Click on the microphone to hear the interview. Studio A with Rolland Lettner on KFUO.

A prayer for Treasury of Daily Prayer

The following note and letter were received from Presbyterian layman, Dan Delph. In giving me permission to share his words, it is his prayer that those who worked on Treasury of Daily Prayer are encouraged, and that as they move forward, “his Lutheran brothers and sisters” are encouraged as well.

Scot,

In early November of 2008, I was lead to search for a new approach to my daily devotional life. I discovered your Treasury of Daily Prayer just when it was newly published and available only from Concordia. Not even Amazon had it in stock at that time.

I knew I had found something extraordinary; something of historical significance. You will understand what your work has meant to me and my family when you read the attached letter that I wrote today to my daughter and her fiancé who will be married in October. You should know that I have been a Presbyterian for most of my redeemed life, and never a member of the Lutheran tradition. I will be mailing the letter today, along with their personal copies of the Treasury.

Your work has changed my devotional life, Scot, and given back to me the rich heritage of the historical church. Thank you for following God’s leading to bring this profound gift to the Body of Christ in our day.

Daniel Delph

________ , Texas

Dan’s letter to his daughter and her fiancé:

May, 2010

______ and ______,

Mom and I are excited that you have begun your Premarital Program at __________. We want to supplement that instruction with something that will help you continue to grow individually—and consequently together—for the rest of your lives.

The book you now hold is a work of extraordinary significance. It is a treasure trove of the ancient traditions of the Christian faith. In order to truly appreciate this book, a little background is in order.

To my knowledge, I and my siblings are the first generation of regenerated believers in a very long line of Roman Catholics. Many centuries ago the Roman Catholic Church became corrupt and lost its way. The Protestant Reformation, led by the Augustinian monk Martin Luther, was a movement by God to restore the Roman Church.

It is important to realize that Luther’s desire was to reform the Church of Rome, not abandon it. However, when the Roman leadership refused to repent, Luther endeavored to retain the historical and biblical truth, goodness, and beauty that had been entrusted to the church before its decline.

As such, we owe a huge debt of gratitude to the Lutheran denomination for faithfully preserving over the centuries the historical traditions of the early church—sacred liturgy, hymnody, written prayers, ancient music, the daily office, propers for daily prayer, sacramental preparations, biographies of early saints, writings of the church fathers, sung prayers (chant melodies), catechisms, psalter, invitatories, antiphons, responsories, and the ancient church calendar.

So many in post-modern Christianity have thrown the baby out with the bath water. They consider the ancient traditions to be obsolete, lifeless, and guilty by association with some denominations in spiritual decline. However, it is only the hearts of men that grow lifeless, not the Word of God. Any man or woman filled with God’s Spirit and genuinely seeking him will find in these pages great depth and life. These are the forms of worship and spiritual disciplines of the early church. They are meat, not milk. As such, they may be an acquired taste to a generation raised on spiritual fast food.

In a historical sense, we are all reformed Catholics. That may be hard for some to swallow, but the living Body of Christ today stands on the shoulders of the early church, whose practices were handed down from the teachings and instruction of the apostles and early church fathers. This volume represents the rich legacy of our early Roman Catholic heritage, preserved for us by our Lutheran brethren.

What makes this particular work so extraordinary is how the editorial team, led by Scot Kinnaman, has harmonized the content. In the readings of any given day, they have skillfully correlated a psalm, an Old Testament passage, a New Testament passage, a verse of a hymn, a historical writing, and a written prayer. It is powerful, and a thing of beauty.

It has become my daily devotional guide. One day, God may lead you to do the same. Wait until then. Don’t force it, and don’t force each other. Just keep it in a handy place. If that day comes, purpose to slowly and prayerfully make your way through, each at your own pace. Although the daily offices (readings) are aligned with the annual church calendar, don’t expect to read through it in one year. Rather, approach it like a fine wine, to be sipped, savored, and contemplated. Mediate your way through it, asking God to grow your spiritual tastes and appetites.

The editors have taken the pains to also record the ancient chant melodies of the prayer offices (e.g., Matins, Vespers, Compline, the Litany, etc.) found in section O in the middle. Meditative prayer is a lost discipline in our day. The early church understood what the psalmist meant by “I will sing to the Lord all my life; I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.”

I have included special pens that work well on the paper of this book. Make notes as you go. Mark and underline passages that speak to you. Place question marks where you need more understanding and revelation. Talk to God in the margins. Document your thoughts, desires, and prayers as you read and meditate. Make this something your children will one day page through and discover insights into your walk with God.

God promises rich blessings as you engage his grace and encounter his steadfast love and mercies in these pages, new every morning.

All our love.

To the assisting editors, to countless contributors, to the production editors, the copy editors, the designer and the many others who had their hand in bringing this book from dream to reality: congratulations. My name cannot appear in association with Treasury without the complete understanding that it could not have been done alone. Together we are part of something bigger than ourselves, something that God has been pleased to use for the care and life of His Bride, the Church. Praise be to God. To Him alone be the glory.

Topic: Classic Christian Worship.

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The Source of All Authority

The Scriptures are the source of God’s authority, be it in the Church or in the civil realm. The authority God gives to the Church and government are signs of His love for us, providing for our spiritual and temporal well-being.

“The Church is the congregation of saints [Psalm 149:1] in which the Gospel is purely taught and the Sacraments are correctly administered.” (AC VII 1)

The Church does not exercise secular, or civil, authority. She may not employ the power of the state to compel people to accept the teachings of the Gospel, to enforce Christian living, or to punish or imprison heretics. Lutherans teach that the state has the power of the sword, but the Church has the power of the Word. Christ gave His Word to His Church. The Word of the Gospel brings people to faith. Peter expresses this understanding when he speaks of the “ministry of the word” (Acts 6:4). Not by force or fines but by teaching and the work of the Holy Spirit the Church wins people for Christ and shepherds them to life under Christ in His kingdom.

Some teach that the Church’s authority comes from both the Scriptures and sacred tradition. Lutherans believe that the authority given by God is found in Scripture alone. A Roman Catholic, for example, asks the question, “What does the Church say?” A Lutheran asks, “What do the Scriptures say?” Therein lies a critical difference in understanding Church authority from a Lutheran point of view.

