God’s Word and Grace
Are a Passing Rain Shower - Synodical Sermon from 1930
By Friedrich Pfotenhauer
Translated by Matthew C. Harrison
“If we are honest about it, there are indications that in church matters we have all sorts of unrest and problems. These are warnings that the weather will change and change suddenly. Behind the clouds of grace, unthankfulness and disdain are beginning to blow. Oh, let us then earnestly tremble, heartily repent, and admonish one another; so as long as it is day, God’s Word and grace shall not become for us a passing rain shower that does not return.” Pfotenhauer, like Luther, was a prophet. The Great Depression, the Americanization of the Church, the movement toward Lutheran union, and growing internal struggles were all harbingers of difficult times ahead for the Synod. As a true prophet, Pfotenhauer called the Synod to repentance. The Synod increasingly struggled to deal with theological problems. The third generation abbreviated the theology of the second as it strived to be faithful. Others chafed at what they in part rightly perceived as ossification. Pfotenhauer’s sermon is directed as seriously to us, today. Great eras in the Church have always begun with the cry to repentance. M.H.
Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says,
“Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, on the day of testing in the wilderness, where your fathers put Me to the test and saw My works for forty years. Therefore I was provoked with that generation, and said, ‘They always go astray in their heart; they have not known My ways.’ As I swore in My wrath, ‘They shall not enter My rest.’”
Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end. As it is said, “Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.” For who were those who heard and yet rebelled? Was it not all those who left Egypt led by Moses? And with whom was He provoked for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who were disobedient? So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief. Hebrews 3:7–19
Honorable and beloved fathers and brothers in the Lord! Dear friends on all sides! In this year, our Church celebrates the four-hundredth anniversary of the Presentation of the Augsburg Confession. In it, the fathers of our Church clearly and plainly set forth their Confession and gladly proclaimed it on that memorable 25th of June, 1530, before the great men of this world. The Augsburg Confession is a bright morning star— indeed, a sun—in which the grace of God in Christ Jesus, as it is revealed in the Holy Scriptures, brightly shines upon the thousands who cast their glance toward it. And it warms them with its bright rays. It became a banner around which those who love the divine Word of God were gathered. It was the vessel in which the blessings of the Reformation would be preserved for later generations. We members of the Missouri Synod are also richly blessed by this glorious Confession of our Church, and we walk in its light. It is therefore appropriate and right that this year we consider the great events at Augsburg because they are joyous and good things.
But the remembrance of the great grace that God allowed our Church to experience again also has a serious side. I hope, dear brothers, that you will not think it wrong or regard it as a sour note in this jubilee celebration if I set forth this serious matter in my sermon. When a rich period of grace had broken out over Germany, Luther, in his writing “To the Councilmen of All Cities of the German Nation, That They Establish and Maintain Christian Schools,”1 made the terrifying statement in 1524: “God’s Word and grace is a passing rain shower which does not return where it once was.” Let us now treat this word of the reformer in the light of the text read in the fear of God. Thus the theme of my sermon is:
God’s Word and grace is a passing rain shower which does not return where it once was.
I will demonstrate for you the truth of this statement, the cause of this fact, and make the application to us.
I.
Our text points to an absolutely terrible event in the history of the Jewish people. The Lord had visited them with His grace, and with outstretched arm He brought them out of slavery in Egypt and into the Promised Land. It was a great and blessed time. God did signs and wonders for His people and spoke with them in a friendly way as a father speaks with His children. But, oh, his glorious relationship did not last long! A short time after rescuing them from Egypt, God swore to the entire congregation: “You shall not come into my rest” (Hebrews 3:11; Numbers 14:22, 23, 29, 35; Psalm 95:11). Salvation was not irretrievably lost. Instead of proceeding into Canaan, the entire nation, except Joshua and Caleb, was struck down in the wilderness. God’s Word and grace had become for them a passing rain shower which did not return. The Letter to the Hebrews places this terrifying example of punishment before our eyes for warning. We must not think that the experience in the wilderness was exceptional. No. As the history of the Church teaches, it has continued to be repeated.
It was a time of great visitation of grace upon the Jewish people when the Lord appeared in their midst and administered His prophetic office among them. His words were like early and late rains that quicken the thirsty land. The saving grace of God had appeared to them. The friendliness and gentleness of God, our Savior, personally walked among them. But at the conclusion of His work of teaching, the Lord had to declare to the people that the time of grace had run its course and would not return. And so it happened. For two thousand years, heaven has been closed and covered for the Jewish people as such. It happened to them: God’s Word and grace is a passing rain shower which does not return where it once has been.
