Christ Lutheran Church
Cleveland, Ohio
Installation of Rev. Dean Kavouras
August 24, 2008
1 Corinthians 4:1-2
A Minister of H. U. G. S.
Let a man so consider us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the
mysteries of God. 2 Moreover it is required in stewards that one be found
faithful. (Mark 16:14-20 NKJV)
Dearly beloved of Christ Jesus, the only Savior of the world,
What an exciting day in the life of Christ Lutheran Church! In a way, it’s
like Christmas or your birthday. There’s a great sense of joy and gladness, and
even anticipation over receiving a magnificent gift from God - another faithful
minister of the Holy Unadulterated Gospel of Salvation.
So what does this mean? It means that the Triune God is continuing His
Gospel work among you here at Christ and on the near-west side of Cleveland. He
is giving you another faithful pastor to lead you in the way of eternal life.
And he’ll do that in no other way than by using the very means God gives him to
use - His Word and His Sacraments of Holy Baptism, Holy Absolution and Holy
Communion. These are the “mysteries of God” because their value and work would
remain hidden unless God Himself reveals them to us. And He does. After all,
words, water, bread and wine don’t look like they do much of importance. They
seem so ordinary. And yet, those are the very means by which God does His
saving work. They are the means that God uses to deliver Jesus and His
forgiveness to you.
Furthermore, they are “the mysteries of God” because the more we learn
about them, the more we are immersed in them and live in them, we can never
exhaust them. We can never fully comprehend these means by which God reveals
Himself and His great, saving love toward us.
Still more, the “steward of the mysteries of God” is himself a “mystery.”
He is God’s agent to serve you with God’s own possessions. And it truly is
remarkable, even inconceivable, that God can work through such a man, and
accomplish anything good. After all, he too is a sinner through and through. He
suffers the same temptations and trials that you do, and he fails and falls
just as often. As such, he is totally unsuited to the task that is entrusted to
him. Yet, God chooses him, calls him, and places him into His service,
entrusting him with His Holy Unadulterated Gospel of Salvation.
For you see, pastors too are God’s children for whom Christ died. The sins
of your pastor, and yours as well, were taken by Jesus as His very own, and He
suffered the ultimate price for those sins - death. But not just any death, but
an excruciating, bloody, sacrificial death on the cross. He was “stricken,
smitten by God and afflicted.” (Is. 53:4) as He took your place under God’s
justice and His wrath over sin. He suffered rejection not only by man, but
also by God, as He cried out, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”
(Matt. 27:46). And this, not because He had committed a sin and not because He
ever transgressed God’s holy Law. But only out of His great love for His Father
and for you He gave Himself as the perfect and final sacrifice for sin. For
Jesus always did those things that pleased His Father (John 8:29), including
the shedding of His holy, precious blood in your place. Yes, Jesus is the
ultimate “mystery of God” since we can never fully comprehend how the second
Person of the Trinity could become flesh and dwell among us. Nor why He would.
We will never fully come to grips with His humility, His love, His grace, His
mercy, His sacrifice, His death, His resurrection, His forgiveness. And the
more we live in and through Christ Jesus and all that is His and all that He
has done for us and for our salvation, the more we realize how great our need
is and that only He satisfies it.
That’s why it’s so important for the pastor to be a faithful steward of
God’s Word and Sacraments. His work has eternal consequences. Thus he speaks
what God has given him to speak, as did Ezekiel and the prophets of old, and
even Jesus Himself. God told Ezekiel, “I have made you a watchman for the
house of Israel; therefore hear a word from My mouth, and give them warning
from Me” (Ezek. 3:17). Jesus Himself said, “I speak to the world those things
which I heard from Him [that is, His Father]” and “as My Father taught Me, I
speak these things” (John 8:26, 28). Thus a faithful pastor will also speak
what God has taught him from His Word, and not spout his own opinion or promote
himself or his own ideas.
