The Presentation of the Augsburg Confession (Pentecost 3-B), June 25, 2006

Text: Romans 10:5-17

Saved By the Word

Today we commemorate what many consider the birthday of the Lutheran
Church. In 1530, Emperor Charles V convened what was called a "diet",
that is, an official gathering in Augsburg to resolve religious
differences in the Holy Roman Empire. Various groups were summoned to give an
account of their faith before the emperor. Because Martin Luther had
already been branded an "outlaw," it was not safe for him to travel
to Augsburg. But through letters he communicated regularly with his
colleague Philip Melanchthon, who had primary responsibility in Augsburg
for preparing the statement of the Lutherans. On this day in June, 1530,
their statement - the Augsburg Confession - was read aloud before the
emperor. In a series of twenty-eight articles, the confessors presented
a clear summary of the Biblical, Lutheran faith.

Our Second reading from the 10th chapter of Romans is cited in article
4 of the Augsburg Confession as containing the most important teaching
of the Christian faith: That we receive forgiveness of sins and become
righteous before God by grace alone through faith in Christ"s work
for us. The Roman church taught that grace and faith in Christ were not
enough for one to become righteous before God, but that good works
needed to be performed as well.

At the end of the Diet, Charles ordered the Lutherans to renounce their
Biblical faith and accept the teachings of the Roman Church.
Fortunately, they did not. They took their stand on God"s Word and were willing
to accept the risks of being outlaws of the Empire. And so the Lutheran
Church was born.

Today we will examine the way that leads to righteousness as it is
described in our reading from Romans. There two kinds of righteousness are
contrasted: "Moses describes in this way the righteousness that is by
the Law: "The man who does these things will live by them." But the
righteousness that is by faith says: ... "The Word is near you; it is
in your mouth and in your heart," that is, the word of faith we are
proclaiming: That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord,"
and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be
saved."

The first way of righteousness, then, is by the Law. God"s Law is
holy and perfect, and everyone who keeps it is righteous. There is only
one problem with this. Only one human being who walked this earth
actually kept God"s Law - Jesus. For the rest of us law-breakers, God"s
Law is deadly, for it judges and condemns us. It is impossible through
human efforts to achieve the kind of righteousness God requires.
It is sad that many who call themselves Christians today choose to
either ignore or to change God"s Law because it conflicts with the kind
of life they want to live. One example we looked at in our Bible class
last month is the author of the Da Vinci Code. In his book he tries to
convince us that the real Jesus was a pagan who was in favour of free
sex. It is ridiculous to what lengths some people will go to establish a
righteousness of their own which is acceptable to the values of our
society.

Today our city celebrates this kind of twisted "righteousness" in a
proud flaunting of everything that God tells us is good, right, and
holy. There is no longer any sign of shame, except on the part of
Christians, who are ashamed of God and His "old-fashioned" Law. And so they
declare themselves as "gay positive," meaning that they no longer
teach what God has to say about homosexuality, or anything moral, for
that matter. Ignoring God"s Law, they no longer talk about sin and
repentance. But where there is no repentance, there is no forgiveness of
sins; and where there is no forgiveness of sins, there is no hope for
sinners. Can you imagine going to a doctor who discovers that you have a
serious medical condition. But because he is afraid how you might take
the bad news, he tells you that you are perfectly fine and there is
nothing for you to worry about. Is that the kind of doctor you want to see?
Likewise you probably don"t want to have a pastor or a
spiritual shepherd who will not confront you about your sin for fear
of offending you.

So trying to follow God"s Law will not make us righteous. The Law can
only show us that we are sinners and are under God"s judgement. If
you read your Bible and you find that God"s Law does not condemn you,
it can be a sign that you are not really hearing God. Or if you come to
church and you are not moved to recognize the awfulness of your sinful
condition, it means you have failed to connect with the Word of God"s
Law. Somehow the Holy Spirit has not been able to make a connection
with your heart. That failure can be your fault because of the hardness of
your heart; it can also be the preacher"s fault for failing to preach
the message of God"s Law as he should.

