Him a supply adequate to our want.

We see constant illustrations of this in our homes, where frail ones called to nurse the sick are sustained in a wonderful way through long, wearisome days and sleepless nights of vigil, as if nourished with supernatural food. They have food to eat that others know not of. There flows strength for their need, from Christ's fullness

 The Long Farewell.

We are ever taking leave of something that will not

come back again. We let go, with a pang, portion after

potion of our existence. However dreary we may have

felt life to be here, yet when that hour comes—the wind-

ing up of all things, the last rush of darkness on our

spirits, the hour of that sudden wrench from all we have

ever known or loved, the long farewell to sun, moon,

stars and light—brother men! I ask you this day, and I

ask myself, humbly_and fearfully, what will then be fin-

ished? When it is finished, whaz will it be? Will it

be the butterfly existence of pleasure, the mere life of

science, a life of uninterrupted sin and selfish gratifica-

tion? Or will it be: ‘‘Father, I have finished the work

which Thou gavest me to do”?

——F. W. RoBErRTSON.

 

 DAILY READINGDS IN LIFE OF CHRIST - J.R. Miller (1890)

March 14. True Worship

"God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth." John 4:24

God loves to be worshiped — to have the praise, the adoration, and the homage of His children. In the olden days, burning incense was the symbol of worship; its fragrance rose up toward Heaven, and God smelled a sweet savor. What the fragrance of flowers coming up from dew-anointed fields and gardens is to us — the breath of true worship as it ascends from earth's believing hearts is to God. God is well pleased with it. He is not satisfied with bare, cold obedience. What parent would be content with mere dutifulness, such as a slave might render to a master — without affection, confidence, regard? God cannot be pleased with the most scrupulous external obedience if there is no heart in it. We must obey Him — because we love Him.

This word tells us also how we may worship God, if our worship is to be acceptable. It must be spiritual worship which we render Him. Stately forms please Him not in themselves. The music of splendid choirs and the repeating of creeds and prayers, do not make worship. Worship is heart-adoration, and the only true homage that rises from an assembly or from a private closet where one bows alone — is just the love and praise and prayer and devotion of hearts ascending in the words of human lips. No mere forms of worship are acceptable; the form must be breathed full of love and life. No offerings or gifts avail in worship — unless they are the expression of holy affections.

The teaching is not that we are not to use forms of worship; we cannot worship well without forms. The most basic ritual and the simplest ceremony will be pleasing to God — if heart's love fill them. But the most magnificent ritual will be empty of real worship, and will be an abomination to God — if there is no true worship of the spirit in it. All depends upon what we put into the forms.

Which Is the True Visible Church?

"Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen." Matt. 28:20.

It is not immaterial which one of the numerous visible churches we join; we must belong to the true one. Which is the true visible Church? God would have all men belong to the right one. We should not enter into union with false believers. Christ says: “Beware of false prophets!” His apostle warns: “Avoid them!” To be right and God-pleasing, a church union must follow Christ’s rule: “If ye continue in My Word, then are ye My disciples indeed” and: “Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you.”

Which, then, according to what we have now heard, is the true visible Church on earth ? It is the Church which teaches the entire doctrine of the Word of God. It is the Church which observes all things that Christ has commanded us to teach. But does the so- called Christian Church of to-day teach the whole Word of Christ pure and undefiled? Although all the various denominations pro­ fess that they do, yet we find that in most cases their statement is not true. They have to a great extent rejected the true doctrine of the Word of God.

But — praise and thanks to the gracious God! — there is

a Church that teaches all the doctrines of the Word of God in their

God-given purity and duly administers the Sacraments according

to Christ’s institution. This is our dear Lutheran Church. Our .

teaching and preaching is based solely upon the Word of God. The

Scriptures rule supreme in our Church. When we thus speak of

the Lutheran Church, we mean the Church as it has laid down its

Creed in the Symbolical Books of the Lutheran Church. In so far

we have a right to speak thus of our Church. In our Confessions

our doctrinal position has been laid down with such extreme care

that no one has yet succeeded in pointing out to us any doctrinal

deviation from the Bible. Especially do we accept the doctrine of

justification alone by grace.

Prayer.

O Thou God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, graciously bless Thy Church upon earth and endow Thy servants with the gifts of Thy grace that they may rightly dispense Thy Word and Sacraments to all the people to the strengthening of their faith in Thee and the increase of love toward all men. Clothe Thy Church with the beauty of holiness and peace. Let no weapon prosper that is formed against her. Encourage the hearts and strengthen the hands of Thy faithful people in every place. Amen.

Lord Jesus, help, Thy Church uphold, 

For we are sluggish, thoughtless, cold; 

Indue Thy Word with power and grace 

And spread its truth in every place.

O keep us in Thy Word, we pray;

The guile and rage of Satan stay;

Unto Thy Church grant, Lord, 

Thy grace, Peace, concord, patience, fearlessness. 

 In the Visible Church There Is Much Rubbish.

"The kingdom of heaven is like unto a net that was cast into the sea and gathered of every kind; which, when it was full, they drew to shore and sat down and gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad away." Matt. 18:47-48.

The kingdom of heaven, that is, the Church, is likened by our Lord to a net cast into the sea. The net spoken of is a hauling-net, which was sometimes half a mile in length. A net of such dimen­ sions will naturally enclose fish of all sizes and kinds, some bad and others good. And so it is with the net of the Gospel. It is a large draw-net; it is not merely let down into one stream or river, but it dips the ocean, the wide and open sea of the world, and its threads are so strong, so well knitted together, that scarcely a single fish can escape. In other words, we have here a picture of the all-embracing Church of Christ, the preaching of the Gospel to every nation. But as the divine fishermen, the ministers of Christ, cast their net and enclose an abundance of human fishes, they find that not all are of the same quality; it is a mixed and motley multitude.

Behold, then, such is the outward appearance of the Church upon earth. Where the true Church is established, there you will find the sad effects of Satan’s pernicious work. You will find wicked people among the good, godlessness developing alongside of piety, vice cropping forth on the very side of virtue, and children of the Evil One standing next to the children of God. This has always been the case, and thus it will be to the end of the world. Was there not a Judas among the disciples of Christ? Do we not find divisions in the congregations of the early Church, much quar­ rel and angry controversy among the members, injustice, a wrong use of the Lord’s Supper, false prophets, men denying the doctrine

of the resurrection, even a man who had committed incest? Is there a congregation or a whole church-body which has arrived at the stage of perfection? There is no such congregation or Church on earth; and why ? Because Satan will always corrupt the divine Word; and our hearts, corrupted by sin, are always susceptible of all that is evil.

Prayer.

O almighty God, I come to Thee laden with sin and confess that I have deserved eternal damnation, being not only by nature a child of wrath and sold under sin, but having times untold trans­ gressed all Thy commandments. But I take refuge in Thy bound­ less mercy and humbly pray Thee, enter not into judgment with me, but for Thy name’s sake pardon mine iniquity. O Lord, here on earth Thy Church is polluted with many offenses; but at the end of the world a great change will come. Then a separation will take place. The good will be gathered into heaven, but the bad will be cast into eternal darkness. I submit to Thy will; do Thou as it seemeth good unto Thee; for Thine I am and would remain. Amen.