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God Gives Himself—For You!

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Vocation 101

Vocation 101

By Rev. Brent W. Kuhlman

Are you ready for this? Would you ever have guessed that you could say such a thing? Especially about God? When you give it some thought it will just blow your mind—joyfully, that is!

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What am I talking about? It is what Dr. Luther learned from the Scriptures about who God is and what He does for sinners. He confesses the truth about God in this way. First, God is Triune. In other words, God is one God in three persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. That’s a no-brainer for us Lutherans. We all know and believe that fact from the Bible. Second, (and this is what goes against the grain of how most people believe and think about God—including Dr. Luther early on in his life) this Triune God is first and foremost a giver! He loves to give gifts. That’s His cup of tea! And that includes Himself! Yes, that’s right, God loves to give Himself—TO SINNERS! For their salvation! Incredible!

Ponder this the next time you recite the Apostles’ Creed as you get up in the morning or when you go to bed at night. The creed summarizes this biblical truth that Dr. Luther discovered in his studies. Note from the Bible and the Creed that God does the biggie verbs. He creates, He redeems, and He sanctifies. We don’t! We don’t create ourselves. We don’t redeem ourselves. We don’t sanctify ourselves. Remarkably, the Triune God, by creating, redeeming and sanctifying, lives outside of Himself all for the sake of me the ungodly sinner. This is huge!

That’s why Dr. Luther in “Confession Concerning Christ’s Supper” offers this summary of the creedal faith:

These are the three persons and one God, WHO HAS GIVEN HIMSELF TO US ALL WHOLLY AND COMPLETELY, WITH ALL THAT HE IS AND HAS. The Father gives himself to us, with heaven and earth and all the creatures, in order that they may serve us and benefit us. But this gift has become obscured and useless through Adam’s fall. Therefore the Son himself subsequently GAVE HIMSELF and bestowed all his works, sufferings, wisdom, and righteousness, and reconciled us to the Father, in order that restored to life and righteousness, we might also know and have the Father and his gifts. But because this grace would benefit no one if it remained so profoundly hidden and could not come to us, the Holy Spirit comes and GIVES HIMSELF to us also, WHOLLY AND COMPLETELY. He teaches us to understand this deed of Christ which has been manifested to us, helps us receive and preserve it, use it to our advantage and impart it to others, increase and extend it. He does this both inwardly and outwardly—inwardly by means of faith and other spiritual gifts, outwardly through the gospel, baptism, and the sacrament of the altar, through which as through three means or methods he comes to us and inculcates the sufferings of Christ for the benefit of our salvation.

Did you catch that? God gives Himself wholly and completely with all that He is and all that He has—to you! To me! God doesn’t live for Himself. He exists entirely for you! For your benefit! In terms of creaturely benefits as well as salvation benefits! And this means that our entire life and existence before God is passive. In other words, we are always on the receiving end of what the Lord gives in creation, redemption, and sanctification. And that passive life is spelled: F-A-I-T-H!

This is just the opposite of how most people think about God. Most people would contend that God should be on the receiving end of our giving to Him! That we owe God! That we are under obligation! That we will all have to render an account of our giving and doing! And if that isn’t up to par, well, then we’ll hear,“Go to hell, do not pass go, do not collect …!”

Not true! Not even close! The Triune God is a giver of gifts. And the giving includes Himself, all that He is, and all that He has! Dr. Luther wrote about it this way: “For this is a true God who gives and does not receive, who helps and does not let himself be helped, who teaches and rules and does not let himself be taught or ruled. In short, he does and gives everything, and he has need of no one; he does all things freely out of pure grace without merit, for the unworthy and undeserving, yes, for the damned and lost. This kind of remembrance, confession, and glory he desires to have.” (“Admonition Concerning the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Our Lord Jesus,” LW 38:107)

This is just outstanding that God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is for you! Completely! Totally! He will always be God for you as your creator, redeemer, and sanctifier!

Lord’s Supper (the Last Supper), 1978. Sadao Watanabe. Hand colored Kappazuri Dyed stencil print on Momigami (crumpled) paper, 5/80. Collection of the Brauer Museum of Art, Valparaiso University, Valparaiso, Indiana

Rev. Brent W. Kuhlman is pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church, Murdock, Nebraska, and Vice President of Higher Things. He can be reached at bb5841@windstream.net.

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