LCMS Convention Proceedings St. Louis, Missouri — 2023, Page 103

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Christ’s resurrection (Rom. 4:25; 2 Cor. 5:19–21). Certainly Paul
teaches that salvation is a future and eschatological reality,
when we are saved on the Day of the Lord from the wrath of
God (1 Cor. 5:5). However, salvation is also a present reality, one
to be received as a gift through faith: “Behold, now is the
favorable time, now is the day of salvation” (2 Cor. 6:2).
A young man walks down the street in Milwaukee and sees a
fence painted with rainbow colors. What might he think?
Progress, but there are still too many fences, unequal power
structures that must be demolished. If he searches for deeper
meaning in life or even God, he desires to be pleased rather than
to be saved. He strives for emotional well-being rather than
being forgiven. He wants society and church bodies to affirm
who he chooses to be and to celebrate his ultimate freedom of
expressing himself rather than being called to live by moral
codes of natural law or by some “bigoted” church authority to
transform his life according to the image of Christ.
We preach Christ crucified, but Paul’s sermon included
something else in his mission tour in Greece. In Thessalonica
people “turned to God from idols to serve the living and true
God” (1 Thess. 1:9). In Athens Paul’s spirit was provoked to see
all idols, and he preached that the time of ignorance was over:
Repent (Acts 17).
While we keep on speaking of sin and guilt, grace and
forgiveness, we should also unmask the idols of our time, which
promise a meaningful and satisfying life but apart from the
living God. In his excellent book The Unholy Trinity, Rev.
Michael A. Lockwood unravels our Western idolatrous culture
of Me, Myself, and I. 1 We are called to dethrone the rivals of
Christ, the idols of our time, in which we are tempted to put our
trust and hope. Whether they focus on consumerism or generic
spiritualism, idols give empty and deceitful promises but
eventually turn out to be weak and of no help for a dying and
suffering man facing the final judgement. We are called to
confess our love for the greatest idol: the self, who strives to be
self-sufficient and independent from God and provide for
oneself and even determine one’s own existence and direction.
This is nothing but self-justification, the way of the law and not
the way of the Gospel of salvation.

city, in the Temple, on the altar, by a priest of the tribe
of Levi; yet Calvary was far from the Temple, and it had
no altar and no offering priest. To even the most careful
observer, the crucifixion of Jesus would have appeared
to be a profane event, a fairly unremarkable Roman
execution. A sympathetic soul might have judged
Jesus’ death to be an act of martyrdom, like deaths
recounted in the histories of Maccabees, but not a
sacrifice. 2
What would you answer to this claim? Should we ask about the
sacrifice from Christ Himself?
2. The sacramental and communal nature of our salvation
It is no coincidence that St. Paul in the same letter for the
second time mentions: “For I received from the Lord what I also
delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was
betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke
it, and said, “... ‘This is my body which is for you. Do this in
remembrance of me. ... This cup is the new covenant in my
blood’” (1 Cor. 11:23–25). Christ Himself preaches Christ
crucified. He defines the true meaning of His death on the cross.
My body and blood for you, on your behalf! This is sacrificial
language. Christ is the ultimate vicarious sacrifice. Through
Jesus’ atoning blood we have redemption, the new covenant
and the new liturgy in remembrance of Him established. Christ
is the new Paschal lamb, whose blood saves us from death and
damnation. Paul states: “... For Christ, our Passover lamb, has
been sacrificed” (1 Cor. 5:7). This is the Gospel of salvation!
But Christ’s words are more than explanatory or a prophecy.
They are institutional, having the divine power to accomplish
what they say. These words consecrate the bread and wine to a
meal of redemption. Herman Sasse summarizes how we cannot
separate the cross, the Holy Communion, and the Church:

Paul reminds the Corinthians that they were saved from idols:
“... we know that ‘an idol has no real existence,’ and that there
is no God but one. For although there may be so-called gods in
heaven or on earth ... for us there is one God, the Father, from
whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus
Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we
exist” (1 Cor. 8:4–6). What a message to meditate upon and
share: Idols have no real existence, but in the Lord Christ we
have our existence!
We preach Christ crucified! But how did Jews in Jerusalem see
Christ crucified? According to Dr. Scott Hahn, it was impossible
for Jews to see Christ’s crucifixion as a sacrifice:
A sacrifice was permitted only in one city, the holy city
of Jerusalem; yet Christ was crucified outside the walls.
Sacrifice could be offered in only one place in that holy
1
Michael A. Lockwood, The Unholy Trinity (St. Louis: Concordia
Publishing House, 2016).

Convention Essays

2
Scott Hahn, Consuming the Word (New York: Crown Publishing,
2013), 24.

PROCEEDINGS OF THE 2023 (68TH) LCMS CONVENTION | 103