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I remember the first time I read Ephesians, well maybe the first time, probably not, but the first time that I can remember reading Ephesians chapter 2 verses 8 and 9 where it says that even faith is a gift of God, I can't describe how some people kind of get irritated thinking, well no, I can believe, I want to believe on my own. And you come back to Christ, and you come back to his purpose for being born, and you come back to his perfect life, and you come back to what the prophets had said about this man, and it's not all done in one conversation. So this is a broad study, but being a broad study, if you have any specific questions or thoughts or, you know, that, that you just want to get out there or, or ask, email them to me, because then I know, just like we've done in other classes, where it's a broader topic, and you have questions, then I know, like, oh, okay, so this is what, because we're all different, and we're going to have different things, different questions pop up. So that that's where the underpinnings of historianism it starts to play out in Svengli and Svengli says no you don't receive the body and blood of Jesus Christ at holy community Jesus is not truly there as us Lutherans maintain based on Scripture Svengli said communion is a remembrance of what Jesus Christ has done for us and he based it upon the historian belief that the two natures of Christ don't commune with each other. Does that sound kind of familiar to you right whatever communion is done you got the words of institution is based on Matthew chapter 26 Luther maintained and I think correctly so that the verb is means is that scripture doesn't say it represents it doesn't say it symbolizes that when Jesus birthed holy communion there just before the cross he says this is my body this is my blood let's go over to 1 Corinthians the 10th chapter 1 Corinthians chapter 10 verse 16 the cup of blessing that we bless is it not a sharing in the blood of Christ the bread that we break is it not a sharing in the body of Christ so the question that us Lutherans say is how can you participate in the in the body and blood of Jesus Christ if he is not present there in the cup and in the bread you can't say as scripture says here that we are participating in the very body and blood of Christ so you've got an historicism then 5th century swingley comes along he's got the same problem with the with the natures of Christ that plays out in communion and there you see this this birthing of the understanding of the memorial understanding of communion so let me let me hear the the three understandings of communion and we'll see if we can guess which one is the correct one here okay so you've got we've got three three understandings one one understanding is that there is no bread in communion there's no wine in communion what you have is you have the body and blood of Jesus and the key word is changed into so this is the belief that in in communion you don't have the the bread and the and the wine you have the body and blood of the Lord Jesus that that indeed he is he is present and the key is changed into can anyone guess what denomination this is yep there you go we got some former Catholics here that that recognize this true or Piscopelian I would say for you Marcy or Catholic too okay okay yeah this is this is the view of what's called a transubstantiation that's the Catholic view that when you when you look at the at the elements in communion they may look like bread and wine but they have lost the property of bread and wine they only have the appearance of that that's that that's the Catholic view the Lutheran understanding the little phrase maybe back to your confirmation days if you've grown up a Lutheran that Jesus Christ is truly present in the bread and wine for the forgiveness of sins that's a small catechism and the little phrase that Christ is present in with and under the the bread and wine that's just that's just a little phrase that that is going right after transubstantiation to to refute transubstantiation because Luther said no in scripture Jesus highlights that there's bread and there's a cup and he says body and a blood so Luther said that the Holy Communion is the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ given with bread and wine for the forgiveness of sins okay now here's the here's the second one bread and communion you've got bread and wine you have the body and blood of Jesus Christ and the key word is is okay who's that that's us right that's us and and that's scripture what the scripture says that indeed you've got bread and wine body and blood the key word is is okay there's another understanding in communion you've got bread and wine no body and blood yeah key word is represents and symbol yeah yeah that's yeah Baptist right it's that's Baptist it's great you say here you go there you go yeah so you got you've got three different understand you got transubstantiation you've got bread and wine here and the key word of is and then you've got represents and the symbol okay let me let me approach it this way here which one of these is correct the two becomes four the two remain two or the two become two and what is meant here is bread and wine so which one is the is the is the correct understanding here the two becomes four the two remain two or the two become two yeah it's number one right what is holy communion holy communion is the body and blood of Jesus Christ given with bread and wine for the forgiveness of sin which one is this yeah that's Baptist theology memorial understanding and which one is this it's Catholic understanding right right yeah yeah yeah there's there's nothing that affects a sacrament by what a Lutheran pastor does in fact that was a a big deal when the denomination we were formally a part of was merging in for altering pulpit fellowship with the Episcopals Episcopals believe that at one's ordination the priest is given special power by the fact that they are ordained to make the sacrament than a sacrament in the Lutheran Church we say is absolutely nothing about us that that makes the sacrament the sacrament know what makes the sacrament the sacrament is can you guess the word right it it's just the it's just a word that's what makes the sacrament the sacrament and so there were a bunch of us that when that was that was coming about we we said this is an absolute denial of our of our Lutheran doctrine here and and of course the response that we that we got was you you you don't have to believe it you just have to do it I kid you not that was a response that came out of the bishops office on that and and really in the agreement it was it was waiting for months our our term that we put on ourselves months like myself that were not ordained in historic succession which the Episcopals