There are two main reasons why entire church bodies, denominations, can drift so far into apostasy. The first and foremost reason is that they deny Holy Scripture as the authority in the Christian faith and life. For one reason or another, the Word of God is minimized, neglected, or even denied. Once Scriptural authority is lost, then any false teaching or deceptive doctrine will enter the church.

The second reason that entire church bodies, denominations, drift so far into apostasy is because they compromise with the world. Worldly people get into leadership positions and want to be “progressive” and “modern” in order to attract more people. They have all kinds of pious words and schemes to justify this. Once the church opens its doors to worldly ideas and ways, the Commands of God are forsaken and the Gospel of Christ is abandoned.

Over the past several weeks we have been looking at “Key Dates in the Lutheran Reformation.” Today we will jump out of the Reformation era of the 1500s and move to the year 1847, and the beginning of the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod. The Lutheran Church Missouri Synod is the national church body, the denomination, that we as a congregation belong to here at Trinity.

By focusing on Christ and His work of salvation, we do not get distracted by false teachers nor the ways of the world. There is a lot of good to be done in the world — but the most important thing is the proclamation of the Lord Jesus Christ and His work of salvation. At the end of the day, when a person is on their deathbed, their good works are meaningless. The only thing that’s going to matter is if that person believed in the Lord Jesus Christ or not. That’s the message of the Christian Church: to teach people about the Lord Jesus Christ and His life, death, and resurrection that forgives sins and gives eternal life!

By God’s grace alone, the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod has been able to hold to Holy Scripture as its authority, and the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ as its focus. What happened in 1847 is a part of our lives even today!

AMEN!