Confessional and/or versus Missional

There is a an attempt to divide and place in opposition two important parts of the church, that of confessing the faith and that of carrying out the faith or bearing witness of one’s faith. Statements are made that a person or church, cannot be both. Statements are made that a person or church is either spending all its time defending the faith that it espouses or they are out sharing that faith. The following is a somewhat biased attempt to understand what is behind this accusation, if this accusation is true, and what is the relationship between one’s confession and one’s bearing witness of their faith.
 

First, let us look at what it means to be a “missional church”. What is the “missional church” as defined by those in the “missional church”? A short internet search of the term “missional” brings the following definitions (with a bit of comment). The online encyclopedia/dictionary defines the missional church as: a church that “attempts to take Christ to ’the lost’ and its members are personally engaged in reaching their communities with the message of Jesus Christ” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Missional_living). This statement is a laudable statement, and although I would use other more appropriate Biblical terms, this definition is one that is quite true.
 

The magazine, Christianity Today says the following: “Among the commonly cited deficiencies of Christendom are the Reformational marks of the church. Allegedly, concern for true preaching of the Word and right administration of the sacraments leads to an unhealthy focus on the church’s internal life. With the ministry of Word and sacrament de-centered for a vague notion of ‘mission,’ strange forms of experimentation can result” (http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2008/march/16.56.html) (Emphasis added). According to this author, the very means of grace, the very means that God has of giving us the gifts He has to give, is a “deficiency” and “leads to an unhealthy focus on the church’s internal life.”
 

From the Missional Manifesto we read:“Missional represents a significant shift in the way we understand the church. As the people of a missionary God, we are entrusted to participate in the world the same way He does—by committing to be His ambassadors” (http://www.missionalmanifesto.net/). The difficulty of this statement is that we cannot participate in this world as God does. God participated in flesh as Jesus giving His life for ours. We participate in this world as priests, living lives of faith, always being ready to give an answer for our hope in Jesus alone.
 

And finally, also from the Missional Manifesto we read:“Through the grace of God, when a person repents of their sin, confesses the Messiah as Lord, and believes in His resurrection, they gain what the Bible defines as new and eternal life” (http://www.missionalmanifesto.net/). Although this statement is listed as Gospel, we can see the confusion of Law and Gospel making the Gospel into a new Law, i.e., “when a person . . .” is Law, not Gospel. It is Jesus who earned forgiveness for us on the cross and who gives us that forgiveness, as well as all His gifts, through the very means He has given us, the means of grace.
 

Now, let us look at what it means to be confessional. Again, doing an internet search to be fair, from the online encyclopedia/dictionary we read: “Confessionalism, in a religious (and particularly Christian) sense, is a belief in the importance of full and unambiguous assent to the whole of a religious teaching. Confessionalists believe that differing interpretations or understandings, especially those in direct opposition to a held teaching, cannot be accommodated within a church communion” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confessionalism_(religion)). A confessional is one who confesses, without deviation, an orthodoxy of faith.
 

Another entry from the online encyclopedia/dictionary we read: “Confessional Lutheran is a name used by Lutheran Christians to designate themselves as those who accept the doctrines taught in the Book of Concord of 1580 (the Lutheran ‘confessional’ documents) in their entirety as completely faithful (quia) to the teachings of the Bible. While most Lutheran denominations find the basis of their faith in the Book of Concord, ‘Confessional Lutherans’ maintain that faithfulness to it requires attention to how that faith is actually being preached, taught, and put into practice. Confessional Lutherans believe that this is a vital part of their identity as Lutherans” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confessional_Lutheran). A confessional Lutheran is one who believes that one’s confession is orthodox only as it is confessed, taught, and practiced, with an emphasis on practice in faithfulness. In other words, for one to be a confessional Lutheran one must actually practice what one preaches and believes.
    Perhaps we should look at what Scripture says concerning being confessional and/or being missional. One example might be God’s command to the Children of Israel when they entered the promised land. God did not tell them to be missional but to be confessional. God did not tell them to share the message of salvation but to wipe out the heathen people in the land. Certainly we understand this as God’s divine judgement against those in the land.
 

