The "Ususally Helpful Kneejerk Conservative Reaction"

"We never did it that way when I was growing up!"

"That's not how I was raised"

"I've been in this church my whole life, and we never..."

I hear these sentiments a lot from LCMS church members.  It is what I call the "Kneejerk Conservative Impulse."  You see something new.  You experience something different.  Someone, maybe the pastor, makes a change - small or large - and without much thinking, you react.

I'm here to say that's not always a bad thing.  In many cases, it actually is a good instinct, and keeps the church out of trouble.  We want to "conserve", that is, to keep things the same as they've been.  It's usually a good impulse. They way things are, writ large, must be pretty good - at least that's our assumption.  It's why I'm here, after all, at this church.  I like it this way.  If I didn't, I'd find something else.  And now don't you go changing things!

Most of us assume that "how we were raised" and our experiences as such are generally good, healthy and normal.  They are the baseline.  That's how we've "always done it."  Maybe we think that's how the church has "always done it."  I've even heard prominent LCMS pastors and professors speak this way.  "My dad was a pastor and did things this way..."

But not so fast.

When it comes to things like Scripture and doctrine, we ought to be VERY conservative.  We keep them, and do not change them!  Scripture is God's word.  Revelation warns us sternly about adding or taking away from it.  Mark this well!

But we must be wise and discerning.  Not everything is commanded or forbidden.  And yet not all indifferent matters (adiaphora) are equally indifferent.  Everything is permissible, but not everything is helpful (1 Corinthians 10:23). And not every tradition, large or small, is helpful in every time and place.  Nor is every tradition truly "the way it's always been done."

Just as we must discern what is truly adiaphora, we must also discern between adiaphora.  Just as we are wise to adopt a default mode against change, we must also wisely adopt helpful changes when and where we can.  Of course the word "helpful" does the heavy lifting here.

So it goes like this:  Someone proposes or makes a change.  The Conservative Kneejerk Reaction kicks in.  "We've never done it that way!" But perhaps rather than jerk the knee, we ought to engage the mind, and think:

Is this change permissible?  Is it within the bounds of Scripture?  Is it in keeping with what the church has done?  Does it serve the Gospel or distract from Christ?  Does it promote the unity of the church, or concern itself with only the "me" or "us" of local preference?

And lo, and behold, the change proposed may end up being MORE conservative - that is, reverting to an earlier tradition or practice, which someone long ago failed to "conserve".  Yes, it may be more faithful to Scripture, and more in keeping with the Confessions.

If, after weighing all this, the change makes sense, we may consider even further another factor - injury to consciences.  Even the reformers held off on certain corrective changes for the sake of the laity who didn't know any better, and had not yet been taught about these things.  We don't want to create needless confusion, anger, or other such reactions.  So rather than invoke chaos in the church, the wise pastor teaches toward changes, uses discernment and patience, and bears with people at times who may not yet be ready to move.  It takes time, also, for the pastor to build trust, and that goes a long way with these things, too.

The "Conservative Kneejerk Reaction" is kind of the opposite of the "It's all adiaphora!  Anything goes" posture that has brought such bad practices into the church.  And often, those opposed to one of these errors seem to fall into the opposite ditch.

That's a lot to think about, honestly.  It's kind of a big deal to change things in the church.  

Sermon - Pentecost 11 - Matthew 14:22-33

Oh you of little faith.  Why do you doubt? 

Don’t you know that Jesus is your savior?  That he’s Yahweh, “I AM”? 

Don’t you remember that he’s the one who created you, redeemed you, and sustains you from day to day? 

Sure, he can walk on water.  But that’s no big deal.  He’s the creator, after all.  he’s the one who laid the foundation of the earth.  He’s the one who determined its measurements and stretched the line upon it.  Who shut in the sea and prescribed its limits.  He commands the sun to rise each morning, and set each day.  He enters the springs of the sea and walks the recesses of the deep – that is to say – there's nowhere he can’t go, nowhere that he doesn’t oversee and master.   

