Seventh Sunday of
Easter (C)
June 2, 2019
Text: John 17:20-26
He is
risen! He is risen, indeed! Alleluia!
The
one holy Christian and apostolic Church is an article of faith, not sight. Oh, sure, you can see church buildings and
the various signs and symbols of this and that church body or
congregation. Theologically speaking,
there are the visible marks of the Church, which include the preaching of God’s
Word, Baptism, Absolution, the Sacrament of the Altar, prayer, confession of
faith, the mutual conversation and consolation of the brethren, and the
suffering of the holy cross. These are
visible and audible indications of where the Church is. And of course, we use the word “church” for
any number of visible things: buildings, congregations, denominations, worship
services. These are all fine uses of the
word. But these are not “the Church,”
strictly speaking. “The Church,”
strictly speaking, is believers in Jesus Christ. Dr. Luther, contending in the Smalcald Articles, one of our
confessional documents, that the Church is precisely not the outward fellowship
of those who submit themselves to the authority of the pope, has this memorable
line: “Thank God, a seven-year-old child knows what the Church
is, namely, the holy believers and lambs who hear the voice of their Shepherd
[John 10:11-16].”[1] The Church is believers, and you cannot see
the faith of the heart. So while you can
see by the marks where the Church is, the Church itself is invisible. As is true of every assertion in the Creed,
it’s an article of faith, not sight.
And
that is particularly true because, as far as we can see it, the Church doesn’t
look a whole lot like we think it ought to if it’s all the things our Lord says
it is. Jesus says the Church is where
He, Himself, is, giving out His gifts of forgiveness, life, and salvation in
His holy Word and Sacraments.
Really? Where is He? We know He is here in the giving of those
gifts, but we cannot see it with our physical eyes.
Jesus
says the Church is washed clean of all sin in His blood, holy, blameless, a
spotless Bride. Really? Doesn’t He know the Church is full of sinners
who are really good at sinning against each other? Is He unaware of our predilection for saying
unkind things to each other, stomping on each other’s toes, arguing, insisting
on our own way, hurting each other’s feelings?
Jesus
says there is only one Church, and in our Holy Gospel He prays for our
unity. But there are how many
denominations in the United States alone, never mind the world? And even among denominations that share the
same family name, there are divisions.
There is, of course, the alphabet soup that is Lutheranism in America:
LCMS, ELCA, WELS, LCMC, CLC, NALC, and on and on it goes. But that isn’t just a Lutheran thing. Among the Reformed, there is CRC, RCA, URC,
PCA, PC USA, etc., etc. Did you know
there are over 200 different kinds of Baptists in America? And Rome may claim unity, but Eastern
Catholicism, known as the Orthodox Church, has been separate from Rome for
nearly a thousand years, and even in the West, there are a number of churches
that claim to be Catholic but do not submit to the pope.
So if
we are to believe Jesus… and we should!... we have to acknowledge that things
are not as they appear. Beloved, we know
that we live in the time of what Luther called the “already/not yet.” Because Jesus became one of us, flesh of our
flesh, and died to make atonement for our sins, and because He is risen from
the dead, ascended into heaven, and seated at the right hand of God the Father
Almighty, where He rules all things for the good of His people, we know that
all His promises are true. He does dwell
with His Church. He is here, now, in His
Word and Sacrament, forgiving our sins and giving us life and salvation. He has cleansed us by His blood and adorned
us as a spotless Bride, righteous and clean in the splendor of His
holiness. And we are one. The Church is one body, the Body of Christ,
holy believers in Jesus. And this is a
reality that is true in spite of denominational differences, geographical
location, and even time periods in history.
Every believer in Jesus is a member of the one Christian Church.
But
until that day when our Lord comes again in glory to judge the living and the
dead, we cannot see with our eyes what we know by faith to be true. And this, by the way, explains
denominations. The fact that the one
Church is divided up into denominations is sinful, no question about it. This is not what our Lord prays for in our
text. But look, this is a fallen world,
and while we are 100% saint in Christ, we are 100% sinner in this fallen
flesh. So we have our disagreements,
even about the holy, inspired, and inerrant Word of God in Holy Scripture.
Now,
listen very carefully to what I’m about to say.
I have already told you that the one Church is made up of all believers
across the denominational spectrum, so I am not de-Churching Christians with
whom we disagree, nor am I damning them to hell. Got it?
