LCMS Convention Proceedings St. Louis, Missouri — 2023, Page 69

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PRESIDENT’S REPORT, PART 3
We Preach Christ Crucified
Milwaukee, Wisconsin • July 30, 2023
Matthew C. Harrison, President

“Hier stehe Ich. Ich kann nicht anders.” “Here I stand. I cannot do
otherwise,” responded Luther in 1521 when the greatest
authority of his political and religious world tried to force him
to recant of his teaching. This response has become so famous
that we joke about it, we make “Here I stand” socks. Some even
use it for self-deprecating humor, suggesting that we say “Here
we stand,” instead of “Here we go!” But we cannot stand on the
Gospel without going with the Gospel.
The Diet of Worms continues to have great significance for the
church. Luther had been told that the emperor wanted to hear
one word and one word only from this troublesome German
monk: Revoco! “I recant.” Luther stood by a pile of his books and
was questioned. “Are these yours?” “Do you recant?” Luther
asked for time to think about the matter overnight. When he
was brought to the same hall, he spoke the words we all
remember.
Unless I am convinced by proof from Holy Scripture, or
by cogent reasons … I neither can nor will retract
anything; for it cannot be either safe or honest for a
Christian to speak against his conscience. Here I stand.
I cannot do otherwise. God help me. Amen.
Luther has been blamed for most every Western philosophical,
political, or religious movement since. But he’s no advocate of
the rejection of the Bible for “reason,” or radical individuality.
His reason and conscience were captive to the Word of God.
And because “the word of the Lord remains forever” (1 Peter
1:25), this Word and faith is confessed before the judgment seat
of God.
The Formula of Concord quotes Luther’s great 1544 confession,
made when Melanchthon and others in Wittenberg were
wobbling on the true presence of Christ in the Sacrament.
I am not drunk or irresponsible. I know what I’m
saying, and I well realize what this will mean for me
before the Last Judgment at the coming of the Lord
Christ. Let no one make this out to be a joke or idle talk;
I am in dead earnest, since by the grace of God I have
learned to know a great deal about Satan. (Formula of
Concord, Solid Declaration VII 30–31)
The confessors of our Book of Concord have the same spirit.
And we have made it our own.
This Confession also, by the help of God, we will retain
to our last breath, when we shall go forth from this life
to the heavenly fatherland, to appear with joyful and
undaunted mind and with a pure conscience before the
tribunal of our Lord Jesus Christ (Preface to the Book of
Concord 16).
Jesus asked His disciples, “Who do you say that I am?” Peter
responded for them all, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living
God” (Matt. 16:16). Christ asks this question to each of us. For
President’s Report, Part 3

most of us, our confession began when we were infants. Our
sponsors and the congregation confessed the faith which we
were given in Baptism. In confirmation we confessed before
God and man that we will never forsake the Christian faith as
confessed in Luther’s Small Catechism. In ordination we stand
before God and man and confess that we shall die before
forsaking this Christian and Lutheran faith. As Christians in
this world, we must stand and profess. “You are the Christ.”
“Here I stand. I can do no other.”
Every pastor, teacher, deaconess, church musician, elder,
congregational officer, Sunday school teacher, individual
congregation, new member, district, district president,
parochial school, Concordia (named for this confession!) has,
does, and continues to confess before God and at His judgment
seat on the Last Day: “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living
God.” “I make this biblical/Lutheran confession my own.” We
all individually, and together with this whole convention are
bound to Article II of the Synod’s constitution.
Article II Confession
The Synod, and every member of the Synod, accepts
without reservation:
1. The Scriptures of the Old and the New Testament as
the written Word of God and the only rule and norm of
faith and of practice.
2. All the Symbolical Books of the Evangelical Lutheran
Church as a true and unadulterated statement and
exposition of the Word of God, to wit: the three
Ecumenical Creeds (the Apostles’ Creed, the Nicene
Creed, the Athanasian Creed), the Unaltered Augsburg
Confession, the Apology of the Augsburg Confession,
the Smalcald Articles, the Large Catechism of Luther,
the Small Catechism of Luther, and the Formula of
Concord.
The necessity of both confession and action form the first two
of the objectives of the Synod: “1. Conserve and promote the
unity of the true faith (Eph. 4:3–6; 1 Cor. 1:10), work through its
official structure toward fellowship with other Christian
church bodies, and provide a united defense against schism,
sectarianism (Rom. 16:17), and heresy.” HERE I STAND! And
then the second objective defines the apostolic compulsion of
Christianity (1 Cor. 9:16). The Synod exists to “2. Strengthen
congregations and their members in giving bold witness by word
and deed to the love and work of God, the Father, Son, and Holy
Spirit, and extend that Gospel witness into all the world.” HERE WE
GO!
This “bold witness” was a conscience issue for St. Paul and the
other apostles. Paul put it this way, “For if I preach the gospel,
that gives me no ground for boasting. For necessity is laid upon
me. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!” (1 Cor. 9:16) Paul
was created to preach the Gospel, prepared to preach the
PROCEEDINGS OF THE 2023 (68TH) LCMS CONVENTION | 69