The Authority of the Church: The Office of the Keys

The Office of the Keys is the term used to designate the power given by Christ to the Church on earth. Jesus said, “As the Father has sent Me, even so I am sending You. . . . Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld” (John 20:21–23). In the Book of Matthew, Jesus announces that He will give the disciples “the keys of the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 16:19). This power was not exclusive to the apostles, but transmitted successively by the Church to those whom the Church ordains and places in the Office of the Holy Ministry.

“The Office of the Keys is that special authority which Christ has given to His church on earth to forgive the sins of repentant sinners, but to withhold forgiveness from the unrepentant as long as they do not repent.” (SC Confession)

The Lutheran Confessions teach “It must be recognized that the Keys belong not to the person of one particular man, but to the Church. . . . This is why it is first the Church that has the right of calling” (Tr 24). The Church exercises the Office of the Keys through her ministers, who, in the stead of Christ, and on behalf of the congregation, assure that the Means of Grace are administered. Through these means the Holy Spirit imparts to people the blessings of Christ’s redemption. Christ obtained the forgiveness of sins and salvation for all people. Through the Means of Grace, the Holy Spirit imparts these blessings to the people. Through her ministers, the church administers these means.

“Our churches teach that no one should publicly teach in the Church, or administer the Sacraments, without a rightly ordered call.” (AC XIV)

The Releasing Key

The releasing key is the power to remit sins (that is, to cancel the punishment of God against sin) and absolve the sinner (that is, declare the sinner free from the guilt of sin). This power is not separate from or above the Gospel of Christ, but is a specific application of the Gospel. The Lutheran Confessions hold that “the Power of the Keys administers and presents the Gospel through Absolution, which is the true voice of the Gospel” (Ap XIIA 39). In Christ, sinners are forgiven. In Absolution, the message of grace and forgiveness is applied to the individual in a more direct way.

The called ministers of Christ, who speak God’s Word in the Christian congregation, have the power and authority to remit sins.

The Binding Key

The binding key is the power to retain sins. To retain sins, or bind them to someone, does not mean that these sins were not atoned for by Jesus or that they are not forgiven before God. Instead, it is the announcement that the unrepentant sinner, by desiring to remain in sin, has rejected the gift of grace offered by Christ for all those who have faith in Him. Forgiveness is received in no other way than by faith (Romans 3:28). The impenitent, because they refuse to believe it, have excluded themselves from the general amnesty proclaimed by God, and hold themselves outside of God’s forgiveness.

Using the Power of the Keys

The Church does not use the power of the keys lightly. Instead, she strictly follows the instructions of Christ. The Church remits sins to penitent sinners and retains the sins of impenitent sinners as long as they do not repent. Whenever the Church on earth through her ministers deals with sinners in this way, her actions are certain and sure also in heaven (Matthew 18:18).

So, What about the Rest of Us?

While it is given to pastors to serve in their particular way, all of God’s people are given many opportunities to serve both God and others. There is a “flow” in every Christian’s life. The flow is to receive God’s gifts and then to serve God by serving others in daily vocations. The service of laypeople in the Church is referred to by Lutherans as “the priesthood of all believers.”

“But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for His own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.” (1 Peter 2:9)

Pastors serve as God’s representative in a congregation, but all believers have a role in serving God. Those who have received the gifts of God cannot help but thank and praise the Lord who gives them. As Christians live their daily lives fulfilling their vocations, they also have opportunity to tell about the gifts they have received from Jesus to those around them.

All Christians have the responsibility to grow in their faith and understanding of God’s love for them in Jesus Christ. All Christians have the privilege to serve as members of the “royal priesthood” by telling others about Jesus and pointing them to His gifts given in the Word and Sacraments in the Church.

“But in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect.” (1 Peter 3:15)

There is no “ranking” of service among Lutherans. Lutherans do not view the service of pastors as more important or holy than that of laypeople. Pastors are given certain things to do, and laypeople are given certain things to do. Together as the Church they work to the glory of God.

Authority Given to the Government

The Scriptures tell us that God has also given authority to the civil government. Instead of forgiving sin as the Church does, the government rules for the sake of order, safety, and peace in the world. God tells us to obey those who are in authority over us unless they command us to sin.

Civil power and authority to rule and govern originates with God. The apostle Paul writes: “Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God” (Romans 13:1). It is the will of God that there should be government because anarchy is contrary to His will. This power of government is not invested in any particular person, family, or class but in God’s Word. With this understanding, you can understand that the vocation of governing is divinely instituted and through it, God works in the world.

Purpose of Government

Since the fall of Adam and Eve into sin, humanity’s relationship with God has been disrupted. By means of civil government God works to provide for security and peace. Governments, therefore, are to protect the lives, the property, the honor, and the reputation of the people. Those in civil authority are to preserve order, discipline, and safeguard the people as they pursue their occupations and enjoy their liberties. Government wields the sword of God’s justice as “God’s servant for your good” (Romans 13:4).

The government may also engage in other activities that will promote and secure the general welfare of the people. This would include the education of its citizens, conservation and promotion of natural resources, the improvement of adverse conditions and suffering, combating those who threaten the peace, both within and from outside its borders, and improving living conditions in general.

Right of Government

To fulfill its purpose, the government has the right to enact suitable laws (1 Peter 2:13), to enforce these laws, to judge people in accordance with these laws (John 18:31), and to impose penalties on those who break these laws. To support these activities and other purposes, the government has the right to levy taxes (Matthew 22:17–21; Romans 13:7). The government has the right to wage war for the protection of its citizens.

Some churches teach that Christians should not be involved in politics or government. But not Lutherans! Our Confessions encourage us to be as involved as possible so that our Christian lives can witness to and shape society. The Lutheran Confessions hold that Christians who serve as government authorities may “impose just punishments . . . engage in just wars, [and] serve as soldiers” (AC XVI 2). Also, it is not sinful for Christians to take an oath when required to do so by the magistrates.

“Our churches teach that lawful civil regulations are good works of God. They teach that it is right for Christians to hold political office, to serve as judges, to judge matters by imperial laws and other existing laws, to impose just punishments, to engage in just wars, to serve as soldiers, to make legal contracts, to hold property, to take oaths when required by the magistrates, for a man to marry a wife, or a woman to be given in marriage.” (AC XVI 1–2)

The Basic Principle of Government

God appoints the governing authority, but this does not mean that the authority must govern according to the Scriptures or make the Bible the fundamental law book of the land. The Roman emperor Nero certainly did not rule according to the precepts of the Bible. However, the authority he represented was appointed by God. The Bible is the sole authority in the Church or the kingdom of grace. It is not the sole authority in those institutions that, like civil government, belong to the kingdom of power.

