The Uncultured Saints: Recent Episodes
Higher Things, Inc.
We’re told the same thing over and over. Christianity doesn’t fit with today’s culture. The thing is, it isn’t the culture saying it. It’s the church. We’ve done a great job figuring out what we’re not. Sometimes we forget what we are. We’re the saints, washed in the blood of the lamb. We’re sinners Jesus made holy. This defines us. There are places Christianity doesn’t fit with today’s culture because Christianity isn’t bound by culture. We’re free in Christ to be uncultured. Not against it. Not apart from it. Undefined by it, because we’re defined by something greater. Join Pr. Goodman and Pr. Lietzau, the uncultured saints, as we tackle today’s issues through the lens of the Lutheran Confessions and find answers to today’s questions rooted in a timeless truth in Christ.
In our penultimate episode of the season we discuss the marriage and the church in the Smalcald Articles.
Our discussion with the Smalcald articles continues, this time with bad jokes, the Office of the Keys, Enthusiasts, etc.
Our Smalcald Articles discussion continues, this time talking about the sweet news of the Gospel.
Our 6th episode of season 4 continues with repentance and Luther's ramblings against the papacy.
Our discussion on the Smalcald Articles continues! This time tackling sin and the law in the modern world.
Hello Internet! The Uncultured Saints are back for season three. Pastor Harrison Goodman and Pastor Eli Lietzau are joined by Erica Jacoby, Executive Director of Higher Things. She’s definitely here as a guest, and not to keep us hosts on task.
Season 3 is here, and we’re talking about Christ. Christ in the Old Testament in fact! And up first we’re talking about creation.
A group of youth makes fun of the prophet, Elisha. They call him, “Baldy.” It seems like a harmless, although snarky, comment. It would perhaps warrant a sharp reproof, but certainly nothing more than that. But what comes later is straight out of a horror movie. Bears from out of nowhere, mauling these young youths to death, tearing them limb from limb. The Old Testament is littered with these types of stories. Are they just mindless, acts of violence with no foundation or continued meaning? That doesn’t sound like our God. And besides all that, Jesus must be found in the Old Testament. He is there: golden thread woven through, bloody red spots splattered on every page. So where is Jesus in a text like this? Where is the Gospel? Where is the cross? It’s all there. Let’s find our where.
We all know this story. It is one of the bad ones, the fire and brimstone ones. This is one our favorite texts to club our neighbor over the head with the Law. Homosexuality, incest, unbelief, pillars of salt: It has it all, and it’s seemingly all about the Law. But it can’t just be about the Law. Jesus’ cross is for Lot and his daughters. It is for Lot’s salty wife and for smoldering Sodom and Gomorrah. Jesus and His cross is for all people. So if Jesus died for the sinners in these infamous cities then that should probably affect the way in which we hear this. That isn’t to say that the Law has no place. It does, it always does. But the cross does, too. Let’s not forget about that. The cross has a place, even amongst the ash heaps of Sodom and Gomorrah.
What is worship? That really is the question that the Christian must figure out. What is worship? Why do we gather? Does it matter what we do and how we do it? These questions will never stop because the sinner always gets them wrong. This was true in the Garden in front of the Tree of Good and Evil. It was true in the tabernacle and later the Temple, the tent of meeting, the Holy Place, and the Most Holy Place. This is true for us today and will be true for our children tomorrow. How we view worship is going to dictate what we think worship is, and vise versa. … So what is worship? Is it an earth to heaven, praise and adoration, man to God sort of thing? Or is it a heaven to earth, gifts and atonement, God to man sort of thing. It matters what it is and it matters how you view it. Let’s stop pretending it doesn’t.
There are two big places in the Old Testament where Jesus is undeniably present and foreshadowed. One, of course, is the Passover Feast and the paschal lamb. The other is the Day of Atonement. This day, found in the middle of Leviticus is the center of worship for the Old Testament Israelites. It happened only once a year, but it was so important that this day was the only day that the Most Holy Place was breeched. On this day we have the presence of God on the ark; the blood spilled out from a goat of sacrifice; the High Priest in super-special vestments signifying something truth that happens on no other day; and maybe, most importantly we have the scapegoat. Now, if we can’t find Jesus here in the Old Testament, then we are never going to find Him.
