LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 2016, Page 191

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IV. THEOLOGICAL DOCUMENTS­­—COMMISSION ON THEOLOGY AND CHURCH RELATIONS

against us are subject to the will of God. To ask that God’s will be done is to see His will as a fortress, a
wall, against which Satan, his evil angels, and his earthly forces “shall dash themselves to pieces.”23
We also pray on behalf of the persecuted Church, “Give us this day our daily bread” (Matt. 6:11).
Christians throughout the world, even if they do not lose their lives, may see their homes, businesses,
livelihoods, and reputations destroyed. We can support them, whenever possible, in their physical needs.
We pray that their families would be defended, that homes and work be protected or restored, and that
they with all the saints might continue to feed—in His holy Supper and by faith through the study of His
Word—on Jesus “the bread of life” (John 6:35).24
As prayers of the persecuted Church, the next two petitions may be linked. We ask our Father to “forgive
us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors” and then pray, “And lead us not into temptation”
(Matt. 6:12-13). In the same sermon in which he teaches us to pray, Jesus tells us to love our enemies and
pray for those who persecute us (Matt. 5:44). The temptation to hate or seek revenge against those who
hurt us may all too easily turn us away from the Word. In times of persecution, as at all times, we must
repent of our loveless thoughts, words, and actions. We must repent if we have sought out of pride to
construct a cross for ourselves or if we have earned the hostility of the world through behavior that does
not reflect the love of Jesus Christ, who forgave those who crucified Him.
Finally, we pray, “Deliver us from evil” (Matt. 6:13). Surely every saint enduring the hostility of Satan
and the world has uttered this petition. With the psalmist we cry out:
“In you, O LORD, do I take refuge; let me never be put to shame; in your righteousness deliver
me!” (Ps. 31:1) Jesus prayed in Gethsemane, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from
me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will” (Matt. 26:39). It was the Father’s will that the Son
should not be delivered but drink the cup of suffering. In His righteousness God has delivered
us—deliverance that took place by way of the cross. It may be that our deliverance, the
deliverance of the persecuted saints, may also take place through a cross. The Lord who taught us
to pray also taught us, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his
cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for
my sake will find it” (Matt. 16:24-25).
Which petition of the Lord’s Prayer most clearly describes for you a Christian response to hostility and
persecution? Read 1 Corinthians 12:12-13, 26-27 and Hebrews 13:3. Why is it important to recall that
our Lord teaches us to pray in plural—for us, for our needs, and not just for individual needs?
The apostles were arrested in Jerusalem because they had “greatly annoyed” the Jewish religious leaders
by proclaiming the death and resurrection of Jesus and healing a man in Jesus’ name. In this early
instance of persecution, the apostles were ordered not to speak of Jesus, further threatened, and released.
The apostles immediately gathered with the other believers for prayer. They hallowed God's name, calling
on the “Sovereign Lord,” the Creator. They acknowledged that His will had been done on earth when
Jesus' enemies—Herod, Pilate, the Gentiles, and the people of Israel—acted against Him, doing whatever
God's hand and plan “had predestined to take place.” Then, in the face of continuing threats from those
same enemies, the believers asked that they might speak His Word with boldness (Acts 4:23-31).
Responding to hostility they asked for courage to faithfully proclaim the Word of the Gospel, and that is
what they continued to do.

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God is glorified in the faithfulness of His saints, as Jesus glorified His Father by accomplishing all He
was sent to do. Jesus stood in the place of sinners and did what Adam and Eve failed to do, what we so
often fail to do. He remained faithful to the Word, obedient to His Father even to the point of death on a
cross (Phil. 2:8). Jesus, the faithful witness, stood before His persecutor Pontius Pilate and “made the
good confession.” In the same way, the young pastor Timothy would also confess his faith “in the
presence of many witnesses” (1 Tim. 6:12-16). Paul encouraged Timothy, reminding him not to be
ashamed but to “share in suffering for the Gospel” (2 Tim. 1:8). In the face of suffering, Timothy is to
“follow the pattern of sound words” that he learned from Paul and to “guard the good deposit” entrusted
to him (2 Tim. 1:13-14). Paul, himself suffering and bound in chains, endures everything in order that the
elect saints may be saved. He seriously warns Timothy, and us, to remain faithful to our faithful Lord: “If
we have died with him, we will also live with him; if we endure, we will also reign with him; if we deny
him, he also will deny us; if we are faithless, he remains faithful—for he cannot deny himself” (2 Tim.
2:11-13).
Persecution and hostility will come, and circumstances will grow worse in these last days. Paul warns that
“evil people and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.” In the face of
increasing evil, how do we respond? Paul gives Timothy the answer: “But as for you, continue in what
you have learned and have firmly believed . . . how from childhood you have been acquainted with the
sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus” (2 Tim.
3:13-15).
Read 2 Timothy 3:10-17. Persecutors often target the leadership of the Church. What is especially
damaging about such an attack? How, unknown to the persecutors, might such an attack strengthen the
Church? How will the study of the Word encourage us to be faithful and strengthen us in the face of
hostility?
Facing certain death, the Old Testament saints Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego testified to God's
power to save. Even if He should choose not to save them, they would remain faithful to Him. Joined in
the fiery furnace by one like “a son of the gods” and saved, the faithful witness of the three young men
bore fruit as the pagan king Nebuchadnezzar blessed the God of Israel (Dan. 3:8-30). We, too, must
continue in what we have learned and firmly believed, confident that the Son of God has delivered us by
His death and resurrection and that He stands with us as we endure the fires of hostility. At our Baptism,
Christ made us His own and Satan declared war against us, the beginning of a lifelong battle. In
Confirmation we acknowledge the gifts of God received in our Baptism, promising to “renounce the devil
and all his works and all his ways” and to remain steadfast in the confession of our Christian faith and in
the Church, willing “to suffer all, even death, rather than fall away from it.” No hostility or persecution,
not even death, can separate us from the love of Christ or from His promise: “Be faithful unto death, and I
will give you the crown of life” (Rev. 2:10).
Read together the following responses from the Confirmation service of the Lutheran Service Book.25
Confirmands promise to renounce the devil and his works and ways. They confess the Apostles’ Creed
and their belief that Scripture is the inspired Word of God, also affirming the truth and faithfulness of the
doctrine of the Lutheran Church. Those promises are followed by the three responses below. How are
these promises especially meaningful in the face of hostility and persecution?

