Well, howdy. So I spent the previous week in
Phoenix, Arizona, and I did not know there was
a place that could actually make Houston feel
cooler in July. That was ridiculous. I heard
Dino used to live there. It's terrible. It's
a dry heat. Yeah, blah, blah, blah. Yeah, that
doesn't help. Oh, my goodness. You're just running
from one convention hall to the next. You're
just, ugh. I wasn't just there for the sightseeing.
There was a triennial LCMS convention every three
years or so. We'd get together and we'd try to
make all these resolutions and decide what we
want to do for the next three years. It's the
things we want to do, but we also want to try
to address the problems of the past, try to figure
out how to move forward together in a more positive
and productive way. When you get to a convention
like that, You know from the very beginning that
you're not going to agree with every single thing
that comes up. And believe it or not, every pastor,
not every single one of them agreed on everything.
I know it's hard to believe. And even worse,
they didn't all agree with me. I don't know what
they were thinking. I was prepared to tell them
the right answers. But you're not going to say
that every single thing discussed or agreed on
is going to go exactly as you hope it will. And
there were two times, especially, I remember
I was going to go up and I was ready to say something
really important and I didn't get the opportunity.
One of them was frustrating because it was for
an amendment that I had brought. And then it
was like they went past, I had this two days,
I prepared this speech on this amendment that
I was going to give. And then the moderator is
like, oh no, he didn't really want to speak to
it. I'm standing at the microphone. Let me talk,
let me talk. And normally I'm pretty loud. Apparently
I wasn't loud enough there. But that moment where
you're prepared, you're ready, but you feel like
you just didn't get to say what you needed to
say. And sometimes you can go through all these
discussions and the only real victory you feel
like is to be able to say, I want my disagreement
to be known. Because even when you don't get
the decision you want, Sometimes it's important
to make sure people know not everyone saw it
the same way. Because people often need to know
that we're still trying to find agreement. We're
not always on the same page. But what's interesting
is that people will often take disagreements
and they assume it's the same as a conflict.
Which, by the way, was the amendment that I wanted
to make to the resolution. But you see, disagreements...
are not necessarily a bad thing. Disagreements
can actually draw us closer together. When we
disagree, we have to consider things that go
beyond what we were originally thinking. We have
to think through our own ways of thought and
consider that maybe there's another way of looking
at it. We see that in Scripture. The writers
that were in there, especially looking at so
much what was in the gospels, is they did not
hide the disagreements, the questions, the misunderstandings.
They included them. People disagreed with each
other. People disagreed with Jesus. People misunderstood
Jesus. But in the midst of all those disagreements,
Jesus was showing them what he wanted them to
know. Even in the midst of our own church teachings.
We have Lutheran confessions that recognize there
are many areas where Christians are able to disagree
one another and it is okay. There are many things
that we're not saying are as important as the
central part of the gospel of Christ. We don't
have to agree on every single thing. Whether
we use a divine traditional service one or a
divine traditional service four or heaven forbid
a contemporary worship. whether we put a red
carpet in the sanctuary or put some wood floors,
whether or not we sing a certain song on a Sunday
morning, or whether or not we feel that we didn't
get our favorite song over the last three months.
These things do not determine whether we're united
in Christ. And yet, it seems more and more Lutheran
identity often tries to define itself. and make
things more and more focused on one way of doing
things. We've started trying to define what we
think the Lutheran mission even is. And in some
ways, that's especially strange to me. Because
coming from a different church body into the
Lutheran church, I have always seen and felt
that our identity has always been the same. We're
created by the Father. We're redeemed by the
Son. We're sanctified by the Holy Spirit. We're
saved by God's grace through faith in Christ
Jesus. We're baptized members of God's body,
living as sinners who receive God's forgiveness.
We receive God's grace through word and sacrament,
the proclamation of the Word, the waters of baptism,
the body and blood of Christ in the Lord's Supper.
justified by Christ, gathered round His Word,
living by faith, and loving our neighbor. What's
so complicated about that? The gospel has not
changed. Jesus has not changed. God's grace has
not changed. But it seems like more and more
we find ourselves trying to define our identity
more and more. Sometimes we think the culture
in our churches is what's important. as if the
ethos is all that matters. We try to define the
way Lutherans talk, the way they think, the way
they look, the way they worship. We keep defining
until eventually it seems like the goal is simply
for everyone to look exactly the same. And frankly,
I don't think all of you want to look like me.
And then we wonder why fewer and fewer of our
young people feel comfortable putting on a suit
that is too tight to fit. Now I'm not saying
that everything is equally valid in the world
or that we just do whatever the culture wants
us to do. That's not what I'm saying. But I do
think we have to ask a question sometimes. What
exactly are we fighting for? Because Jesus says
that the kingdom of heaven is like a treasure
hidden in a field. It is a pearl of great price.
It is something of great value that everything
else is secondary to. What exactly is the treasure?
Is the treasure this institution? The ways that
we do things that we prefer? Is it some cultural
identity that we feel like we look and act similar?
