The Transfiguration of Our Lord, February 9, 2025

Peter is no fabulist. He does not tell tall tales. Peter, James, and John witnessed the Transfiguration and heard the Father’s voice speak from heaven, claiming Jesus as “his dear Son” (vs. 17). The Israelite tradition ensconced in their legal code required the testimony of at least two witnesses to establish a matter (Deu. 19:15 & Jn. 8:17 and others). Peter conveys the truth regarding Jesus’ receiving honor and glory from God. Under Israelite tradition and law, the matter was established and true.

Furthermore, Peter goes on to demonstrate the truth of the prophetic word. It is reliable (vs. 19). It is a light amid dimness (vs. 19). The words of the prophet are not mere imaginings (vs. 20). Those words are from God. They are delivered to the prophet by the Holy Spirit (vs. 21), not by human impulse. Peter invokes the two-witness rule once again.  Only this time, the witnesses are not Peter, James, and John but the prophet and the Holy Spirit.

At the time when the disciples replaced Judas (who had betrayed Jesus), the criterion for selection stated that the candidates be among those who had been with them accompanying Jesus (Acts 1:21). The candidate, one who would be chosen by the casting of lots, would be like the eleven remaining disciples: an official witness to the resurrection.

The Israelites… the Jews… had an established procedure for establishing a matter: the testimony of at least two witnesses. Peter appeals to this well-known procedure in his denial of conveying concocted fables. The other disciples, sent out by Jesus to bear witness to him, counted on the same procedure to establish the matter of Jesus’ resurrection. Your preacher, having heard the testimony of many witnesses spoken from one generation to the next, establishes the matter in your hearing.

Table Talk: Discuss how you establish a matter… establish it in truth… in fact… in reality… and under the law.

Pray: Heavenly Father, establish me in the reality of Jesus’ resurrection that I may know the truth of my Lord Jesus Christ. Amen

2 Peter 1:16-21 (ESV)

16 For we did not follow cleverly concocted fables when we made known to you the power and return of our Lord Jesus Christ; no, we were eyewitnesses of his grandeur. 17 For he received honor and glory from God the Father, when that voice was conveyed to him by the Majestic Glory: “This is my dear Son, in whom I am delighted.” 18 When this voice was conveyed from heaven, we ourselves heard it, for we were with him on the holy mountain. 19 Moreover, we possess the prophetic word as an altogether reliable thing. You do well if you pay attention to this as you would to a light shining in a murky place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. 20 Above all, you do well if you recognize this: No prophecy of scripture ever comes about by the prophet’s own imagination, 21 for no prophecy was ever borne of human impulse; rather, men carried along by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.

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The Transfiguration of Our Lord, February 9, 2025

We all too easily imagine hearing that voice for ourselves. Hearing it in the delightful solitude of our own thoughts. Hearing its resonating tones of divinity… ringing with majestic glory… claiming Jesus as the Father’s Son in holiness and delight… and inspiring in us a coveting of Peter, John, and James’ experience. Oh, how we long for a manifestation of the divine in our lives! Those three selected disciples went to the top of the Mount of Transfiguration, and all we get is a preacher. Maybe a T-shirt would be preferable. At least we could wear, flaunt, touch, and fondle it. It would be tangible! Not like this thing called “faith.” This unseen, intangible thing which, on this side of the eschaton, is the only reality we’ll ever receive of the things hoped for… the only substance of the things we cannot see (He. 11:1) … things like Jesus glowing white… like Moses and Elijah talking with him… like the heavens opening so the voice of divine approval would pour forth. We do not get the mountain-top experience. Instead, we get a preacher with a Word, a meager bath, and a meal (crumbs of bread and sips of wine). But, since God has promised to reveal himself through this Word and these Sacraments, we can say they are better than a T-shirt.

Prayers from those who covet religious experiences.