In the time of the apostles and in the post-apostolic period, the East along with the bordering countries was richly visited by God’s grace. The hastening feet of the apostle Paul founded blooming congregations in Asia Minor and Greece. The apostle John worked into old age at Ephesus. In Egypt and North Africa, God gave mild rains, so that the congregations grew and gloriously expanded. But behold, around the year 622, the lying prophet Mohammed arose. He and his followers spread their false teaching with fire and sword. The East, Greece, Egypt, and North Africa were their booty. The cross vanished, and the crescent took its place. The lands that once bloomed, in which the apostle worked, where the great Church fathers Athanasius and Augustine had taught, became barren and void and have remained so now for twelve hundred years. They have experienced it: God’s Word and grace is a passing rain shower which does not return where it has once been.
In Luther, God sent to the world a great prophet. He proclaimed, as no one since the apostles, the free grace of God in Christ Jesus. That of which the prophet Isaiah spoke happened: “Shower, O heavens from above, and let the skies rain down righteousness; let the earth open, that salvation may sprout forth, and let it cause righteousness to spring up also; I, the Lord, have created it” (Isaiah 45:8 RSV). The gracious weather ruled a broad area; indeed, Germany and the Nordic lands at once. And rain showers brought fruit at that time also over England, France, Italy, and other countries. But how is it going today, particularly in Germany? The Lutheran Church there is like a little building in a vineyard, a night hut in a pumpkin garden (Isaiah 1:8).2 What Luther had prophesied to his Germans has been fulfilled: “You should know that God’s Word and grace is like a passing rain shower which does not return where it once has been. It happened to the Jews. But it’s gone, and they have nothing. Paul brought it to Greece. Now it’s gone and they have the Turks. Rome and Latin lands also had it. Now it’s gone and they have the pope. And you Germans must not think that you will have it forever. For the unthankfulness and despising of it will not allow it to remain.”
II.
This leads us now to the second part of our treatment, in which we will consider why it is a fact that God’s Word and grace is a passing rain shower which does not return where it once has been. The cause lies not in the Word of God and grace. Word and grace are not such that they desire to greet us only briefly, then lift up and rush off, never to return again. The grace of God in Christ Jesus was prepared for all men. God sent His Son for the redemption of the whole world. The Son shed His blood for a propitiation for all, and the Holy Spirit wants all to enter into the kingdom of grace. Therefore God sends His messengers out to invite them in. And oh, how happily He would like to come to all and remain with all, quicken them with His Word and His grace, and make them happy for time and for eternity! How He is pained and laments when His Word falls upon hard soil, and how He rejoices when hearts are opened to Him, so that He can shower upon them His gracious rain!
Our text shows us why God’s Word is a passing rain shower which does not return to where it has once been. There it says of the Jews: “Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, on the day of testing in the wilderness, where your fathers put Me to the test and saw My works for forty years. Therefore I was provoked with that generation, and said, ‘They always go astray in their heart; they have not known My ways.’ As I swore in My wrath, ‘They shall not enter My rest’” (Hebrews 3:7–11).
“For who were those who heard and yet rebelled? Was it not all those who left Egypt led by Moses? And with whom was He provoked for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who were disobedient? So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief” (vv. 16–19).
In this text we hear the cause why Israel could not enter into the Promised Land. Their lack of faith took from them the grace of God, and their lack of faith prevented the grace of God from returning to them. They had all seen the great signs and wonders. But instead of trusting in God like children, they grumbled constantly against Him and did not believe His promises. And so God swore in His wrath: “You shall not enter My rest.”
And, dear brothers, faithlessness, unthankfulness, and disdain are always the cause when God’s Word and grace is a passing rain shower which does not return to where it once was. Unthankfulness and disdain are the winds behind the clouds of divine grace. The winds disturb these clouds, set them in motion, and they up and flee away. Faithlessness and disdain are the reason God’s Word and grace do not return. Faithlessness and disdain, after they have driven away the grace of God, now breathe their hot breath against the diligence that had engendered the Word of God. That destroyed, the field once green and blooming now becomes deserted and desolate.
