LCMS Convention Proceedings St. Louis, Missouri — 1967, Page 39

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PRESIDENT’S ADDRESS

But after that the kindness and love of God our Savior
toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which
we have done but according to His mercy He saved us by
the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost,
which He shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ, our
Savior, that being justified by His grace, we should be made
heirs according to the hope of eternal life. This is a faithful
saying, and these things I will that thou affirm constantly,
that they which have believed in God might be careful to
maintain good works. These things are good and profitable
unto men. Titus 3:4-8
My FeLtLow REDEEMED, DELEGATES AND VISITORS AT THIS
47TH CONVENTION oF THE LUTHERAN CHURCH — MissourRI
SyYNop:

What is said in this address is directed not only to
the delegates and visitors here but also in reality to
the congregations represented here. Let us remember
that the working unit is not the convention but the
congregation and the people in it. This address and
all the actions of this convention are to be transmitted
to each member of The Lutheran Church — Missouri
Synod. To the degree that members do not hear of
each transaction here, to that degree we met in vain.

There is an interesting statement in the preamble to
the Constitution of The Lutheran Church — Missouri
Synod. It lists as the first of two reasons for forming
a synodical union the “example of the apostolic church”
recorded in Acts 15. The setting in which the early
Christian church held that first convention was radi-
cally different from the setting in which we opened our
47th convention in the Cathedral of St. John the Divine
last night. But our convention theme here in New York
City in the middle of the 20th century is the same theme
as that of the first convention in Jerusalem in the middle
of the first century, even as it was the theme of the
Lutheran Reformation in the 16th century.

What I have just said may arouse the uneasiness of
certain critics who are persuaded that the church is on
dead center somewhere in the distant past. It is good
for us to be reminded of our constant obligation to test
what we are doing and saying. In this convention we
must do more than pay homage to ancient traditions.
We have a higher duty than to keep alive certain slogans
from the past. I can think of no better way to begin this
convention than by assessing both our heritage from the
past and our responsibility to the present and the future.

Before we proceed from this place, we should give
answer to the question: Very precisely and most of all,
what does God want us to say and do as His church
in His world at this point in history?

This point in history is really not very different from
those points in history during the first or the 16th cen-
tury, when the affirmation “Justified by Grace” became
decisive. At Luther’s time, as in ours, the world was
in turmoil. There was then a social ferment similar to
our own, an upheaval created by developments in
commerce, urbanization, class struggle, and economics.
Primitive as it may have been, the scientific approach
then dared to ask questions and challenge established
concepts. New peoples and nations were rising to chal-

39

lenge the security of thrones and the balance of power
in world affairs. And the church was then in the center
of the storm as it is now. For all the right and all the
wrong reasons, the church was enmeshed in all that
was going on in the world about it. Beleaguered with
problems from without, the church was plagued by its
own grave difficulties from within.

Now listen to a few choice phrases from St. Paul.
They are taken from the verses prior to and following
the text I just read. They are the message to be con-
veyed by a young pastor to his young mission congre-
gations scattered about in a hostile, critical, and chang-
ing pagan world. St.Paul advises: “Put them in mind
to be subject to principalities and powers.” He says,
“Speak evil of no man,” do not be “brawlers.” He
counsels to “avoid foolish questions and genealogies and
contentions and striving about the Law.” He describes
men of that time as being “foolish, disobedient, deceived,
serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and
envy, hateful, and hating one another.” Either the
people of the first and 16th centuries were more modern
than we may have believed, or the difficulties that beset
humanity now are not altogether new or different.

Two conclusions are obvious. If justification by grace
was pertinent to the gravest issues of times past, then:
justification by grace ought to have significance for us
now. If justification by grace was the good word to
man in the past, then this must be God’s steadfast stance
toward men in all times and places. I have not come,
and you would not expect me to come, with a new
platform for The Lutheran Church — Missouri Synod.
We have come together to take our stand where God
takes His stand. We have come to set our course on
the way that God has charted for His church. God
gives us this position and this direction in the three
words:

Justified by Grace
I

The phrase “justified by grace” compels us to make
our beginning at God. There is no other proper place
to make a beginning, simply because we are creatures
and God is our Creator. It would be pure presumption
for us to begin with ourselves in order that we might
prescribe what kind of God we want for ourselves and
the world. With the plainest language at my command
I want to disassociate us from those who may talk and
act as if the vital concern in our time is for men to
express how they think about God and judge Him. The
only concern that really counts is God’s attitude and
judgment toward us. Our God is a great God. We do
not make Him over; we do not change His code of
morals; He neither slumbers nor sleeps; certainly He
isn’t dead; He knows His children in America, in Viet-
nam, the near East — everywhere.

Unless we make our beginning in honesty and deal
with facts as they are, we will inevitably end in self-
deception and utter disillusionment. Holy Scriptures