The basic principle in civil government is human reason, which turns natural knowledge of God into the organization and laws that promise and promote the achievement of the purpose of government. It is by the structures and laws that government rules, and government enforces these laws by the power of the sword.

photo credit:  Jack of Nothing on Flikr

“Singing the Faith

www.singingthefaith.org

Martin: ScotK, Honestly! Just when I think you and I are starting to see eye-to-eye on some things. Do you really think that only the Book of Concord (BoC) has the genuine faith of Scripture?!? I really find it hard to believe that you would make such an assertion. Please tell me I am misunderstanding you.

ScotK: Martin, the only place, no. Anytime the doctrine of Scripture is truly proclaimed I rejoice. …However, what I think will annoy you is that the Symbols and Confessions of the 1580 Book of Concord-in that they faithfully expound the Scriptures-are the benchmark by which I do theology. Yes, Martin, to be Lutheran is a confession. And that confession is, in sum, in the BoC.

Martin: It doesn’t annoy me that your benchmark for theology is the BoC in so far as it correctly expounds Scripture. In fact, I am happy because we agree on something there! The statement that makes me uncomfortable is ” to be a Lutheran is a confession.” I agree that a Lutheran, by definition has a confession. I am not sure that it is helpful to speak in terms of Lutheran, Anglican, Protestant. I is this type of language which I think leads us to practice in such a way as to give the impression that there are many Churches. I would prefer a statement like, “To be Christian is a confession, and I find wonderful expression of that confession in the BoC.” I think that if we begin to speak like this, we will find that artificial barriers may begin to come down, and we can then focus our energy on the real barriers that separate, that is articles of faith.

ScotK: In your most recent comment over at ______’s blog you may want to reexamine your statement on the BoC. I am not sure, but I don’t think you will sail through TI [the seminary's theological exit interview] with a quantenus subscription to the BoC, more importantly your ordination vow will ask you to make a quia subscription (Agenda LW:221 [LSB:166]).

Martin: “Do you believe that the Unaltered Augsburg Confession is a true exposition of the Word of God and a correct exhibition of the doctrine of the Evangelical Lutheran Church ….as these are contained in the Book of Concord are also in agreement with the one scriptural faith?” I do. I really do. If the definite article were in place of the indefinite (“a” replaced by “the”), I would not. I am concerned to limit ourselves to 16th century documents, thought they are in agreement (as far as I can tell) with Scripture. When engaged in dialog, especially at the synodical level, I think it is better to use Scripture than confessions of faith, though those confessions may be correct. It is a question of credibility with the other side. I would rather base our dialog on the right Scripture interpreted rightly (Bucher’s words) than the confessions because it makes us look like we really believe in Scripture. I know that we believe in Scripture, but whomever I am talking to may not think so if I say, “I believe in Scripture” but continue referencing confessional writings. Just some thoughts. Help my Latin: quia vs. quatenus?

ScotK: Martin, the question of quatenus or quia is the distinction that indicates that a person’s stance toward the confessional documents of the church. Does one subscribe to them quia (because) they agree with Scripture, or quatenus (in so far as) they agree with Scripture (probably covered in Confessions I). The latter is the stances common among the Reformed, who from time to time revise and update their statements of faith. The former is the stance of the Lutherans. This is borne out in the subscription to Scripture (norma normans) and the Confessions (norma normata) that are part of the ordination rite.

This is the subscription that each candidate for the Office of the Public Ministry is asked to make:

…In the presence of this congregation and before our Lord God to whom you must give an account now and at the Last Day, I now ask you: Do you acknowledge that the Lord has called you through His Church into the ministry of Word and Sacrament? I do.

Do you believe and confess the canonical books of the Old and New Testaments to be the inspired Word of God and the only infallible rule of faith and practice? Yes, I believe and confess the canonical Scriptures to be the inspired Word of God and the only infallible rule of faith and practice.

Do you believe and confess the three Ecumenical Creeds, namely the Apostles’, the Nicene, and the Athanasian Creeds, as faithful testimonies to the truth of the Holy Scriptures, and do you reject all the errors which they condemn? Yes, I believe and confess the three Ecumenical Creeds because they are in accord with the Word of God. I also reject all the errors they condemn.

Do you confess the Unaltered Augsburg Confession to be a true exposition of Holy Scripture and a correct exhibition of the doctrine of the Evangelical Lutheran Church? And do you confess that the Apology of the Augsburg Confession, the Small and Large Catechisms of Martin Luther, the Smalcald Articles, the Treatise on the Power and Primacy of the Pope, and the Formula of Concord-as these are contained in the Book of Concord-are also in agreement with this one scriptural faith? Yes, I make these Confessions my own because they are in accord with the Word of God.

Do you promise that you will perform the duties of your office in accordance with these Confessions, and that all your preaching and teaching and your administration of the Sacraments will be in conformity with Holy Scripture and with these Confessions? Yes, I promise, with the help of God.

Will you faithfully instruct both young and old in the chief articles of Christian doctrine, will you forgive the sins of those who repent, and will you promise never to divulge the sins confessed to you? Will you minister faithfully to the sick and dying, and will you demonstrate to the Church a constant and ready ministry centered in the Gospel? Will you admonish and encourage the people to a lively confidence in Christ and in holy living? Yes, I will, with the help of God.

Finally, will you honor and adorn the Office of the Holy Ministry with a holy life? Will you be diligent in the study of Holy Scripture and the Confessions? And will you be constant in prayer for those under your pastoral care? I will, the Lord helping me through the power and grace of His Holy Spirit.

The vow of a pastor is to preach and teach this doctrine and this one only, because it-quia not quatenus-agrees with God’s Word, and to prefer to resign one’s office if one can no longer do this. When one wants to keep one’s confessional vow but soften it in the Reformed direction they quite simply do not know or understand the kind of confessing which runs from Luther’s confession of 1528 in the Smallcald Articles right through the Formula of Concord, the confession made “before God and all Christendom, both those alive and those who will come after us” [FC SD XII 40] (Sasse).

