smallCatechism, the Third Commandment
Church is the proclamation and administration of goodNews! Whenever! Wherever! However!
It’s that time, again. The fifth Sunday of the month. Last time it happened was Reformation Day, last year. Unofficially, about ten years ago, I decided to focus the sermon, on this particular Sunday, on a piece of the smallCatechism. Commandments. Creed. Lord’s Prayer. Baptism. Supper. I figured it’d be an easy way of getting back to the basics everyone talks about. Nothing choreographed. Nothing scripted. Just whatever grabs my attention, at the moment. This time, it’s commandment # 3! Remember the sabbath day, and keep it holy.
Now, before you go off chasing wild geese. Chasing after blueLaws, restricting or banning certain things on Sundays. Or climbing on your high horse about youth sports events getting in the way of worship. Listen to what Luther has to say …
The Third Commandment: Remember the sabbath day, and keep it holy.
What does this mean?
We are to fear and love God so that
we do not despise preaching or God’s word
but instead keep that word holy and gladly hear and learn it.
“What does this mean? We are to fear and love God so that we do not despise preaching or God’s word but instead keep that word holy and gladly hear and learn it.” From Luther’s point of view, the third commandment doesn’t have anything to do with Sunday morning! And it has nothing to do with Sunday morning worship! At least, not with the way we imagine it!
Most of us – myself included – when we hear the word ‘worship,’ think of what we’re doing, right now. The prayers. The songs. The sermons. Worship – according to popular opinion – is something that happens for an hour, each and every Sunday morning. And when you get right down to it, we figure it’s the reason there’s a church, at all. To worship god! To sing praises! To offer up thanks! “Praise God from whom all blessings flow …” That’s how the song puts it. Unfortunately, that’s not how Luther sees it. In fact, the sabbath, according to the smallCatechism, isn’t a day, at all! It’s god’s word! The gospel! Christ! Let me repeat that. The sabbath isn’t a day; it’s the gospel! The goodNews! Christ!
Back in the early years of my ministry, I served a congregation just down the road from a megaChurch! A Lutheran megaChurch! (Yes, they do exist!) We worshiped three or four dozen people, any given Sunday. They worshiped three or four THOUSAND! And naturally, they were only too eager to share the secret of their success with congregations like us. Struggling! Small! “Entertainment Evangelism!” That’s what they called it. Praise band. Pop music. Theater seating. PowerPoint. No crosses. Well, one summer, I went back to seminary, for a week, and camped out in the library, reading through the Book of Concord. SmallCatechism. LargeCatechism. Augsburg Confession. Some of the early writings of the Reformation that make us us. Anyway, I wanted to see what they had to say about worship. What they had to say about evangelism.
Frankly, I wasn’t expecting much. I figured it was something we worry about, but not them. But I was wrong. Everything I read was about worship! Worship wasn’t singing, they said. It wasn’t praying. Worship wasn’t, even, the reading. Worship – pure and simple – was the gospel! Worship was – IS – Jesus! It’s goodNews! GoodNews preached! GoodNews administered! And it’s the faith, the trust, the believing that preaching and administering produces! The gospel preached and heard! The gospel administered and received! And the faith that gospel creates! The faith that gospel conceives! That’s worship! Whenever, wherever, it happens! And that’s what Luther’s telling us in this commandment. That’s what Luther’s telling us in this explanation!
Worship’s not what we do for god; it’s what god does for us! Worship isn’t what we lift up to god; it’s what god pours out on us! Worship’s not something we do to change god’s mind; it’s something god does to change ours! Change our hearts and change our minds! What we’re doing … right here … right now … isn’t what saves us. What saves us is hearing … seeing … feeling … what god has already done! Done two thousand years ago! On a hilltop! Outside the walls of an ancient pueblo!
In the mercy of almighty God, Jesus Christ was given to die for us
and for his sake – for his sake – God forgives!
This is my body given for you! This is my blood shed for you!
That’s the word of god! Not a book, but a message! Not the bible, but the gospel! Not written in paper and ink, but revealed in flesh and blood! And that’s the difference between worship and notWorship!
There’s a lot out there claiming to be worship. There’s a lot out there that creates – not believing but only hypocrisy and selfRighteousness. People sing songs and they say prayers and quote chapters and verses, but Jesus isn’t a part of it. Simply talking about god … sounding religious … spiritual … isn’t enough. It’s the gospel that makes the difference! It’s proclaiming and administering goodNews that makes church who, what, it is.
“Remember the sabbath day, and keep it holy. What does this mean? We are to fear and love God so that we do not despise preaching or God’s word but instead keep that word holy and gladly hear and learn it.”
Sure, we can miss, we can mourn, the good old days. When worship was Sunday mornings, in a building all our own. Pews. Stained glass. Organ. Candles. Hymnals. Banners. And we can grieve that we’ve had to gather here, instead. But my friends, that’s not what makes the sabbath holy. That’s not what keeps it holy. For that, only one thing is needed. Only one thing is necessary. And that is god’s word! That one thing is the gospel! That one thing is Christ. Without that … without him … there is no church … no matter where it gathers!