LCMS Convention Proceedings St. Louis, Missouri — 2016, Page 100

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baptized, and there were added that day about three
thousand souls” (Acts 2:36–41).
And we boldly confess with Simon Peter, in this convention, as confessional Lutherans, Jesus: “You are
the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matt. 16:16).
And upon this confession, Christ continues to build
His Church as we repent and confess our need for the
Christ, the Son of the living God, in our life, vocation,
church, and world.
Luther writes, “Repentance is begun when we acknowledge our sins and are sincerely sorry for them:
it is completed when trust in the mercy of God comes
to this sorrow and hearts are converted to God and
long for the forgiveness of sins.” 2
And King David in Psalm 51: “The sacrifices of God
are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O
God, you will not despise” (v. 17).
We arrive here at our 2016 convention of The Lutheran
Church—Missouri Synod with one subject dear to our
being, confessing in our liturgical life and worship
of our God: “Most merciful God, we confess that we
are by nature sinful, and unclean. We have sinned
against You in thought, word, and deed, by what we
have done and by what we have left undone. We have
not loved You with our whole heart; we have not
loved our neighbors as ourselves. We justly deserve
Your present and eternal punishment. For the sake of
Your Son, Jesus Christ, have mercy on us. Forgive us,
renew us, and lead us, so that we may delight in Your
will and walk in Your ways to the glory of Your holy
name. Amen!”3
And what a great opportunity we have as twenty-first-century Lutheran missionaries to proclaim
boldly among ourselves, our communities, and the
world this glorious message: “The time is fulfilled,
and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and
believe in the gospel” (Mark 1:15). We proclaim this
message of repentance to a church and to a world
who need to hear the stern and sweet voice of the
Good Shepherd: “For there is no distinction: for all
have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and
are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by
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U P O N T H I S R O C K • Essay

faith” (Rom. 3:22b–25). We need to hear a Shepherd’s
voice who calls humanity to repentance and a voice
who provides the sweet balm of forgiveness and faith,
because our God “desires all people to be saved and to
come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Tim. 2:4).
Brothers and sisters, this is why the church and world
need the message of repentance—because we are the
children of Adam, Eve, and Seth. We have borne a
world of sinners. Our parents, the iconic image in all
of God’s creation, did an infamous act in all of human
history when Adam and Eve, in disobedience and
unbelief, ate of the tree of knowledge of good and
evil (Genesis 3). The crown of God’s creation—the very
image of God’s holiness, righteousness, and knowledge
of God on earth—was deceived by the devil. “The devil
brought sin into the world by tempting Adam and Eve,
who of their own free will yielded to the temptation.”4
And what is sin? “Sin is every thought, desire, word,
and deed which is contrary to God’s Law.”5
We are sinners! We need a Savior!
It is easy for us to arrive in convention believing and
confessing that we are scriptural, confessional
Lutheran Christians, and yes we are. But it could be
just as easy to forget the very reason why this is so: that
it was in that great Reformation faith, where Luther
demanded that the church return and stand on Grace
Alone, Faith Alone, and Scripture Alone in Christ
Alone to the Glory of God Alone; that selfish manmade indulgences could not avert God’s punishment
for sins by purchasing our return to our creator God—
only God can return us to Himself, and our God sought
us, bought us, and brought us back to Him in His Son.
Repentance is recognizing the reality of our
sin and turning to God in faith for His mercy. God reveals our sin through His Law; He
forgives our sins and restores us to a right relationship with Himself through His Gospel.
While we affirm there is fruit of repentance,
the focus of the Gospel must be clear: our sins
are forgiven only because of Christ. Our lives
in Christ are lives of repentance, returning
again and again to the fount and source of all
mercy, our Savior. Notice that this article
rejects any teaching that implies our works of
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Luther’s Small Catechism with Explanation, Question 79
Luther’s Small Catechism with Explanation, Question 78

“Upon This Rock: Repent”