A Prayer of Moses the Man of God
“Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God.” Psalm 90:1-2
One certainty as we enter into each new year of life is God Himself. He has been man’s dwelling place in all generations. He has created us, given us life, and holds our life in His hand. “In him we live, and move, and have our being” (Acts 17:28).
“Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God.” “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth … And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.” (Genesis 1:1, 2). “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men.” (John 1:1-4).
The Triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, have always been and always will be! You and I have been created by God, and we still depend upon Him for our every breath! Cf. Daniel 5:23.
Our lives are short, averaging only 70 to 80 years. We are like grass which grows up and flourishes in the morning but is cut down and withers by evening. Our lives pass like a watch in the night. Because of our sins, which are ever before the LORD, we feel the heat of His wrath and wither and die.
Knowing this, we ought “number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.” (v. 12). We ought read and study His Word that we might learn the truth about ourselves and the life we live here in this world. And, we ought repent of our rebellious and sinful ways and turn unto the LORD and receive the compassion and mercy which He offers and gives for the sake of the innocent sufferings and death of His own Son, Jesus Christ, in our stead!
Then, when we trust in God to mercifully forgive us for Jesus’ sake, we can “rejoice and be glad all our days” (v. 14). We can live our short lives here in faith because we have been redeemed by God’s own dear Son and have everlasting joy awaiting us in heaven when this life is done!
O everlasting God, “So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.” Let us see the brevity of this life and its cause, our own sinfulness; and let us return unto You for mercy and forgiveness for the sake of Christ Jesus, the Son, and His innocent sufferings and death in our stead. Amen.
“Thou turnest man to destruction; and sayest, Return, ye children of men. For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night. Thou carriest them away as with a flood; they are as a sleep: in the morning they are like grass which groweth up. In the morning it flourisheth, and groweth up; in the evening it is cut down, and withereth.” Psalm 90:3-6
Why is that we grow old and die? Why do our bodies not continue to rejuvenate and live forever? The answer is here, in the Scriptures: “Thou turnest man to destruction; and sayest, Return, ye children of men.”
God turns us to destruction. He causes our bodies to grow old and ultimately die. Why would God do this? Is it some sort of cruel joke He plays upon us by giving us life and then taking it from us?
It’s not a cruel joke, but it is true. God, through Moses, the human author of this psalm, tells us it is so. Moses witnessed it as an entire generation died in the wilderness. We witness it yet today as generations die. And, of course, whether we wish to admit it or not, we too must finally face the truth stated in this psalm as each one of us gets older, weaker, and ultimately dies and returns to the dust of the ground.
“Thou turnest man to destruction; and sayest, Return, ye children of men. For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night. Thou carriest them away as with a flood; they are as a sleep: in the morning they are like grass which groweth up. In the morning it flourisheth, and groweth up; in the evening it is cut down, and withereth.”
God is eternal. A thousand years to God is like a single day when it is past – like a few-hour watch in the night. Our entire lives, on the other hand, are like a dream which suddenly vanishes away. They are swept away, as in a flood. We are like grass which is growing and flourishing in the morning but cut down and withered by evening (cf. Isaiah 40:6-8).
Should we be surprised by this? When Adam sinned in the Garden, God told him what would happen: “And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return” (Genesis 3:17-19).
Again, we may like to think this passage of God’s Word doesn’t apply to us, but we are descendants of Adam. We have inherited his sinful nature and are under the same curse. Adam’s life – though long by our standards – was cut short because of his sin. Our lives, too, are cut short because of our sin. Unto dust we return!
Though we may think it terrible that we must grow old and die, it is a blessing that it is so. God created Adam and Eve holy and without sin. They lived in perfect harmony with God their Maker. But all that was lost in the fall, and we too are born into this world at enmity with God. Instead of loving God, trusting Him and seeking to honor and glorify Him, we love ourselves, doubt God and His Word, and selfishly seek our own ambitions and glory.
God has something far better in mind for us than a continued existence in sin and disobedience in a world cursed because of sin and disobedience. That’s why He sent His only begotten Son into this world a true man to live a perfect and sinless life for us and then suffer and die upon the cross for your sins, my sins and the sins of the whole world.