By virtue of your future ordination vows you will subscribe to the Confessions in the quia sense. By this point of your seminary training I would expect it to simply be a public confession of what you already hold and practice to be true. That is why I am concerned when in your e-mail you reiterated: “I am concerned to limit ourselves to 16th century documents, thought they are in agreement (as far as I can tell) with Scripture. When engaged in dialog, especially at the synodical level, I think it is better to use Scripture than confessions of faith, though those confessions may be correct.”

If we do not know what we teach as a church and why we do so, if we leave the question open as to what or our doctrine is correct or perhaps false, then it is actually more correct to replace the pledge to Scripture and the Confessions [made in our ordination vows] with a pledge to teach the Holy Scriptures according to our best understanding and conscience. And this we must reject in the strongest way as Lutherans. I am only ordained on the basis of the Confessions because (quia), after the most serious study of the Scripture, I am convinced that the Confessions are the correct explication of the Gospel. You too will be called to make this same pledge.

For a fuller discussion of quatenus and quia I might suggest Volume 1 of Sasse’s “The Lonely Way”-essay 26. If you don’t have access to Sasse, maybe open the textbook you purchased, probably for Confessions I, Koehler’s Summary of Christian Doctrine,” page 247: “On examination we find the doctrines of the Lutheran Church, as they are laid down in the Book of Concord of the year 1580, agrees with the Word of God in every respect…”

So here again is the question that drives this blog entry: What is it that defines or demonstrates a Lutheran identity (vs. a Christian identity)? Is there a difference? And if there is, what does this mean for us as Lutherans?

POSTSCRIPT: Oh, and yes, the conversation continued. The vicar who hosted the blog, as well as “Martin” and I, came to realize that many looked at public blogging and comments as a information that could be used to assess a Sem student’s readiness to be considered for a call. This put the two vicars, myself and a Sem representative in “close conversation” for several days. “Martin” clarified his words to the point of everyone being able to put “fini” on the issue. Ultimately the two vicars closed their blogs. If they are blogging on the web today, I am not aware of it.

The Law differentiates. It distinguishes. It says that I have failed God and I have failed you, my brothers and sisters. You might have something against me, as well. The Law forces me to measure myself against the standard of the Ten Commandments. And the Law has the nasty ability of making me better or worse than you.

The Gospel makes us all the same. When I am serving my neighbor then I am different and unique. But when I am being served by the Gospel, then I am just like every other sinner. I am equally as sinful as you. And I am equally as forgiven as you. We are the same. We are identical. Of course my sins might be more profound, more heinous, and more creative than yours. But in Christ both you and I are declared righteous, clothed and covered in the righteousness of the heavenly Bridegroom and cleansed in the blood of the Lamb. Sin, which makes us different and which divides, is forgiven. Good works, which distinguish and divide us, are irrelevant when it comes to salvation. So we are the same. The Divine Service reflects this.

If we are all the same, the services we attend should be pretty much the same. And if all the Christians in the world are the same, if the church is really “catholic,” then the worship services throughout the world should be pretty close to the same. If the saints from age to age are the same, and they are, then the worship services from age to age reflect our oneness and sameness in Christ.

But, if worship is primarily me serving God, then my worship will be different than yours because we are different in our good works. Worship will then be far from uniform. If we get the direction of the communication right in worship then we will also understand that uniformity in worship is good.

Paul addressed the problem of divisions in the church in his letter to the Ephesians. The Christians of Jewish descent felt that they were closer to God than the Gentile Christians. They thought they were more advanced in the law and where therefore better Christians. What a divisive attitude. Christian people have always had the same temptations toward disunity. Today we hear the same. Some Christians are considered more advanced, more dynamic, more mature, more committed, more engaged, more vital, more something. How did God create unity according to the apostle Paul?

For He himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace, and in his body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. (Ephesians 2:14-18)

The Law makes us competitive and divisive. It makes us watch to see who is doing the best job. The Law is like a toy in the playroom full of little kids. They all want it and fight over it. They make each other frustrated and angry because each kid wants to monopolize the toy. The law also makes us angry and frustrated. What do parents do when kids fight over a certain toy? They take the toy away from all the kids. So, when groups of people were fighting over the law, God made peace by “abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations.”

The Divine Service is God’s Word of peace. The way to avoid disunity and to reflect our unity in the Gospel is for the whole church to be uniform in her liturgy.

Martin Luther

Luther is instructive, “As far as possible we should observe the same rites and ceremonies, just as all Christians have the same baptism and the same Sacrament and no one has received a special one of his own from God” (LW 53:21). The reformer understood that we are all the same when it comes to the forgiveness of sins. So we need to receive God’s gracious blessings through the same liturgy – the same service of God.

The Divine Service both reflects and promotes our oneness. When Luther published his “German Mass” in 1526 he was responding to a situation that had developed in the Lutheran churches. The old Roman order of service was an “abominable concoction drawn from everyone’s sewer and cesspool” because it contained the sacrifice of the mass, the eucharistic prayer, prayers to the saints and all sorts of other bad things. The Lutherans understood the need for a gospel-centered service. Furthermore there was no Divine Service in the language of the people since the Roman Church had insisted on doing the Liturgy in Latin. If the liturgy was to teach Germans it had to be in the German language. Many had tried their hand at writing new liturgies. Luther, in his preface to his Lutheran Order of Service acknowledged as much.

I would kindly and for God’s sake request all those who see this order of service or desire to follow it: Do not make it a rigid law to bind or entangle any one’s conscience. But use it in Christian liberty…For this is being published not as though we meant to lord it over anyone else or to legislate for them, but because of the widespread demand for German masses and service and the general dissatisfaction and offense that has caused by the variety of new masses. For everyone makes his own order of service. Some have the best intentions, but others have no more than an itch to produce something novel…Where the people are perplexed and offended by these differences in liturgical usage, however, we are certainly bound to forgo our freedom and seek, if possible, to improve rather than to offend them by what we do or leave undone.

Luther would have been alarmed at what we see in many of the churches today with each pastor doing his own thing and producing his own service. In fact, he was alarmed when he saw exactly that type of diversity in his own day. He knew that the minute you make a law out of the proper dispensing of Word and Sacrament then you have defeated the purpose of Christ. That is why elsewhere Luther asked for people voluntarily to “let each one surrender his own opinions and get together in a friendly way and come to a common decision about these external matters, so that there will be one uniform practice throughout your district instead of disorder – one thing being done here and another there” (LW 53:47)

I have heard many pastors say that they write different worship services because Luther did. “If Luther did it, then why can’t we?” Luther wrote his German Mass precisely because everyone else was doing it poorly. When he saw what others produced he complained because they “didn’t sound polished or well done.” The consistency between “text and notes, accent, melody, and manner of rendering” was lacking and “all of it becomes an imitation in the manner of the apes.”

