The Augsburg Confession: Means of
Grace
Pastor Mathew Magera – 6/25/17 – Sermon 234
St. Thomas Lutheran Church, Trufant, MI
To God be the Glory!
Grace and peace to you from
God our Father, from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
How do I know I'm saved? Have
you ever asked yourself that question before? How do I know I'm saved? I
wonder, why does this question concern us so much? If we think about it deeply,
I believe our concern comes from the fact that no matter the number of times we
say we are overall good people, we still realize the natural ability that we
have to sin and actually reject God. Our concern over our salvation may stem
from the thought that our sin is just too great or that God's power is just not
strong enough. The concern here is doubt. We doubt our ability to be better
people and/or we doubt God's ability to overcome our natural tendencies.
Tempted by logic and reason and with no physical assurance aside from words
written on the pages of the Bible, it is impossible to actually know that we
are saved in the same way that we know how to win a game of checkers, let's
say. So, the answer to the question how do I know I'm saved may actually alarm
you to know that the answer is simply we don't possess the answer. How do I
know when I win a game of checkers if I've never played it before? I don't.
When I was little, I used to
play checkers with my grandma. It was one of the first games I ever remember
learning how to play and my grandma taught me how. I remember sitting at her
kitchen table playing checkers. Now, imagine if she just sat me down and gave
me no instructions whatsoever. All I had was her to watch and imitate. With no
step by step guide, it is impossible for me to know I've won because I don't
actually know what winning is. I would never know that I've won the game until
somebody told me. You can say this about every game we've ever played. We
either look in the directions for the heading "Winning the game" or
when someone is explaining the rules, we listen very carefully for them to say
the words, "okay, this is how you win." Sure, I could jump over all
of my opponent's pieces but if I didn't know that was the goal, the only way I
would know if I won would be if I were told. And if I didn't know how to play,
that would seem like an endlessly impossible task. But once I did win, I would
have to fully rely on someone else to tell me and then I would have to believe
what they say. I would have to trust in their knowledge of the game. So, going
back to that question, how do I know I'm saved? We don't have the answer. We
have to be told. On top of that, we have to believe what we are told. We must
have faith. How are we told? Good question, I'm glad you asked.
If you were to take a guess
right now as to how we are told of our salvation, the Bible is probably high on
that list of guesses, I can imagine. Perhaps being told by someone special to
you, a parent, a spouse, sibling or maybe a pastor. Being reassured. Going to
church might also be in your list of guesses. More importantly, Holy Communion
and Baptism. Maybe a sermon or two. All of these can be tied together into what
we call and what we began to reference last week as Word and Sacrament. This
week, we take that one step further and we investigate just what Word and
Sacrament do. How is faith nurtured? How are we told of our salvation?
Lutherans call these the
means of grace. Essentially the means of grace are the ways through which God
gives us His grace. The means of grace are instruments by which all spiritual
blessings are rained down upon us. These means of grace include the Gospel (the
Word, written and proclaimed) as well as our two Sacraments of Holy Baptism and
Holy Communion. Sometimes confession and absolution are included here too as
they proclaim the Good News but don't contain a physical element as the
Sacraments do.
Our second reading from Acts
encompasses all of these elements, which is why we read it today. In Acts 2,
Peter is instructing the new believers in receiving God's grace. His first instruction:
Repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus for the forgiveness of sins. About
three thousand people were added to their number. They wanted that grace. They
wanted that freedom. The last verse says they “devoted themselves to the
apostles' teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of the bread and to
prayer.” Here we have reference of the spoken Word and Holy Communion. Word and
Sacrament, the means of grace, present together in the formation and the nurturing
of the early church. Stepping stones for us as the church in 2017.
Why was this important
during the Reformation? The reformers needed to remind the Catholic Church of
God's primary role in Word and Sacrament. In order to show that it was God's
pure grace coming down and nothing that we are obligated to do for God, the
reformers had to define Baptism and Communion. They do so, although briefly, in
articles 9 and 10 of the Augsburg Confession and the Roman Catholic Church
agrees with their brief statements. There were still differences in understanding
of these two items between the reformers and the Catholic Church but those
differences did not surface in these two articles as the reformers mostly aimed
at defining what was going on in these acts.
For Baptism, the reformers
argue three points, that Baptism is necessary for salvation, that in Baptism
God's grace is offered, and that children should be baptized. Again, not that
the Catholics were teaching otherwise, but that there were others who were
beginning to teach otherwise. For Communion, the main argument is that Christ
is truly present within the bread and wine. It was agreed upon by the Catholics
that this was true. Differences of opinion surface later within this document,
particularly regarding which elements are given and later arguments through the
Reformation surface on how Christ is present in the sacrament. Then in article
11, writer Philip Melanchthon defines and upholds the need for private
confession in the church. Of course, the Catholic Church would agree with this
as they had been doing that already. Still, there is a pretty significant
different between the Catholics and the reformers that has not been addressed
as of yet. But, here it comes.
