LCMS Convention Proceedings St. Louis, Missouri — 1965, Page 41

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We shall have to report on the use of God’s noblest
on, our soul. Did we nourish it? Did we keep on
seding it with Word and sacrament? Or did we let it
starve when God told us to take care of it? This soul
js not mine to do with as I please. It is His. I am but
~@ steward of that soul, and I shall have to give an ac-
Zeunt of whether I guarded it, watched over it, pro-
fected it from harm. It is part of the equipment over
which I am a caretaker. Do I recognize this?

Furthermore, God says, “I equipped you. I gave you
certain weapons. Give an account.” Be careful how you
“handle God’s equipment. Good soldiers take care of
“2 their weapons. They don’t let the gun barrel get muddy,

a or they are in trouble with their commanding officer.
The Bible is our weapon, our equipment. We are sol-
oo: diers of God. We had better keep our weapons clean.

Is this book still the Word of God to you, or does it only
-  gontain the Word of God? Is it really God’s Word, or
a is it an imitation, man’s imagination of what God’s Word

ought to be? Look at the Book of Leviticus. There are

only 27 chapters. Do you know that 21 of those chap-
ters begin with the words, “And the Lord spake unto

Moses, saying”? Now, either He spoke or He didn’t.

Did He say it, or didn’t He? Look at your weapon again.

Is it real or isn’t it? I pray that once more you are

convinced of the word, “Thy Word is truth.” I pray

that by God’s Spirit you may be led once more to the
conviction that the Word of God is the final revelation
of God to a sinful world, by which He tells us that there
is redemption for us only througk the crucified Lord.

This Bible is our weapon. With it we win the world.

Take care how you use it. It is not your property. It

belongs to the omniscient Lord. You shall give an ac-

count of your stewardship of this equipment.

The Stewacdship of Manpower

There is, furthermore, our stewardship of manpower.
“A kingdom of priests,” God called Israel. Peter under-
scores this in the New Testament. “You are a chosen
generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation,” he says
(1 Peter 2:9). Since all God’s children are kings and
priests before God, be careful how you handle the chil-
dren of the King. Do we pastors actually handle our
congregations as though they are composed of kings and
# queens? Do you Sunday school teachers and day school
a teachers think of the children in your classes as princes
4 and princesses? They are royalty! Oh, what a hubbub
4q there would have been in Cobo Hall if we had received
the news that Queen Elizabeth intended to visit this
convention with her children! How we would have
scurried around to treat her little ones as royalty should
be treated! You have royalty every time you step into
your classroom. Look, what an exalted position you
have in the palace of the King! You are the tutors of
the King’s little ones. Be careful how you handle His
children. You shall give an account. You are a steward
of the King’s manpower.

A brief word to you instructors in our high schools
and colleges. Every student is a potential stick of dyna-

DOCTRINAL-DEVOTIONAL ESSAYS 41

mite. He can explode for good or for ill. “Be careful
how you handle My men,” God would say to you, “for
you shall give an account.” We therefore plead with you
teachers, when you lead your students into the depths
of research work, don’t lead them out so far that they
cannot find their way back. Bring them back to solid
ground, or they will drown in the swamp. Students trust
their teachers. They follow them so easily. When the
inquiring mind of these youngsters asks you questions,
don’t give them answers that leave them hanging in
midair. A school that is worth its salt does not only
teach its students to ask the right questions in the pro-
cess of education, it also has some positive, definite an-
swers to the problems of man. Give them the solid
answers of Christianity, if you know them, even if the
world calls you dogmatic or calls you a traditionalist.

At our house we have a tradition of eating three
square meals a day. We have a tradition of getting un-
der normal circumstances a normal number of hours
of refreshing sleep. What’s wrong with that type of
traditionalism? There are elements in our Christian
religion that remain in a status quo. The construction
of the road to eternal salvation was a unilateral action,
and there’s only one road. It’s the bloody road of the
cross of my Lord. What’s wrong with only one way?
God give you teachers and your students the grace
never to lose this one way. Forget not, you are the
stewards of God’s manpower. We are grateful that this
has been your endeavor.

I wish to say just a word about Valparaiso Univer-
sity. I have many graduates of Valpo in my congre-
gation. And I am grateful for all of them. Why? Be-
cause they have all been brainwashed — brainwashed
with the blood of Christ. Their desire is to serve their
Lord. That is all that I ask of an institution which bears
the name of my church, that it returns to me my stu-
dents as graduates who are equipped to take their place
in the world of men but who at the same time ask, “How
can I use my talents for God?” What more do you
want? Valpo is with us a co-steward of the King’s man-
power. Pray for it! Help it! Support it!

The Stewardship of Talents

I come to the stewardship of talents. Talents include
every ability of the child of God to serve his fellowmen.
Our church often goes begging for talents because we
have forgotten Exodus 19, where the Lord says: “All
the earth is Mine.” That doesn’t mean just sheep and
goats, iron and silver. If the whole earth is God’s, then,
too, every ability, every talent which He placed into
man belongs to God. Did God give you musical ability?
What return is He getting on His investment? Did God
give you teaching ability? What is He getting out of it?
Did God give you business acumen? What is He getting
back? Did God give you mechanical abilities? How has
His kingdom, His church, ever profited by your talent?
Did God give you the talent of a friendly and pleasant
personality? How has this paid off in the winning of
souls for Him? Did God give you the ability to care