Deutsche Messe

Luther hesitated in producing a Divine Service initially because he knew that to compose a decent Liturgy requires more than a couple of afternoons in front of the word-processor. When he finally did endeavor to write an order of service in the language of the people he did so as painstaking and deliberate reform of the historic liturgy of the church, not as something new and different. Even though he was an accomplished musician (he wrote the tunes to many of his own hymns including “A Mighty Fortress”), Luther used up a couple of political favors and procured the services of the two leading musicians of the region as consultants in his composing of the chants for the ancient texts of the service. Luther changed only those aspects of the service that were contrary to the Gospel. And he never intended a different liturgy to be used each Sunday. The result of his labors was a service so beautiful and lasting that it is sung to this very day. The immediate effect of his German Mass was that it provided a single order of service for the German people. In effect, the high quality of his revision of the historic liturgy called the German Mass pretty much ended the liturgical experimentation of his day.

Martin Luther knew and lived what seems often to be forgotten: practice teaches, the liturgy teaches. And what our liturgy teaches is the catholic faith. More often than not when the liturgy is forsaken, when someone sets out to change the liturgy it is for doctrinal reasons. The historic liturgy proclaims the Gospel and unites us. Those who would change the liturgy have created disention. And we must ask, “Why’?

What is worship?

I think Dr. Norman Nagel captured the essence of the Lutheran Gottesdienst (roughly translated as “worship”) best when he wrote in the Introduction to Lutheran Worship: “Our Lord speaks and we listen. His Word bestows what it says. Faith that is born from what is heard acknowledges the gifts received with eager thankfulness and praise.” “Saying back to him what he has said to us, we repeat what is most true and sure. Most true and sure is his name, which he put upon us with the water of our Baptism. We are his.” “The rhythm of our worship is from him to us, and then from us back to him. He gives his gifts, and together we receive and extol him. We build each other up as we speak to one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. Our Lord gives us his body to eat and his blood to drink. Finally his blessing moves us out into our calling, where his gifts have their fruition”

What is worship as defined by our Lutheran confessions?

St. John Lutheran Church, Jefferson WI

From the Book of Concord. Citations are given in the following form Symbol:Paragraph

Athanasian Creed:3, 28 –that our worship is catholic
And the Catholic faith is this, that we worship one God in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity.
For the right faith is, that we believe and confess that our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is God and Man.

Apology XXIV:27 -that we worship in spirit and in truth
Christ says, John 4, 23. 24: True worshipers shalt worship the Father in spirit and in truth; for the Father seeketh such to worship Him. God is a Spirit; and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth. This passage clearly condemns opinions concerning sacrifices which, they imagine, avail ex opere operato ["on account of the work having been performed"], and teaches that men ought to worship in spirit, i.e., with the dispositions of the heart and by faith.

Apology IV:49 -the Divine Service is objective and subjective
And the difference between this faith and the righteousness of the Law can be easily discerned. Faith is the Gottesdienst [divine service], which receives the benefits offered by God; the righteousness of the Law is the Gottesdienst [divine service] which offers to God our merits. By faith God wishes to be worshiped in this way, that we receive from Him those things which He promises and offers.

Apology IV:307-310 (186-189) -the Divine Service delivers to us God’s good gifts
But because the righteousness of Christ is given us by faith, faith is for this reason righteousness in us imputatively, i.e., it is that by which we are made acceptable to God on account of the imputation and ordinance of God, as Paul says, Rom. 4:3, 5: Faith is reckoned for righteousness. Although on account of certain captious persons we must say technically: Faith is truly righteousness, because it is obedience to the Gospel. For it is evident that obedience to the command of a superior is truly a species of distributive justice. And this obedience to the Gospel is reckoned for righteousness, so that, only on account of this, because by this we apprehend Christ as Propitiator, good works, or obedience to the Law, are pleasing. For we do not satisfy the Law, but for Christ’s sake this is forgiven us, as Paul says, Rom. 8:1: There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. This faith gives God the honor, gives God that which is His own, in this, that, by receiving the promises, it obeys Him. Just as Paul also says, Rom. 4:20: He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strong in faith, giving glory to God. Thus the worship and divine service of the Gospel is to receive from God gifts; on the contrary, the worship of the Law is to offer and present our gifts to God. We can, however, offer nothing to God unless we have first been reconciled and born again. This passage, too, brings the greatest consolation, as the chief worship of the Gospel is to wish to receive remission of sins, grace, and righteousness.

Apology IV:154-158 (33-37) -through the Divine Service we recieve remission of sins and reconciliation
The woman [Luke 7:36-50, a sinful woman forgiven] came with the opinion concerning Christ that with Him the remission of sins should be sought. This worship is the highest worship of Christ. Nothing greater could she ascribe to Christ. To seek from Him the remission of sins was truly to acknowledge the Messiah. Now, thus to think of Christ, thus to worship Him, thus to embrace Him, is truly to believe. Christ, moreover, employed the word “love” not towards the woman, but against the Pharisee, because He contrasted the entire worship of the Pharisee with the entire worship of the woman. He reproved the Pharisee because he did not acknowledge that He was the Messiah, although he rendered Him the outward offices due to a guest and a great and holy man. He points to the woman and praises her worship, ointment, tears, etc., all of which were signs of faith and a confession, namely, that with Christ she sought the remission of sins. It is indeed a great example, which, not without reason, moved Christ to reprove the Pharisee, who was a wise and honorable man, but not a believer. He charges him with impiety, and admonishes him by the example of the woman, showing thereby that it is disgraceful to him, that, while an unlearned woman believes God, he, a doctor of the Law, does not believe, does not acknowledge the Messiah, and does not seek from Him remission of sins and salvation. Thus, therefore, He praises the entire worship, as it often occurs in the Scriptures that by one word we embrace many things; as below we shall speak at greater length in regard to similar passages, such as Luke 11:41: Give alms of such things as ye have; and, behold, all things are clean unto you. He requires not only alms, but also the righteousness of faith. Thus He here says: Her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much, i.e., because she has truly worshiped Me with faith and the exercises and signs of faith. He comprehends the entire worship. Meanwhile He teaches this, that the remission of sins is properly received by faith, although love, confession, and other good fruits ought to follow. Wherefore He does not mean this, that these fruits are the price, or are the propitiation, because of which the remission of sins, which reconciles us to God, is given. We are disputing concerning a great subject, concerning the honor of Christ, and whence good minds may seek for sure and firm consolation, whether confidence is to be placed in Christ or in our works. Now, if it is to be placed in our works, the honor of Mediator and Propitiator will be withdrawn from Christ. And yet we shall find, in God’s judgment, that this confidence is vain, and that consciences rush thence into despair. But if the remission of sins and reconciliation do not occur freely for Christ’s sake, but for the sake of our love, no one will have remission of sins, unless when he has fulfilled the entire Law, because the Law does not justify as long as it can accuse us. Therefore it is manifest that, since justification is reconciliation for Christ’s sake, we are justified by faith, because it is very certain that by faith alone the remission of sins is received.

