LCMS Convention Proceedings St. Louis, Missouri — 1965, Page 29

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THE DOCTRINAL-DEVOTIONAL ESSAYS

The Church Ever Lives in the Afterglow of Easter
Dr. Paul W. Streufert, Rocky River, Ohio

I
The Risen Lord Gave the Church a Mandate

In the name of Him who sent us. Grace be with all
them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity.
Amen. Brothers of our Lord and members of God’s
holy family:

You, my brethren, will understand if I say that
I approach the task of this hour with fear and trem-
bling. To speak for God, who is capable? To address
myself to all of our many common needs, who is suf-
ficient for these things? At a moment like this the
words of the great apostle come to mind: “And I,
brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency
of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testi-
mony of God. For I determined not to know anything
among you save Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. And
I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much
trembling.” (1 Cor. 2:1-3)

Dr. Paul W. Streufert, convention essayist, opened six of the morning
sessions with a series of doctrinal-devotional essays.

The fear of which I speak is the fear that this con-
vention of the Missouri Synod can become either its
valedictory or its victory. It will become a victory if
we let God speak to us, if we devour His Word. But
it will be a valedictory if we devour one another. If
we let God speak to us and through us, if we let God

29

direct us and encourage us, the victory can still be
ours in these last days of the history of the world.

Therefore every delegate, every advisor, every ad-
ministrator, and every executive present here will have
to answer for himself the old Roman question: Dic,
cur hic? Tell me, why are you here? Are you here
to administer or to minister? Why are you here? What
tools did you bring with you? Don’t tell me you
brought the Convention Workbook. Look into your
tool kit again. Do you have there a sledgehammer and
a crowbar? Or have you come with a square and
a level, and maybe a plumb line, to keep things
straight? Did you bring with you the only tool that
we can use to build the body of Christ—the holy
Word? Why are you here? Have you come to see heads
roll, administrative heads, professorial heads, pastoral
heads? Or have you come to build the body of Christ?

Let it be said of all of us, we have come together,
first, to search the Word of God. Second, we have come
to pray for one another and with one another, so that,
as the Holy Spirit gives us insight and understanding,
we might with wisdom apply God’s Word, the balm of
Gilead, as an ointment to the wounds of the world and
to the wounds of the church.

To build the body of Christ, this is our only task.
This alone is the God-pleasing motivation for our pres-
ence here. This alone gives meaning to our 10 days of
convention activities. But this task will not be easy.

There are three obstructionists on the scene. Satan
loves to attend as an unregistered delegate at every
church convention. And the tragedy in the history of
the church has been that so often he has not been
recognized as he went walking and stalking among the
children of God. Furthermore, for 2,000 years the
church has had to face an unbelieving world which has
never hesitated to throw around the church a picket
line with its ungodly slogans. And the third obstruc-
tionist, who is he? I hesitate to mention him in this
august assembly. The third obstructionist is I with my
foolish heart, with my shortsighted vision, with my
delaying tactics in the kingdom of God. Yes, it is I with
my weak response to His appeal of love. God is in
a hurry. He wants to get at the world with His healing
power, and I block His pathway. My only prayer at
this moment of the convention is—and I hope every
delegate prays it with me: “Please, God, when You
want to get through, help me to get out of Your way!”

It would be well for every one of us at this conven-
tion to take that Workbook and write on the front
cover, underneath the globe, the words of our Lord
which He spoke to His disciples in His Sermon on the
Plain. You all know His Sermon on the Mount. Do
you remember His Sermon on the Plain? (Luke 6:17).
Write these words: “Woe unto you when all men shall
speak well of you!” (Luke 6:26). This is to be under-