Christ Jesus paid in full, and through faith in our crucified and risen Savior, we sinners have forgiveness for all our sins and the promise of life everlasting in a perfect world where we will live without sin and in perfect fellowship with God our Maker. That is far better than living on here in rebellion against the Lord God and His commandments!
Yes, it’s true; even believers in Jesus have to die. Though they have forgiveness for all their sins and the certainty of life everlasting in heaven, their bodies grow old, become weak and diseased, and finally return to dust. But their souls are carried by God’s angels into heaven. And on the Last Day, their bodies will be raised up and changed into perfect and glorified bodies – no longer subject to sin and death. Then, believers in Christ Jesus will live on forever in perfect harmony and fellowship with the LORD God, their Maker and Redeemer.
Indeed, “Our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself” (Philippians 3:20-21).
“But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words” (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18).
Yes, we must die here in this world. But, in Christ Jesus, we shall never die, but live forever with Him in the mansions of His Father’s house!
O dearest Lord Jesus, grant me faith to trust in You for the forgiveness of all my sins and for a place in Your everlasting kingdom. Grant that I might face my own death trusting in You for life. Amen.
“For we are consumed by thine anger, and by thy wrath are we troubled. Thou hast set our iniquities before thee, our secret sins in the light of thy countenance. For all our days are passed away in thy wrath: we spend our years as a tale that is told. The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away. Who knoweth the power of thine anger? even according to thy fear, so is thy wrath. So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.” Psalm 90:7-12
The truth expressed by this ancient psalm of Moses may be hard for us to swallow. Our lives here in this world – our youth, our health, our strength, our beauty – are consumed by God’s anger. Why? All our sins, including our secret sins, are laid out before Him. God sees into our hearts and knows our every thought and desire. No evil thought or desire, no unkind word or evil act is hidden from His sight.
From the time of our conception and birth on, we are subject to the divine judgments of a holy and pure God against sin. Each and every day of our lives passes away in His wrath and judgment. When we are young, we may not realize this; but as we grow older, we see and feel His anger and judgment upon us for our sinfulness.
As the psalm says, we “spend our years as a tale that is told.” They pass quickly and then are over and past. Our life span, even with modern medicine, is still only about 70 years. And if we reach 80 or more, our years are filled with labor and sorrow. Our lives – even if long – are “soon cut off, and we fly away” to meet our Maker and be judged by Him.
God’s anger and wrath against sin and His judgments upon us are hard for us to fathom. We don’t fully know or understand how to fear and honor the LORD God, nor do we understand and rightly consider His wrath against our own sin. We fail to consider how quickly life is cut off. We don’t recognize, even as we see death and suffering around us, that we too will soon die and meet our Maker and Judge.
Moses prays and we too ought pray: “So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.”
Rather than spending our days in this world as though we will never die and face God’s judgment, we ought to number our days and realize that time is short here in this world. Why? “That we may apply our hearts unto wisdom” – that we might hear and study God’s Word and learn of Him and His ways.
If we read and study the Bible – which is God’s Word – we will not only learn of God’s will and our utter sinfulness. We will learn of His mercy in sending His Son Christ Jesus into the world to suffer and die for our sins and rise again that we might have forgiveness for our sins and not be condemned when we stand before His throne of judgment. We will learn that God offers and gives life eternal through faith in Messiah Jesus.
The Bible tells us, “Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Romans 10:17). It also says, “But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them; And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works” (2 Timothy 3:14-17).
O LORD God, give us the wisdom to realize that life is short and we will soon fly away to stand before Your throne of judgment. Teach us to number our days and apply our hearts unto wisdom that we may not put off what is important but, starting now and continuing throughout our lives, devote ourselves to the study of Your Word that we may learn of You and of the salvation You have provided for us and all people in Your Son, Jesus Christ. In His name, we pray. Amen.
“Return, O LORD, how long? and let it repent thee concerning thy servants. O satisfy us early with thy mercy; that we may rejoice and be glad all our days. Make us glad according to the days wherein thou hast afflicted us, and the years wherein we have seen evil. Let thy work appear unto thy servants, and thy glory unto their children. And let the beauty of the LORD our God be upon us: and establish thou the work of our hands upon us; yea, the work of our hands establish thou it.” Psalm 90:13-17
Sometimes we wonder how long it will be before the LORD turns to us in mercy. When will He cease dealing with us in wrath and show us His compassion and forgiveness?
