What is the first article?
“I believe in God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth.”
What does this mean?
“I believe that…all this he does only out of fatherly, divine goodness and mercy, without any merit or worthiness in me. For all this it is my duty to thank and praise, serve and obey him. This is most certainly true.”
As we come to the conclusion of Luther’s explanation of the first article we can appreciate the overall movement that it makes from the giving hands of the Father to the loving heart of the Father, from God “making me and all creatures” to “doing it out of fatherly, divine goodness and mercy…” All of the good and gracious work of the Father’s hands overflows from the deep love with which he loves us. There is no inner necessity or eternal law above God which compels God to create or care for his creation. He does so purely from fatherly, divine goodness and mercy, without any merit or worthiness in us. This concluding confession from Luther is of particular comfort for us because it expresses that God’s complete and total faithfulness to his creation is not dependent or conditioned on our faithfulness to him. God creates, sustains, and defends us because of his love, not because of our lovability.
Additionally, at the end of Luther’s explanation we can appreciate how total and complete God’s creative work is on our behalf. In the course of his explanation, Luther uses the word “all” a total of nine times to drive this home: “all creatures,” “all my members,” “all my senses,” “all I have,” “all that I need,” “against all danger,” “from all evil,” “all this he does,” and “for all this…” There is nothing, absolutely nothing, that is outside of God’s power and creative work. As the Gospel of John says, “A person cannot receive even one thing unless it is given him from heaven.” And again, as St. Paul says in First Corinthians, “What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it?” Following the sacred scriptures, Luther gives full voice to the simple, yet profound fact that everything is a gift— our life, our time, our talents, our family, our goods— everything.
When we are “given grace,” it is only fitting that we respond by “saying grace,” which means saying “thank you” to the one from whom we have received grace. As Christians we can do this in a twofold manner, in both word and deed, by “thanking and praising” God, but also by “serving and obeying” him.
For the work of thanking and praising God, there is no better explanation, guide, or source than the Psalter. Since its inception, the Psalter has been the prayer book and hymnal of the church. The Psalms were used in the regular Temple Divine Service of Israel and this carried over into the private devotional life of the faithful. We can see this clearly when David brings the Ark into Jerusalem, “he appointed some of the Levites as ministers before the ark of the LORD, to invoke, to thank, and to praise the LORD, the God of Israel” (1 Chr 16:4-6). And likewise, when King Hezekiah restores the temple worship, “he stationed the Levites in the house of the LORD with cymbals, harps, and lyres, according to the commandment of David and of Gad, the king’s seer and Nathan the prophet, for the commandment was from the LORD through his prophets… and Hezekiah the king… commanded the Levites to sing praises to the LORD with the words of David and of Asaph the seer. And they sang praises with gladness, and they bowed down and worshiped” (2 Chr 29:25-30). Since God has arranged for the kind of music and song with which he wants to be worshiped, praised, and thanked, we can do no better than use the Psalms in our own life of worship, praise, and thanks.
Liturgically speaking, it is important to recognize the basis for all our thanks, prayer, and praise, which is the word and work of God. There is no such thing as a stand-alone service of prayer and praise. Every true service of God must begin with God’s service to us and the hearing and receiving of his word and works. For this reason, the psalms of praise are always saturated by the retelling of God’s work of creation and redemption. The refrain of Psalm 118, “Oh give thanks to the LORD” is always followed immediately by, “for He is good; His steadfast love endures forever!” This gets to the heart and purpose of song which is not sacrificium (a sacrifice or offering) but sacramentum (a sacrament or gift). The chief purpose of song is to prophesy, to forthtell the mighty words and work of God. Johann Sebastian Bach draws our attention to this with his marginal note on 1 Chronicles 25 that, “This chapter is the true foundation of all God pleasing church music.” Biblically what he is referencing is especially verse one where the chronicler describes the work of the musicians and singers as “prophesying.” The sons of Asaph and Heman and Jeduthun “prophesied” with lyres and harps and cymbals. In Bach’s estimation all churchly music ought to present the word of God in musical form so that it can rightly be called “prophecy,” the proclamation of the word of God.
For the work of “serving and obeying” God, we move from words to deeds, using all the good gifts that God has given to us within our various stations or walks of life. The Reformers called these walks of life or relationships “vocations,” from the Latin word vocare which means “to call.” Luther and others with him recognized that God has “called” each of us to various stations and relations. For instance, I was called by my parents to be a son and a brother, and this happened when they named me. I was called to be a Christian when Jesus baptized me and claimed me to be his own. I was called to be a student when Concordia Irvine wrote me a letter of acceptance. Through other creatures, God has called me to be a friend, husband, father, pastor, mentor, Eagle Scout, handyman, and much more. God has placed me into a vast network of relationships with people around me whom I am called to serve and love. And not only has God called me into these vocations, but he has equipped me with the skills and aptitudes to pursue these vocations with freedom and joy.
With this in mind, we can heed St. Paul’s exhortation to “consider your calling in life…” and to further appreciate how we are uniquely positioned to be good stewards of God’s gifts toward the people he has surrounded us with. The first place that we can start is by simply taking care of ourselves, our bodies and life, recognizing our body is a “temple of the Holy Spirit” and what we do with our body matters. Beyond this, we can be good stewards of our possessions and finances, recognizing that through prudence and care, the bounties of the earth and the fruits of our labors can be better enjoyed and shared. Through this sharing we can begin to be good stewards of our neighbors, in both their physical and spiritual needs. Through this same sharing, pastors, church workers, and church property are also cared for and preserved. In all things, our stewardship ought to embody Peter's words, “As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace… in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ” ( 1 Peter 4:10-11). All our stewardship is for the service of others and to the glory of God.
Prayer: Heavenly Father, out of your fatherly, divine goodness and mercy, you have created me and endowed me with all that I have in this body and life, and you continue to defend me from all danger and guard and protect me from all evil. Receive now my thanks and praise for all your gifts, and shape my life to serve and obey you in the callings which you have given me; through Jesus Christ, my Lord. Amen.
