LCMS Convention Proceedings St. Louis, Missouri — 2019, Page 107

Transcription machine transcription, uncorrected

⤓ Download .txt · copy text

Joy:fully Lutheran: Give Thanks in All Circumstances
1 THESSALONIANS 5:18

Rev. Dr. Gottfried Martens
Pastor, Trinity Lutheran Church, Berlin-Steiglitz, Germany (SELK)
67th Regular Convention of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod • July 24, 2019
Giving thanks to God can be a grave sin. That’s what
Jesus tells us in the parable of the Pharisee and the tax
collector. “God, I thank you that I am not like other
men” (Luke 18:11). That’s the prayer of thanksgiving
spoken by the Pharisee. Isn’t it always good to give
thanks to God, to praise Him with our prayers? No, it is
not. Giving thanks to God can be a grave sin.
The Pharisee in Jesus’ parable holds up a mirror to us,
as this kind of thanksgiving is a constant temptation for
the church and for those who bear responsibility in the
church. For we love this kind of thanksgiving no less
than the Pharisee in the parable.
The Pharisee seems to give thanks to God — but, in
reality, he uses God to praise himself in a pious way. If
you praise God, if you give thanks to Him, you seem to
be so humble, playing down your own merits in order
to exalt God’s wonderful work that He has done
through you. But, of course, you take care that others
will listen to your thanksgiving, that others will notice
what has happened in your parish, in your district, in
your church. God is used as a kind of projection screen
for the presentation of your own success — which is, of
course, not your success, I know. “We praise God from
whom all blessings flow that our congregation, that our
district has grown during this last year.” Hey guys, did
you listen? We have been really good — oh, no, of
course, God has been really good!

giving thanks for his statistical successes in Corinth.
Giving thanks to God can be a grave sin.
But what makes the Pharisee’s thanksgiving especially
disgusting in Jesus’ eyes is the fact that he combines his
thanksgiving with a comparison: “I thank you that I am
not like ….” Praising God and, at the same time, looking
at others, who are, by the grace of God, worse than us,
is not a thanksgiving that will find delight in God’s
eyes. “We praise God that our district has performed
better than many other districts, that our church could
report more new members in the last year than others.”
If you want to give thanks to God, you need not impress
Him or others by comparing yourself with others. Jesus
makes it clear at the end of the parable: If you combine
your thanksgiving with a comparison with others, you
have not understood what justification is all about.
That’s it.
Therefore, let’s not join the tax collector’s eucharist,
let’s not join his poisoned pious praise song! Giving
thanks in all circumstances means something different!

The Pharisee gives thanks to God — for figures that he
can present. That’s the second great temptation for the
church as well: Giving thanks for figures, for numbers:
“I fast twice a week; I give ten percent of all that I get.”
In the church, we like figures as well. And we like to give
thanks for them. “We praise God that our church
attendance has grown from 97 to 104.” “We praise God
that we have succeeded in establishing 20 new
congregations in our district.” Yes, we like numbers, we
like figures, and therefore we like to give thanks for
them to God — as if God were actually interested in
numbers and statistics! The Apostle Paul could not
even remember the number of persons that he had
baptized in Corinth, let alone that he thought about
Convention Essays

PROCEEDINGS OF THE 2019 (67TH) LCMS CONVENTION | 107