LCMS Convention Proceedings St. Louis, Missouri — 2013, Page 84

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see that with our own eyes. We hear it with our ears. Of the saint?
Well, that’s another matter. We’ll have to take God at His Word
on that, which is precisely the point.
An oft-overlooked aspect of this business of being simul is that sinner
and saint are not side by side, or one becoming another, but one
hidden inside the other. As Luther put it, “Christians are divided
into two parts—an inner, which is faith, and an outer, which is the
flesh.” A new “inner man” hidden in, with, and under the old “outer
man.” You no longer live, but Christ lives in you. And the Christ
who lives in you is Christ wearing an Adam suit that doesn’t quite
fit and whose sinful reflexes aren’t up to the business of holiness.
Outwardly, we are wasting away, sinful, dying. Inwardly, we are
being renewed day by day. Inwardly, we have the mind, the will,
and the Spirit of Christ. God is actively at work in us both to will
and to do according to His good pleasure. But this new man in
Christ is buried in, with, and under an outwardly uncooperative
body of death. The Spirit of Christ is willing; the flesh of Adam is
weak. Dead even.
It’s holy software running on hopelessly obsolete, sin-corrupted
hardware.
Or as we used to say in the early days of the Macintosh: Most
Systems Crash, If Not, The Operating System Hangs.
“For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh.
For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to
carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not
want is what I keep on doing” (Rom. 7:18–19). What a mess! “Oh
wretched man that I am!” Priestly work of simul priests isn’t pretty
or glorious. Our simul sacrifices have good and evil inextricably
bound together. Our most compassionate works of mercy, our most
compelling words of witness, our most selfless acts of fellowship
are all hopelessly marred with the greasy fingerprints of old Adam.
We may hold none of these things before God. We may boast in
none of them. They cannot justify us. At the close of the day and at
the end of our days, we can only pray, “We are unworthy servants.
We have only done what was our duty. Lord, have mercy upon us.”
This is where the Law kicks in even for the baptized believer. The
outer man, the old Adam, must be curbed, mirrored and instructed
quite literally to his death. Though he was declared legally dead
in the baptismal moment, he isn’t actually dead yet. He may be
drowned in Baptism, but he’s a remarkably good swimmer who
must be drowned and die daily.
The sixth article of the Formula of Concord teaches: “For the old
Adam, like an unmanageable and recalcitrant ass, is still a part of
baptized believers and must be coerced into the obedience of Christ
not only with the instruction of the law, but frequently also with
the club of punishments and miseries, until the flesh of sin is put
off entirely and man is completely renewed in the resurrection”
(Solid Declaration VI 24). Notice that it says “in the resurrection”
and not one day sooner.

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2 0 1 3 C o n v e n t io n P r o c e e d i n g s

This is why we have a table of duties in the Catechism reminding
us of our vocational duties and responsibilities as Christians under
the Fourth Commandment. This is why we teach the Ten Commandments not only as mirror of sin and a curb for sinners but
also as rule and guide. This is why we have authority structures
and oversight in home and society and church. This is why we have
constitutions and bylaws and legislatures and judicial benches. This
is why a group of baptized believers has to have Robert’s Rules of
Order when they hold a meeting. The old recalcitrant ass needs to
be curbed, coerced, cajoled, and kicked to go along with the Christ
program. Were we nothing but saints in Christ, we wouldn’t need
Robert’s Rules of Order; we would always be in order. But then we
wouldn’t need to be sitting here, either. And nothing brings out the
old recalcitrant ass quite like a live microphone on a convention
floor. Trust me. I know. I’ve been there.

Baptized for This Moment
The baptismal moment embraces each and every moment of your
life, including yes, even this moment. You did not surrender your
priestly robes when you acquired your delegate credentials. As
difficult and even ironic as it may seem, you are baptized for this
moment too.
You have come here to debate and decide things that affect our life
together as congregations united around a common confession. You
are here to bear witness to the truth who is Jesus Christ, to speak
the truth in love to one another and to the world that watches and
listens. You are here to do the goodness and mercies of God for
those around you and whomever God places in your path. Your
simply being here is an act of mercy on behalf of those who don’t
have to be here. Your time, your energy, your attention in this
moment is your “living sacrifice,” which is holy and acceptable in
the one all-atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ.
It’s terribly easy to forget who you are in the heat of the moment,
when passions run strong and tempers flare and we unintentionally,
or at times intentionally, step on one another’s toes. The temptation
is to justify ourselves in our righteous indignation. That’s when
you need to stop and remind yourself of that baptismal moment
when God laid His claim on you in the water. That’s when you
need to trace the sign of the holy cross and say to yourself, “I am
baptized into Christ.”
We need to sing it too:
God’s own child, I gladly say it:
I am baptized into Christ!
He, because I could not pay it,
Gave my full redemption price.
Do I need earth’s treasures many?
I have one worth more than any
That brought me salvation free
Lasting to eternity!
(LSB 594:1)

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