Pastor’s Page

October Is Reformation Month!

God Is Putting The Work Of His Kingdom Right Into Our Hands!

On October 31, 1517, Martin Luther asked for a debate about God's gift of salvation by posting on the University bulletin board, (the church door) 95 Theses, or statements, to be discussed. The core question was, "Can we be saved by our good deeds or the good deeds of other people?"

The Bible states a resounding, "No!" It is only by the saving work of Jesus Christ on the cross that we can be forgiven and given the gift of heaven (Romans 3). The debate and eventual split in the Church that resulted is known as the Reformation.

Later this month we remember Reformation Day. Christians from the very beginning have had to be wary that the Gospel of God's free gift of salvation is not distorted or last. Paul's letter to the Galatians was a warning that they, by relying on their own actions for their standing before God, were in danger of losing the Good News of Jesus.

In the next couple of weeks, I want to talk about some of the differences the Reformation has made for us living under God's free grace today, and especially the difference those differences make for our congregaion as we "share the saving love of Christ that transforms ordinary people into extraordinary servants."

Transformation

In the movie, "The Lord of the Rings", the evil sorcerer uses the muck and mire of the earth to create an army of dreadful, ugly, nasty soldiers to do his dirty deeds. Bleah! It's pretty graphic and disgusting!

But it's not too far from the way God works. Our Father reaches down into the darkness of the shadows of sin and finds us, lost and wandering away, and then by the love of his Son, Jesus, he "calls us out of darkness and into his marvelous light" (1 Peter 2). God takes us weak and sinful human beings, and cleans us, forgiving all our sins because of Christ's sacrifice.

Then he sends us out as his army to do his work.

There was a misconception that arose in the Church that was turned around by the Reformation. Somehow the idea snuck in that only the pros, only the ordained clergy of the Church were allowed to do God's work. It was taught that the twelve disciples were all pastors or priests, and when Jesus sent them, it was his intention to send only certain special people out into the world to do his deeds.

But the Bible clearly states that we are all members of the body of Christ, each of us with a share in the work (1 Corinthians 12, Romans 12). The Reformation didn't abolish the pastoral office. It's in the Bible. The pastors and teachers have an important role in the life of the body. But the gifts and the strength and the calling and the authority to do the work of God belongs to all of us.

Pastor's Job

Christians gather in clusters called congregations. It is their right, and their responsibility, to call someone from among them to be a pastor, a shepherd of the flock and a steward of the Good News God gave in the Gospel and in the Sacraments. The Pastor's job is to rightly administer those good gifts so that the people grow up in faith and in love and get to work doing the Lord's will. Paul says the pastor's role is to "prepare God's people for works of service" (Ephesians 4:12).

And all service in the Church is equal.

What makes a good work good? Luther once described it like this. When Jesus gave us the gift of faith, he gave us his perfection, his righteousness. We are clean and forgiven because he said to us, as a groom says to his bride, "I am yours."

Think of that, Jesus, the perfect Son of God saying to you, "I am yours. I live in you. All my goodness, perfection, holiness is now yours. Believe it. Receive it. Rejoice in it."

Extraordinary Servants

What is the response of a bride to words like that? Christians simply respond in return, "I am yours." The Song of Solomon says, "My beloved is mine and I am his" (2:16). Because he has made us his own, we can offer ourselves, our lives, and all that he has given us into his service. All we do for him is in response to his goodness, and driven by the power of his love, not by our own.

That's why we're called Christians, "little Christ's," Jesus living out his life through us. ""I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave his life for me" (Galatians 2:20).

A good deed is not a way to earn God's favor. A good deed is simply living out the calling that God, through the gift of Christ, has given us the power to live!

Into the Hands...

It has been said that when the Good News of the free gift of salvation by God's undeserved kindness was freely proclaimed, two things happened. The Reformation put the Bible back into the hands of the people (I think this will be next week's topic!) and it put the work of God back into their hands also!

We have a long way to go in this area. I've often used tha analogy of a football game to describe the Church: a handful of people on the field desperately in need of rest being watched by thousands in the stands desperately in need of exercise!

The future of our congregation's ministry will not be judged by what or how much the Pastor does. I'll keep fumbling along the best I can. I hope to grow better and better as years go by, but what I do is only one fella's ministry.

God has reserved the great volume of his work for you, as each one of us finds and picks up his task in the Lord's kingdom.

A pastor I know in California is fond of saying, A church is not judged by it's seating capacity, but by it's sending capacity" which is something pretty special for a guy whose church has a seating capacity of about 15,000 each week. But he's convinced that the greatness of the church is not measured by the pastor's work for Christ, but by the things that every member does day by day. I agree.

I couldn't be more excited about the future of our congregation. One by one God is raising up extraordinary servants, transformed by his saving love. I know he will use you as you are a channel of his love in your home, at your work and in our neighborhood. The undiscovered gifts in you are coming to the surface. The ministries our Lord wants begun will be planted and bloom and grow because God wants it to happen and because he's called you to do them and because he is at work in you and through you, amazing and wonderful things will result. The saving love of Christ will be shared in new and life changing ways. The miracles that he has already begun among us will continue to happen.

And it won't happen because I'm such a great pastor or because you are such extraordinary servants. It will happen because the power of God himself is at work in us. We'll simply be the "gloves on his hands." (Luther came up with that one, too!)

It's gonna be fun, isn't it!