God Delivers the Goods

One of the great wonders of Word and Sacrament theology is its objectivity; because God is acting through His Word, "the goods" are always delivered. This point is brought out in a very winsome way by Bryan Gerlach, in an article from the Lutheran Leader called "Confident Joy in the Basics":

Music is not a means of grace, a direct channel for God's undeserved love to flood into my life. (But the text sung to the music might be.) The preacher's winning personality is not a means of grace, nor is his style and skill in the pulpit. The ambiance created by the sacred space of church architecture is not a means of grace, nor is the friendliness of the assembled worshipers.
Of course, these matters are important. We want to do our best with them for the glory of God and for the edification of his people. But they are not the holy basics. We cannot let attention to them detract from reliance on God's glorious means of grace, the gospel in word and sacrament.
Every Sunday we can rejoice in the certainty that God's people are being fed. This happens not because the preacher has blended just the right ingredients of Bible text, humor, personal insight, and rhetorical flair. It happens because God promises, "My word will not return to me empty" (Isaiah 55: 11). It happens because the preacher handles the dynamite of God, the gospel, which is "the power of God" (Romans 1: 16). The Lord himself promises an unending supply of real spiritual food every time his baptized saints receive his body and blood. What confident joy we can have in God's promises connected to his means of grace!