What is to be done with a prophet who doesn’t want to be a prophet? What is to be done with a man who would rather die than see his enemies receive the Gospel of Christ Jesus? What is to be done with a scoundrel who even after he is raised out of the depths of Sheol, maybe even from death itself, still despises the things of forgiveness and life eternal for the other guy? Well, oddly enough, this man still needs Jesus, too. And wouldn’t you know it? Jesus is for Jonah, just as he is for the heathens of Nineveh, just as He is for you. Join us as we plumb the depths of a good for nothing prophet who Jesus Himself shows to be the quintessential picture of His death and resurrection.
Ever wondered what it would be like to be banished from the things of God just because of who you are? The Ethiopian Eunuch knew this all too well. Returning from his failed trip to Jerusalem, where he had hoped to worship the one true God, this man is faced with a God who is truly there for Him. His eunuch-ness had kept him, had prevented him, from the things of the Temple, but Philip has a new Word for Him. That Word is the Gospel. That Word is Jesus. That Word is baptism and forgiveness and life eternal. But the eunuch is still scared. He is terrified that something still prevents him from all of these wonderful things, because something always has. But he will soon receive an answer sweeter than he has ever heard before in his life.
Naaman was a great man, even if he was a heathen. Everything that he had ever put his mind to he had accomplished. But he had done it all through the sweat of his own brow and the works of his own hands. Unfortunately, for the first time in his life, he is faced with something that he is powerless to defeat. But he receives a Word from a slave girl about a God who is for him. He goes to find out about this God, still with a bit of hubris, still with an air of doubt and confusion. “Nothing is free,” he thinks. There is always a price to be paid. There is always a sacrifice to be made. This is true, of course, but in the waters of the Jordan he is about to find out that this time that price is to be paid not by him, but for him.
We find another scoundrel in the Old Testament. This is no surprise, of course, the Old Testament is littered with scoundrels, as is the New. Jacob had found it difficult to stand in the promises of God. He isn’t unique in this sin, for we all innately doubt the gracious promises of our Lord. We can’t for the life of us belief that these promises are free. We always think that God needs a helping hand, but our “helping hand” always seems to screw everything up. Jacob is running scared, running for his life. And so God finds him in the exact place where he is at. A wrestling match occurs, but this, of course is no ordinary wresting match. Will Jacob finally realize that God is for him? And will he finally recognize that when God is for him, then there is nothing that he needs to do for himself?
Back by unpopular demand, the Uncultured Saints brings you Season Deux: Parables. You might have heard it said that parables are “earthly stories with a heavenly meaning.” Maybe this is true, but perhaps a better way to look at them is as “mysteries of the kingdom of heaven.” And if they are mysteries then they can’t be about ethics or morals….though this is how we treat them most of the time. Instead, mysteries are about the Gospel, and the Gospel is about Jesus, so parables are about Christ. Christ is the Subject, the Actor, the One doing the work. We can find ourselves in the parables…but only as the ones receiving Jesus.
A man goes out to sow. He doesn’t seem like he is very good at his job, just throwing caution and seed to the wind. The seed falls everywhere: on the path to be eaten, on the rocks and amongst thorns to quickly die, and yes, some falls on the good ground, too. You would think that the sower would be more careful with His seed. You would think that He would scatter it where He was sure that it would produce fruit. But this doesn’t seem to be His way and this doesn’t seem to be the way of our Lord. His cross is for everyone. His salvation is for all. The Gospel is to be proclaimed to all the world… We need not worry about the different types of ground. The sower doesn’t seem to give it much thought as he scatters seed around, perhaps neither should we. Maybe it is just better to receive the seed he sows and give thanks that he sows it so indiscriminately.
