New Jersey District Convention Sermon
Clinton, NJ +++ May 21, 2021
Installation of Stephen Gewecke as District President
Acts 2:41-47
The Reformation was a repentance movement
“Repent!” That’s the first word John the Baptist preaches. It is also the first word when our Lord Jesus begins to preach. So it is to be with our own preaching.
But before we can preach, we must hear that word spoken to us. Repent!
That is the word that drove the Reformation. “When our Lord and Master Jesus Christ said, ‘Repent!’” said Dr. Luther in beginning the Ninety-five Theses, “He willed the entire life of believers to be one of repentance.”
It’s easy to imagine those in the darkness of the papacy needing to hear that. After all, they were paying money for the forgiveness of sins. Claus Harms, a nineteenth-century pastor, said,
The forgiveness of sins at least required monetary payment during the sixteenth century. In the nineteenth it costs nothing. Now men serve themselves with it. They at that time stood higher than us, they were nearer to God.
What about us? Immediately preceding our Bible reading tonight is that self-same critical word. Repent! After St. Peter preaches about the death and resurrection of Jesus, his hearers were terrified. “Brothers, what shall we do?” And Peter says, “Repent!”
“Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off.” [Acts 2:38f]
That crucial word is addressed to us: Repent! Turn! Change your mind! Become different!
What would it look like if you took that word seriously? How would it change your family? Your congregation? Our Synod?
The Reformation was a repentance movement. The reinvigoration of our Synod can only come by a similar movement of repentance.
The Devotion of the Earliest Christians: Receiving the Word
“So those who received his word were baptized.” That’s where everything starts for us. That’s where we begin again: receiving the Word.
In these gray and latter days, it is easy to despair. The culture is turned against us. Many of our congregations are shrinking. Some are closing. We worry about money. We grumble about each other. If we could just do this, or if everyone got on board with that, then we would be successful again.
But God is calling us away from our pride and despair, our efforts and failures, and says, “Stand still! My Word accomplishes the thing for which I sent it. In My Word you have everything you need.”
So what did they do? They devoted themselves to three or four things (depending on how you count): ”They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.”
That word devotion is used in the New Testament to emphasize how we should pray: always, without ceasing. Outside the New Testament it has the idea of stubborn relentlessness. The devotion of those first Christians was not an occasional thing, one facet of an eclectic life. It was an exclusive, tireless obsession. Jesus is risen from the dead, and He is the center of the world! Nothing else matters.
They were an Easter people, and Alleluia! was their song. There was no disconnect between doctrine and life. There were no camps with theologians arguing with missionaries. The life in the home and the life of the liturgy were intimately connected.
Here is the summary of early Christian worship: a radical devotion to the Apostolic doctrine. What was that about? Who Jesus is, and what He has done. That led to their fellowship, κοινωνίᾳ, communion in the breaking of the bread. Hearing the Word of Jesus, receiving the body and blood of Jesus, they devoted themselves to the prayers.
I would call this an active passivity, or perhaps passive action. They received the Word, they listened to Jesus, they ate His meal, they cried out to Him. He is the doer, the Savior, the rescuer, the priest, the liturgist.
Receiving all that from Jesus created a community unlike any in the history of the world: they shared their stuff, and cared for one another. And they grew daily.
The LORD gives the growth. We are called to be faithful in season and out of season.
At this point it’s tempting to say, “Aha! Here are some principles for growth. If we just follow these steps, we will be successful.” But that would make everything dependent upon us. That’s not how it works. “And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.”
It’s the Lord’s work, we are mouthpieces, instruments. St. Paul says, “I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth” [1 Cor. 3.6].
It’s not up to us. And thank God for that! If it were up to us, everything would already have been ruined long ago.
The LORD has put you and me here today for this time. “Stand still!” He said to Moses. The Red Sea in front of him, Pharaoh’s army behind. By any human reasoning, it’s death either way. But the Lord said, “Stand still!” “Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the LORD…. The LORD will fight for you, and you have only to be silent” [Ex. 14.13, 14].
Here we stand today. Hemmed in on every side. But the LORD will never leave us nor forsake us. This is His Church, bought with His own blood. We will receive the Word. His Word will do the work. We will devote ourselves, fix our eyes and ears relentless on the Apostolic doctrine, the communion, the prayers, and then the needs of our neighbors.
“Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the LORD…. The LORD will fight for you, and you have only to be silent.” The Lord Jesus has bought you. In Him will we life, in Him will we die, and His shall we be forever. +INJ+