But what about Elijah and the prophets of Baal? God did not have Elijah create a house of prayer with the prophets of Baal. No, He had Elijah challenge them to an altar contest. Elijah even made fun of them and laughed at them. And finally, God had the prophets of Baal killed as well.
 

Why all this killing of the heathen and Baal worshipers? Because God knew what would happen if the confession of His name and Word were compromised by those outside the faith. And we see throughout the Old Testament what happened when the Children of Israel compromised their confession of faith.
 

But what about the New Testament? In the Gospel of John we have the account of Jesus speaking hard words so that some took offense and left Him (John 6:51-69). Jesus was not concerned about being relevant, nor offensive, rather He was interested in keeping His Word faithful and true. In the Gospel of Matthew we have God’s Great Commission as it is called. Although that is the topic of another article, let us just say that rather than being a great commission, the words of Jesus are the great giving of authority and God’s promise to always be with His people. Although we are encouraged to bear witness of our faith through our daily vocations as priests in the priesthood of all believers, again another article, there is no real statement from God in Holy Scripture as a command being missional. There are many passages which speak of confessing sound doctrine. The following is a partial listing: “I appeal to you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught; avoid them” Romans 16:17 (ESV). “If anyone teaches a different doctrine and does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching that accords with godliness, he is puffed up with conceit and understands nothing” 1 Timothy 6:3-4b (ESV). “He must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it” Titus 1:9 (ESV). “But as for you, teach what accords with sound doctrine” Titus 2:1 (ESV) .
 

Although Scripture shows quite clearly that God is more interested in a true confession of doctrine, it never puts doctrine and practice, or as we speak in this article, confession and missional in opposition. Scripture speaks clearly of the importance of pure doctrine for the purpose of giving a true witness of faith, a true missional emphasis. Martin Luther, C.F.W. Walther, Alvin Barry all understood this and spoke of the importance making sure our doctrine is pure so that we might bear witness of that doctrine, of getting the message straight and getting the message out.
 

But, let us get back to the question, “Can a person be confessional without being missional?” The accusation is that if a person is spending all their time guarding the message, then the message is simply kept out of reach of others. The fallacy of this accusation is the very fact that as a person studies, learns, and learns to defend what they have learned, they cannot help but want to tell others of what they have learned. Remember as a child in first grade, learning to read, you wanted to show everyone you could read.
 

Can a person be missional without being confessional? Here again the suggestion is that for the church to survive we must get the message out. But how can one share what one does not have or how can one share that about which they know nothing. In other words, unless I know what I am sharing, what do I have to share?
 

My conclusion is that a person cannot be confessional without being missional because being missional simply flows out of being confessional. On the other hand, a person can be missional according to their own definition of being missional without being confessional; however, as we have seen, without a confession to be missional about this lack of a confession simply means they truly are neither confessional nor missional.

The Great Giving of Authority and Promise

At the end of his Gospel, Matthew writes, “16Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. 17And when they saw him they worshiped him, but some doubted. 18And Jesus came and said to them, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age’” (Matthew 28:16-20).
 

For years we have called these verses the Great Commission and have guilted people into unnaturally and awkwardly “sharing their faith” with others. I have read books which tell us that 10% of people are evangelists but 100% are witnesses. I have read books on how to share your faith. The question I would like to begin addressing is this: “Is there specifically a Lutheran approach to witnessing/evangelism and accomplishing what is given in Matthew?”
 

I believe that there is a Lutheran approach which flows out of what we believe, teach and confess. I believe it is a Biblical approach based on this Matthew passage. In this passage we are told that Jesus tells His eleven disciples that He has all authority, that is God has restored to Jesus full use of His divine powers, of which He had given up full usage when He came down to earth and was incarnate in Bethlehem. I believe that this was important information for these eleven because we are told that some of them had doubts. Interestingly enough, these eleven who had been with Jesus for the past three years, watching Him do miracles, heal, walk on water, raise the dead, cast out demons, change water into wine and so on, doubted. This kind of gives me comfort and hope.
 

