Septuagesima

Jesse Jacobsen

Time-stamp: <Sat Jan 22 22:35:46 2005>,
printed

Jeremiah 1:4--10



Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying:

``Before I formed you in the womb I knew you;
Before you were born I sanctified you;
I ordained you a prophet to the nations.''

Then said I: ``Ah, Lord GOD! Behold, I cannot speak, for I am a youth.''

But the LORD said to me:

``Do not say, `I am a youth,'
For you shall go to all to whom I send you,
And whatever I command you, you shall speak.
Do not be afraid of their faces,
For I am with you to deliver you,'' says the LORD.

Then the LORD put forth His hand and touched my mouth, and the LORD said to me: ``Behold, I have put My words in your mouth. See, I have this day set you over the nations and over the kingdoms,

To root out and to pull down,
To destroy and to throw down,
To build and to plant.''

God Sends a Messenger to His People

The word ``synod'' is one that Lutherans use, but nobody else really knows what it means. A synod is nothing more than a group of congregations that agree in doctrine and practice, working together to do more than they can each do on their own. A synod has a budget, because it takes money to train new pastors and send missionaries to bring the Gospel to new places.

The history of our synod, the ELS, goes back to the middle of the 19th Century. It was officially formed in 1853. Soon after it was formed, a serious controversy developed because of a man who did not like the synod, named Elling Eielsen. From one of our history books, ``He was a layman who wanted to ... go from place to place and preach to whoever would listen to him.'' He was opposed to church organizations on principle, thinking that they are a corruption of Christianity. But he became ordained anyway so people would listen to him. For years after, Eielsen would travel between congregations of Norwegian immigrants, sowing the tares of strife and discord. He came to preach without being invited, and claimed that properly called and ordained pastors were neither needed nor beneficial for the church.

A bitter controversy arose for our synod, and churches were divided. Was Eielsen right to teach that the only thing needed for someone to be a preacher is a sincere desire to preach? Or were the synod's pastors right in saying that God's preachers must be sent or called by God? Is the call from God nothing more than the desire to preach? Or is there more to it than that? Such questions were at the center of this controversy.

Why should we bother to remember this? For one thing, Eielsen was not the last of his kind. But remembering also shows us that it has been God's doing alone that has provided us the pure teaching and preaching of the Gospel. It has been His grace alone that has preserved the Sacraments among us. In today's text, we see that one of the ways God has done this for His Church is by sending messengers to His people. He truly sends them, in ways that anyone can verify. There are two good results of this: first, both His people and His messenger may trust His will, and second, both people and messenger may have His peace.

So that His people and His messenger may trust His will

Does God want me to be doing what I'm doing right now? Or should I be looking for something else? This is a question we all ask ourselves from time to time. What does God want? How can we know?

It's an easy question at first. Just look at the Ten Commandments. Jesus says, ``Do this, and you will live.'' Love God above all other things, and love your neigbor as you love yourself. Okay, then. That's all He wants, is it? Then we still have a problem, don't we?

We don't love or even know God as we should. We certainly don't love our fellow human beings as we should. So then what?

There are only two possible answers: accept what must follow when we fail to do God's will, or hope for God's mercy. But there is no evidence of God's mercy --- not that we can recognize, anyway. Yet that is exactly what He wants us to do: repent and ask for His mercy. Because we are right to believe that He is good and gracious, you see. His love for us made it necessary for God the Son to die. His death was the price of our guilt. He was punished in our place.

Those who want to gain God's favor through their own preparations or works are turning away from His mercy, and will have to stand alone before God's judgment. Those who repent in faith and trust in His mercy are judged to be righteous before Him because of Christ, who stands with them. Trust in yourself, or trust in Christ. There is no middle ground. We all can enter heaven through the mercy of God, but even though we may think we deserve it, none of us can possibly enter heaven through our own worthiness.

What does God want us to do? He wants us to believe His promise and trust His mercy. That's where our text comes in. God spoke directly to Jeremiah, calling Him to be His minister, a prophet. How did Jeremiah answer? ``Then said I: `Ah, Lord GOD! Behold, I cannot speak, for I am a youth.' '' Was he right to think that he was unequal to the task? Yes! Like every other true minister of God except Jesus Himself, Jeremiah was not able to do what God wanted.

I bet that makes you all feel pretty good about my qualifications, right? I'm sure I've given you reasons now and then to wonder: ``Is this guy really qualified to be our pastor?'' It makes you wonder if it's worth coming to church and hearing the sermon each week.