Oh you, of little faith, do you think you know better than he knows?  Do you presume to judge his handling of business, or how he runs the show? 

Job suffered.  He suffered a lot.  He had more cause to question God than most of us ever will.  But God answers him by reminding him who’s in charge, and who knows best.  

Have the wind and wave gotten you down?  Have you been making slow progress across life’s tempestuous sea?  Have you been rowing all night and your arms are giving out?  It’s not supposed to be this hard, right? 

Or maybe you wonder where Jesus is in all this?  Is he off tending to someone or something more important?  Has he forgotten you? 

It’s always darkest before the dawn.  And in that darkness, through that strange and furious wind, Jesus came.  He came, for the disciples, miraculously!  Walking on water!  Human beings don’t do that!   

Ah, but this human being is also the Son of God, as they would soon confess.  He is the one who schooled Job on the mysteries of creation, and now commands the churning waves making them fit for an easy stroll. 

Ah, Peter, good old Peter.  So impetuous.  He has his ups and downs.  He walks on water, but he sinks like a stone.  Like you and me.  A mixture of fear and faith, boldness and distraction, confession and contradiction. 

One wonders why he tests Jesus, “if it’s you...”  )Of course it’s Jesus.)  “If it’s you, tell me to come to you on the water!”  And he soon lives to regret his little test.  But really, it’s Jesus who’s testing him, and teaching him a most important lesson.  Maybe there’s a lesson for us when we presume to test the Lord.  Perhaps it is he who’s doing the testing. 

And Peter fails, but he passes.  He fails in that he looks at the wind, the wave, the danger.  He reverts back to fear, doing the one thing Jesus just told him not to!  He sinks.  But he also passes the test in this:  He knows where to go for help.  He cries out, “Lord, save me!”  And everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved. 

Oh you of little faith, why do you fear?  Why do you doubt?  Why not instead cry out - “Lord, save me!”  For he just as surely will.  He may not save you from the wind or wave of the moment.  He may not do it the way you want, or think, or prefer.  But his strong hand to save, his nail-scarred hand will never let you sink into the abyss.  He stretched out his hands in love to die on the cross, to save you from sinking into the churning judgment of sin and certain death. 

The great miracle is not the walking on water, here, for Jesus, or Peter.  Like so many cases, the most amazing and notable miracles of God are the most common and mundane.  The miracle of life.  The promise of forgiveness.  The gifts of the sacraments.  These matter more, mean more, than all of the flashy things that distract us from Christ.  Rather, let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and is seated at the right hand of God.  This is how he answers Peter’s prayer, and ours, “Lord, save me!”   

But faith comes not by miracles.  Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.  Look at, listen to his words here.  See them in red letters in your head: 

“Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid.” 

“Take heart. This is my body, given for you.  This is my blood, shed for you.  Do not be afraid.” 

He said to Peter:  “Come.”  And he invites you, today, “Come.  Come to my table.  Eat and drink and be forgiven.  And then go in peace and joy.” 

He said to them all,  “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” He says the same to us.  “Why doubt?  With me, there’s nothing to fear, and no need for doubt.  I am who I am.  And what I say is true.” 

Now, one last thing.  Paul makes a good point today.  And we see it applied in the boat.  “with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.”  That’s just what the disciples did.  When their hearts were filled with faith in Christ, when they had seen, and more importantly heard from him on that treacherous night... they confessed with their mouths.  Their faith spoke.  They worshipped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.” 

The Son of God made human flesh, who walks on wave and quiets the wind.  The Son of God who created all things, masters all creation, and still has concern to hear your prayer and save you.  We have heard his word, we have little faith, but that faith is in him who is strong to save.  And so our believing heart speaks through our sanctified mouth, and we confess, Jesus is the Son of God.  Jesus is the Creator, the Redeemer, the Savior.  The one who died to prevent our death.  The one who lives to share his life with us.  The one who continually calls us to stop doubting and keep believing in him and confessing him before men. 

“Lord, save me!”  So he does. So take heart, always.