I really don't want to make this thread about ME. (although 'Me' is a big problem lol), but I appreciate your time and effort in explaining this. (I'll continue asking).
For example, I know that the pastor is not special, but why do I need to hear "Your sins are forgiven"?, when i can read it in the scriptures, 'all who call on the name of the lord, shall be saved' or 'we have remission of sins through the shed blood of Jesus Christ'. I can confidently trust God's Word over man's word, (especially if he is parroting a formula from the Confessions of his Church).
Key, here, is that "your sins are forgiven" is what Christ says. He died
for you. His blood was shed
for you. That's the Good News, that's Jesus' Gospel. You, a sinner, are ransomed with the precious blood of Jesus Christ, you are forgiven.
Those words, therefore, are necessary because they are true. They are, literally,
Gospel.
Do you need Jesus right now? Do you need the precious shed blood of Jesus right now--today, this very moment? How about tomorrow, will you need Jesus tomorrow?
YES! Of course you do. We all do. We do not have a religion that says, "A long time ago there was a man named Jesus, who also happened to be God, and He did this thing for us, and isn't that nice--now go earn your way into God's favor". We have a religion that says Christ died as the Lamb of God
slain from before the foundation of the world. The everlasting Gospel, the Good News, from God, to us sinners is Jesus Christ, born of Mary, who suffered under Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried, who rose on the third day.
It's not as though I used to be a sinner, but then I signed my name on the dotted line and, like a transaction, God says "Okay, I guess you don't have to go to hell now". No! Christ destroyed the very power of hell by dying, to destroy the works of the devil, to destroy the slavery which binds us--a slavery that binds us in our own bones (c.f. Romans 7:23).
I need Jesus, I need Jesus every hour. Do you recall that old hymn? "I need Thee every hour"
"I need Thee, O I need Thee,
Every hour I need Thee,
O bless me now, my Savior,
I come to Thee"
So where can we go where Jesus has promised to be? Of course He is Lord, He is the Sovereign God-Man, He is everywhere. But where does He direct us, in Scripture, to meet Him? It's in His Church, how? Because that's where His Gospel is preached, that's where you can hear Him, you can hear the very voice of the Good Shepherd. Audible like thunder from the sky? No, but in what is said, declared, proclaimed, and given when we come together to hear the word preached, to receive His body and blood. To hear we are forgiven.
Where is the promise of this declaration of sins--Absolution--found in Scripture? There are two primary places, Matthew chapter 16 and John chapter 20,
"
I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." - Matthew 16:19
"
Jesus said to them again, 'Peace be with you. As the Father has sent Me, even so I am sending you.' And when He had said this, He breathed on them and said to them, 'Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.'" - John 20:21-23
Now Rome claims that these Keys were given only to St. Peter, and that only, therefore, the bishop who sits in St. Peter's chair in Rome wields these keys, and through valid Holy Orders, by which the office of priest (bishops and presbyters) in communion with Christ's singular vicar in Rome (the Pope) can the keys be exercised.
Luther, the Lutheran fathers, and in the Lutheran Confessions we all--in agreement with the ancient fathers of the holy catholic Church--understand here that the Keys are not given to Peter exclusively or uniquely--no individual wields or possesses the Keys. The Keys belong to the whole Church. And what are these Keys? A kind of supernatural magisterial authority? No. It is the authority of the Church, as Christ's Body (with Himself as Head and Lord) by which Christ Himself acts and speaks.
There is yet another passage, in Luke's Gospel Christ tells His apostles to be His witnesses, and that forgiveness of sins should be preached in His name. That's what the Church does, and the Church does that not in a chaotic, disorganized mess (read 1 Corinthians, especially chapters 11-14); but as a fellowship of organized love and peace, where we come to the Table of His Peace. We come to the Table, Christ is seated there, this is His house, and He takes the head position at the Table.
So when we come into Christ's house, are at His Table, and we hear Him speak, what is it He says? What is it He does?
It's everything that is in the Gospel. Every jot and tittle of Holy Scripture, as it speaks to the promises we have from God in Jesus are ours--He is there, He gives them, He declares them. It is efficacious, it is living, it is active, it is powerful because
Christ is here in our midst. Not figuratively, not proverbially, not allegorically. Jesus, the actual Jesus, the Living, Incarnate, Crucified, Resurrected Jesus, is
here.
So when we confess our sins, what is the promise we have in God's Word? "He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness" (1 John 1:9)
When you hear "Your sins are forgiven", you should come away in confidence: You are forgiven. God forgives you. Because you are worthy of it? No. Because pastors are special people that can do special things? No. But because the Lord of Glory came down out from heaven and suffered and died for you, dear sinner, that you should share in His inheritance forever. Hear and believe this, for this is most certainly true.
Weren't those entrusted with those words of forgiveness witnesses to the resurrection? Jn20:20
We are clothed in His righteousness (Rom 4:3) and have received of His Spirit Gal (3:2) through faith in the Gospel
Isn't our walk a walk of faith and not of sight (Sacraments et al). I don't reject the Mediatorship of Christ, I just take Jesus at His Word...
(Joh 20:29) Jesus says to him, “Because you have seen Me, Thomas, you have believed; blessed are those having not seen, and having believed.”
Question, is the Cross important to you right now, in this moment right now? By important, I don't mean do you consider it meaningful, or relevant; I mean, is the Cross what you need right now, at this very moment. Do you need the Cross right this moment, that you can know God and be right with God? Or were you made right with God once already, and now you can shuffle away from the Cross toward something else?
Dear sinner, Is there not salvation, right here, right now, at this very moment, for you to receive? And the same will be true, will it not, tomorrow, and the day after. And each day after that one? That right now, salvation comes from God, for you? His blood was shed, for you; and it is for you now, just as it was yesterday, just as it will be tomorrow? His blood was shed for you, it's for you. It's for you right now. Believe this, for it is most certainly true.
-CryptoLutheran
