LCMS Convention Proceedings St. Louis, Missouri — 2016, Page 104

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happy in heaven with Him and all the angels of light.”9
In 1916, Rosa Young turned her Rosebud Literary
and Industrial School over to the Lutheran Church;
it became Christ Lutheran Church and School, and
from that Gospel partnership, 29 more schools and
35 black congregations were started on the Alabama
field, preaching and teaching repentance, forgiveness,
and faith in Christ.
In 2017, we will celebrate 140 years of Gospel proclamation among the black community in America.
Throughout the Scriptures and the Confessions, we
hear about repentance and faith in Christ and what
that means for the people of God and the world.
The sum of the preaching of the Gospel is this:
to convict of sin: to offer for Christ’s sake the
forgiveness of sins and righteousness, the Holy
Spirit, and eternal life; and that as reborn people
we should do good works. So Christ includes the
sum of the Gospel when He says, “Repentance
and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in
His name to all nations” (Luke 24:47)10
Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s
good pleasure to give you the kingdom. (Luke
12:32)
God doesn’t leave His creation alone to the devil,
death, and our sinful flesh, lest we would be separated
from Him eternally. God comes to us as He did to
Adam and Eve, even David, promising and offering a
present redemption and future hope.
Luther, in his explanation of the Small Catechism,
defines the benefits of Baptism: “What benefits does
Baptism give? It works the forgiveness of sins, rescues
from death and the devil, and gives eternal salvation
to all believes this, as the words and promises of
God declare. Which are these words and promises
of God? Christ our Lord says in the last chapter of
Mark: ‘Whoever believes and is baptized will be
saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned’ (Mark 16:16).”
In his exposition of Psalm 51, Luther spoke about
David, the man after God’s own heart, when David
Rosa Young, Light in the Dark Belt: The Story of Rosa Young as Told by Herself
(St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1950, 2014), p. 112–13.
10
Ap XII 29–30

fell into “a whole mass of sins, became impenitent
with deep smugness, so that if Nathan had not come,
David might have sinned against the Holy Spirit.”11
We must not become weary with a world groping in
the darkness of sin. Like Christ, we must bring the
only hope there is to humanity, the Gospel. Sinners
do what sinners do best—sin.
We are not sinners because we commit specific sins
or disagree on our differing lifestyles, whatever they
may be (and they are many). But we commit these
acts because we are sinners even before we do so.
The only remedy for this condition is the lifting up
of the Christ, the Rock, on the tree. The promise of
our God in Gen. 3:15: “I will put enmity between you
and the woman, and between your offspring and her
offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall
bruise his heel.”
“For all the promises of God find their Yes in him.
That is why it is through him that we utter our Amen
to God for his glory” (2 Cor. 1:20).
Christ was given two redemptive names: Jesus, for
He will save His people from their sins, and Immanuel, God with us. We see the increasing inclination
of sinners and the ever-increasing invitation of God
through Christ.
Perhaps the greatest sin is not the sin of commission
and omission, but the sin of no-mission; the sin of
thinking too highly of ourselves and our own agenda
that we have lost sight of our Savior’s mission for His
Church, that “All authority in heaven and on earth
has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples
of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the
Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching
them to observe all that I have commanded you. And
behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age”
(Matt. 28:18–20).
As we move to celebrate the church’s 500th anniversary
of our Lutheran Reformation under the theme “It’s
still all about Jesus,” may we remain mindful of our
scriptural and confessional foundations and remain
faithful to their proclamation. Let us boldly proclaim
the wonderful news.

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U P O N T H I S R O C K • Essay

11

LW: AE 12:306

“Upon This Rock: Repent”