Historical Lesson; Acts 1:15-26
Epistle Lesson; Revelation 22:12-20
Gospel Lesson; John 17:20-26
Sermon Text; Revelation 22:18-19

I would venture to guess some people here in our congregation grew up going to a church that used an old hymnbook called the Lutheran Hymnal. And, if you went to a church that came from a German Lutheran background, you probably grew up singing out of the Lutheran Hymnal.

Others of us may have grown up in a church that came from a Scandinavian and Norwegian background, and grew up singing out of a black hymnbook, which was used here at Holy Cross for about 60 years, called the Lutheran Hymnary.

Both of these hymnbooks have a lot of the same hymns. They both have, for example, the hymn A Mighty Fortress Is Our God. The words are the same. The melody is the same, but the beat or rhythm is different. And so, come Reformation Sunday, when we have to pick which version to sing, it gets a little hard around here!

Why are the words the same, the melody is the same, but the beat is a little different in each of these hymnbooks? Let me try to demonstrate the difference of these versions of A Mighty Fortress, for an example. I am going to have our organist play the first line of the A Mighty Fortress Is Our God, from the German version. I don't have very good rhythm, but I am going to try to walk to the beat. (The organist plays the melody, while Pastor Bartels attempts to walk to the beat.)

That was the German version.

Now I am going to have the organist play the Norwegian version, and I am going to try to walk to the beat of that. (Again, the organist plays the melody, while Pastor Bartels easily walks to the beat.)

Did you notice that one of them is a lot easier to walk to, than the other? There is a reason for that. The Scandinavians actually took the original beat from the German version, and changed it so an army could march to it. And, they did that with a lot of the hymns, the old Lutheran hymns, that we have.

Back in the early 1600's, Lutheranism was really in great jeopardy. The Holy Roman Empire was attacking Lutherans in northern Europe. Fathers and husbands in northern Europe had to decide in their hearts, "Is the teaching of God's Word - that we are saved by grace alone, by faith alone, in Christ alone - so important to me and so important to my children who are growing up that I will defend that teaching, and I will even give up my life, if I have to, to defend the teaching of God's Word?"

And so, King Gustavus Adolphus, of Sweden put together a Lutheran army that was ready to defend the truth of the Word of God. They would walk into battle together, singing the Lutheran Hymns (that were set to marching hymn beats), and together walk in to the battle, to defend the truth of God's Word, as they had come to know it and believe it.

To me, that is such a beautiful picture! Many of you here know Mike Mahnke here. He is a marketer. He has designed an advertising piece for Holy Cross that uses this little phrase. "Hand in hand, here we stand."

Hand in hand,

here

we stand.

Those soldiers, those Lutheran soldiers, marching into battle, knowing their lives were in danger, willing to defend everything for the sake of the truth, is just a wonderful picture of them, hand in hand, singing the very truth that they were defending together. "Hand in hand, here we stand. We will defend God's Word, no matter what the cost to us." That is a wonderful picture!

In the 1560's there was a group of Lutherans who wrote a document called the Formula of Concord. The Formula of Concord is a very, very important document for the Lutheran Church. We believe it to be a correct interpretation of many, many points of scripture. Any pastor, who is a pastor here at Holy Cross, has to promise the congregation that he will teach according to the Formula of Concord. In the preface to the book, The Formula of Concord, the writers say, "With intrepid hearts, this is what we believe, what we teach, and what we confess."

Intrepid hearts! The word intrepid means, ‘brave, courageous, filled with conviction.’

"With intrepid hearts, this is what we believe, what we teach, and what we confess."

They named the document they wrote, The Formula of Concord. The word concord comes from two Latin words. When you put them together it means, 'with heart.' It is a picture of having a single heartbeat. All of these men confessing together, as one person, as if they have a single heart beat. "This is what we believe. This is what we teach. This is what we confess. We will defend it. We will proclaim it and we will stake our lives upon it." Again, to me, that is a beautiful picture of that little phrase, "Hand in hand, hand in hand, here we stand, united around the truth of God's Word."

That truth has been handed down for generations. Last week Pastor Tweit talked about the faith being handed down to generations. That is the faith that believes in Jesus, as our Savior.

We also talk about the faith as a body of truths that is handed down from generation, to generation, to generation. And now, this body of truth, the faith, the Christian faith, has been laid down before this generation, and it is in our hands.

It is in your hands.

As you came to know the teachings of scripture, here at church, in Catechism Class, and in Bible Class, the faith, as a body of truth, has been laid down before you. It is the duty of this generation to pick that up, to make it our own by faith, and very carefully take that body of truth and lay it down before the next generation, so that not a bit of that truth is lost. That is our duty now, as a congregation, to take up that truth, make it our own by faith, and lay down that body of truth for the next generation.

In any generation, (in any generation, and we are not exempt, and this is something we need to be very careful about), as a generation who now has the truth laid before them there is a temptation. Our scripture reading talks about what that temptation is. Jesus gives us this warning, in fact. He says, "I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds anything to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book. And if anyone takes words away from this book of prophecy, God will take away from him his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book."
There is a tendency, in our sinful nature, to either add to the Word of God or subtract from the Word of God. Our sinful nature can look at the Word of God and say, "Oh yeah, I think the Word of God is a nice book. It has good words in it. I can support a lot of what the Bible says."

And, sometimes our sinful nature can say, "But, I don't think the Word of God goes far enough. It does not go far enough."

