The Augsburg Confession: In, But Not
Of
Pastor Mathew Magera – 8/6/17 – Sermon 239
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.
Have you ever just wanted to
fit in? To have that sense of belonging? To have a place of comfort? To know
that you were safe from harm? Yes, I imagine at some point or another, we've all
wanted to fit in. Nowhere is this more apparent for me than high school. I'm
not sure what it was like for you when you were in high school but for me it
was all about being popular, being the best. I had no chance at this, of course.
A snowball had a better chance in a hot oven than I did being popular in high
school. If I had any chance of fitting in, it was in band.
My high school was made up
of six concert bands. Yes, six. Each made up of about 50 students and within
the band program itself was its own little ring of popularity. If you were in
the top two bands, you were considered an elite musician among the students.
And, well, if you were in the lowest, well, nobody ever wanted to be in that
band. So, when it came time to audition at the end of the school year for next
year's placements, you just hoped that you were good enough to not be in the
lowest band. If you were really good, you just hoped to not be placed in one of
the lower four bands. The competition was fierce. It didn't stop at what band
you were in, but what chair you were placed in, to the finest detail. Nobody
wanted to be last chair and play the third or fourth part. Everyone wanted that
first chair, playing the first part, the best part. Everyone wanted the praise
of being section leader and playing the most recognizable part that their
instrument played. Being placed higher in a band gave you a better possibility
of even having a solo in one of the songs you played. I was no different than
the rest of the crowd in high school. I wanted a good placement like everyone
else. I didn't want to play second or third trumpet parts. I just wanted to fit
in. I just wanted to find my place, to be recognized, to be the best at
something and I even got my chance a few times during those four years.
I believe the church in the
times of the Reformation wanted to fit in. It wanted to be recognized. It
wanted to be the popular high school student who ran the school. Christianity
has never been popular. People didn't like Jesus. They wanted to kill him. They
succeeded. Then they wanted to kill anybody who believed in him. But, the
church was growing and expanding and it was taking root and suddenly it had its
chance. The Christian church was going to be popular. It became influential. It
became noticeable. It became important. And if you weren't in it you were not
worth much. Men would go into the monasteries; women would go into the abbeys
to become holier people. Sometimes parents forced their children onto this path
believing they knew what was best for them. If anyone had a chance of cleaning
up their lives and getting close to God, becoming a monk or a nun was the
answer. But, these places were strict and many didn't know what they were
getting into and becoming a monk or a nun even felt like being imprisoned at
times. On top of this, those with high stature in the church, the bishops, and
even the Pope sought positions of power and influence that even spilled into
the secular realm. They wooed and influenced their local princes and politics
and it seemed as if there was little or no separation between church and state
as the church was becoming the state itself. The church had position to enforce
laws upon people, to punish them. Perhaps it just wanted to fit in. But, others
believed something was wrong with the popular church. Martin Luther was one of
those people.
Our last two articles of the
Augsburg Confession combat this arrangement of becoming holy through the
monasteries and the abbeys. They combat the church's position of power in civil
government. They shut down that very popularity that had taken nearly 1500
years to establish. Perhaps you can now imagine why the Reformation is so
recognizable in history. The popular kid in school was being challenged. Even
today, the church struggles with how to be popular. What's the newest thing to
reach those who don't go to church? How can we make church flashy and new? How
can we bring people in to fill the pews? How can we be popular? Well, the
unfortunate truth is that the church has never been popular and never will be
popular.
Of the many things Jesus
ever said, he said, "my kingdom is not of this world." When Jesus
says this, it is often our understanding that Jesus is saying, "My kingdom
is not here, it is far, far away." However, if we believe this, we are
missing what Jesus is saying. Jesus constantly tells his disciples that the
kingdom of God has come near to them. It's not some sort of distant planet that
is slowly getting close to earth but instead it is a way of life. When Jesus
says my kingdom is not of this world he means it is not found in how the
kingdoms of the world are operated. There is the kingdom ruled by laws and
government and then there is the kingdom ruled by grace and forgiveness and
that is the kingdom the church finds itself, that is Christ’s kingdom. Why
can't the church be popular? Because while the foundation of the church is
found IN the world, it is not OF the world and it is therefore different and
impossible to be the same.
Our bodies, our minds, our
logic, our natural tendencies ARE of this world and that is why we still find ourselves desperate, as the
church, to fit in with main stream society. We feel it is our goal to place
ourselves into that never-ending race toward popularity and we struggle so much
to see truth in what comes our way. Where do we find our place? How do we fit
in? What is it that we can be the best at? We, the church, are going through
the expanse of time just trying to find our place in it. While our role may not
be found in the flashy new way to get people excited about church, it is found
in the Bible.
Peter has a message for the
church. Within that message, I’ve found that Peter is identifying at least five
roles that the church should play. He addresses every single person in the
church, those who are experienced in faith, much like us and those who are new
to it.
