LCMS Convention Proceedings St. Louis, Missouri — 2004, Page 96

Transcription machine transcription, uncorrected

⤓ Download .txt · copy text

96

CONVENTION BIBLE STUDIES

church building, but in an office building. They took place
not in a conversation with a pastor or a professional church
worker, but in a conversation with a “regular Christian” in
the context of his daily vocation. I thank God, as I know you
do, for the 8,000-plus pastors and the 10,000-plus teachers
and other professional church workers in the LCMS. They
are precious and necessary gifts of God to His church—as
Peter makes clear in chapter 5 of his letter. But they cannot
do the work of God’s mission alone—that isn’t God’s plan
for rescuing the lost sinners of this world. They are partners in God’s mission with the 2.6 million members of the
LCMS strategically placed by God in precious little paradises tucked away in every corner of our nation and world,
filled with lonely, proud, guilty, stubborn, self-righteous,
sinful, needy people who are just waiting, perhaps, for a
simple act of Christian kindness that will initiate, perhaps,
a simple conversation that will result, perhaps (by God’s
grace and the power of his Spirit), in yet another heavenly
celebration over that one sinner who repents and puts his
or her trust in Jesus Christ. And that brings us to the next
point, the connection between:

III. My Mission and Christian
Sanctification
As one who occupies the vocation of Christian husband,
one of my favorite parts of Peter’s first letter comes in chapter 3, where Peter speaks directly to Christian wives. (The
only reason I dare say that, of course, is because my wife
isn’t here to hear it!) The truth is, this section of Peter’s letter does contain a crucial mission insight: the need to adorn
and beautify our verbal witness with the visible and external witness of a holy life. (That’s what “sanctification”
means—the holy life that flows from true faith in Christ.)
Peter says that husbands who “do not believe the word may
be won over without words by the behavior of their wives,
when they see the purity and reverence of your lives”
(1 Peter 3:1–2). Now, we know that according to Romans 10,
faith comes from hearing God’s Word, not from observing
Christian behavior. But in this social and cultural context,
it’s not hard to understand why Peter would suggest that a
direct verbal “attack” by an “alien” Christian wife was probably not the wisest evangelistic strategy. So Peter advises
softening up the front by barraging non-believing husbands
with Christ-like kindness and gentleness and patience, until
the opportunity arises to storm the stronghold of Satan directly with the sword of the Spirit, the Word of God.
This counsel isn’t just reserved for Christian wives; it
runs like a refrain through the entire letter of 1 Peter. This
letter is often called “the epistle of hope”; it could just as
well be called the “epistle of holiness.” Now that you’ve
been declared holy through faith in the blood of Christ, says
Peter, live holy and blameless lives. Regardless of how you
are treated, he says, treat others with honor and reverence
and gentleness. Be good citizens: show respect for those in
authority. Be patient in suffering. Be honest. Work hard.
Guard your tongue, and watch your behavior—because the
world is constantly watching you. “Live such good lives
among the Gentiles,” says Peter, “that, though they accuse
you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of His visitation” (1 Peter 2:12).
2004 Convention Proceedings

In 1 Peter 3:8, the apostle gives special attention to the
virtues of Christian “sympathy” and “tender-heartedness.”
As I read Luther’s comments on this verse, I couldn’t help
but think once again of that California caller and her office
co-worker and how careful we need to be not to over-complicate or over-spiritualize this issue of God’s mission as it
relates to our daily lives and relationships. Luther says: “If
you want to be certain…that you are doing a precious and
God-pleasing work,” then do what God tells you to do in
1 Peter 3:8—namely, “have sympathy…be tender-hearted,
and be friendly.”13 I’ve got good news for you: you don’t have
to go to the seminary, learn Greek and Hebrew, or even go
through a ten-week evangelism program to “be friendly.”
And as simple or even “sappy” as this aspect of God’s mission strategy may sound, Luther insists that it is infinitely
more important than a hundred other things that we often
regard as crucial mission priorities and activities. Notice,
says Luther, that “the apostle does not say a word [here]
about the nonsense preached to us [today]. He does not say:
‘Build [ostentatious] churches, endow masses, become a
priest, vow celibacy, etc.’ No, he says: ‘Bear in mind that
you must be friendly.’ These are truly precious, golden
works, gems and pearls that please God.”14 Why? Not because these acts of friendliness earn God’s favor toward us
or anyone else, but because they just might open the door
for sharing the Good News about Jesus over a tuna fish
sandwich, which (in turn) may open the door to God’s everlasting kingdom. “The witness of Jesus, says Paul Althaus,
“went forth not only in words, but in the way He dealt with
people.” In the same way, he says, “the credibility of the
church when it preaches God’s love for the lost depends on
whether the church goes out to people in their lostness,
identifies with them, and in a priestly way makes their
predicament its own.”15 In a wonderful article on Christian
vocation Robert Kolb writes: “The Holy Spirit comes to the
church at something of a disadvantage, humanly speaking,
when compared to Jesus. For Jesus had His own human
tongue, His own human hands, His own human warmth
and feelings. The Holy Spirit has not become incarnate. He
has to borrow our tongue and hands and warmth and feeling to accomplish His purpose, to carry His love to others.”16

IV. A Final Word: My Mission and
Christian Suffering
Let me close with one final word. As Christians in America we are undoubtedly and understandably saddened by
the moral and spiritual confusion in our society and its increasing hostility toward biblical and confessional Christianity, especially when it wasn’t all too long ago when our
society seemed to be (in many ways) quite congenial to
Christian values and traditions and institutions. Some
thoughtful Christians, however, argue rather compellingly
that this development is not necessarily, or at least completely, a terrible thing for the church. 1 Peter 2:9 says that
God’s chosen people have been called “out of the darkness
into the light.” In the past, these Christians say, it was
sometimes hard to see that light clearly because you couldn’t always tell the difference between the church and the
world. As the darkness in the world increases, they argue,