LCMS Convention Proceedings St. Louis, Missouri — 1986, Sheet 87

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ALIVE IN CHRIST—LAW AND GOSPEL 85

the raising up of man to life and ministry where man has failed

and totally collapsed (Is 6:6-8); training in righteousness—the

inspired Word takes man in hand, lays the gentle yoke of his

Savior God upon him, puts his reckless life in order, and makes

of him a man of God ... complete, equipped for every good

work.

St. Paul wrote: “If any man be in Christ, He is a new
creation—old things are passed away—behold all things
are become new.” That’s the power of the Word. It not only
takes people dead in trespasses and sins and makes them
Alive in Christ, and then “puts them on hold” for heaven.
It takes those people—you and me—and makes us a new
creation in the way we live and respondto the grace of God
and to the needs of our neighbor. It takes people who are
still so prone to live the old life, and says, “Let the old
Adam daily be drowned and die with all sins and evil lusts,
and let the new man daily arise to live before God in righ-
teousness and purity.” The power of the Word is to crucify
the old man. The old is passed away—the old way of self-
ishness—the old efforts to lift ourselves up by our own
bootstraps—the old way of wanting to be served rather
than to serve—the old mind which is so quick to criticize
and condemn and so slow to forgive, so reluctant to put
the best construction on everything, and to bear one an-
other’s burdens with gentleness and with the mind of
Christ. That’s the power of the Word. It is not just to make
us feel better emotionally, although it will certainly do
that.

It is to make us new men and women in Christ. It is to
reprove us, to humble us as we see our sinful lives against
the mirror of God’s holy law. It is to correct us—to set our
wandering feet on the paths of righteousness. It is to train
us in righteousness—gently but directly leading us in the
way of life that pleases God and serves our neighbor. And
it is to present us to God complete, equipped, motivated
and empowered for every good work. It is to make us a
people with new goals and new priorities: to love one an-
other as we have been loved, and to “lift high the cross—
the love of Christ proclaim, ’till all the world adore His
sacred name.”

Brothers and sisters, that is the power which is ours,
through the Word. It’s the power to produce miracle-work-
ing lives, and we should expect nothing less. Individually,
and as a church body, we dare not fall into the “Zachaeus
syndrome“. You remember Zachaeus, that small-statured
man who climbed the sycamore tree because he just
wanted to get a glimpse of Jesus walking by. His problem
was that he was expecting far too little. He was willing to
settle for a “glimpse from a distance“, while the Savior’s
intent was to break bread, to spend the day, and to bring

salvation to his house! Nothing less than that is the intent
and the promise of Jesus for us today. And it is all ours—
through the Word.

God’s call to His church of all times is to set its hopes
and its life on this sure foundation. Ifa church body places
its trust or sets its agenda according to any other foun-
dation—be that structure, human achievement, political
manuevering, or anything else—it will surely fail. Only
when we are built on the foundation of the apostles and
prophets, with Jesus Christ Himself as the chief corner-
stone, will we be more than conquerers. And only then can
we truly be Alive in Christ. For He is the Vine and we are
the branches. As we abide in Him through His Word and
He abides in us, we will bring forth much fruit which abides
unto eternal life. A living branch—a living church—will
bear much fruit. That’s the power of the Word. And for
that purpose God has made us Alive in Christ.

Concluding Thought

The church of today must follow the pattern of those
disciples on the hillside that day when Jesus was teaching
the multitudes. It had all the markings of a good Lutheran
gathering—the Lord said that they would have a pot-luck
dinner to feed the 5,000 men, plus women and children.
The only problem was that only one person brought some-
thing for the pot-luck—and that amounted to five pieces
of bread and two fish. Humanly speaking, it wasn’t nearly
enough. But when they took the piece of bread or fish that
the Lord placed in their hand, and in faith began to dis-
tribute it, it turned out to be more than enough, so much
more that it took 12 baskets to pick up the leftovers. So it
must be with the church today. The task the Lord has given
us is huge—hold fast to sound doctrine, live in love as
brothers and sisters in Christ, and make disciples of all
nations. But the power is simply in taking what God has
placed into our hands—that Word which makes us wise
unto salvation—that Word which binds us together in
Christian love—that Word which makes us fully equipped
for every good work—-and to receive it in our own hearts
and boldly share it with all people. And then watch the
miracles happen. God grant that they continue to happen
to us, and through us to many others.

Closing Prayer

O make thy Church, dear Savior, a lamp of burnished
gold. To bear before the nations The true light as of old.
O teach Thy wandering pilgrims by this their path to trace,
till, night and darkness ended, we see Thee face to face.

August T. Mennicke, D. D.

2. Alive in Christ—Law and Gospel

Life in Christ is a life in tension. As our Lord once hung
in tension between life and death, between heaven and
earth, between humiliation and glory, so His disciples live
out their lives in tension between sin and grace, guilt and
forgiveness, fear and assurance, flesh and spirit. This is
only another way of saying that we live in tension between

Law and Gospel—those two radically different messages
of God which, as Dr. Walther stressed comprise the content
of the entire Holy Scripture. Try as we might—and try we
do!—the contradiction between these two messages cannot
be negotiated out of existence. We must live with this ten-
sion in our own lives and in the lives of others.