Is the treasure trying to make sure everyone
sounds exactly the same? Or is the treasure a
Jesus and his kingdom that goes much further
than our own backyard? See, we often approach
disagreement as though the question is, who is
going to win? Let's be honest. When you've disagreed
with somebody, don't you want to win? If my side
loses, somehow good has lost, and evil has won,
and cats and dogs are playing together, and we
see the kind of behavior that comes from the
rest of the world, and we start to act like them.
Mockery, ridicule, dismissing others, assuming
the worst. Brow -beating, dominating conversations,
treating every disagreement like a battle between
good and evil. And we see it so much in our world
today. Disagreeing means that now you have to
vilify people. And the goal is not necessarily
to listen and to say, well, what is the good
here that I could learn from others? What could
we learn and what could we bring as the best
of all of our insights together? How often does
that happen? Instead, the goal seems to be who
shouts the loudest, who exerts the most pressure.
who can defeat the other side even if you just
outlast them. And it reflects so much of what
the church often becomes as a community, too.
See, we've begun to believe that if we do not
get our way, then somehow something terrible
has happened. But perhaps the good of the past
is not always the same as the good intended for
the future. Maybe, as Scripture says, we bring
out both what is old and what is new, because
the treasure can be both. The past is meant to
give us wisdom, foundations, tools, but it is
not a substitute for discernment, for listening
to what faithfulness may require now for maybe
thinking for ourselves. Sometimes the problem
is not that the things we've been preserving
are bad. The problem is that we may become so
obsessed with preserving our preferences and
our personal victories that we no longer see
anything beyond them. Could you imagine if Michelangelo,
after painting the Sistine Chapel, never painted
again? That's the best. That's it. Nothing more.
Or if he refused to paint anything but cathedrals
because, well, this is amazing and nothing else
should ever compare. Could you imagine? I once
heard a story about an artist who became so obsessed
with one of his paintings, he believed it to
be perfect. He could not move past it. He would
stare at it day after day. He would not paint
anymore until one day he walked in and discovered
that his master had slashed the painting to pieces.
The problem was that the artist had become so
consumed by his own work that he could no longer
create. His masterpiece had become his prison.
And I wonder if we sometimes do that in the church.
We become so focused on a particular way, a particular
worship, a particular way of speech, a particular
organization, a particular way of looking at
our heritage. What it means to be Lutheran. let
alone what it means to be Christian at all. And
we may become unable to see anything beyond our
own religious thoughts. We may begin with something
good and it may faithfully point us to Christ,
but eventually we become so focused that we forget
what it was made for. That's where we need to
start asking the question, what exactly are we
as Christians trying to preserve? Because if
the treasure is Jesus Christ and His Kingdom,
then everything else has to be evaluated by whether
it helps us receive Christ, confess Christ, live
in Christ, and bring others to Christ. Jesus
says that the Kingdom of Heaven is like treasure
hidden in a field, a merchant in search of fine
pearls. The treasure is not simply the way we've
always done things. But the treasure is the Kingdom
of Heaven, What does that mean? Yes, it means
Christ. It means the grace of God given to sinners.
It means the people Christ has rescued and redeemed.
It means righteousness, justice, mercy, compassion,
forgiveness, hope, peace that flow from the reign
of God. The kingdom is not simply I get to arrange
everything according to the way I think it should
be. The kingdom is God's work of making all things
right in Christ. Not in us and the treasure is
not simply knowing the right words about things
because we can talk about grace But what happens
when somebody has actually hurt us? We can talk
about forgiveness But what happens when someone
has actually offended us deeply? We can talk
about mercy, but what happens when someone in
our eyes doesn't deserve it We can talk about
justice But what happens when it requires us
to look honestly at ourselves? We can talk about
the people Christ has redeemed, but what happens
when those people don't look or think or act
the way we expect? Because the treasure is not
something merely that we say. The treasure is
Christ, and He changes the way we live. We receive
grace. And therefore, we become people who give
grace. We receive forgiveness, so we become people
who forgive. We receive mercy, so we become people
who show mercy. We are reconciled to God, so
we go become reconciled with our neighbor. Or
do we? We come to the Lord's Supper to receive
the Body and Blood of Christ. as we are forgiven
by God, that is not something to ignore. But
if we receive communion on a Sunday morning and
then spend the rest of the week refusing to share
our lives with the people Christ has put around
us, then perhaps we need to ask if we really
understood what communion was at all. What did
we really receive if we have communion with Christ
and we forget to seek communion with our neighbor?
