"PREPARING FOR HIS SERVICE"
Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost
September 3, 2017
Bethel Evangelical Lutheran Church
Glenshaw, Pennsylvania
TEXT:
Therefore thus says the Lord: "If you return, I will restore you, and you shall stand before Me. If you utter what is precious and not what is worthless, you shall be as My mouth. They shall turn to you, but you shall not turn to them."
Jeremiah 15:19 (ESV)
If you follow the politics and controversies of our church-body at all, you are no doubt aware of the fact that for a number of years now one of the big issues has been in regard to the proper preparation of pastors. The question has centered on what kind of training best prepares young men for serving the Lord and His Church in the public ministry. Some believe very strongly that the best preparation for pastors is the classical formal education that our synod has always required of its pastors from its beginnings. But in recent decades there have been others who feel just as strongly that experience is the best teacher--that the person who has already had some experience in carrying out some of the duties of the pastoral office is far better prepared than the one who has studied Greek, Hebrew, and theology. The debate over this goes on and on, as debates often do.
In this morning's Old Testament Reading the Lord speaks through His prophet Jeremiah to tell us about the best preparation for those who intend to serve Him and speak in His name. As is usually the case, what the Lord has to say on the subject has nothing at all to do with the concerns of mere humans. What He says doesn't give a ringing endorsement to either side in our current debate, but instead it cuts right through it all to address something that is even more basic. His words are valuable not only to Jeremiah and not only to those of us who serve in the public ministry; these words speak to each and every one of us who calls himself or herself a Christian. They are particularly relevant words for us at this time of the year, when we as a congregation, together with countless other congregations, are about to begin a new season of activities in His name and in His service. Amid all of the talk about preparation for the Lord's service, let's listen closely to hear what the Lord Himself has to say about it.
The most obvious qualification for the Lord's service, as far as the Lord Himself is concerned, is a repentant heart. All of us are infested with sin, and as long as we fail to acknowledge that fact, sin has the upper hand in our lives, as Saint John writes in his First Epistle and as we said just a little while ago in the liturgy of the Divine Service: "If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us" (1 John 1:8 RSV). The person who denies that he is a sinner is living a lie; for this reason any attempt on his part to serve the Lord will likewise lack integrity. Like it or not, sin--yours, mine, and everybody else's--is offensive to a perfectly just God. You can't just sweep that offense under the rug and expect this just God to pretend that He doesn't notice. Our sin must be acknowledged and dealt with if we are to be of any use to the Lord in His kingdom.
Obviously, acknowledging our sin is a lot easier than dealing with it. As Christians, we're all pretty good at acknowledging our sins (especially when we are confronted with the evidence), but neither you nor I nor any other mere human can adequately deal with it. We can try to hide it. We can make excuses for it. We can try to blame it on someone or something else. But no matter what we do, we cannot put it to rest. Only God Himself can do that--and He has done just that in the life and death of His Son Jesus Christ. In Christ God Himself has put our sin behind us and has made us fit for His service. We and our efforts to please Him are acceptable to Him, but only because He has made us and those efforts acceptable through the atonement that He accomplished for us in Christ. With that redemption completed, the biggest obstacle to our worship and service has been removed.
The other concern that the Lord has in the preparation of those who would serve Him is also a matter of integrity. Just as He is concerned about the truth in regard to our sin, He is also concerned about the truth in regard to our message. The best preparation for us as we go about proclaiming God's message of sin and grace is that we know what His message is in the first place. The substance of the message that we share with others in Jesus' name is far more important than how skillfully or eloquently we are able to share it. There are a lot of people out there preaching all kinds of religious messages. Many of them sound nice and strike a chord with a lot of people. But that's not what we're all about. That's not what we have been called to do. If our message is our own message and nothing more, then we may as well keep it to ourselves. It is all nothing but "worthless" (as our text puts it), because we are in no position to give people what they need out of our own resources.
The only worthy message that we have to share is God's message--the message that He has communicated to us in His Word--the message that Jeremiah, in our text, calls "precious.” This is the twofold message of Law and Gospel--the message that exposes us as the sinners that we are and condemns our sin but at the same time pronounces us "not guilty" for the sake of the Savior who endured the punishment that we deserve. It is the age-old message that never grows old or goes out of date--the message that is always relevant--because wherever there are people there is also sin and guilt and therefore the need for forgiveness. While the specifics of the situation may vary from person to person and place to place and the particular application may differ, the problem is always sin and the solution is always Jesus. If we want to truly be prepared for serving Him, we need to know that above all else.
The Lord's instructions to those who would serve Him include one final word about the desired result. Through Jeremiah the Lord tells us in the text before us: "They shall turn to you, but you shall not turn to them." In our efforts to relate to and communicate with those we witness to, we must be on our guard so that the Word we preach influences the world rather than allowing the world to influence us. It's not an easy thing to win people over while you're telling them something that they don't want to hear. In fact, it's an impossible thing. That's why God has given us His Holy Spirit, so that He might do through us what we cannot do ourselves. With the power of that same Spirit we can go forth boldly in the Savior's name, knowing that through repentance, forgiveness, and a knowledge of the truth, He has given us the best preparation for service in His kingdom.
Amen.
May the Lord bless your hearing of His Word, using it to accomplish in you those things for which He gave it. May you be enriched and strengthened in faith that you may leave here today to go out into our world armed with the whole armor of God, prepared to be able ambassadors of your Savior Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful, and He will do it. Amen.