"So, if Jesus - as true God and true man - ascended into heaven, how can Jesus be present in bread and wine during the Lord's Supper?" It's a good question.  But perhaps a better question to ask is not "How are such things possible?" but "Who is the one promising he is present?" These questions and more are discussed by Jacob Lewis and Pastor Sam on this episode of The Manna Podcast. 

“Modern Christian churches are so…legalistic.” Lutheran theologian J. P. Koehler, in his 1914 essay titled “Legalism Among Us”, defined legalism (i.e. within the Christian Church) as an attitude which “takes the motives and forms of [one’s] actions from the law (i.e. God’s commandments) instead of letting them flow from the gospel (i.e. the good news of the saving love of God we have in Christ Jesus our Lord).” Less technically speaking (and to quote Jeff Mallinson), legalism is an attitude that “emphasizes rules, discipline, codes of conduct, and precise biblical codes of behavior over grace, forgiveness, freedom, and the gospel.” So, do modern churches struggle with legalism? If so, where might such legalism exist? And does the Bible offer any constructive, yet comforting direction for churches today? On this episode of The Manna Podcast, Jacob Lewis and Sam Jeske riff a bit more on Articles VII & VIII of the Augsburg Confession (The Church, What the Church Is) and tackle these challenging questions.

“Here’s a fact: it’s a miracle that any of us believe [in Jesus].” In this episode of The Manna Podcast, Jacob Lewis and Sam Jeske continue their discussion on Article IX of the Augsburg Confession as it relates to the practice of infant baptism.

“How can material things give spiritual blessings?” The Lutheran Reformers maintained the biblical truth that, through the waters of baptism, God grants forgiveness, new life, and salvation. But the power to grant such amazing gifts doesn’t come from the water – but God’s Word. The Apostle Paul (in Ephesians 4:6) connects the same Word of God spoken at the creation of the heavens and earth with the same Word of God spoken at the creation of faith in hearts of people. And that’s the same Word of God spoken at the waters of Christian baptism. In this episode of The Manna Podcast, Jacob Lewis and Sam Jeske jump into Article IX of the Augsburg Confession on Baptism.

“Christians are hypocrites.” In a 2018 Barna Survey, this was the highest barrier to the Christian faith for non-Christians – averaging answers from Generation Z all the way to Boomers. Be it dissonance between what a Christian church practices and what the Bible preaches or a disconnect between what a Christian church preaches and what they practice, non-Christians perceive this as an obstacle when considering the Christian faith. When hypocrisy predominantly describes those within the churches nearest them, non-Christians struggle to see the Church at large as relevant, reliable, or real (i.e. authentic and genuine). Such scandal within the local church can even unnerve the church-going Christian.  In this episode of The Manna Podcast, Jacob Lewis and Pastor Sam Jeske tackle this sensitive subject matter during their discussion of Article VIII of the Augsburg Confession. 

“When Christ and his gospel is the why behind what we do, that does help [the Church] delineate between the sand and the granite…what can stay and should stay, and what can go and – perhaps – even what should go.” Jacob Lewis and Sam Jeske continue their conversation of Article VII of the Augsburg Confession on the Christian Church.

"The church, as an industry, unfortunately looks a lot like a lot of the other old-fashioned industries which is, 'This is the way we've always done it.'" That's author and inspirational speaker, Simon Sinek's take on the Christian Church today.  For Christian churches, quotes like these sting a little, don't they? Because - if we're honest - there's truth here, isn't there? Navigating a changing world can be incredibly challenging for churches. Fortunately, the timeliness of the Christian message is predicated upon a timeless foundation - that being Christ himself. And when we are built on Christ and his gospel, we not only have a foundation that will weather every storm, but a foundation that empowers us to meet the tides of change with innovation and creativity. In this episode of The Manna Podcast, Jacob Lewis and Sam Jeske tackle this topic as they continue their walk through the Augsburg Confession, turning to Article VII, The Church.

As Christians, we can sometimes get this attitude that the fruits of our faith must manifest themselves in a certain way - where they need to be these above-and-beyond, grandiose acts - otherwise they aren't considered 'fruit'. As a result, our eyes are often looking for these massive fruits of faith - like an apple on an apple tree that is so massive it's bowing the branch down - and as a result we don't see the fruit that is on the branch because we've insisted that fruits of faith must be visible (so to speak) from a mile away. But is that how God speaks of the 'fruits' of the Christian's faith? In this episode of The Manna Podcast, Jacob Lewis and Sam Jeske dive into Article VI of the Augsburg Confession, pertaining to the new obedience of the Christian, what fruits of faith are, and why the Christian produces them.

“Can’t I find God outside of Christianity? “Can’t I commune with God on my terms with my terms?” “If I don’t think the Bible is relevant anymore, how could that possibly benefit me spiritually?” Modern objections like these are incredibly common in America’s spiritual “oasis”. But while these objections are incredibly common, they’re also incredibly not new. You could hear variants of these objections even during the time of the Reformation in the 1500s. And for the Reformers, the answer to such objections zeroed in on our need for “objective, external, sure, and certain” means for God to reveal and give himself to us. The Reformers referred to these means as the “means of grace”. In this episode of The Manna Podcast, Jacob Lewis and Sam Jeske march on through the Augsburg Confession with Article V, titled ‘The Ministry’.

"I cannot, by virtue of God's law, find life; the letter kills, the Bible tells us. It's the gospel that gives life. And the gospel (the good news) is, what you could not do, Jesus has done for you. It pushes you out of the spotlight of your salvation - and thank God for that." In this episode of The Manna Podcast, Pastor Sam and Jacob Lewis continue their discussion of Article IV of the Augsburg Confession - the doctrine of justification.