The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1918, Page 91

Transcription machine transcription, uncorrected

⤓ Download .txt · copy text

1

*

The Lutheran Pioneer. 91

We asked God for His help, and He has now heard
our prayer; let us not forget to praise Him for
His merciful answer. ‘To God be all the glory!

The roar and thunder of the great guns, the
rattle of the musketry, and the whir of the rushing
air-plane are all hushed; the murderous thrust of
the bayonet and the death-bringing flight of the
hand-grenade are things of the past; the sun sets
in blood no more. Under the magic touch of human
industry and man’s care the torn landscape will
in a few years regain its former appearance, and
by God’s grace the wounds inflicted during the
past dark years in the hearts of men will also heal
and be no more.

But as peace and its blessings once more come
to us, let us not forget Him from whom all bless-
ings flow. F. J. L.

Warning and Consolation.
1 Joun 2,1. 2.

It was John’s earnest hope, wish, and prayer
that the glorious and important lessons taught the
Christians in verses 5 to 10 of the first chapter
of his First Epistle should not be written in vain.
The truths contained in those verses are: God is

“= good and perfect, and if we have fellowship with

Him by faith and thus also with one another, we
walk as His followers. We have then a new spiritual
nature which leads us to do good. True, during
this earthly life we daily stand in need of being
cleansed from sin by Christ’s blood; for the old
Adam still cleaves to us. Christians will not de-
ceive themselves, deeming themselves sinless, “pure
from sin”; but a Christian’s life is a life of con-
tinual repentance.

_ Now, all this John writes to the Christians
whom he addresses in his First Epistle that they
may not sin. He would exhort them to abstain
from sin, to fight against it. He would dissuade
them from sinning, warn them against it. At this
point the Apostle draws our attention to one of the
great purposes for which Christians live here on
earth. Hach believer must manfully struggle
against sin in general, and against his own in-
dividual pet sins in particular. ‘Thus it is found
that wherever Christ’s grace is believed, for in-
stance, on the mission-fields out in heathendom,
people begin to fight against sin valiantly as soon
as they are converted. ‘They at once relinquish
their former sins, which formed their dearest en-

joyments and were the objects of their greatest
pride. Incessant prayer should be the Christian’s
“trade,” as Luther expresses himself, i. ¢., his daily
occupation.

So we must likewise be constantly engaged in
earnest warfare against sin, as our evil nature
always is inclined to do wrong. Paul writes to
believers: “Henceforth we should not serve sin.”
Although our entire lives are still contaminated
with the filth of sin, we should by no means serve
sin, but bravely struggle against it. Tenderly ad-
dressing the Christians with the words, “My little
children,” John exhorts them to sin no more. The
warning, “Sin no more purposely, knowingly, and
coarsely,” is heard wherever Gospel-preaching is
heard. Let us see to it that these repeated warn-
ings leave an indelible impression upon our hearts.

The more seriously, however, the Christian is
engaged in warring against the sin that is in his
members, the more will he be saddened by his daily
experience of ever renewed sinning. Hence sincere
Christians that daily work out their salvation with
fear and trembling are urgently in need of com-
fort. The Father of mercies and the God of all
comfort gladly provides them therewith. Accord-
ingly, St. John adds these words of precious con-
solation to his hearty admonition: “And if any
man sin, we have an Advocale with the Father.”
Even sins of infirmity, which are not committed
on purpose, but owing to the weakness of our flesh,
are real and damnable transgressions in the sight
of the holy God. He punishes all guilt. Neverthe-
less, we should not despair if our conscience would
rob us of peace because of such daily errors, or
on account of other sins which we may have com-
mitted. For if any man sin, be it in a fine or
coarse manner, we have an Advocate with the Fa-
ther. We have an efficient and trustworthy Attor-
ney who pleads our ‘cause before God’s tribunal.
Without our Intercessor’s aid our cause would be
absolutely lost. But in Him we have a Friend
who will help us out of our hopeless plight. We
may safely rely on Him. Christ intercedes for
us at His Father’s throne.

Jesus Christ is the Righteous and also the Pro-
pitiation for our sins. Propitidtion means recon-
ciliation. We cannot stand before God, but must
fear His just wrath and punishment on account
of our sins. Christ, the Righteous, however, by
means of His active and His passive obedience, His
holy life in our stead, and His atoning death, has
appeased God’s justice and won His favor for us.