More sowing, just like the last time. Except here there is just a field; a field with good seed sown by a good man. But then his enemy comes and sows tares amongst the wheat; right overtop, intertwined. What’s to be done? That is the question the servants want to know. They see the problem and they want it fixed. But the man says, “No.” The time is not right for the tares to be uprooted, and besides, the servants aren’t given to this task anyway. The reapers will come, leave the reaping to them…And that is the hard part: staying silent when we know that we know better than God…But as Jesus explains later, not one of the blades of wheat will be thrown into the fire. We don’t have to worry about that. And we don’t have to worry about the tares getting a free ride either. He has that taken care of as well. The harvesting and the separating, that’s not given to the servants nor is it given to the wheat. Jesus seems to have it all under control. He usually does…
A man and his pearl. I suppose the only way that you can tell how much value something has is to see how much someone is willing to pay for it. For the man in our text this pearl that he finds is worth more than anything, literally. He goes and sells all that he has and then buys it. The previous man did the same with a field where buried treasure was known to be found…So obviously Jesus is trying to say something to us: “There is a treasure to be found, a pearl to be purchased. There is something of more value than anything else in all of creation.” And it must be had, that much is clear. Now all we have to do is figure out where Jesus is in this parable. Certainly He is worth more than anything, but I sure do hope that He isn’t the pearl. Because that would make me the merchant, and I know I’m not good enough to be that merchant…Seems to put us in a bit of a bind…If only there was another way to look at this parable…
A billion quadrillion dollars, that is how much the first guy owed the king. More than could ever be paid, but he thinks that he is good for it. He is sure that he could pay it back. So when his debt is released he doesn’t see it as grace, but as something he deserved; or perhaps he believed that he pulled one over on the king. And that is why he goes out in search for his own retribution. Debts must be paid, just not his. But this isn’t how forgiveness works. In fact, this isn’t forgiveness at all. This parable is about the Gospel and the debt Jesus paid on the cross. But it is also a warning lest we think that we deserved any of it.
Don’t read this parable without reading the set up, otherwise you will get it wrong. And we often time get it wrong. “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” we ask. Well, if that is our question then the answer will be one that is too great to follow. “Be the Good Samaritan, to everyone that you meet, all the time, 24/7, with no exceptions. Do that, and you will inherit eternal life.”…But after hearing these words, this parable isn’t quite so uplifting anymore. It kind of beats us up and leaves us for dead on the side of the road with no way to get ourselves to Jericho…If only there was a Good Samaritan that would come along and save us…
Another parable of warning; of warning, but of great comfort too. A wedding feast is prepared. Good food and good drink for all to come and enjoy. You would think that the invitation would be enough, that we wouldn’t have to be reminded. But the self-righteous sinner doesn’t care all that much for a wedding feast in which things are given out for free. The self-righteous sinner always has something better to fill his time. So the master sends out his servant to the highways and byways. “Go and invite everyone you see. Go and get the poor and the crippled, the blind and the lame. Go and invite everyone who should be here, everyone who doesn’t deserve such a feast. For my house must be filled to the brim.”
It’s a story about redemption; about redemption and sacrifice, forgiveness and mercy. A son wishing his father was dead and his brother was no longer a brother. That same son denouncing his sonship in Israel, casting his lot in with the Gentiles and the pig farmers. A father who loves his son so much that he gives an inheritance that shouldn’t be given; and he doesn’t think twice. An older brother concerned with appearances, concerned with “doing it the right way,” concerned with nothing except the Law. And it leaves us with an open question. The prodigal knows the Gospel through his father; he eats the fatten calf and wears the signet ring. Will the older brother now join them in the feast…
A parable about stewardship, if stewardship was about taking other peoples money and giving it away. We might have the most difficult time with this parable because the dishonest manager is praised for his shrewdness, he is praised for doing that which is not right. Perhaps that is why this parable is one of the best examples to show that parables are not about morals and ethics or about becoming a better person, they are about Jesus...