Unthankfulness and disdain were the cause that Jerusalem lost the grace of God. The farewell speech of our Savior to the city was this: “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who killed the prophets and stoned them who were sent to you, how often would I have gathered together your children, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings; and you would not! Behold, your house shall be left desolate for you” (Matthew 23:37–38 RSV). Unthankful- ness and disdain were the cause that the Eastern Church did not retain God’s Word and grace. Unbelief, unthankfulness, and disdain have not allowed the rain and the gracious weather to remain in Germany.
III.
Now we will make the necessary application from what we have heard to ourselves. We, dear hearers, have had in our Synod God’s Word and grace for a long time. For over eighty years it has been proclaimed purely and clearly in our churches and schools. God has rained upon us streams of love. Precisely the celebration of the Augsburg Confes- sion reminds us that the Lord with outstretched arms led us out of the servitude of the pa- pacy through Luther. We must not become secure. Hear the warning that our text directs to us: “Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called ‘today,’ that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end. As it is said, ‘Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion’” (Hebrews 3:12–15).
If we are honest about it, there are indications that in church matters we have all sorts of unrest and problems. These are warnings that the weather will change and change sud- denly. Behind the clouds of grace, unthankfulness and disdain are beginning to blow. Oh, let us then earnestly tremble, heartily repent, and admonish one another; so as long as it is day, God’s Word and grace shall not become for us a passing rain shower which does not return. Let us buy, because the market is gathered at the gate of the city. The sun is shining and the weather is good. Let us make use of God’s grace and Word because we have them! Let us grab hold of them and keep them!
To be sure, when we look to the evil times in which we live, to the rising level of in- difference in our congregations, to the history of previous generations, so must we break down and be overcome with great fear, like a man before battle. And certainly we should completely forsake ourselves and our ability, but not the Lord and His grace. The Lord will not leave us but remain with us. He wills not that we perish, but that we enter into rest. For this very reason He provides us a warning and example of punishment, so that we avoid thanklessness and disdain and diligently make use of His Word and His grace. The celebration of the Presentation of the Augsburg Confession reminds us anew of the great treasure sent by the Lord of our Church! May this celebration move us to make use of this valuable treasure with thanksgiving, and may it also move us ardently to implore God that He would preserve this treasure for us and our children.
Oh, stay with us, Lord Jesus Christ, For evening is now upon us; Thy divine Word, that glorious light, Let it burn among us bright!
At Home in the House of My Fathers
Translated from “Gottes Word und Gnade ein fahrender Platzregen, Synodalpredigt, gehalten im Jahre 1930,” in Predigten gehalten zu verschiedenen Zeiten und bei verschiedenen Glegenheiten Auf mehrfaches Verlangen im Druck dargeboten von F. Pfotenhauer (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1938). —M. H.
the disignation of its contents as an interpretation which is correct and has therefore been given to the whole Church. What distinquishes both is the stronger emphasis placed on the normative significance of the Confessions among Lutherans over against the “pious relativism” (ibid. p. 79, 83), which expresses iself in the terms “locally circumscribed,” “for the present,” “temporarily.” 
It is actually true that the Reformed Church knows no common confession, but that the Augsburg Confession, which unites the Lutheran Church, faces a multitude of Reformed confessions, the Helvetica, the Gallicana, the Belgica, the Scotica, the Anglican Articles, etc. Also confessions which thereafter not only achieved local standing, as, e.g., the Heidelberg Catechism and the Westminster Confession, never where adopted by all Reformed Churches.
state church, confesses its faith. On the contrary, it must do that.The only question is, why the same faith should not be confessed by all in the same words, as we do in the ancient creeds of the church. Isn’t there perhaps a connection between the localizing
confesses the faith in which he wants to persevere and with which he wishes to step before the judgment seat of God.
which according to Matthew 10:33 is to descend upon the deniers of the truth of the Gospel, after which these words follow: “Therefore it is our definite resolve, through the mighty Spirit of this our Lord Jesus Christ, to abide in the confession of this our faith as it is is expressed in the following articles” (quoted form Barth’s Gifford lectures of 1938, “Gotteserkenntnis und Gottesdienst nach reformatorischer Lehre,” Zollikon, 1938, p. 11; the Preamble is missing in the edition of the Reformed Confessions by E.F.K. Mueller). With respect to the readiness to permit themselves to be corrected by the Word of God, there is therefore no difference between the Old Reformed and the Lutheran view of the Confessions. 
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