Friday, June 22, 2012

Good Enough?

Years ago I was involved with a service project in the local church.  We were doing some outdoor work.  One of the volunteers repeated what soon became a mantra for the day:  "Good enough for government work!"  This struck me as odd on many levels.  Do we expect less quality from the government?  What is good enough?  Should we be content with the implied "good enough for the church" effort?

When it comes to salvation no one is "good enough" for all of our righteousness falls short of the glory of God.  By the works of the flesh no one will be justified in God's sight.  The Holy Scriptures require of us our best.  Honor the Lord with your wealth and with the firstfruits of all your produce (Proverbs 3:9).  Whatever you do in word or deed do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him (Colossians 3:17).

The firstborn was offered to the Lord and dedicated to Him.  Sacrificial lambs were to be one year of age without blemish or spot.  People and priests in Malachi's day were weary of giving the best to the Lord.  The  people offered inferior animals for sacrifice.  These were the diseased, injured or crippled.  The priests made no protest and offered what was presented to them.  The Lord was furious. God instructs the people to give the governmental leaders such inferior gifts and see how they would react.  It would be a great insult to the ruler and bring disfavor and reprisal upon the one who presented such poor fair. Cursed be the cheat who has a male in his flock, and vows it, and yet sacrifices to the Lord what is blemished.  For I am a great King, says the Lord of hosts and My name will be feared among the nations (Malachi1:14).

Why do we think that God is satisfied with second best or the dregs of what we have to offer?  He is a great and mighty King, the Creator, Redeemer and Sanctifier.  The Lord gave us His very best as Jesus became man and dwelt among us.  He took the worst humanity has to offer and bore its weight and consequences upon the cross.  The Father laid on His Son the iniquity of us all.  Less than best would not do.  We would still be in our sins if Jesus was blemished, lame or sick.  There can be no good enough for the Lord who demands perfection  (Matthew 5:48). The sacrifices of God are a broken and contrite heart.  This He will not despise.

Who are we to blame for the malaise of "good enough for the Lord" prevalent today? Pastors blame sin filled congregants still guided by the flesh.  Teachers lament student's out of school life and how difficult it is to teach contrary to the world and one's sinful flesh.  A growing number of Christians favor their own opinions in place of what is written and revealed in Holy Scripture. Christians expect opposition from the world.  When it comes from within the church it seems to hurt more.

The Lord holds His servants accountable for tolerating the sins of the people. Priests should never have accepted inferior animals for sacrifice.  They are to uphold the Lord's standard.  If they don't God was going to wipe their faces in the offal and dung of the animals they accepted.  God expects more from pastors and teachers.  He expects them to be the faithful stewards whom He has called.  For the lips of a priest should guard knowledge, and people should seek instruction from his mouth, for he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts.  But you have turned aside from the way.  You have caused many to stumble by your instruction.  You have corrupted the covenant of Levi, says the Lord of hosts (Malachi 2:7-8).

You have no one to blame but yourself is the judgment from God through Malachi.  Is the law you teach and proclaim faithful to the Lord who gives it for instruction of His people?  Do you shy away from presenting the law in its full sternness afraid that it might scare people away?  When you do this it is the same as accepting crippled, lame and inferior sacrifices and calling them good enough for the Lord.  Where is the fear and reverence of God?

Here we need the Lord's best.  We need Jesus the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.  He is here for you.  Jesus ransomed you from the futile, sinful ways inherited from your forefathers.  He did this not with gold or silver but with His holy and precious blood like that of a lamb without blemish or spot (1 Peter 1:17-21).  Jesus suffered once for your sins to bring you to God. He was put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit to bring you to God (1 Peter 3:16-18).  It is Jesus who causes you to be born from above in the waters of baptism.  He joins you to Himself and calls you to be faithful unto death so that you may receive the crown of life.  Jesus' life, death, resurrection and ascension are what is good to the Father.  His righteousness for your unrighteousness is the greatest trade ever made.  Nothing else is close nor good enough.


Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Are You Listening?