For 40 years, Moses saw the people of Israel dying in the wilderness because of the Lord’s wrath and judgment against their unbelief and sin (cf. Numbers 13-14; Deuteronomy 1:22ff.) Moses too, because of His own disobedience, was prohibited from entering the land of promise (cf. Numbers 20:1-13; 27:12-14).
As sinners, deserving nothing but God’s wrath and punishment, we too pray that the LORD God would turn to us in mercy. We pray that His wrath, which we all see and feel on account of our sins, will quickly accomplish its work in us and that God would show to us His mercy and forgiveness.
“O satisfy us early with thy mercy; that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.” We pray that we might learn and take hold of God’s grace and mercy early in life that we might rejoice and be glad all our days. Though we see and feel God’s judgments against sin in our lives and in the world, we pray that God would graciously reveal to us His mercy and forgiveness for the sake of the sacrifice of the Son – that He would make us know that our sins have been paid for in full and are forgiven for Jesus’ sake. Then, even though we must suffer – His chastening – in this world as a result of our sinfulness and the wrath of God against sin, we know that God has pardoned us, forgiven us and will give us life everlasting with Him in heaven. We take comfort in His mercy. We rejoice in it and are glad that He has accomplished our eternal salvation and that the everlasting joys of heaven await us.
Moses prayed, “Make us glad according to the days wherein thou hast afflicted us, and the years wherein we have seen evil. Let thy work appear unto thy servants, and thy glory unto their children.”
With Moses and all the people of God, we pray that the LORD would turn our sorrows into joy and gladness. We pray that, as we have suffered and felt the wrath of God against sin during much of our earthly lives, so He would also, in His grace and mercy, fill us with true gladness and joy – that we would see and know the mighty working of our God in sending His Son to be the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of all the world. We pray that both we and our children would see and know the glorious salvation won for us through the innocent sufferings and death of God’s Son and our Savior, Jesus Christ.
Indeed, many times when I pray, all I can say is: “Lord, have mercy upon me” and “Lord, have mercy upon the souls of my children and grandchildren and grant that they too would know You and the great and glorious salvation You have provided for them in Christ Jesus.”
Moses concludes this inspired psalm: “And let the beauty of the LORD our God be upon us: and establish thou the work of our hands upon us; yea, the work of our hands establish thou it.”
O let the beauty – the wondrous righteousness and holiness of Christ Jesus – be upon us! Let us be cleansed with Jesus’ blood and be reckoned righteous and holy in Your sight, O Lord!
May God grant us life in fellowship with Him for Jesus’ sake, and may He bless and establish the work of our hands. May He move us and enable us to live our lives for Him and to do the work He has given us to do that others, too, might see and take hold of God’s mercy and forgiveness in Christ Jesus.
Turn to us in mercy, O LORD God, and show us the glorious salvation You have provided for us and all mankind in Your Son, Jesus Christ, our Savior. In His name we pray. Amen.
[Scripture quotations are from the King James Version of the Bible]
From the Lutheran Confessions
Formula of Concord, Solid Declaration
X. Church Rites, Commonly Called Adiaphora.
1] Concerning ceremonies and church rites which are neither commanded nor forbidden in God’s Word, but are introduced into the Church with a good intention, for the sake of good order and propriety, or otherwise to maintain Christian discipline, a dissension has likewise arisen among some theologians of the Augsburg Confession: 2] the one side holding that also in time of persecution and in case of confession [when confession of faith is to be made], even though the enemies of the Gospel do not come to an agreement with us in doctrine, yet some ceremonies, abrogated [long since], which in themselves are adiaphora, and neither commanded nor forbidden by God, may, without violence to conscience, be reestablished in compliance with the pressure and demand of the adversaries, and thus in such [things which are of themselves] adiaphora, or matters of indifference, we may indeed come to an agreement [have conformity] with them. 3] But the other side contended that in time of persecution, in case of confession, especially when it is the design of the adversaries, either through force and compulsion, or in an insidious manner, to suppress the pure doctrine, and gradually to introduce again into our churches their false doctrine, this, also in adiaphora, can in no way be done, as has been said, without violence to conscience and prejudice to the divine truth.
