WEBVTT

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All right, good morning.

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I understand

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I've been introduced I'll trust that happened.

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It's good to be with you this morning.

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Wherever you are.

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I'm here in my basement. Long ago I put October 10th on my calendar and was

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looking forward to it as been I've been anticipating this day for a

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long time. And then in the early spring late winter

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we had the whole coronavirus thing hidden things became different.

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Everything got shut down and the assumption was as we have to be an

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online seminar. And then in the summer the word came in and do this

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live and in-person in Werner was going to start in Sieck then move

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to Warner. Pretty exciting.

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I was I was really excited to be able to be in person with people and

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being able to teach play I'd like to teach and have that live

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interaction.

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And so it was everything was set rolling full blast and then an odd

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thing happened. Just last week

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I was exposed apparently perhaps by

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someone who it later tested positive for covid-19 and so by

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following the seminaries protocols.

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I needed to get a test myself and till I get a negative result from that

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I'm not allowed to come back on campus.

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That's just the way our protocols work at the Seminary.

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So I found that out yesterday, yesterday morning

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I found that out.

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So that means we've been scrambling in the last 24 hours trying to

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figure out how today was going to look.

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So this is how it's going to look and it's a last-minute sort of

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pulling things together not like we've been planning this all

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carefully, but this is how it's going to go.

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So I'm in my basement at my home. In my beautifully a proportioned studio

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my wife help me with that.

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Yes,

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this is her beautiful decorations

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this is her work and I'm grateful for that. So this is where I'll be today. And

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good news is though you're there and you're in Werner or maybe

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you're just watching at home on your own computer and that's fine.

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But we're going to be able to make this thing work and I'm convinced

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of it.

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There are some

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downsides I'm not going to have my whiteboard.

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Not going to have my electronic whiteboard.

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I'm not going to be able to write stuff and put it up on the screen

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for you to see all you get is just me and the background here.

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So that's the way it's going to be and I and I apologize for that

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because it's not my favorite and it's not the way I usually like to

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operate but it is to where it's going to be today.

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It's just the just the reality we have. I got to get something

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right on my own computer here.

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It's going to be a problem.

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I've got to take care of one thing so quickly here.

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And I'll get back to you yet.

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There it is.

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Okay.

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Sorry about that.

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I think I should be good now.

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Now with any of these kinds of links there are multiple levels of

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technology going on and there are potentials for anything to go

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wrong along the way that happens.

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We'll just roll with it.

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I'm used to getting logged back in quickly and so is everybody else.

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So if there is a blank screen don't panic it will all get it back

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together here shortly.

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Just sit tight be patient.

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I hope we reappear before too long.

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My desire is that won't be too many glitches like that, but we'll just

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see how it goes.

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The other thing I want you to be aware of is that the interaction is

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still possible.

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We have a dedicated email address for you.

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So if you have a device of some sort of computer, phone whatever

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laptop or iPad or you can email a question in and it won't come

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directly to me.

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It'll be going to one of our technicians to Ian and then he'll

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forwarded on to me so I can read your question and that website is

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FLBI 2020. So that's F as in fall, LBI Lay Bible Institute.

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So fall Lay Bible Institute 2020 at csl.edu.

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So it's pretty straight.

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flbi2020@csl.edu.

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One more time flbi2020@CSL, Concordia, St.

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Louis,

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edu. So you can type in a question there and it'll get to me or if

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you're in the auditorium.

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You can also raise your hand.

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And I've got another guy there Brian and he will be able to listen

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with his own ears to your question and then log into my Adobe Connect

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classroom and he will ask the question verbally to me so I can hear it.

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And that maybe even the more immediate question

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if something is perplexing you need to ask about it, so we can do that.

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And I encourage you to ask questions.

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I like to teach based on what the the students are learning and what

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they're gaining.

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I have no idea of getting feedback other than questions.

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So your questions or even comments are are welcome and indeed

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encourage, since I don't have any of the way to know if anybody is even

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there listening, I'm just talking to my computer in my basement.

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So I'm assuming somebody's there and getting a real question

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lets me know somebody's actually there a little bit and it's also

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helpful to me to know how things are going.

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So it's not ideal.

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It is not perfect.

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But it is what we've got and we'll deal with it.

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It's the world we're living in and we have

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good things like we have technology which is a great thing.

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So we're able to do some stuff.

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So I will try to make the most of this and try desperately that it

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doesn't become boring.

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My greatest fear is that this will become boring because I don't know

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if you're falling asleep.

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I don't know if you're zoning out.

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I'm just talkin. Now

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I can talk about this stuff for hours and hours and hours and not get

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bored myself, but I know that not everybody shares my enthusiasm for

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the topic.

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So I don't want you to get bored and you start getting bored

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send me a question and tell me to get back on track and we'll do that.

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So the game plan is to follow the schedule and the schedule was set up

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as we go from 10 until 11:30.

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Then we have a break of an hour for lunch and then we come back at

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12:30 and then we'll run till 1:30 to take another 15 minute break and

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then we'll run from that time will be 1:45 until 3 and then the wrap

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it up. And so I will have dedicated Q&A at the very end and planning

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for that. And if some of the questions come in, I don't get to all of

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them if there are a lot of them I'll have chance during the breaks to

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catch up on questions and address them more carefully when we come

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back after the break.

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So we'll do it that way as well.

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But I usually do pretty well and have one with things on the fly.

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So long as a question some it too lengthy and takes too long for me to

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read them.

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All right.

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So that's all the young background material I thinking all the

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preliminaries. So far as me many of you know, who I am.

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I teach at Concordia Seminary. I teach in the systematics department.

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Systematics is the area where we talk about doctrine and the

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theology that we proclaim and teach why. We take as I like to say

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the truths that are gleaned from the scriptures and from the teachings of

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the church. And we try to consolidate them or organize them and teach

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them in ways that make sense and are meaningful not even make

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sense that are faithful and then allow people to engage with what

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God's truth says about things. Systematic Theology has the task of taking God's

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timeless truth and applying it into the context in which were living

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today.

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So we have a very real context in which we're living a world of an

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election round the corner a world still trying to work through this

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coronavirus and the responses of governments and businesses and

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academic institutions.

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And the responses and the virus are two different things as far as I'm

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concerned and it makes a big impact on how we're living.

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So that's part of our reality and we have a reality of a world

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charged with change in the air. Tensions over race, tensions over

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violence, tensions over the role of police or not police and there's

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all kinds of issues going on. And all of those things all of them

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frankly elections, coronavirus and the response of governments and

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human institutions to those things racial tension, sexual reality,

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homosexual rights this kind of stuff all of these things are at work

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in our culture and all of these things are addressed by today's topic.

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So one last thing before I actually start getting into the

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nitty-gritty.

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The cheese or the sort of little blurb written up about this event

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made it sound like I'm going to answer all your questions and I'll try

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frankly. If you got a question

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I'll try to answer it.

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And if I've got an answer I'll give it to you. But you probably came

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today with the hope of getting some things straightened out. And maybe

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getting some clarity on some things aren't so clear to you. And getting

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some answers to things that have been troubling you. I want to try to

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give you those answers.

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I do I want to try to give you clarity.

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So if it gets to be this afternoon, you're still not getting what

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you're looking for by all means let me know and I'll try to address that.

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I want you to go home today and stay there that

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scratched the itch that I had. It took care of that question

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I had or at least it addressed it. Or he made me realize this or that

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that's what I want to do.

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So this is is your event and you can guide it and direct it. I have

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plenty of stuff I want to share but I want to hear from you and know

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that I'm dealing with the things that matter to you because you have

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questions. You have things

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on your mind, you're looking for answers and I do believe that we do

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have answers in our tradition in our faith tradition.

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We do have answers from God because our faith tradition,

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Lutheranism, is I would argue nothing more than an accurate expression

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a faithful expression of God's reality still at work today in the

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church in the world. And we are the heirs of a fantastic tradition this

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regula fidei this rule of faith. This tradition has been passed down. Not

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just the Lutheran tradition but the Christian tradition. And coming from Christ, the Apostles the early Church Fathers

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down through all the faithful men and women through Middle Ages and

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then through the Reformation sharpening and refocusing and bringing

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that message back to where it always needed to be the message of the

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Apostles.

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That's the truth were talking about.

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That's what I'm going to share with you.

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So while I might often say Luther or Lutheran. What I do believe is everything I'll be trying to

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share with you today is grounded in the church's teaching. And is what any faithful

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Christian would conclude by studying carefully what's in scripture

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studying carefully what's in the church's teaching on the regula fidei

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and then reach a conclusions. So that's what I interested in trying to do.

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All right.

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So having said that there are a lot of different ways that people

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try to approach the questions of church and state and the interface

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between them and even more than just church and state.

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That's not just what I'm interested in. Even more than church and state is the relationship of the church

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and the community of the church and the body of Christ with the wider

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world with the culture.

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Not just the government but the whole culture in other words arts and

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business and family and friendships and warfare and economics and all

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of the things that make up life. Beauty and art and literature and

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learning, academics all of that stuff. That's the wider world that's the culture in which we live.

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All of that is around us and then here we are as God's people the

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church who knows Gods reality engaged in this this in connection with this

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world around us.

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What's that supposed to look like? How does that

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play out? And Christians through the years have wrestled with this and

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try to come to terms with this. Years ago H. Richard Niebuhr wrote a

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significant book called "Christ and Culture" published in 1951. So

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middle of the last century and he sort of set the stage set the table

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for decades, decades to come. It is still relevant today. People still reference him. And he laid out five different ways that Christians try to understand this

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interface. And he moved across the scale from on the one hand you got

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at the opposite extremist sort of anabaptist tradition that

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assumes that the world itself is broken and fallen and evil

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governments in particular are promised on violence.

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So therefore are anti-christian and a Christian needs to avoid the

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world and shun the world.

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So we get the anabaptist tradition showing itself in the Amish

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tradition or the Mennonite tradition and others as well. Then or the

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other extreme you have Christians that say no the world around is

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God's world and God works in that world and

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he works through the world.

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He uses government to accomplish his purpose and uses business to

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accomplish his purpose.

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And so the gospel is going out into the world through these government

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human institutions.

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These are good things and he called that Christ up of culture in

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Christ a culture together.

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The first one he called Christ against culture and those where his two

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extremes. Then in between he had some middle positions.

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He had Christ above culture just one step in from the bar extreme of

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complete unity.

