LCMS Convention Proceedings St. Louis, Missouri — 1989, Page 74

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74 CONVENTION SERMON

even notice it in the convention, I dare say, for it’s all too
easy to forget that it’s not we but God who lives and moves
and works in us. Sometimes it sounds as though we in The
Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod are really telling ev-
erybody what we have done! We tell about those marvelous
colleges and seminaries and those strong congregations,
about the new congregations that have been planted and
started, about the work that we do together in some 35
countries of the world, and the story goes on and on and
on.

If you’re like me when I come walking back to my pew, °
I’m not thinking about what Ralph Bohlmann has done,’

not even those sinful things that Ralph Bohlmann has
done, because it’s what God has done for me that is the
song in my heart and upon my lips. So it was, too, with
those ancient Israelite audiences who sang Psalm 105
again and again and again. We'll say it to each other and
sing it to each other in this convention. There was no doubt
in their minds, as the 45 verses of this lengthy Psalm re-
late, that it was God’s praise and God’s acts and the judg-
ments and the words and the miracles of this good and
gracious God that were the content of their song and their
telling. He is the Lord our God, says the psalmist, His
judgments are in all the earth.

“He remembers His covenant forever!” People around
us may forget the contracts and the pledges and promises
that they have made with one another. But not our God!
Not Yahweh, the God of mercy and love, the God of the
covenant, the pledging God who has said, “I will be your
God, and you will be my people.” He remembers His cov-
enant forever! And the psalmist begins to recite those mar-
velous acts of God—the covenant with Abraham, then with
Isaac, then with Jacob, and especially the experience of
Israel as God led His people out of Egypt and how He

remembered His holy promise, the psalmist says, given to
His servant Abraham. He brought out His people with re-
joicing, His chosen ones with shouts of joy. Those words
become the background and the basis of the Christian tell-
ing everyone what He has done.

We Lutherans usually capture that in Trinitarian ways,
even as we did in that magnificent hymn a few moments
ago. In stanza 1 we sang about the Creator God, the God
who has given us our life and sustains it. And in stanza 2
we sang about this great Redeemer God, the God who sent
His Son Jesus Christ to take on our flesh and walk in our
feet upon this earth in this world of sin and sorrow and
shame and wickedness. He became us, He took our sin
upon Him, and He took it to the cross, buried it in the
grave, and rose with the power of God the Father to new-
ness of life. And now as we sang in stanza 3, that wonderful
doing, acting, giving, covenanting God has sent His Spirit
into our hearts, even yours and mine. He says to us again
and again and again, “You are forgiven. In Christ you have
newness of life and in His Spirit you have power to do all
that God has given you to do.” What a wonderful God this
is, this God we praise!

There is even a theological explanation for all of this.
In God’s way of doing things, He has chosen to use the
telling of people like us as the way He brings people to
faith. You can call it the efficacy of the Word, or you can
refer to it as the Lutheran doctrine of the means of grace.
When we tell in Word or in deed or in Sacrament about
the marvelous redemptive deeds of God, something hap-
pens—God’s Spirit unites Himself to those words and Sac-
raments. And the doing and faithful and acting God opens
hearts and gives life and power through our telling about
the Lord Jesus Christ.

Now admittedly, some people may not think that that’s
much of a divine program. It would be ever so grand if God
had had some more glorious scheme for dealing with the
problems of this world. But make no mistake about it, says
the psalmist, these are the words of the covenant God that
He has promised forever and ever. His power is in the
telling that you and I do in this world and beyond.

And do you notice something else about this telling mis-
sion that God has given His church? The very first words
of this psalm are, “Give thanks to the Lord, call on his
name, ... sing to him, sing praise to him; tell of all his
wonderful acts. ... He brought out his people with rejoic-
ing, his chosen ones with shouts of joy.” And we capture
that in our postcommunion song as well. “Thank the Lord
and sing His praise.” There’s a note of great celebration,
joy, and praise as we tell everyone what He has done.

So often we act like such a sad church, such a dour
church. We do our liturgy and worship without this sense
of praise and celebration. But when you were a member
of that ancient Israelite audience that sang this psalm,
and you remembered all that God had done, you could do
no less than to shout and praise and sing and celebrate.
Surely there is a message in that for us in The Lutheran
Church—Missouri Synod, and for this wonderful conven-
tion, too. We must confess particularly this evening, as He
touches our hearts and our lips again with His blessed
Sacrament, that we are really not very good at telling ev-
eryone what He has done. When I think about myself, I