But God is the one who does everything to save us. We don't trust in our own worthiness. In the same way, God is the one who is really behind His prophets and pastors. Ministers are God's instruments, and He brings you His saving Word by playing His tune in what we say and do. Granted, even as instruments, we are imperfect. But every time we doubt God's gracious power, He answers the same way He did to Jeremiah.

``Do not say, `I am a youth,'
For you shall go to all to whom I send you,
And whatever I command you, you shall speak.
Do not be afraid of their faces,
For I am with you to deliver you,'' says the LORD.

So, given the fact that none of us is able to be or do what we ought to, isn't it rather important to know that your minister was sent by God?

Since the time of the Apostles, the Holy Spirit has worked a bit differently than in the past. He still gets His ministers, and He still works in us through His Word. But that Word has been written in the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation, and committed to the Church. The ministers He calls through the same Church. When a congregation is without a pastor, it meets to decide which man it would like to call. The Synod helps us in this by providing a list of well-qualified men and a seminary to train new ones. When the congregation has decided, the man who is called must decide whether to accept the call. Both church and pastor must do this with much prayer, committing the matter to God's hands, because this is the way that God sends His ministers to His people.

It may seem like all this is done by us, not by God. But that's just the way God's work often happens. He provides food for children through the work of their parents. In the same way, He provides His Word and Sacrament for His Church through the work of their ministers. Children don't get to choose their parents, but churches do have a part in calling their ministers. This provides great comfort for both minister and congregation.

God's call means that the minister ought to consider himself charged by God faithfully to carry out the duties of preaching and teaching the Word of God and providing Baptism and the Lord's Supper. It means that God wants the congregation to hear His preaching and teaching and to receive His sacraments through the called minister. The church should consider the minister to be God's gift to them to bring them the forgiveness of sins. We can all trust that God will provide the gifts needed to do this work: wisdom, zeal, strength, faith, and most importantly, forgiveness. The call means we can trust His will.

So that His people and His messenger may have His peace

Our second point today is that God sends a messenger to His people so that His people and His messenger may have His peace. God knows that we all tend to trust our own senses and our own works more often than we trust His Word. But His Word is the means He uses to rescue us from what our sins deserve. He uses His Word to bring the forgiveness of sins from the cross of Jesus Christ 2,000 years ago to us in the present. All who believe His Word possess what He promises, because God is true.

Just as God uses His Word as the vehicle to bring us forgiveness, He also uses ministers to carry His Word. He has done that from the beginning, even when He used to speak directly to some people. Adam taught His family, and Noah preached both to his family and to the unrepentant people of his day. Job spoke God's Word to his children, and the patriarchs (Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob) to theirs. This was God's will, even though He also would speak directly sometimes.

But at Mt. Sinai, the people were afraid of God's fierce and holy anger against all sin. They asked that Moses speak God's Word to them, and God allowed it. So Moses, Joshua and the Judges spoke to the people as agents of God --- ministers.

Jeremiah was one of many prophets that God called to speak His Word to other people. But there were many who didn't believe the prophets. Some may have thought Elijah was too crazy and Elisha too bald. Maybe some thought that Jeremiah was too young. The same thing happens today: some people get hung up on the messenger, and miss the point of the message. It's a sad thing, because God's message is much more important.

You see, a faithful messenger of God will tell you what you need to hear, though you may not want to hear it. You will hear what's good for you eternally. You will sometimes hear the condemning Law of God, which points out your sins. But the main thing is the message of reconciliation with God, the message of peace through Christ. Ultimately, forgiveness is the reason God sends messengers to His people.

The apostle Paul wrote, `` `Whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved.' How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: `How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, Who bring glad tidings of good things!' ''

God sent His messenger Jeremiah with a message of Law and Gospel. He called the people to repent of their sins and then hear about God's mercy. That has always been God's message to mankind ever since the Fall into sin. It's the message God sent me to tell you. You deserve death, but He keeps giving you life. You deserve condemnation, but He keeps giving you forgiveness. You are sick, but He keeps healing you. You deserve slavery, but He has redeemed you. God loves you in Christ our risen Lord. In Him, you are justified. You are saints.

If you had to discover these things for yourself, you would always have to wonder if you discovered the truth. You can't verify the existence of heaven. You can't see the work of the Holy Spirit. You don't even feel forgiven every time God tells you that you are. But He does tell you. The fact that God sends you His Word leaves nothing to doubt. He tells you what He did for you in Baptism. He tells you what you receive in the Lord's Supper. We can safely place our trust completely in something outside of ourselves: in the gracious promise of our God.

So you see what a blessing it is that God sends His messenger to His people. His people and His messenger may trust His will. His people and His messenger have His peace. Amen.

Soli Deo Gloria!

This document was translated from LATEX by HEVEA.