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Where you have the church sort of ruling over the culture supremely over at

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all.

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And there's a happy corresponds to in the wider culture and the church.

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They get along well, but they're doing for different things and the

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church is ultimately in control. Then the other side you have coming in from the extreme

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of Christ against culture, but Niebuhr called Christ and culture in

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paradox.

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And that would be the Lutheran tradition

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he said this is where you have the church on one hand and the world

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on the other hand of the government and they're doing different things

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and there's a lot of tension between them and sometimes even just

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outright contradictions between them. That's when there is a paradox and yet somehow hold together

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because God is in control and he's in control of both of these things.

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So there's a sort of bumpy water and oil relationship between

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the church and the world and that would be Christ against culture. And in the middle

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ground

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he came up with what he called

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Christ transforming culture. Where the goal of the church is to change the

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world and make the world Christian and bring the world into line with

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God's purposes.

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That's  Niebuhr's classic way of looking at it and it's still very

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helpful.

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It's helpful because there are a lot of Christians around you still

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fit into one these sorts of categories.

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I think it's unhelpful though

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a little bit because he obviously is creating categories to try to

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plug people in it not always quite so simple and neat there are elements

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of truth in all of them.

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I expounded this whole thing a lot more years ago when I did a

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previous Lay Bible Institute called from "Sea to Shining Sea", you can

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refer back to that

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if you want to dig into more of what  Niebuhr's up to. What I think is important to take from this today, at least, is to realize that

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if we're actually going to follow what scriptures teaching and with

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the church's teaching is I think it leads us to a more nuanced

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understanding.

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I do believe that Christ and culture in paradox.

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That's what he called his fourth category.

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The one second in from the far left or the far-right depending how you

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look at things from the Christ against than you have paradox and then you have

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transforming then you have Christ above and you have Christ of.

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So in that second from the from the end that position I think is

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accurate the Christ and culture in a paradox.

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I'm not crazy about paradox cuz I think of that implies a

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contradiction or an inherent incompatibility, which I would say is not

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the case.

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In fact, I would argue that what we have is Christ and culture working

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together in a cooperative but not confusing way. And that's where I'm

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going to try to show you how this is operating and give you some

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foundation for that.

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So while we've got  Niebuhr's categories which are useful. We need a backup it up

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I think even a little bit more and say what is going on in scripture?

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What's going on in our Church's teaching?

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What's a more foundational better way of thinking about the role the church as

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it engages the culture.

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How should we think about the culture?

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What's our responsibility to the culture? And then more pointedly.

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What's my responsibility as a Christian?

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Especially a Christian living in America where I'm a US citizen in a

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democratic republic and that makes a difference.

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What's it mean for me?

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And what are my responsibilities as an American in this sort of a

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government? Which is different then Luther's. A lot different then St. Paul's. so we will think about that too.

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But we need to get a good foundation for this and we need to start

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somewhere.

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So one last thing I wanted just do by kind of positioning

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this is after  Niebuhr's influence went for decades and decades and

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decades many people have responded to him thought about him written in

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response in context with him.

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Another guy I've learned a lot from who's helped us kind of thinking

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about what's going on is a little more recent one and in 2010 the guy

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named James Davison Hunter wrote a book called "To Change the World". And

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to change the world

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is a very good book worth reading. And he spends a significant

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amount of time in the second part of his book book laying out kind of

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a picture of what's going on in the culture today in American

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context. And he says within Christianity and he's thinking about the

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Christian culture and how it engages the wider world. He identifies three

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major categories of how Christians are handling where they fit in the

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world how they're feeling about the status of the church in the world

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and what the role the church is.

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So he sees three categories.

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His first category is what he calls the religious right.

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The religious right is made up of leaders like Dobson and wallbuilders

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Nehemiah project and these sorts of people who are working very hard

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to try

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to recapture what they see as being a heritage and a legacy that is

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being stolen away from them.

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They are convinced of America's godly founding, America has Christian

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roots and Christian foundedations.

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And their desire is to try to restore America to those Christian roots.

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They lament the loss of the Christian influence in the wider culture.

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They they grieve the erosion of morality and culture as

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they see it. They lament the kind of cheapening of America's legacy

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and so they are very patriotic about America.

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They're very patriotic about a day when America was great because it

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was founded on Christian principles was upholded on Christian principles and they are very

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distressed by what they see as the increasing marginalization of the

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church to the sidelines. And the church becoming shunted off as

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not an important player in the world.

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And they think this is unfair, but they want the church back at the table and

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back having prominence and the church shaping how things work.

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And so obviously there's a correlation here between some of  Niebuhr's

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categories. A lot of the Christ transforming culture people fall into

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this camp very readily. Because we're trying to make America

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Christian we want to influence the world and shape it into a Christian

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Christian way of being and so there they lament these losses.

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That's the Christian right there also known for being very active

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politically.

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It started back in the Reagan years in the late twentieth century and

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the zeal the Moral Majority to try to get the right people elected

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make a difference.

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Some of that has waned but it hasn't gone away. And you still have

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people

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look at very invested in the political process trying to recapture

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America and its Christian foundations. And make America all that

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it should be all that can be and they're fighting for that.  So that would be the religious right. I imagine

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some of you can readily identify with that and think of names you

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would put in there a friends you have or family members who have that's

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them or maybe you put yourself in that category. The next category that

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Hunter identifies he calls the Christian left. And the Christian left

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are also very much motivated by Christian morality and a desire to

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uphold the traditions of the church rather than focusing so much on

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social issues like sexuality or the definition of marriage or the

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rights of the unborn or the patriotism of American loving America. They

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focus more on issues of social justice in the realm of race and

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individual rights and of the need to show love and mercy and their

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looking

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for economic fairness or even looking for sometimes wealth

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redistribution.

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And so these will be a traditional more left-leaning.

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So this should be those who are interested in the church promoting

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love for everybody and upholding the rights of everybody. And they want

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to see justice spread out by getting everybody having a fair

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shake financially.

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There are several Christian groups who are  very involved in this there aren't as many as the

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Christian right frankly, but they are out there. And they

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tend to define themselves most zealously against the Christian

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right, oddly enough. The Christian right

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tends to define themselves over against the decadence culture and the

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decay they see in the world around.

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Where as the Christian left tends to define themselves over against the

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Christian, right.

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We're not them. Those Christian right there strange guys

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they're all hung up on wrong things and they're unloving and their harsh

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in their hate mongers and there white supremacist.

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And so they go along with all that they are embarrassed by the

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Christian, right and they want people to recognize Christianity is love and compassion

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and tolerance and all those sorts of things.

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And so that's the Christian left and they're they're very much around

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and maybe you know people like that so they consider themselves to be

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good Christian. And they consider themselves to be people who are doing what

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God wants them to do, but they're not at all compatible with the

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Christian right. In fact they're  embarrassed by the Christian right.

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So that's the Christian left. And they're around and their work.

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They often identify with  Niebuhr's categories on the far end of Christ

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of culture or Christ above culture obviously and they would fit very

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comfortably over there for the most part.

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These would a lot of your mainline denominations some Roman Catholics

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fall into this category. Some Roman Catholics fall into the Christ

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against culture category, frankly

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they're all over the place.

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But that's how they tend to function. And there is a third category, I mentioned that Hunter has. His third

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category

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he calls the kneel Anabaptist. And he traces this back to the

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anabaptist tradition.

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Just so you know, the Anabaptists were people who always kind of

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been around in some way, but they got the name Anabaptist in the time

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of the Reformation.

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They grew up kind of out of the Lutheran Reformation taking it further

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and Anna is a Greek prefix

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which means again, so Anabaptist means you need to be baptized again.

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You got baptized as an infant great, but you need to have an adult

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baptism.

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You mean it and when you commit to it and it's your baptism.

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So that's what Anabaptism is the second baptism and they're

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traditionally associated with things like the Amish and Mennonite and

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the separate separating themselves from the culture don't live in the

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culture.

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A lot of us don't know Amish and Mennonite people, but you maybe know

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some Jehovah's Witnesses and even though Jehovah's Witnesses are not

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Christian.

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I said that very clearly. Even though Jehovah's Witnesses are not Christian they do fall into this category of a Christ

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against the culture.

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We're not going to be part of them.

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We have nothing to do with government.

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Nothing to do with the rulers of the world that call evil and they

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they want to say a pledge to the flag.

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We all know poor little JW kids who can't do that and wait for the

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stories. And that would be the Christ the Christ against culture is the camp

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is being kind of the anabaptist and the neo-anabaptist are in

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that same trap. What might surprise you is it's not

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just the Amish and Mennonites off on the farms in Pennsylvania

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or Michigan or Indiana or Ohio that are doing this.

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There are a lot of academic people. Very learned

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00:24:21.200 --> 00:24:26.100
people in Christianity today who are very sympathetic to this position.

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And you need to understand this and it's not just because you know

437
00:24:31.100 --> 00:24:36.100
kind of radical or something, they are to some extent, but they are doing this because they're

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convinced that if I'm going to follow Jesus. Jesus told me I need to

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put away my sword.

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I cannot take up the sword against anybody.

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I have to turn the cheek.

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I have to go the extra mile.

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I have to give somebody my cloak if he demands my tunic and I need to

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give them myself freely I don't resist evil. And they would argue

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that anybody who is involved in violence or resisting evil is not following

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Jesus. And if you're going to be serious about following Jesus.

447
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You better be serious about giving up all those things and you can't

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possibly be involved in government.

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Our in the positions of power or certainly not in positions of using the

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sword. Power has its place but never the sword never violence never

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going to impose your will and that would be the neo-Anabaptist. They're even

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smaller than the Christian left, but they're not the Christian left and

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they're not the Christian right.

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That's why Hunter provides a category for them. Among the key guys in this

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would be Stanley Hauerwas if you're familiar with that name he is in this camp, Hunter places him right there.

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John Howard Yoder obviously and then there are others as well

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who it belong to this camp who are more sympathetic that way. So now

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where do Lutherans fit, where do we belong? The temptation is going to be for all of

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you to offer a reason a suggestion.

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00:25:52.800 --> 00:26:04.600
You might say well I think the social justice things matter, race matters. That the Lutheran position we should be leaning toward the Christian left. Oh no, we value our tradition and value our

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00:26:04.600 --> 00:26:06.500
heritage and value morality.

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So we should be part of the Christian right.

