Concordia TheoBLOGical Seminary

Grace, mercy, and peace be yours, from God our Father and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

It is a rare thing in this day and age that a certain date or time should retain much importance for very long. Ask your son or daughter about December 7^th . . . or any 7 year old about September 11^th.

478 years ago, a group of pastors, princes, mayors, city councilmen, and other lay people, stood before the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire and articulated the points of the faith about which there had arisen dispute after that pesky monk went and vandalized a church door.

The Augsburg Confession remains, even yet today, a vital, and, vibrant document, that we, and all the faithful, should be proud to hold high, and confess to be true. Why? Because a bunch of really smart guys wrote it all down and some really important guys signed it? No, certainly not. For our faith is not founded upon the musings of men or angels, but upon the Word of God alone. It is Scripture that is the sole source of Doctrine. With these confessions of the Lutheran Church, we can weigh and measure preaching teaching and teaching, BECAUSE they fully are in agreement with that sole Rule and Norm of doctrine. And there is only one Doctrine . . . the Gospel . . . and it is to the Gospel that our faith clings . . . to Christ, His work, His substitution for us, His death and resurrection, to which we cling in this world, that in the end, Our Father would call us home with Him forever. The Gospel is the object of our faith . . . which begs the question: what is it that you believe?

How is it that you articulate your faith, those things that you believe about God the Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit? Children, (or first-year seminarians) likely sum it up “Jesus loves me, the Bible tells me so.” A good and faithful response. Any Christian, who has suffered the sinful effects of maturity . . . like, questioning authority, the influences of friends, families, and unwholesome books and associations . . . has long since become dissatisfied with what many see as a child’s trite response. So, it is a more thorough articulation of the faith for which you cry.

But who shall teach you, who shall be your schoolmaster as you dig into the meat of scripture, laying back the petals of the perfect rose that is Salvation by Grace? Shall you sit in your room, doors locked, mood set, Bible open, hoping that miraculous revelation will bring you to complete understanding? May the Lord preserve us from such self-righteous pietism, and grant to us faithful confessors, preachers, and teachers of the faith that the World may know the great and wondrous works of the Lord.

And so He has. From the beginnings of time God has appointed His representatives in the World to proclaim His word, to teach His people, and has preserved His Church. From the days of exile for the nation of Israel, to the rise of the early church, all the way through the Reformation and even yet today, it has been Christ’s church, and will remain so, even in the face of cultural, doctrinal, and physical threats.

Today we are confronted by no fewer challenges to the truth of the Gospel. Subtle erosion of the truth in the name of tolerance, or acceptance of false teaching because of the sincerity of one’s belief, compromises the one true faith in our Lord. Instead, we must hold high the banner of the truth, dig deeply into our heritage rather than shy away from it, and remember that we are a people of unclean lips, and we live amidst a people of unclean lips.

Should they not know? Do they not deserve the assurance and comfort that salvation by Grace affords? You have been rescued from sin, death, and the devil . . . freed from God’s wrath toward our corrupt sinful selves, you are alive because of God’s Grace. This is the true flame of the church, this is the one Doctrine of Salvation, and this is the day that the Lord has made, that it might be yours anew all the days of your life. Lord’s day after Lord’s day, God’s great gifts of salvation and liberation, flow freely in His Means of Grace. Your ears and mouths are filled with the Grace of God that brings you peace, making you ambassadors and witness to the very blessings of God.

478 years ago those princes and pastors made a bold confession of faith before their ruler. Yes, it caused division in the church, but it was not they who rent to body of Christ, but it was false teaching, false piety, and the lies of faith in self over faith in Christ that had oppressed the people of God. These men, at Augsburg, held fast to the One True Faith and did not waver, even a breath, that we are saved by Grace through Faith, not by works of satisfaction, our own preparations, our own purpose driven lives, or how ablaze we might be for the lost.

So that we might confess Christ and Him crucified, we come here to hear His Gospel, to receive His gifts, and to eat and drink His Body and Blood, for “As often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.” This is the confession of Christ, for it is the confession of the one Doctrine of Salvation, that by His death salvation is freely won and given to all.

This is the great treasure of the Augsburg Confession, that great article on Justification:

. . . that we cannot obtain forgiveness of sin and righteousness before God by our own merits, works, or satisfactions, but that we receive forgiveness of sin and become righteous before God by grace, for Christ’s sake, through faith, . . .

This is the article upon which the church stands or falls. So upon it we shall stand. We will climb over the rubble heaps of false theology and remain steadfast in God’s Word and graces, confessing along with Jeremiah and the prophets; as Jesus before Pilate; as the Fathers of the Reformation; that falsehood has had its day and that salvation is by Grace alone! By this same grace we will not succumb to the temptations of this world, but remain bold in our confession of Christ and Him crucified . . . bold, as we proclaim His death until He comes, bold, as we seek to know nothing but Christ and Him crucified, bold as we gather here to receive His gifts, we will remain bold in our confession as we know all our sins are forgiven . . . in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.