[AI translation] It is a Word that should not even be explained, but engraved very, very deeply in our hearts, so that it is always warning us, always guiding us and disciplining us. And it is a Word that does not really need to be explained, since it applies to the whole area of the Christian man's life. In every kind of relationship, in every kind of situation, in church - outside the church, in family - outside the family, in everyday work and outside it, it is equally true that we should conduct ourselves in a manner worthy of the Gospel of Christ. Who can give details of the many little scenes of everyday life in which the command of this Word must be put into practice? - I do not want to explain this Word, nor even to question our behaviour, whether it was truly worthy of the Gospel in this or that situation, but simply to say it, to pass it on, to repeat it after God. To say the same thing that God Himself said through the Apostle Paul's writing, with the prayerful desire that God's own word to us might now be: 'Wear yourselves worthy of the gospel of Christ.'And now, on the first Sunday of Advent, a concrete event prompts us to pass on this divine message. As I am sure you will all be pleased to know, our church is heated. Today, for the first time in ten years. The fact that the Lord of our Church has once again allowed us to do so is in itself a reason for great gratitude. But it is even more joyful to be thankful for the way in which our Lord Jesus, through His Holy Spirit, has brought us this far! Let me say it briefly. After long and careful deliberation, the presbytery finally decided a few months ago to repair the war-damaged church heater, so that the congregation could hear the sermon without interruption in the winter cold. This decision was communicated to the congregation here in church at the time. At our request, a donation was started. During the work, it became clear that the damage was much greater than we had originally thought, and the cost was much greater than we had already, with great difficulty, budgeted for. What should we do? Should we stop the whole thing or carry on? Can we place an even greater burden on the church-going congregation than it already bears? Can we incur costs that we have no realistic means to cover? Can we agree to take on more burdens when we are late and barely able to meet even the most basic financial obligations? These were the questions we wrestled with late into the night on Saturday evening two weeks ago at a Presbyterian meeting.
In the end, we agreed that we would continue to wrestle and seek God's will in personal prayer until the presbytery meeting the next morning. The next morning, at the presbytery meeting, there were those who said that they had been praying for half the night, asking God to give them a sign, to give them assurance. And God gave the sign they asked for: He so filled the utterances with the power of His Spirit that they became more and more definite testimonies, testimonies which strengthened our conviction that not only the heating of the church, but also all our other material burdens, have an invisible but sure covering: the person of Jesus Christ Himself. Slowly, the whole boiler issue was almost eclipsed by a much bigger question: do we dare to rely on Jesus Christ, do we dare to count on his power? Do we dare to fully believe that in this church He wants to do something, to start something new, not only a heated church, but to make up for all the defects and shortcomings of the visible and invisible church? To give an abundance of His all-sufficient riches, to move and move forward the life of the whole church together and the life of each of us individually. The whole boiler affair was, after all, nothing more than the stairway through which, at the call of Jesus, we stepped out of the boat onto the water, as Peter did in his day - that is, we stepped out of the human safeguards, the convulsive effort by which we ourselves seek to establish for ourselves all that we need. By a bold decision of faith, we have staked the lives of our church and ourselves on the fact that we have a mighty and gracious God, by whose power we can walk on water. We have believed that by looking to Jesus and obeying Him, the impossible becomes possible. So we have embarked on a path that, if we do not walk by faith, we will inevitably sink, plunged into a sea of debt and waves of spiritual bankruptcy! Here we can now only go forward in faith, but in faith we can go forward!
In the end, the meeting of the presbyters turned into a community of prayer instead of a decision, with presbyters old and young, one after the other, praying, giving thanks, rejoicing and praising God - We all felt that the whole church heating business was only meant to be a way of hearing God's urgent warning, which is summed up in our basic hymn: "Wear yourselves worthy of the gospel of Christ". And now I have not said all this to ask you to help, to give, to make new sacrifices. It is about something much bigger: that the blessing and the call we have received in the presbytery may spread from there to the whole congregation.
