LCMS Convention Proceedings St. Louis, Missouri — 1986, Sheet 100

Transcription machine transcription, uncorrected

⤓ Download .txt · copy text

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”