Have We Failed? — Esgetology

Sermon for the Opening Service of the LCMS Ohio District Convention

The Chapel of Concordia University Ann Arbor

June 22, 2022

Christians are now a minority in America. When I mentioned this somewhere else I was speaking, someone asked me afterwards, “Does this mean we’ve failed?”

What do you think? If you look at our statistics, the Missouri Synod is in decline, and doesn’t seem to be turning around. How’s the Ohio District doing? What about your own congregation? If the answer is, “Not great,” then does that mean you failed? Have we failed?

Success and failure are not ours to determine. And numbers aren’t what they seem. Consider Elijah. With Jezebel’s warriors hunting him, Elijah collapses from exhaustion, judges his life a failure, and begs God to die. Spurred on, he hides in a cave. God asks him what’s he doing, and Elijah replies, “I have been very zealous for the Lord God of hosts; for the children of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars, and killed Your prophets with the sword. I alone am left; and they seek to take my life” (1 Kg 19.10). “I alone am left.” Do you know how that feels? But the numbers aren’t what they seem. He isn’t alone. “I have reserved seven thousand in Israel, all whose knees have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him” (1 Kg 19.18).

The church has entered a time of cleansing, a time of purification. Demonic forces have been unleashed across our land. Mothers demand that their own children be dismembered. Men think they are women. Girls ask for surgery and hormones to destroy their femininity. But do we have the fortitude of our fathers? The Romans demanded a pinch of incense, and the early Christians said “No” and went gladly to be martyred. Today the Americans demand a flower arrangement or a cake baked for the gods of this age. How will you respond when they come for your business, your church, your livelihood?

But maybe things can turn around. If we get the right decision from SCOTUS, elect better people to congress, things can get better, right? We cannot think this way. Put not your trust in princes. Put not your trust in finances. Put not your trust in turning your attendance numbers around. Do that, if you can, to be sure. But there’s only one attendance statistic that matters, and it’s one that cannot be apprehended with the naked eye.

The Lord Jesus says, “Where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.” His presence is what matters.

How is Christ present? It’s not a presence that comes about by our sincerity, as though if we have enough enthusiasm and cheerfulness, people will feel it. It’s not about having the right program. It’s not about making the music better. It’s not about having a better website or social media presence. “Where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.” That’s a liturgical assembly. It doesn’t require chanting or vestments, although those things in the right situation can be great. But foundational to a Christian assembly is that we gather as those baptized into the death and resurrection of Jesus. That’s what it means to be gathered in the Name.

The Christian assembly is not gathered around a common political ideology, social status, musical taste, or the degree of melanin in our skin. We gather as those baptized into the Name. And there, though our attendance dwindle to two or three people hiding in a secret place, Christ is present. If two or three of us are left to gather, and we have only a kazoo for music, and only an outhouse for a church, if we have the Name of JESUS, then we have everything. Though they seize our churches and hunt us house to house, the gates of hell will never prevail. “Where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.”

It’s good to be in the minority. It’s good to spend time in the wilderness. Because in weakness we discover what matters: Our success or failure was never in the size of our institutions or budgets. Jesus says, “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it” (Mt. 7:13-14). Jesus preaches to and feeds a congregation of 5,000 men (probably a crowd of 20,000 - 25,000), but after His teaching on His body and blood and the resurrection, the crowd abandons Him. Jesus turns to the Twelve and says, “Do you also want to go away?” You know what they said. “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the Words of eternal life.”

Everything is happening so fast, it feels like the apocalypse is imminent. We aren’t the first generation to feel that way. The book of Revelation was written specifically to prepare disciples of Jesus for the coming persecution in their day.

Central to that preparation is the call to repentance. That’s what the gathering in today’s Gospel is all about: Binding and loosing; Repentance and the remission of sins. That’s what we are sent out to proclaim to the world. But before we can be sent to proclaim it, we have to repent ourselves.

So repent. The sons of Eli fed themselves with the offerings of the people, lay with women, and would not repent when called. But as for you, repent. Repent of your own lusts, the depravities in your mind and in your browser history. Repent of your lust for success, and your envy of those who have more than you. Repent of your sloth. Repent of your pride. Repent of your own complicity in this culture of demons.

Repent and believe that the words of Jesus are for you: To you, to you He says, “I forgive you all your sins.” He means it. Your sins are gone, cast into the depths of the sea, remembered no more.

That’s what we gather around: His Name, His Word, His Absolution, His Supper. And with that, we have every tool we need to rescue a depraved and dying world.

Our LORD rescued the three young men from the fiery furnace. Our LORD parted the sea and destroyed the pursuing army. Our LORD defeated hell itself, trampling down death by His death. Jesus is risen from the dead. He is the firstfruits of them that sleep. Whoever eats His flesh and drinks His blood has eternal life. Whoever believes in His name shall never taste death. Wherever just two or three gather together in His Name, all the powers of heaven are present, the demons are routed, and life immortal is bestowed.

How then can we despair? We are gathered around the Lamb who is slain and yet lives! Though the sea rages and foams, we will not despair. Though the lions roar, we will not despair. Though the mob descends on us, we will not despair.

Here’s what we will do: we will keep on crying out, “Come, Lord Jesus!”

Gather in His name as often as you can, even if only two or three people show up. Read the Holy Scriptures every day. Love your family. In your work serve your neighbor. It’s the Lord’s Church, not ours. He will give us what we need when we need it.

Have we failed, as disciples of Jesus, as His Church? Yes, by ourselves, it is a terrible failure. But we are not by ourselves. It is the Lord's Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. We may fail a thousand times, but in Him failure becomes success, weakness becomes strength, death becomes life.

Do not despair! Gathered in His name, He is with us, lo, even to the end of the age. +INJ+