Apology XXIV:27
In short, the worship of the New Testament is spiritual, i.e., it is the righteousness of faith in the heart and the fruits of faith.

Apology VII, 35-36 -our works are not necessary for righteousness before God
Paul clearly teaches this to the Colossians, 2:16-17: Let no man, therefore, judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holy-day, or of the new moon, or of the Sabbath days, which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ. Likewise, 2:20–23 sqq.: If ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world, are ye subject to ordinances (touch not; taste not; handle not; which all are to perish with the using), after the commandments and doctrines of men? Which things have, indeed, a show of wisdom in will-worship (Geistlichkeit) and humility. For the meaning is: Since righteousness of the heart is a spiritual matter, quickening hearts, and it is evident that human traditions do not quicken hearts, and are not effects of the Holy Ghost, as are love to one’s neighbor, chastity, etc., and are not instruments through which God moves hearts to believe, as are the divinely given Word and Sacraments, but are usages with regard to matters that pertain in no respect to the heart, which perish with the using, we must not believe that they are necessary for righteousness before God. [They are nothing eternal; hence, they do not procure eternal life, but are an external bodily discipline, which does not change the heart.]

Summary of the citations:

· Rites and ceremonies are not used as works to satisfy the law of God. That is what God prohibits. On the contrary, the (Gottesdienst) is the righteousness God delivered to us.

· When humanly-invented customs like gathering on the Lord’s Day for divine service (to hear God’s Word, to receive the Lord’s Supper, to praise God and to pray) are useful innovations for assisting people toward faith and a life of service to God, they should be continued and be interpreted in a Gospel way.

· A service like the Service of Holy Communion does not confer God’s grace ex opere operato or merit remission of sins as some kind of sacrifice to God. It is rather a “liturgy,” that is, a public ministry offering the forgiveness of sins, won by Christ, which is conveyed through the means of grace and received by faith.

From the Confessions we learn:

The Lutheran Confessions address central questions about worship (Gottesdienst), teaching what worship is, what it is not and how human traditions can be used in the worship of God.

The Lutheran Confessions teach that worship is a spiritual act, not an outward act. This spiritual worship is a trusting in God and a desiring of the forgiveness, grace and righteousness of God. The righteousness of faith truly honors and obeys God for through the Gospel (Word and Sacrament) the Holy Spirit overcomes distrust and creates faith. The Spirit does not come directly (subjectively), through an inner experience or by one’s own efforts, but through this ministry of the Gospel in teaching the Word of God and rightly administering the sacraments (objectively). Reliance on one’s own works as a way of making peace with God has no place in this kind of faith; Christ has earned salvation for us and God freely and graciously gives it to us. Without faith there can be no worship nor can there be any fruits of faith.

Human traditions are no divine worship yet when they contribute to order and tranquility and are used in love, without offense or confusion, they may be profitably used. They are not necessary to salvation; they are not essential to the unity of the church. However, it may be that in times of persecution, for the sake of confessing Christ, it is necessary not to give them up. When used properly, rites and ceremonies contribute to the public ministry of conveying forgiveness of sins that is received by faith. This faith also bears fruit, thanking and serving God.

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… In Adam all Sin: An Introduction to
Dying to Live: The Power of Forgiveness
by The Rev. Dr. Harold L. Senkbeil

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” Genesis 1:1

“For if, when we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!

Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned— for before the law was given, sin was in the world. But sin is not taken into account when there is no law. Nevertheless, death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those who did not sin by breaking a command, as did Adam, who was a pattern of the one to come. But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God’s grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many!” (Romans 5:10-15) –From the book

I. YOU ARE DYING.

One day you will be dead. Hopefully not today, hopefully not even tomorrow, but with certainty I can say “you are dying and one day you will be dead.”

“The wages of sin is death.” Romans 6:23

“Sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned.” Romans 5:12

From the account of Adam’s sin in Genesis, to the teachings and writings of the Apostle Saint Paul years after the death of Jesus, all of salvation, surely all of history, is predicated on the fact that because of sin you and I will die. From the moment of our conception in our mother’s womb, you and I are walking the road to our grave.

Dying to Live, Russian edition

Yet we were not created to die. Man was created by God to live with him forever. This knowledge, this shadow of what was to be, causes us to revolt against the idea of our death. We make laws to, ultimately, protect and safeguard life and a way to live. We send our men and women to war, to die, that a country may continue to protect the lives of many more of its citizens. We go to doctors when we are sick, we pay for research to find wonderful new cures for illness; we transplant hearts and livers and we employ amazing drugs to lengthen the number of our days as long as possible

The fact of our death scares us, and we will do nearly anything to prevent it or put it off as long as humanly possible. We can create life in a test tube, we can recombine DNA to make a better human, we can make five sheep out of one through cloning, but we have not found a way to stop death. For all have sinned (Romans 3:22), and the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23).

In the United States we have an idiom “I would die for…” Since we fear death and would rather do just about anything but die, to say “I would die for” shows the terrific need or desire that one has for something. An alcoholic might say, “I would die for a shot of vodka.” “A smoker might be “dying for” his next cigarette. A young woman in love would just die, if only her true love would ask her to marry. Our desire is expressed as we offer to give up that which is most dear to us—our life.