Heavenly Father, you have chosen to reveal yourself through your Word. Cease my restless coveting of religious experience so that I will be content with your Word and the preaching of it. In the name of Jesus. Amen

Heavenly Father, you have chosen to reveal yourself through your Word. Remove my hunger for demonstrations of divine might and majesty so that I will be sated by the wonder of your creation before me. In the name of Jesus. Amen

Heavenly Father, you have chosen to reveal yourself through your Word. Quench my thirst for the miraculous and supernatural so that the new life I received through the waters of baptism can be grasped in faith. In the name of Jesus. Amen

Heavenly Father, you have chosen to reveal yourself through your Word. Grant me the enjoyment of my callings in family, church, and community so that I am satisfied in those places to which I’ve been called. In the name of Jesus. Amen

Heavenly Father, you have chosen to reveal yourself through your Word. Give me delight in my neighbors so I may serve them in joy and thanksgiving. In the name of Jesus. Amen

Heavenly Father, you have chosen to reveal yourself through your Word. Establish the Institute of Lutheran Theology to be satisfied with teaching your Word and Sacraments so its faculty, staff, and students do not pry behind the masks you wear in this creation broken by sin. In the name of Jesus. Amen

Heavenly Father, you have chosen to reveal yourself through your Word. Hold me in the faith of Jesus Christ so that during these days of my baptism, I can wait patiently in hope until your Word, Jesus Christ, manifests in visible glory. In the name of Jesus. Amen

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Evangelism Course Success

Sharing the Good News of Evangelism

ILT welcomed 39 students to the Evangelism course being taught by Rev. Mark Mattes, Ph.D. This class is designed to equip and empower sharing Christ in ministry and is made up of pastors and lay people alike from various locations. It was offered free and open to the public to celebrate the founding of ILT’s Center for Congregational Revitalization.

The Center for Congregational Revitalization (CCR) works with pastors and congregations to bring vitality back to their mission as Christ’s church. CCR is in the development stage, as we research the state of congregations in North America. Both vibrant as well as declining congregations are being studied, with the purpose of finding ways to help return vitality to congregations that seem to be unable to grow.

For a more detailed description on the course, visit https://cst.ilt.edu/evangelism-a-course-from-cst-the-center-for-congregational-revitalization/.

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The Presentation of Our Lord, February 2, 2025

The humanity that Jesus came to help shares in flesh and blood (He. 2:14). The common experience of flesh and blood is suffering. By sharing in the common experience of all flesh—suffering—Jesus breaks the power of death by suffering unto death. Suffering as the common experience of flesh and blood is not much in favor. True, suffering has never been popular, but it has been accepted as the common… the usual… experience of humankind. With the significant advancements made in recent years in relieving suffering, people’s expectations… our expectations… do not include suffering. Rather than being an expected and anticipated part of our human reality, suffering has come to be seen as a break in our reality, a rupture of, and imposition upon, our ongoing comfort. Moving from comfort-seeking to comfort-expecting puts us at odds with the book of Hebrews and the biblical witness. In the suffering reality of flesh and blood, Jesus brings comfort… Jesus, and Jesus only. We receive this comfort in faith… faith, and faith alone.  Suffering fills the reality of flesh and blood; there is no escaping it. Our comfort comes from Jesus, whom we have by faith. We have him no matter what the reality of our flesh and blood tells us. Faith in Christ is a new reality tearing you away from and placing you in contrast to the reality of flesh and blood. Faith in Christ is your reality of comfort and hope.

Prayers from one who expects comfort, not suffering…

Heavenly Father, your Son, Jesus Christ, suffered and died for me. Grant me such faith that I see Christ’s suffering joined to me through my suffering. Father, have mercy.

Heavenly Father, your Son, Jesus Christ, suffered and died for me. Let me hear your Word so that Jesus Christ’s coming to share my flesh and blood blesses and hallows all human flesh and its suffering. Father, have mercy.

Heavenly Father, your Son, Jesus Christ, suffered and died for me. As I come to expect to suffer and not expect comfort, grant me the reality of comfort, which is mine, through faith in Christ. Father, have mercy.

Heavenly Father, your Son, Jesus Christ, suffered and died for me. Grant to the Institute of Lutheran Theology such theologians of the cross that it will preach and teach the revelation of God through suffering and the cross. Father, have mercy.

