# LCMS Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_1986_S99 # Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration) a 98 BIBLE STUDY AND DEVOTIONAL ESSAYS gations of like persuasion of faith, the new man is sum- moned publicly before the district of his synod to confess his faith. Before them all he signs in, confessing faith and a concern with them not only for faith but also for mission. And he says, “I am one with you,” as he signs the docu- ments. This is the normal, regular, not unusual way in which the pastoral office is initiated. So we can see a man is called to faith, prompted in his desire to be a pastor or bishop, trained, and called by God’s people, and he answers that summons and then confesses that faith before all. This is the process of the divine call. To this pastoral office there are four marks: 1. Ministry with a message 2. A gift with goals 3. Not an order as much as an office 4, An empowered people of priests who call the pastor A Ministry with a Message 2 Cor. 5 (19-20): “God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, no longer holding men’s misdeeds against them, and He has entrusted us with the message of reconciliation. We come therefore as Christ’s ambassadors. It is as if God were appealing to you through us: in Christ’s name, we implore you, be reconciled to God.” No one understands the wealth of God’s wisdom and love nor the depth of His grace and mercy (Rom. 11:33- 36). God’s grace keeps from us all His wrath against sin and lays it on His Son in fullest measure. His mercy keeps back none of His love, but bestows it freely on the world. Reconciliation in Christ God committed (we did not com- mit our preaching to Him, but He turned over His message) to His people. They are to go and tell. It is not turned over nor transferred to the called pastor, but the pastor trains the people further in their obligation. The people fulfill their corporate responsibility as pastors become ambas- sadors in the name of the King of kings, proclaiming, “God appeals through us to you. In Christ’s name be reconciled to God!” This message is proclaimed in pulpit; transmitted through water of Baptism; partaken with bread and wine at Holy Supper; heard in admonition by indifferent and erring; guided in God’s ordained discipline; read in large letters to young and feeble, sick and dying; told among God’s people in an evangelical manner—thus a pastor cares for blood-bought souls. Without that message there is no ministry. By the message Paul’s question is answered: “How could they have faith in One they have never heard of? And how hear without someone to spread the news? And how could anyone spread the news without a com- mission to do so?” (Rom. 10:14-15). A Gift with Goals In Ephesians 4:8 Paul writes that after Christ had con- quered Satan, sin, and sepulchre, “He ascended into the height with captives in His train; He gave gifts to men.” And what were His gifts? “Apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers.” Using 1 Corinthians 12:28 Walther, as a basis for his sermon (1876), said of these gifts, Christ did indeed institute an office in His church, an office that not all Christians are to administer. For the apostle says very emphatically that Christ did not appoint all but only “some” as apostles, prophets, and evangelists, that is, as ap- ostolic assistants. Christ did not appoint all as pastors and teachers, but only some as immediately called pastors for spe- cific local congregations. The gift is given, to be used. When you bestow a gift upon a child, the gift belongs to him and he’s expected to use it. God gives many gifts to His church and expects us to use them. A congregation calls, summons a man, and says, “As- sume the pastoral office God gave, and build here among us the body of Christ.” The office is from God, the call of the man is from the church. In the Book of Acts, when apostles or the Holy Spirit gave suggestions or names, it was, in the majority of incidents, the community of be- lievers which approved. Paul sees himself as a gift (Eph. 3:7-8): “Such is the gospel of which I was made a minister, by God’s gift, be- stowed unmerited on me in the working of His power. To me, who am less than the least of all God’s people, He has granted of His grace the privilege of proclaiming to the Gentiles the Good News of the unfathomable riches of Christ.” As God’s gift intended for the Gentiles, so we read in Ephesians of God’s goals through the pastoral office: —“To equip God’s people for work in His service” —“To build up the body of Christ” —“To unite us in our faith and knowledge of the Son of God” —“To come to mature manhood, measured by nothing less than the full stature of Christ” (Eph. 4:12-18). Praise the Lord! Sing alleluias! He gives us the mes- sage, the messenger, the gifts, the goals. That’s the di- vinity of the call. When we tamper with or neglect His gift, message, purpose, or process, we despise the Al- mighty. Not an Order as Much as an Office The pastoral office is no special club with degree, class or rank. Through these centuries Christians honored and respected pastors as men set apart by God’s people to be His messengers. Our confessors for the sake of peace may be willing to call it an order, perhaps a sacrament, deliv- ering God’s Word. But they affirm it is an office to minister the Word. When men are elected, summoned, called, or chosen to ministry they are expected to give a service, to perform a duty in reference to the Word. In a parable Jesus said of good servants, “When you have carried out all your orders, you should say, ‘We are servants and deserve no credit; we have only done our duty ” (Luke 17:10). Thus the pastor serves God and His church. “As the Father sends Me,” said Jesus, “so I send you” (John 20:21). “The Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve, and to give up His life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45). A pastor is what his name means: shepherd, who runs not away in danger, or discouragement, or despising of God’s Word, but he feeds God’s sheep, tends to God’s flock, and searches for others to bring them in (John 17), because “We had all strayed like sheep; each of us had gone our own way; but the Lord laid on Him the iniquity of us all”