TITLE: “God’s Word and a True Confession of the Holy Faith”

 

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.  Amen.  Our text for the Presentation of the Augsburg Confession is from Isaiah 55, with focus on these words, As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields its seed for the sower and b read for the eater, so is my word that goes out of my mouth; It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.

For hundred and seventy years ago today a group of men gathered in a town in Germany called Augsburg.  This band of men was not made up of theologians or professors at high universities.  They were not the learned of the day.  Nor were they pastors or priests.  No, they were princes, magistrates and mayors of cities throughout Germany.  They came because of a promise from God Himself: My Word will not return to me void.  These laymen were called on to confess the faith in the God who saves.  In His great mercy, God gave these men years ago the opportunity to confess Jesus Christ and His love before the whole world.

And confess the faith they did.  They read a document, later called the Augsburg Confession.  It, too, was written by a layman named Philip Melanchthon.  Now to be sure, it had the creative genius of Martin Luther behind it, but Melanchthon was the author.  A man named Christian Beyer, the Chancellor of Germany, then read this document in German out loud.  He read it so distinctly and loudly that everyone in the room, and all the way down to the courtyard below could hear every word.  He read this document before Emperor Charles V of the Holy Roman Empire.  Charles V had the authority to probably have them all killed on the spot, but these men did not flinch, they did not throw away this precious gem of the Gospel.  As the Psalmist wrote, I will speak of your statues before kings, O Lord, and will not be put to shame (Ps. 119:46).

Now why the history lesson, why bother with some dusty old document written almost 500 years ago?  Well, in one sense you could say that the reading of that document was the birth of the Lutheran Church.  These electors and princes confessed that the faith preached to them by Luther and others was none other than the faith of the Holy Christian Church.  They were not making up new doctrine.  They were not trying to make a name for themselves or cause political dissension.  No, they had heard the sweet news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and they couldn’t keep it to themselves.  They were called upon to protect their preachers, and indeed to confess this faith before the world.

Our Old Testament lesson today points us to the way of faith.  The way of faith is in the ear and out the mouth.  Let me say that again.  The way of faith is in the ear and out the mouth.  Salvation comes only through Jesus Christ.  The only way that we can be saved from this body of death is by being immersed in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  And that great event that happened at your Baptism, that event changed you.  It made you who you are.  The faith that God gave in Holy Baptism is the same faith that you confess today.

You are not a reed blowing in the wind.  You are not like the world.  The world would have us believe that whatever you want to believe is ok.  In fact, the world and even other Christian churches would have us believe that as long as we agree to disagree, it’s ok.  Other Lutheran church bodies around the globe are minimizing the faith.  They are trying to say that we basically agree with all sorts of other church groups, both Christian and not so Christian.  Now don’t get me wrong.  I am not here today to rag on other churches, talk about how wrong they are and how right we are.  That would be hopelessly arrogant.  What I am here to speak to you today about is a great gift: the Gospel.  I am also here to talk about what that Great Gift has to do with you, and who you are as a Lutheran Christian living at the dawn of a new millennium.

When we talk about being Lutheran, what does it mean?  Lutheran can mean many things to different people.  To some, being Lutheran means being of German extraction, or Scandinavian.  I guess you could call this the Garrison Keilor approach to Lutheranism.  In this sort of Lutheranism it’s all boiled down to things like potato salad and kind of a stuffy conservatism that is old-fashioned but generally harmless.

For others, being Lutheran means being involved in lots of social agencies.  The heart of this kind of Lutheranism would be feeding the poor or, as St. Paul would put it, caring for the widows and orphans in our midst.  This sort of Lutheranism would say that the heart of the Gospel is “do unto others as you would have others do unto you.”  Now that may be true, but it’s not Gospel, it’s Law.

Still others would see Lutheranism as kind of the ultimate American religion.  It’s a European faith, but we let other people join our club.  It’s liturgical or even catholic, but sort of looks a bit like Methodism as well.  For these, Lutheranism is the great buffet of the American people.  You can be whatever you want and be Lutheran, because freedom from rules is what it’s all about.

Now I suppose there are good things in each of these approaches.  There are lots of Germans and Scandinavians that are Lutheran.  I’m one of them.  Lutherans are very involved in taking care of the world and its people, particularly in the fight to save the unborn and the helpless.  And you can find in our tradition elements of many different faiths.  Look in our hymnbook and you will find that less than 40% of our hymns are actually German in origin.  So there are elements in each of these that are true.  But none of them get at the core of who we are and what we believe as the Church of the Augsburg Confession.

Let me quote the central and most important article of the Augsburg Confession.  Article Four goes like this:

It is also taught among us that we cannot obtain forgiveness of sin and righteousness before God by our own merits, works, or satisfactions, but that we receive forgiveness of sin and become righteous before God by grace, for Christ's sake, through faith, 2 when we believe that Christ suffered for us and that for his sake our sin is forgiven and righteousness and eternal life are given to us. 3 For God will regard and reckon this faith as righteousness, as Paul says in Romans 3:21-26 and 4:5. (Tappert, 30-31)

In theological terms, we would sum that up as the doctrine of justification.  The heart and core of the Lutheran Church is Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection so that you may be reckoned as righteous before God.  It’s all about Jesus and what He has done for you.  That faith is what goes in your ear and out your mouth

Now that may seem obvious to you.  That may seem like no great revelation.  Well, my friends, there are countless thousands of Christians who are suffering and dying the world over to confess that faith to the world.  As St. Paul wrote, For I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God for salvation to all those who believe, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek (Romans 1:16).

Everything here at Messiah Lutheran Church is ordered so that your sins are forgiven.  There will be times when you won’t feel you need it.  There will be times when you feel as though you’re a pretty good person, and that you may even get bored with that message of Jesus Christ.  Isn’t there more to it?  My friends, the depth and richness of Jesus Christ and His love for you can never be plumbed.  You can never fully understand the richness of God’s love for you.  There may be times when you don’t want what God has to give you, but that is Satan working on you.  He will never abandon you.  He will hold you in the palm of His hand to all eternity.

That message of Jesus Christ and his love goes in your ear to create faith, and that same faith causes you to confess the truth of the Gospel.  As St. Paul said, I believed, therefore I have spoken.  The faith must be confessed.  It can’t remain hidden away in some recess of your heart.  The truth of Jesus Christ must be proclaimed to the world.  Sometimes, though, that confession of faith will be hard, because you may have to confess the truth and deny the error and Satan’s lies.  But have no fear.  The same God that gave the confessors at Augsburg faith to face the Emperor will give you the strength you need to make a good confession.

So what does it mean to be Lutheran?  It means to trust in Jesus Christ for your life and salvation, and to believe that Jesus Christ comes to you now, in this place, to give you the forgiveness of sins.  He comes in His body and blood not to simply remind you of some past event.  No, he comes to give you the fruits of all of His work on the cross.  That trust, that faith in Jesus, is the one thing needful on this earth.  Believe that message, and your faith cannot be shaken.  That faith goes in your ear and out your mouth.  In the name of the Father and of the † Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. 

The peace of God, which passes all human understanding, keep your hearts and minds in true faith, unto life everlasting.  Amen.

Todd A. Peperkorn, STM

Messiah Lutheran Church

Kenosha, Wisconsin

The Presentation of the Augsburg Confession

June 25, 2000

Isaiah 55: 6-11

 

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Last Revised: June 27, 2000