Heavenly Father, your Son, Jesus Christ, suffered and died for me. Throughout the days of my baptism, grant me such faith that I await the revelation of Jesus Christ in his glory, enduring my suffering with patience and hope because Jesus, in the reality of faith, is my comfort. Father, have mercy.

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The Presentation of Our Lord, February 2, 2025

The devil, Satan, holds the power of death. The power of death binds the whole creation so tightly that it groans (Ro. 8:32). Death enslaves by fear, and death enslaves those who know they are going to die. This knowledge of death has been passed down from generation to generation ever since God announced to Adam, “In the day you eat of it (the fruit of the tree of knowledge), you shall surely die” (Ge. 2:17). This knowledge—terrible, fearsome, and enslaving—forces the descendants of Adam and Eve to seek remedies. The Pulitzer Prize-winning author Ernest Becker has described these human-devised remedies to avoid or deny this enslaving knowledge. They use religion, culture, family, and personal achievement (among other things) to build what Becker calls immortality projects. These projects give people a sense that they will live on even though they die (Jn. 11:25). This sense comforts them and reduces what Becker calls Generative Death Anxiety.

Applying Becker’s insights to the text today: the devil, Satan, uses Generative Death Anxiety to bind people to their immortality projects. Satan enslaves them, putting them to work through performing pious religious deeds, participating and contributing to an enduring culture, forming a family that is generations long, and establishing a life of moral beauty and good works memorialized into the future. By their very visibility, these immortality projects, helpful and beneficial in themselves, take away hope (Ro. 8:24) and replace faith (2 Cor. 5:17). Christianity becomes a religion of works, a mere series of immortality projects useful for Christians to reduce their Generative Death Anxiety.

Jesus changes all of that! Jesus is your immortality. In his death, Jesus has destroyed the power of death. In his death and resurrection, Jesus has set you free from Generative Death Anxiety. You do not need those immortality projects. They may be helpful and beneficial ways to pass the time between your sacramental death in baptism and your physical death of going down to the grave, but they do not provide immortality. Only Jesus does that. Believe it! You are set free!

Table Talk: Discuss the shadow death has cast upon humanity or your life personally.

Pray: Heavenly Father, give me such faith in Jesus’ death and resurrection that my immortality projects are exposed. Amen

Hebrews 2:14-18 (ESV)

14 Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, he likewise shared in their humanity, so that through death he could destroy the one who holds the power of death (that is, the devil), 15 and set free those who were held in slavery all their lives by their fear of death. 16 For surely his concern is not for angels, but he is concerned for Abraham’s descendants. 17 Therefore he had to be made like his brothers and sisters in every respect, so that he could become a merciful and faithful high priest in things relating to God, to make atonement for the sins of the people. 18 For since he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are tempted.

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Spring Semester Has Started

Spring 2025 Semester Classes Have Started!

The start of classes yesterday marked the beginning of ILT’s 16th spring semester. In the spring of 2009, ILT first offered graduate credit to two students taking the course, New Testament Greek. This semester, ILT will be offering a total of 62 courses and this spring’s enrollment has students in 12 different programs. We’ve come a long way with your prayers and support!

Please continue to pray for our students as we begin this next semester. Many of our students are trying to juggle work commitments, ministry commitments, and financial concerns as they prepare for the ministry God has called them. They can certainly use your support as they take classes and face these struggles.

Please also consider giving to our financial aid fund. ILT students depend upon the generosity of donors who support them by funding their studies and helping to make tuition less of a concern for them.

If you’re interested in supporting the mission of ILT and it’s students, click here to donate or call 605-692-9337.

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The Third Sunday After Epiphany, January 26, 2025

Paul shocks the Romans to whom he is writing. The Greeks and Romans—merely stand-ins for the civilized world—would have understood that righteousness, especially a righteousness like that unto God’s, was something humans could achieve. Plato exemplified this doctrine, which has held hold of the human race since it ate the fruit of that deadly tree. Paul simply declares that righteousness belongs to God alone. With such a declaration, Paul stands counter to the prevalent belief both then and now. Such a claim reduces human enterprise to the mere penultimate. Its reasoning goes like this: when righteousness is God’s alone, all other persons must be unrighteous, making salvation a gift to the unrighteous or impious. Only the godless have a place with God. Think of Jesus’ words here: “I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance” (Lk. 5:32).