Dr. Hal Senkbeil

The title of the book before us draws on the common use of the idiom, “I would die for…” And the author puts before us the depth of our need, our desire, and our hope of hopes, that we would have life. “We might be dying but we are dying to live.

Pastor Senkbeil writes:

Too often we look to the world around us as the source of our moral problem. If we could just stamp our pornography, we think, we could get rid of sexual abuse. If we could clean up the lyrics to rock music we could solve the drug problem. But these are really only the symptoms of a much more drastic predicament.

Of course these issues do deserve our attention; we need to clean up the cesspool. But remember, cesspools are not the source of sewage. Neither is the world the source of sin. The cause of moral pollution, Jesus said, is found much closer to home:

What goes into a man’s mouth does not make him ‘unclean,’ but what comes out of his mouth, that is what makes him ‘unclean.’” …“Don’t you see that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and then out of the body? But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these make a man ‘unclean.’ For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. Matthew 15:11; 17-19.

This is truly a mark that we are true children of our parents Adam and Eve. When confronted with their sin in the Garden of Paradise, Eve blames the serpent for her actions, and Adam looks to God and blames him for giving Eve to him: “Lord, it was the woman you gave me.” We look around ourselves and see moral decay and we want someone to blame. Who is to blame?

Who is to blame? Frankly, as offensive as it may sound to you, you and I are to blame for the problems we see around us. If live is a cesspool, you and I are the source of the stench. In our headlong rush away from death, we tend to look for life in all the wrong places. We pollute our lives and our world with things that do not extend our lives or the quality of our lives.

Some would say that the world is godless and this must be the source of our dilemma, the reason we cannot rise above the moral climate that in its search for life actually promotes death. So, we look to spiritual solutions for our problems. Like the people of Athens in St. Paul’s day, we too can look around at our cathedrals and churches, our spiritualists and TV preachers and say, “I see that in every way you are very religious” (Acts 17:22). But this spirituality is bankrupt and worthless. In fact, since this social and political spirituality does not have its source in the One True God, it diverts our attention away from the source of real life. And inasmuch as it separates us from God, the social religion, the social gospel can only be a message of death.

Who is to blame? Certainly the claim that our societies are godless is not true. Distracting—well that is true, but it is not the source of our problems. Many point to materialism as the source of our problems. In the United States there has been a bumper sticker seen on cars that reads: “he who dies with the most toys wins.” Yet life cannot be found in the things of this world. They have no happiness to give. Their lure is false hope at best. Let us take a look then at where we are directed to find life.

II. “THAT YOU MAY HAVE LIFE” – JOHN 1:1-10

The Good Shepherd says to you, in the 10th chapter of John: I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full (John 10:10).

Then we recall account of Stephan, a man filled with the Spirit and faith. Stephan, a man who trusted the Good Shepherd. Stephan who had life to the full. Stephan preached this Jesus who gave Him life to the full and He is stoned to death for his efforts.

If life to the full means a long life then Stephan and not a few others must be hypocrites, not Christians. If life to the full means a life free from suffering and pain then Stephan and not a few others failed to believe the Gospel. If the life the full means plenty of food and other consumer goods then many of the Christians in the world today do not have enough faith. Stephan and not a few others who have suffered pain, depravation and death for the sake of Christ surely were Christians.

So what does it mean to have life to the full as the Good Shepherd promises to His Lambs? It means a life lived in a relationship with the Good Shepherd. Such a life, whether short or long, free from or full of pain or free from or full of persecution is life to the full.

It is life to the full because it is life which never ends.

St. Luke writes in his account of Stephen, “Then [Stephan] fell on his knees and cried out, ‘Lord, do not hold this sin against them.’ When he had said this, he fell asleep” (Acts 7:60). It does not say that Stephan died, but that he fell asleep. And before he fell asleep, he saw heaven opened and Jesus standing at the right had of God.

Life to the full means that when the door of this life closes, the door of heaven opens. It means those who believe in the Good Shepherd will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

St. Stephan had life to the full. He had the forgiveness of sins and the Holy Spirit in this life and life without end in heaven with Christ. If Stephan could sing for us, I wonder if he might sing, one of my favorite Sunday School songs:

Who so happy as I am,
Even now the Shepherd’s lamb?
And when this short life is ended,
By His angel hosts attended,
He shall fold me to His breast,
There within His arms to rest.

He shall fold me to His breast. Jesus, the Good Shepherd does give life to the full to us His dear Lambs. But it does not mean an easy life here. It means life which never ends in heaven.

In this life we Christians should expect trouble. We should be shocked, but never surprised, by the evil we see at work all around us. Scripture says, the thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy” (John 10:10).

Christians understand what is behind wars, ethnic killings and children killing children, terrorists using planes full of people as missiles against civilians. Heaven help us if we ever cease to be shocked and simply shrug off the evil we see. But we are not surprised because we know that behind every murder is the evil one himself.

My dear friends in Christ, the devil are not a mythical creature with horns, tail and pitch fork. Scratch the surface of any act of violence whether it is abortion, spouse abuse, children killing children, racial hatred, or terrorism, and you will find the face of the devil, the thief who kills and brings death into the world.

Speaking about the devil, Jesus says, “He was a murderer from the beginning” (John 8:44). Jesus was referring to the very first murder, the murder of Cain by his brother Abel. In St. John’s epistle we read, “Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother (1 John 3:12).

Dying to Live, CPH edition

These words warn us to not go too far and transfer all blame to the devil. To be sure, he is the father of all murder but he has a partner called sin. The devil uses sin and sin moves leaders of countries and children to hate and hate leads to murder. Listen again to St. John, “Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life in him” (1 John 3:15)

Sin is in every single one of us and while most, if not all of us here, are not going to murder someone, hate is another story or so you think. You think you can get away with hating people not like you. You think you can get away with hating people who hurt you. Think again. “Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life in him.” Hate is murder and no murderer has eternal life. Hate starts with envy. Cain envied Abel. Cain nursed that envy. The envy turned to hate and hate turned to murder.

Envy, hate and murder shock us, yes but surprise us? No. We know there is an evil one who is a murderer and a thief. He comes to steal, to kill and to rob. We know sin dwelling in us and we know that if not for the almighty and all merciful intervention of God’s Holy Spirit in our life we could be dragged into envy, hate and even murder.

If you do not believe that, you do not yet understand the depth of your depravity.

