LCMS Convention Proceedings St. Louis, Missouri — 1986, Sheet 99

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ALIVE IN CHRIST—THE PASTORAL OFFICE 97

“What kind of a pastor do you want?” A survey among
Lutheran congregations was made in 1979. Here are the
top answers (Ten Faces of Ministry, eds. Milo L. Brekke,
Merton P. Strommen, Dorothy L. Williams, Minneapolis:
Augsburg, 1979):

—A man sent from God

—Strong personal devotional life

—Unwavering trust in God

—Concern over the flock given him by the Holy Spirit

—Sermons and talks show he knows the Lord and is in
regular contact with Him through prayer and Scrip-
tural study

—Knows Christ as Savior and believes in the resurrec-
tion

—Sees his ministry as they do that he is called by God

—Speaks God’s Word freely and credibly

The list seemed endless. Negative concerns were also

included. People do not want a pastor who

—lIs a law unto himself as “the shepherd in charge”

—Has a sense of spiritual superiority

—tLacks regard for people’s needs or concerns

—lIs not dependable, ignores deadlines and people’s de-
cisions

—Keeps no promises to work hard or call on newcomers
or the sick

—Is of the opinion that he is responsible only to members
who attend church

—Preaches morality and law sermons; stresses gaining
faith in God (he talks that you “gotta do this” and
“gotta do that” and then calls it grace), as a legalist
lacks Gospel words.

There are times when a church member’s faith could
falter or fall short because of the pastor’s behavior in life
or teaching, yet the member respects the Word of God,
believing in the divinity of the call, and piously says, “God
must have a reason to keep him here or God would move
him away.” Another member says, “Perhaps the pastor’s
collar, which he wears all the time, reminds me of the
millstone Jesus said should be hung round the neck of one
who causes believers to stumble” (Matt. 18:6).

In all of this, sheep want to hear Jesus the Shepherd’s
voice through the pastor (John 10:16), because: “The Word
of God is alive and active. It cuts more keenly than any
two-edged sword, piercing as far as the place where life
and spirit, joints and marrow, divide. It sifts the purpose
and thoughts of the heart” (Heb. 4:12). Man is “born anew
through the living and enduring Word of God . . . and this
Word is the Word of the Gospel preached to you” (1 Peter
1:23, 25).

When a pastor receives a call, he prays, “Speak, Lord,
Your servant hears. What will you have me do?” He looks
for a sign, a signal, an answer to prayer. Will God’s people
give the answer? They belong to Christ’s body. Will God
speak through them? Will fellow pastors help because they
are concerned for God’s kingdom? The call was made by a
community of God’s people, who prayed the Holy Spirit to
guide them. Only God can help give the answer to this call.

That God would call is not new to you. Each of you has
been called to faith. Paul said in 2 Thess. 2:14: “From the
beginning of time God chose you to find salvation in the

Spirit that consecrates you, and in the truth that you be-
lieve. It was for this that He called you through the Gospel
... So that you might possess for your own the splendor of
our Lord Jesus Christ.” We concur: “I believe that by my
own reason or strength I cannot believe in Jesus Christ,
my Lord, or come to him. But the Holy Spirit has called
me through the Gospel . .. just as he calls ... the whole
Christian church on earth” (SC II 6).

There’s another call, your life’s vocation. Perhaps your
pastor sometime in his life was moved to consider being a
pastor. “There is a popular saying, ‘To aspire to leadership
is an honorable ambition.’ ” “He who desires to be a bishop
desires a good thing” (1 Tim. 3:1). “Each one,” writes Paul,
“must order his life according to the gift the Lord has
granted him and his condition when God called him”
(1 Cor. 7:22). God not only “brought us to salvation but
called us to a dedicated life” (2 Tim. 1:9).

Being human we all have ambitions and desires. Being
Christians we all want our life’s work to please God. There
can be times we see God’s guidance and are convinced that
God guided us to our profession and place, whether pastor
or laity.

When a man desires to be a pastor, and trains for it, he
looks on it as did Walther, as the highest possible work
(Walther on the Church, p. 103).

Longing to be a pastor is not evil but a good desire, says
Paul (1 Tim. 3). Desiring adultery makes one an adulterer
(Matt. 5:28), but desiring to be a pastor does not make a
man a pastor. There are Biblical criteria to follow: pastoral
leadership in 1 Timothy (3:1-8); testing in 1 John (4:1)
“whether the teacher is from God”; scrutiny (dokimazo) in
1 Timothy (3:10) so no mark is against the man; and then
a call from a church to be its pastor, with ongoing confir-
mation by God’s people. In all this, even as Walther says,
“the ministry is the highest office in the church, from which
all other offices of the church issue, whether sexton, sec-
retary, preceptor, teacher. All are aids to the ministry of
preaching” (Walther on the Church, pp. 103-4).

When then is a call to the ministry divine?

1. When issued in obedience to God’s command to pro-
claim the message of reconciliation and the minister
is also called to obey that command

2. When issued to fill God’s various gifts to the church

3. When issued by divinely conferred authority as given
God’s people

It is then with prayer and blessings from God that God’s
people and fellow servants of God approve and assure the
man, blessing him in his functional office whether ordained
or installed.

Dr. Walther wrote:

After his ordination every pastor should connect himself
with an orthodox synod. To neglect or refuse this would betray
a sinful, independent, and schismatical spirit. He would offend
against the divine word Eph. 4 (3-7); 1 Cor. 1 (10-13); 1 Cor.
11 (18-19). A pastor who should insist on his liberty to remain
independent with his congregation would act against his duty
to the church as a whole and show himself as a separatist.
(Gerberding, p. 440)

The ministries are gifts not only to the community of
believers which called, but to a wider circle, even the whole
church of God. So in the presence of pastors and congre-