Part 2
Martin Schalling wrote Spener’s favorite hymn, but it also found a place in Bach, the greatest of orthodox Lutheran composers. The hymn teaches the basics of Christian doctrine in three verses. The first verse expresses joy in redemption and resolve to remain faithful: “And should my heart for sorrow break, My trust in Thee no one could shake. Thou art the Portion I have sought; Thy precious blood my soul has bought.” The second verse expresses the blessings of Creation and how we glorify God through good works. The verse also declares: “Let no false doctrine me beguile, Let Satan not my soul defile. Give strength and patience unto me to bear my cross and follow Thee.” The third verse describes death and eternal life in a remarkable series of phrases and praise, as quoted below.
J-1010
“Lord, let at last Thine angels come, To Abram’s bosom bear me home,
That I may die unfearing;
And in its narrow chamber keep My body safe in peaceful sleep
Until Thy reappearing.
And then from death awaken me That these mine eyes with joy may see,
O Son of God, Thy glorious face,
My Savior and my Fount of grace.
Lord Jesus Christ, My prayer attend, my prayer attend,
And I will praise Thee without end.”
Martin Schalling, “Lord, Thee I Love,” The Lutheran Hymnal, #429, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1941.
J-1011
"But wine is sharp and signifies the holy cross that immediately follows. A Christian need not look for his cross, it is always on his back. For he thinks as St. Paul says, 2 Timothy 3:12: 'All that would live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.' This is the court-color in this kingdom. Whoever is ashamed of the color, does not belong to this king."
Sermons of Martin Luther, 8 vols., ed., John Nicholaus Lenker, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1983, V, p. 30.
The Sermon
J-1012
"But the Lord refutes this and says: Go ye there and preach, what does it matter if it is against you? You will find there what I say. We should now do likewise. Although the masses storm against the Gospel and there is no hope that they will be better, yet we must preach, there will yet be found those who listen and become converted."
Sermons of Martin Luther, 8 vols., ed., John Nicholas Lenker, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1983, I, p. 48.
The sermon is God’s chosen means to teach the Law and the Gospel to His flock. The congregation belongs to Christ, the Good Shepherd, not to the minister, members, or synod. Therefore, the sermon must be God’s Word and not the word of man.
KJV 1 Thessalonians 2:13 For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe.
The listeners also need to realize that they must listen attentively and judge according to the work of the Holy Spirit. The congregation should not be ashamed of a sermon from someone who is less than an oratorical star. Many churches have pounded a minister because his voice was weak or his delivery was halting. Accustomed to the cocaine-fueled energy of TV, the congregations demand a star. Luther did not agree.
J-1013
"He who speaks poorly is speaking God’s Word just as certainly as he who is able to speak well. A father speaks the Word just as certainly as God does, and your neighbor speaks God’s Word just as certainly as the angel Gabriel. It is the same Word that the schoolboy and the angel Gabriel speak; one can merely express it better than another. Let the dishes be unequal. Some are of silver; others are of tin or of glazed clay, earthen vessels. But one and the same food is prepared in silver, tin, etc.; and venison, well seasoned and prepared, tastes as good from a wooden bowl as from one of silver. Think the same of Baptism and absolution. Let this be your comfort. But people do not recognize the person of God; they gape only at the person of the man as when one who is tired and hungry refuses to eat unless the food is set before him in a silver bowl. So people select many ministers nowadays."
What Luther Says, An Anthology, 3 vols., ed. Ewald M. Plass, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1959 III, p. 1119. John 4:9-10.
Preaching belongs to God, so God’s work will be rejected, abused, and scorned by unbelievers.
J-1014
"Were I a preacher, what difference would it make to me if the world called me a devil, since I know that God calls me His angel? Let the world call me a deceiver as long as it pleases. God meanwhile calls me His faithful servant; the angels call me their companion; the saints call me their brother; the believers call me their father; distressed souls call me their savior; the ignorant call me their light. And God says: Yes, it is so. The angels and all creatures agree with Him."
What Luther Says, An Anthology, 3 vols., ed., Ewald Plass, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1959, II, p. 925.
J-1015
"I certainly hope you will have enough Christian understanding to know that the ministry of the Gospel is neither our property nor the property of any human being, not even of an angel. It belongs to God, our Lord, who has purchased it with His blood, has given and instituted it for our salvation. Therefore He severely condemns those who despise it. He says, 'He that despiseth you despiseth Me' (Luke 10:16)... You are not lords over preachers and the ministry; you have not established the office. God's Son alone has done so. Nor have you contributed anything to it... You should not lord it over the ministry or give it directions. Nor should you keep it from rebuking. For its rebuke is not of men but of God, who does not want the rebuke hindered. He has commanded it.”
What Luther Says, An Anthology, 3 vols., ed., Ewald Plass, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1959, II, p. 926.
One can see how the sermon has been wrecked by the joint work of congregations and synods. Certain zones become forbidden. The son of one pro-life activist was forbidden to speak against abortion when he was serving as a vicar in the Missouri Synod. The president of Concordia Seminary in St. Louis commands that his vicars never object to anything in the congregations they serve: women leaders in worship, open communion, Pentecostalism, and so forth. A few people will organize themselves and call a synod official—behind the pastor’s back—whining that they object to certain aspects of a pastor’s sermon. The official phones or visits the pastor and tells him to lay off. The church official welcomes back door criticism but demands that anyone who disagrees with him tell him so face to face. Why does he not apply this rule to disruptive members?
