1 Cor 2:2 For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.
1 Cor 1:20 Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 21 For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. 22 For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, 23 but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, 24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
Gal 5:11 But if I, brothers, still preach circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case the offense of the cross has been removed.
The Cross of Christ is an offense and a stumbling block not only to the unbeliever but to the believer as well.
Our Old Man is constantly trying to reassert his position of dominance in our lives. In our flesh we find ourselves doubting the complete and total forgiveness that Christ won for us on the cross. Those old thoughts about needing to earn or deserve our salvation creep sometimes imperceptibly to the front of our minds and begin to affect our actions and our attitudes.
The Old Man absolutely hates the thought that he is a condemned sinner, completely unworthy of salvation, that nothing good lies within him. (Rom 7:18) He wants desperately to be self-reliant, insisting that he is not really all bad, that there is something good in there somewhere. He bristles at the thought that he is completely depraved - both his body and mind - and is completely and utterly helpless to do or decide or deserve anything that can save him.
The Old Man seeks to glorify himself by obedience to rules and condemnation of our fellow sinners. The Old Man tells us that if we try hard enough that we can live a sinless life, and then we can earn God's blessings.
The Old Man can also sometimes convince us that our sins are not really that bad after all, and anyway all our sins are forgiven already, so if God doesn't count them against me why should I worry?
This is why we must daily take up our cross and follow Christ. We must daily put off the Old Man and put on Christ.
Eph 4:20 But that is not the way you learned Christ!— 21 assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, 22 to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, 23 and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, 24 and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.
Lutherans are taught and reminded to daily "remember our baptism" since in our baptism we are baptized into Christ's death and raised to walk in the newness of life.
Gal 3:27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
Rom 6:4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. 6 We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.
As Luther wrote in his Small Catechism, "that the Old Adam in us should by daily contrition and repentance be drowned and die with all sins and evil desires, and that a new man should daily emerge and arise to live before God in righteousness and purity forever."
We strive, though we often fail, to live in our baptism every second or our lives. We ask God to grant us the grace of a true repentance from not only our sinful thoughts, words and deeds, but also from our sinful attitudes of fleshly rule-following and sin-discounting.
Yet we rest assured that as a baptized child of the Living God, we are co-heirs with Christ and through him have inherited eternal life. On the Cross he earned forgiveness of our sins that is poured out richly on us. In him alone is our righteousness.
God's own child, I gladly say it:
I am baptized into Christ!
He, because I could not pay it,
Gave my full redemption price.
Do I need earth's treasure many?
I have one worth more than any
That brought me salvation free
Lasting to eternity!
Sin, disturb my soul no longer:
I am baptized into Christ!
I have comfort even stronger:
Jesus' cleansing sacrifice.
Should a guilty conscience seize me
Since my Baptism did release me
In a dear forgiving flood,
Sprinkling me with Jesus' blood?
Satan, hear this proclamation:
I am baptized into Christ!
Drop your ugly accusation,
I am not so soon enticed.
Now that to the font I've traveled,
All your might has come unraveled,
And, against your tyranny,
God, my Lord, unites with me!
Death, you cannot end my gladness:
I am baptized into Christ!
When I die, I leave all sadness
To inherit paradise!
Though I lie in dust and ashes
Faith's assurance brightly flashes:
Baptism has the strength divine
To make life immortal mine.
There is nothing worth comparing
To this lifelong comfort sure!
Open-eyed my grave is staring:
Even there I'll sleep secure.
Though my flesh awaits its raising,
Still my soul continues praising:
I am baptized into Christ;
I'm a child of paradise!
Erdmann Neumeister (1671-1756)
Trans. Robert Voelker
1 Cor 1:20 Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 21 For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. 22 For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, 23 but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, 24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
Gal 5:11 But if I, brothers, still preach circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case the offense of the cross has been removed.
The Cross of Christ is an offense and a stumbling block not only to the unbeliever but to the believer as well.
Our Old Man is constantly trying to reassert his position of dominance in our lives. In our flesh we find ourselves doubting the complete and total forgiveness that Christ won for us on the cross. Those old thoughts about needing to earn or deserve our salvation creep sometimes imperceptibly to the front of our minds and begin to affect our actions and our attitudes.
The Old Man absolutely hates the thought that he is a condemned sinner, completely unworthy of salvation, that nothing good lies within him. (Rom 7:18) He wants desperately to be self-reliant, insisting that he is not really all bad, that there is something good in there somewhere. He bristles at the thought that he is completely depraved - both his body and mind - and is completely and utterly helpless to do or decide or deserve anything that can save him.
The Old Man seeks to glorify himself by obedience to rules and condemnation of our fellow sinners. The Old Man tells us that if we try hard enough that we can live a sinless life, and then we can earn God's blessings.
The Old Man can also sometimes convince us that our sins are not really that bad after all, and anyway all our sins are forgiven already, so if God doesn't count them against me why should I worry?
This is why we must daily take up our cross and follow Christ. We must daily put off the Old Man and put on Christ.
Eph 4:20 But that is not the way you learned Christ!— 21 assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, 22 to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, 23 and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, 24 and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.
Lutherans are taught and reminded to daily "remember our baptism" since in our baptism we are baptized into Christ's death and raised to walk in the newness of life.
Gal 3:27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
Rom 6:4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. 6 We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.
As Luther wrote in his Small Catechism, "that the Old Adam in us should by daily contrition and repentance be drowned and die with all sins and evil desires, and that a new man should daily emerge and arise to live before God in righteousness and purity forever."
We strive, though we often fail, to live in our baptism every second or our lives. We ask God to grant us the grace of a true repentance from not only our sinful thoughts, words and deeds, but also from our sinful attitudes of fleshly rule-following and sin-discounting.
Yet we rest assured that as a baptized child of the Living God, we are co-heirs with Christ and through him have inherited eternal life. On the Cross he earned forgiveness of our sins that is poured out richly on us. In him alone is our righteousness.
God's own child, I gladly say it:
I am baptized into Christ!
He, because I could not pay it,
Gave my full redemption price.
Do I need earth's treasure many?
I have one worth more than any
That brought me salvation free
Lasting to eternity!
Sin, disturb my soul no longer:
I am baptized into Christ!
I have comfort even stronger:
Jesus' cleansing sacrifice.
Should a guilty conscience seize me
Since my Baptism did release me
In a dear forgiving flood,
Sprinkling me with Jesus' blood?
Satan, hear this proclamation:
I am baptized into Christ!
Drop your ugly accusation,
I am not so soon enticed.
Now that to the font I've traveled,
All your might has come unraveled,
And, against your tyranny,
God, my Lord, unites with me!
Death, you cannot end my gladness:
I am baptized into Christ!
When I die, I leave all sadness
To inherit paradise!
Though I lie in dust and ashes
Faith's assurance brightly flashes:
Baptism has the strength divine
To make life immortal mine.
There is nothing worth comparing
To this lifelong comfort sure!
Open-eyed my grave is staring:
Even there I'll sleep secure.
Though my flesh awaits its raising,
Still my soul continues praising:
I am baptized into Christ;
I'm a child of paradise!
Erdmann Neumeister (1671-1756)
Trans. Robert Voelker
