Full Text for Confessions 2- Volume 56 - Shouldn't All Churches Try to Come Together? (Video)

ROUGHLY EDITED COPY LUTHERAN CONFESSIONS LC2 56 Captioning Provided By: Caption First, Inc. P.O. Box 1924 Lombard, IL 60148 800 825 5234 www.captionfirst.com *** This text is being provided in a rough draft format. Communication Access Realtime Translation (CART) is provided in order to facilitate communication accessibility and may not be a totally verbatim record of the proceedings. *** >> JOSH: Sometimes I wonder whether there should be a Lutheran church. After all, with so many different churches today, shouldn't we try and do something to bring them all together? Are only Lutherans saved? I don't think so. But what do we say about people in other churches? Can you give me a good reason why the Lutheran church should continue to exist today? >> DR. RAST: Wow, Josh. You've asked a lot of very good questions in a very short space. First and foremost, let's be clear on this point. And you've gotten it right. Lutherans have never said that they alone are saved. Put it another way, we have never insisted that one formally be a member of the Lutheran church in order to be considered a Christian. If we had done that, we would have likely excommunicated Luther himself who never really saw himself as starting a new church but simply working to reform the existing church. Indeed in Luther's mind, there was one church, the church of all those who believed in Christ as Savior. Luther repeatedly expressed his lack of comfort with the fact that he and his followers were being called Lutherans. They didn't like the fact that the name of a man was being applied to what they believe should instead focus on the Gospel of Christ. They would have referred to have been called evangelicals, Gospel people, working for reform within the context of the existing church. They did certainly not try and start an entirely new tradition. In this respect they were simply respecting what the Lord Christ himself prayed for as we have it recorded in John chapter 17. His famous high priestly prayer. Perhaps you remember the 22nd verse of John 17. "The glory that you have given me I have given to them that they may be one even as we are one." That was the prayer of Christ. However, even in apostolic times, the scriptures make this very clear. The church living under the cross has struggled to keep the message of the Gospel in its truth and purity. In fact, as time progressed following the resurrection of Christ both Paul and other apostles, John included, and Peter had to address issues emerging within the church where error was being mixed with truth. Paul in Galatians. You foolish Galatians who has bewitched you with a different Gospel. That in fact no Gospel at all. Or in first John chapter 4 verse 1, speaking very pointedly, John says, "Beloved, do not believe every spirit but tests the spirits to see whether they are from God. For many false prophets have gone out into the world." and their effects were being felt in the church as well. And then second Peter chapter 2 verse 1. "But the false prophets also rose among the people just as there will be false teachers among you who will secretly bring in destructive heresies even denying the master who bought them." That's what the formulators of the Formula of Concord are driving at here. That in fact, within the context of the church living under the cross that the church continually needs to test the spirits to see if what is being proclaimed is true. And to watch out for the intrusion of problems. This is not meant to be a kind of triumphalistic we have the truth and you do not. But rather a safeguarding of the Gospel so that the mission of the church can continue and more and more people can come to know of Christ as their Savior. And so we see a listing here that reflects the reality of their times. Historical facts that we see Anabaptists, Schwenkfelders, new Arians and new Trinitarians mentioned by the formulators in this particular instance. The Anabaptists were soft, shall we say, on clearly confessing the article of justification. They added the necessity of a pious and obedient life to that of the work of Christ in order that a person might be considered saved. Lutherans criticized them for this because it obscured the work of God for us, namely, his grace and mercy in Christ alone. They also criticized the Anabaptists for their emphasis on the necessity of adult baptism, baptism by immersion in some cases, and the idea that baptism was in fact an act of obedience on the part of the human subjects. The Schwenkfelders confused the two natures of Christ, denied that baptism fore gave sins and worked rebirth and also denied that Christ was truly present in the sacrament of the altar. The New Arians repeated the error of the old Arians seeing Christ as something less than God the Father, subordinate to him in essence. And, finally, the New Trinitarians simply denied the trinity intended towards a kind of Unitarianism which caused all kinds of confusions and denial of pure scriptural doctrine. Now, in many cases the points of these named adversaries here were not new. There were old Arians and old anti Trinitarians and the themes of the Anabaptists as wells as the Schwenkfelders had been present before, and they continue to be present today. Josh, you asked me to give you a good reason why the Lutheran church should continue to exist. Well first let me give you a reason why it shouldn't continue to exist. It shouldn't continue to exist simply for the sake of itself as an institution. We simply are not aiming at maintaining an institution of reality in the world as an historical fact. That's neither here nor there. But why continue with the Lutheran church? I think what this study of a Formula of Concord shows us so clearly is the great gift that Lutherans can provide to the church at large as well as to the world at large. Clarity in regard to the Gospel. The clear distinction between law and Gospel. The clear and unencumbered focus on God's gracious work in Christ. Lutherans have had a tremendous blessing given to them, something recognized by these formulas. They said in many ways we're not burdened at having to be innovative theologically speaking. We are burdened to be innovative in addressing our times. But theologically in terms of the message that we have, God has given that to us in the scriptures. And we simply seek to be faithful to them, to speak that unchanging truth of the word of God in our contemporary situation. And what we can learn from the Formula of Concord is that same clear confession of Christ crucified and risen again. Scripture alone, grace alone, faith alone all Christ alone for a world that so desperately needs to hear that good news. So why keep the Lutheran church? Not for the sake of itself but for the sake of the proclamation of the Gospel. And in that sense, Josh, I hope you and the others who see this tape will see as well and commit yourselves also to the glorious proclamation of that good news of God's salvation in Christ. If there's one thing we pulled out of all of this text and all of our considerations of this material over the course of our study of the Formula of Concord, it's this: That indeed Christ is all in all. I pray God's richest blessings upon you as you share that message taking that good news of price to a world in need. Indeed, you will be a blessing to many others. God's richest blessings and may He be with you always.