Lutheran Veneer?

I regularly hear educators, who I would think might know better, talk about Lutheran doctrine as a veneer, a coating that can somehow be applied to material that would otherwise be objectionable in terms of theological content to make it Lutheran. Does that work? Or does that merely disguise heresy?

My first supervisor in the editorial business, Rev. Dr. Earl Gaulke, once asked me how much I would want to dilute a poisonous substance before I would be willing to ingest it. Would coating it with chocolate be good enough? Of course not! If I knew it was poison, I would discard it and start fresh, right?

The key teachings of Lutheran doctrine are fundamentally different than those of other major Christian education publishers. They refuse to teach about the Sacraments, which are chief among our Means of Grace, because not enough customers want to buy that kind of material. They fail to correctly discern and teach Law and Gospel. They confuse good works and works righteousness.

Yes, there are attractive features in many non-Lutheran materials. ("So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate." Genesis 3:6) But sadly, applying a Lutheran veneer is not enough.

God strengthen you to teach His children His Word!

My Car Won't Run! It Must Need New Paint!

Or I could address the real problem. My car may deserve to have its paint job touched up, but a new coat of paint is not going to help it run. Since my car has a specific purpose, which is providing transportation not decoration, I would be better off spending my time and money identifying and fixing the issues that keeps it from running.

"Our Sunday School is losing ground. We must need a new curriculum." Or you could address the real problem. Too many churches would rather focus on stuff that is visible, tangible, and seems easily remedied, than to do the hard work---train the volunteers, educate the parents, fund the mission. Contacting families who are finding other things to do on Sunday morning, building relationships with parents so that your spiritual encouragement does not fall on deaf ears, convincing church council members that Sunday School is worth allocating budgeted funds for. These are not easy tasks. They will require patient effort over a period of weeks, months, and years to accomplish.

But the mission of your Sunday School, to share the Gospel with the children and adults of your church and community, is truly worth the effort. And how much more beneficial it will be in the long run if you focus on finding and fixing the real issues behind low Sunday School attendance.

Unless, of course, your curriculum truly is the problem---the real reason (not the excuse) that families are not attending. If your curriculum fails to teach God's Word of both Law and Gospel, if it ignores the Sacraments God has provided for our spiritual nurture, if it seeks to entertain rather than instruct, perhaps it is time for a new coat of paint.

God bless you as you teach His children His Word!

Can Non-Lutheran Material Teach Lutheran Students?

Does the publisher of your Sunday School material teach that God creates saving faith in Christ through the Word and water of the Sacrament of Baptism? What a blessing for those little ones who face temptation or guilt over sin to be reminded that "I am baptized!"

Does the publisher of your Sunday School material teach that we cannot earn our salvation or merit God's favor though our human effort? What a comfort for your students to know that Jesus has paid the full price for our sin and earned forgiveness, life, and salvation through His work! God loves us despite our sin and sees us as saints, righteous in His sight, because God sees us clothed in Christ.

Does your publisher teach that all of the Bible is God's inerrant Word, that God has the power to do all the wonders the Bible describes, even those that we cannot comprehend in our limited human brains? What joy that the children you teach do not have to guess whether this miracle of God is one that really happened!

Does your Sunday School material teach that Jesus is important because He is the Son of God and our Savior from sin, death, and the devil? How wonderful that your students don't see Jesus as just a moral example of how they should act and live, or a wise teacher, one of many.

If your Sunday School curriculum comes from Concordia Publishing House, you can be sure of these things. If you use material from a non-Lutheran publisher, no matter how good their marketing or flashy their material, then you have no guarantees. Why would you expect a non-Lutheran publisher to teach accurate Lutheran theology?

God's blessings as you teach His children His Word!

Broken

I am in the middle of reading one of the most powerful books I've read in a long time: Broken: 7 "Christian" Rules that Every Christian Ought to Break as Often as Possible.

In this book, Jonathan Fisk (RevFisk on YouTube.com) examines seven counterfeit rules that many churches today teach as doctrine but that have no basis in Scripture.

Others have lamented the drift of young people away from the Church. Fisk lays out some of the false promises some churches make to their young people and explores God's Word as it touches on each area. You will find these teachings in churches near you, or perhaps even in the glitzy material someone has chosen for your Sunday School.

None of these false doctrines is new; they have been around for centuries. But all of them find expression in contemporary American religion. You will learn to identify and avoid:

• Mysticism
• Moralism
• Rationalism
• Prosperity
• Ecclesiology
• Lawlessness
• Worship of Self

God's Word clearly teaches that He comes to us in the Word He has inspired and preserved for our instruction, the Bible, and the Sacraments He ordained for our good, Baptism and the Lord's Supper. Fisk's discussion of authentic Christianity in Broken is truly worth your time to read.

Where do you see one or more of these seven "rules" at work in your church or community?

If you agree with Rev. Fisk's assessment of the false doctrines we need to oppose, how will you change how and what you teach?

God bless you as you teach His children His Word!

Immanuel, God with Us

On this Eighth Day of Christmas, it's worth remembering that God is still Immanuel, "God with us."

Yes, He is with us "in the broad sense," a spiritual/Spiritual sense suggested by Luke 1:28 or perhaps Matthew 28:20.

But He is more specifically with us "in the narrow sense," in the Means of Grace, in the Word He has given us, the Holy Scriptures and the "Word made flesh," and in the Sacrament of the Altar where Jesus is truly present in the bread and wine.

We (and the children we teach) cannot see or touch the Spirit or the spiritual Jesus, but we can hold the Word in our hands as we teach, knowing that it comes from God Himself. We taste and see the elements of the Lord's Supper knowing that by God's Word "this is My body . . . blood."

Jesus is "God with us" in Word and Sacrament, in each Divine Service, in each Sunday School lesson. That's a powerful promise from Immanuel!

God's blessings this year as you teach God's children His Word.