If you are like most in the Confessional Lutheran Church in America you are battling the Christless, man centered, and rationalistic, "Praise Worship". coming from the theological void of evangelical experientialism. This type of worship is of course not consistent with what we believe or teach as a church and is therefore deadly to our future existence as a church of the pure gospel.
You see we in Lutheranism unlike the emergent village and the McChurch still believe in "Grace Alone","Faith Alone" and salvation through Christ alone. We know that the works we do amount to nothing in our favor and it is Christ who justifies.
But many outside of us run from the assurance of Grace, Faith, and Salvation through Christ and instead decide to be content with the 5 points that better you as a Christian and this includes a worship that is "Christless". This is obvious because if you go into one of these churches they are probably telling you that it is all about you when you go inside and then hearing how crappy you are. Then if that is not enough you have to try and think that you really aren't so Crappy when singing "Lord I Lift Your Name on High. To finish it off the communion you are having is treated as if it is another command you have to do rather than a meal with Christ for your sins and newness of life.
What am I getting at here? The Lutheran Liturgy is centered around "Christ for Sinners".In otherwords,
forgiveness of sins and the joy of hearing theLaw/Gospel and receiving the gift of the Lord's Body and Blood. This is Scriptural !With these other modes of contemporary worship our doctrine and practice change as the modes used for worship shift away from Justification, Forgiveness of Sins, and Christ for sinners and into our self satisfaction and worthiness to Christ. My worhtiness to Christ is great as is yours he died for us what can we give Him as he gave all? Answer nothing! This is not what our church believes or practices but it is the sabotage being used by bureaucrats and enthusiasts who marvel at megachurches who have been there and done that but are no longer growing themselves. They marvel at bygone decades of success that has spawned Bad TV Shows, False and Fad TV ministries, and films with false doctrine( Left Behind) and Christless Theology Books( Purpose Driven Life).
It may even be safe to say that these megachurches are losing people to Eastern Orthodoxy, Rome, and other religions including Atheism. What some these people were looking for was transcendence which is offered in the Liturgies of EO, Romanism, and Confessional Lutheranism. A foreign mode of worship to "evangelicals" that speaks of transcendence in all three and of forgiveness of sins in Lutheranism to the sinner who needs it. I say this becasue the RC don't believe in justification by faith and the EO have an entirely different take that does not speak of justification either.I do want to compliment the EO and RC because they have not allowed their litrurgy to be replaced with this "bastardized contemporary crock". These two churches have remained who they are. While some in Lutheranism are running to undue the Refromation by embracing fad and false teaching. I am loathe to call this fad and false teaching Christian because what has invaded the so called evangelical churches as of recent is fad , false and unchristian.This is typical of Lutheranism as it always comes to the fads late. Perhaps, because the Lutheran Fathers and many of us do not desire the fads of "milk" but "Solid Food" as Paul would say.
Todays pastors should take a cue from Herman Sasse, " There is no more a damning indictment of a theologian than to say that he knows nothing about the liturgy". Let's start by undoing the damage that has been inflicted on us by those who want to trust in psychologists and Peter Drucker.
You see we in Lutheranism unlike the emergent village and the McChurch still believe in "Grace Alone","Faith Alone" and salvation through Christ alone. We know that the works we do amount to nothing in our favor and it is Christ who justifies.
But many outside of us run from the assurance of Grace, Faith, and Salvation through Christ and instead decide to be content with the 5 points that better you as a Christian and this includes a worship that is "Christless". This is obvious because if you go into one of these churches they are probably telling you that it is all about you when you go inside and then hearing how crappy you are. Then if that is not enough you have to try and think that you really aren't so Crappy when singing "Lord I Lift Your Name on High. To finish it off the communion you are having is treated as if it is another command you have to do rather than a meal with Christ for your sins and newness of life.
What am I getting at here? The Lutheran Liturgy is centered around "Christ for Sinners".In otherwords,
forgiveness of sins and the joy of hearing theLaw/Gospel and receiving the gift of the Lord's Body and Blood. This is Scriptural !With these other modes of contemporary worship our doctrine and practice change as the modes used for worship shift away from Justification, Forgiveness of Sins, and Christ for sinners and into our self satisfaction and worthiness to Christ. My worhtiness to Christ is great as is yours he died for us what can we give Him as he gave all? Answer nothing! This is not what our church believes or practices but it is the sabotage being used by bureaucrats and enthusiasts who marvel at megachurches who have been there and done that but are no longer growing themselves. They marvel at bygone decades of success that has spawned Bad TV Shows, False and Fad TV ministries, and films with false doctrine( Left Behind) and Christless Theology Books( Purpose Driven Life).
It may even be safe to say that these megachurches are losing people to Eastern Orthodoxy, Rome, and other religions including Atheism. What some these people were looking for was transcendence which is offered in the Liturgies of EO, Romanism, and Confessional Lutheranism. A foreign mode of worship to "evangelicals" that speaks of transcendence in all three and of forgiveness of sins in Lutheranism to the sinner who needs it. I say this becasue the RC don't believe in justification by faith and the EO have an entirely different take that does not speak of justification either.I do want to compliment the EO and RC because they have not allowed their litrurgy to be replaced with this "bastardized contemporary crock". These two churches have remained who they are. While some in Lutheranism are running to undue the Refromation by embracing fad and false teaching. I am loathe to call this fad and false teaching Christian because what has invaded the so called evangelical churches as of recent is fad , false and unchristian.This is typical of Lutheranism as it always comes to the fads late. Perhaps, because the Lutheran Fathers and many of us do not desire the fads of "milk" but "Solid Food" as Paul would say.
Todays pastors should take a cue from Herman Sasse, " There is no more a damning indictment of a theologian than to say that he knows nothing about the liturgy". Let's start by undoing the damage that has been inflicted on us by those who want to trust in psychologists and Peter Drucker.
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