Courageous Lutherans in a Postmodern Age

Part of engaging our popular culture is being truly Lutheran in a post-modern age. That is something that takes courage. Elsewhere I have addressed the subject of postmodernism in greater detail (click here for article on postmodernism). In brief, "postmodern," is a term used to describe the growing tendency today to settle all issues by finally saying, "I have my truth. You have your truth. As long as we respect our differences, that is what counts." It seems today that the most important "truth" for many people is their profound doubt that truth can be known, and their strong conviction that those who claim to know the truth are wrong.

In this context, being truly Lutheran takes courage and determination. It is not easy. Faithfulness to the Word of God is never easy, or convenient, or popular. This places unique demands on our pastors and congregations and our church body, since we are determined to be and remain truly Lutheran.

Dr. Walther in his masterful study The True Visible Church on Earth, offers us important insights.[1] Contrary to our detractors, the Missouri Synod has never claimed to be the only church outside of which there is no salvation. No, not at all.

We do believe that the teachings of the confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, the Book of Concord of 1580, are in fact the pure, divine truth, because they agree with the written Word of God on all points. It is for this reason that the Lutheran church, and consequently our Synod, demands of all members, especially of our ministers, that they acknowledge the Lutheran Confessions without reservation and show their willingness to be obligated to them. And it is precisely because we so value and honor the purity of the Gospel given as a gift to us that we stand with Scripture

(1 Cor. 1:10; Rom. 16:17) and our Confessions (AC VII; FC SD X) in rejecting every fraternal and ecclesiastical fellowship that rejects the truth of the Lutheran Confessions, either in whole or in part.

Therefore, our Synod wants to be a church body that knows what it believes and remains ever committed to the same. Will there be lumps that we have to take for this? Most certainly! The people of God have never had any other experience. But will God bless? Most assuredly! For this is the sure and certain promise we have from Him in His Almighty Spirit-filled Word.

Therefore, as president of our Synod, I do not hesitate for a moment to offer you this strong word of encouragement: Continue to sound the clarion call for true, orthodox, confessional Lutheranism. We want no poor imitations, but the real thing in our Synod. Continue to call for complete faithfulness to God's Word and the Lutheran Confessions, recognizing the blessing that such faithfulness has been for our Synod down through the years. And the same holds true also for continuing faithfulness to Lutheran Confessions. Our desire is always to be maximally faithful, not merely minimally so.

With this call for faithfulness comes the Lord's call for outreach. In no way must we ever permit ourselves to pit faithfulness against outreach. Faithfulness to the Word results in outreach with the Gospel. Faithful outreach is based entirely on a faithful proclamation of the Word. The constant hallmark of a genuinely Lutheran Synod, and a genuinely Lutheran congregation, is this two-fold emphasis: faithfulness to Scripture and the Confessions, and outreach with the Gospel.

God forbid that we would ever apologize for wanting to be and remain a truly Lutheran church, or that we would ever hesitate clearly to speak up when we notice others walking away from the truths of the Word and the Lutheran Confessions for the sake of unity, which is no unity at all, since it is not based on agreement in the teachings of the Word, but only on an agreement to disagree!

Thus, we pray that the Lord would continue to strengthen and embolden us to be a true, faithful and courageous Lutheran church body, to the glory of His holy name and the extension of His kingdom.
 

[1] C.F.W. Walther, The True Visible Church, translated by J.T. Mueller (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1961).