And at no point have I even begun to imply that only Missouri Synod
Lutherans can be saved. That has never been the contention of the
Missouri Synod. Never. Okay? But the doctrinal differences between
Missouri Synod Lutherans and other denominations are not minor. They are not unimportant. I know you don’t like hearing that, but think
about this. The question in the case of
every doctrinal controversy is, what does God say in Holy Scripture? To say that the answer to that question is
unimportant is to say that what God says in unimportant. Do you really want to say that? To call concern with pure doctrine “majoring
in the minors” is to declare what God says in His holy Word “minor.” To say, “doctrine divides, love unites,” is
to say God’s Word divides, but human ideas of love unite.
And
that is actually true on some level.
Jesus says, “Do not think that I
have come to bring peace to the earth. I
have not come to bring peace, but a sword” (Matt. 10:34; ESV). St. Paul says that “there must be factions among you in order that those who are
genuine among you may be recognized” (1 Cor. 11:19).
The Word of God does divide those who believe it from those who do not
believe it, and those who believe it in any one particular matter, and those
who do not believe it in that matter.
Human ideas of love unite those who disagree on the Word of God, but
such love only unites in denial of the Word of God, not in the holy faith of
Christ. That is the kind of love that
sweeps differences under the rug where they are never dealt with and
fester. Imagine a marriage where husband
and wife never talk about their disagreements, never deal with their
differences, just pretend that everything is okay. That is certainly the easy way, but it is not love. Love, real love, godly love, for our fellow
Christians demands that we be honest about our doctrinal differences, discuss
them openly on the basis of the Holy Scriptures, and with earnest prayer, beg
God to resolve them. Even here on earth,
in this fallen world, we should be working toward reconciliation between church
bodies. But always and only on the basis
of God’s Word. Real doctrinal agreement
is the goal, not pretending we can all be right, because we can’t all be right
when we hold beliefs that are mutually exclusive. Either Baptism saves, or it doesn’t. The Lord’s Supper is either Christ’s true
Body and Blood, or it isn’t. Women can
be pastors, or they can’t. Gay marriage
is okay, or it’s not. You can’t have it
both ways. There is such a thing as
objective truth, and God’s Word is it.
I’m not saying those who hold false beliefs in certain articles aren’t
Christian, but I am saying we should be honest about our differences, and until
we resolve them, we shouldn’t go to Communion together. We will, in heaven, and in the resurrection,
when we all agree because there will be no question. But until then, we struggle. We bear with one another in patience and
love. But we also insist on the truth of
God’s Word. To do otherwise is not an
option. And what you have to understand
is this: It is not those who insist on
pure doctrine that divide the Church. It
is those who insist on false doctrine that divide the Church. It is not those who insist on truth that are
unloving. It is those who insist that
there is no such thing.
Unity in doctrine is vital, for
the very Gospel is at stake. The Gospel
is not something that is distinct from doctrine. Yes, the Law is doctrine, but so is the
Gospel. Doctrine is a word that simply
means teaching. There is nothing
negative or legalistic about that. The
Gospel is doctrine. And Jesus tells us
why the doctrine of the Gospel is important: “so that the world may believe
that you,” the Father, “have sent me” (John 17:21). It is important that we are united in
doctrine, so that we can proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ with one voice,
that the world may believe. The doctrine
comes from Jesus Himself. He has
revealed the Father to us. He has made
known the Father’s Name (v. 25), and placed that Name on us in Baptism. Now we have the joy of making disciples of
all nations, baptizing them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the
Holy Spirit, and teaching them all things whatsoever our Lord has commanded
(Matt. 28:19-20). Teaching them. Doctrine.
What Jesus teaches. With one
voice. One God. One faith.
One Church.
The
unity for which our Lord prays is a unity so real and substantial that it can
only be a gift of God. It cannot be
achieved by human efforts or denial of differences. It is the very unity of the Holy Trinity: “that
they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they
also may be in us” (v. 21). It is a
unity purchased at the price of Jesus’ blood, enlivened by His resurrection. And it is an accomplished fact: We are
one. In Christ. In spite of all I just said. One holy Christian and apostolic Church. We do not see the reality yet with our
eyes. But we will. On that
Day. In the meantime, we believe and
confess what we cannot see, because Jesus says it, and that is enough. The Word of Jesus Christ creates, sustains,
and perpetuates the holy Christian Church.
The Church is the totality of all those to whom God has given faith in
Jesus Christ by His Word. The Church is
all believers, those alive on earth (the Church Militant), and those alive in
heaven (the Church Triumphant). We are
brothers and sisters in Christ, with one Father in heaven, one Holy Spirit, and
we hold one faith. We bear one another’s
burdens. We share one another’s
joys. And it is all gift. All by grace.
The
German Lutheran theologian, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who was martyred by the Nazis
toward the end of the war, beautifully captured the already/not yet state of
the Church in this world. What he says
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