23

Luther, Large Catechism, The Book of Concord, 449.69.
“So there is a twofold eating of Christ’s flesh. First, there is a spiritual kind of eating, which Christ treats above all
in John 6 [:35-58]. This occurs in no other way than with the Spirit and faith in the proclamation of and meditation
on the gospel, as well as in the Supper.” Formula of Concord, Solid Declaration, Article VII, The Book of Concord,
604:61.

24

25

Lutheran Service Book (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 2006), 272-273.

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P: Do you intend to hear the Word of God and receive the Lord’s Supper faithfully?
R: I do, by the grace of God.
P: Do you intend to live according to the Word of God, and in faith, word, and deed to remain
true to God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, even to death?
R: I do, by the grace of God.
P: Do you intend to continue steadfast in this confession and Church and to suffer all, even death,
rather than fall away from it?
R: I do, by the grace of God.
Responsive Reading . . . Psalm 2

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Session 4:
“To Speak Your Word with All Boldness” (Acts 4:29)
Responding with the Proclamation of the Word
Abdi Noor (not his real name), converted to Christianity from Islam. He heard the Gospel on a radio
program and later worked with Lutheran Hour Ministries in Nairobi. After Abdi was repeatedly attacked
and beaten because of his conversion, Christian friends suggested that he go into hiding. Abdi replied,
“Now that I know the truth . . . Now that I know how much God loves them . . . Now that I know what a
lie my people have believed . . . Now that I can see, I cannot keep quiet! . . . I will not miss an opportunity
to share the marvelous news that a person can have a relationship with God Himself through Christ.”26
After the disciples were arrested and released, they met with other believers to pray. They asked that the
Lord would “grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness” and prayed that the
Lord would confirm His Word with signs and wonders. Their prayer was heard, the place where they met
was shaken, and “they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with
boldness” (Acts 4:29-31). Persecution continued against the Church and the apostles were arrested again.
An angel released them and commanded them, “Go and stand in the temple and speak to the people all the
words of this Life” (Acts 5:20). They did so, and were arrested again, although the officers acted more
cautiously this time. The perplexed authorities were angry because the disciples were proclaiming the
death and resurrection of Jesus. Ordered again to stop preaching the good news, the disciples
responded: “We must obey God rather than men” (Acts 5:29). They must obey the Lord who, before His
ascension, had commissioned them: “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you,
and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth”
(Acts 1:8).
After Jesus’ ascension, the apostles chose a man to take Judas’ place. According to the job description,
the person had to be someone who accompanied the others during Jesus’ earthly ministry, from His
baptism to His ascension, because the new apostle would also be a witness to His resurrection (Acts 1:2126). The apostles were Jesus’ witnesses, His martyrs.27 It is what martyrs do, it is who they are. It is who
we are—witnesses. We have not yet physically seen the risen Lord, but we among those blessed people
“who have not seen and yet have believed” (John 20:29). We are witnesses who have seen the risen
Savior through the witness of the Word.
Read Matthew 28:16-20 and Luke 24:45-48. What is the content, the heart and center, of the
proclamation that must be continued, even in the face of hostility? What are the similarities and
differences between Jesus’ words in these passages from Matthew and Luke? As we remain faithful in our
proclamation, what particular aspects of these words might provoke hostility against the Word?
The roots of hostility against the Word stretch back to Eden, but of course the Word of the Gospel was
heard even then. Adam and Eve were assured that the offspring of the woman would bruise the head of
the hostile serpent (Gen. 3:15). When the time came for the promise to be fulfilled, “God sent forth his
Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law” (Gal. 4:4-5). The
woman’s offspring, the innocent Lamb of sacrifice, was “foreknown before the foundation of the world”
and was made known in these last times for our sake (1 Pet. 1:20). We, too, were chosen in Christ “before
the foundation of the world” (Eph. 1:4), chosen and made holy for a holy purpose.
Read 1 Peter 2:4-12. What is said in these verses about hostility toward the Word? What is said about the
plans and purposes of God? Who are we and what is our purpose? What kind of behavior supports our
witness?
26
27

15

John Maina, “Beaten for Jesus,” The Canadian Lutheran (September/October 2013), 7.
The English word martyr, as noted earlier, comes from the Greek word for witness.

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