“Hearing the Faith”
Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost
Sixth Sunday in St. Laurence’ Tide
Isaiah 50:10 (from OT--Proper 19)
September 13, 2009
Rally Day
IN NOMINE JESU
Based on what I read on a church sign in Lincoln this past week, we
are wasting our time here this morning. In fact, we have wasted our
Sunday mornings for many years, and the Church has wasted her time for
two thousand years. What’s more is that the entire Judeo-Christian
tradition has been a waste of six thousand years. So perhaps we
should all get up and go home right now. I see that you are not
buying into this claptrap since you are all remaining seated here in
the Lord’s house. Yet, if what this church sign I read is indeed
true, then there really is not point in our being here today…or
anytime. It means that the Lord wasted His time in teaching the
people. The church sign I saw reads: “Faith is caught, not taught.”
If this sign posted the truth, then there would be no need for a
Sunday school, no need for Bible class, no need for confirmation
instruction, and no need for the Divine Service. If this is true,
then we could disregard our text, especially the first part: “Who
among you fears the LORD and obeys the voice of His servant?” (v.
10a). That servant is His called and ordained servant of the Word…in
other words, it’s the pastor! The Lord has sent His bride, the
Church, pastors to preach, teach, and administer the Sacraments. What
is it that He has sent pastors to teach? It is not that 2 + 2 = 4 or
that the capital of Wyoming is the “W.” No, he has sent you pastors
to teach you the faith, the one, holy, Christian and apostolic faith,
the faith handed down throughout the generations, all the way back to
the Apostles, who in turn received the faith from the Lord Himself.
How did the Apostles receive the faith? The Lord taught them the
faith, the one saving faith, that faith which confesses that there is
only one Name under heaven, given among men, by which we must be
saved, the Name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.
We do not come to this faith on our own; it must be taught us. The
Holy Spirit works this faith in us, this faith we are taught. In the
book of Deuteronomy we find numerous times that the parents are to
teach the faith to their children, a command from God Himself,
speaking through His servant Moses. In Romans 10, the blessed apostle
St. Paul reminds us that faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the
Word of God. In other words, the faith must be taught us. There is
no other way, outside the Means of Grace, for us to receive, and be
strengthened in, the faith. The primary place for catechesis,
instruction in the faith, as it always has been, is at home, the
parents teaching the children the faith once handed down to them. To
aid our parents in this God-pleasing endeavor, the Church provides a
time of instruction here, in what we know as Sunday school. What
happens here is not meant to replace the teaching the faith in the
home; rather, it is meant to supplement it, so that our children would
grow in faith and be drawn ever closer to their Lord who has come to
them in Holy Baptism, in Holy Scripture, and, Lord willing, will come
to them in Holy Communion. Having said all this, it bears noting that
being taught in the faith is not something that ends at the point of
confirmation, as if it is a graduation from the Church. No,
catechesis is a lifelong process…from the womb to the tomb. We never
stop learning the faith…unless we want to. A faith that stops growing
is a faith that shrivels and dies.
It is easy for us to point our fingers at the Israelites, who kept
forgetting their faith and got into all sorts of trouble. We want to
chide the Pharisees for rejecting the Word of God as He gave it to
them through John the Baptist and through Jesus Himself. We want to
laugh at the disciples because they were slow to understand what the
Lord was teaching them. But when we look in the mirror of God’s Law,
what do we see? We see all of them, with our faces on them. You see,
we are no better than they were because we too do not want to remember
the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. We have little or no use for--we
despise--preaching and God’s Word. We do not hold it sacred. We do
not gladly hear and learn it. In the words of our text, we do not
fear the Lord. We do not obey the voice of His called and ordained
servant. We walk in darkness and have no light. Better said, as in
paraphrasing St. John in the first chapter of his Gospel, the light
[Christ] shines in our darkness, but the darkness of our souls does
not comprehend it, for we walk through the valley of the shadow of
death. We do not trust in the Name of the Lord, and we do not rely on
our God. All this is because we are sinners who deserve eternal
condemnation for our sins, including our rejection of God’s Word.
This is something we also need to be taught; otherwise, we have no
knowledge or concept of sin and hell, where there is weeping and
gnashing of teeth.
This is not to say only that we have to be here. What is better is
that we get to be here! We get to be in our Lord’s house, where He
tells us He loves us. We who have walked in darkness have seen a
great light, Jesus Christ, the Light of the world, the light no
darkness can overcome. We who have dwelt in the land of the shadow of
death and have walked in darkness, upon us the Light has shined.
Jesus Christ, the Sun of Righteousness, shines on you today through
the reading of His Word, through the preaching of His Word, and
through the teaching of His Word. You hear God speak to you through
His servant, your pastor, preaching and teaching repentance and faith.
You get to hear the faith taught as God speaks into your ears with
His words of Law and Gospel. You get to hear Him tell you, through
me, that your sins are forgiven, forgiven for the sake of His
only-begotten Son, who gave His body and shed His blood on the cross
to win the forgiveness He extends to us through His Word and
Sacraments. You see, there is no need for us to walk in darkness
because He has already endured the darkness of being condemned by His
own Father so that we would live in the grace of this same Father, God
Almighty. Christ died our death and now lives so that we would live
into all eternity with Him. This is good news that we get to be
taught over and over and over again, for His promises are always there
for us. He is faithful to His promises, and this Christian faith, the
forgiveness of sins, is something we who have been redeemed by the
blood of Christ never tire of hearing, and we will get to hear of our
Lord’s goodness soon as we resume our Sunday school and continue our
Bible class. God grant this in Jesus’ Name and for His sake. Amen.
SOLI DEO GLORIA
--
The Rev. Pr. Mark A. Schlamann, Lincoln, NE
Vacancy Pastor, Bethlehem Lutheran Church, Pleasant Dale, Nebraska
Sermons available at http://lcmssermons.com/Schlamann
Catch the NEW "Issues, Etc." at http://www.issuesetc.org
"When you are baptized, partake of Holy Communion, receive the
absolution, or listen to a sermon, heaven is open, and we hear the
voice of the Heavenly Father; all these works descend upon us from the
open heaven above us. God converses with us, provides for us; and
Christ hovers over us--but invisibly. And even though there were
clouds above us as impervious as iron or steel, obstructing our view
of heaven, this would not matter. Still we hear God speaking to us
from heaven; we call and cry to Him, and He answers us. Heaven is
open, as St. Stephen saw it open (Acts 7:55); and we hear God when He
addresses us in Baptism, in Holy Communion, in confession, and in His
Word as it proceeds from the mouth of the men who proclaim His message
to the people."--Martin Luther (1/19/1538 [LW 22:202])
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