New Congregation: Third Sermon (16-May-2021)

This sermon was preached at St Peter's Evangelical-Lutheran Church, Public Schools Club, Adelaide, 9am.

Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ. 

Prayer: May the words of my mouth, and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.

 

Today, I’m giving the third sermon in a three-part series, as we gather here together to lay the foundations of a new Lutheran congregation. It’s been my intention to outline some principles, under three headings, thinking about the picture of building a house. First of all, we lay the foundation, we pour the concrete. Then, we build the frame, the skeleton of the house, which holds everything together. Then, we make the house itself. The first week, spoke about three foundations: the authority and inerrancy of Scripture, sin and the atonement. Last week, I preached about justification, the Lord’s Supper, and also the authority of Scripture alone in the church.

But this week, for our last of three sermons, I’m going to talk about the life of the church. And once again, like last week, I’m going to speak about three topics: the first, the church’s confession of faith; the second, the liturgy or the worship of the church; and third, the doctrine of church fellowship. Let’s pray to the Holy Spirit that he may strengthen me as I preach his Word, and to open our hearts and ears to receive it. Amen.

So, first, let’s talk about

I. The church’s confession of faith.

In Matthew 16, we read about a very special event in the life of Jesus, where he asks his disciples, Who do people say that the Son of Man is? We read: And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and other Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”

This is a very famous text, and at its heart, it shows to us what it means to be not just a church, but a confessional church. You see: Jesus asks the disciples, “Who do you say that I am?” Peter answers on their behalf, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” He makes a confession of faith. In the church, we listen to the words of our Good Shepherd, but he also puts a question to us: What do you think? What do you say? What is it that you believe?

Jesus asks to speak his words back to him, and confess the faith which he has taught us before each other, before the hosts of heaven, and before the world. Jesus says to Peter on this occasion, that this confession of faith did not come from him, or from any other human being. He says: Flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. So, when we make our confession of faith, we simply speak the words which God himself gave to us.

Throughout the church’s history, confessions of faith have arisen and come about at various stages. Actually, rarely did people ever make a confession of faith at a time when there were no problems. The confession came about to make it clear what Christians believe at a time when there were difficulties. For example, the first main confession that Christians were called upon to make was that there was one God. Jesus had sent his apostles and their followers out into every nation, and many of those nations worshipped multiple gods, like the Romans, the Greeks, the Egyptians, whoever. And many of the first Christian martyrs, those who died for the faith, were thrown the lions because they only believed in one God, not multiple gods.

Later, especially in the fourth century AD, there was a particular dispute about whether Jesus was truly God, or not. Was he equal to God, or less that God? The dispute brought about the clear confession of faith, that Jesus, as Thomas says a week after Easter, is: My Lord and my God.

In these early times, there was a great peak of confession, of confessing the Christian faith in the face of many enemies, and many adversaries, where Christians confessed that Jesus was God, and that the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are one God, the Holy Trinity, as we say. At the time of the Reformation, in the 1500s, there was also another great peak of confession, where Christians had to confess that salvation does not happen by our human works, but by God’s grace and is received by faith. Also, at this time, the Lutheran reformers confessed the truth of the Lord’s Supper, that it is Christ’s body and blood, in accordance with his words: This is my body. This is my blood. All this is at the heart of what it means to be a Christian, and also a Lutheran. We are placed on this earth, God has put us here, in order to confess the faith.

You can see, that first of all, Jesus asked the disciples: Who do people say that I am? And they said: Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets. You can see that people didn’t all agree. There was a dispute. There were all kinds of human answers. But there was only one answer that came from God, which Peter then spoke. The church does not give a multiplicity of options, and a variety of answers. The true church does not teach unity in diversity. No: The true church must speak the truth that is given to it from God, no matter what other people think.

Now, for us also, in our own times, we are also called to confess the faith, and we have many, many enemies to the Christian faith, both within the churches and outside of the churches. We cannot mellow the faith or soften it or water it down or weaken it, to make it more palatable or more accessible to those who don’t believe it. The faith doesn’t belong to us: Flesh and blood have not revealed to this us, but our Father in heaven, and it is upon this rock that Christ promises to build his church. So we must speak, because it is the Lord Jesus Christ himself who puts these words into our hands and holds them in our mouths. When Jesus sent out his disciples just before his Ascension—the event 40 days after Easter, which we are commemorating today—he said: Teach them everything I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always to the end of the age. What an encouragement, what a blessing this is! Jesus says: teach everything, not some, not part, but everything. And when we do this, Jesus promises to walk with, and be with, and bless his church, right in our midst.