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00:26:07.900 --> 00:26:10.100
That's when you've identified and frankly you've got

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00:26:10.900 --> 00:26:15.600
people who are sitting in LCMS pews many of you perhaps who identify

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strongly with one of these camps.

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Maybe even a third. There are some LCMS people who are identifying with that neo-Anabaptist position.

467
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An you say that's what we need to do.

468
00:26:24.800 --> 00:26:29.000
That's what you do and it's very easy to start aligning yourself with

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00:26:29.000 --> 00:26:31.400
one of these three categories. And say that's it

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I'm all in I'm going full-bore cuz that's the Christian thing to do.

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I'm going to suggest you it's not that simple.

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00:26:38.000 --> 00:26:42.800
I think you need to be very careful not to assume that this is the

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00:26:42.800 --> 00:26:46.400
Lutheran position or even the Christian position it's not quite so

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simple. And I'm not even sure a lot of us know what the Lutheran

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00:26:50.900 --> 00:26:52.300
position even is.

476
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So let's go there.

477
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So the Lutheran position is premised on this idea

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00:27:02.400 --> 00:27:06.500
for most people of the doctrine of the two kingdoms and you hear this

479
00:27:06.500 --> 00:27:10.300
all the time. You start talking about anything with the world or especially

480
00:27:10.300 --> 00:27:12.700
with church and state and most Lutheran's kick in right away.

481
00:27:12.700 --> 00:27:17.000
Cuz I've learned this somewhere along the way Pastor that we believe

482
00:27:17.000 --> 00:27:20.000
in the doctrine of the two kingdoms and then it usually gets explained

483
00:27:20.000 --> 00:27:20.700
something like this.

484
00:27:20.700 --> 00:27:26.800
There is in God's plan a kingdom of the left and the kingdom of the

485
00:27:26.800 --> 00:27:27.700
right. A Kingdom of the left hand and a Kingdom of the right hand. And I'm doing

486
00:27:27.700 --> 00:27:30.000
my left hand and my right hand.

487
00:27:30.000 --> 00:27:31.800
And whatever

488
00:27:31.800 --> 00:27:33.200
it looks like on the screen and Werner

489
00:27:33.200 --> 00:27:34.800
I have no idea cuz I'm not there.

490
00:27:34.800 --> 00:27:41.700
But a Christian would say that the kingdom of the left is God's way of working in the world and

491
00:27:41.700 --> 00:27:47.000
that's government and that's authority and that's kings and that's

492
00:27:47.000 --> 00:27:49.000
democracy and that's all the governments world

493
00:27:49.000 --> 00:27:52.900
that's the kingdom of the left. And the government is established by

494
00:27:52.900 --> 00:27:53.100
God.

495
00:27:53.100 --> 00:27:57.100
This is Romans 13 stuff because in Romans chapter 13

496
00:27:57.100 --> 00:27:57.900
Paul makes it clear, you need to hear this.

497
00:28:02.300 --> 00:28:07.700
I actually have my Bible ready to go keep us efficient. So Romans chapter 13, every person is to be in

498
00:28:07.700 --> 00:28:11.100
subjection to the governing authorities for there is no authority

499
00:28:11.100 --> 00:28:15.700
except from God and those which exist are established by God.

500
00:28:15.700 --> 00:28:20.000
Therefore whoever resists authority has opposed the ordinance of God

501
00:28:20.000 --> 00:28:23.300
and they who have opposed will receive condemnation upon themselves.

502
00:28:23.900 --> 00:28:28.100
Wow, that's pretty clear-cut. Paul makes it clear.

503
00:28:28.100 --> 00:28:33.300
The government is God's authority put there by God, we are to obey it.

504
00:28:33.300 --> 00:28:35.000
So that's God's left hand

505
00:28:35.000 --> 00:28:39.800
it would say. Then on the other hand we have God's right hand. And the right hand

506
00:28:39.800 --> 00:28:44.700
is the church and the church is the place where we have the Gospel and

507
00:28:44.700 --> 00:28:46.500
we have forgiveness of sins and

508
00:28:46.500 --> 00:28:48.200
we have the spiritual life.

509
00:28:48.200 --> 00:28:51.900
So the world is dealt with by the government and all the

510
00:28:52.900 --> 00:28:54.300
stuff

511
00:28:54.300 --> 00:28:59.700
that's out there in my life and my business and family and school that's

512
00:28:59.700 --> 00:29:01.000
out there in the world

513
00:29:01.000 --> 00:29:04.300
stuff. The government is going to take care of that and then over here in the

514
00:29:04.300 --> 00:29:04.500
church

515
00:29:04.500 --> 00:29:06.200
that's my spiritual life.

516
00:29:06.200 --> 00:29:07.300
That's my God stuff.

517
00:29:07.300 --> 00:29:09.200
That's where I get the forgiveness of sins

518
00:29:09.200 --> 00:29:12.800
and I hear about how God loves me. And I am

519
00:29:12.800 --> 00:29:16.700
comforted when I'm afraid and I have the assurance of eternal life and

520
00:29:16.700 --> 00:29:18.500
wow eternal life.

521
00:29:18.500 --> 00:29:19.300
That's huge.

522
00:29:19.300 --> 00:29:20.500
And that's the church's business.

523
00:29:20.500 --> 00:29:25.400
So that means the church is vastly more important than the government or

524
00:29:25.400 --> 00:29:30.500
the world but they are church doing different things and sometimes the

525
00:29:30.500 --> 00:29:33.900
church is interested in spiritual things and the things that are

526
00:29:33.900 --> 00:29:36.700
eternal. And the government is worried about temporal things that

527
00:29:36.700 --> 00:29:41.700
don't last and that's how it works. And we have these two kingdoms and

528
00:29:41.700 --> 00:29:46.100
then the between them there is a clear division a clear demarcation

529
00:29:46.100 --> 00:29:50.900
the kingdom of the left does its thing in the right does its thing and

530
00:29:50.900 --> 00:29:52.800
they kind of bump up against

531
00:29:52.800 --> 00:29:56.100
each other sometimes. And there was a little friction when they do but

532
00:29:56.100 --> 00:29:59.600
basically we keep them apart and that's how most Lutheran's look at

533
00:29:59.600 --> 00:29:59.700
this.

534
00:29:59.700 --> 00:30:04.200
So we have a nice wall of separation and that of course is not

535
00:30:04.200 --> 00:30:08.400
Luther's language, but the language of Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson

536
00:30:08.400 --> 00:30:11.400
was the one and it doesn't even come from the Declaration which

537
00:30:11.400 --> 00:30:15.400
Jefferson wrote or from the Constitution many people assume that the

538
00:30:15.400 --> 00:30:17.100
wall of separation between Church

539
00:30:18.800 --> 00:30:23.500
State is a constitutionally prescribed reality in America. But

540
00:30:23.500 --> 00:30:26.400
it's not it comes from the hand of Jefferson when he was writing a

541
00:30:26.400 --> 00:30:30.800
letter to some Baptist in Connecticut who are really afraid of the

542
00:30:30.800 --> 00:30:33.600
government taking over the church or the government establishing a

543
00:30:33.600 --> 00:30:37.600
church and Jefferson comforted them and reassured them. No the

544
00:30:37.600 --> 00:30:40.000
government has no desire to take over the church.

545
00:30:40.000 --> 00:30:44.300
In fact, there was a wall of separation between the church and the

546
00:30:44.300 --> 00:30:48.500
state the church does its thing you go teach morality, you can believe

547
00:30:48.500 --> 00:30:52.100
your spiritual stuff that's cool and the state does its thing we will

548
00:30:52.100 --> 00:30:56.300
fight wars and help commerce and keep justice and promote the general

549
00:30:56.300 --> 00:30:58.600
welfare the world and move the world forward.

550
00:30:58.600 --> 00:31:02.400
You guys do your spiritual moral thing we will do the real big work. And that

551
00:31:02.400 --> 00:31:06.100
was Jefferson's attitude. Jefferson then coined this wall separation

552
00:31:06.100 --> 00:31:10.000
frankly because he was not trying to protect the church from the

553
00:31:10.000 --> 00:31:13.200
government. Jefferson was trying to protect the government from the

554
00:31:13.200 --> 00:31:13.600
church.

555
00:31:13.600 --> 00:31:18.400
He did not want the church in sticking its nose in the government

556
00:31:18.400 --> 00:31:18.700
affairs.

557
00:31:18.700 --> 00:31:21.800
He didn't want to church trying to tell the government how to operate.

558
00:31:21.800 --> 00:31:26.300
He didn't want the church over-reaching. He did not want a state church.

559
00:31:26.300 --> 00:31:31.500
None of the fathers did want that or most of them did so he definitely

560
00:31:31.500 --> 00:31:35.400
opposed to that but even more he wanted the church basically shunted

561
00:31:35.400 --> 00:31:37.600
off into a private sphere.

562
00:31:37.600 --> 00:31:41.700
And the reason for this is because Jefferson is operating out of an

563
00:31:41.700 --> 00:31:43.200
Enlightenment mentality.

564
00:31:43.200 --> 00:31:48.200
He is a classic quintessential Enlightenment thinker and by

565
00:31:48.200 --> 00:31:51.400
Enlightenment I'm talking about the enlightenment of the western culture

566
00:31:51.400 --> 00:31:55.200
that happens in the 17th century and just keeps on picking up steam.

567
00:31:55.200 --> 00:31:59.700
The idea that man can figure out everything. Man is responsible for his

568
00:31:59.700 --> 00:32:00.100
own destiny.

569
00:32:00.100 --> 00:32:03.900
You don't need to rely on God for that sort of a thing we can do this

570
00:32:03.900 --> 00:32:04.100
ourselves.

571
00:32:04.100 --> 00:32:08.000
We can find out what the truth of things are and then apply them and

572
00:32:08.000 --> 00:32:11.300
make things better and better. And we're going to depend on reason and

573
00:32:11.300 --> 00:32:15.500
Science and human initiative and human skill, and we're going to fix

574
00:32:15.500 --> 00:32:18.500
whatever needs to be fixed because we're people and it's our job

575
00:32:18.700 --> 00:32:19.700
and humans can do this.

576
00:32:19.700 --> 00:32:25.300
That's sort of the Enlightenment that plays out. Jefferson is this in is

577
00:32:25.300 --> 00:32:28.200
absolutely no light in that Enlightenment individual.

578
00:32:28.200 --> 00:32:32.600
There's nothing with of Christianity about Jefferson.