Let the wise hear and increase in learning, and the one who understands obtain guidance.  The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction (Proverbs 1:5,7). Faith comes by hearing and hearing through the Word of Christ (Romans 10:17).  Blessed are those who hear the Word of God and keep it (Luke 11:28).
Have you detected the common theme in these verses of Holy Scripture?  Each refers to the blessedness that comes from hearing the Word of God.  Disciples are lifelong learners. They realize that Jesus has the Words of eternal life (John 6:63). All Scripture is God-breathed and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work (2 Timothy 3:16-17).  To stop hearing the Word of God is akin to not breathing in the breathe of life that the Father gives us in Jesus through the Holy Spirit.  Hold your breath too long and you will pass out.  Not breathing for eight minutes or more can cause irreversible brain damage.  Breathing is a vital part of life.  So is hearing the Word of God.
What are you inhaling from the Word of God?  In His great wisdom the Lord spreads the faith orally and aurally.  God speaks, we listen. God breathed into Adam and he became a living being (Genesis 2:7).  Jesus breathed on them and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit" and the Office of the Keys was given to the apostles (John 20:22-23) The Spirit works through that which is heard to bring the Word deep inside the listener. He forgives our sins that we may forgive others their sins against us.
Are you listening? There is no better place to listen and learn than in the Divine Service.  Are you involved in an organized study through your congregation?  Listen to God's Word and learn from Him.  This is the way of wisdom.

Tuesday, June 5, 2012

On The Passing of a Pastor

The Lord Jesus called His servant Rev. Armand Mueller home last Friday at the age of 80.  He was in the 55th of ministry following ordination.  Armand was born into a Lutheran pastor's family in Argentina.  He knew German and Spanish before learning to speak English.  You would never know it for he had no discernible accent. Following graduation from seminary in 1957 he was called to his first parish in Idaho followed by churches in Washington, Nebraska, Kansas and finally at Trinity, Prairie, Illinois, the one where the grave of Martin Stephen is in the church cemetery.  Pastor Armand Mueller spent his last 19 years of parish ministry at Trinity before retiring in 1997 and moving to the town of Red Bud three miles away.
Retirement allowed Armand time to translate German, serve as a guest organist and do supply preaching.

In the fall of 1982 a freshly minted vicar was learning the art of ministry in a neighboring congregation.  Rev. Armand Mueller was always friendly, welcoming and supportive.  He treated the vicars as colleagues rather than the raw rookies that we were.  He shared stories from his ministry.  What stood out about Armand was his constancy, steadfastness and devotion to the pastoral office.  He served faithfully and well.  He put the interest of others ahead of his own.  He was Lutheran through and through without apology or arrogance. Pastor Mark Nebel captured this well in the funeral message.  Armand was the embodiment of a pastor.  The line between pastor and person merged into one.

The former vicar turned pastor returned to Southern Illinois in 2001.  Armand was the guest organist one Sunday.  Eighteen years had passed since they last spoke. Both served in the Northwest District.  Armand at Moses Lake, WA and the newly installed pastor fresh from seven years in Wenatchee, WA both in the same circuit. They quickly caught up with the vitae of one's life as reacquainted pastors do.  Always the disciple of Jesus, Armand continued to listen and learn in retirement, attending lectures and symposiums. My church had much less need for a guest organist in the ensuing years.  Our paths crossed less. I am the poorer for it.

Those involved in the Office of the Holy Ministry bear a burden for their people and congregations.  They shoulder that responsibility until called to a new field of service, to new people in a different setting.  Pastors are privileged to have access into the pivotal moments in the lives of people.  These include birth, baptism, confirmation, marriage, hospitalizations, crises, graduations, funerals and rites of passage. Pastors are called by the Holy Spirit to bring Jesus to their flocks.  Preaching, teaching, visiting, admonishing, encouraging, comforting, guiding, praying, baptizing, celebrating the Eucharist are ways in which this is done.  Pastors rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep.  All the while they are haunted by sins of omission.  Who have I not visited?  How could I have handled that situation better?  Is my preaching and teaching what these saints of God need?  Am I directing them always and only to Jesus and not creating a following for myself?

Like every other sinner, pastors are saved by grace and grace alone.  They too are baptized and redeemed by the Lord, saint and sinner simultaneously.  Their hope is the same Jesus they deliver to the flock.  They trust that the Lord is true.  His Word will not return to Him without accomplishing the purpose for which He sent it.  How they cling to the promise that one's labor in the Lord is never in vain. Jesus works through His Word and Sacrament creating a people for Himself in time and for eternity.  The Word of the Lord endures forever. The prophet Daniel saw from afar the importance of the pastoral office with heavenly eyes.  Those who are wise shall shine like like the brightness of the sky above; and those who turn many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever (Daniel 12:3).

Every Christian longs for the resurrection of the body and the bliss of heaven, when they will be in the Lord's presence with all the company of heaven.  They long to hear the words of Jesus:  Come you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world (Matthew 25:34).  Rest in peace, Armand!  I look forward to catching up with you again.