Lutheran Worship: The Sacraments

Our Path of Worship:
Centered on the Gospel
Orderly and Reverent
The Invocation
Confession & Absolution
The Word
The Sacraments
Prayer and Praise
Our Offerings
The Blessing

In 1973 some influential philosophers, scientists, and educators issued the Humanist Manifesto II. Here are a few of its false statements: • Religions that place revelation, God, or creed above human experience do a disservice to the human species.
• We can discover no divine purpose for humans.
• Humans are responsible for what we are or will become.
• No deity will save us; we must save ourselves.
• Moral values derive their source from human experience.

These men were saying that we have no relationship with God. In sharp contrast, the Bible emphasizes the importance of our relationship with God. We were created to enjoy a loving and peaceful relationship with God. We are solely dependent on him.

Sadly, our relationship with God was severely damaged by the fall into sin. Yet, he still wants us to have this relationship. So he comes to us in very special ways – his sacraments. A sacrament is something that Jesus commands us to do for our spiritual benefit of forgiveness, spiritual life, and eternal salvation. Jesus combines his holy Word with earthly elements to give us these gifts.

At the beginning of our worship services, we are reminded of one sacrament - our baptism. Often in the invocation we hear the same words that were spoken at our baptism, “In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.” In baptism, God establishes a new relationship with us. Our baptism saved us. Paul says to the believers in Galatia: You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. The water connected with God’s Word created the miracle of faith in our hearts by clothing us in Christ’s perfect life and innocent death. Before creating faith in our hearts, the rags of our sins were exposed. We were enemies of God. But through baptism God washed away our sins making us his children and heirs of eternal life.

God isn’t just content to establish a new relationship with us. He wants to nurture this special relationship. God knows that we are surrounded by constant threats to destroy that relationship. The devil, for instance, hates every day of our existence on this earth as baptized children of God. He does everything he can to get us to doubt God’s promises. He wants to destroy your relationship with God so that we experience destruction for all of eternity!

But God comes to believers to nourish our relationship in a way that goes beyond human reason. In the Lord’s Supper we have bread and wine. But then, through God’s Word, Jesus gives us his body and blood. He says, this is my body given for you… this is my blood shed for you. He gives us his body and blood as a gift to nourish our souls! This is the forgiveness of sins for us to taste and see so that we find true peace with God.

What Jesus did for us on the cross is not just history…in Baptism and the Lord’s Supper, it is history in action. Jesus comes to us in his sacraments to establish a new and wonderful relationship through forgiveness. He comes to feed and nourish us in that relationship until the day he comes again. The Sacraments are a very important and vital part of our worship.