And so, it can be our sinful nature's tendency to add to the Word of God.

Other times, we can look at God's Word and say, "Yeah, I like the Word of God. That is nice, but I think it goes too far. It says too much."

And then, our tendency is to take away from the Word of God.

Let's look at each of those a little bit and the great danger they pose to our faith. You know what the central teaching in all of scripture is. Every one of you could stand up and say,

"The central teaching is the cross of Jesus Christ. The central teaching in scripture is that I am saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone."

That is what scripture points me to, constantly. All other teachings in scripture are intended, in one way or another,

to point us to the central teaching in all of scripture,

to point us to the cross,

to point us to Jesus,

to point us to our Savior,

to point us to the forgiveness of our sins,

and to point us to a life with our Savior.

It says the cross is the central gem in the crown of the wonderful doctrine of God's Word. The danger with adding to scripture or subtracting from scripture is that it takes away, it detracts from the central teaching in all of scripture and faith can be severely threatened. Let me give you an example from each side.

Let's say I am the kind of person who says that scripture does not say enough, and I say, "Yes, absolutely, I believe you are saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. But, I also believe that if you are a good Christian, you MUST give 10% of your income to the church."

Guess what? The Bible never demands that of a New Testament Christian. When I say that, I have added something to scripture that the Bible does not say.

Or, what if I say, "I certainly accept the teachings of scripture and Jesus is our Savior from sin. But, I believe that if you are a good Christian, you MUST have an outpouring of the Holy Spirit and you MUST be able to, for example, speak in tongues."

Well, the Bible does not promise that. Now, I have gone beyond what scripture says, and I have added to scripture.

I want you to see what happens to the cross, as a result. Now, instead of focusing on the cross as my comfort, as my strength, as the place I find my confidence, now I am actually pointed away from the cross. "Oh yes, Jesus saves me. But, if I am a true Christian I am going to give a certain amount of money to church."

Now all of a sudden, it is dependent, not just upon what Jesus did, but what I do. I begin to depend upon myself for my salvation.

Or, "Sure, Jesus died for my sins. But, if I want to be assured of my salvation, I am going to be able to speak in tongues."

Now, it is not pointing me to the cross anymore, but it is pointing me to myself, my abilities, and what I can do.

I do not know about you, but I do not want to be distracted from the cross. I don't want to put myself in a position where I have to depend upon what I have done to get me to Heaven. I know that I will never ever be good enough, in any way, to begin to earn my way to Heaven. I want to be pointed to the cross, and the cross, alone. I don't want to be pointed to myself, as the way that I can find certainty. "If ‘this’ is happening in my life, then I can be certain."

I don't want that kind of certainty. I want my certainty to be pointed right here, to the cross.

The cross is my certainty.

This is where my sins are forgiven. I don't have to pay for my own sins. They were paid for, on the cross.

I can't earn my way to Heaven. Christ earned my way to Heaven, for me, through His holy life.

I don't have to do something to make up for all of the wrong things I have done. On the cross, Christ, totally, 100% has purchased me from all of my sins.

Here is my confidence. My certainty is here, in the Word of God, in the Gospel.

Scripture warns us don't add to the words of scripture. In the end, it will detract from the main teaching that we cling to.

Scripture also warns us do not take away from the Word of scripture. Don't subtract. What if I am of the kind who says, "Yeah, I like the Bible. And, I believe it is mostly God's Word, but there are some parts of the Bible that I think we need to take away."
For example, let's say I would say, "I don't believe homosexuality is a sin."

Now I have taken something away from scripture. I can find for you many Bible passages that pointblank teach that homosexuality is a sin. If I say it is not, I have subtracted from scripture. And, by doing that, I detract from the cross of Christ and I lead away from the cross of Christ. If I teach, for example, that homosexuality is not a sin, then guess what? I don't need the cross. I don't need the cross to take away guilt against that sin. I don't need Jesus. I declared that it is not a sin. And, what Christ did on the cross for all sin, is called into question. To subtract from scripture, to say something is not a sin, when scripture says it is, takes away from the work of the cross and Christ.

How important it is for us to cling to the Words of Jesus, when He warned us not to add to what He said and not to take away from His Word.

It is a real honor to be a part of a congregation, every one of us here, who clings to the true, pure, Word of God, who takes God's Word at its simplest, plainest, clearest, meaning and is very careful to say, "We will not say anything more than what scripture says. We will not add to scripture, nor will we say anything less than scripture says. We will not take away from scripture. Hand in hand, here we stand. Hand in hand. Hand in hand, united with each other, as with one heart."

Isn't that an awesome thought? It is as if we have one heartbeat together, one heartbeat, one person, and one mind. We have the same teaching, the same doctrine, the same Christ, the same faith. That truth, as a body, has been laid before this generation. And, it is our duty, our responsibility, and our privilege, to take it up, by the power of the Holy Spirit, make it our own by faith, and then turn around and very carefully hand it down to the next generation.

May God give us the grace, as a body of people, to say that we will stand up, and we will defend the truth. We will proclaim the truth. We will preach the truth. We will teach the truth. We will lay it before the next generation. We will defend it, at whatever cost, and whatever sacrifice we must make, to further the truth of God. May God grant that to us. May we all say, as the writers of the book of Concord, "With intrepid hearts, with courageous and brave hearts, with intrepid hearts, this is what we believe. This is what we teach. And this is what we confess."

Amen.