LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 2016, Page 7

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OFFICER, BOARD, AND COMMISSION REPORTS
as the Son of God sent for the salvation of the world (John 3:16).
Jesus has compassion on the needy within and outside the community of faith (Mark 7:28). Jesus establishes a community of believers
who are “brothers and sisters” (Acts 2; Mark 3:31ff.), who are “not
to Lord it over each other” (Matt. 20:25) but to live together in forgiveness (Matthew 18), love (John 15), and mutual service (John
15:12; Mark 10:45; Philemon 2). “Oh, faith is a living, busy, active,
mighty thing, so that it is impossible for it not to be constantly doing
what is good” (FC SD V 10). While the Church’s work of extending of Christ’s Witness (martyria), Mercy (diakonia), Life Together
(koinonia) in community will always be but a weak reflection of His
own, where there is no Witness, Mercy, Life Together in forgiveness
and love, there is no Church, no faith in Christ. To paraphrase Luther,
Christ is both sacramentum and exemplum, both sacrament (gift) and
model for the Christian.
5. The saving Word of God. God’s means of bringing salvation
in Christ is the Word of God proclaimed: “The word is near you, in
your mouth and in your heart (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); because if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord
and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you
will be saved” (Rom. 10:8–9). “That we may obtain this faith,” our
confession says, “the ministry of teaching the gospel and administering the sacraments was instituted” (AC V).2 Thus the Church, the
assembly of all believers in Christ, is found where the Word of God
is found, where “the gospel is purely preached and the holy sacraments are administered according to the gospel” (AC VII).3 The Word
of God—read, spoken, proclaimed—will not return to God empty but
will accomplish His purpose (Is. 55:10–11) and will bring people to
faith in Christ “where and when it pleases God in those who hear the
gospel” (AC V).4 That is why the Church is not recognized by individual faith or works, which may be invented or contrived, but by these
external marks, “the pure teaching of the gospel and the administration of the sacraments in harmony with the gospel of Christ” (Ap VII
and VIII).5 Therefore, where the Word of God is found; where Holy
Absolution is proclaimed (the specific announcement of the forgiveness of sins for the sake of Christ); where Holy Baptism is done in
the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; where Christ’s true body
and blood are given by His Word of promise, there you will find the
Church, the assembly of believers in Christ, and there you will find
Christ Himself. Moreover, where Christ’s Church is located in the
Word and Sacraments, there you will find Witness (martyria), Mercy
(diakonia), Life Together (koinonia) (Gal. 2:8–9).
6. Witness is the sacred and fundamental task of the Church.
Bearing witness to the saving Good News of God for us in Jesus
is the fundamental task of the Church (Matt. 28:19). This leads to
the making of disciples. The apostolic witness is connected to the
death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The preaching of the Gospel
consistently proclaimed Jesus as the Messiah promised by the Old
Testament Scriptures, preached the damning Law in full force (“You
killed the author of life” [Acts 3:15]), and preached forgiveness
through repentance, faith, and Holy Baptism. This apostolic message is to predominate proclamation by called preachers within the
community of believers, the proclamation of evangelists to those outside the Church, and the witness of every Christian in the context
of his or her vocations in life. It is the sacred task of preachers to
know the Scriptures ever more profoundly and constantly to seek to
improve the craft of preaching that the Gospel may be preached in its
biblical fullness and with clarity to its hearers. It is the sacred task of
preachers to equip the saints to bear witness to Jesus to their friends,
family, and others who are placed before them in their daily vocations. The Word of God is equally effective for salvation, whether
proclaimed by Christ, the angels, called preachers, or shared by common Christians among one another or with those who do not yet

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know Christ’s forgiveness (Is. 55:11). In order to carry on Christ’s
witness into the world, the Church is entrusted with training, teaching, and making pastors through theological education. This witness
will accompany the Church’s corporate work of mercy (the mercy is
Christ’s) and will dominate the Church’s life together. “Where Christ
is not preached, there is no Holy Spirit who creates, calls, and gathers the Christian Church, without which no one comes to Christ the
Lord” (LC II 45).
Dr. C. F. W. Walther asked to whom the responsibility to preach
the Gospel among all people of the earth has been committed. He
answered:
Here we see that it is the people of the New Testament, or the Holy
Christian Church, that God has prepared or established, to show forth
His praise in all the world. That means that the church is to make known
the great works of God for the salvation of men, or that which is the
same thing, to preach the Gospel to every creature. Even Isaiah gives
this testimony, having been enlightened by the Holy Spirit: The true
mission society that has been instituted by God is nothing else than the
Christian church itself, that is the totality of all those who from the heart
believe in Jesus Christ.6

7. Witness and confession. Witness and confession are two inseparable aspects of the Church’s life in this world. Witness to Christ
is as simple as John 3:16 but as fulsome as the Gospel of the incarnation; humiliation and exultation of Christ; His Baptism and ours;
Absolution; the Holy Supper; the doctrines of grace, conversion, election, bound will, and more. The Gospel is, in fact, replete throughout
the Scriptures and to be applied pervasively and winsomely in manifold ways according to the need of the hearers. As confession, the
witness of the Gospel rejoices in standing for the creedal truth as it is
in Jesus. It is as simple as the earliest confessions of the faith (“Jesus
Christ is Lord,” Phil. 2:11; LC II 27) or the Small Catechism or as
replete as the Nicene Creed or the Formula of Concord. The Church’s
goal is always witness unto salvation in the simple message of salvation by the blood of Jesus and growth into the full confession of the
orthodox Lutheran faith. The Lutheran Church rejoices that salvation
is found wherever simple faith in Jesus and His merits is found, but it
always seeks a witness and confession consisting of the “whole counsel of God” (Acts 20:27). Lutheran mission is creedal and catholic.
8. Mercy as sacred vocation. The Church is Christ’s Body, and
as such, she continues His life of mercy as a witness to the love of
God for body and soul. The Church has a corporate life of mercy
toward those within the orthodox fellowship of believers, toward the
broader community of Christians, and to those outside the Church
(Gal. 6:10). The Church can no more ignore the physical needs of
people than Christ could have refused to perform healings or persons can be separated into body and soul in this life. Thus, the Early
Church heartily and vigorously continued Jesus’ ministry of healing and care for the needy (Acts 6; 2 Corinthians 8–9). This witness,
through mercy accompanying the Gospel, has been a missiological
force of the Church in its great periods of advancement, especially
in times of desperate need and persecution. The care for the widows
(Acts 6) and Paul’s collection for Jerusalem (2 Corinthians 8–9) are
the great prototypical models for mercy for the Church for all time.
We care for people in need, not with any ulterior motive, nor even in
order to proclaim the Gospel. We proclaim the Gospel and care for
the needy because that’s who Christ is, and that is who we are as the
Church in this world (John 14; Acts 4:12).
9. Life Together as bestowed and lived. Our Life Together in
Christ’s Church is not acquired by human decision or merit; it is a
gift. Just as one does not elect one’s own family, so we are brought
into Christ’s holy people by the action of the triune God. “God is
faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son,
Jesus Christ our Lord” (1 Cor. 1:9). The Lord has called, gathered,
enlightened, and sanctified us through the Gospel to live together as
2016 Convention Workbook