So, Jesus (ἐδόθη - aorist, passive, indicative) has been given authority. It already belongs to Jesus, so it is His to give. And what is this authority? This authority (ἐξουσία - noun) is the authority, power, ability, and right to exercise what Jesus commands. Jesus gives us His authority. He gives His authority to use which means we have the right as well as the power and ability to baptize and teach.
 

How do we use that authority? Are we commanded to go? No, we are not commanded to go. Instead Jesus tells us that as we are going (πορευθέντες - aorist, passive, participle, nominative) we are making disciples. This is not an imperative but a participle and a passive participle at that, so that as you are going, as you are living your life, you are to make disciples (not apostles, not ministers), and there is a way in which you are to make disciples, students of Christ, by baptizing and teaching.
 

And in order to squelch our fears, God gives us His promise that He will be with us. Earlier in His Gospel Jesus encourages us by telling us that we will suffer for His name’s sake, and we will have opportunities to bear witness of our faith, but He tells us, “do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say, for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour” (Matthew 10:19b).
 

The Apostle Peter encourages us as well telling us that, “14But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, 15but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, 16having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame” (1 Peter 3:14-16).
 

So, what does all this tell us about a Lutheran Theology of Evangelism? It tells us that we are all evangelists as well as witnesses. It tells us that God gives us the authority to be evangelists as well as witnesses. It tells us that, as we live our lives in our various vocations, we live in such as way that others witness our faith in Christ so that as they ask, we are prepared to give an answer for our faith and that God will give us the words that we need when we need to speak.
 

Evangelism is not necessarily confrontational, rather it is a part of our daily lives. We are not all ministers or pastors, but we are all priests in the priesthood of all believers. As priests, we offer our lives as living sacrifices to the Lord (Romans 12:1). As priests, we offer Philip’s simple invitation to Nathanael, “Come and see” (John 1:46). And then we let God do His work. Through Holy Baptism and/or through His Word, God gives and works faith when and where He pleases.
 

Lutheran Evangelism then is a living faith. It is not being concerned about how many calls are made, how many people are invited, how many people show up. It is not concerned about getting anything right or wrong. It is about simply living and inviting, about being ready to give an answer as directed by God. It is about letting God do His work and believe He will do His work (often in spite of us).
 

Lutheran Evangelism then necessarily includes making regular and diligent use of God’s means of grace. It means being in Divine Service and Bible class as often as offered. It means a Divine Service which is permeated with the Word of God and good Lutheran doctrine which teaches those gathered so that they will have the words to speak that the Lord will use when they have the opportunity to give an answer or defense of their faith. And it means not being worried about whether or not we say the right thing.

I Am Living Bread - August 19, 2012 - Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 15) - Text: John 6:51-69

I want to begin this morning with a note of clarification. If you remember, we are reading through our Lectionary series the second year or the year B in which our Gospel readings are primarily from the Gospel of Mark. However, since Mark is the shortest Gospel, we have several Sundays where our lessons are from the Gospel of John and today, again, is one of those Sundays. And actually, in their wisdom, the Lectionary committee has put together what in the past has been two Gospel readings, John 6:51-58 and John 6:60-69.
 

This week we continue in the Gospel of John and we begin by hearing more about spiritual food, specifically we hear more about eating Jesus who is the bread of life. I suppose just hearing about eating a person without the proper context might bring one to imagine that we, in the Christian church are cannibals, which accusation has been around since the early church and the practice of closed communion so that no one outside the faith was allowed to participate in the eating of the Lord’s Supper, but that is not the case that we are cannibals and that is not a proper understanding of what it taking place. To help us to understand what we are talking about we need to make a distinction between the two types of eating which we read and hear about in God’s Word. There is physical eating and drinking. This physical eating and drinking is where we actually eat meat and vegetables in order to sustain our physical bodies, in order to have fuel for our bodies so we might be able to live in this world. The other type of eating is what we call spiritual eating. This spiritual eating is an eating of spiritual food, the means of grace, the Word of God, confession and absolution, Holy Baptism and the Lord’s Supper, to sustain our spirit, our soul. And this spiritual eating is just as important if not more important especially for our eternal well being. If all we eat in this world is junk food then we will get fat and this eating may lead to an early physical death. Likewise, if we only eat spiritual junk food it may lead to an eternal spiritual death, what we call hell. We know what physical junk food is, but what is spiritual junk food? Spiritual junk food consists of the theologies and philosophies of this world which are contrary to God’s Word. We must continually take care in discerning what we read, what we hear, what we see, comparing everything to God’s Word, so that we are not eating spiritual junk food which ultimately leads too eternal spiritual death.
 