579
00:32:32.600 --> 00:32:36.500
I know he had his Jefferson Bible but you also know it was all chopped

580
00:32:36.500 --> 00:32:39.700
up with all the miracles taken out with all the claims divinity of

581
00:32:39.700 --> 00:32:42.600
Christ taken out and all he left with his a little morale patch

582
00:32:42.600 --> 00:32:46.400
acceptable in his life in his Enlightenment.

583
00:32:46.400 --> 00:32:51.000
Deist world. So Jefferson doesn't want the church sticking his nose

584
00:32:51.000 --> 00:32:54.800
into the government and he wants to church basically cordoned off and

585
00:32:54.800 --> 00:32:56.900
kept over there in a little private sphere.

586
00:32:56.900 --> 00:32:59.100
You can have your spiritual experiences.

587
00:32:59.100 --> 00:33:00.900
You can have your God stuff.

588
00:33:00.900 --> 00:33:04.500
You can have your God moment that makes you feel good wonderful and

589
00:33:04.500 --> 00:33:11.000
frankly we would like you to teach morality too. We need a moral people Madison recognized this our democracy won't work

590
00:33:11.000 --> 00:33:12.000
without a moral people.

591
00:33:12.000 --> 00:33:14.300
So you keep on cranking out these moral people.

592
00:33:14.300 --> 00:33:17.900
We need moral citizens do your job church we like that but stay out of

593
00:33:17.900 --> 00:33:18.200
our way.

594
00:33:18.700 --> 00:33:19.700
That's Jefferson's attitude.

595
00:33:19.700 --> 00:33:24.600
Now the odd thing is how many Lutheran Christians have said.

596
00:33:24.600 --> 00:33:28.900
Yep, that's our understanding of the right correlation between church and

597
00:33:28.900 --> 00:33:30.400
state. It's the paradox

598
00:33:30.400 --> 00:33:32.000
they don't blend together at all,

599
00:33:32.000 --> 00:33:33.700
it's an oil and water. And so if

600
00:33:33.700 --> 00:33:36.100
we have the kingdom of the left, kingdom of the right and never the to

601
00:33:36.100 --> 00:33:39.800
shall meet and you stay out of the way of each other. And I have seen this

602
00:33:39.800 --> 00:33:44.200
attitude propagated all over the place in Lutheran circles even

603
00:33:44.200 --> 00:33:48.300
coming from good solid sources suppose what you would think of

604
00:33:48.300 --> 00:33:52.700
me solid sources that say exactly the sort of a thing. Church basically

605
00:33:52.700 --> 00:33:55.900
has nothing to say to politics church has nothing to say to government.

606
00:33:57.600 --> 00:34:01.100
Church has nothing to say to you as an individual Christian about your

607
00:34:01.100 --> 00:34:02.800
political life that's politics.

608
00:34:02.800 --> 00:34:04.300
That's a left hand thing.

609
00:34:04.300 --> 00:34:05.400
That's not the church's business.

610
00:34:05.400 --> 00:34:07.800
The church just does right hand things.

611
00:34:07.800 --> 00:34:12.000
We just teach Jesus teach forgiveness of sins we get people married.

612
00:34:12.000 --> 00:34:13.600
We get people sent off to heaven when they die.

613
00:34:13.600 --> 00:34:14.600
That's our job.

614
00:34:14.600 --> 00:34:18.500
The world will take care of itself in the world way and that's not our

615
00:34:18.500 --> 00:34:21.600
job and that's out there and that attitude is out there.

616
00:34:21.600 --> 00:34:24.190
It's not Lutheran.

617
00:34:24.190 --> 00:34:25.690
It's not Christian.

618
00:34:25.690 --> 00:34:31.300
It's not right but it's out there and so I want to challenge straight

619
00:34:31.300 --> 00:34:35.400
on this notion of a wall of separation and of a tradition

620
00:34:35.400 --> 00:34:39.000
understanding of the two kingdoms Doctrine and I don't even like using

621
00:34:39.000 --> 00:34:40.100
the language kingdoms.

622
00:34:40.100 --> 00:34:43.500
I've been trying to use realms for a long time or you can use

623
00:34:43.500 --> 00:34:45.300
regiments or spheres.

624
00:34:45.300 --> 00:34:47.600
Whatever way you want to handle this.

625
00:34:47.600 --> 00:34:53.100
The German is regamence or sometime and we talking the works but so

626
00:34:53.100 --> 00:34:57.500
does realm so does sphere so does area of control,

627
00:34:57.600 --> 00:34:59.600
responsibility that's what I'm aiming at.

628
00:34:59.600 --> 00:35:02.500
And the reason I'm pushing against using kingdoms.

629
00:35:02.500 --> 00:35:06.200
It's just because it has become associated for almost everyone with

630
00:35:06.200 --> 00:35:07.900
this bifurcation.

631
00:35:07.900 --> 00:35:12.300
This neatly divided left right and never the two come together. That's

632
00:35:12.300 --> 00:35:15.200
out there all over the place and people are assuming that that's how

633
00:35:15.200 --> 00:35:19.000
it operates and it shackles them is operating with this division.

634
00:35:19.000 --> 00:35:23.600
It's not just a benign problem either and I don't want to spend too

635
00:35:23.600 --> 00:35:24.900
much time on this but it's worth

636
00:35:26.600 --> 00:35:29.200
bringing this up. And this maybe we'll spark some questions.

637
00:35:29.200 --> 00:35:35.600
But this was exactly the position that was being taken by a church in

638
00:35:35.600 --> 00:35:39.000
Germany in the 1930s and the church became known as the Deutsche

639
00:35:39.000 --> 00:35:44.000
Christian, German Christians, because they were saying, hey, we our

640
00:35:44.000 --> 00:35:47.400
Lutheran Heritage teaches us that the government is from God it's

641
00:35:47.400 --> 00:35:48.100
established by God.

642
00:35:48.100 --> 00:35:52.100
We have to obey it and it's not our job to tell the government what to

643
00:35:52.100 --> 00:35:56.100
do. The church just does spiritual things and this is the

644
00:35:56.100 --> 00:35:56.800
government stuff

645
00:35:56.800 --> 00:36:00.300
that's not our business. And so back to be a good citizens

646
00:36:00.300 --> 00:36:04.200
we need to support and uphold what's going on in the government and

647
00:36:04.200 --> 00:36:05.700
it's not our job to question.

648
00:36:05.700 --> 00:36:09.100
That was the Deutsche Christian and what they did then was they

649
00:36:09.100 --> 00:36:12.100
supported their government with a duly elected leader named Adolf

650
00:36:12.100 --> 00:36:16.900
Hitler. Who increasingly pushed his agenda and the church increasingly

651
00:36:16.900 --> 00:36:18.600
just went along with it.

652
00:36:18.600 --> 00:36:24.000
It was a gradual process, but the failure of the utter failure of the

653
00:36:24.000 --> 00:36:26.600
majority of the Christians in Germany to

654
00:36:26.600 --> 00:36:32.600
recognize the immorality and the unchristian positions of Hitler and to

655
00:36:32.600 --> 00:36:37.900
challenge that is just stunning. And this is not just an embarrassment

656
00:36:37.900 --> 00:36:41.700
but a cause for great shame of the church down to this day. And I

657
00:36:41.700 --> 00:36:44.200
can't believe that's the case the church just failed utterly.

658
00:36:44.200 --> 00:36:45.300
There were exceptions.

659
00:36:45.300 --> 00:36:48.900
There was this group called The Confessing Church and there were many

660
00:36:48.900 --> 00:36:52.100
who were part of that. There were others who were kind of having some

661
00:36:52.100 --> 00:36:54.900
concerns with the Confessing Church cuz of what they saw as ecumenical issues

662
00:36:54.900 --> 00:36:58.600
or also very concerned about Hitler. You have great people who stood

663
00:36:58.600 --> 00:37:04.200
up against Hitler like Herman Sasse and you got  Martin Niemöller and

664
00:37:04.200 --> 00:37:05.400
you got Dietrich Bonhoeffer.

665
00:37:05.400 --> 00:37:08.700
You know there are others there were many who said no, we're not

666
00:37:08.700 --> 00:37:10.100
going to just kind of play this game we're not going to be part of ...

667
00:37:10.100 --> 00:37:16.000
But that's what easily happened

668
00:37:16.000 --> 00:37:19.400
if you're going to operate with this neat bifurcation of two kingdoms

669
00:37:19.400 --> 00:37:22.200
wall between them and just do your thing.

670
00:37:22.200 --> 00:37:25.600
Keep your nose down and let the government do his thing and just go to

671
00:37:25.600 --> 00:37:26.400
church and hear about Jesus and

672
00:37:26.600 --> 00:37:33.000
take the sacrament and everything is good. That leads to disaster of a

673
00:37:33.000 --> 00:37:36.800
world doing what I want to do in the church is kind of being over here

674
00:37:36.800 --> 00:37:37.100
in a shell.

675
00:37:37.100 --> 00:37:42.200
That's not Christian and it's not what Luther taught. Bonhoeffer very

676
00:37:42.200 --> 00:37:42.800
clear up on this.

677
00:37:42.800 --> 00:37:53.400
He's got some great stuff where he challenges this. But the better source is to go back to

678
00:37:53.400 --> 00:37:53.900
Luther himself. And say what did Luther actually give us? And when we actually start to learn from Luther

679
00:37:53.900 --> 00:37:57.800
I believe I'm fully committed to this the Luther articulates

680
00:37:57.800 --> 00:38:02.700
powerfully and accurately and very helpfully the long tradition of the Church's

681
00:38:02.700 --> 00:38:06.500
teaching on the right interface of the world and the church together

682
00:38:06.500 --> 00:38:10.400
and how this fits. And I think Luther nails this he gets it, right and

683
00:38:10.400 --> 00:38:15.600
it's not as simple as wall of separation, left right do their thing and

684
00:38:15.600 --> 00:38:19.000
he just meet in paradox. It's far more nuanced than that far more

685
00:38:19.000 --> 00:38:22.600
interesting. So, when I want to do them the rest of this morning as I want

686
00:38:22.600 --> 00:38:24.400
to spend some time in Luther. Learning him not just because we're Lutheran and we need to know what Luther said but because Luther gets it right.