say you have to be ordained in in order to get this special power they said we'll enter into this agreement until people like Ible die off you see and then everybody's going to be in historic succession so that the Episcopal understanding of communion then is what what dominates I mean that was that was just the early seeds of a denomination leaving the authority of the word of God abandoning abandoning a doctor on that yeah right that was that was the plan that that was the plan because we lost we lost the vote on that and and the understanding of of communion then was was was changed yeah in terms of of how communion is made efficacious in in the in the Lutheran understanding sometimes you will hear this word uh banard about with with the Catholic understanding you've got transubstantiation and sometimes you'll hear people say the the Lutheran understanding is con substantiation that's actually not not true because con substantiation means that that a a whole new substance is is formed so so con substantiation is is not a correct terminology to put on on Lutheranism um sometimes you'll you'll hear what's called impanation i m p a n a t i o o n which means that the that the body of Christ is is localized inside the bread as if you kind of tunnel in you could you could get to it that's not phrase is in with and under the the bread and wine so that as we receive the bread and wine we receive the body and blood of Christ that Christ is truly present um in that bread and wine for the forgiveness of our sins and how is that possible if Christ at this very moment is exalted in heaven itself and he is there divine and human it's possible because you've got the communion of the properties you've got the communion of the two natures that you don't have two we yeah because because you're getting right at the heart of the of the sacrament that indeed Christ has established a stack sacrament for the purpose of the delivery of the assurance of our forgiveness through Christ and so when we come to the table if communion is simply that which is a mental exercise for us to remember back to the cross and the resurrection of Jesus Christ that offers no comfort because you're throwing someone back upon themselves to their own mental approach which interestingly ties into the whole synergistic understanding of I'll pick on our Baptist brothers and sisters here again the whole synergistic understanding of cooperation in their salvation which in the end throws you back on yourself and the decision you make as opposed to the decision that God has made for you um if you if you deny the real presence of Christ then you also don't have any comfort for someone when they receive the the sacrament which is that concrete way of God saying your sins are forgiven swallow it you know it is for you yeah so it's the denial of the sacramental nature that makes this a really important issue in the life of the church I've got like two more minutes I'll let me just wrap this up and can I get you later on Bruce okay when we receive holy communion the sacramental action only pertains to when we are are eating and drinking so in other words if if we went into the words of institution in holy communion and then we said never mind we wouldn't have the sacrament there because the sacrament only occurs when you are consuming it that's why at the end of the of the service you you don't have the the bread and the body and blood of Christ taken off and and going to the sacristy and as it is on the plate there you still have the body and blood of Christ know what do you have you've got remains of the bread right you've got the remains of the wine that's very various practices that that churches do some will say out of respect for how it is how it is used we'll spread it on the ground other churches will we'll just consume the rest of the of the bread because why why let it go to waste or take the remaining wine and and pour it into the reserve to be used next time but it's not as if you have the the bread and the wine or the body and blood Christ still remaining that's why just as a little aside we don't have an acolyte coming along side in case any crumbs are spilled at the at the at the communion rail right because it it only occurs in the in the actual eating of the sacramental action that you've got the the sacrament so when you go all the way back to the storyus that had implications on swingley that then has implications for how communion is understood because swingley was basing off of the storyus in the understanding of the lack of communion of the two natures and conceived of the two natures as a board stuck together um I'd encourage you to to read the Athanasian creed it's an incredible creed gets at the whole understanding of the Trinity gets at the one god three persons one essence well we're going to continue next week and we're going to say who were the Utakeans who are the Utakeans what were they all about and what the world did they believe we'll continue next week Two weeks ago, we studied about a group called the Judiizers. Paul was angry as you looked around Athens he was infuriated when he saw all of these false gods in this idol worship why was Paul so angry because God hates idolatry let's go on verse 17 of chapter 17 so he argued in the synagogue with the Jews and the devout persons here are God fearing Gentiles so he argued in the synagogue with the Jews and the devout persons and also in the marketplace every day with those who happen to be there also some epicurian and stoic philosophers debated with him some says what this is babler want to say what is this babler want to say that's closer that word babler there is a really ugly insult it's really ugly literally in the in the Greek it means seed picker and the image is of birds indiscriminately picking and pecking and eating seeds like someone who picks up pieces of knowledge but really doesn't know what they're talking about it's not just someone who keeps going on and on and on and on of them out here this is a really ugly ugly insult he's a seed picker we go on second part of verse 18 other said he seems to be a proclaimer of foreign divinities this was because he was telling the good news about Jesus and the resurrection so they took him and brought him to the aryopagus and asked him may we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting in the past the aryopagus was the highest court at this point it's no longer the highest court in fact it was a it was a place and the court was identified by the place the aryopagus and what the aryopagus did what this court did is they would pronounce judgment on religions and philosophies and so here's Paul talking about this foreign deity it sounded like to them and so they go to the aryopagus because they want a judgment here they want a judgment on this religion or this