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+ + + In Nomine Jesu + + +
Please join me in prayer: May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
Last week, Gregg County Judge Bill Stoudt requested to meet and did meet with many Gregg County pastors and church leaders in regards to what he called “a crisis in our Nation, our State, and our County”. Somewhat similarly, 490 years ago Lutheran princes and city leaders requested to meet and did meet with their Lutheran theologians in regards to what was first a crisis between empires but then also became a crisis within the Holy Roman Empire. The Ottoman Empire was threatening the Holy Roman Empire, and Holy Roman Emperor Charles V wanted a united front in his military operations against the Turks, including the people’s having one religion, and so 490 years ago today the Lutheran civil leaders, at the Emperor’s request, presented to the Emperor at Augsburg the confession both of their pastors’ teaching and of their own faith, on the basis of Holy Scripture, both reiterating the true Christian faith of all ages and rejecting the Roman Catholic, Reformed, and other errors of their day. That Presentation of the Augsburg Confession is what we commemorate tonight, affirming the Augsburg Confession as our own confession, in continuity with the true Christian Church of all ages and against the Roman Catholic, Reformed, and other errors of our day. Both then and now, the Augsburg Confession can be considered as an example of what the Gospel Reading described as remaining in Jesus as branches of the Vine and bearing fruit, in this case, what the Divinely‑inspired author of Hebrews might have us describe as, “The fruit of lips that confess God’s Name” (Hebrews 13:15 NIV).
In tonight’s Gospel Reading, Jesus repeatedly spoke both of Himself as the true Vine and of His disciples, including us, as branches that abide in Him and so bear fruit. In addition to Himself and “the Vine”, Jesus also used other various expressions to refer to that in which we abide, namely His “words” and His “love”, and, in the case of His “love”, Jesus said that we abide in His love if, as we heard read, we “keep” His “commandments”, but that expression about “keeping His commandments” is not only our obeying things like the Ten Commandments but also our treasuring, keeping, holding, and preserving things like His teaching, such as Who He is, what He does, and how He does it. And, our confessing His identity, His work, and His means is fruit that we bear abiding in Him.
The Augsburg Confession is still relevant! For example, at the time that the Augsburg Confession was presented there was—and still today there is—disagreement over what people are able to do apart from God’s first giving birth to them from above (confer the Apology of the Augsburg Confession IV:256). Some Roman Catholic and Reformed theologians gave then, as they give now, too much credit to our fallen human nature. The Augsburg Confession even cites today’s Gospel Reading in teaching the truth and rejecting their error (Augsburg Confession XX:35-39). In the Gospel Reading we heard Jesus say that He is the true vine in contrast to the people of Israel as the false vine. Jesus further said that apart from Him not only can we as branches not bear fruit but also we can do nothing. And, if we do not abide in Him and so do not bear fruit, then we are taken away, thrown away like a branch and wither, gathered into the fire and burned.
So, as we heard in today’s Old Testament Reading (Isaiah 55:6-11), God calls us to seek Him while He may be found, to call upon Him while He is near; God calls us who are wicked to forsake our ways, us who are unrighteous to forsake our thoughts; God calls us to return to the Lord that He may have compassion on us, to return to our God Who will abundantly pardon. When we so repent, then God forgives us. God forgives us our sinful nature and all our sin, whatever our sin might be, for the sake of His Son, Jesus Christ.
More than just an example of someone Who has kept the Father’s commandments and abides in His love, Jesus is true God in human flesh, Who not only keeps the Father’s commandments and abides in His love for us but also makes up for our failures to do so. Jesus loves us, and the Father loves Him, because He lays down His life and takes it back up again for us (John 10:17, 15). On the cross, Jesus died for us, in our place, the death that we deserved. When we trust that God forgives us for Jesus’s sake, then God does forgive us. This righteousness by faith we heard today’s Epistle Reading restate (Romans 10:5-17), that God bestows His riches on all who call on Him, for everyone who believes on the Name of the Lord will be saved (Romans 10:13 cites Joel 2:32). Believers in Christ have the closest-possible organic union with God, an inner living and enduring relationship and fellowship, that receives His gifts through the preaching of His Word and the administration of His Sacraments.
Today’s Epistle Reading makes clear the need for preachers to be sent in order for people to hear, call upon and believe in the Name of the Lord. And, as the Old Testament Reading made clear, God’s Word that goes forth from His mouth does not return to Him empty but, like the rain and snow that water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so God’s Word accomplishes that which He purposes, succeeds in the thing for which He sent it. In the Gospel Reading Jesus could say that His disciples were already cleansed because of His Word that he had spoken to them, and the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther pointed to that Word connected with the water of Holy Baptism (Luther, ad loc Psalm 109:18, American Edition 11:357; confer John 13:10-11). At the Baptismal Font we are cleansed by water and the Word. We return to that baptismal cleansing, as it were, with individual Holy Absolution’s forgiving the sins that we confess privately to our pastor. And, so absolved, in the Sacrament of the Altar, we feed on bread that is Christ’s Body given for us and drink wine that is His Blood shed for us, and so we abide in Him, and He abides in us (John 6:56).
In this lifetime, we continue to be both cleansed and uncleansed, justified and sinner. We are in need of God the Father’s continued “vinedressing”, His continued “pruning” (or “cleansing”) so that we bear more fruit. With daily repentance and faith we live in His forgiveness of sins, continuing to hear and study God’s Word and receive the Sacraments of individual Holy Absolution and the Sacrament of the Altar, as we sin and experience afflictions that can serve to drive us to His Word and Sacraments. In the Epistle Reading, the Divinely‑inspired St. Paul said that if we confess with our mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in our heart that God raised Him from the dead, we will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. If you are not familiar with the Augsburg Confession, then become familiar with it—I can give you a paper copy or you can read it online (for example, here). You can also go through the next adult catechesis class based on both the Augsburg Confession and its Apology (or, “Defense”).
Gregg County’s Judge Stoudt reportedly will meet again with county pastors later this week, to what end is not immediately clear. At least one person in a meeting of Kilgore pastors working to promote racial harmony suggested all the churches stop having separate worship services and instead worship together. Yet, the Bible teaches that there can be no joint worship where there is not unity in confession, and the Augsburg Confession identifies well where the lines are drawn! The Augsburg Confession continues to be relevant, as it is “The fruit of lips that confess God’s Name”. As we treasure our Lord’s teaching, we abide in His love and bear such fruit, proving to be His disciples, glorifying His Father, having His joy in us, and so our joy’s being full.
Amen.
The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
+ + + Soli Deo Gloria + + +