Love is not Enough

The ELCA is all about love, acceptance, welcoming and tolerance. These are all important in our walk with the Lord. 1 Corinthians 13:4, “Love is patient, love is kind, It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.” And love is not enough. Many at the Greater Milwaukee Synod Assembly were filled with the love of the Lord. Much of the discussion centered about the belief that our God is a loving God, and He is indeed a loving God. God loves each and every one of us, despite our sinful nature. But, there is danger in placing too much emphasis on this free and unconditional love. Simply applying our Lord’s command to love our fellow man can lead us to make compromises when it comes to accepting God’s Word. Many of the doctrines intrinsic to the Lutheran faith have been tossed aside by the leaders of the ELCA in the name of love. Confession of sin is absent from more and more worship services in ELCA churches and either replaced by a celebration of baptism or disregarded altogether. The quest for diversity and acceptance has led to allowing pagan ceremonies to be blended into worship services, such as the libations ritual used in the opening worship service at the GM Synod Assembly. Misguided love for our neighbor has led to doctrine that accepts behavior specifically prohibited by Scripture, in the effort to be more welcoming to the LGBT community. Reaching out to the oppressed in our love has elevated the goal of social justice above our mission as Christ’s disciples to preach the Gospel and bring the lost to salvation.

Not all who profess a love for our Lord are saved. We are saved by our faith in the risen Christ, by our belief that Jesus took our sins to the cross, suffered and died in our place, defeated death, so that we may live eternally with Him in heaven. Without faith, love is meaningless. If we clothe, feed, or heal nations of people, but do nothing to save their souls, we are doing nothing more than conducting a fool’s errand. Faith is constant and unwavering. Faith will never compromise. Faith is steadfast, always true to our Lord. Love, however, can be used by the evil one to cloud our minds and compromise on the very principles our Lord has taught us in His Word. If we use this flawed reasoning that our God is a God of love and love alone, we will find it easy to ignore His Law and replace it with our modern sensibilities. If we feel that our love for our fellow man linked with God’s love for us is all that is necessary to earn one’s salvation, this will only lead us to the bitter realization that there will be no room in His house for us.

So, as we proclaim our love of the Lord and do our good works in the world, congratulating ourselves for doing God’s work with our hands, we are embarking upon the wide path toward destruction. We must love our neighbors as our Lord commanded, but if we are not centered in Christ’s love, we can love them to death. If we minimize and ignore sinful behavior in an effort to show that person how much we love them, we do nothing to help them from straying from the narrow path leading to their salvation. Yes, we can love our neighbor too much. We are not properly equipped to love unconditionally. This is a task that only our Lord can accomplish. Too often our misguided efforts to embrace God’s love and share it with the world, only encourages those is error to continue on a path away from God. Sometimes, tough love is necessary when dealing with our children so that they realize that there are consequences to their wrong behavior. If we acquiesce to any and all behaviors, the sky becomes the limit and those children cannot be successful in society. As with our brothers and sisters in Christ, we must love them, but we must help lead them back to the most important thing, their faith. When we have faith, love will come naturally, as we will love as our Lord loves us. Love is important, but it pales in contrast to the faith that is necessary to earn that salvation that is so freely placed before us.

Shake the Dust from your Sandals

Many congregations within the ELCA are prayerfully discerning where the Lord is leading them. Many of those traditional congregations are struggling with the direction that the ELCA is heading and many believe that they are leaving our Lord behind. The things of this world seem to be held in a much higher regard than our Lord, and the “J” word has little to do with Jesus. God’s work, our hands, is proudly proclaimed as “Our Brand” by the ELCA. Unfortunately, there is little emphasis on reaching out to our brothers and sisters who do not know Jesus. Good works and the acknowledgement of those doing them are nothing without declaring that we do these things in Jesus’ name. The ELCA introduces false doctrine and disregards God’s law in order to more welcoming, accepting and tolerant. God’s Word is amended by Biblical scholars and passed by the votes of His children, using their imperfect love in the name of God’s perfect love. When do children’s opinions take precedence over their Father in heaven?

Matthew 18:15-17, Jesus said, “If a brother or sister sins, go and point out the fault, just between the two of you. If they listen to you, you have won them over. 16 But if they will not listen, take one or two others along, so that every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses. 17 If they still refuse to listen, tell it to the church; and if they refuse to listen even to the church, treat them as you would a pagan or a tax collector.” Jesus teaches that we should try to correct our brother or sister, but if they continue to refuse to listen, we are to treat them as a pagan or tax collector. Tax collectors, for one, were reviled in Jesus’ time, since they were typically dishonest and considered traitors. Our Lord introduces, in this teaching, that those that fail to respond to the church’s discipline should be excommunicated. Further, in 2 Thessalonians 3:14, “Take special note of those who do not obey our instruction in this letter. Do not associate with them, in order that they may feel ashamed. Yet do not regard them as enemies, but warn them as fellow believers.” These verses are meant that the disassociation with the believers in error, will cause them to realize their error and come back to the Lord. This is not meant to be a punishment, but an avenue to repair the fellowship with those in error. In regards to disassociation with the ELCA, there have been fellow believers that have tried over and over to lead the ELCA back to the Lord and the ELCA continues to pursue this path of promoting a false gospel. Would it not be appropriate in Christian love to turn away, hoping that this will awaken the ELCA and bring them back to the Lord?

1 Corinthians 9-11, “I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people – not at all meaning the people of this world who are immoral, or the greedy or swindlers, or idolators. In that case you would have to leave this world. But now I am writing to you that you must not associate with any who claim to be fellow believers but are sexually immoral, or greedy, idolators, or slanderers, drunkards, or swindlers. With such persons do not even eat.” In these verses Paul refers to those affiliated with the church that are engaging in immoral conduct. Calling oneself a Christian while leading an immoral life is reprehensible and by doing so they give false testimony to Christ. If Christians associate with other Christians that continue to disregard God’s law by engaging in immoral conduct, non-believers will see this and assume that this is the proper way for a Christian to conduct himself, dishonoring the name of our Lord. Does not the ELCA promote immorality by condoning the homosexual lifestyle? Is placing the social justice agenda above our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ tantamount to idolatry? When the leaders of the ELCA complain openly about the loss of revenue, causing reductions in staffing and compensation, does that not fit the definition of greed? When we are told that we don’t need to turn the hearts of non-believers to Jesus and all are saved regardless of their faith in the risen Christ, we truly need to pray about our continued affiliation with this Synod. We need to continue to prayerfully discern where God is leading. We need to dwell in His Word and let His will be done. If enough of God’s children turn their backs on the ELCA, it may just be enough to open their hearts and bring them back to the Lord. If SOTH decides to remain with the ELCA as it continues on this path, we will not only be guilty by association, but we may be just as well be guilty of dishonoring our Lord.