LCMS Convention Proceedings St. Louis, Missouri — 1965, Page 34

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B34 DOCTRINAL-DEVOTIONAL ESSAYS

it that is unparalleled in the history of the thought of
man. There is no book like it, for there was no revela-
tion like it. God communicated ideas. What do you
think Moses was? A research man, who put into a book
all the results of his painstaking, scholarly research
in ancient folklore? Or was he a prophet of God?

Yes, there are men who will say, “He didn’t write
the books ascribed to him.” Don’t think that that is
modern. There was a man by the name of Origen.
Do you know when he lived? He died around the year
255. He had to defend the Pentateuch against Celsus.
Seventeen hundred years ago the church had to face
the problem of the authorship of the Pentateuch. And
it's been going on for all these years, ever since the
days of Origen.

Sure, the theory that Moses did not write the Pen-
tateuch got a terrific boost from the philosopher Baruch
Spinoza (died 1677). And then, the theory was picked
up by a man whose name was Jean Astruc (died 1766).
He is called the father of the Documentary Hypothesis.
On the basis of his work the higher critics built them-
selves five tremendous pillars which were to support
the Documentary Hypothesis. According to this theory
the compiler, whoever he was, dipped into this source,
called J, dipped into another source E, dipped into that
source D, and dipped into another source P, and then
put it all together. This is supposed to be the origin of
the five books of Moses.

Along comes a man by the name Cassuto. Who’s
he? A great Biblical scholar at the Hebrew University
in the City of Jerusalem. He writes a monumental
work. What did he say? He said that he would with
painstaking scholarship investigate the five pillars on
which this Documentary Hypothesis is supposed to rest.
After this Hebrew scholar was finished with his work,
he drew certain conclusions. [Il paraphrase them.
I’ve looked at pillar number one, and it’s crumbling.
Ive looked at pillar number two, and it’s shat-
tered. I’ve looked at pillar number three, and it’s gone.
I’ve looked at pillar number four, and it isn’t there
anymore. I’ve looked at pillar number five, and the
roof fell in.” Who said this? Not a Missouri Synod
preacher. Not one who like myself is devoid of schol-
arship in depth. This comes from one who spent his
life trying to find the answer to the questions, What
do the words say? And who wrote those words?

Does God have a message for His world, or does
He not? Start with Moses, end with John, and if you
take away from me the conviction, “Thy Word is truth,”
you have destroyed me. Not just my profession as
a preacher. You’ve destroyed me inside — my faith, the
one thing that makes life worth living and death worth
dying. If this Word cannot be trusted, cannot be hugged
to my heart, I don’t want to live, for without this
tool in my hand I cannot be God’s servant.

The Servant

That is the purpose of His message — is it not? —to
take the sinner, show him the Savior, and thus by
conversion remake the sinner into a servant of God.

Woe unto us preachers if we say, “All I have to do is
preach Law and Gospel and I’m done”! St. Paul never
did it that way. He preached not only Law to show
man he is a sinner; he preached not only Christ Cru-
cified to show man he has a Savior; but he immediately
went on to the third step — to show the converted sin-
ner what he now is, what he has become by faith: the
servant of the living God. Paul would say to him: “You
are complete in Him who is the Head” (Col. 2:10). Paul
would add: “Your life is hid with Christ in God” (Col.
3:3). Paul would conclude: “I live, yet not I, but Christ
lives in me.” (Gal. 2:20)

We are what we are by grace. The message of God’s
grace, coming from God through the mouth of the mes-
senger into the hearts of the hearers, is ever to be a
reminder to the hearers of what they now are, the
servants of Christ. They are servants not only in pul-
pit and classroom but servants of God as they drive
their tractors on the farm, fly their planes in the skies,
pound their typewriters in their offices, prepare meals
in their kitchens, study their lessons at school, or spend
their days as invalids in home or hospital. Servants
of the Christ they are!

Why are we here at this convention? Is it not to
help one another become better servants? Is it not to
help one another go back into our congregations and
light a stick of dynamite under them, so that they stop
being (if they are such) churches that have a head but
have forgotten that they also have hands and feet. Our
religion is a religion of function. It works. If we are
living in the afterglow of Easter, then we have a mes-
sage from our living Lord. This message pays dividends.

O God, give us this kind of faith through Thy
message, a faith that is certain, positive, life-giving,
producing fruit, and ending in eternity in the glory at
Thy throne. Amen.

It
The Gracious Lord Gave the Church a Method

“Eyen so send I you.” These words place the
church for all its unborn tomorrows into the afterglow
of Easter. The word “afterglow” is explained by the
dictionary as “the pleasant feeling one has after an
enjoyable experience.” The resurrection of our Lord
has been the “enjoyable experience” of the Christian
church for 20 centuries. This afterglow, this pleasant
feeling, goes with us from day to day in our everyday
life. This afterglow, to know that our Lord is living,
dries our tears, comforts us in our heartaches, strength-
ens us in our weaknesses, quiets our conscience when
it smites us, and at the moment when we make ready
to enter the halls of eternity, the afterglow of Easter
is still with us, for we hear the echo of the voice of
the risen Christ: “Where I am, there shall also My ser-
vant be.”

But I am not yet there. I am still here in this vale
of tears. I still have work to do. What is my work,
and what is your work? The Lord did not only say:
“Go into all the world.” He also said, “Teach them to

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