100th Anniversary Service for Calvary Lutheran of Aberdeen, WA
Sermon • Submitted • Presented • 10:15
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Both the Old Testament and the Gospel text this morning are specifically written to pastors. Each of these passages contains a warning. In fact, the greatest warnings in Scripture are addressed to pastors. Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever causes one of these little ones who believes in me to sin, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were drowned in the depth of the sea. Woe to the world because of offenses! For offenses must come, but woe to that man by whom the offenses come!” (Mt 18:6, 7) These words, spoken to the first generation of pastors, the apostles, apply to every man who stands in the office of the holy ministry today. It would be better to be drowned than to lead one of Jesus’ little ones astray. For this reason, St. James writes, “Not many of you should become [pastors], my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness” (James 3:1).
God will hold every pastor accountable. This is something that often keeps me awake at night. God will require every pastor to give an account for the souls entrusted to his care. Today, pastors are often taken to task by their people for a whole range of perceived failings: the church is not growing, his sermons don’t make us feel happy, he never lets us sing my favorite hymn, he should focus more on outreach and less on doctrine, he should be more eloquent and winsome, etc… But these things are not the measure of a faithful pastor.
On the Last Day, God will judge each pastor only by this standard: “Did you speak my words?” Jesus charged the first pastors, “Baptize all nations and teach them everything that I have commanded you.” (Mt 28:19–20). This is your pastor’s job. He has been placed here by God for one task: to speak the words that God has given him to say. He doesn’t choose what he will or won’t say. He speaks as he is commanded. A pastor is simply the mailman, delivering God’s message to his people. Whether people want to hear on not, whether the message is received with joy or resentment, whether the church appears to be growing or not, a faithful pastor must remain true to the task God has set before him: “Tell my people my words and only my words.”
This is the metric by which a pastor’s success or failure ought to be measured. If you have adopted a different standard for evaluating your pastor’s performance, then repent. His job is not to preserve peace at any cost, not to please every member of the church, not to ensure that the church can meet its budget. His job, for which God will hold him accountable on the Last Day, is to deliver the words of life, to baptize and teach all that Jesus commanded.
Sometimes the members of a congregation will mistakenly think that they were the ones to choose their pastor. Perhaps some of you have served on the calling committee that selected your pastor’s name from a list and issued the necessary call documents. But you did not choose or call your pastor. God did. And when God called your pastor he said to him, “You, son of man: I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel; therefore you shall hear a word from My mouth and warn them for Me. When I say to the wicked, ‘O wicked man, you shall surely die!’ and you do not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood I will require at your hand” (Ezek 33:7-8).
You might wonder, “Why is God so keen on making sure that his words are faithfully delivered to his people? Why does he care so much about warning sinners to turn from their sin? Why does he threaten to punish all pastors who shirk this duty? The answer is found in our Gospel text. Jesus says, “It is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish” (Mt 18:14). This is the will of God the Father toward every one of his children. He desires that all would be saved, that none would perish. And in order that this gracious will might be accomplished among us, God gives faithful pastors to his church. To them much is given, including the care of God’s precious flock. And from these men, much will be required.
In this way we see God’s tender care for his little ones, and by little ones, God means you. You are his dear child, and he is not willing that you should perish. To be sure, you were that lost sheep that went astray. Every one of us was that lost sheep. But God, in his infinite mercy, went out and sought you. He found you in the darkness of sin and unbelief. He loved you when you were unlovable. He cleansed you with his own blood, forgiving every sin, and having placed you safe and secure in the sheepfold of the Holy Christian church, Jesus promised to be with you until the end of time.
Why would Jesus promise this? Isn’t he everywhere anyway? To be sure, he is. Jesus in the middle of a hurricane. He’s on Alpha Centauri. But he has promised to be among his church in a uniquely gracious way: with the forgiveness of sins. To this end, Jesus calls pastors and sets them to labor in his church: so that the forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed to the ends of the earth. This morning, when you confessed, “I, a poor, miserable, sinner, confess unto You all my sins and iniquities…” then your pastor spoke as he was commanded to speak: “In the stead of my Lord Jesus Christ I forgive you all your sins in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” And wherever and whenever this happens, even if only two or three are gathered, there is the true church on earth. How do we know this? Because of Jesus’ promise: “Where two or three are gathered together in my name, I am there in the midst of them” (Mt 18:20).
Our Lord is among us again today. He has not come in terrible majesty and awesome power as he could. He has not come in righteous vengeance upon sin, though we are sinners. Instead, our Lord Jesus comes to us with all his mercy, grace, and compassion. He comes to bestow the forgiveness and peace that he won for us at the cross. The minister of this peace is your pastor, a man chosen by God to deliver the words of forgiveness to every sinner that will hear and believe. That forgiveness is meant to be heard with the ears, felt with the hands, tasted with the mouth. And even though it is a man who with trembling hands or stammering mouth delivers the gift of forgiveness, it is Christ himself who serves you today.
For 100 years God has blessed Calvary Lutheran with pastors who are faithful to speak Christ’s words of forgiveness. Truly, there is no greater blessing that God can bestow upon a congregation. For where the words of Christ are proclaimed with truth and boldness, where the sacraments are rightly administered for the forgiveness of every sin, there our Lord Jesus is at work within in his church as he promised to be. May God grant it ever to be so. Amen.