Treasure the Word, Treasure the Workers

"For this reason we shall now relate, furthermore, from God's Word how man is converted to God, how and through what means [namely, through the oral Word and the holy Sacraments] the Holy Ghost wants to be efficacious in us, and to work and bestow in our hearts true repentance, faith, and new spiritual power and ability for good, and how we should conduct ourselves towards these means, and [how we should] use them." Formula of Concord SD II. #48. Free Will. Concordia Triglotta, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1921, p. 901. Tappert, p. 530. Heiser, p. 246.


The Formula of Concord, 1580

"And this call of God, which is made through the preaching of the Word, we should not regard as jugglery, but know that thereby God reveals His will, that in those whom He thus calls He will work through the Word, that they may be enlightened, converted, and saved. For the Word, whereby we are called, is a ministration of the Spirit, that gives the Spirit, or whereby the Spirit is given, 2 Corinthians 3:8, and a power of God unto salvation, Romans 1:16. And since the Holy Ghost wishes to be efficacious through the Word, and to strengthen and give power and ability, it is God's will that we should receive the Word, believe and obey it."
Formula of Concord, SD XI. #29. Election. Concordia Triglotta, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1921, p. 1073. 2 Corinthians 3:8; Romans 1:16. Tappert, p. 621. Heiser, p. 289.

J-175

"For few receive the Word and follow it; the greatest number despise the Word, and will not come to the wedding, Matthew 22:3ff. The cause for this contempt for the Word is not God's foreknowledge [or predestination], but the perverse will of man, which rejects or perverts the means and instrument of the Holy Ghost, which God offers him through the call, and resists the Holy Ghost, who wishes to be efficacious, and works through the Word, as Christ says, 'How often would I have gathered you together, and ye would not!' Matthew 23:37."
Formula of Concord, SD XI. #41. Election. Concordia Triglotta, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1921, p. 1077. Matthew 22:3ff.; 23:37. Tappert, p. 623. Heiser, p. 290.

J-176

"Moreover, the declaration, John 6:44, that no one can come to Christ except the Father draw him, is right and true. However, the Father will not do this without means, but has ordained for this purpose His Word and Sacraments as ordinary means and instruments; and it is the will neither of the Father nor of the Son that a man should not hear or should despise the preaching of His Word, and wait for the drawing of the Father without the Word and Sacraments. For the Father draws indeed by the power of His Holy Ghost, however, according to His usual order [the order decreed and instituted by Himself], by the hearing of His holy, divine Word, as with a net, by which the elect are plucked from the jaws of the devil. Every poor sinner should therefore repair thereto [to holy preaching], hear it attentively, and not doubt the drawing of the Father. For the Holy Ghost will be with His Word in His power, and work by it...."
Formula of Concord, SD XI. #76-77. Election. Concordia Triglotta, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1921, p. 1089. John 6:44. Tappert, p. 629. Heiser, p. 293.

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Revolution Needed

GJ - One issue is far more important than the fragile state of the various synods' balance sheets. Money is held in low esteem in the Bible. The Gospel Promises are the treasure of the Scriptures.

Luther said in many different ways, those who treasure the Word will value those who bring them the Word. Those who despise the Word will despise church workers, whether they are pastors or teachers or their families.

The synods got away with tossing away clergy and their families for many years. A layman from a smaller synod says he has a list of all the men driven out by his leaders.

Even today, there is no shortage of church workers. The religious boom of the 1950s has been replaced with congregational mergers, closing of parishes, and mission fizzles. All these are symptoms of the Church Shrinkage Movement, a vast and expensive enterprise where the most ludicrous false teachers (wolves within and without the flock) have been paid exorbitant sums to destroy the Christian faith. Now they cry out, "We need more money and programs."

Church Shrinkage Movement fanatics hate the Word and hate those who get in the way of their apostate programs. They have imagined, in vain, they could drive out or silence anyone who dissented from their crypto-atheism.

Lutherans who value the Means of Grace are not aggressive, hateful people, so they have tended to shrink back from the crafts and assaults of the Fuller and Willow Creek veterans. If the church leaders do not change their priorities, the pool of church workers will vanish or it will be replaced by the worst riff-raff imaginable.

ELCA has already seen this happen, yet ELCA calls the tune for all the pan-Lutheran projects for them, WELS, and Missouri. One LCA parish (pre-ELCA) told me they were so small they could not get another pastor, even though their current one was an adulterous jerk. Many smaller congregations in ELCA had women pastors forced on them, and one can only guess what is happening now.

Here are some simple solutions for the synods, excluding ELCA, which is beyond hope:

1. Seminary education should be completely free, the costs handled by congregations, districts, and synods. Seminarians might be expected to pay for food and housing, but required books, fees, and tuition should be free. This will reduce the slavery-to-synod problems arising from enormous student loan debts for an education worthless in the secular world.
2. Pastors, teachers, spouses and children should be treated well and defended against the Church Shrinkage wolves who continue to prowl the synods.
3. Even someone with modest gifts, like the typical DP, should have a place doing work through the Means of Grace.
4. District and Circuit Popes should be stripped of the power (whether given or grabbed) to walk in and annul a divine call without cause, without proper Biblical procedures. Whether these idiots are appointed or voted into office, they should be removed from the ministry for one offense against the divine call. They should not be allowed to protect and shield predatory pastors and teachers, whether this is done with silence or promotions or transfers.
5. Verified criminal church worker acts should be published in the national magazine, to serve notice that those who violate their calls will be publicly admonished and chastened, as a warning to the rest. Promotions for clergy adultery should cease.
6. All church leaders should be expected to quench the Church Shrinkage Movement wherever it is found and to extol the efficacy of the Means of Grace alone.
There is no "yes, but" with the Means of Grace.
7. Ministers should be rebuked publicly and punished for plagiarizing the sermons of false teachers, but encouraged to quote Luther, Chemnitz, Chytraeus, and Gerhard.
8. Congregations, circuits, and districts should be encouraged to engage in a constant round of studies of the Small Catechism, the Book of Concord, the Formula of Concord, the Examination of the Council of Trent, and doctrinal topics arising from the Scriptures. These studies should be done without imposing the filters, switches, and sidetracks of recent synodical writers and doctrinal opinions.
9. Synodical publications should mark and celebrate the ordination anniversaries of pastors, anniversaries of teachers, and show an appreciation of how the efficacious Word works God's will.
10. Synodical publications should turn from their Ladies Home Journalism to doctrinal articles.