Paul moves from this shocking declaration to how his hearers might come to know God’s righteousness: It is revealed in the Gospel. That means the revelation itself is the exercise of God’s power… God’s specific power for salvation (vs. 16). The revelation of this power for salvation is given to all who believe. You must not assume here that belief is a work of yours that is traded in some transactional manner to God, and the revelation is what God gives you in return. Cast that assumption aside. The revelation creates the belief that receives it. This belief… this faith created by the gospel… is the life of the righteous because it has been as of old, “The righteous by faith will live” (vs. 17).

Paul is eager to preach the gospel to those in Rome (vs. 15). Paul desires mutual comfort that comes from one faith and is shared by another (vs. 12).  In this mutual comfort, one faith to another faith, the power of God is at work through the gospel. Here, you can discern the origins of Luther’s “conversation and consolation of the saints” as a means of grace. The gospel moves from faith to faith and then back again, faith to faith. The power of God… the salvation of God… and indeed, the gospel of God… all come together in that mutual comfort when the saints converse and console one another with the gospel.

Table Talk: Discuss the distinction between living by faith and living by works.

Pray: Heavenly Father, grant me the enjoyment of being mutually comforted by one another’s faith. Amen

Romans 1:8-17 (ESV)

8 First of all, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is proclaimed throughout the whole world. 9 For God, whom I serve in my spirit in the gospel of his Son, is my witness that I continually remember you, 10 and I always ask in my prayers if, perhaps now at last, I may succeed in visiting you according to the will of God. 11 For I long to see you, so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you, 12 that is, that we may be mutually comforted by one another’s faith, both yours and mine. 13 I do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, that I often intended to come to you (and was prevented until now), so that I may have some fruit even among you, just as I already have among the rest of the Gentiles. 14 I am a debtor both to the Greeks and to the barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish. 15 Thus I am eager also to preach the gospel to you who are in Rome.

16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is God’s power for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 17 For the righteousness of God is revealed in the gospel from faith to faith, just as it is written, “The righteous by faith will live.”

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The Third Sunday After Epiphany, January 26, 2025

The gospel is “…God’s power for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek” (Romans 1:16). Marcion, the second-century arch-heretic, so despised anything Jewish that not only did he preclude the Old Testament from being considered Christian scripture, but he eliminated any sense of priority that might have come to the Jews. So, he eliminated this “first” wherever he encountered it in the book of Romans. You might ask, “Why is this priority given to the Jews?” Is the answer simply because one must begin somewhere? Jesus was a Jew, and so it started with him. Or did the Jews have some inherent quality that they should be first? No, none of these explanations serve adequately and, in their inadequacy, impair a proper understanding of the entire letter. The Jews are first, not simply for chronological reasons, not for having some quality inherent to them, but solely because of God’s call. God chose the Jews because he could. His call to them was a gift, not a reward. This verse with its “…to the Jew first…” must be read in light of this letter’s ninth, tenth, and eleventh chapters. In them, Paul makes an extended argument for the Jews to be included in salvation. His argument, tinged with lament as he lays the basis for his hope, concluded with one of the great promises of scripture, “For the gifts and call of God are irrevocable” (Ro. 11:29). Just so, you have been called into the salvation worked by God’s power as delivered through the Gospel. God called you in your baptism. The gifts he gave you there (the forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation) and the call certified there will not be taken back. They are irrevocable!

Prayers from one who questions the gift and the call’s irrevocability.