Let us take a closer look, then, at this spiritual eating and drinking. Throughout the Old Testament we are reminded of the importance of sacrifices. All the sacrifices which God instituted in the Old Testament were meant to point the people to the one ultimate sacrifice as well as to remind the people that there was a price for sin. The price, the cost for sin, is the shedding of blood and death. This cost, this price goes all the way back to the Garden of Eden where God told Adam and Eve that the day they ate from the tree of “knowledge of good and evil,” they would surely die and they did. They ate and immediately they died. They died a spiritual death and they began dying a physical death. In the Garden God promised Adam and Eve that He would send someone who would pay the price for their sins and then He sacrificed animals to make clothes for them to wear. Later God set up the sacrificial system so that the penitent would be reminded that the price for sin was the shedding of blood. The penitent would bring a spotless lamb, a lamb which was perfect, which had no flaw, which had no broken bones. It was to be a perfect lamb.
 

The penitent would bring the lamb to the priest who would kill the lamb. He would keep part of it for his food and offer the rest to God as a sacrifice. Through the death of the lamb, through the shedding of the blood of the lamb the penitent was reminded of the cost for his or her sin, the price for sin is the shedding of blood, death. It was not this sacrifice which paid the price for their sin, this sacrifice was merely a reminder and served only to point to the ultimate sacrifice, the sacrifice of the one promised, the Son of God, who would pay the price, who would die for the sins of all people.
 

After the lamb was killed, after the priest took his portion, and after the lamb was sacrificed and burned on the altar, then right there in the temple, the family would gather around and eat the sacrifice. They would partake in this sacrifice, physically eating the sacrifice as they participated in this reminder of the death of the lamb for their sins.
 

Now, fast forward with me to the New Testament and to the time of Jesus. Jesus was and is true God. As true God He took on human flesh and blood. He was born as a human. He was like us in all respects except that He was without sin. Jesus came to do everything perfectly for us, in our place. All the things we could not do, live perfectly and obey all God’s commands perfectly, He did for us in our place. After He perfectly accomplished everything for us, Jesus took our sins, all our sins and the sins of all people of all places, of all times upon Himself and then He brought Himself, the perfect, spotless lamb forward to be sacrificed for us. He did not bring a lamb as a reminder that the price for sin was death and the shedding of blood. No, He came as the perfect Lamb of God to shed His blood, once for all, for our forgiveness.
 

Jesus is the spotless lamb. He is also the priest who took Himself and had Himself killed for us in our place. And He invites us to come and to eat of this sacrifice of Himself. We eat and drink of our Lord at His Holy Supper, at the Lord’s Table. We come to His table to eat His body and to drink His blood. We come to His table and as we eat and drink of Him we participate in His death and resurrection. His death becomes our death. His resurrection becomes our resurrection. His life, His eternal life becomes our life.
 

In the second part of our text we are told that there were some people who were offended by Jesus, or who took offense at Jesus and left. This happens too often in our world today. People take offense at Jesus. Please notice, Jesus did not dumb down, nor cease speaking hard words as too many so called Christian churches do today, compromising “for the sake of the Gospel” as they put it. Perhaps Jesus’ words might encourage us to boldly proclaim His Word, even if others take offense. And perhaps Jesus is again reminding us of the importance of keeping His teachings right and true over being concerned about offending others. As Peter explains, Jesus is the one who has the words of eternal life, where else can we go?
 

So what does this mean and what does this mean to us today? We are in the same shape as Adam and Eve. We are in the same shape as the children of Israel. We are sinners! We sin in thought, word and deed, in our actions. I would suggest that we probably more often sin sins of omission than sins of commission. In other words, we are probably pretty good about not doing the things we should not do, but we are probably not as good about doing the good things we should be doing. We omit doing the good things we should be doing, which is a sin, just as much as doing the things we should not be doing.
 

