Saturday, July 10, 2021

Believing Without Church?

by the Rev. Dr. Karl Fabrizius 

 I heard it again this week: I still believe, but I do not need to go to Church. Everyone thinks of this at times or knows someone who tells them that on a regular basis. Do we need church attendance if we believe, or not? As Lutherans we desire that all our practices answer the basic question: Who is Jesus? He refers to Himself as the Good Shepherd (Jo 10), the Way, the Truth, and the Life (Jo 14), the Bread of Life (Jo 6), and the Vine (Jo 15). We should also note His words regarding His preachers: “Whoever receives the one I send receives Me, and whoever receives Me receives the One who sent Me.” From these alone we can draw some conclusions about the life of the Church and the need for Christians to go to Church. 

 First, Jesus says that the Sheep, the baptized, hear the voice of the Good Shepherd and follow Him. You need to hear that Jesus laid down His life and then took it up again at the Resurrection. This message is so foreign that you need to hear it each Lord’s Day. Jesus sends out His preachers so that the sheep may continually hear His voice. The Church is defined as those who hear the voice of the Good Shepherd. Thus, the life of a believer is a life of hearing God’s Word and doing it (Mt 7:24-27). Those who do not build their house on this solid foundation of the apostles and prophets with Christ as the cornerstone will crumble in the face of the storms of this life.

Jesus also says He is the Way, the Truth and the Life and no one comes to the Father except through Him. He brings you to the Father through the waters of Holy Baptism. He continues to teach you all things in the Church through preaching and catechesis just as He com-manded in Matthew 28:19-20. The Church is His Body and He is the Head. The Body cannot live without the Head. There is a constant need for Jesus, and He has promised to be with His Church always through the preaching of the Church’s pastors so that the Head is always bringing life to the whole body. 

 As the Bread of Life, He invites you to come to His altar when you are weary and He will give you rest. Through His own Body and Blood He nourishes your weak souls that they may flourish in the true faith to life everlasting. Here He feeds your weak bodies that they may inherit the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting. Here He gathers His Body together to be made one through His own flesh that was sacrificed at the altar of the cross and rose again on the third day for your justification. Gathering around the altar you remember the Lord’s death and resurrection as the source of all your hope and comfort until the day He returns. You who are many are made one, baked together as one loaf and crushed together as one cup. 

Finally, He reminds you that He is the Vine and you are the branches, and apart from Him you can do nothing. When you were baptized, you were grafted into the Vine. Each time you eat His flesh and drink His blood you are joined firmly to the Vine. Yet He warns that those who do not abide in Him are cut off and thrown into the fire of eternal damnation. That word for abide echoes back to John 8:31-32 where He says, “If you abide in My Word, you are truly My disciples, and you will know the Truth and the Truth will set you free.” And so, we are back to Jesus who is the Truth and is known only through His Word where the Son sets you free. 

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, do not be deceived. If you think that you believe but need not come to Church, you are really denying yourself the true freedom that is given there through the Gospel that is bestowed in baptism, preached on in the congregation and freely offered at the Lord’s Supper. Lord, grant that all who are joined to the Vine remain in Him. Amen 

(from the newsletter of Our Father's Lutheran Church, Greenfield, WI)

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