4] To explain this controversy, and by God’s grace finally to settle it, we present to the Christian reader this simple statement regarding the matter [in conformity with the Word of God]:
5] Namely, when under the title and pretext of external adiaphora such things are proposed as are in principle contrary to God’s Word (although painted another color), these are not to be regarded as adiaphora, in which one is free to act as he will, but must be avoided as things prohibited by God. In like manner, too, such ceremonies should not be reckoned among the genuine free adiaphora, or matters of indifference, as make a show or feign the appearance, as though our religion and that of the Papists were not far apart, thus to avoid persecution, or as though the latter were not at least highly offensive to us; or when such ceremonies are designed for the purpose, and required and received in this sense, as though by and through them both contrary religions were reconciled and became one body; or when a reentering into the Papacy and a departure from the pure doctrine of the Gospel and true religion should occur or gradually follow therefrom [when there is danger lest we seem to have reentered the Papacy, and to have departed, or to be on the point of departing gradually, from the pure doctrine of the Gospel].
6] For in this case what Paul writes, 2 Cor. 6:14-17, shall and must obtain: Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers; for what communion hath light with darkness?Wherefore come out from among them and be ye separate, saith the Lord.
7] Likewise, when there are useless, foolish displays, that are profitable neither for good order nor Christian discipline, nor evangelical propriety in the Church, these also are not genuine adiaphora, or matters of indifference.
8] But as regards genuine adiaphora, or matters of indifference (as explained before), we believe, teach, and confess that such ceremonies, in and of themselves, are no worship of God, nor any part of it, but must be properly distinguished from such as are, as it is written: In vain they do worship Me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men, Matt. 15:9.
9] Therefore we believe, teach, and confess that the congregation of God of every place and every time has, according to its circumstances, the good right, power, and authority [in matters truly adiaphora] to change, to diminish, and to increase them, without thoughtlessness and offense, in an orderly and becoming way, as at any time it may be regarded most profitable, most beneficial, and best for [preserving] good order, [maintaining] Christian discipline [and for eujtaxiva worthy of the profession of the Gospel], and the edification of the Church. Moreover, how we can yield and give way with a good conscience to the weak in faith in such external adiaphora, Paul teaches Rom. 14, and proves it by his example, Acts 16:3; 21:26; 1 Cor. 9:19.
10] We believe, teach, and confess also that at the time of confession [when a confession of the heavenly truth is required], when the enemies of God’s Word desire to suppress the pure doctrine of the holy Gospel, the entire congregation of God, yea, every Christian, but especially the ministers of the Word, as the leaders of the congregation of God [as those whom God has appointed to rule His Church], are bound by God’s Word to confess freely and openly the [godly] doctrine, and what belongs to the whole of [pure] religion, not only in words, but also in works and with deeds; and that then, in this case, even in such [things truly and of themselves] adiaphora, they must not yield to the adversaries, or permit these [adiaphora] to be forced upon them by their enemies, whether by violence or cunning, to the detriment of the true worship of God and the introduction and sanction of idolatry. 11] For it is written, Gal. 5:1: Stand fast, therefore, in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not again entangled in the yoke of bondage. Also Gal. 2:4f : And that because of false brethren unawares brought in, who came in privily to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage; to whom we gave place by subjection, no, not for an hour, that the truth of the Gospel might continue with you. 12] [Now it is manifest that in that place Paul speaks concerning circumcision, which at that time had become an adiaphoron (1 Cor. 7:18f.), and which at other occasions was observed by Paul (however, with Christian and spiritual freedom, Acts 16:3). But when the false apostles urged circumcision for establishing their false doctrine, (that the works of the Law were necessary for righteousness and salvation,) and misused it for confirming their error in the minds of men, Paul says that he would not yield even for an hour, in order that the truth of the Gospel might continue unimpaired.]