Jesus isn’t in this parable, not explicitly. We do have Abraham alluding to the resurrection and the Law and the prophets speaking about the Messiah. So yeah, He is there. But this is also the only parable that has a name: Lazarus. Might that be a clue? Might that be where we should begin? Yes, there is that whole thing about a great divide that can’t be crossed. And that is true. But the name is important. Names are always important. So what is in a name? Let’s find out…
Pray enough and you will force God’s hand. Isn’t that what this parable seems to be about? How else could we take it? But then we have to rectify an unrighteous judge standing as the Jesus figure, and that is just weird. But is it any weirder than Jesus hiding away a treasure and swindling the owner of the field out of it? Or Jesus being a dishonest manager that gives away his master’s money and is commended for it? Maybe there is something Gospelly about this parable after all. Maybe it isn’t so much about the persistent widow earning for herself justice as it is the widow receiving a verdict in her favor completely outside of herself. Maybe a judgment in her favor has nothing to do with her deserving it at all…
Here is perhaps the most straightforward parable of them all. We know who Jesus is: He is the son that is murdered. We get that. And perhaps we should just leave it at that, because there is still the mystery of the father sending his son, knowing full well that he will end up dead. What sort of father is this? What sort of father would sacrifice his son like that? …I think we know the answer to that…
Each of the ten virgins wants to get into the wedding feast. They are all there, all prepared, at least prepared for the rational. Some are prepared for the irrational and have lugged along extra oil for their lamps. Knowing this, we start scouring the parable to figure out the specifics. What is the oil? What is the lamp? But none of that matters, because none of that gets the virgins into the wedding feast. They all had an invitation. They all had a lamp and they all had enough oil at the beginning. But none of those things were their ticket into the feast. So their ticket inside has to be something else, has to be someone else…
Here is the second to last parable Jesus ever teaches His disciples. It is the middle of Holy Week. The Triumphal Entry has taken place and in a few short days Jesus will be strung up on a cross. And so at this crucial time Jesus makes certain to gather His disciples aside in order to teach them about…stewardship…No, that can’t be right…Stewardship is important, but it isn’t a mystery of the kingdom of heaven. So this has to be about something else. It has to be about the Gospel and the forgiveness of sins. It has to be about the cross. But how…
Make sure that you are a sheep. Or at least make sure that you are not a goat. Judgment Day is coming and you must be certain to find yourself in the right flock. But if we start looking at our works to assure us of our place amongst the sheep we will find ourselves amongst the goats asking, “But when didn’t we…?” Demand that God looks at your works and uses them as a checklist for your entrance into life everlasting and you will be surely disappointed. Better to bleat along with the sheep, “Lord, when did we…” Those are the words of sheep that know nothing of the Law for salvation and know only of the Gospel.
What’s the big deal about saying my nature is sinful or my nature is corrupted by original sin? It seems like a puny detail to focus on…but it’s really not. If we get this wrong, it messes up all our theology. Sin isn’t just the actions we do, it’s hereditary, a fatal disease we ALL inherit. And yet, sin is not who we are, it’s a condition we have. Original sin means that something has changed from the way we’re supposed to be, the way that God created all of humanity to be. This doesn’t mean that we have an excuse to sin just because it comes naturally to us. It means that we need a Savior.
In spite of all the smiles and material successes, at the end of the day, most of us know we’re not doing or being our best selves. We can always do better. There is a huge chasm between who we are and who we want to be. The entire self-help industry has been built up to try and bridge that divide. When Christians talk about sin, the world hears it as a religion trying to prevent people from fully and freely living out their lives the best they can. But the reality of the situation is that sin is exactly WHY we fail, and why we never really get to where we want to be.
When we change the clear words and teachings of Scripture to make things more palatable for sinners, the meanings change too. We actually begin to believe we can say things better and more logically than God’s Word. Applied to the doctrine of original sin, the way we talk about sin affects the way we talk about God. If God wants things to be this corrupted, sinful way and does nothing about it He’s an evil god. But if He wants it to be better, and doesn’t want to just burn it all down and start over, He works through brokenness and sin to bring about good for us.
We can make choices about all sorts of things in our lives. But the theological doctrine of free will is not about whether you can choose what to eat for breakfast or which color shirt to put on. It’s about whether we’re able to contribute anything to our own salvation, whether we can choose to believe, whether we can "help" God help us. When it comes to worldly things, we are free to make choices as we encounter the different options. But when it comes to the things of God, not only can we not choose to help ourselves be saved, we even fight against God saving us.