It’s not easy to speak sometimes. Sometimes we have a difficult word to speak which the world, and sometimes the church, doesn’t want to hear. Jesus will help. He will not abandon his sheep. We pray, and commend our weakness to him, and ask him to strengthen us, and to open our lips that our mouth will declare his praise. Psalm 27 says: The LORD is my light, whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life. Of whom shall I be afraid? So be encouraged. This is the great task of church, her great privilege, her great honour, to listen to the words of Lord, and then to speak them ourselves, even if no one in the whole world wants to listen!

Let’s come to the second topic, and this is:

II. The liturgy, or, worship.

There is a word which we use in the church, which is the word “orthodox”. The word “orthodox” is often used to mean, “right believing”, or “right doctrine or teaching”. But literally, the word “orthodox” means “right praise”, or “right worship”, something like that.

I’d like to read some quotes from the Augsburg Confession, which is actually the Lutheran Church’s first and primary confession of faith, which was made before the Emperor Charles V in 1530. The Lutherans presented this confession before the Emperor of the Roman Empire, as a confession of faith to bring together and unite Christianity into one unified church. The Lutheran confessions of faith are all gathered together into one book, called, “The Book of Concord”. “Concord” means unity, harmony, coming together.

Anyway, let me read: Our churches are falsely accused of abolishing the Mass. The Mass is held among us and celebrated with the highest reverence. (AC XX 1). We also read: We do not abolish the Mass, but religiously keep and defend it… The usual public ceremonies are observed, the series of lessons, of prayers, vestments, and other such things. (Ap XXIV 1) We also read: In doctrine and ceremonies we have received nothing contrary to Scripture or the Church catholic. (AC Conc 5).

Now, what’s all this about? First of all, in the Roman Catholic Church, they believe that the Mass is a sacrifice, which is made for the sins of the living and the dead. When we say, “mass”, that’s not what it means. However, the church throughout the whole of its history has celebrated the Divine Service, or as it’s called here, the Mass.

The way we worship is not insignificant, it cannot be simply a side issue. Today, many Christians have quite informal get-togethers, where they read the bible and preach and sing. What is common today is a view of worship which assumes that Jesus Christ is not really here. When he ascended into heaven, it doesn’t mean that he is stuck up in the clouds. No: remember, he said: I am with you always. We read at the end of the Marks’ Gospel, that the Lord worked with them with accompanying signs. Jesus said: Where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there in the midst of them.

So when we read the bible, and preach, and pray, and when we receive the body and blood of Jesus Christ in the Supper, we are doing something with the Lord, in his presence, as he stands in our midst, as our Saviour, our judge, our Redeemer, our God, our Shepherd. And if we capture just a slither of what this means, it changes the way we see everything.

It’s common in many churches today throughout the world, to use singing as a means to work people up into an emotional connection with God. And music and singing is a wonderful gift of the church. However, we are not reaching up to God: he has already come to meet us here. He is the one who speaks his word, he is the one who places his own body and blood on the altar, and who feeds us with these holy and precious gifts.

Many Lutherans today are guilty of abolishing the old service, the Mass. We celebrate the Divine Service, the Liturgy, as we call it, of the Word and the Sacrament, not because there is any law about it, but out of the complete and total freedom of the Gospel, because it is our desire to worship in the way in which the church of all times and all places has done so. And this is not just the church of the New Testament, but this goes all the way back to the Old Testament, where God instituted the Divine Service for the Jewish people, with ceremonies, with music, with vestments and all kinds of things like this. All we need to do is look at the book of Exodus and see what pains God went to to make sure all these things were done in a certain way. Our service today comes from this time, it comes from the services too that were celebrated in the synagogue. We don’t have any animal sacrifices, or anything like that anymore. Christ’s death brought an end to all these things, and to the ceremonial aspects of the Jewish religion. But Christians in the early centuries recognised full well that just as God descended in a cloud upon the tabernacle in the time of Moses, and just as he came down upon the temple in the time of Solomon, so also in our time, God descends upon our worship in human flesh, in the risen and ascended body of his Son. As it says in the Gospel of John: The Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory of the only Son of the Father, full of grace and truth. The law came through Moses, grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. When we come together in worship, though our words, our actions, our gestures, our voices, we declare our great weakness, and God’s great glory.

There is so much more that could be said about worship, the liturgy, the divine service, the continuity in the church of its historic worship. But I’d like to move to our third topic, and this the teaching of

III. Church fellowship.

This is a big topic, and it’s not easy to explain, especially in a time today, when many Christians all over the place don’t seem to think about this matter at all. This is also a matter which separates what we’re doing here from the Lutheran Church of Australia. So, the foundation I’m seeking to lay here is a foundation that hasn’t been laid for years.

