LCMS Convention Proceedings St. Louis, Missouri — 1981, Page 90

Transcription machine transcription, uncorrected

⤓ Download .txt · copy text

90 ESSAYS ON STEWARDSHIP

him, he demanded she be whipped 100 times. After 20
lashes she collapsed. The son, however, insisted
that the total punishment be paid as an example to the
rest of the tribe. This is what he did. He himself took the
remaining 80 lashes. In a larger sense that is what
Jesus Christ did for you and me. In His love for us He
took the hell which we were supposed to endure and
gave us heaven in place of it.

Because of Christ’s love in giving His life for us, we
cannot help but give our life to Him. Very frankly, love
leaves no choice. This means therefore that you are not
going to be satisfied simply with being a businessman
or an engineer, a housewife or a secretary. You are going
to be a Christian businessman or engineer, a Christian
housewife or secretary. Jesus Christ is to permeate your
life whatever the situation and whatever the cost—in
the midst of a business deal or as you confer with your
colleagues, at a cocktail party or at a wedding reception,
in your home and in your neighborhood. It is to be His
will, not yours. It is what is right in His sight, not what
is legal or permissible. Very frankly, love leaves no
choice.

Let me tell you, until you have put Jesus Christ in
first place in your life, you have merely scratched the
surface of your personal possibilities. Let Jesus Christ
live in you—and you will really live! You will enjoy the
best of both worlds!

Some time ago Billy Graham was in London, raising
money for mission work in India. Pledge cards which
said, “I promise to give ” were handed out. Many
of the lords and ladies who were near the front pledged
sizable sums. One fellow in the back wrote in, “I promise
to give myself.” Actually he was pledging far more than
all those wealthy people up front.

There are some here today who ought to consider
this, namely, giving themselves to the full-time work of
the Lord. And here I am not speaking only to the teen-
agers and college students present. I am speaking
directly to you—and you—and you. Very frankly, I
think you lay people at this convention, who have been
willing to give 8 or 10 days of your vacation or have
taken 8 or 10 days off from your business or work, are
some of our best prospects for the full-time work of the
Lord. We need 200 new pastors each year just to keep
going in our Synod. We need another 50 to 100 in order to
keep growing—to fill the mission congregations that
are planned for the 1980s and to enter the foreign
mission fields that are ripe unto the harvest. And it is
not only pastors and missionaries that we need. We also
need Christian day school teachers and directors of
Christian education, deaconesses and parish workers,
missionary nurses and doctors, and also agriculturists,
builders, and businessmen for our foreign mission
installations.

Advancing in missions is not only a matter of money
but also a matter of manpower. We have done extremely
well with Forward in Remembrance. As a result we are
very grateful to our God and we are extremely joyous
and happy. But unless we can also come up with a
challenging number of full-time church workers, we will

never go forward. Many a person has changed courses
in midstream and has become a power in the kingdom of
God. We have seen it happen in the past. It can happen
in the future—perhaps with you.

Because of Christ’s love for us, we cannot help but
give of our time to Him. Here too love leaves no choice.
Time is a precious gift of God. He gives us 24 hours of j it
each day. Use your time wisely and well to His glory.

Use a portion of your time each day for direct
communication with God. Really, love leaves no choi
God has installed a telephone line directly from heave
down into your heart. Get on this line regularly. I wou
suggest each morning and evening. Dial in the name 6f}
Jesus Christ and you will never get the busy signal, you:
will never get the wrong number. Begin your convers
tion with the Lord by thanking Him for what Heh
done for you and your family. Then ask Him to forgiv
you your sins and, if you are at all like me, you hay
plenty of these to enumerate. Then ask Him for th
virtues you want and need. Ask Him to solve specifi
problems. Ask Him to give you specific blessing
Remember, this God of yours is mighty. Nothing i
beyond His ability to supply. One of our hymns puts.
well :

Thou art coming to a King,
Large petitions with thee bring;

For His love and power are such
None can ever ask too much. (TLH 459:2)

Prayer is the greatest power given by God to mai
here on earth. Tap that power!

By all means pray at mealtime—and also when y
eat out at a restaurant or cafeteria or McDonald’
farmer bowed his head in prayer at a restaurant. Th
were a number of young fellows near by. One of thet
called out, “Hey, farmer, does everyone do that wht
you come from?” “No, son,” the farmer answered
calmly, “the pigs don’t.”

Use a portion of your time each day for Bible reading
Actually love leaves no choice. In the Bible you will find
God’s plan for your life. You will find the answers tot!
problems of life. You will find Jesus Christ, the means.
eternal life. Regular Bible reading is vital to victorio
living and Christian growth. Set aside some time ea
day—five, ten, or fifteen minutes—for reading the Bib
or Portals of Prayer. If you have children in your hom
use a Bible story book. Keep this time religiously. Ite
be after breakfast or after supper or just before you
bed at night. Or whenever you wish. Hereis somethin
believe you should always remember: “Minutes f
devotions make for hours of blessed living.”

One of the government leaders of Canada has sai
“The greatest need now is not for more social and mor
reform, not for more codes of ethics, but the greatesi
need of this day and age is for men and nations tog
back to the Bible as the Word of God, to get back to
family altar and to Jesus Christ.”

If you cannot persuade the other members of you
family to join with you in devotions, go it alone. Nev!
allow the apathy or hostility of another person to affe
your Christian faith and life. In fact, one of the