Justification is a fancy $5 church-word that makes us sound smart when we use it. But what does it mean? It’s all about how we are saved and made right before God. As sinners, we look to ourselves — our choices and our actions — to gauge whether we really are Christians and measure how we’re doing to stay Christians. That’s probably not the best way to go about things. It actually gets dark and twisted. When we put the focus on us, even just the tiniest bit, it’s not on Jesus. If our faith is a process, it’s not finished. If it’s about our journey, it’s not about Jesus or what He did on the cross for us.
It makes for viral social media statements to say that not only do good works not save you but they’re harmful to salvation. But it’s totally not true. Necessary doesn’t necessarily mean that you have to be forced to do something. It can also mean that it just happens through you, necessarily, and make you love it. Nobody is saying that sinning is great, you should go out and sin more! But bragging about how we are fulfilling the law, demeaning others for not talking enough about good works, measuring of other peoples’ good works…all of it pulls away from Christ. Our peace is not in saying we should talk more about doing good works. Our peace is found in Christ forgiving sinners and making us so holy that good works would manifest themselves.
Sometimes we think it’d be helpful to use character voices to distinguish Law and Gospel. The Law is that which God demands from us. And if you don’t fulfill it, the Law will also threaten punishment. It kind of offers salvation…if you keep it perfectly. God gives the Law to us for three good purposes, none of which are to frustrate us, but to show us who God is. In contrast, the Gospel has no threats, demands nothing from us, and doesn’t command anything from us. Instead, it proclaims that everything that needs to be done to save us all been done for us through the death of Jesus Christ on the cross, and that all of our sins are forgiven in Him.
Once upon a time, there was a controversy among Lutherans. (Shocker!) One camp said the Law has no place in the life of the Christian anymore and good works will spontaneously spring forth without any sort of instruction or guidance. But when we work to set aside the Law, to free ourselves from the Law’s curse, we forget that we already ARE free of the Law’s curse, in Christ. Jesus didn’t need the Law to command or threaten Him about how to best love God and us, but He still kept it. And because we are not yet perfect in this life, we still need the Law to guide us and show us what love looks like.
God has given us specific words to describe what’s it is and what’s going on. But those words don’t make sense, they’re not reasonable. So we have to try and figure out what Jesus really means, because He obviously can’t mean what He’s saying. We take God’s gift, take it apart and try to put it back together again in ways that make sense to us. But God’s Words don’t describe reality like our words do. They actually create reality which we receive by faith.
Saying “God is everywhere” is not helpful or useful, when you think about it. It just confuses things, especially when God has chosen to locate Himself in specific places. In the Old Testament, His presence was visible, tangible, and interact-with-able. And in the New Testament, God became Man in the person of Jesus. And so the things that are true of the human Jesus are also true of God Jesus. When we try to describe the person and two natures of Christ and make sense of it, no matter how logical and rational we are being, we’re going to end up in heresy.
God has given us the image of Christ descending into hell, kicking open the doors, being victorious over the demons for our comfort. This doctrine doesn't stand alone. It’s tied to His incarnation, life, death, and resurrection. When we try to make logical sense of Christ’s descent into hell, we end up putting victory right back into the Satan's hands. Because when we describe it as Scripture does, it doesn't necessarily make a lot of rational sense. But at least we still end up focusing on Christ, and Him preaching victory over sin, death, and the devil. And that's right where we should end up: talking proclaiming Jesus, the Gospel for the comfort of troubled consciences.
Every single thing you do in church — both the traditions explicitly given in the Bible, but also the smaller stuff — should point you to Jesus. If it does, it’s good. If it doesn’t, it’s bad. But it’s definitely not meaningless. The things that we do, the space we do them in are all meaningful. They aren’t “worship” in and of themselves, but they help us understand and convey the truth of the doctrines we hold. What you believe influences what you do and what you do influences what you believe. When you believe a thing, it’ll change your behavior. When you behave a certain way, it’ll change how you think about it.
We've finally made it to the end of the Formula of Concord, by the grace of God, and a bit of sheer perseverance. If God is "God" shouldn't he know everything that is going to happen? EVERYTHING? The beginning, the end, and everything in between. Who wins the trophy, who passes the test, and who ends up eternally damned. Everything... right? Join Pastor Harrison Goodman and Pastor Eli Lietzau as they wrap up their discussion on the Forums of Concord and season 1 of The Uncultured Saints.