The process reminds me of a python, who does not actually squeeze his victim to death. Instead, the clever snake waits for each exhale and then clamps down a little tighter. Soon the victim can no longer expand his chest to inhale and he expires from lack of oxygen, not from being juiced like an orange. The Church Growth salesmen have insinuated themselves into this role by advocating non-sermons, which are how-to or fix it messages. They slither into the synod and say that people do not want to hear the Law, which they call negative. They claim the congregations want practical messages, such as how to deal with stress or how to have a happy marriage. The result is a message of man-made law, free of God’s Law and God’s Gospel. One WELS pastor, Martin Spriggs, bought tapes of Willow Creek sermons and gave them verbatim—with the same inflections as the speaker.514 According to his mentors in the synod, if one could replicate the essence of Willow Creek, one could also have the success of Willow Creek. But this technique has only led to spectacular failures and the exit of pastors, teachers, and congregations from the Lutheran Church.515
J-1016
"He [Paul] thus extols co-laborers that they [the Corinthians] may not despise the external Word as if they were not in need of it or knew it well enough. For although God might accomplish all things inwardly by the Spirit, without the external Word, He has no intention of doing so. He wants to employ preachers as assistants and co-laborers and to accomplish His purposes through their word when and where it pleases Him. Since, then, preachers have the office, name, and honor of being God's assistants, no man is so learned or holy that he may neglect or despise the poorest preaching; for he does not know when the hour will come in which God will perform His work in him through the preachers."
What Luther Says, An Anthology, 3 vols., ed. Ewald M. Plass, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House 1959 III, p. 1118.
For three years I was not a pastor, but a self-employed businessman in insurance. I suddenly had a new perspective on the sermon, since I gave perhaps three sermons in as many years, otherwise listening every Sunday. I never went to a service thinking I had heard too much Gospel and no longer needed it. Each week was full of failure and rejection. That experience is the essence of being in sales. Even the best experiences can turn bad in a hurry. Like everyone else, I had an easy sale that netted me $1500 in one evening. Unfortunately, the sale was lost right after I received my commission, so I had to earn another $1500 just to get even again. We called those empty commission days “Passover events.” The company would pass over us, since we were still in the red. I was not alone. The top salesmen had reverses of $10,000 and more. In addition, every good month ended with almost no income for the next month. Until one is very well established, the first years are very hard. Besides the difficulties of working, we also had to deal with my wife’s medical and insurance needs and my mother’s growing infirmity. So when I went to church, I felt as dry as the desert. I felt the wounds of rejection and the panic of a good month facing a new month with no income. At least a bad month could be improved by thinking, “It can’t get any worse than this.”
I try to remember my experiences when I write a sermon. In addition, I also get a perspective on problems and religious questions from visiting people and from reading email messages. Sermon books are almost useless for writing sermons. I rely on other aids. Ideally, the following happens each week with the goal of having a sermon written and sent on email by Thursday.
1. I look up the texts from the historic pericopes in The Lutheran Hymnal and decide whether I will use the Gospel or Epistle.
2. I read Luther’s sermon on the text or do a search of the Megatron database. I can either search for the text or for a key doctrinal term. The results are spewed into Word and fixed up, saved as a document, then copied, and sent around the world. If I do these things on Wednesday, I have plenty to think about before I write on Thursday. If I have nothing appropriate in the database, I copy quotations from Luther, the Book of Concord, Gerhard, Chemnitz, Walther, or another Lutheran author. I also use verbatim quotations of false doctrine as a contrast.
3. In the past I have printed up to two pages of quotations for the worship bulletin. Now I put quotations on my blog. I am surprised so few pastors broadcast their sermons on a blog or through the Internet as video files. Perhaps their sermons look and sound too much like Groeschel’s Pietistic efforts.
4. I almost always write out the sermon, beginning with a brief statement about the meaning of the text, following Luther’s example. The sermons are always posted on two blogs.
5. I try to show the unity of the Bible when I focus on one aspect of the text. For instance, the First Gospel (Genesis 3:15) and the Virgin Birth prophesy (Isaiah 7:14) both reveal the extraordinary oneness of the Book of the Holy Spirit. Gerhard, Luther, and Chemnitz are outstanding resources to use in this respect.
6. I never, never, never use any Reformed commentary or book, unless I have reason to point out their errors. I have as much contempt for their doctrine and exegesis as they have for the Means of Grace. ELCA books are also pure poison and should be avoided, even if bought at book sales for a dime.516
7. If I have questions about the Greek text, and I often do, I first use BibleWorks to search for identical or similar Greek words. I also use Lenski often, as well as various reference works, such as Moulton-Milliken’s Vocabulary of the Greek New Testament and Robertson’s Word Pictures of the New Testament.517 The Arndt Gingrich lexicon is also quite useful at times.
J-1017
"Lord God, Thou hast placed me in Thy church as a bishop and pastor. Thou seest how unfit I am to administer this great and difficult office. Had I hitherto been without help from Thee, I would have ruined everything long ago. Therefore I call on Thee. I gladly offer my mouth and heart to Thy service. I would teach the people and I myself would continue to learn. To this end I shall meditate diligently on Thy Word. Use me, dear Lord, as Thy instrument. Only do not forsake me; for if I were to continue alone, I would quickly ruin everything."
What Luther Says, An Anthology, 3 vols., ed., Ewald Plass, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1959, II, p. 926.
