LCMS Convention Proceedings St. Louis, Missouri — 1986, Sheet 95

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ALIVE IN CHRIST—THE MINISTRY OF THE LAITY 93

5. Alive in Christ—the Ministry of the Laity

This is the theme that engages us as we address the
tasks of this day.

There is ample warrant on the basis of the writings of
C. F. W. Walther, father of the Synod, to support the pos-
ture that here is one who respected and affirmed the vo-
cation of the laity. He recognized them all, from the
youngest to the oldest, to be the people of God, objects of
the Father’s love.

Walther’s strong appreciation for the laity, and for their
place in the life of the church, led him to stand among
them as a shepherd. He fed them with the Word, fearlessly
proclaiming the Cross and the power of the resurrection
of our Lord Jesus Christ. He recognized in the laity the
energy, the potential, the strength of a Synod yet to be.

Today, this Synod that we love, in which we are nur-
tured by the power of the Word and the Holy Spirit, enjoys
the astonishing and awesome blessings of God. Who among
us could enumerate them all?

Not the least among these abundant blessings is a re-
markable caring, competent, gifted laity. To acknowledge
this fact is more than hype or a gratuitous slap on the
back—it is true!

It is true because God is at work among us, shaping,
molding, refining us in the furnace of a real world to be
His and to be for Him. No minor calling, no small order,
laymen and women, youth delegates, brothers, and sisters
in the faith. Let the Biblical texts of Deuteronomy 7:6-8,
Zechariah 4:6, and 1 Peter 2:4-8 inform your thinking and
insights.

Our Lutheran understanding of the vocation of the laity
begins at an important juncture. It does not center in the
theology of glory, which infects so much popular religion.
Rather, it is rooted in the fertile soil of the theology of the
cross. Our view is not fostered by arrogance, pride, the
rush for status, a preoccupation with power, or a mentality
of success.

The ministry of the laity has a different center: it is
born at the foot of the cross where we all hear the still,
but strong insistent voice of the Father that rises above
the din of our time. His voice invites us, calls us, and urges
us to repent and believe the Gospel.

Walther understood that well. In a sermon, based on
Psalm 119, preached at the opening of a synodical con-
vention he invited the laity, the teachers, his brothers in
the ministry, and anyone else who heard his voice to ex-
amine their hearts, to acknowledge their sin and offenses.
He and the laity were both under attack for their unwav-
ering adherence to the truth—fighting and wrangling were
no strangers among them.

Walther, recognizing the ever present danger of self-
examination, touched the sensitive nerves of the laity, as
well as others in the Synod when he said:

We know and confess openly before all the world that if
God wanted to enter into judgment with us, He would have to
reject us. It is not any kind of pretended greater worthiness,
holiness, and perfection which we ascribe to ourselves and
about which we boast and which comforts us over against the
reproaches of our enemies, but nothing except the Word in

which God the Holy Spirit announces, offers, gives, and be-

stows to all who repentantly acknowledge their sins the sat-

isfaction of the Son of God accomplished for the sins of all
sinners. As the princes speak against us, we say with David:

“My soul cleaves to the dust; revive me according to Thy Word!”

And we believe firmly that the answer which God gives to this

our prayer is the same assurance which Christ once gave His

disciples: “You are already made clean by the Word which I

have spoken to you.”

Here we have the point of beginning if God is to have
His way with us; if we are to be assisted by Him to un-
derstand and appreciate the place of the laity in this
church, we must acknowledge and recognize our frailty.

I. The Ministry of the Laity Rests
on a Point of Privilege

During the past days of this convention delegates have
addressed the chair with points of privilege. Whatever
their nature, points of privilege have precedence over the
issue being discussed on the floor.

Today we need a new grip on the affirmation that the
vocation of the laity and everything that they do in the life
of the church rests on a point of privilege; it is God’s point
and He gives the privilege. The language of Deuteronomy
7 is abundantly clear:

—The Lord your God has chosen you (6)

—The Lord set His love upon you and chose you (7)

—lIt is because the Lord loves you and is keeping the

oath which He swore to your fathers, that the Lord
has brought you out with a mighty hand, and re-
deemed you from the house of bondage (8)

It is a matter not of right but of privilege that you are
a layperson in the church of the Lord Jesus. Moses under-
stood well the covenantal relationship which existed be-
tween the Lord and Israel. The relationship came into
being because God, who is in His essence holy, set apart
in a class by Himself, confers holiness and sets apart a
people who are to be in a class by themselves, wholly for
His use. In this sense, Israel becomes a nation radically
different from all other peoples of the day. She is privileged
to be a special treasure and to be in ministry for Him.

What is it that commended them for this noble status,
this high calling? Scripture makes it plain: it is not because
Israel is great, but because God is. It is not because Israel
is faithful to the covenant, but because God is. It is not
because Israel loves with an unfailing love, but because
God does.

On the basis of this covenant promise, God charted His
people’s course through the events of history, liberating
them from the bondage of Egypt and bringing them to the
present moment on the plains of Moab, at the doorstep of
a land flowing with milk and honey.

Here you have it! We have moved far down the ways of
time and history, but the truth remains; the vocation of
the laity is still totally a matter of privilege.

The New Testament forcefully underscores the Old Tes-
tament theology. Listen to St. Paul writing to the people
at Corinth and saying, “God is faithful, by whom you were
called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord”