READINGS FROM HOLY SCRIPTURE:
Genesis 15:1-6
1 John 4:16-21
St. Luke 16:19-31
Dear Saints, Grace to you all and Peace from God our Father
and our Lord Jesus, the Christ.
Who speaks to you today, from His Gospel heard in His Church, saying:
As we commemorate the presentation of our Augsburg Confession to the Emperor today, in 1530, we remember the purpose is unity, not division. Let this phrase continuously roll around in your head: “Our Churches, with common consent, do teach” (AC I:1).
From there, in true godly fashion, Jesus scares the pants
off of us in threatening to deny us before the Father if we deny Him. And, in
true sinner fashion, we hear this condemnation only, taking this verse out of
context. The true context in St. Matthew chapter 10 is that this “threat” is
sandwiched between “you are of more value than many sparrows” and “whoever
loses his life for my sake will find it” (v. 31, 39).
Thus, the Gospel is to far outweigh the Law. Sin and evil
are real and have dire consequences. But, the Good News is that we have life
and salvation given to us, by God, in and through Jesus Christ and that
surpasses God’s denial of sinners, in eternal glory. Meaning, when we hear God
speak these hard sayings, we need to first remember our value in Christ and
then cling to the promises of God in trying to understand them.
This is part of the importance of our Lutheran
Confessions. That it is a help when we try to understand, for it
faithfully interprets God’s Word for us, Lutherans.
Speaking of, Denominationalism among Christians in America
is sickening in that it is so divisive and contrary to God’s Word and will of
unity for us. And when we think of that and the family and friends involved, we
get even more sick because now Jesus’s words of denial are real. Someone is
denying God. Who is it?
We can play that game all day, but remember the Gospel. Do
not seek out who is in and who is out. Be sure it is not you first, and that
you believe the Gospel and so have eternal life in Christ. Believe that your
value is more than sparrows and you find your life in Christ.
As Confessional Lutherans, that is those Lutherans who trust
the Confessions because they are a correct interpretation of God’s Word, we
view the Church more organically than others. We emphasize and acknowledge that
in different times and places, the Church has faithfully confessed the one,
biblical truth. Further, we seek to maintain that historic confession in our
belief and practice since it transcends time, culture, and language.
All that to say, without creeds or confessions, the Church
quickly loses its center and everyone does what is right in their own eyes,
which then gives us one denomination per person. This is what divides American
churches. Not Jesus, but the belief that each individual can decide for himself
what Scripture means, with no accountability, and the oversimplified
confession: the Bible is our only creed.
Repent. When you say “I only need Jesus” or “the Bible is my
only creed”, what you really mean is “Jesus and the Bible are whatever I make
of them”. They are mine and I don’t have to answer to anyone. God comes to me,
speaks to me. And this makes sense, because we are all different and we all
need different things. There cannot be a “one size fits all”, because, even
though we look alike, I am not like you.
And if you disagree, even if you have facts and a good
discussion ready, you are judging and disturbing the peace of the church. You
cannot have the truth. You can only have your truth. In this way, we shut down
debate, in our sin, favoring tolerance, whatever that means. We close our
minds, in favor of ignorance. We stop chasing after the truth, and settle for a
lie of our own making. The lie that “only I can understand what God wants for
my life”.
You might as well expect a tiger cub to remain a tiger cub
and not grow into a killer than to expect error to remain content with a
subservient position in the church and in your heart. So I will declare to you
right now, that we have a superior right for the truth. Bigotry, I know.
But we have to say that. Not only have we fought a losing
battle to discover the truth in our own lives, but we have struggled to make
that match up to what life is like outside of Sunday School. We have to say that,
if only because Jesus calls Himself the Truth and if we would be followers of
Jesus, then we must declare, and not deny, that we have the truth of the world
and all things.
Repent again, because you are not supposed to pursue the
Truth of Christ for your own personal gain, though you will gain by gaining the
Truth. You are to pursue it for the sake of your neighbor who needs the saving
grace of Christ and not the denial of Christ before the Father.
You see, Creation has persecuted its Creator and you can’t
get much lower than that! “You will be hated for my Name’s sake”, Jesus
said, not because everyone sees you as a meanie, but because Jesus was
persecuted first and you are united with Him in baptism.
What is revealed, as our Gospel said, is revealed in Christ
Crucified. That God, in the flesh, has come to reconcile with His enemies: us
sinners. What was hidden was God’s mighty work of salvation accomplished by the
suffering and death of Jesus. What was in the dark, was whether or not God
truly denied His creation and so was going to destroy it once again, like the
Flood.
Or was He going to have mercy?
When Jesus revealed that God was going to have mercy, sin
could not stand it. It lashed out and when it found purchase on this Man, claiming
to be God, it found purpose in killing Him and offering Him up to governors and
kings, on the cross. “We have no king but Caesar”, they said.
Now if God had made war with earth, that would have been
acceptable. Choosing sides, picking favorites, raising up campions and
warriors. Those are all things sinners understand and can get behind. Anyone
born after 2001 has not seen a day without the US at war.
Jesus acknowledges sin, death, and the devil on His cross.
He gives them their say. He allows error and denial to rule the day. And what
do they accomplish? Nothing. They cannot conquer the world, because everyone
disagrees on how to do it. They cannot conquer creation, God’s Word upholds it.
They cannot even create a different reality, they have no power.
They can’t even accomplish their name’s sake because Jesus
undoes them. Sin He forgives, death He forces to produce life, and the devil He
judges and condemns. They tried to charge Jesus with those crimes, but He
simply rose again from the dead, vindicated in His Truth. The Truth.
In the Truth, we are reconciled to God and given the words
to confess Christ properly. That is that we proclaim His mercy, not our party
lines. We acknowledge His work, not our purging of the rolls. We deny the works
and ways of our sin, death, and the devil and instead offer the good
confession.
This is where the Augsburg Confession steps in. It gives us
aid in that good confession. Those who say “the Bible only” are quick to turn
to their favorite teachers to define their denomination. Finding the good
confession is never for our own sake, though we benefit. The good confession is
all for the sake of proclaiming the pure Gospel to a world that no longer
shares basic Christian assumptions of the Bible, sin, and redemption.
Which includes our neighbor. He wants to know what you know.
He wants the forgiveness you have in Christ. He wants the devotion, the
Liturgy, and the Communion you have with God. He wants the truth and you have
Him. Or rather, He permits you to have Him in His Word and Sacrament.
Yes, Jesus bows low to the earth and submits to your senses
in the Divine Service in order to save you. He comes down to give free handouts
of forgiveness, faith and eternal life in Him. As The Servant God, He chooses
the lowly things to reveal His heavenly things. And since it is eternal life on
the line, we need to be sure we have it right, or at least as right as we can.
Jesus is our right, our righteousness. How that is and why
that is, is what our confessions and catechism and history teach us. Jesus leaves
behind His Word which is to be told publicly. Nothing is secret. Nothing is
private. Jesus saves everyone the same way and unites everyone to Him. One
Lord. One union. One faith. One baptism.
Are Lutherans going to be the only ones in heaven? Absolutely
not. Are we the ones taking this Salvation from God as serious as possible so
that we are sure that we don’t deny Christ, in the end? I think so.
Who speaks to you today, from His Gospel heard in His Church, saying:
“What I tell you
in the dark, say in the light, and what you hear whispered, proclaim on the
housetops”
As we commemorate the presentation of our Augsburg Confession to the Emperor today, in 1530, we remember the purpose is unity, not division. Let this phrase continuously roll around in your head: “Our Churches, with common consent, do teach” (AC I:1).
Or was He going to have mercy?
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