What we are talking about here, specifically, is that when we receive the Lord’s Supper together as Christians, there are two things that go on. One: We come to receive the gifts of the Lord, his body and blood given and shed for us for the forgiveness of sins. We make use of the Lord’s Supper to strengthen our faith, in the face of whatever we come across in our world and in our lives. However, there’s also a second thing that we do when we take the Lord’s Supper: we make a confession of faith, and we take our stand. Firstly, as recipients, when we come to the Lord’s Supper, we are saying that we take our stand at this altar, and we believe everything that this church teaches. Secondly, as pastors, when we give the Lord’s Supper to people, we are saying that we are united with this person in our confession of the faith.

Now, we all agree that there are many Christians all throughout the world, who are part of all kinds of churches, who are true Christians. The church in this sense, the identities of the true Christians, is hidden from our eyes, it’s not seen, we can’t find it, unless we meet individual Christians here and there. However, Christ did not institute his church in such a way that it should be invisible, but he gave to his church certain marks: The Gospel, the Word, Baptism, the forgiveness of sins, the Lord’s Supper, etc. And when we recognise these marks to be present in a particular church, then we should join it. If a church ends up in such a way that it hold truth and error to have equal standing and position, then it no longer presents these marks to the world with clarity and with truth. St Paul says: The church is a pillar and bulwark of the truth. Martin Luther, for example, when he separated from the Roman Catholic Church, did not desire to see a church where every opinion in permitted and where anything can be taught. Such a church would not be Christ’s, but the devil’s. And so, when we find ourselves to be part of a church which has fallen into a partial apostacy, we should remove ourselves from it, and stand up for the visible church, because we recognise in a particular place the marks of the true church. That is what the intention and desire of this congregation in this place is: to shine forth the marks of the church, so that people can recognise it, and gathered by the Holy Spirit around it.

St Paul writes: Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Let us therefore celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

Celebrating the Lord’s Supper together with sincerity and truth is what the early Christians sought to do. For us, it also means that when we come to the Lord’s Supper, we should first join this church, and join together in its confession of faith. This is the proper way, of eating the bread of sincerity and truth. Otherwise, we give a mixed confession of faith, and we will create resentments and problems with each other. This teaching and practice in the history of the church has been called, “Altar fellowship”, or “Communion fellowship”, or “Closed communion”. The term, “closed communion”, can be a little bit misleading, because it gives the impression that we’re wanting to exclude people, or even that we’re excommunicating everyone who is not part of our church. This isn’t true. We don’t want any spirit of judgmentalism or legalism or stinginess with the Lord’s Supper, as if we think we’re holier than the rest. Absolutely not.

What we want to build is a true Christian fellowship, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, which is united in truth, united in its confession of faith, and united in love. We’re not talking about a perfect church: the church has never been perfect. But we have a perfect Lord who speaks his perfect words. And he has given his church visible marks, so that we imperfect people, wandering sheep, throughout the world can gather under the Lord’s banner.  

In my lifetime, short that it is, I have seen an incredible amount of hatred come about. Hate is now trendy. Vilifying people, cancelling people, hating people is fashionable. People hardly know how to tolerate, to put up with people, let alone love them. Everyone in this world must be loved, even our enemies must be loved and prayed for. They must be loved, because Christ loved them all enough to die for them, even if they reject him.

Everywhere in the New Testament where there is a significant passage about love, there is a passage about truth. You know, when he instituted the Lord’s Supper, Jesus said to his disciples: By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. Love doesn’t come to life where there is a fundamental disunity in teaching and in faith. The truth must be fought for, it must be defended, it must be guarded. How could the apostles have love for each other, as Jesus says, if they would always be arguing about the truth? On the day of Pentecost, the new converts dedicated themselves to the apostles’ teaching, to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and the prayers. But when we are united in faith, true Christian love grows.

St Paul has a wonderful chapter in 1 Corinthians 13 about love. Love is patient and kind, love never ends, etc. But we read in the middle: Love does not rejoice over wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. St John has a wonderful chapter about love in his first letter, where he says: God is love. Perfect love casts out fear. But at the beginning of this chapter, he says: Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world… We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error.

So, when we talk about church fellowship, what we are talking about is that when we come together and receive the Lord’s Supper, we do so in unity, in peace, in integrity, with sincerity and truth. And then together, we receive this food, the body and blood of the Lord, for the forgiveness of our sins, for the strengthening of our body and soul, for our earthly and heavenly journey.

Let’s commend ourselves to Jesus Christ, our Good Shepherd, and ask him to bless our fellowship, our prayers, and strengthen us in our confession of faith, and in our worship in the living presence of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

 

And the peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds safe in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.