687
00:38:26.600 --> 00:38:38.800
Because Luther has phenomenal grasp of how the two kingdoms, these two realms, we should say realms relate and

688
00:38:38.800 --> 00:38:41.900
how God is at work in both of them in different ways, and we have a

689
00:38:41.900 --> 00:38:43.300
lot to learn from Luther.

690
00:38:44.000 --> 00:38:49.000
Alright. If we are going to look at Luther we need to kind of get some markers in his career.

691
00:38:50.700 --> 00:38:56.700
Luther always wrote to situations he he was what we call an occasional

692
00:38:56.700 --> 00:39:00.100
writer not meaning he wrote once in awhile, but that he wrote for

693
00:39:00.100 --> 00:39:02.000
occasions for situations or circumstances.

694
00:39:02.000 --> 00:39:05.500
Sometimes he wrote things because somebody said write something about

695
00:39:05.500 --> 00:39:09.500
this. Sometimes he wrote something because somebody wrote something he

696
00:39:09.500 --> 00:39:10.900
didn't like if you wanted to respond.

697
00:39:10.900 --> 00:39:15.800
Sometimes he wrote things because something was happening in society that was concerning him and wanted to address it.

698
00:39:15.800 --> 00:39:19.400
So that's typically how Luther wrote. And there are as I said

699
00:39:19.400 --> 00:39:26.900
markers in Luther's career where the world is changing all along and so it changes how he writes and what he emphasis.

700
00:39:26.900 --> 00:39:31.900
Early in Luther's career in the 15 teens in the early 1520's Luther's major

701
00:39:31.900 --> 00:39:33.300
proponent major

702
00:39:33.300 --> 00:39:33.700
enemy, opponent

703
00:39:33.700 --> 00:39:39.200
I should say, Rome. And Rome's trying to enforce its way

704
00:39:39.200 --> 00:39:43.300
and Rome trying to run basically all life and Rome with all of its bad

705
00:39:43.300 --> 00:39:47.000
theology on salvation and on sacraments and all these problems.

706
00:39:47.000 --> 00:39:50.700
So Luther was mostly concerned about dealing with them. In the

707
00:39:50.700 --> 00:39:54.800
middle twenties things got even more interesting because society started kind of

708
00:39:54.800 --> 00:39:58.300
grabbing onto this idea of pushing back against authority like Luther

709
00:39:58.300 --> 00:40:00.900
seem to be endorsing. And you have this thing called The Peasants

710
00:40:00.900 --> 00:40:05.000
Revolt where the Peasants actually took up arms and try to tear down the

711
00:40:05.000 --> 00:40:07.400
feudal society and get rid of the government's cuz they thought they

712
00:40:07.400 --> 00:40:11.000
were wrong. And they wrongly guessed that Luther would be on their side.

713
00:40:11.000 --> 00:40:13.100
It turns out Luther was not on their side.

714
00:40:13.100 --> 00:40:19.000
In fact in endorsed the princes the leaders and the government to go out and

715
00:40:19.000 --> 00:40:23.200
quell this Rebellion with whatever it took. And even said let them kill,

716
00:40:23.200 --> 00:40:27.300
stab behead do what it takes to stop the revolt and The Peasants

717
00:40:27.300 --> 00:40:30.900
were shocked that was there wasn't on their side. That kind of sobered

718
00:40:30.900 --> 00:40:31.900
Luther quite a bit.

719
00:40:31.900 --> 00:40:38.200
Then the later, that's in the middle twenties 1520's, by 1530 into the 1540s

720
00:40:38.200 --> 00:40:41.100
we have what we call mature Luther. And this time period

721
00:40:41.100 --> 00:40:45.200
where he's more settled the church is taking shape and he's

722
00:40:45.200 --> 00:40:45.800
part of this.

723
00:40:45.800 --> 00:40:49.600
There's a new world reality in Germany and most the parts where he's

724
00:40:49.600 --> 00:40:50.600
living where the

725
00:40:50.700 --> 00:40:54.000
Princes are actually in acting reforms and trying to bring the

726
00:40:54.000 --> 00:40:54.290
Reformation.

727
00:40:54.290 --> 00:40:58.000
The Reformation was not just the church but all society that was being

728
00:40:58.000 --> 00:41:00.800
rethought and Luther was involved in this and so he was addressing

729
00:41:00.800 --> 00:41:05.800
these kinds of things. So we see in Luther a gradual shift over the

730
00:41:05.800 --> 00:41:08.700
problems. So the biggest enemies were the opponents

731
00:41:08.700 --> 00:41:13.500
he was dealing with in the late mature time weren't so much Rome anymore,

732
00:41:13.500 --> 00:41:14.700
they were always still a problem.

733
00:41:14.700 --> 00:41:17.400
But now he had even people like the Anabaptist who

734
00:41:17.400 --> 00:41:21.200
were trying to go too far and we're calling government evil and

735
00:41:21.200 --> 00:41:27.000
telling people to escape from the government. So Luther's saying no, no so he always trying to deal with what's going on and deal with the

736
00:41:27.000 --> 00:41:27.300
situation.

737
00:41:27.300 --> 00:41:29.300
So anytime you're reading Luther

738
00:41:29.300 --> 00:41:30.200
you have to ask the question.

739
00:41:30.200 --> 00:41:31.900
When is he writing?

740
00:41:31.900 --> 00:41:33.200
Why is he writing?

741
00:41:33.200 --> 00:41:34.700
What's his target?

742
00:41:34.700 --> 00:41:41.000
Why is he writing? Who's he writing against? Who's his, called in hermeneutics, his suppressed binary

743
00:41:41.000 --> 00:41:45.700
opposite? What he's pushing against and sometimes the suppressed

744
00:41:45.700 --> 00:41:50.300
opponent is not so suppressed it's quite obvious, for Luther most the time it's pretty obvious.

745
00:41:50.600 --> 00:41:52.400
But it makes a difference in how he writes.

746
00:41:52.400 --> 00:41:55.100
He will even contradict himself from an early

747
00:41:55.100 --> 00:41:55.800
piece to a later

748
00:41:55.800 --> 00:41:56.100
piece.

749
00:41:56.100 --> 00:41:58.200
Not that he changes in his theology.

750
00:41:58.200 --> 00:42:04.900
But he's changing his argument based on who he's arguing against he does that. Other

751
00:42:04.900 --> 00:42:07.600
people will change their argument based on who they're dealing with, Luther was one of those. So the literature on Luther on this whole how does

752
00:42:07.600 --> 00:42:16.900
the church fit with the state is pretty rich.

753
00:42:16.900 --> 00:42:20.300
There's quite a bit of it he actually wrote frequently about this

754
00:42:20.300 --> 00:42:21.100
because it was an issue,

755
00:42:21.100 --> 00:42:26.100
it was pretty significant. Partly because you had it before the

756
00:42:26.100 --> 00:42:29.600
Reformation you had a situation where the church and basically taken

757
00:42:29.600 --> 00:42:34.200
over everything and was the show in town. The pope considered himself to

758
00:42:34.200 --> 00:42:35.500
be Lord of all creation.

759
00:42:35.500 --> 00:42:39.200
He assumed that all governments were under his authority and were

760
00:42:39.200 --> 00:42:43.900
subject to him and that's how he operated. And he basically pushes

761
00:42:43.900 --> 00:42:47.700
authority around and wheedled his weight with no concern and no

762
00:42:47.700 --> 00:42:50.500
hesitation and he was adamant about it.

763
00:42:50.600 --> 00:42:53.900
Everybody yielding to him and the government basically capitulated and did

764
00:42:53.900 --> 00:42:57.200
that way back in the time of Charlemagne or you have the emperor

765
00:42:57.200 --> 00:43:01.100
repenting in the snow and begging the Pope's forgiveness, that he

766
00:43:01.100 --> 00:43:06.100
wouldn't get sent to hell. Because that was the threat that the Pope had he just excommunicate you you're off to

767
00:43:06.100 --> 00:43:06.400
Hell.

768
00:43:06.400 --> 00:43:16.100
Nobody wanted that so the pope ran the show. Luther came along and said no, no, popes don't have the final authority and the

769
00:43:16.100 --> 00:43:18.100
princes are like, wow,  this is cool. And so Luther started writing quit a bit about this because the princes wanted help on this, help sorting this out. The two main documents most people are familiar with,

770
00:43:18.100 --> 00:43:29.300
maybe you never heard of them, but they're part of Luther's works and

771
00:43:29.300 --> 00:43:33.400
they're kind of the what people go to try to what did Luther

772
00:43:33.400 --> 00:43:38.200
teach about this things. One is called Temporal Authority to what extent should it be obeyed. And

773
00:43:38.200 --> 00:43:42.500
that came out in the early twenties right around 23, I think was the

774
00:43:42.500 --> 00:43:45.500
date when you wrote that. And then in the middle twenties and around

775
00:43:45.500 --> 00:43:49.700
25-26 he wrote a piece called Can Soldiers to be Saved. There's already a shift

776
00:43:50.600 --> 00:43:54.500
a little bit between those two, even though there is only a few years separating them

777
00:43:54.500 --> 00:43:58.800
because the peasants Revolt starts in between and that's part of what

778
00:43:58.800 --> 00:44:01.400
prompted the second one Can Soldiers to be Saved.

779
00:44:01.400 --> 00:44:06.000
Now the long and the short of it is in Temporal Authority to what extent should be a

780
00:44:06.000 --> 00:44:10.700
very clear God has established the government.

781
00:44:10.700 --> 00:44:11.900
You need to obey them.

782
00:44:11.900 --> 00:44:19.500
Rebellion is wrong always, always, always, always no subject people are

783
00:44:19.500 --> 00:44:28.400
ever allowed to rebel against their government. Luther is just adamant about this, it's clear cut. Later in the 30's well actually in the

784
00:44:28.400 --> 00:44:28.800
forties.

785
00:44:28.800 --> 00:44:32.300
There was wen the Smalcald League was getting formed,

786
00:44:32.300 --> 00:44:36.600
there was a strong push by many in the Schmalkaldic League to want a

787
00:44:36.600 --> 00:44:39.800
theological foundation to be able to allow for rebelling against the

788
00:44:39.800 --> 00:44:43.700
emperor. And some lawyers did some lawyering and found what they

789
00:44:43.700 --> 00:44:47.200
thought was a good angle that allowed for this to happen and got

790
00:44:47.200 --> 00:44:50.200
Luther to agree that okay on a technicality maybe this could happen.

