Monthly Archives: June 2015

Unknown's avatar Rev. David J. Schreffler 4:44 am on June 4, 2015
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Who Needs a Map? — Rev. David J. Schreffler

June 4, 2015

“Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by giving heed to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons, through the pretensions of liars whose consciences are seared, who forbid marriage and enjoin abstinence from foods which G*d created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. For everything created by G*d is good…”   1 Timothy 4:1-4

“Now theology is like the map. Merely learning and thinking about the Christian doctrines, if you stop there, is less real and less exciting than the sort of thing my friend got in the desert (when he felt G*d’s presence while out alone under the stars). Doctrines are not G*d: they are only a kind of map. But that map is based on the experience of hundreds of people who really were in touch with G*d — experiences compared with which any thrills or pious feelings you and I are likely to get on our own are very elementary and very confused. If you want to get any further, you must use the map.” C.S.Lewis (1898 – 1963) Mere Christianity

I wonder how many young people, under the age of 16, have ever seen a “fold-out Map”? Paper maps are good – they give you a two-dimensional picture of a state, roads, counties, landmarks like rivers and mountains, etc. What most people use today are the GPS devices, either separate devices or systems that are available to download on cell phones. The GPS not only finds the most direct route to a destination, but it can tell you down to the minute when you will get somewhere, how far away your destination is, and may even tell you about construction or other possible impediments along the way. And you can also access a satellite picture of any place you might like to see through other means, using that same cell phone. Your fold-out map cannot do that.

So many times we think we have to experience something to appreciate it rather than take someone else’s opinion or description. Or we believe that the newest gadget or “theory” is better than the old ways. This isn’t necessarily true with our understanding of G*d and His son Jesus Christ. The further we get from the Apostolic experience, the more we lose touch with their struggle to understand who Jesus was, and to put that struggle on paper in doctrines, creeds, councils, and theological treatises. When we read their struggles and writings, it helps us and forms our own struggles and experiences. But, first we have to pull out the map and read it before we know where we really are going. A GPS is good, but having the map along to support it is that much better.

Pastor Dave

Unknown's avatar Rev. David J. Schreffler 4:44 am on June 3, 2015
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Mystical Identification — Rev. David J. Schreffler

June 3, 2015

“I hope to come to you soon, but I am writing these instructions to you so that, if I am delayed, you may know how one ought to behave in the household of G*d, which is the church of the living G*d, the pillars and the bulwark of the truth. Great indeed, we confess, is the mystery of our religion:

He was manifested in the flesh, vindicated in the Spirit, seen by angels, preached among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory” 1 Timothy 3:14-16

“All I know,” Paul would have told you, “is that when Jesus Christ became man, you and I were somehow mystically identified with him. His life, not just by the circumstances of it but by the whole purpose and dedication of it, led up to his death on the cross. And when he died, you and I, mystically identified with him, became dead to our old life of sin and disobedience; we were buried with him, and rose again with him into a new life, in which G*d is our sun and Christ is the air we breathe.” Ronald Knox (1888 – 1957) Pastoral Sermons, “For All The Saints” volume II, (p. 57)

The “Incarnation” and the “Atonement”: Incarnation is the coming of Christ in flesh, truly human, born as a child, truly a human being. The Atonement is the sacrificial act of the Cross, dying for our sins so that we might be saved through him. The Incarnation is easy to understand (maybe) because we have all been born to a mother and lived and grown as a human. But Atonement theories abound — and have abounded since the generations after the resurrection. “Why did Jesus have to die?” If I have heard that question once, I have heard it a thousand times. Christ died because how else will humans be able to make ourselves right with G*d.

Here is one example of an “Atonement Theory” formulated by the medieval theologian Anselm of Canterbury (1033-1109):

“Anselm believed that humans could not render to God more than what was due to him. The satisfaction due to God was greater than what all created beings are capable of doing, since they can only do what is already required of them. Therefore, God had to make satisfaction for himself. Yet if this satisfaction was going to avail for humans, it had to be made by a human. Therefore only a being that was both God and man could satisfy God and give him the honor that is due him.”

“All I know,” Paul would have told you, “is that when Jesus Christ became man, you and I were somehow mystically identified with him” says Ronald Knox. What G*d has done for us through Christ is a mystery, but one day it will all be made clear for you and for me. Until then, we trust that what Christ has done does make us right with G*d.

Pastor Dave