What differed between the
reformers and the Roman Catholic Church on these three articles was this.
Articles 12 and 13 on repentance and the use of the sacraments drew up quite
the argument and awakened a sleeping giant. When Melanchthon inferred that the
sacraments were not to be seen as human works but rather as signs of God and acts
toward us, they were met with utter rejection.
You see, the problem was
that many of these things that we understand to be gifts from God to help us in
our walk of faith were becoming pressured requirements from the Catholic Church,
almost to the point of scare tactics to keep people in line. It didn't just
confine itself to the sacraments, but with the entire church order. Before the
Augsburg Confession, even before Luther posted the 95 theses, the Roman
Catholic Church allowed the creation of a group of people who could go out into
the Holy Roman Empire and enforce the rules of the church on those who were not
properly practicing Catholics. They called this the inquisition. They literally
tortured people. They burned people at the stake that did not do everything
correctly. Where was the grace of God in the inquisition? God's grace was only
for you if you did A, B, and C. If you didn't do A, B, and C, you did not earn
God's grace. The reformers said, no. There is no Gospel here. Jesus came to
bring a new covenant. Jesus came to bring a new church. Jesus came to bring
freedom. Jesus came to tell us that God's grace, through the cross, is free.
How are we supposed to hear
the answer to the question we have been asking if we are so concerned about
earning the right to God's grace? How are we supposed to know that even if we
complete all the requirements for such and such that it is even enough? What if
we didn't put our heart and soul into it? What if we were distracted? What if
we just keep on sinning and can't stop? How can we hear that message of grace?
The simple answer is we can't.
Word and Sacrament cannot be
means of grace unless they first convey that grace freely. Our sins are already
forgiven. The Baptismal water has already been poured. The cup has already been
lifted up. These are gifts and they are for you. They are to nurture the faith
of the believer, not test it. They are to comfort the believer, not stress them
out. They are to bring peace to the believer, not fear. A sense of fear was
instilled in the people. Exhorting them for money to pay for the sins of their
relatives, buying their way into heaven because God's grace was being withheld.
This was the reason behind the 95 theses and it opened a large can of worms
after that. God's grace isn't like that. God's grace doesn't wait for the
offering plate to be filled up. God's grace doesn't wait for the budget to be
met. God's grace doesn't wait for buildings and sanctuaries to be built. God's
grace doesn't wait for you to do what is right. God's grace comes to you
because you can't do what is right. God's grace comes to you and says I am
enough for you. God's grace comes to you and says I have done it all for you. I
have lifted the burden from you. I have forgiven your sins. I have sacrificed my
Son for you. I have bestowed my Spirit upon you in the waters of Baptism. God's
grace comes to us first. That's the means of grace. How do we know we are
saved? God reminds us. He tells us again and again. Through the proclamation of
His Word, through the forgiveness of sins, through the waters of baptism,
through the bread and the wine. He reminds us. He tells us. He says, you are my
child.
So, I hope you can see why
that is important to us now. It is so easy to forget God's grace comes first
and it is so easy to get caught up in what we have to do to be saved. But just
as Peter and the early church had practiced, the means of grace were enough to
grow the church by leaps and bounds. We can also think of like the story of the
rich young man that came to Jesus and asked, "what must I do to be
saved?" and Jesus told him to keep the commandments. "I have. What
more must I do?" Jesus said, "Sell everything you have and give to
the poor. Then come and follow me." Of course the rich young man turned
and walked away sad. He asked what he must do in order to be saved and it was
an impossible task. He wasn’t looking for God’s free grace. But, there was an
easier way and it was not about him doing a single thing but about Jesus doing
everything. It is so easy for us to get caught up in what we must do that it
will do nothing but cast us away just like that rich young man because it is
impossible to do what is needed to be saved. All we need to do is let Jesus
take care of it. We need to let go and let Jesus do the work and to remind us
constantly that we are in his care. That's grace.
So, the next time you find
yourself asking "how do I know I'm saved?" or when someone you know
asks that question of you or of themselves, you can say this: God reminds me
each time I go to worship. God reminds me each time I hear his Word read. God
reminds me each time I hear His word preached. God reminds me each time I
receive Holy Communion. God reminds me each time I hear the words "In the
name of Jesus Christ your sins are forgiven." God reminds me constantly.
That's how I know I'm saved. Not by what I do. But, because of his grace. To
God be the glory, now and always. Amen.