# LCMS Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_1899_S38
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

38 Proceedings of the 24th General, or

...according to his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you." "Godliness
is profitable unto all things, having the promise of this life and of
that which is to come." Here one might object: with this way of
making God's Word count, is there not a loophole left, through which both
congregations and pastors, as well as individuals within the congregations,
can withdraw from the seriousness of God's Word under a great show [of
piety]? That is indeed possible. In the end, any divine truth can be
misused, and has in fact already been misused. Nevertheless it stands firm
that the manner just described — of making God's Word count against error
and sin in the Christian congregation — is the only correct one. St. Paul
writes: "Preach the word; be instant, in season, out of season; reprove,
rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine," 2 Tim. 4:2. Here it
might also be said: if the Word of God must always be kept in constant
public and private use in this way — for teaching, for reproof, for
correction, for training in righteousness, and for comfort — then the
preaching office is an exceedingly burdensome thing, and one is never done
with the congregation and never comes fully to rest. That is indeed so.
That makes the preaching office an exceedingly burdensome thing. But it is
also, for that very reason, a "wholesome thing," as Luther says. For that
is how God's Word is made to count. That is how the church stays with the
Word, and that is how, through the testimony of the Word, the church is
built and preserved. And that, after all, is surely what matters.

And one more reminder is in order: we must never teach a single piece
of the Christian life by itself. It is true that we must give special
emphasis and special attention to those pieces of the Christian life that at
a given time "suffer particular need," as Luther says. But never in
isolation, by themselves — always in connection with the chief articles of
Christian doctrine: faith and love. Faith and love must be, and remain, the
main theme of all preaching, in our time as well. These articles must be
continually urged and impressed upon every congregation, and it is on that
foundation that the individual errors and weaknesses of life are then to be
faithfully and conscientiously exposed, fought, and healed. That is to say,
to plant oneself fully and entirely on God's Word, as is the church's duty.

Yes, the Word will do it!

May God grant us courage always to plant ourselves, in doctrine and
practice, fully and entirely on his Word. Let others be strong by other
means; we, by God's grace, will be strong through God's Word. What was it
that made our fathers so strong and unconquerable, that they held the
field, although the world and a fainthearted, unionistically minded church
kept prophesying their imminent downfall? This was our fathers' strength:
that, refusing to make any compromises, they staked everything unreservedly
on God's...