Luther felt the reform of the church could not simply remain a matter of aesthetics and practice. Something much deeper needed to be rooted out.
While God can, and often does, appear to people face to face, he also often employs the use of several types of messengers.
The “further up and further in” we go, the table keeps getting bigger, the guest list keeps getting longer, and the grace keeps on flowing.

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The articles were used to catechize churches in Lutheran doctrine through a series of pastoral visitations.
A truly Christian work is it that we descend and get mixed up in the mire of the sinner as deeply as he sticks there himself.
The following is an excerpt adapted from “Let the Bird Fly” written by Wade Johnston (1517 Publishing, 2019).
When we read this chapter, we find that we are actually shaped by the word.
Jesus will be working in our feeble misguided efforts to reach out to the world. He governs our words and our deeds, no matter how awkward they might seem.
He calls us to suffer as Christ suffered. That is, we are to suffer in service to our neighbor even if they caused the injustice.
What is supposed to be given by Christ through us for neighbor is used up by us, twisted for our righteous gain.
Only true doctrine teaches people how to love God and others. Love is the best test for our theology, for true love and true doctrine go together.
Ultimately it’s at the cross of Calvary, through the shed blood of Jesus Christ, the great Lion of Judah, that the stone table is broken, and everything sad does indeed finally come untrue.
We would expect Jesus to be delighted people have responded to the master’s invitation. Instead, Jesus asks these people to reconsider whether they should be following Him or not.
When disagreements break out we unfriend, unfollow, and unburden our minds by surrounding ourselves with only the right sorts of people.
As we do in daily life, so we have done in our reading of the Bible: we have placed ourselves at the center, and Christ at the periphery.