We receive mercy. And the same is true of Scripture
and what we study. Because we need to be asking
what the inspired writers were saying. We need
to find out who were they saying it to? What
was the context? But we do need to ask, why did
God want me to read this today? Because if we
study the Bible and we learn all the context
and we understand all the Greek and the Hebrew
and the literary structure and then close the
book without asking how God is speaking to our
lives Then we've learned a great deal about that
mirror But we don't know anything about our own
face the word is Not just becoming better at
knowing the words the treasure is for us to know
Christ Himself. And that's why we need to be
careful not to confuse the treasure with the
tools that help us find it, because the Lutheran
church is a wonderful shovel. And I don't just
mean for the whole that I oftentimes dig for
myself in everyday conversation. You see, the
Lutheran church is a wonderful shovel to dig
for the treasure of the Kingdom of God. Our theology
has given generations of Christians a way of
speaking about justification and faith and grace
and forgiveness. This is not a small thing. But
the shovel for helping you to get to the treasure
is not the treasure. If somebody else is trying
to dig for the kingdom of heaven with a hammer,
sure, that's going to take them longer. It doesn't
make quite as much sense. If somebody is trying
to dig with a screwdriver, yeah, it's not nearly
as efficient. But the point is not to stand there
admiring the shovel that you forget to dig with
it. We may believe that other churches are using
the wrong tools, but if they're digging for the
Kingdom of Heaven while all we do is stand around
and stare at our shovel, then who's really pursuing
Christ Jesus after all? And even if we have a
shovel, Not every shovel has to be the same.
They could have different handles, different
grips, different gloves. The question is not,
does this look like the shovel that I've always
used? The question is, does it help us dig for
the kingdom of heaven? Because even if every
method is not equally good, a tool is judged
by the purpose for which it exists. All the things
we do, our traditions, our patterns, our structures,
our ways of organizing, they still come down
to one question. Is what we do helping us to
receive Christ and bring Him to others? Does
this look like what I did before? No. But is
that really what matters? See, Paul was confronting
people who were used to feeling like they had
a privileged place in history. They were saying,
we're the people of God because we descended
from Israel. And Paul says, no. God's grace cannot
be reduced to your heritage. Being the first
does not give you a monopoly on having God's
favor. Isaac the second born had God's favor,
not Ishmael the first. Jacob the second born
had God's favor, not Esau the first. The younger,
not the older. Don't tell my sister. The point
was not that God was creating some caste system.
These are the ones I want. These are the ones
I have no time for. That was not the point. The
point is that nobody gets to come before God
and say, I have a better claim than everyone
else. Sometimes Lutherans fall into that trap.
The Gospel says you're not saved because you
inherited the right shovel. You're saved by the
grace of Christ through faith. It's not about
whether we've been part of the right group. It's
about receiving the gift. And that means that
the Lutheran does not look at the rest of the
world and say, I'm better than you because I'm
Lutheran. The Lutheran looks and says, just like
you, I am a sinner saved by grace. And the only
reaction, the only reason I have the treasure
is because Christ has given it to me by the cross.
It's not how do we preserve everything exactly
how it is. It's how do we receive Christ, live
in Him, and bring Him to others. The man in the
field sold everything. The merchant sold everything.
The point is not merely that the Kingdom of Heaven
is valuable. It's that everything else is negotiable
in comparison to it. If Christ is the treasure,
we are free to let go of our need to win the
argument. our fear of change, our insistence
that everything be done the way it was before.
How do I prove that my way is better? No, no,
no. What is good here? What is this trying to
accomplish? What could I learn? Not because of
compromising or abandoning our values, but because
we do not have to turn every difference into
a conflict. I can disagree with you. without
needing to destroy you. I know, hard to believe.
That's something that I had to also realize back
at the convention. I went to Phoenix with a lot
of concerns, things I definitely disagreed with,
wording that I thought could have been better.
And there were times I said, there's gonna be
an issue that comes up in the future because
of this. But I also had to realize, These are
not terrible people doing terrible things. They
are people serving Christ, addressing problems,
protecting the church, and pursuing the Kingdom
of God. Perhaps some of the things they proposed
might not have been the best way to accomplish
the goals, but guess what? The same was probably
true for me. And that is very different from
saying everyone who disagrees with me is my enemy.
Because if we realize that all of us are meant
to be a part of the kingdom of God in Christ
Then we realize that the one who sacrificed himself
Is saying that you and everyone else is valuable
even with our mistakes even with our failures
and Even with the consequences of our own decisions
because God is still Lord of all and he will
still work through all things and that's the
comfort Because it says, those whom God foreknew
He also predestined to be conformed to the image
of His Son, and those whom He predestined He
also called, and those whom He called He also
justified, and those whom He justified He also
glorified. Notice who it is that does it all.
God. The astonishing thing is that the one who
is the treasure has now made us His own treasure.
Nothing in all creation can separate us. Because
God's gracious purpose for me is stronger than
my ability to get everything right. It's not
a question of who disagrees with us or votes
against us or frustrates our plans. If God is
for us, then who can truly do anything against
us that will stand? No one. No tribulation or
distress. No persecution or famine. No danger
or sword. Not death or life. Not things present
or things to come. All the powers in all creation.
Not even a church body's triennial convention.
Nothing can separate us from the love of God
in Christ Jesus our Lord. Because the treasure
is Christ. His grace. His redemption. His forgiveness.
And nothing in all creation can separate us from
that love, not even ourselves. Because we really
do try. So let us not be so concerned with defending
what we think is right, and forget that we are
people saved by grace. And that even when we
disagree, Let us remember that the person standing
across from us is not merely an opponent but
someone for whom Christ died. Are we still focused
on Christ? Let nothing take the true treasure
away from us, even ourselves. Thanks be to God.