# LCMS Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_2007_S182
# Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

182

LATE OVERTURES

Works of the Augsburg Confession. Therefore, everything
the church does either directs us to the forgiveness of sins
or flows out of it. Therefore, scripturally faithful worship is
concerned with giving out the faith-creating and faithstrengthening message of justification. The scriptural understanding of worship is one in which God serves us with
His Word and Sacraments (Rom. 10:17; 1 Cor. 4:1), and we
receive His gifts of forgiveness, life, and salvation with
thanksgiving and praise. AC, IV: “We receive forgiveness
of sin and become righteous before God by grace, for
Christ’s sake, through faith, 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.” AC, V: “To
obtain such faith God instituted the office of the ministry,
that is, provided the Gospel and the sacraments. Through
these, as through means, he gives the Holy Spirit, who
works faith, when and where he pleases, in those who hear
the Gospel. And the Gospel teaches that we have a gracious
God, not by our own merits but by the merit of Christ,
when we believe this.” AC, VI: “It is also taught among us
that such faith should produce good fruits and good works
and that we must do all such good works as God has commanded, but we should do them for God’s sake and not
place our trust in them as if thereby to merit favor before
God. 2 For we receive forgiveness of sin and righteousness
through faith in Christ, as (tr-47) Christ himself says, ‘So
you also, when you have done all that is commanded you,
say, “We are unworthy servants” ’ (Luke 17:10).” 1 Cor.
3:8–11: “Now he who plants and he who waters are one,
and each one will receive his own reward according to his
own labor. For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s
field, you are God’s building. According to the grace of God
which was given to me, as a wise master builder I have laid
the foundation, and another builds on it. But let each one
take heed how he builds on it. For no other foundation can
anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.”
Rom. 1:16–17: “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of
Christ, for it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.
For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to
faith; as it is written, ‘The just shall live by faith.’ ” 2 Thess.
2:13–15: “But we are bound to give thanks to God always
for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God from
the beginning chose you for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth, to which He called
you by our gospel, for the obtaining of the glory of our Lord
Jesus Christ. Therefore, brethren, stand fast and hold the
traditions which you were taught, whether by word or our
epistle.” AC, XIII: “It is taught among us that the sacraments were instituted not only to be signs by which people
might be identified outwardly as Christians, but that they
are signs and testimonies of God’s will toward us for the
purpose of awakening and strengthening our faith. For this
reason they require faith, and they are rightly used when
they are received in faith and for the purpose of strengthening faith.” Ap, IV, 49: “It is easy to determine the difference
between this faith and the righteousness of the law. Faith
is that worship which receives God’s offered blessing; the
righteousness of the law is that worship which offers God
our own merits. It is by faith that God wants to be wor2007 Convention Proceedings

shiped, namely, that we receive from him what he promises
and offers.” Col. 1:3–8: “We give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you, since
we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of your love for
all the saints; because of the hope which is laid up for you
in heaven, of which you heard before in the word of the
truth of the gospel, which has come to you, as it has also in
all the world, and is bringing forth fruit, as it is also among
you since the day you heard and knew the grace of God in
truth; as you also learned from Epaphras, our dear fellow
servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf,
who also declared to us your love in the Spirit.” 2 Peter
1:5–11: “But also for this very reason, giving all diligence,
add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge
self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance
godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly
kindness love. For if these things are yours and abound,
you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge
of our Lord Jesus Christ. For he who lacks these things is
shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he
was cleansed from his old sins. Therefore, brethren, be even
more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you
do these things you will never stumble; for so an entrance
will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting
kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” Also see
Rom. 10:14–18, 21; and
Practical Appeal to Results
WHEREAS, The Scriptures and the Confessions seek real
growth in faith and Christian knowledge: Ap, IV, 130: “Although it is somewhat possible to do civil works, that is, the
outward works of the law, without Christ and the Holy
Spirit, still the impulses of the heart toward God, belonging
to the essence of the divine law, are impossible without the
Holy Spirit; this is evident from what we have already said.
131 But our opponents are fine theologians! They look at
the second table and political works; about the first table
they care nothing, as though it were irrelevant, or at best
they require only outward acts of worship. They utterly
overlook that eternal law, far beyond the senses and understanding of all creatures: ‘You shall love the Lord your God
with all your heart’ (Deut. 6:5).” Ap, VII and VIII, 5: “The
church is not merely an association of outward ties and
rites like other civic governments, however, but it is mainly
an association of faith and of the Holy Spirit in men’s
hearts. To make it recognizable, this association has outward marks, the pure teaching of the Gospel and the administration of the sacraments in harmony with the Gospel
of Christ. This church alone is called the body of Christ,
which Christ renews, consecrates, and governs by his
Spirit, as Paul testifies when he says (Eph. 1:22, 23), ‘And
he has made him the head over all things for the church,
which is his body, the fullness,’ that is, the whole congregation ‘of him who fills all in all.’ Thus those in whom
Christ is not active are not members of Christ.” Ap, VII and
VIII, 12–15: “But when we come to define the church, we
must define that which is the living body of Christ and is
the church in fact as well as in name. We must understand
what it is that chiefly makes us members, and living members, of the church. If we were to define the church as only