791
00:44:50.500 --> 00:44:55.400
So there's some Lutherans who say wow Luther allowed the exception for rebellion. But

792
00:44:55.400 --> 00:44:59.500
Luther later said about that then he granted the exception but he

793
00:44:59.500 --> 00:45:01.700
doesn't really believe it and still believe that the Christian

794
00:45:01.700 --> 00:45:05.100
position is not to rebel. So Luther's pretty consistent on this all the

795
00:45:05.100 --> 00:45:09.200
way through why Romans 13, how how much room do you have their for

796
00:45:09.200 --> 00:45:09.800
Rebellion?

797
00:45:09.800 --> 00:45:13.000
How much room do you have for Citizens taking up arms against their

798
00:45:13.000 --> 00:45:21.300
government? Paul says no, Luther says no, so that's clearly laid out in Temporal Authority question it should be obeyed. And

799
00:45:21.300 --> 00:45:23.500
often people say there

800
00:45:23.500 --> 00:45:27.300
that's the definitive treatment. And it's not too hard frankly

801
00:45:27.300 --> 00:45:30.500
If you're only reading Temporal Authority to what extent it should be

802
00:45:30.500 --> 00:45:34.300
obeyed the kind of come to a conclusion that says, yep the two have

803
00:45:34.300 --> 00:45:37.600
their separate spheres and they do their separate things and they really don't

804
00:45:37.600 --> 00:45:40.700
overlap much at all. Because he doesn't talk much in there about

805
00:45:40.700 --> 00:45:44.500
any overlap or any about any cooperation cuz he's really trying at

806
00:45:44.500 --> 00:45:49.700
that point to re-establish the authority and premacy up the government

807
00:45:49.700 --> 00:45:50.500
in the temporal realm.

808
00:45:50.500 --> 00:45:54.300
He wants to get that back because it had been so badly lost. So he's not

809
00:45:54.300 --> 00:45:56.900
really interested in talking about with the church should be doing to

810
00:45:56.900 --> 00:45:58.600
check the temple realm.

811
00:45:58.600 --> 00:46:00.000
It's not an issue at that point.

812
00:46:00.000 --> 00:46:04.600
Then the second document I mentioned Can Soldiers to be Saved.

813
00:46:04.600 --> 00:46:07.400
This is a much more pastoral care of kind of letter.

814
00:46:07.400 --> 00:46:10.100
He's got a friend who's a knight who's concerned about

815
00:46:10.100 --> 00:46:14.800
wow, if I go out and kill people and use the sword

816
00:46:14.800 --> 00:46:16.500
I'm violating scripture.

817
00:46:16.500 --> 00:46:18.600
Jesus tells me not to so how can this work?

818
00:46:18.600 --> 00:46:23.400
And that's where Luther lays down his beautiful profound incite of the

819
00:46:23.400 --> 00:46:27.200
whole doctrine of vocation, which will spend some time maybe more with

820
00:46:27.200 --> 00:46:27.700
this afternoon.

821
00:46:27.700 --> 00:46:32.800
We'll see how things go here with my schedule and my schedule of

822
00:46:32.800 --> 00:46:41.200
things but we don't get back to it is enough to help you realize the Doctrine of Vocation is a huge part of this discussion

823
00:46:41.200 --> 00:46:45.300
of the two Realms and how they operate. And what Luther said was

824
00:46:45.300 --> 00:46:49.900
you're right my friend from a standpoint of your walk with Christ, and

825
00:46:49.900 --> 00:46:50.400
personal

826
00:46:50.500 --> 00:46:54.800
individual you don't ever take up the sword and you don't defend

827
00:46:54.800 --> 00:46:59.600
yourself and you don't demand your right to protection and you don't

828
00:46:59.600 --> 00:47:05.400
ever turn respond to evil with evil you turn the cheek. In your personal life

829
00:47:05.400 --> 00:47:08.900
you must do that as every Christian must. In Luther's day

830
00:47:08.900 --> 00:47:13.100
the move was to say was those hard challenges are only for monks and

831
00:47:13.100 --> 00:47:17.300
priests and clerics average people don't need to follow those hard

832
00:47:17.300 --> 00:47:17.600
things.

833
00:47:17.600 --> 00:47:18.300
like .......

834
00:47:18.300 --> 00:47:21.300
You just need to keep the Ten Commandment and Luther just blew away

835
00:47:21.300 --> 00:47:24.600
that distinction said, no, there's no such thing as Evangelical

836
00:47:24.600 --> 00:47:26.300
Councils just for a few elite.

837
00:47:26.300 --> 00:47:29.700
Every single Christian should be following Christ every single Christian

838
00:47:29.700 --> 00:47:30.300
needs to turn

839
00:47:30.900 --> 00:47:34.300
the other cheek and give up his cloak and go the extra mile.

840
00:47:34.300 --> 00:47:36.200
That's what God expects them all of us.

841
00:47:36.200 --> 00:47:38.900
And he says even a knight and you should do that in his personal life.

842
00:47:38.900 --> 00:47:43.300
So if a knight if his home were being broken into

843
00:47:43.300 --> 00:47:47.700
theoretically then that knight, wo,  have what you need person

844
00:47:47.700 --> 00:47:50.300
because you're obviously needed this and I'm not going to resist evil

845
00:47:50.300 --> 00:47:51.500
in his personal life.

846
00:47:51.500 --> 00:47:58.100
However, Luther said knight also has a vocation. And his vocation is

847
00:47:58.100 --> 00:48:03.400
called by the prince to help enforce the justice of the state to help

848
00:48:03.400 --> 00:48:06.900
enforce the sword that the prince has been given the night becomes an

849
00:48:06.900 --> 00:48:08.300
extension of the Prince.

850
00:48:08.300 --> 00:48:12.700
And so that's why soldiers yes can be saved, even when they are

851
00:48:12.700 --> 00:48:17.400
pulling the trigger letting the arrow fly and even aiming to kill. That

852
00:48:17.400 --> 00:48:21.200
killing ordinarily would be an affront to God, we don't get to do that,

853
00:48:21.200 --> 00:48:25.300
we're not God. But as an arm of the state the state does have the

854
00:48:25.300 --> 00:48:29.200
sword from God and that soldier is carrying out the work of the state

855
00:48:29.200 --> 00:48:30.200
and he can do it.

856
00:48:30.900 --> 00:48:34.700
Luther even went so brashly as to say that if you're living in a community

857
00:48:34.700 --> 00:48:38.800
that is short on hangman you as a Christian can take can volunteer and

858
00:48:38.800 --> 00:48:41.800
do that work because it needs to be done and you can do that without

859
00:48:41.800 --> 00:48:46.500
any fear of invoking God's Wrath because you're not taking life to

860
00:48:46.500 --> 00:48:49.700
serve yourself you're doing it as an instrument of the state doing

861
00:48:49.700 --> 00:48:50.100
your vocation.

862
00:48:50.110 --> 00:48:55.400
So that's the short answer to that second document . Now  again

863
00:48:55.400 --> 00:48:58.700
we haven't done much to talk about the interface of how church and

864
00:48:58.700 --> 00:49:01.900
state were together. Luther reinforced again, in that second

865
00:49:01.900 --> 00:49:05.000
document that the government is the government need to obey it and that

866
00:49:05.000 --> 00:49:07.700
when I'm a soldier helping in for the government's rule.

867
00:49:07.700 --> 00:49:12.600
I'm just doing my job and my vocation upholding the sword and he

868
00:49:12.600 --> 00:49:13.700
reinforced these things.

869
00:49:13.700 --> 00:49:21.200
So is it that simple really? Is there this neat little wall and the left and right stay apart and don't tell me how to vote.

870
00:49:21.200 --> 00:49:24.600
Don't tell me how to govern don't tell me how to do anything that's

871
00:49:24.600 --> 00:49:27.900
left hand stuff that's political stuff and I'm over here in the church

872
00:49:27.900 --> 00:49:30.500
doing spiritual things. This notion has come

873
00:49:30.800 --> 00:49:33.900
right down to our present-day all over the place.

874
00:49:33.900 --> 00:49:38.800
So the church should not get involved in politics no pastor should

875
00:49:38.800 --> 00:49:45.200
never talk about politics because he is there to talk about Jesus and spiritual things and if he

876
00:49:45.200 --> 00:49:48.000
gets involved in politics, he's overstepping its limits and that's

877
00:49:48.000 --> 00:49:58.300
wrong. And I hear this from people a lot, it's an assumption. And there is also the fear that if we are involved in politics we might lose our tax-exempt status would be horrible so we can't cuz

878
00:49:58.300 --> 00:49:59.100
there's too much at risk.

879
00:49:59.100 --> 00:50:03.500
So that pastors are encouraged to stay away from politics and don't bring

880
00:50:03.500 --> 00:50:07.800
that in the Pulpit it's none of our business. That's out there and a lot of pastors are

881
00:50:07.800 --> 00:50:11.100
happy to comply and the governments are happy to keep the church kind

882
00:50:11.100 --> 00:50:14.400
of quiet on the sidelines because that way they stay compliant and

883
00:50:14.400 --> 00:50:20.900
don't cause any problems. This is out there and a lot of people will cite that's the Lutheran teaching and they will cite things from

884
00:50:20.900 --> 00:50:24.300
Temporal Authority and maybe even Soldiers Can be Saved there

885
00:50:24.300 --> 00:50:25.400
they got their foundation.

886
00:50:26.100 --> 00:50:28.900
I'm going to contend you got to follow Luther a little further to get a

887
00:50:28.900 --> 00:50:35.900
fuller picture. In 1530 and 31 Luther wrote a little document which

888
00:50:35.900 --> 00:50:41.300
was just a commentary on a Psalm and he was actually lecturing in the

889
00:50:41.300 --> 00:50:45.000
Book of Psalms of that time in his career. What was interesting in the Middle

890
00:50:45.000 --> 00:50:45.300
Ages

891
00:50:45.300 --> 00:50:48.200
when a prof. was lecturing in the University

892
00:50:48.200 --> 00:50:51.700
he didn't have to follow a set  curriculum to teach certain classes over

893
00:50:51.700 --> 00:50:52.400
and over and over again.

894
00:50:52.400 --> 00:50:56.200
He could lecture on whatever you felt like. And you would just announce I'm going

895
00:50:56.200 --> 00:51:00.400
to do lectures on Genesis and I'm going to do lectures on Galatians and lectured on

896
00:51:00.400 --> 00:51:06.900
both of those. And Luther was a Bible Professor, Old Testament, especially and so he

897
00:51:06.900 --> 00:51:09.100
would just lecture on whatever he wanted to lecture on.

