LCMS Convention Proceedings St. Louis, Missouri — 1967, Page 51

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CONVENTION SERMON

Brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not
liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one
another. Galatians 5:13
REVEREND F'ATHERS, BELOVED BRETHREN, FELLOW
REDEEMED:

Several weeks ago the Secretary General of the
United Nations, U Thant, issued a most solemn warn-
ing. Speaking over a national television hookup, he
said that the events now taking place among the
nations are so much like those which preceded World
Wars I and II that in his judgment we are now defi-
nitely in the prolog of World War III. For him, World
War III is inevitable and even imminent. This ominous
warning, coupled with the hard fact that China now
has developed the hydrogen bomb, which according to
experts she will be able to deliver to Chicago and New
York in 1972 or even in 1970, is a frightening prospect.

Men and brethren, what shall we do? Write? Speak
up? Join peace moves? Pass antiwar resolutions? These
have all been tried and have failed. But there is one
thing we can do. We can turn to God. We can ask
Him to forgive us our sins; for if He was willing to
spare the ancient cities of Sodom and Gomorrah for
the sake of only 10 righteous, He will surely hear us
if we repent. If ever we needed repentance, that time
is now. Never has crime been more rampant and de-
fiance of law and of decency more flagrant. Did you
hear the June report of the FBI? Crime in America

Dr. Theodore F. Nickel

increased in the first 3 months of this year by 20 percent.
Did you read the report that a single printing establish-
ment of New York City in the month of January alone
sent out into our American homes five million pieces
of pornographic smut? Did you read the syndicated
column of Chicago’s Paul Malloy? He said it made him
sick when the National Broadcasting Company recently
permitted sex deviates of every description to discuss
openly their sex experiences over national television.
These are but symptoms of what is happening all
around us.

And what about our churches? Pastors, appointed
to preach the Gospel, arise to declare God dead and
the Gospel of Jesus Christ, so far as modern man is
concerned, irrelevant. Others boldly reject the bodily
resurrection of our Lord and attack the Holy Scriptures.

And what about our church? Are we not torn too?
Justly concerned people are expressing their fear for
our future. Everywhere periodicals, magazines, and
brochures of all sorts are springing up, each one seek-
ing to help. But many of them only aggravate matters
by premature judgments and by lashing out against the
very ones who are doing their dead-level best to solve
the situations that confront us. Commissioners ap-
pointed by the church to serve in this area find their
efforts rejected in some cases before they have been
read. Superficial judgments, quickly sent out, often
only muddy the waters and increase the problems. Our
church’s Ebenezer project, which was to serve as the
foundation for our greatest missionary venture of the
future, seems to be falling short of its goal. Only 20
percent of our people appear to be participating. Some
do not understand the program. Others just don’t care.
Still others simply want the project to fail. O people
of the living Lord, how can we ever permit this to
happen? How can we of America, who are but 6 percent
of the whole world’s population and have over 60 per-
cent of all its best and finest blessings, how can we dare
to let the God who gave them down? Would not the
Lord God be justified if He saw fit to unleash the hell
dogs of a hydrogen war upon us and so destroyed us?

Therefore, as we begin this 47th convention of our
church, let us first rend our hearts before God and call
upon Him to forgive us our sins; and then in order to
find God’s blessings for the future, let us turn to the
glorious liberty of the Gospel. That is where St. Paul
found hope 19 centuries ago. That is where Martin
Luther found strength 450 years. ago. And that is
where we must find hope and strength today.

Let us then, in this 450th-anniversary year of the
Reformation, look to the two letters of St. Paul, Romans
and Galatians, which played so great a role in the life
of Martin Luther and in the formation of the Lutheran
Confessions. Let us during the days of this convention
search them for instruction, inspiration, and encourage-
ment. Dr. Hoffmann, I understand, is going to base
his daily devotions on Romans. And I shall base this
sermon on Galatians, which Luther called his “dear