Change, Or Not

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Congregations, like human beings, grow old. A large congregation once filled these pews. You may become nostalgic for the olden day. A century ago people walked to church, walked to work, walked to school, walked to the store. Now we drive everywhere.

A photograph taken of the congregation from the pulpit today would be different from a picture taken ten years ago. A picture taken from the back pews toward the chancel would be just as different. Faces you thought you would never forget have slipped over the cliff of your memory. If “all the world is a stage” where we all are actors, so is the church.

Pastors and people are constantly changing, but Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. Since the Church is His Body, she also stays the same. Perhaps a church that advertises itself as “contemporary” is no church at all. The true Church has one Baptism and she partakes of the one spiritual food in the Holy Sacrament. She reads the same Scriptures, hears the same Gospel, and sings the same liturgies and hymns. St. Paul said that there is one Church, one Spirit, one Lord Jesus, and one God and Father of all.

What Does Christ Say?

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Today we observe Reformation Day, one of the festivals completely unique to Lutheranism. But what is it we commemorate on this day? Historically, we commemorate the supposed posting of the 95 Theses by Martin Luther on the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg. But so what? What is the heritage that we, who bear the name Lutheran, have inherited from this event nearly five hundred years ago?

The heritage we celebrate today is nothing short of our identity. Consider this – what is a Lutheran? Simply an adherent to Martin Luther's teaching?

Faithful Lutherans are those who remain steadfastly in the Word of the Lord, standing with Martin Luther and confessing with him: “Holy Scripture and God's Word should be the empress that man follows directly and should obey what it says, and speak no word against it; for it is the mouth of God” (Erlangen 61:107).

What is Truth?

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Jesus proclaims, “And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” Great. This is good news for any human ears. Freedom through truth appeals to just about everybody. We like to believe in truth. After all, truth is what keeps our world in order.

You and I are hard-wired to believe in truth. It is much more difficult to understand the idea of a lie than the truth. From the time of birth, children are automatically programmed to believe what they hear. This is why advertising on children's television is so successful. Tell a child that he needs this robot, and he will believe it. How many parents have been manipulated into buying ridiculous things for Christmas and birthdays, because the people on TV convinced their children that whatever it was was vitally necessary to their continued health and well-being?

"An Eternal Gospel to Proclaim"

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

“Then I saw another angel flying directly overhead, with an eternal gospel to proclaim to those who dwell on earth, to every nation and tribe and language and people. And he said with a loud voice, 'Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come, and worship him who made heaven and earth, the sea and the springs of water.'”

St. John saw the angelic messenger of the Lord flying in the mid-heavens, proclaiming the eternal Gospel to all the people who dwell on earth. The angel's message is that of all Scriptures and every preacher of the Gospel: “Fear God and give Him glory.” That is, believe the Word of God, and honor Him in repentance and faith.

But that is not the message that so many preachers of this world proclaim. There are so many “gospels” out there, each claiming to save us from our enemy, each naming a different ill of our age as your obstacle to true happiness. If you look long enough and hard enough, you will find something that soothes your itching ears.