898
00:51:09.100 --> 00:51:12.500
He would announce it students would come listen take notes and that's how

899
00:51:12.500 --> 00:51:24.100
you did your academic career. You took whatever the prof wanted you to take. Kind of cool if you ask me. So Luther though in the early thirties was pretty sure he was going to

900
00:51:24.100 --> 00:51:24.700
die soon.

901
00:51:26.100 --> 00:51:29.100
He was having different health issues and he was sure his time on her for short he considered himself to be

902
00:51:29.100 --> 00:51:35.800
an old man, cuz he was up almost pushing 40. So he figured he was about done. And so he

903
00:51:35.800 --> 00:51:40.200
decided you shouldn't undertake start teaching on a long book of the

904
00:51:40.200 --> 00:51:40.300
Bible

905
00:51:41.900 --> 00:51:44.800
he would never finish and that wouldn't be right. So he decided to do

906
00:51:44.800 --> 00:51:48.400
selected Psalms. So for quite a while, he just would lecture out a

907
00:51:48.400 --> 00:51:49.000
different Psalms.

908
00:51:49.000 --> 00:51:54.100
Because he figured if he died mainstream wouldn't matter anyway, because it just selected Psalms anyway. But then

909
00:51:54.100 --> 00:52:00.700
he kept on living and that's why he undertook Genesis and stated cranking through that.  In his later years, which is interesting, but he did that.

910
00:52:00.700 --> 00:52:10.600
But the selected Psalms he chose different Psalms and wrote and lectured on them. So not so much that he's writing a commentary these were lectures that he gave and we have lecture notes from

911
00:52:10.600 --> 00:52:11.100
students.

912
00:52:11.100 --> 00:52:14.600
And sometimes we have lecture notes from Luther himself and are able to glean

913
00:52:14.600 --> 00:52:18.100
and piece together what he said but these were like oral presentations

914
00:52:18.100 --> 00:52:22.200
if you would have given to the students. So we have these collected and

915
00:52:22.200 --> 00:52:25.700
we can have them available in English in volume 13 of the American

916
00:52:25.700 --> 00:52:26.000
Edition.

917
00:52:26.000 --> 00:52:27.700
What you would know as Luther's Works.

918
00:52:27.700 --> 00:52:31.300
We have a commentary he wrote lecture

919
00:52:31.300 --> 00:52:35.800
he did on Psalm 82. Psalm 82 is quite an interesting little Psalm

920
00:52:35.800 --> 00:52:38.200
because it's not one

921
00:52:38.200 --> 00:52:41.600
we usually spend much time thinking about. But Luther was interested in

922
00:52:41.600 --> 00:52:41.800
it

923
00:52:41.800 --> 00:52:46.600
Cuz he saw it as an opportunity for him to be able to talk about this

924
00:52:46.600 --> 00:52:49.900
whole church State stuff again and government.

925
00:52:49.900 --> 00:52:53.200
And what's the relationship between the church and the state and this

926
00:52:53.200 --> 00:52:57.800
is a great little piece to study because it's relatively breif

927
00:52:57.800 --> 00:52:58.900
It's only 30 some pages.

928
00:52:58.900 --> 00:53:02.200
So you can actually go through a very carefully and see what Luther's doing

929
00:53:02.200 --> 00:53:07.000
and unpack it and it is awesome opportunity for us to get an

930
00:53:07.000 --> 00:53:11.100
insight into what is Luther thinking at this time in his career.

931
00:53:11.100 --> 00:53:15.100
So what's psalm 82 say? I'm running from The New American

932
00:53:15.100 --> 00:53:15.600
Standard Bible.

933
00:53:15.600 --> 00:53:20.600
God takes his stand in his own congregation. He judges

934
00:53:20.600 --> 00:53:24.600
it is in the midst of the rulers. Now the word rulers in Hebrews is

935
00:53:24.600 --> 00:53:28.600
actually gods and the Septuagint is actually Gods and that's how Luther

936
00:53:28.600 --> 00:53:34.500
translates. He judges in the midst of the gods and Luther jumped onto

937
00:53:34.500 --> 00:53:37.900
that. The New American Standard picks up on this and interpets

938
00:53:37.900 --> 00:53:40.700
a little bit and says, well gods were really meant the rulers of the day. And that's exactly right.

939
00:53:41.800 --> 00:53:49.100
This Psalm was written and addressed to the rulers of the Jewish

940
00:53:49.100 --> 00:53:50.000
people at this time.

941
00:53:50.000 --> 00:53:53.500
And he's challenging the temporal rulers of the people.

942
00:53:53.500 --> 00:53:54.600
That's what's going to happen.

943
00:53:54.600 --> 00:54:00.100
So God takes his stand in his congregation and he judges in the midst

944
00:54:00.100 --> 00:54:01.300
of the rulers of the world.

945
00:54:01.300 --> 00:54:10.500
So Luther says, ah, this is a great Psalm because this Psalm gives me a chance to unpack what's actually going on in my day and

946
00:54:10.500 --> 00:54:13.800
what the rulers are doing and what the church is doing and how God is

947
00:54:13.800 --> 00:54:14.700
judging the rulers.

948
00:54:14.700 --> 00:54:18.300
So then the Psalm goes on and basically is challenging the

949
00:54:18.300 --> 00:54:22.600
rulers and challenging them to operate in justice and Luther sees this

950
00:54:22.600 --> 00:54:27.000
as a great opportunity to be able to teach the rulers, teach the church

951
00:54:27.000 --> 00:54:31.300
and help explain how things should be operated. And it gives us the great

952
00:54:31.300 --> 00:54:35.200
opportunity of reading Luther and saying that's how he's thinking.

953
00:54:35.200 --> 00:54:37.400
That's how he's understanding how this works.

954
00:54:37.400 --> 00:54:40.900
That's how these things fit together. So vocabulary wise

955
00:54:41.400 --> 00:54:45.700
god's then is the term that the psalm used so Luther talks about god's

956
00:54:45.700 --> 00:54:49.200
a lot in this commentary and it's always referring to the rulers of

957
00:54:49.200 --> 00:54:50.700
the temporal realm.

958
00:54:50.700 --> 00:54:58.600
The government. The other term you will here a lot is Prince. A prince was the de-facto term for any sort

959
00:54:58.600 --> 00:55:02.300
of ruler Governor, king, emperor

960
00:55:02.300 --> 00:55:03.900
they're all princes.

961
00:55:03.900 --> 00:55:06.400
This was the language of the Middle Ages of Germany.

962
00:55:06.400 --> 00:55:10.700
And so any ruler was a prince and so when Luther is talking about the

963
00:55:10.700 --> 00:55:13.500
prince he is really talking about the civil authority,

964
00:55:13.500 --> 00:55:14.300
whoever that is.

965
00:55:14.300 --> 00:55:19.900
This is the same term that is used by Machiavelli. Most of you are familiar with Machiavelli's The

966
00:55:19.900 --> 00:55:23.900
Prince and it was written about the same time as Luther's frankly and

967
00:55:23.900 --> 00:55:30.700
interesting and so it's the same idea that the Prince is the temporal ruler. So I am just going to share with you a few excerpts

968
00:55:30.700 --> 00:55:36.100
from the Psalm 82 and kind of moves that Luther makes. And he starts by

969
00:55:36.100 --> 00:55:38.000
situating the same there was a time

970
00:55:38.600 --> 00:55:43.100
when temporal rulers were afraid of the church and afraid of priests

971
00:55:43.100 --> 00:55:46.600
because they could be excommunicated and they're all cowarding and

972
00:55:46.600 --> 00:55:50.900
the priests of kind of ran everything. And he says I changed that. He

973
00:55:50.900 --> 00:55:53.900
recognizes that what he started teaching about temporal authority

974
00:55:53.900 --> 00:55:57.190
he shifted the whole conversation and in the space of just a few years

975
00:55:57.190 --> 00:56:02.000
suddenly know you have government leaders were saying hey government

976
00:56:02.000 --> 00:56:05.600
leader and I have authority and I'm not going to have to listen to the

977
00:56:05.600 --> 00:56:08.900
priest or the monks when it comes to things about running the world.

978
00:56:08.900 --> 00:56:17.200
And so now I've been given new authority. So Luther says, let put this way, I going to read you some excepts. Now however the gospel which would

979
00:56:17.200 --> 00:56:20.400
be Luther's true teaching, that's what he means by gospel, here and not just

980
00:56:20.400 --> 00:56:24.100
the narrow forgiveness of sins in Jesus Christ. But now the gospel

981
00:56:24.100 --> 00:56:27.100
the true Evangelical teaching has come to light it makes plenty

982
00:56:27.100 --> 00:56:30.100
distinction between the temporal and the spiritual estate.

983
00:56:30.600 --> 00:56:32.800
So it's here translated the state.

984
00:56:32.800 --> 00:56:35.000
You can translate it realm, kingdom.

985
00:56:35.000 --> 00:56:38.900
I don't like kingdom the state and teaches besides that the temporal

986
00:56:38.900 --> 00:56:43.000
estate is an ordinance of God, which everyone ought to obey and honor,

987
00:56:43.000 --> 00:56:47.500
their you staying at again. He's not backing off of that at all. Therefore

988
00:56:47.500 --> 00:56:51.900
now these leaders they rejoice in their freedom the spiritual

989
00:56:51.900 --> 00:56:55.900
tyrants have to pull in their pipes and the tables are turned now popes,

990
00:56:55.900 --> 00:56:59.500
bishops, priests and monks have to fear and honor the princess and

991
00:56:59.500 --> 00:57:09.500
lords and nobles. So another words we are saying I turned everything upside down. It used to be the princes were afraid now the priests are afraid because now the princess are  exerting their authority.

992
00:57:09.500 --> 00:57:12.800
So Luther going to say alright, I've done this.

993
00:57:12.800 --> 00:57:20.400
But now, the problem is, we've got princes who are getting carried away. Remember this is after The Peasants War. During the Peasants War Luther wanted the peasants stopped

994
00:57:20.400 --> 00:57:25.400
and the Rebellion stoppped and he asked a princess to do that.