Our foundational hymn also says: "Stand with one mind, with one feeling, contending for the faith of the gospel." So let us all, together, take this journey of faith! If we all managed our own money, for example, in a way worthy of the gospel of Christ, there would always be enough to cover all the tasks our churches need to do. God has laid down with us the money He wants to manage, with which He wants to heat the church, cover the church's expenses, care for the poor, help people! If we don't give this money to Him, but spend it on other things, there is no blessing on it. This money, if we keep it for ourselves, will never help us, and on the other hand, if we give it to the Lord, we will never want it. People who are obedient to God's word usually see this amount of money as ten percent of their monthly income each month, according to the Bible's instructions. They can commit in faith that this tithe belongs to the Lord! And they miraculously discover over and over again that the remaining 9/10 is always more than the ten tithes would be. The 9/10 plus the Lord's power and help is more and more sufficient than the 10/10, that is, the whole amount left for me without the Lord! This is an old gospel truth. Well, let us dare to take this path, let us dare to take it in faith that a certain portion of our money belongs to the Lord, so much so that we dare to put it all down on His table. He wants to do something with it, so we do not manage it, we do not dispose of it, we do not determine what it is to be used for, we do not give it to some good purpose, but we put it entirely into the Lord's hands. You see: it is no longer a question of giving for church heating or for other church purposes, but of solving all our material problems and our financial management in a way worthy of the Gospel of Christ, with faith in Christ!
Then: if we really attended worship in a way worthy of the Gospel of Christ, these chairs would not remain empty! Because just look: it is a very beautiful thing that someone comes to church from Sunday to Sunday, loves to listen to the preaching of the Word, feels that it is worth a lot to him, would not miss a single occasion. It is a very nice and good thing! But it is no longer worthy of the gospel of Christ that if you have found something that is good for you, even the highest good, you enjoy it only for yourself and do not do your best to ensure that others, as many as possible, can also enjoy the same good! Isn't there something selfish in the fact that I am satisfied with the spiritual nourishment I get here, but I don't care that others: my friends and neighbours are starving?! Here we gather 300-400 people and our church has ten times as many members. If we were to carry ourselves in the church in a way worthy of the gospel of Christ, we would have to have two or three services every Sunday to fit everyone who wants to come. To find a spring where we can draw the water of eternal life and not tell others about it: is that worthy of the gospel of Christ? The gospel whose overture began in Bethlehem:" I proclaim to you a great joy, which will be a joy to all the people', and whose last commandment was given on the Mount of Olives: 'Make disciples of all nations'. God expects more from us than that you yourself should come to worship; he is looking for those who are not here. He has entrusted to you not only the money you owe Him, but also the human values He asks you to give Him. It is not a question of church propaganda, but of believing that the Gospel of Christ is truly a saving, life-giving divine power, and believing that other people, not just us, need it?
Then, finally, if we were to carry ourselves out in the world in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ, this gospel would have more honour, more appeal and more credibility with the world! The word in our Word, "conduct yourselves", means more accurately in the original language of the Bible, "to be citizens". It could be paraphrased in this way: exercise your heavenly citizenship in the world in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. So it is not your individual salvation that is at stake here, not whether you are saved or damned, but the kingdom of God. It is not to be scolded for your unworthy behaviour. Your Christianity is not your private affair, but as you are, so the world sees Christianity. And in the world, it matters not that you pray, go to church, read the Bible, turn to God in devotion - but only and only how you behave! It is interesting that it is through the world's attitude towards Christianity and religion that God teaches us what true worship is. What we call worship is what we are practicing here now, that one hour on Sunday mornings in church. But most of worship begins after that. In fact, what we have here in the church is more like worship of man, i.e. God honours man by coming down among us in His Word and Sacraments, and only then comes worship. Our worship begins when we respond in obedient action to God's gracious descent into our midst, that is, when we bear ourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. Let's not see it as living in an ugly world where, unfortunately, we have to work, but we can't wait to put down our tools and go to church, to go from the world into the church where the hustle and bustle of everyday life doesn't reach us. We are in a good place there, but unfortunately we have to go out into the world again. Let's not see it like that! But: what God says here, he says so that you may live this Word in a way worthy of the Gospel!
Hearing the gospel of Christ, taking communion, is a commitment, not just a promise. If you believe in Christ and live by the blessing of His broken body and shed blood, you can either stop hating or stop taking communion! To behave in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ, that is to say, in accordance with the gospel, is to ask seriously in every situation of my life, "What does it mean that I have a God who forgives my sins, who accepts me as His child and heir of His holy Son, who has the kingdom, the power and the glory?
It is the first Sunday of Advent. Advent is the time of waiting for Christ. So let us wait for Christ with the faith that He wants to do something through us here in the church. Something big, something beautiful, something good, something blessed. Let us wait as the apostle Paul writes in our primer: wrestling with one mind for the faith of the gospel. More faith is to be fought for! You can tell if you really believe by how much you want to believe better, more clearly, more obediently! To believe in such a way that you are able to behave in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ.
Amen
Date: 28 November 1954.
Lesson
Mt 14,23-33