Heavenly Father, your Son sent forth his disciples with three commands: “Go!” “Baptize!” “Teach!” Fill my heart with thankfulness that someone who heard the command “Go!” came to me as a preacher. In Jesus’ name. Amen

Heavenly Father, your Son sent forth his disciples with three commands: “Go!” “Baptize!” “Teach!” As my heart is filled with thankfulness for my preacher, add to that thanksgiving my baptism into the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. In Jesus’ name. Amen

Heavenly Father, your Son sent forth his disciples with three commands: “Go!” “Baptize!” “Teach!” As I am taught the Word of God, Jesus Christ, fill my heart with thankfulness for the gifts and call I received in that baptism. In Jesus’ name. Amen

Heavenly Father, your Son sent forth his disciples with three commands: “Go!” “Baptize!” “Teach!” Grant that the Institute of Lutheran Theology hear those commands and place them in its students’ ears. In Jesus’ name. Amen

Heavenly Father, your Son sent forth his disciples with three commands: “Go!” “Baptize!” “Teach!”  Give to me such a hearing of those commands that I go forth as an apostle bearing witness to Jesus Christ throughout the days of my baptism. In Jesus’ name. Amen

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Enroll Today!

You still have time to enroll before classes start on January 23.

ILT is offering 60 classes at the graduate and undergraduate level, taught by exceptional faculty from around the world. We are an accredited school that provides academic rigor as well as practical education so students can gain the knowledge, understanding and experience to successfully answer God’s call of ministry.

ILT continually strives to support students of all ages in preparation for congregational ministry, church body leadership, or the continued task of theological reflection.

If you’re interested in enrolling or have any questions, please contact Joel Williams at admissions@ilt.edu or call 605-692-9337.

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The Second Sunday After Epiphany, January 19, 2025

What a promise! In the grace of God, we have gifts, unique gifts. Christians are not cookie-cutter the same. We are unique, distinct persons. Even as the new creature in Christ (2 Cor. 5:17), the work of God’s grace delivers us into personal individuality. The work of God’s grace does not add supernatural abilities or powers to our natural human ones. God’s grace is a work of God that puts miserable sinners to death, ending their misery. Out of that death, God’s grace raises up saints to walk in the newness of life. The death worked by grace is the alien work of God. The raising up worked by God’s grace is the proper work of God. God grants his gifts through his alien and his proper work.

These eleven verses hold twenty-nine distinct commands. The imperatives overwhelm us. Their demands weigh us down. The charge of hypocrisy haunts us. Idolatry lies not far from us as pride and despair tempt us: the hypocrisy of pride claims us when we think of attaining the commands; the hypocrisy of despair claims us when we think of failing the commands. We come to idolize either our attaining or our failing. Relief from this burden… relief from this weight of demands… relief comes only through death. God’s promise and prophecy given to Adam there in the Garden of Eden must be brought to fruition, “In the day you eat of it, you shall surely die” (Ge. 2:17). Just so, God’s grace carries out God’s alien work and puts the sinner—that’s you—to death. But God’s grace is not through with you. Grace reaches into that death to fulfill another promise, “Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live…” (Jn. 11:25).  Just so, God’s grace carries out his proper work of raising up sinners to newness of life as children of God.

Children of God have new ears that go along with being a new creature in Christ. These new ears hear no threat in these eleven verses as holding commands. No, these verses simply describe what the children of God will be doing, not because they are commanded to it but because it is now their nature to do it. Children of God cannot help themselves. They must… they will… and they do… love without hypocrisy.

Table Talk: Discuss the difference between love on command and spontaneous love.

Pray: Heavenly Father, work your will upon me that I would receive both your alien work and your proper work. Amen

Romans 12:6-16 (ESV)

6 And we have different gifts according to the grace given to us. If the gift is prophecy, that individual must use it in proportion to his faith. 7 If it is service, he must serve; if it is teaching, he must teach; 8 if it is exhortation, he must exhort; if it is contributing, he must do so with sincerity; if it is leadership, he must do so with diligence; if it is showing mercy, he must do so with cheerfulness.

9 Love must be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil, cling to what is good. 10 Be devoted to one another with mutual love, showing eagerness in honoring one another. 11 Do not lag in zeal, be enthusiastic in spirit, serve the Lord. 12 Rejoice in hope, endure in suffering, persist in prayer. 13 Contribute to the needs of the saints, pursue hospitality. 14 Bless those who persecute you, bless and do not curse. 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. 16 Live in harmony with one another; do not be haughty but associate with the lowly. Do not be conceited.

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