LCMS Convention Proceedings St. Louis, Missouri — 2004, Page 86

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86

CONVENTION SERMON

We recognize in our own lives that we are “the Gentiles”
to whom He was sent. We needed His light to shine into our
sin-darkened souls. We, too, were counted among those who
were lost. We, too, were in need of His righteousness and
salvation.
And we still need it! Our sin is ever before us. Without
His grace in our lives, we would be stripped of any hope and
we would be dumped in the trash bin of hell.
• But by His grace, we have received, and continue to receive, the forgiveness of sins through the means He has
appointed.
• By His grace, we are counted as His servants in the
church today.
• By His grace, His mission becomes our mission—to be a
“light for the Gentiles”—to take the message of His “salvation to the ends of the earth.”
Is there any doubt in anyone’s mind about the need for
doing so? You know the facts. Of the six billion people in
the world today, more than two of every three do not know
or believe in Christ as their Savior from sin. We believe,
teach, and confess that without saving faith in Christ in
their hearts, these people will not be saved eternally. Our
mission is to move this precious Gospel beyond ourselves
into the lives of these four billion people, beginning in the
cities, towns, and communities where we live.
That mission is not yet accomplished. There are many
who do not know or believe the basic biblical truths we
have received by God’s grace through faith.
• They do not know the only one true, Triune God—Father,
Son, and Holy Spirit.
• They do not know the basic sinful human condition
whereby we all stand condemned, except for God’s grace.
• They do not know the one and only Savior of the world,
our Lord, Jesus Christ.
• They do not know the forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation.
• They do not know the precious means of grace in Word
and Sacrament.
Each of us has a vital role in this mission endeavor. As
the Scriptures declare in 1 Peter 2:9: “You are a chosen people . . . to declare the praises of Him who has called you out
of darkness into His marvelous light.”
Dr. Walther, in speaking on this verse, said,
From this we can see that every believing Christian
should properly be a missionary, that is, every one of
them has the duty to do everything he can in his calling
and station to bring others, too, the precious gems of
the saving knowledge which he has already found.

Well, how are we doing in this regard? The numbers are
not encouraging. In the United States alone, the population
has increased by more than 80 million in the past 30 years.
Yet our own Synod has lost many more members than we
have gained during that same period. We are not alone.
Many church bodies are declining. The ones that are growing are the Mormons and the Muslims.
So, what is standing in the way of our accomplishing
this mission of our Lord to bring His salvation to the Gentiles, to the non-believers, to the ends of the earth?

2004 Convention Proceedings

• Could it be that we really don’t believe it is necessary for
people to believe in Jesus to get to heaven?
• Could it be that we have been influenced by a culture
that believes it really doesn’t matter what one believes?
• Could it be that we have become lazy and self-focused?
• Could it be that the devil, the world, and our own sinful
flesh have convinced us to care more for ourselves and
our own comforts than we care about the eternal destiny
of people we don’t even know?
For all these reasons and more, as I’ve thought and
prayed about Ablaze!, I have considered the possibility that,
from a purely human perspective, such an endeavor might
not succeed, especially if it depends solely upon people like
you and me.
At the same time, I am reminded of our Lord’s words to
His disciples when He told them how difficult it would be
for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven . . . it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle . . . Then
Jesus said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all
things are possible” (Matthew 19:26).
How could it be possible to reach 100 million people
around the world with the Gospel? Only by God’s presence,
God’s power, and God’s preparation! When we recognize the
enormity of the tasks that God has given us, we must also
recognize from the truth of God’s Word that He has been at
work preparing His people, including you and me, to accomplish that mission.
In Isaiah, the Servant acknowledged the source of such
strength, as He said, “The LORD . . . formed Me in the womb
to be His servant . . . I am honored in the eyes of the LORD
and My God has been My strength.”
Our preparation for accomplishing this Mission began
when God formed us to be His servants through the waters
of Holy Baptism. This is a wonderful gift of God, without
any merit or worthiness in you or in me, by which God calls
us His own and through which we, too, are “honored in the
eyes of the Lord.”
And God sustains our life and faith by giving us the very
Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, in, with, and
under the simple earthly elements of bread and wine.
Through these gifts we are assured of eternal life through
faith in Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. Having received
these gifts, we are freed and fortified for lives of witness,
worship, and service, including bringing the Gospel to the
ends of the earth.
Walther put it this way:
The Christian feels joy in the work of missions because he has experienced for himself the enlightening
and saving power of the Gospel, and thus cannot help
but carry it on to others, those of his own city and country and the whole world . . . The Christian Church is a
debtor to the whole world that is yet without Christ.

How can sometimes fickle, sometimes faithful human
beings like you and like me pay this debt? The truth is that,
without God’s grace and blessing, we cannot. This truth is
illustrated clearly in some of the words of Martin Luther’s
Sacristy Prayer. Although spoken by a pastor and teacher
in the church, Luther’s expressions are generally fitting for
all Christians in the course of living out their respective
calling and Christian vocation: