Luther wrote: "I hope, however, that I shall do enough, if I uncover the purest and simplest sense of the Gospel as well as I can, and if I answer some of those unskillful glosses, in order that the Christian people may hear, instead of fables and dreams, the Words of their God, unadulterated by human filth. For I promise nothing except the pure, unalloyed sense of the Gospel suitable for the low, humble people."
How often do we try to make the Gospel more difficult than it has to be? It is so simple! Luther, his commentary on 1 Peter, said the pure gospel is spiritual milk. To go deeper into the Gospel when one is a ready and willing disciple is the "wine" of the cross. That is where we engage with the text and Christ and share in his suffering.
How have you experienced the "pure gospel" as well as the "wine" of suffering?
How often do we try to make the Gospel more difficult than it has to be? It is so simple! Luther, his commentary on 1 Peter, said the pure gospel is spiritual milk. To go deeper into the Gospel when one is a ready and willing disciple is the "wine" of the cross. That is where we engage with the text and Christ and share in his suffering.
How have you experienced the "pure gospel" as well as the "wine" of suffering?
I experienced the "pure gospel" as a child in Sunday School and youth group activites As a young married adult, separaated from church and God, God used a church softball team to surround me with believers and put me in a pew to be fed with the sweet milk of the Gospel. Worshiping with believers nourished me to seek the "wine" of suffering.
ReplyDeleteHas that suffering in and with Christ been truly like good wine in some way? If so, how?
ReplyDeleteMost definitely good wine! I am a sinner and all that I am is in the suffering of my Lord. I reflect on Kippling's poem If:
ReplyDelete"If you can meet with triumph and disaster
And treat those two imposters just the same;..."
I have faced a number of failures in my life, struggled through family disorder and illness, and suffered through loss. Through these tribulations, Christ's suffering is good wine.