LCMS Convention Proceedings St. Louis, Missouri — 1998, Page 67

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CONVENTION SERMON
ness in Jesus Christ, in order that we might sort of put our
arms around ourselves and say, “Oh, Brother, doesn’t it feel
good to be forgiven?” He gave us this message as individuals, as congregations, as Districts, as a Synod to tell it to
others. To find ourselves as a church body and as individuals, looking to others: members of our family, people who
are outside the family, as it were, maybe neighbors, maybe
people with whom we work, but that we who have come to
see the joy of salvation that is ours in Jesus Christ, recognize the privilege that is now ours to tell others that Good
News.
As I talk with church leaders all across the nation, one
of the things that many church leaders and other people
tell me is that our Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod is
known as a church body that very much wants to retain the
truth of God’s almighty Word. Thank God that is the case.
God forbid it ever be otherwise. But having said that, also
God forbid—God forbid—if we who have the pure Gospel of
Jesus Christ find ourselves not sharing it with those who
are around us.
For God did not give us the Good News to sit on it. God
gave us that Good News to share with the world, to go to
men and women and young people and children like unto
ourselves and to tell them the Good News of Jesus.
You know, my brothers and sisters in Christ, and especially you delegates to this convention, if there is any one
challenge that I wish to place before this convention in
1998—if there is any one challenge that I hope to hold high
before the eyes of all, including our church—it is this. As
we move into the closing years of this century and the opening years of the next, we as a church body will be a church
body that will be known, not just for our concern in having
the truth, but as a church body that will also be known for
our commitment to sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ
“To the Ends of the Earth.”
When I was yet serving as a District President in Iowa
District East, I went out, as all District presidents do often
on Sunday, to preach at anniversaries and mission festivals. And on one of those Sunday mornings at a mission festival that I went to at one of our congregations, it was really
very, very neat. The service was nice. The choir sang beautifully. The children’s choir sang, and then we had what is
the fourth or fifth sacrament of the Lutheran church: a
potluck dinner. And after I had gotten my food, I went and
sat down at the table, and there was a lady who came and
sat down across from me. I could tell that she wanted to
talk with me, and she introduced herself. At first there was

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a little bit of small talk, and then she said, “I’m a new member here at this congregation.” I said, “Well, that’s tremendous,” and she said, “In fact, I need to tell you I am a new
believer in Jesus Christ.” And I said, “That is even greater
news.” Then she paused, and she looked at me, and she
said, “You know, I and my husband, George, my late husband George, have lived in this community our entire lives.
We had a member of this congregation that lived to the
right of our home, and another member of this congregation that was just across the alley and we talked about a
lot of things. We talked about the weather and our children.
We talked about politics. You name it, we talked about it.
But you know, never in that period of time, did they ever
talk with myself and George about Jesus Christ. It was not
until after George died that they talked with me about
Jesus Christ.” Then, leaning her face closer to mine, she
said, “Pastor Barry, tell me, why did they wait until after
George was dead to talk about Jesus Christ?” And I didn’t
answer her, and drawing her face still closer and raising
her voice she said, “Pastor Barry, tell me! Why did they
wait until George was dead to talk about Jesus Christ?”
And I said, “I don’t know. I don’t know.” Tell me, how do
you answer a question like that? What do you say to a tearful-eyed woman as she thinks of her late husband who
never heard of Jesus Christ, though we are witnesses to
His forgiveness?
Well, all around us in our communities are men and
women and children who do not know Jesus Christ as Savior. And the number-one challenge I want to place before
us at this convention, my brothers and sisters in Christ,
and of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, is this: now
is the time, as never before, for us to boldly witness to our
communities, to our acquaintances, to the ends of the earth
the Good News in Jesus Christ, and shout it with great
vigor.
May that be the number-one hallmark that you will
walk away from this convention remembering. Not this resolution, not this issue, not this problem, but that you and I
have been called to be bold witnesses for Jesus Christ. And
so as we begin this convention we say, “O Lord, put that
kind of zeal into our hearts, put that kind of zeal into our
convention, put that kind of zeal into our congregations, put
that kind of zeal into our congregations. Please God. Please
God. Please God!”
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy
Spirit, Amen.
A. L. Barry, President