November 28, 2023
Be sure to note the calendar at the bottom – lots of things coming up!
Also! Here’s an Advent Devotional written for you by the pastors of the St. Cloud Circuit. Thanks to Pastor Reber for prompting us and assembling the book!
Dear Friends,
Last time I wrote: “[God] allows sin to leave a mark and he himself often makes the mark because he loves us and wants to teach us to avoid sin and to cling to him for forgiveness.”
How does God do this?
Test this out and see if it makes sense of your experience: there are two different kinds of marks that can be left by sin, or you could think of them as two different kinds of consequences.
There are natural consequences and assigned consequences.
Here’s what I mean by natural consequences. One of my favorite examples is about disobedient kids. Suppose a dad told his son, “Don’t play with my circular saw,” and the son disobeys and tries to cut a board by himself. The saw kicks and the poor boy loses a finger. If he’s a Christian, and his father is a Christian, then the son feels miserable, confesses, and the father forgives him. And really, that’s the end of the story — dad probably doesn’t need to ground the kid because the loss of his finger is discipline enough. Dad drives him to the hospital, he gets stitched up, and he promises to obey from now on.
Lots of sins have natural consequences for the sinner. If you get drunk, you also get a headache. If you are lazy and refuse to work, you also have nothing to eat. And much of the time, if you hurt someone, the injury you have caused stands before your eyes as a visible reminder. If I punch you in the face, your black eye causes pain for the both of us.
Beside natural consequences, there are also assigned consequences.
Take the disobedient kids again. Suppose a dad told his son, “Don’t play with my circular saw,” and the son disobeys, but he doesn’t lose a finger. Dad finds out, and the son is sorry, feels miserable, confesses, and the father forgives him. Nonetheless, dad will also assign some measure of discipline: “You’re grounded for a month.”
That’s an assigned consequence. Someone had to enforce it. When the policeman gives you a ticket for speeding, or you pay a fine and serve jailtime for cheating on your taxes, or when the people of Israel stoned to death an adulterer (Leviticus 20:10), these are all assigned consequences.
But – here’s the point I want to make most of all – all those consequences, both natural and assigned, are from God. How does God get things done? Most often, he uses means. He uses the kick of the saw and the hangover as well as your dad and the policeman. Sometimes, of course, God does things in an immediate way (without using means), for instance when the earth opened up to swallow Korah, Dathan, and Abiram (Numbers 16). But all of the time, it is God who is chastening as a loving, heavenly Father.
More on the difference between losing a finger and losing your soul next time.
God bless and keep you,
Pr. Buchs
COMING EVENTS:
Wednesday, Nov. 29
6:00pm – Small Catechism Bible Study
7:00pm – Vespers
Saturday, Dec. 2
4:30-6:30pm – Spaghetti Dinner & Silent Auction
Sunday, Dec. 3 (Advent Begins)
11:30am – Budget/Election Meeting
Wednesday, Dec. 6
6:00pm – Small Catechism Bible Study
7:00pm – First Midweek Advent Service
7:45pm – Choir Rehearsal