LCMS Convention Proceedings St. Louis, Missouri — 2004, Page 93

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2. Ablaze in One Mission—That Is My Mission
Introduction: God’s Mission—
Our Reason for Living
C. S. Lewis once wrote:
If you read history you will find that the Christians
who did the most for the present world were just those
who thought the most of the next. The Apostles themselves, who set on foot the conversion of the Roman Empire, the great men who built up the Middle Ages, the
English evangelicals who abolished the slave trade, all
left their mark on earth precisely because their minds
were occupied with heaven. It is since Christians have
largely ceased to think of the other world that they
have become so ineffective in this one. Aim at heaven
and you will get earth ‘thrown in.’ Aim at earth, and
you will get neither.1

I want to thank Dr. Gibbs (better known on the campus
of Concordia Seminary as “Captain Eschatology”) for getting us properly and powerfully aimed toward heaven yesterday as he spoke to us on the theme “Ablaze in One Mission with Hope-Filled Hearts” on the basis of 1 Peter 3:15.
The theme assigned for our Bible study this morning is
“Ablaze in One Mission That Is My Mission.” As we consider that theme, I’d like to focus on another verse from the
letter of 1 Peter, these familiar words from 1 Peter 2:9: “But
you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a
people for His own possession, that you may declare the excellencies of Him who called you out of darkness into His
marvelous light” (ESV).
At the beginning of his commentary on 1 Peter, Martin
Luther makes this rather stunning statement: “We live on
earth only so that we should be a help to other people. Otherwise, it would be best if God would strangle us and let us
die as soon as we were baptized and had begun to believe.
For this reason, however, he lets us live: that we may bring
other people to faith as he has done for us.”2 Obviously,
Luther is engaging in a bit of hyperbole here: I don’t think
he means for us to take literally this image of God “strangling” His newborn children. It’s also pretty obvious, however, that he wants us to take his point absolutely seriously. In fact, just to make sure we don’t miss it or dismiss
it, Luther actually expands on this point when he comes to
1 Peter 5, where Peter talks about the devil prowling
around like a roaring lion, seeking some lethargic Lutheran
to devour. Commenting on this verse, Luther suggests that
every right-thinking believer should get up in the morning,
look out the window at a world mesmerized by sin and tyrannized by Satan, and say to himself or herself, “Oh, how I
wish I were dead—how I wish I could depart this foreign
land, this barren wilderness, this vale of tears, and go home
to be with my Lord.”3
If we don’t feel that way at least occasionally, suggests
Luther, it may mean that we haven’t come to appreciate as
deeply as we should one of the basic realities of Christian
existence as set forth in the letters of St. Peter and as emphasized by Dr. Gibbs: namely, that as Christians we are
strangers and aliens in this world, pilgrims and travelers
just passing through, on our way to a better country—trying to bring as many people with us as we can. According to
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Peter, what gives ultimate significance to my mostly mundane existence on this planet is not my personal enjoyment
or employment or entertainment, but rather my personal
involvement in God’s mission: the awesome privilege and
responsibility that the God of the universe has entrusted to
me and to you to “show forth the excellencies of Him who
called us out of darkness into His marvelous light.” “For
this reason,” says Luther, God lets us live: that we may
bring other people to faith as He has done for us.”
No one knows better than Luther, of course, that we
can’t bring other people to faith by our own strength or skill
or striving or strategizing. That’s something only God can
do by the power of His Word and Spirit. But it’s clear from
1 Peter 3:15 and 1 Peter 2:9 and countless other passages
in Scripture that God wants to use each one of us to bring
His saving Word to others, and that He wants us to go
about that task with confidence and hope and enthusiasm
and optimism, based not on our own strength and ability
but on the awesome power of God revealed so clearly (and
yet so strangely) in the weakness of Christ’s cross.
Sometimes the task seems overwhelming when you
“look out the window” at a world like our world: a world of
cell phones and stem cells and same-sex civil unions; a
world of global terrorism and moral relativism and crass
materialism; a world of oppression and depression and almost unlimited expression, a world of massive religious
confusion—and yet, at the same time, an almost unparalleled fascination with God and all things spiritual. One way
of gauging our culture is by looking at the top-grossing
movies of the past few years: The Lord of the Rings saga,
The Matrix trilogy, and yes, The Passion of the Christ. As
different as they are, all three of these blockbuster movies
2004 Convention Proceedings