| | NO AUDIO ~ ~ TEXT ONLY | |
READINGS FROM HOLY SCRIPTURE:
Isaiah 43:1-11
James 1:2-4
- St. Matthew 5:10-12
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord
Jesus Christ.
Who speaks to us this evening through St. James, saying,
“you know that the
testing of your faith produces steadfastness”
He says, the testing, or the Proof in the pudding, of your
faith, that God-given-gift, produces endurance. Thus, as we conclude our short
study on “How to be a theologian”, we come to anfechtung, in the German, and
tentatio, in the Latin.
Anfechtung, as Google AI teaches, is a multifaceted term
meaning challenge, contestation, appeal, or temptation. Used in law for
challenging a will or a contract, or an election. And the Latin, tentatio,
actually comes to us as temptation, through various linguistic errors of
pronunciation.
However, like “daily bread” in our Lord’s Prayer, it appears
to be a word that defies English definition, at least by one word. Temptation
comes close, but it is more accurate to say that it is the struggle against sin
itself and all that includes. Anfechtung describes what a true believer goes
through, when the devil learns that he has put his trust in Christ.
This simply continues our theme that we have discovered. In
prayer, we are not just conversing, but living the life of faith, pursuing the
true Teacher of Holy Scripture, Jesus Christ. In meditation, we are not simply
internally thinking about God, but speaking and hearing His Words in the
rituals of His Church, all of which He has given to us, graciously.
Anfechtung, then, is undefinable by ink and paper alone. It
also needs a heart that believes and trusts in what the theologian has lived,
studied, and learned. And that is not pretty. As King David declared to us
tonight, in our Psalm, “Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep
your word” (119:67).
Affliction? Isn’t that devil territory? How can affliction
be from God and keep us on the straight and narrow way? But, consider this: a
cow stays in his yard only after he runs into the electric fence. Jesus says it
this way in Psalm 32:9, “be not like the horse or the mule, Which have no
understanding, Which must be harnessed with bit and bridle”.
In one of his Table Talks, Martin Luther once remarked, “I
did not learn my theology all at once, but had to search constantly deeper and
deeper for it. My temptations did that for me, for no one can understand Holy
Scripture without practice and temptations. This is what the enthusiasts and
sects lack. They don’t have the right critic, the devil, who is the best
teacher of theology. If we don’t have that kind of devil, then we become
nothing but speculative theologians, who do nothing but walk around in our own
thoughts and speculate with our reason alone as to whether things should be
like this, or like that,” (TWA I, 147, 3-14).
That critic, the devil, teaches us as only our enemies can.
Until a child of God feels the fiery darts of the tempter,
despairs of saving himself, stares in shock at the horror of which he is
capable, and finds at the end of his rope the crucified God of love, he still
has much to learn of theology. (Devil’s Classroom, Bird, 1517.org)
Our opponents teach us through failure. When we fall back
into sin, we learn a little more about who we are and what tempts us and a lot
more of hatred of sin. If we get inot a debate or discussion, when sharing our
faith, we may be the loser, not being able to speak our faith completely. But
this opposition Let’s us see that we always have room for improvement.
We may not have “won” this time, but maybe next time with
what we have learned.
In this anfechtung, the Christian is given the opportunity
by God to overcome Satan personally, as Romans and our Great Litany say, “The
God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet” (16:20). This is
echoing Genesis 3, “He will crush your head and you will bruise His heel”. Of
course, these are both talking about Jesus first, so we will not have direct
responsibility for our salvation, but that it will be near. Its accomplishment
will be so close, we can feel it. In fact, it will be as close as our skin and
bones, because that is what we are baptized into: a Body.
“though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the
things which He suffered” (Heb 5:8). Jesus is the picture of Anfechtung.
There is no glory without the cross. There is no forgiveness without the
shedding of blood. All theology is Christology. To be conformed to the image of
the Son means to be conformed to His suffering.
Thus, in order to mature, we are enrolled in the School of
the Holy Spirit. Or to be more crass, the devil’s school. What that means is
simply that now that we have been saved from sin, satan, death, hell, and all
related calamities, we must re-encounter them in life.
Just the day to day being a good person is the area of
attack, as our Small Catechism spells out in the Table of Duties. For we all
believe “once saved always saved” and that once Jesus comes into our lives,
they couldn’t be any better. Everything will fall into place now, with God’s
guidance. Peace. Grace. Comfort.
They may be yours at first, but then they appear to drift
away as Monday comes around. Then, once again, you have to face the people that
aggravate you, test your patience, and wrong you. This is anfechtung. On top of
that, are all the false religions and false churches in the world who
unceasingly try to undermine the faith.
All of this without God intervening. But that is the devil’s
goal, to get us to despair of God’s action. Because God has already acted and
He has acted perfectly and completely, leaving nothing out and no one
behind.
This is part of anfechtung: having to deal with all of life
with only the cross of Christ. For that is God’s only answer and yet it is the
perfect answer. It is not perfect because it solves all of our problems, but
because it makes facing those struggles worthwhile. It makes our temptations,
tests, and it makes light our darkness.
This is because our Savior has walked this path first. He
has entered the deepest, darkest temptations, walked His bloody road, and lit
every beacon along the way, for us. He has made a way, where there was no way.
He has purchased peace and forgiveness where there was not peace or
forgiveness. He has Promised hope where only despair reigned.
And He did all this for us. As He said in Isaiah tonight, “Bring
out the people who are blind, yet have eyes, who are deaf, yet have ears…[for]
you are my witnesses, declares the Lord, and I am God” (v.8, 12). The
anfechtung of God is accomplished in struggle, in bearing the cross. But it is
His cross and so He is never far off, but always near.
Near preaching and teaching His Word, near washing us in
Baptism, and near feeding us His true Body and His true Blood for the
forgiveness of sins. In these promises made by the Crucified Jesus, the true
theologian trusts.
And he spends his God-given time in prayer, meditation, and
anfechtung. He does not shun the Lord’s trials, but admits his sins, piles on
more the devil forgot, and seeks comfort and consolation solely in the Blood of
Christ.
And though these all have deep implications and sound like
$10,000 words, you are already doing them. Just like you are already a
scientist figuring out the world, you are a theologian. Everyone is. And
everyone is a sinner and must deal with their brokenness.
And it is in that sinful, brokenness that God shows His real
glory. The Glory of a true Father Who loves us and makes a way to heal us. “Scripture
imprisoned everything under sin”, says Galatians 3, “so that the promise
by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe” (v22).
As theologians then, we gladly struggle, as St. James said
tonight. Knowing that anfechtung “produces perseverance; perseverance,
character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because
God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has
been given to us” in Christ Jesus (Rom 5:3-5).
He has been given to us as promised, beginning with the
child in the manger.
No comments:
Post a Comment