Veith on “Preaching Law, Gospel, & Vocation”
A recent blog post by Gene Veith is from a sermon by his Pastor (Pastor Douthwaite of St. Athanasius Lutheran Church in Vienna, VA) on the callings of Isaiah and Peter, a model of how to preach the Law, the Gospel, and Vocation.
Here’s one excerpt:
At the beginning of each Divine Service, we take our place with Isaiah and Peter and confess that we are sinful and unclean. We cry out Woe is me, I am lost. A lost and condemned person. We confess that we have no right to be here, and deserve only temporal and eternal punishment. But as with Isaiah and Peter, our Lord comes to us not to destroy or condemn us, but to forgive and save us. And so like Peter, His words: “I forgive you all your sins.” touch our ears and raise us to new life and hope. And like Isaiah, the sacrifice from the altar of the cross touches our lips as we eat and drink the Body and Blood of Jesus in His Supper, and our guilt and uncleanness are gone. Gone, for they are taken by our Lord, and we are given His holiness and life.
All I can say is how refreshing it is to hear a Lutheran Pastor who truly understands the distinction between Law and Gospel. Too many Lutheran Pastors focus on the Law.
Here’s another excerpt from Pastor Douthwaite:
And though you are not the holiest, the best, the strongest, the most steadfast, or the most righteous – our Lord will now use you. He may not have called you to be a prophet like Isaiah, or an apostle or “fisher of men” like Peter. But our Lord has called you to be a father or mother, and speak His Word to your children. He has called you to be a friend and neighbor, to serve with His love. He has called you to be a boss or worker, to provide for others through you. He has called you to be a Christian, to speak His Word of forgiveness. And in these vocations, you are just as important as Isaiah or Peter. And Jesus is using you in ways that are both known to you and unknown to you.
To learn more about the Doctrine of Vocation, check my blog post at http://bit.ly/cI21lc
You can read Dr. Veith’s entire blog posting at http://www.geneveith.com/preaching-law-gospel-vocation/
not an expert on “Christian THINKing..but as a historian,,Isaiah message was if you turn from “GOD”,,you can gage, because your land is being plunder, and as you turn but to “GOD’ your lands becomes more LIVE-able. also said was a prophet, an BOLD advisor to KINGS,and died by Martyrdom,by being SAWED in HALF.
,,,PETER, bathed in “what ever POWER’ Jesus Radiated,transfer,or instructed 1st hand, proved that even that CLOse..Fear can over come PETER,,EVEN after ‘walking on water/, watching people die..one touch BACK to LIFE .. mostly like being next to ‘wonders’, beyond writing down.and was GONE,by martyrdom, by the LEAdeRs of Pagans..
So When these GREAT men under the protection of these great ‘ GOD’ can be KILLed at the Wims , by the powers in CHARGE, the populace can be buffed into hallucinations of sovereignty of the land,’vision 20/20′.
but by the deaths of these people,,the message was NOT stopped,,only was reinforced.