LCMS Convention Proceedings St. Louis, Missouri — 1981, Page 86

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86 CONVENTION SERMON

recall the words of Helen Keller who was born blind and
deaf: “So much has been given to me, I have no time to
ponder over that which has been denied.”

II. What Do We Give?

The Macedonian Christians, writes Paul, “gave
themselves first to the Lord” (2 Cor. 8:5). It is important
for us to note here that we do not give to the Synod or
even to the church but to the Lord, who then allots our
gifts through the church. From this total giving there
flows time, talent, and treasure.

I do not believe that the time we give can be
measured in so many hours in witnessing, meetings at
church, teaching, or whatever. Time in its totality,
never forgetting that we are God’s people all the time, on
the job, at home, at play, living the kind of life that gives
glory to God, so that “they may see your good works and
glorify your Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 5:16
KJV).

Take my moments and my days
Let them flow in ceaseless praise. (TLH 400)

Talent, likewise, is an offering we lay before Him,
who gives gifts, many to some, from whom much shall
be expected, and few to others. Jesus’ parable of the
talents does not have to do with how many we get but
what we do with what we get. In our prayers this
evening we will thank God for the gifts of talented
people whose labors are over and whose works do follow
them.

The concept of treasure needs some breaking down.
In all of the stewardship materials I have ever seen,
nothing seems to be mentioned about the stewardship of
doctrine or, as Secretary Mueller calls it in the Conven-
tion Workbook, the stewardship of sacred truth. Paul
advises his coworkers that they are to be “stewards of
the mysteries of God” (1 Cor. 4:1 KJV), who are to be
found faithful to the truths He has revealed to us in the
Bible. By the way, the term “steward” has interesting
roots. The word originally was “sty-word,” an English
term for the keeper of the pig sty. Later the word became
a name of Scottish and English kings, meaning “from
the sty to the throne.” That certainly fits, doesn’t it?

To be a responsible steward of the treasure of

doctrine doesn’t mean just to guard it or give lip service
to it. It means much more than passing good convention
resolutions about it. The law of God specifies that

certain thoughts and actions are wrong. To make all
manner of allowances for murder, adultery, and the likes
is both sinful and bad stewardship. Also, to atta
conditions to the saving Gospel, as the Galatians we
tempted to do, is both a threat to the assurance of
salvation and, again, bad stewardship.

Finally, there is the stewardship of trust. We tru
God in all things, who has promised to “supply our ev
need,” and we exult with Paul, “I can do all thin
[through] Him who strengthens me.” (Phil. 4:13 RS\
That’s what Arnold Lemerand of Southgate, Michigé
experienced last fall when he came home from work ¢
day, an hour earlier than usual. “I was getting ou
car when I heard these teenage girls screaming,’*f
56-year-old man said. “I walked over across the
and found a child who had been playing on one 0!
several 18-foot lengths of pipe near the kinderg:
trapped underneath a pipe. In fact, the pipe was ri
his head. Now, I had had a heart attack six yearsiag
and the doctors cautioned me against lifting”
things, but I walked over, picked it up, and th
dragged him out of there. I thought it must weigh &
300 or 400 pounds. Later I walked back, and no one,
the police and the reporters, could budge th :
Neither could my grown sons.”

It was later learned that the cast iron pipe w
1,800 pounds, close to a ton. The mother of the fiv
old child said, ‘“‘God just had to have given him'a§
of strength; that’s why my son is still here and ali

Of course. And we also can and should meg
seemingly impossible challenges God places befoti
for we have been assured that He will equip usin
way. We agree with Paul: a

What shall we say to all these things? If God is for!

can be against us? He that spared not His ow

delivered Him up for us all, will He not also, alot

Him, freely give us all things? (Romans 8:31-32 Ka

RSV). :

And will we not partake of that blessing of f
greater than that of receiving, and return to Hi
He lavishly and freely showers upon us in Cc

Vice-President Robert Sauer,

Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotatio!
The Holy Bible. NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSI
right © 1978 by the New York International Bible Soci
by permission of Zondervan Bible Publishers.