As a “steward of the mysteries of God” your pastor is to feed and nourish
you with God’s Word in its truth and purity. And as he does, he will preach Law
and Gospel, sin and grace, repentance and faith. He will warn you against sin
and its consequences. He will warn you about the dangers by which you are
surrounded - both seen and unseen. He will warn you of “false and pernicious
doctrine,” and those who promote and peddle it - in whatever form it is
manifested. He will warn you against ungodly practices which stem from such
false doctrine and teaching. He will warn you against the dangers of continuing
in your sin and the disastrous result of refusing to repent. And he will do
this with love and gentleness, even as Christ does with him, so that you will
realize your sin, repent of it and turn in faith to Christ Jesus.
Likewise, he will never tire of preaching and proclaiming the Holy
Unadulterated Gospel of Salvation, that is, Jesus Christ and Him crucified and
risen for you. He will look for every opportunity to forgive sins and comfort
souls distressed by sin and guilt by leading you to the Truth Incarnate who
truly sets you free from sin and guilt. He will apply the salve of the Gospel
of forgiveness and salvation to those wounded by sin, death and the devil. He
will relieve troubled consciences not by telling you that everything’s okay, or
that you just need to try harder. No, he will give you Jesus as he points you
to your Baptism in which your sins were washed away, you were made a child of
God, and you received the Holy Spirit. He will point you to Jesus whose death
and resurrection is your own. He will hear your confession and gladly forgive
your sins in Jesus’ stead and by His command; and that word of Absolution is
absolutely certain. He will feed you with a Body and Blood meal in which he
places Jesus’ body into your mouth and pours His blood down your throat. Yes, a
faithful steward will give you Jesus at every opportunity.
And as faithful as the steward may be with “the mysteries of God,” any
results are not up to him, but God. After all, God is the One who is *really*
at work through His steward. It is God’s Word which accuses and kills and which
forgives and raises to life. Your pastor is not your savior or messiah. Only
Jesus is.
Still, there will be those among us who will not listen and who will not
hear. There are those who harden their hearts to match their hard heads. After
all, God told Ezekiel, “Go, . . . and speak to them and tell them, 'Thus says
the Lord GOD,' whether they hear, or whether they refuse."(Ezek. 3:11). In
another place, God calls Israel a “stubborn and stiff-necked people.” You see,
a faithful steward will simply do with God’s things what God wants done in the
way God wants them done regardless of the outcome. As Luther once said, "[We]
cannot foresee the fruit of [our] doctrine, namely, who is to be converted and
who not. But who are you [and who am I] to ask this question? Do your duty and
leave the outcome to God." (AE 6, p. 105). Yes, the outcome is up to God. We
are simply called to be faithful.
But since none of us is totally faithful in our service to God or our
neighbor, either as pastor or laity, we all need to repent. The Holy
Unadulterated Gospel of Salvation is for you. Christ Jesus died even for your
sins of unfaithfulness in thought, word or deed. And it is only through
Christ’s forgiveness that you are strengthened for faithful service. Return to
Him over and over again as you attend the Divine Service to receive Him and His
saving work for you. Return to Him over and over again as you come to
confession and receive Holy Absolution. Return to Him over and over again as He
comes to you and gives you Himself in His Holy Meal. For Jesus is the true
“steward of the mysteries of God,” and He is utterly faithful to all His
promises and even to death.
Yes, today is a day to celebrate. You are receiving a marvelous gift.
Receive him and treat him as the gift of God that he is. And rejoice with your
new minster of the Holy Unadulterated Gospel of Salvation. He’ll be glad to
give you the Holy Unadulterated Gospel whenever you need it. God grant all of
you such faithfulness that you receive the crown of life and live in the
presence of God forever. To the glory of Jesus’s name.
Amen.
The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds
through Christ Jesus.
Pr. Timothy J. Landskroener
Epiphany Lutheran Church (LCMS)
4045 Holly Hills Blvd.
St. Louis, MO 63116
(314) 752-7065
http://www.epiphanylutheran-stl.org
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