But after we have heard God"s Law and it has broken us, then we are
ready to hear the Gospel. In the Gospel we hear the sweet message of how
God makes us righteous. In the opening to our Old Testament reading we
heard the prophet Isaiah say, "Seek the Lord while He may be found;
call on Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the
evil man his thoughts. Let him turn to the Lord, and He will have mercy on
him, and to our God, for He will freely pardon" (55:6, 7). We may
feel uncomfortable hearing the truth about our sin. But experiencing the
sweetness of God"s forgiveness and having the promise of eternal life,
far outweigh the initial sorrow and discomfort. The Gospel brings us
what in Lutheran theology is called an "alien righteousness." That
means this righteousness is not related to us in any way. It comes to us
from outside. It means there is nothing we can do to get it, to earn
it, or even to "improve" it. This righteousness belongs to
Jesus and it is given to us as a gift with no strings attached.

St. Paul adds that we do not get this righteousness by asking, "Who
will ascend into heaven?" For there is nothing we can do to make this
righteousness more real and meaningful. Some think that to experience
God you need to have an emotional experience, or to visit shrines and
offer prayers to the Saints. But St. Paul tells us that Christ is already
here. His Word is in your mouth and He lives in your heart. In a few
minutes when you come to the Lord"s Table you will not only hear Jesus
speaking His words of forgiveness to you. With your mouths you will
also taste His flesh and receive His life and His righteousness that He
won for you on the cross. How much closer can you come to Jesus than
that? So forget your "religiosity" and seek Christ in the promises of
God"s written Word.

Besides warning us of trying to bring Christ down from Heaven, Paul
also warns us of descending into the deep, as if to bring Christ up from
the dead. Now, the word for "the deep" in the original Greek is
"abyss." The abyss refers to the realm of the dead. It is the place
where people go after they have died. Therefore, this may be a warning not
to consult the souls of the dead for any reason. For the abyss is not
only the realm of the dead. It is also the realm of Satan and his
demons.

Today it has become popular to have an "angel guide" with whom you
can keep in contact. Millions of copies of books have been sold of
people telling us what their angel guide has taught them, or explaining how
we too can "find" our own "angel" to guide us. I mean, who
would not like to have an "angel guide?"

The problem is not with the idea of having an angel but with the real
identity of these so-called "angel guides." God has never told us
that we can discover Him through angels. The only place He has given us
to find Him is in His Word and Sacrament. Why is that? Because there are
plenty of other angels, who are really demons, eager to make contact
with us. And how can you distinguish between a good angel and a bad one?
It is impossible to distinguish between them because the Devil is a
master of disguising himself as a true angel of God. And furthermore since
God forbids us to communicate with angels we can be pretty certain that
all such "angel guides" are actually demons.

I have studied, for example, how Mohammed, the founder of Islam,
received the Koran. He believed it was God"s Word delivered by the angel
Gabriel. He described the angel as an angel of light. That is exactly how
the Bible describes Satan. Now, a Muslim will challenge me and say,
"Well, if the Koran is not the Word of God, how come is it so perfect
and good?"

To that I can only say, that if you want to mislead a lot of people,
you have to be a master of making your message appear genuine. And guess
who is the greatest master of imitating and distorting the Word of God?
Satan of course! And I would agree with my Muslim friend that virtually
everything the Koran teaches is good and right. There is in fact very
little in the Koran that I can find fault with. It is a nearly perfect
imitation of God"s Word. The only thing that is wrong with the Koran
is with what it leaves out. It leaves out the Gospel. The Koran
basically teaches us God"s law and nothing more. But we know that God"s Law
is deadly for sinners.

So you can see that Satan has cleverly disguised the Koran as God"s
Word, containing parts of God"s Law. But he has removed the Gospel,
the message that we are saved by God"s grace through faith in Jesus.
And so the Koran is like a placebo, a pill that contains no medicine. It
has no power to cure or save us from our sin. So beware of anything you
hear people saying about so-called "angel guides." They serve only
one master, who is Satan. And his purpose is to lead you away from
God"s Word and Sacrament - the only places where you can find life and
salvation.

That is why, as a Christian, it is important to 1) Pay attention when
God"s Word is taught; 2) To make sure you let God"s Law point out
your sin; 3) To believe the Gospel and trust in Jesus alone for your
salvation; 4) To confess your faith in Christ to those who do not yet
believe in Jesus; 5) Pray for those who hear the Gospel, that God may bring
them to faith in Jesus.

For St. Paul tells us that people need to hear the Gospel, for "How
can they believe in the One whom they have not heard of? And how can
they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can they preach
unless they are sent? " For faith comes from hearing the message and the
message is heard through the Word of Christ."

And as we celebrate the presentation of the Augsburg Confession this
day, may God grant us the boldness to confess with our mouths that
"Jesus is Lord" so that all people may have hope, knowing that God raised
Him from the dead. Amen.