We cannot save ourselves, no matter how much we might try. And believe me, we do try. We like to offer our good works to God thinking that maybe, just because we are good, at least some of the time, that may justify and erase our being bad some of the time. In other words, maybe our good works make up for some of our sins. We just do not like the idea of God having to die too much for us. We do not mind saying the Jesus had to die for us, but we do not want to admit that He had do die as much for me as He did for the person who is really bad. What we forget is that all sins are equally damnable in God’s eyes. So our sins are just as bad as everyone else’s, the pastor’s included.
 

Sometimes we have doubts. It is too often that I hear, even good Lutherans make the statement, or one like it, “I hope I will go to heaven.” Folks, Ladies and Gentlemen, we do not hope for heaven, unless ours is a Biblical hope which is a certainty. Heaven is ours. Heaven is a present reality. It is a free gift. It was earned for us by Jesus’ death and it is given to us through the means of grace, as we eat and drink of our Lord through His Word, through Holy Baptism, through confession and absolution and through His Holy Supper. If asked what is the hope we have we will answer, “I know I am going to heaven.”
 

Thanks be to God that He continues to draw us to faith and give us faith by the working of the Holy Spirit through the means of grace. As we read our Bibles, as we remember our Baptism, as we confess our sins and hear His word of absolution, as we come to the Lord’s Table, we eat and drink the Lord, we are given faith and forgiveness of sins, we strengthened in faith and kept in faith.
 

Especially as we come to the Lord’s Table we eat His body and drink His blood. We participate in His death and resurrection. His death becomes our death, His resurrection becomes our resurrection, His life becomes our life. By faith in Jesus we have life, better life in this world and life in the world to come, eternal life, heaven.
 

We continue to need to eat physical food in order to sustain our lives in this world. Along those lines I might remind you that we need to eat good food, nourishing food, food of a good balanced diet, but we also need to eat good spiritual food. We can dine on the philosophies and teachings of this world, which we would consider junk food, or we can feed on good food, the best food of the means of Grace, God’s Word, the Bible, confession and absolution, and the Sacraments, Holy Baptism and the Lord’s Supper.
 

I want to leave you with Jesus’ words this morning, because, as always,  I believe that He says it best. And His words are words which strengthen us so that we are able to face whatever lies ahead in life. Jesus says, “I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.” So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven, not as the fathers ate and died. Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever” (John 6:51,53-58). To God be the glory, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

Offending For Doctrine

While working on Sunday’s text from the Gospel of John, especially reading John 6:60-71, and after doing some research on the new fad of being missional as it is being labeled, some preliminary thoughts have come to mind. These are not necessarily to be included in Sunday’s sermon, nor are these in any particular order. Stay tuned for more on this topic in a later blog.

Interestingly enough, I would suggest that, again we see in Holy Scripture the importance of doctrine even over outreach (cf. The Children of Israel entering the promised land, wiping out the people, not being missional to them, and Elijah and the prophets of Baal, when Elijah mocked and killed the enemies of God, not being missional to them), or as some say today, confession over being missional. Of course, any good farmer will tell you that if you do not have good seed you will not have a good crop.

Jesus seems to be more interested in the truth of His teaching, even if others take offense (notice the difference between giving and taking offense) He is determined to not back down from the hard teachings, even if this means losing some, which seems to be happening. Perhaps a good lesson for us today, especially for those “Christian” churches that acquiesce to the culture for the sake of reaching out with the word of God, or those churches that seek to be relevant, or those who seek to meet the felt needs of the people (of course here we could go on a side track and be reminded how Jesus always dealt with real needs, forgiveness, before dealing with so called felt needs), for those churches who want to have “hip” and “with it” worship because that is what people want. Perhaps we would do well to follow Jesus’ example and continue with the hard teachings, not giving in to popular culture, teaching how our divine service is a reflection and flows out of what we believe, teach and confess.

Remember, God never said to be successful, whatever that means (actually it is only used in a military context and when God gives the victory) but we are to be faithful! Just some thoughts.