*Sedalia Circuit Pastors’ Conference* Prophecies Made About You
Grace, mercy and peace have now been given even to pastors by God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. In the three-year lectionary, last Sunday’s Epistle ended with chapter 1, verse 17, of today’s reading. Next week takes up with chapter two. We end up missing the last three verses of chapter 1. The LSB one-year series makes the same omission, but on non-sequential Sundays (Trinity 3 & Easter 6). Here again is what gets missed: This charge I entrust to you, Timothy, my child, in accordance with the prophecies previously made about you, that by them you may wage the good warfare, holding faith and a good conscience. By rejecting this, some have made shipwreck of their faith, among whom are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan that they may learn not to blaspheme. Dear Brother, Pastors speak prophecies about the people they baptize. These are not ecstatic utterances, as some think too narrowly of prophecy. The prophecies spoken at Baptism are the simple, faithful and sometimes quiet speaking of God’s Words. You are a prophet. It is your job to speak prophecies from the pulpit and from the altar, as well as from the font. When you baptize, you speak prophetically, that is, “*in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit*” (Matthew 28:19). The vocables, “I baptize you in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” do not merely contain the Words themselves. These Words do more than promise the cleansing of sin and the imposition of life. The baptismal formula delivers the whole of the Scriptures in concentrated form. Stated another way, when you baptize, you click-drag-and-drop people into the Bible. God has given a profusion of prophecies to His people. We cannot speak them all at Baptism. Nonetheless, Baptism makes every single one of God’s prophecies the personal possession of the one baptized. All prophecies to all God’s people become prophecies to that one person. Baptism is the door that gives each Christian the right and confidence to enter the Scriptures and apply them to himself. Ordination is the door that gives each pastor the right and confidence to enter the Scriptures and apply them to someone else (even though we might not be talking about two separate doors.) You and I are not merely the baptized of Christ. We are the ordained of Christ. Like all other Christians, we have been baptized into the prophecies. Unlike the others, we have been given the office and responsibility of speaking the prophecies. Despite the humanness involved (some of it messy), we believe ordination and call are the work of God. We were given this office and responsibility “*in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit*.” Our confession of faith compels us to say that ordination is not a sacrament. Most of the reason for our position is the stupid definition of sacrament that the Romanists and Anabaptists share. Even without the word sacrament, we believe certain Scripture passages are honestly and faithfully applied to all pastors in Christ—even today. We were ordained into those passages; into those prophecies. Not every prophecy concerning the Office of the Ministry gets read when we ordain and install. There are too many, just as there are too many prophecies concerning the baptized of Christ. We were ordained and installed “*in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit*.” These Words deliver all the prophecies in concentrated form. Every prophecy concerning the Office of the Ministry becomes the personal possession of the male who is rightly and faithfully ordained. Me. You. Timothy. Paul would have us make daily use of the prophecies that were “*previously made about us, that by them we may wage the good warfare, holding faith and a good conscience*.” The prophecies and their power shall not abandon us. · We “*wage the good warfare*,” speaking the Word with courage and clarity, even while trembling beneath our vestments. Why? Because God promised ther prophet Jeremiah, “To whom I send you, you shall go, and whatever I command you, you shall speak Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you. I appointed you a prophet” (Jeremiah 1:6, 5). · We “*wage the good warfare*,” standing before the presence of the Lord. Why? Because one of the seraphim flew to the prophet Isaiah with a burning coal, taken with tongs from the altar. Touching Isaiah’s lips with the coal, he said, “*Your guilt is taken away; your sin atoned*” (Isaiah 6:7). The coal was Christ. · We “*wage the good warfare*,” audaciously calling people to repentance and more audaciously declaring to them, “I, even I, forgive you.” No one can forgive sins except God alone, but God has put His Word into your mouth and into your hands, so that you may be the forgiver of sins. Thus the prophecy concerning you: “*If you forgive the sins of anyone, they are forgiven*” (John 20:23). Another prophecy also says: You, child, are the prophet of the Most High; for you go before the Lord to prepare his ways. You give knowledge of salvation to His people in the forgiveness of their sins, because of the tender mercy of our God (Luke 1:76-78). “*The prophecies previously made about us*” are not merely good for the warfare of our office. The prophecies also provide nourishment and consolation for what the office takes out of us. Plenty of things push our backs against the wall: · Our Lord’s ancient enemy is also ours, and he would twist the Scriptures for us as succinctly and as neatly as he twisted the Scriptures for Jesus. · Jesus completely assumed upon Himself the full burden of our sin, carrying it to the cross, but we nevertheless still feel plenty of the weight. We feel more than the guilt of our premeditated acts, which we love as much as we hate. We also feel those ongoing sorrows that result from honest oversights and simple slips of the tongue, which somehow seem to inflict more injury than they ought. · Few people truly love your Gospel. They may indeed love you, but your Gospel gets a little boring. It is more engaging to talk about fishing. · Even the best sermons receive rare compliments. That is a good thing. Still, the very faithfulness by which you preach can turn into a sedative for your hearers. Good preaching is like a good marriage in that both are easily taken for granted. · For my part, I have grown in my appreciation for mowing the lawn. It seems like one of the few occasions in my life when I am allowed to see something measurable in my labor. All of these things devote themselves to our discouragement. When it comes to our preservation in the faith, we each have all the same comforts God has faithfully provided to every one of His saints. In this, God is superabundantly generous in His grace: First, [He speaks] through the spoken Word, by which the forgiveness of sins is preached in the whole world… Second, through Baptism. Third, through the holy Sacrament of the Altar. Fourth, through the mutual conversation and consolation of brethren (Smalcald Articles). All of these are outward forms of the divine Word. We might want to put our hands on our mouths to prevent ourselves from suggesting that one form might excel the other forms in some manner. Still, I wonder whether the certainty we derive from each form might traceable, in part, to the one form, which made our heads eternally wet. When it comes to our preservation in the office, it does not seem that we have nearly as many outward forms of the one, divine Word. Or perhaps we should admit that the carpenter sometimes fails to appreciate his own tools. We must also admit that there are times when not even our brothers seem able to offer help. The prophecies into which we were ordained, which were spoken over us “*in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit*”: these prophecies shall not fail. “*By these prophecies, we hold the faith and a good conscience*.” · These prophecies promise to “*lift our drooping hands and strengthen our weak knees…. so that what is lame might not be put out of joint*” (Hebrews 12:12-13). · These prophecies allow our faithful speaking to continue, even when it seems as if everyone has nodded off. · The prophecies of ordination allow us to endure the loneliness of our task. · The prophecies even guide our decision-making, agreeing to do this thing or refusing to do that thing, in order that we might keep a good conscience before God, no matter what the opinion of the people. This charge I entrust to you, Timothy, my child, in accordance with the prophecies previously made about you, that by them you may wage the good warfare, holding faith and a good conscience. You and I are not only the baptized of Christ. We are the ordained. It might be good for us to give all of God’s baptismal prophecies the name Aaron, and all of His ordination prophecies the name Hur. Held up by Aaron and Hur, working together, Moses remained “*steady until the going down of the sun*” (Exodus 17:12). So shall we, because God has spoken by the mouth of His holy prophets.
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