I was about nine when Dad took me and my brother to the Robert Hall Clothing Store to get our Easter suits. We weren't clean on the inside, but we would certainly be able to make a good showing in church on the next day. In like manner, today is Good Friday; but it ain't good. We aren't clean. We are clean through the Word alone; the Word alone sanctifies; the Word alone brings faith; and the Word alone kills and makes alive.

Yes, we look good on the outside, dressed in our Gospel suits, all ready to make a good showing Resurrection Morn. We will have a blessed time celebrating the death, burial and resurrection of our precious Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Some will walk through the hollow halls of the church to all who will listen spouting, "He is Risen!" and waiting for the response, "He is risen indeed!" A good time will be had and much money will be raised and the church rolls will be bolstered, but nothing is good, nothing is well, and nothing is whole.

Christ came for the sick and the sinners. He didn't die for those who only wanted to hear Good News. He died for those who craved the bad news of their wretched sinfulness, their most insincere intentions, their diseased will, and their arrogant minds. Christ died for those who are anxious to repent; not for those who have no or little need of repentance. Christ died for those who love the Law; not for those who mostly assume they keep the Law. Christ died for the broken in spirit and contrite of heart, not for those who are confident of their spirituality and standing before a holy God.

Christ was raised for those who follow Him and daily take up their cross. I know of no one who falls into this category. I know many people who have a fond attitude of carrying their self-made cross for Christ. They decide for themselves what their sins are and what their cross will be. But don't, never, ever, have the audacity to suggest to them any sin outside their sphere of humility or hint to them that what they believe to be a cross is nothing more than what they have brought upon themselves either because of their stupidity or their quest for glory. Praise God! What a glorious, fashionable item the cross has become. Would to God that everyone wore one around their necks hanging from a gold or silver chain; and would to God that He would hang us with them from the nearest pulpit.

The cross is death itself. It was death for Christ and it is death for His Followers. A true cross is nothing less than the continual experience of living a death, burial and resurrection in Christ. A true cross is the deep, abiding, agonizing anguish of being subjected to the wrath and malice of the world, the seeming departure of God Himself, and the humiliating experience of being mocked by the Word Itself. For the Word always brings with It a curse. The Word always is bitter in a person's stomach. This is how I know no one has the Word today-other than the fact that all despise Luther in their own way-because the Word is still sweet in the mouths of so-called Christians. They have not swallowed, because if they did, they would have a far different experience of what it means to be a Christian.

I have a true cross, therefore I am a true Christian. I am hated and despised by pastors, friends, family, and church members-that is, the world-because I bring to them truth. It seems that God is on their side and not mine. Who is going to lovingly serve me communion Sunday (besides the Holy Spirit Himself). I am alone, outside the church, while they are all gloriously together under their umbrella-church; which is no church, for there is no church unless the Word is taught and the sacraments are properly administered. Yet, I have the Word and the proper administration of the sacraments, but God has forsaken me. I am a worm and no man. Furthermore, the Word, though I grasp It, mocks me.

Let me take just a moment and explain this. When God made the world He said each creation was "good." After Adam sinned, God said the Seed of the woman would redeem the world. But a thousand years later God told Noah to build an ark, for He was going to destroy the world. But the unbelievers has the Word on their side, because why, they asked and reasoned, would God destroy what He had called "good," and how could God possibly decide to destroy the world when the whole world was awaiting on the Seed of the woman so the world could be redeemed?

In like manner, the Jews were the chosen people of God. But they came to trust in the being chosen rather than in Christ. They had the Word, "In Abraham shall all the nations of the world be blessed." They were children of Abraham, so how could God possibly go against His Word? He can't, so we won't believer. We will believe what we want to believe because we have the Word of God and we will take our stand on the Word of God. We will even die for the Promise of God to us, and we will be millennium martyrs for this great privilege God has bestowed upon our nation. If they had believed in the Word, they would have been "mocked" by the Word. It would have put them in a state of confusion for a time. It would have been death to them and their mind's view of spiritual things. It would have seemed like they had been betrayed by the Word and promise of God.

Again, Jesus Christ said, "I will build My church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." What a comforting statement and promise of the Almighty! But now I come along, called by God, to take a battering ram to the great promise. The church is so high on this promise of God that they cannot consider the warning of God: "When the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?" The Holy Spirit reveals to me alone (apparently) that there is a changing of the promise, if you will. Because I come calling the church to repentance, I must experience the cross of being insane, the new Luther, and the cult of Luther. This was a death to me. I came calling those of the promise to return to the Word as taught by Luther, just as Christ came to His own but His own received Him not, yet I am summarily dismissed. Is this not being mocked and scorned by the Word Itself?

When you bear this true cross, as I have, you see that it all fits together perfectly. But when you fight this cross of death in your mind, you only see part of what God is doing, and miss His perfect will. Even though I bear this cross, it is still a continual death. But I praise God for this persisting death. If many people had listened to me and came to me for spiritual nourishment, I would possibly be going to hell with the rest of the crowd. My nature would have been fed, but I would have lost sight of the current plan of God-if I may speak this way-"As in the Days of Noah, so shall the coming of the Son of Man be." Sure, if I had gained a following I could have rejoiced in serving God and seeing His blessing. It could have been a glorious time. I could have gained the crowd but lost the cross. This must be just like the day of Noah. I wonder how many times, through his tears and pleas for the perished, he thanked God no one got on that boat?

"Out of the depths I cried to Thee, O Lord." When your are in the throes of the Cross, resurrection and life look an eternity away. Christ was raised TODAY for our benefit and sanctification. TODAY He is our Savior. TODAY He is our Sustainer. TODAY He is building His Church. The same Power which raised Christ from the dead raises our vile soul to newness of life and victory. This Power must be believed more than it is felt, for we have only the firstfruits of this great salvation, while we experience the full force of our nature. But his Promise and Power of life in Christ must extinguish the ministry of the Law in our flesh, nor tarnish the glory of the cross in our minds. Death and the cross are our glorious glory; if not, we have not Christ.

Christ is risen!

Eat and receive His Meal and His Cross.

Love,

Dad