13] Thus Paul yields and gives way to the weak as to food and [the observance of] times or days, Rom. 14:6. But to the false apostles, who wished to impose these upon the conscience as necessary things, he will yield not even in such things as in themselves are adiaphora, Col. 2:16: Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holy day. And when Peter and Barnabas yielded somewhat [more than they ought] in such an emergency, Paul openly reproves them as those who in this matter were not walking aright, according to the truth of the Gospel, Gal. 2:11ff
14] For here it is no longer a question concerning external matters of indifference, which in their nature and essence are and remain of themselves free, and accordingly can admit of no command or prohibition that they be employed or omitted; but it is a question, in the first place, concerning the eminent article of our Christian faith, as the apostle testifies, that the truth of the Gospel might continue, which is obscured and perverted by such compulsion or command, because such adiaphora are then either publicly required for the sanction of false doctrine, superstition, and idolatry, and for the suppression of pure doctrine and Christian liberty, or at least are abused for this purpose by the adversaries, and are thus viewed [and are believed to be restored for this abuse and wicked end].
15] Likewise, the article concerning Christian liberty also is here at stake, which the Holy Ghost through the mouth of the holy apostle so earnestly charged His Church to preserve, as we have just heard. For as soon as this is weakened and the ordinances of men [human traditions] are forced upon the Church with coercion, as though it were wrong and a sin to omit them, the way is already prepared for idolatry, and by this means ordinances of men [human traditions] are afterwards multiplied and regarded as a divine worship, not only equal to the ordinances of God, but are even placed above them.
16] Moreover, by such [untimely] yielding and conformity in external things, where there has not been previously Christian union in doctrine, idolaters are confirmed in their idolatry; on the other hand, the true believers are grieved, offended, and weakened in their faith [their faith is grievously shaken, and made to totter as though by a battering-ram]; both of which every Christian for the sake of his soul’s welfare and salvation is bound to avoid, as it is written: Woe unto the world because of offenses! Also: Whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in Me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea [Matt. 18:6, 7].
17] But it is to be especially remembered what Christ says: Whosoever therefore shalt confess Me before men, him will I confess also before My Father which is in heaven, Matt. 10:32.
18] However, that this has always and everywhere been the faith and confession, concerning such indifferent matters, of the chief teachers of the Augsburg Confession, into whose footsteps we have entered, and in whose Confession we intend by God’s grace to persevere, is shown [most clearly] by the following testimonies drawn from the Smalcald Articles, which were composed and subscribed in the year 1537:
From the Smalcald Articles, in the Year 1537, etc.
19] The Smalcald Articles (Of the Church) say concerning this as follows: We do not concede to them (the papal bishops) that they are the Church, and indeed they are not; nor will we listen to those things which, under the name of Church, they enjoin and forbid. For, thank God, [today] a child seven years old knows what the Church is, namely, the saints, believers, and lambs, who hear the voice of their Shepherd. And shortly before (Of Ordination and Vocation): If the bishops would be true bishops, and would devote themselves to the Church and the Gospel, it might be granted to them, for the sake of love and unity, but not from necessity, to ordain and confirm us and our preachers; omitting, however, all comedies and spectacular doings of an unchristian nature and display. But, because they neither are, nor wish to be, true bishops, but worldly lords and princes, who will neither preach, nor teach, nor baptize, nor administer the Lord’s Supper, nor perform any work or office of the Church, and, moreover, persecute and condemn those who, having been called to do so, discharge these functions, the Church ought not on their account to remain without ministers.
20] And in the article Of the Papacy, the Smalcald Articles say (475:14): Therefore, just as little as we can worship the devil himself as Lord and God, we can endure his apostle, the Pope, or Antichrist, in his rule as head or lord. For to lie and to kill and to destroy body and soul eternally, that is wherein his papal government really consists.
21] And in the treatise Concerning the Power and Primacy of the Pope, which is appended to the Smalcald Articles, and was also subscribed by the theologians then present with their own hands, are these words: No one is to burden the Church with his own traditions, but here the rule is to be that nobody’s power or authority is to avail more than the Word of God.
22] And shortly afterwards (517:41): This being the case, all Christians ought most diligently to beware of becoming partakers of the godless doctrine, blasphemies, and unjust cruelties of the Pope; but ought to desert and execrate the Pope with his members, or adherents, as the kingdom of Antichrist, just as Christ has commanded (Matt. 7:15): “Beware of false prophets.” And Paul commands us to avoid false teachers and execrate them as an abomination. And in 2 Cor. 6:14 he says: “Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers; for what communion hath light with darkness?”