995
00:57:25.400 --> 00:57:26.100
But now he's concerned because he seeing princes who are taking

996
00:57:30.600 --> 00:57:35.600
advantage of their new authority. Taking advantage of their new prestige he wants to call them into check. So

997
00:57:35.600 --> 00:57:42.000
another outtake this is Page 44 in Luther's Works Vol 13. From this we see

998
00:57:42.000 --> 00:57:46.000
how high how glorious God will have rulers held and that men ought to

999
00:57:46.000 --> 00:57:49.400
obey them as his officers and be subject to them with all fear and

1000
00:57:49.400 --> 00:57:55.300
reverence as to God himself. Whoever resist them or is disobedient to them or

1001
00:57:55.300 --> 00:58:00.700
despises them whom God names with his own name and called gods and to

1002
00:58:00.700 --> 00:58:02.400
whom he attaches his own honor.

1003
00:58:02.400 --> 00:58:05.300
Whoever despises disobeys or resist them

1004
00:58:05.300 --> 00:58:11.400
is there by despising disobeying and resisting the supreme god who's in them

1005
00:58:11.400 --> 00:58:15.300
who speaks in judges through them and calls their judgment his

1006
00:58:15.300 --> 00:58:15.900
judgment.

1007
00:58:15.900 --> 00:58:17.100
That's pretty clear-cut.

1008
00:58:17.100 --> 00:58:22.000
It's not like Luther is backing off of any of what he said about the supreme

1009
00:58:22.000 --> 00:58:25.600
authority of the temporal realm or the need for us to be obedient to

1010
00:58:25.600 --> 00:58:26.000
them.

1011
00:58:26.000 --> 00:58:29.500
So he he's clear on this and he's stressing this.

1012
00:58:30.600 --> 00:58:36.200
Now it is also interesting how much Luther not only upholds the prince and his role but upholds

1013
00:58:36.200 --> 00:58:40.500
civil society and the way that we work in the world and the way that

1014
00:58:40.500 --> 00:58:44.300
we function in the world and and the beauty and the value of just

1015
00:58:44.300 --> 00:58:46.300
communities and governments.

1016
00:58:46.300 --> 00:58:51.600
He even says Nineveh was a beautiful community of God established by

1017
00:58:51.600 --> 00:58:55.300
God full of crooks, people that need to be brought to repent by Jonah

1018
00:58:55.300 --> 00:59:00.000
but still God's community. And he embraces this he says this such

1019
00:59:00.000 --> 00:59:05.000
communities these communities of the world are God's work which he daily

1020
00:59:05.000 --> 00:59:08.100
creates, supports and increases so that they can sit at home,

1021
00:59:08.100 --> 00:59:12.500
they being the people the citizen, and beget children and educate them.

1022
00:59:12.500 --> 00:59:15.100
So that's a good thing to have kids and raise them

1023
00:59:15.100 --> 00:59:19.300
the right way. Therefore this word is in the first place a great and

1024
00:59:19.300 --> 00:59:22.500
pleasant comfort to all those who find themselves situated in such a

1025
00:59:22.500 --> 00:59:23.000
community.

1026
00:59:23.000 --> 00:59:26.400
So if you're living in a community in the temple realm this is a good gift from

1027
00:59:26.400 --> 00:59:29.100
God we can all associate with that.

1028
00:59:29.500 --> 00:59:32.200
It assures them that God accepts them as his work.

1029
00:59:32.200 --> 00:59:37.200
See these communities are his work and his creation that God cares for

1030
00:59:37.200 --> 00:59:39.400
them and protects and supports them as we can

1031
00:59:39.400 --> 00:59:42.600
in fact see with our own eyes. Who wouldn't

1032
00:59:42.600 --> 00:59:43.800
keep a cow or a Heller,

1033
00:59:43.800 --> 00:59:45.100
that would do some money.

1034
00:59:45.100 --> 00:59:49.000
If God did not give it and help him guard and keep it there for everyone

1035
00:59:49.000 --> 00:59:51.900
out to admonish himself to be thankful for everything that is offered

1036
00:59:51.900 --> 00:59:55.700
him by his rulers and be glad that is such a community is worthy to

1037
00:59:55.700 --> 00:59:56.600
eat his bread and live.

1038
00:59:56.600 --> 01:00:00.800
So is the temporal realm important to God in the Luther very much.

1039
01:00:00.800 --> 01:00:02.200
We miss this.

1040
01:00:02.200 --> 01:00:07.900
We sometimes think that God is just interested in his spiritual stuff. And Luther just cared about spiritual

1041
01:00:07.900 --> 01:00:12.700
stuff forgiveness of sins and the real presence and that spiritual stuff.

1042
01:00:12.700 --> 01:00:17.700
Luther was very interested in the temporal realm in the community around

1043
01:00:17.700 --> 01:00:22.400
him, he would travel to cities and help the government rulers the

1044
01:00:22.400 --> 01:00:26.800
Princess and the city council's organize reform in the society.

1045
01:00:26.800 --> 01:00:29.200
He was a huge proponent of what we call

1046
01:00:29.500 --> 01:00:34.400
a community chest which is basically social welfare for widows

1047
01:00:34.400 --> 01:00:36.900
and orphans so they can get help by the government.

1048
01:00:36.900 --> 01:00:40.000
Not just by the church right by the government. And he was always

1049
01:00:40.000 --> 01:00:43.400
trying to settle disputes and problems that the princess might be having.

1050
01:00:43.400 --> 01:00:44.800
In fact when Luther died

1051
01:00:44.800 --> 01:00:49.300
he was traveling trying to settle an argument between two Princes who were

1052
01:00:49.300 --> 01:00:51.500
brothers were fighting with each other and Luther

1053
01:00:51.500 --> 01:00:55.000
was trying to solve this political temporal realm problem.

1054
01:00:55.000 --> 01:00:56.100
It wasn't even a church issue

1055
01:00:56.100 --> 01:01:02.700
he was dealing with. So Luther was very involved with the temporal realm very much very invested in

1056
01:01:02.700 --> 01:01:02.900
it.

1057
01:01:02.900 --> 01:01:08.100
He saw it is God's gift. Now, does that mean then that he's a big fan of this

1058
01:01:08.100 --> 01:01:10.800
neat separation government do your thing , church

1059
01:01:10.800 --> 01:01:17.300
do your thing. He's already violating it. He's a church guy, called by the church, but he's over there

1060
01:01:17.300 --> 01:01:20.500
talking to princess and telling them how to do things and helping them

1061
01:01:20.500 --> 01:01:20.800
do things.

1062
01:01:20.800 --> 01:01:25.400
So he's already fudging the the neat little divided we see that going

1063
01:01:25.400 --> 01:01:27.700
on. Now thought he goes even further. So he's talking about these proud

1064
01:01:29.400 --> 01:01:33.100
princess and all the authority they have and he says this on page 448.

1065
01:01:34.100 --> 01:01:39.000
Now in order that these proud gods may be be deprived of their

1066
01:01:39.000 --> 01:01:43.200
defiant boastfulness when they think that no one is to judge them or

1067
01:01:43.200 --> 01:01:47.500
rebuke them without being called a rebel. A little peg is driven into

1068
01:01:47.500 --> 01:01:54.500
them a club is laid beside the dog. That is just a marvelous image. So he gets it.

1069
01:01:54.500 --> 01:01:58.900
Luther understands that. Well if I'm elevating princes they're going to start thinking nobody

1070
01:01:58.900 --> 01:01:59.400
can rebel.

1071
01:01:59.400 --> 01:02:00.600
Nobody can challenge them.

1072
01:02:00.600 --> 01:02:04.000
They have supreme authority from God which means divine right of

1073
01:02:04.000 --> 01:02:04.100
kings.

1074
01:02:04.100 --> 01:02:04.900
Yep.

1075
01:02:05.300 --> 01:02:09.500
That's exactly what it means and Luther believed in that. He was a huge

1076
01:02:09.500 --> 01:02:11.500
fan of the divine right of kings and frankly

1077
01:02:11.500 --> 01:02:17.200
so am I. I would not have been a rebel leading the charge against the

1078
01:02:17.200 --> 01:02:19.600
Redcoats in the 17th and 18th century,

1079
01:02:19.600 --> 01:02:24.900
sorry. So Luther says now there's a problem if we elevate the princess too

1080
01:02:24.900 --> 01:02:25.200
much.

1081
01:02:25.200 --> 01:02:26.900
They're going to get carried away.

1082
01:02:26.900 --> 01:02:30.800
We need to hold them in check. And so there's a little peg driven into them

1083
01:02:30.800 --> 01:02:32.800
that stops them from getting too crazy.

1084
01:02:32.800 --> 01:02:38.200
And there is a club laid beside the dog. A pretty good image the prince being the dog.

1085
01:02:38.200 --> 01:02:39.900
And there is club laid beside him.

1086
01:02:39.900 --> 01:02:45.500
You know, how clubs work. The club laid beside the dog is a threat the dog gets it.

1087
01:02:45.500 --> 01:02:48.000
Hey if I'm out of line, I'll feel the brunt of the club.

1088
01:02:48.000 --> 01:02:48.700
I don't want that to happen.

1089
01:02:48.700 --> 01:02:51.100
So what is this club

1090
01:02:51.500 --> 01:02:52.800
laid beside the dog?

1091
01:02:54.400 --> 01:02:56.900
That's a good question? So Luther answers it.

1092
01:02:56.900 --> 01:03:09.900
So then where is God? God's the one who supposed to doing this judging. God is the one who is keeping the prince in check. God is the one who going to keep these little gods in check. Or how do we become sure that there is a

1093
01:03:09.900 --> 01:03:11.100
God With us rebukes?

1094
01:03:11.900 --> 01:03:15.800
Sure you here in this place that he's quoting the Psalm,

1095
01:03:15.800 --> 01:03:17.800
He stands in the congregation.

1096
01:03:19.300 --> 01:03:23.300
Where his congregation is there you will find him. For there

1097
01:03:23.300 --> 01:03:29.300
he has appointed drumroll priests and preachers whom he has committed

1098
01:03:29.300 --> 01:03:33.300
the duty of teaching, exhorting, rebuking, comforting in a word of

1099
01:03:33.300 --> 01:03:34.200
preaching the word of God.

1100
01:03:35.300 --> 01:03:38.400
I would have commanded to preach the word of God and all the world

1101
01:03:38.400 --> 01:03:46.500
we know. So God says, you hear God in the community, you hear God as the

1102
01:03:46.500 --> 01:03:53.900
club right beside the dog through his Pastor through his priest who speak God's word.