We make messes of things. Our hearts and our minds are full of evil. This is the teaching of both Scripture and our confessions. Genesis 8:21 says, “The inclination of the human heart is evil from youth.” Likewise, our confessions state that the human will “is not only turned away from God but has also become God’s enemy, that it has only the desire and will to do evil and whatever is opposed to God,” (Formula of Concord, Article II, Epitome, 3).
Praise be to God that he doesn’t leave our faith up to us, or we’d make a mess of that, too! This is what Lutherans mean when they say “grace alone” (sola gratia). You see, faith is created and nurtured in the Divine Service. The Divine Service is the place where God’s grace is given to us in the Gospel and Sacraments (Baptism & the Lord’s Supper). And thank God that his grace does not depend upon anything we do! God knew better than to leave such important matters to those whose hearts are “evil from youth,” (Genesis 8:21).
The name Lutherans have used to describe worship—the Divine Service—gets at the “grace alone” nature of our faith. The common (but not Lutheran) term “worship” implies that the activity on Sunday morning is primarily ours, not God’s. But in true Christian worship we are primarily passive and God is active, serving us (hence the name “Divine Service”) through his gifts of the Gospel and Sacraments. Worship, just like creation, redemption, or even our faith, all have their origin in God, not in sinful humanity. What a wonderful privilege it is to come into the presence of the Creator, Redeemer, and Sanctifying God’s presence week after week and receive his gifts! The Divine Service is like a meal (in fact, it includes one!). You may not remember every meal you’ve ever eaten, but food is nonetheless necessary to sustain your life. Likewise, you may not remember every sermon you’ve ever heard, but they nonetheless provide you with the nourishing, life-giving words of the Gospel. As Jesus told Satan, “Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God,” (Matthew 4:4).
Therefore, everything that happens in the Divine Service has its source and origin in what God has done for us in Christ Jesus. We confess that the highest form of worship is simply to seek the forgiveness of sins from Christ (Apology of the Augsburg Confession, article IV, 154), to confess about God what he has revealed himself to us in the Scriptures. That is, we confess that God is who he has said he is in Scripture, that he is the blessed Creator, Redeemer, and Sanctifier, to whom be all glory and praise forever! And this is exactly the sort of praise that takes place in our liturgy—praise that centers in who God is and what he has done for us. Rather than try to praise God through conjuring up our own feeble thoughts and emotions, we praise God by hearing and singing the story of salvation!
Everything we receive and do in the Divine Service is from God. We receive his gifts of Gospel and Sacrament when the pastor proclaims the Gospel (this happens in the absolution, the sermon, or wherever else in the Divine Service the Gospel is to be found). The lessons and hymns all teach us what God has done for us in Christ. Even those portions of the liturgy in which we participate—the singing of psalms and hymns, confessing the Creed or praying the Lord’s Prayer—are simply confessing back to God what he has taught us in Scripture. Praise God that he doesn’t leave it to us to figure out who he is or leave us to our own words or thoughts to praise and pray to him! Everything needed for faith, prayer, and worship is supplied by God in Scripture.
By recounting God’s work of salvation in Christ Jesus, our liturgy does that which we pray for in the first petition of the Lord’s Prayer: it hallows God’s name. Luther explained that God’s name is hallowed “whenever the Word of God is taught clearly and purely and we, as God’s children, also live holy lives according to it.” The pure teaching of God’s Word takes place in our liturgy. That is, even as we receive God’s gifts, we hallow God’s name. The highest praise we could ever express is to receive these gifts in faith!
Praise God that even our praise and love of God does not depend on anything we do, but comes simply by hearing and recounting God’s wonderful works of salvation for us! To put it another way, we learn as we praise and we praise as we learn. Praise be to our God that neither faith, nor praise, nor any good thing that we do depends on us (cf. Ephesians 2:10), lest we make a mess of it! He hasn’t left anything to chance, but has accomplished all that is necessary for salvation in Christ Jesus. This is what Lutherans mean when they talk about grace alone. Everything we have and everything we do—in this life and in the next—is a gift from God. In other words, praise God for the wonderful doctrine of salvation by grace alone!
Epiphany Blessings,
Pastor Andersen