He says, "To the elders among you, I appeal as a
fellow elder and a witness of Christ's sufferings who also will share in the
glory to be revealed: Be shepherds of God's flock that is under your care,
watching over them." So,
here is the first role. The church is to be shepherds of the flock. We should
take care of each other. If one of us not feeling well, we should reach out to
the one. If one of us is rejoicing, we should rejoice with the one. If one of
us needs help in some way, we should offer to help. As Peter says, we should be
shepherds.
He goes on to say, "All of you, clothe yourselves with
humility toward one another, because, ‘God opposes the proud but shows favor to
the humble.’ Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may
lift you up in due time." We should be humble. This is where the
shepherd quality comes from. We should be comfortable in our faith and put
others first. Being humble doesn't mean being weak but it requires strength to
be humble. Ready to serve but also recognizing that we need God's help.
Peter then says in verse 7, "Cast all your anxiety on him because
he cares for you." We carry lots of anxiety around fitting in and
finding our place as a church but that's because we're trying to live in but
not of the world. There is bound to be conflict. But Peter says to give all
that anxiety to God. It's his to worry about not ours. We are given the
opportunity to lay that on him.
Fourth, he says now in verse
8, "Be alert and of sober mind. Your
enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to
devour." This is why being humble requires strength. There is an enemy
waiting to trample us but we are called to be alert and to keep a watchful eye
for where he will try to derail us. Lastly, in verse 9, Peter says, "Resist him, standing firm in the
faith, because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is
undergoing the same kind of sufferings." Not only should we be alert
but we should resist Satan. Don't give in to his temptations because they are
there and they are very much real.
Now, if you’re wondering if Peter
is pulling all of these out of thin air, he's not. Being shepherds, being
humble, giving God our anxiety, being alert and resisting Satan. Peter didn't
just make this up. He just described Jesus himself. Jesus did all of this.
Jesus said he was the good shepherd. The apostle Paul calls out his humility in
the book of Philippians. He humbled himself by becoming obedient to death, even
death on a cross. He gave God his anxiety. Jesus didn't want to go to the
cross. He went out to Mount of Olives and prayed that God would take that cup
from him, that he would not have to do it. He cast his anxiety on God the
Father. He was alert. Jesus seemed to notice everything like a woman touching
his clothes on a crowded street. He seemed to hear everything like when James
and John were talking about who was to be the best in the coming kingdom.
Finally, Jesus resisted Satan. In the wilderness after his baptism, he
completed the test that Adam and Eve failed in the garden. All of this that
Peter presents to us the church is what Jesus had already done. Peter is giving
us Jesus as that example, a humble servant. That is the role of the church.
So, when it comes to trying
to fit in, the church does not fit in to the world at all. If you are a
Christian, you do not fit in with how the world works. You live in world of
laws and scarcity and death and loss but you thrive in a kingdom built on life,
grace and forgiveness. No, you do not fit into the world at all.
The church isn’t meant to be
popular, it is meant to be humble. The church is not supposed to stand high on
a pedestal but it is supposed to be there when you fall off of yours. That’s
what Jesus came for. That’s what he established the church for, not for the
proud, but for the humble and the weak. The church's place has always been a
place where when we fall we can land in comfort. The church has always been a
support, a source of encouragement, and that's what it is supposed to be. It’s meant
to give us Jesus. It must be where we can find healing, where we can find hope.
So, yes, have you ever
wanted to be popular? To fit in? To be the best at something? Yeah, I think we
all have. And the reason is because we are worldly people. It's only natural.
But God is outside of nature. It's hard to believe that God's kingdom is not of
this world. It's hard to believe that we don't have to do anything to earn
God's favor. It's hard to believe that God's grace is free. But that’s where we
fit. That’s what our souls crave. It’s what our faith clings to.
Going through the Augsburg
Confession this summer was not about just reading about history but it was
about showing us that all along, the church just needs Jesus. That’s where it
fits in. That’s what it can be the best at, giving Jesus. And so we take a look
at Peter's closing words in our reading today as that final piece of hope that
in humility we are doing the work of the church. Peter says, "And the God of all grace, who called
you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while,
will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast. To him be the
power for ever and ever. Amen." That suffering is us not fitting into
the world. It’s our struggle with sickness, with guilt, with disappointment,
with those in power, and with the quest for power itself. No, it's not easy to have
faith, but we are promised to be restored and given new strength by leaning on
Jesus. Now it's up to God to keep and fulfill that promise. We can rest it all
on him and He will do what he has promised. Leave that all at the altar when
you receive Communion today and exchange it for that one place you do fit in,
the kingdom of God in Jesus Christ broken and shed for you for the forgiveness
of sin. To God be the glory, now and always. Amen.