philosophy or whatever it is that Paul is talking about we go on verse 20 it sounded rather strange to us so we would like to know what it means now all the Athenians and the foreigners living there would spend their time in nothing but telling or hearing something new they were always searching but never finding they were enthralled with a new religion or philosophy they were just enthralled if something was new and what were some of the ideas that were being with him some said what does this seed picker want to say some epicurian philosophers well that goes back to epicurius about three and a half centuries before the birth of Jesus one of the ideas that was being bantied about three and a half centuries old and everything old is exactly what they were experiencing see epicurius came along and said God is indifferent to his creation God really doesn't care about his creation there's there's no afterlife so really you just try and live a good and virtuous life and then you've been he call it good and by this now the first century it had now wrapped in the understanding of hedonism which is you simply pursue pleasure you simply want to keep upon yourself as much pleasure as you be married for tomorrow you die and everything old is then you had these stoic philosophers those back to about the same time as epicurius this two is old it's three and a half centuries old goes back to this philosopher by the name of Xenocene that what is really important in life is self mastery self mastery and detachment you detach from happiness you detach from pain you become indifferent to life you just detach it was also pantheistic which meant that God was like like the soul of the universe so here you have these ideas being bantied about some of them from epicurian philosophy some of them from stoic philosophy in the over three centuries old everything old this yeah but when you reflect on our lives it's interesting isn't it how everything that's old can become new again in our lives I don't know one person here today that would say I'm an epicurian an uphunter how in the subtlest of ways that old epicurian philosophy can become new in our life where we and even the subtlest of ways think that well God must let's just be indifferent to me I pray and another never seems to happen maybe God is just kind of past me over that sense of epicurian philosophy even in the most subtle of ways where it's that understanding that God is indifferent that epicurian philosophy of eat drink and be merry for tomorrow you die nothing now be honest here is that ever creep in subtly no we gotta get the most out of this life because the years are really fleeting here is ever crossed your mind you ever think and maybe there is nothing after this you're tempted to think that where the sense of the desires that we have becomes paramount the sense of well you know life is about making myself happy and so how can I bring the pleasures of life more into my life when nobody comes right out and says I'm an epicurian nobody comes right out and says my philosophy for life is eat drink and be merry for tomorrow you die will you get that in the secular world I don't think there'd be one of us here that would ever say well that's my philosophy of life but does it creep in in one fashion or another and when it does you know what it is it's everything old is now same thing about stoicism I'm not talking about a personality difference among all of us you know I'm a difficult time some people can be more emotionally reserved than others come some can be more expressive and that term they're more stoic is applied to them I'm not talking about that at all here talking about the creeping in our lives of what can occur in terms of of of an difference a pulling back a cocooning of ourselves so that there isn't there's in relationships with others on deep and meaningful ways it's a cocooning of ourselves where we would prefer just simply shut the blinds and just be alone it's it's a pullback from interfacing with our neighbor and caring with our neighbor it's a it's a it's a pullback all of a sudden the world we are in different to it and someone comes to us and says I'm not religious but I'm spiritual do we ever not our head because think what was just said what does that mean I'm religious or I'm not religious but then I'm spiritual do we ever in the subtlest of ways start to create our own God devoid of the understanding and self definition of God of himself in Holy Scripture and we defined our own walk of faith with a God of our own creating and in the subtlest of ways we find ourselves leaning more towards those who simply say I don't associate with any religion I'm just I'm just creep in so subtle so subtle but it can creep in for us do you know what happens when it does well everything old is but amidst the creeping of that which is old into the newness of our lives God comes with his song and his lyric look at the second part of verse 18 again others said he seems to be a proclaimer of foreign divinities this was because he was telling the good news about Jesus and the resurrection the good news about Jesus this is even then an old story by this point it's the old story of the Lord Jesus Christ who brings the newness of the victory of the cross and the resurrection into our lives it is the newness of the gospel that comes every time it is proclaimed it is the newness of that old gospel when we receive that word of absolute that word of forgiveness and we are struck a new that indeed today because of that old old story that old old lyric it's all new in the forgiveness of the Lord Jesus Christ it's God's lyric of forgiveness through the shed blood of Jesus it's God's lyric of life eternal that the tomb is empty it is God's lyric of being claimed in waters of baptism it is God's lyric that this is not all there is but that this is one more day in all of eternity for the Christian it's that old old lyric that is new again for us each day out of a fester put it this way every time the gospel is proclaimed we are hit a new with a lightning bolt of the good news absolutely absolutely and the old becomes new Paul experienced that everything old was new again in the worst possible way and what we see through the proclamation of Paul is that there's the experience that everything old is new again in the most glorious way as the gospel of Jesus Christ makes it all new new to live in his forgiveness now that's why we sang before the sermon now is the moment now is the time now in the darkness of today through the blood of Jesus and so we sing and even though you beat 845 may I encourage even greater boldness at the end of the sermon we sing today with joy that everything old is amen Don Driesdale, he was a fantastic pitcher with the LA Dodgers a few decades ago.

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