23] It is a grave matter wanting to separate one’s self from so many lands and nations, and to profess a separate doctrine; but here stands God’s command, that every one should beware and not agree with those who maintain false doctrine, or who think of supporting it by means of cruelty.
24] So Dr. Luther, too, has amply instructed the Church of God in a special treatise concerning what should be thought of ceremonies in general, and especially of adiaphora, Vol. 3, Jena, p. 523; as was also done in 1530, and can be seen in Tom. 3, Jena, German.
25] From this explanation every one can understand what every Christian congregation and every Christian man, especially in time of confession [when a confession of faith should be made], and, most of all, preachers, are to do or to leave undone, without injury to conscience, with respect to adiaphora, in order that God may not be angered [provoked to just indignation], love may not be injured, the enemies of God’s Word be not strengthened, nor the weak in faith offended.
26] 1. Therefore we reject and condemn as wrong when the ordinances of men in themselves are regarded as a service or part of the service of God.
27] 2. We reject and condemn also as wrong when these ordinances are by coercion forced upon the congregation of God as necessary.
28] 3. We reject and condemn also as wrong the opinion of those who hold (what tends to the detriment of the truth) that at a time of persecution we may comply with the enemies of the holy Gospel in [restoring] such adiaphora, or come to an agreement with them.
29] 4. We likewise regard it as a sin that deserves to be rebuked when in time of persecution anything is done either in indifferent matters or in doctrine, and in what otherwise pertains to religion, for the sake of the enemies of the Gospel, in word and act, contrary and opposed to the Christian confession.
30] 5. We reject and condemn also [the madness] when these adiaphora are abrogated in such a manner as though it were not free to the congregation [church] of God at any time and place to employ one or more in Christian liberty, according to its circumstances, as may be most useful to the Church.
31] Thus [According to this doctrine] the churches will not condemn one another because of dissimilarity of ceremonies when, in Christian liberty, one has less or more of them, provided they are otherwise agreed with one another in the doctrine and all its articles, also in the right use of the holy Sacraments, according to the well-known saying: Dissonantia ieiunii non dissolvit consonantiam fidei; “Disagreement in fasting does not destroy agreement in the faith.”
Bible Study in Preparation for Sunday
Scripture Readings for Sunday are: Psalm 8; Numbers 6:22-27; Galatians 3:23-29; and Luke 2:21. Please read them in their context as you prepare for worship on Sunday.
The Adult Bible Class will begin studying the book of Hebrews on Sunday.
Remember to Pray
Remember to pray for our church and for all our members, that none be lost to Christ’s kingdom but that all continue in repentance and be strengthened and built up in the true and saving faith in Christ Jesus through the hearing and study of His Word. We pray for God’s healing and strengthening of our congregation, as well as for God’s help with our church’s financial needs. We continue to pray for all who have been sick or who are suffering among us – for Sam Rusch who was hospitalized; for Bonnie Hawes, who is recovering from heart surgery; for those who have been absent from us, for our extended families and for believers who are alone and have no congregation. Continue to pray for Lutheran congregations and believers around the world who are persecuted or suffering for their faith in Christ Jesus.
Events and Announcements
New Year’s Eve Worship is scheduled for 7 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 31. Holy Communion will be observed in the special worship service. Worship and Bible study will be at their regular times (10 a.m. and 9 a.m., respectively) on Sunday, Jan. 1, 2012.
On-line video of worship services can be found at: http://goodshepherdrogers.org/blog/worship-service-video.
Information for bulletins or newsletters may be sent to Pastor Moll by calling him at 479-233-0081 or by e-mail at goodshepherdrogers@yahoo.com.
Pastor and Lonnie Moll thank the members of Good Shepherd Lutheran Church for their kindness and generous Christmas gifts.
New Website
In addition to our church website at www.goodshepherdrogers.org, a new website has been started as an outreach site for people to send in questions about life issues for Bible-based answers at www.life-issues.org. The site is especially designed to answer questions for today’s young people, but questions of all kinds are welcome.
[Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture taken from Green's Literal Translation (LITV), Copyright 1993 by Jay P. Green Sr., All rights reserved.]