LCMS Convention Proceedings St. Louis, Missouri — 1983, Page 106

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men against women; he would pit the young against the
old and the old against the young. He, the father of lies,
ows the seeds of division and stirs up feelings of
uspicion and dislike toward others in the church who
ffer in some respect from ourselves. Accordingly he
would pit the intellectuals against those less formally
“educated, and he would pit the cautious and very
raditional among us against those who may be more
‘novative and open to changes in procedures and
thodology. And, of course, he would delight in pitting
é adults against the rising generation of youth in our
od, and vice versa.

Let this convention, therefore, serve as an oppor-
ity for all of us, men and women, black and white,
Sirban and rural, professional and factory worker, the
: traditional among us as well as the nontraditional, and
especially the young and the old, to boldly reaffirm
together our oneness in Jesus Christ as priests before
d. Let us be very conscious of the fact that our
ommon similarities far outweigh our few distinctive
ifferences. Let us remember and acknowledge publicly
‘that in one respect we are all absolutely and identically
“alike: all of us have sinned and come short of the glory of

Grace and peace from God our Father and our Lord
Jesus Christ.

. The Word of God on which we shall base our

editation this morning is found in three verses from

e fifth chapter of Paul’s Letter to the Galatians and

verse from Paul’s Letter to the Romans:

«.,. Gal. 5:1, Stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ has

,-made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of
bondage.

*\ - Gal. 5:13. Brethren, you have been called unto liberty,

“ only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love

», Serve one another.

;.. Gal. 5:25, If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the

Spirit.

: Rom. 6:18. Being then made free from sin, you became
3ithe servants of righteousness.

* * *

: Freedom!” The word has a grand sound! In every
e and every culture mankind has always sought to
ieve freedom. In our days we hear much about the
uggle for freedom in various lands around the globe,
and in our own nation we have just celebrated another
laniversary of the Declaration of our Independence. We
reasure our freedoms, especially the freedom of wor-
hip. It is one of the great blessings that we enjoy in
these United States.

seMartin Luther, whose 500th birthday we have been
Preparing to celebrate, was vitally interested in free-
om, especially freedom from the greatest slavery of all,
Meedom from the bondage of sin and eternal punish-
Ment. Early in his career Luther wrote a little essay

FREED TO SERVE 107

God. “All we like sheep have gone astray” (Is. 53:6). All
of us, therefore, stand daily in need of His divine
forgiveness and renewal; and all of us stand reconciled
before God through the perfect and complete atoning
work of our Lord Jesus Christ. For God the Father “has
laid on Him the iniquity of us all” (Is. 53:6). “There is
therefore now no condemnation for those who are in
Christ Jesus” (Rom. 8:1).

There is now so much more that unites us Spiritually
in the body of Christ than the few physical, social, or
ethnic differences which may serve to divide us. We are
all blood brothers by our baptism, rebirth, and adoption
into the family of God and by our sharing His true body
and blood in, with, and under the bread and wine in His
holy Sacrament. May we all learn to spend more time
and energy and money focusing on Jesus Christ rather
than focusing on ourselves. As priests before God, may
all of us, adults and youth alike, learn to point people to
Jesus Christ as did John the Baptizer and proclaim with
him, “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin
of the world,” and with St. Paul may we shout boldly to
the whole world, “Him we proclaim!” to the glory of God
the Father. Amen.

M. J. Stelmachowicz, Ph. D

Freed to Serve
(Thursday Morning Devotion)

about this basic human freedom that has become quite
famous. It bears the title The Freedom of a Christian.

In the summer of 1520, Pope Leo X had issued a papal
decree condemning Luther and his writings. However,
Luther had not been intimidated. Rather, with a cour-
age born out of faith he stood his ground and wrote a
strongly worded reply condemning the papal bull. Then
in the late fall of the same year he wrote a letter to the
pope and also an essay setting forth kindly, but firmly,
his position. That essay is called The Freedom of the
Christian. It is regarded as one of the greatest treatises
on Christian ethics ever written. The essay sets forth
clearly the twin truths that a believing Christian is free
from the curse of the Law through faith in Christ, yet he
is also bound by love to serve his neighbor.

With characteristic theological boldness, Luther sets
forth two seemingly contradictory propositions:

1. “A Christian is a perfectly free lord of all, subject

to none.”

2. “A Christian is a perfectly dutiful servant, subject

to all.”
Yes, a seeming paradox: a free man and yet a servant;
subject to no one, yet subject to all.

In his essay the great Reformer resolves the paradox.
He speaks, he says, of spirit and of body. First, there is
that glorious truth set forth by the apostle Paul in our
text that in Jesus Christ a believer is perfectly free. Paul
writes of “the liberty wherewith Christ has made you
free.” Because of our Savior’s redemptive work, we,
through faith, by grace, are perfectly justified. There-