Dear redeemed in Christ,
Confessional Lutheran pastors often sound like a broken record (or a defective CD): they keep repeating themselves! But in a good and necessary way! Preaching and teaching the Word of God means that the “golden gems” of our Christian doctrine (our objective faith) will be spoken, written, confessed, prayed, sung, and emphasized again and again and again…. Why? Because: “Thus says the Lord!” The Word of God matters dearly to confessing Christians. This Word of LIFE creates faith in us; the Word also feeds and sustains us—keeping us in the true faith.
Jesus says to us: “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4). These words are straight and to the point. There is no way one can deny what they say. Of course, if Jesus says them, they are true. The bottom line is: We need the Word of God (His Law and His Gospel)—a steady diet of it—in our daily lives. If we do not have this spiritual and necessary food in our lives, we die! If and when you tire of this Word—if and when you neglect it—something is wrong with you! And it is called SIN! (See Luther’s Small Catechism, Third Commandment and Meaning)
So then, the questions are: How much? What’s required? What’s recommended? “Pastor, what do you prescribe for my diet—to have a spiritual healthy diet?” Jesus answers plainly that we “continue in [His] Word” (John 8:31), that we “search the Scriptures” (John 5:39), and being sure of His blessings to us as we do so—His gifts delivered to us through His Word (for example, His gift of faith, cf. Romans 10:17). The Holy Spirit charges us to “Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly” (Colossians 3:16a). Jesus does not prescribe a formula for us to follow like: “I want you to spend X amount of time daily (weekly) to be in My Word.” Rather, the “richly” just spoken, implies that we receive the Word of Christ “in abundance”! Like, you cannot get too much of it! You cannot overfill your soul with God’s Word. Just think, we are actually charged to gorge ourselves on this heavenly food—given to us by our Lord in His multiple of venues: primarily in Word and Sacrament in Divine Service, in Bible studies, daily Bible reading and devotions, and so forth. So, eat, eat, and eat some more! Go for it! Stuff yourselves! You can never overeat the Word! You can never get too much of it! Absolutely, the more the better for you!
Don’t fall into Satan’s trap of diminishing the need for the Word of God, treating it as though it is more of a once in a while nice-to-have, like going out for a scrumptious steak or a delightful hot fudge sundae, or even just a daily meal or even a weekly meal. That’s hard to imagine!
This Word of God is LIFE for us and LIFE to us! Eat it up! Stuff yourselves! You can never get enough…REALLY! Feast on it BIG TIME!
We have opportunities here at church for you to do so.
Divine Service (Worship) on Sundays at 9:00AM
Midweek Lenten Worship on Wednesdays at 7:00PM
Bible Studies: Sundays at 10:30AM, Wednesdays at 10:00AM, Thursday Evenings at 6:00PM.