I’m sure some of you are familiar with the Father Brown mystery books. Father Brown is a priest who solves murders. Once he was asked how he was able to solved murders which such deftness. He responded by saying, “I am the murderer”

“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full” (John 10:10). In spite of the depth of our depravity, we can have life to the full. We can have life to the full because of what we hear in the words recorded by St. Peter:

He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed. For you were like sheep going astray, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls. (1 Peter 2:20-25)

Jesus was a victim in the truest sense of the word. He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in His mouth. He was belittled, beaten, bruised but did not retaliate with hate. He could have sent a legion of angels to destroy all of Jerusalem, Israel, and even the entire earth but instead He suffered for you. He suffered great injustice. Someone must pay for this mess we are in and that someone was Jesus. He suffered unjustly but the result is that you are justified.

“All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way but the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.” All the envy, murder and hate were absorbed by the Lord Jesus who also absorbed the righteous wrath of God against sin.

You were like sheep going astray but the Good Shepherd sought you, found you and brought you back. You have been returned to the care of the Shepherd and overseer of your souls, the Lord Jesus. You have heard the voice of the Good Shepherd. His voice says, “I forgive you all your sins.” His voice says, “You are my sheep and I give to you eternal life and no one can take it from you.” His voice says, “I have come that you may have it to the full.”

III. AS PASTORS AND TEACHERS WE BRING THE MESSAGE OF LIFE TO A DYING WORLD.

Means of Grace

The greatest treasures of the Lutheran Church are God’s gifts: His Word and Sacraments. Sacred Scripture, Holy Baptism and the Lord’s Supper offer Christ crucified as the Savior for fallen humanity. Luther’s great Gospel themes: “by grace alone,” by faith alone,” for the sake of Christ alone” are precisely Scripture’s teaching.

The identity and health of the church flow from these Scriptural Foundations with Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone (Ephesians 2:20).

We live in a culture that increasingly lacks any satisfying account of life and its meaning. Our church is blessed to be able to speak the truthful, meaningful, wholesome, and life-giving story of Jesus. Human life cannot be reduced to a moment of purchase, a moment of pleasure, or a moment of raw power. In a period when the culture of death ends life in womb and seeks to eliminate the sickly elderly, there is an enormous opportunity for the church to support God’s gift of life.

The message of Jesus reveals the sanctity and significance of each and every person. Our wonderful calling is to form our life in Christ—to recall our baptism, to hear the Lord’s absolution, to speak His prayer, to reflect on His truthful Word, and to receive His very body and blood at His table.

Such a calling to life, by God’s grace, displays the abundant life that Christ gives (John 10:10b). The Christian man or woman who nurture and love their children, who care for their parents, and who remain faithful to each other are living witnesses to a richer, fuller and blessed life.

When one looks at unsettled periods in human history—the fall of Rome, the Reformation—they became an opportunity for Christ’s confession to shine with compelling brilliance. In our history – the tragedy of Littleton, Colorado or words unsure of meaning from Washington, D.C., our time is marked by a foundational loss of purpose and meaning.

What an opportunity for every lay person in the Lutheran Church to speak out, to confess the sanctity of the unborn and elderly, the blessedness of marriage, and the hallowedness of service to God and neighbor. All around us, people hunger for something good, beautiful, holy and eternal. Jesus is the Bread of Life.

The Holy Scriptures alone offer the good, the beautiful, the holy and the eternal. This Word is reflected in the Creeds and the Lutheran Confessions. They are a wonderful description of the living Triune God and His gifts. Every man, woman, and child in Christ’s church have an opportunity to bring the Gospel to empty souls. Small and large congregations; our grade schools high schools and universities, committees and conventions – all are called to speak the wholesome, truthful and life-giving Gospel of Jesus.

Under God’s grace, it is crucial that the church speak the Gospel message with great authenticity, integrity, clarity, and charity.

Authenticity. Proclaim the Gospel with authenticity. To combine it with other stories that seek to explain life’s meaning is to embrace a false and fatal word. Israel sought to combine its confession of the true God with Baal’s story. The end of such an effort was tragic: the people perished. The church is called to authenticity in its speaking. It is to speak the truth of Jesus (Mt. 28:19ff) and to confess the Scripture’s Gospel in. Other tales of “good news” cannot refresh and restore the soul. Instead, they lead to a fragmented life on earth and separation from God in eternity. The Holy Spirit’s power to revive and to renew resides only the prophetic and apostolic Scriptures.

Integrity. The church practices what she preaches with integrity. God calls us to reach to with evangelistic wholeness in confession and practice. Non-Christians will see our lives as they are upheld in the Gospel and ordered by God’s will. Our creeds and confessions will be seen as living expressions of our very lives rather than relics of Christian tradition.

Clarity. The Word is clear. The church is called to proclaim Christ with great clarity. She is not to repeat formulas in a meaningless wooden fashion. The people of God, in the pews and in the pulpit, are called to be faithful and fresh in their witness to Christ. The church uses her finest gifts to assess critically what is forming the assumptions of the people whom we meet each day. Individualism, consumerism, post-modernism and similar forces destroy the spirits and empty the souls of human beings. The capacity to reflect faithfully and critically is the first and fundamental task in sharing the Gospel.

Charity. These are all done in charity. Charity is our response to God’s gifts. Love is manifested by the humble pastor who serves God’s people; by the believers who supports and provides for their pastor; in the sanctity of family life where fidelity and love are practiced; the Christians who fulfill their calling or job in the marketplace with excellence; the compassion and care that marks the church’s evangelistic and mission efforts: These all provide a wonderful invitation to our fragmented society and fractured families. There IS a place where love is real and true. It is in Christ’s church. The pew and the font, the pulpit and the altar provide the means for such true and real love.

Authenticity. Integrity. Clarity. Charity. More than money, more than technique, more than public relations, more than organizational adjustment — these are the qualities that will carry the church into a bright future with the promise of God’s presence and blessing. Certainly, these are God’s gifts formed in us by His grace rather than by any good capacity within us.

God uses means. Word and Sacraments bestow authenticity, integrity, clarity and charity upon the church and each of its members. Our treasure is in God’s gifts. May we receive them and live in them as we tell the truthful, wholesome, and life-giving Gospel of Jesus to the entire world.

Dying to Live (English) is available from Concordia Publishing House.

Dying to Live (Russian) is available from Lutheran Heritage Foundation.

Here’s the story: “Vatican sometimes out of touch, Lutheran tells synod”