“If now I seek the forgiveness of sins, I do not run to the cross, for I will not find it given there… But I will find in the sacrament or Gospel the word which distributes, presents, offers, and gives to me that forgiveness which was won on the Cross.” (AE 40, 214)
St. John 20:22-23
Sunday, May 28, 2006 -
Ryan Fouts' Ordination – Sugar Loaf, IL.
In the name of Jesus, our risen and ascended Lord. Amen. On Easter Sunday, the Risen Lord spoke peace to His disciples who were cowering behind lock doors. “Peace be with you! As the Father sent Me, so I send you.”
And then He breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven. If you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”
This evening, just a bit after Ascension Day, we are witnesses to our Lord sending another man. Today, our Lord breathes on this Ryan Fouts and sends him to do a specific task: to forgive and retain sins in His stead and by His command.
Being a pastor is a very simple calling. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to be a pastor. Thank God, the Lord has rocket scientists for that. No, any monkey can be a pastor – and Ryan is a smart monkey.
But, the Lord in His mercy, doesn't send monkeys to do His work. No, St. Paul says that the Lord gave gifts to men – some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers.
That what's going on today, dear saints of God. The Lord is putting a man into His office to do some gifting. First, He puts the gift on Ryan – that's the hands bit - and then you are served – that is given to – by our Lord through Pastor Fouts.
That's the sort of Lord Jesus is. He won our salvation on the Cross. But, He's too much of a gift giving Lord to stop short. Without delivery, there is no gift.
So, after He had risen from the dead, He sent His men to deliver everything that He had won for us on the Cross. He sent them to make disciples of all nations by baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit and teach them to hold dear all that He had commanded. To preach the Gospel to all creation, to preach repentance unto the forgiveness of sins.
The delivery boys, the mail men, for the deliveyr of all that He won on the Cross are His sent men. They are the UPS men of Jesus' salvation. And faith, which is nothing more than receiving gifts from God, lays hold of the gifts and we are saved.
As our confessions say, “To obtain such faith, God instituted the Office of the Holy Ministry, the Word and the Sacraments, For through these as through means, (that's instruments) He gives the Holy Spirit, who works faith; where and when He pleases God, in them that hear the Gospel...” (Augustana V)
That is – that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and by believing have life in His Name, God sends you this day – His man. Ryan is sent to delivery Jesus – His Word, His Baptism, and His Body and Blood to you.
Pastors are His called instruments. His tools. Ryan, you are being put into His Office to be His man, His instrument for the delivery of His Calvary-won gifts. To speak forgiveness of sins in His name. To deliver His life and salvation to these people at Holy Cross Lutheran Church in Sugar Loaf, Illinois.
That's the great comfort of the Office of the Holy Ministry, Ryan. You aren't sent to delivery your words, but His words. You aren't sent because of your gifts, but to deliver His gifts. Your clever rhetoric or leadership will save no one. But, take heed to yourself and to your doctrine. Continue in them, for in doing this you will save both yourself and those who hear you.
The Word saves, not you. The Word even saves the likes of you and me.
Your task, your noble calling, is to go around to these people, showering them with Jesus – with His forgiveness.
It's really that simple. You get to say the words over and over again: I forgive you. I forgive you all your sins. Loud and clear – bringing comfort to troubled consciences and peace to troubled hearts.
No more cowering in upper rooms. God is not angry. He should be angry with us because of all our sins. But God refuses, He won't hear anything of it. He will not treat us as our sins deserve. He won't harbor His anger forever. He has set His anger aside – having fired all of the anger at His Son.
He won't hear anything anymore other than your sins are FORGIVEN, forgiven, and forgiven. Over and over again, no more sins, no more sorrow, no more fear. God is our God and the Father is our Father because of the Cross.
That's the message of a pastor. The words, “In the stead and by the command of my Lord Jesus Christ, I forgive you all your sins.” That's the very voice of the Gospel. What could be a greater summation of the Gospel than, “I forgive you for Christ's sake?”
Then, the Lord is so good to us, that He leaves us in no doubt of that forgiveness by speaking it through the one He sent. Jesus says, “He who hears you, hears Me.” He who hears Pastor Fouts, hears Jesus.
So when you hear your pastor forgive your sins, that is just as valid and certain as if Christ your dear Lord has dealt with you Himself. Because Christ has dealt with you through His Office.
What comfort for sinners! For we are tempted to doubt that God is actually good to us. Often external evidences show otherwise. We get sick, we lose our job, things don't go the way we think they should go.
And the devil and his preachers, answer our fears by directing us back to ourselves - to do this or that and God will love you, will give you success, be good to you, or give you your best life now.
Or worse, we convince ourselves that there is something in us, something about us, something going on with us, that God finds lovable. As if there is something inside of us that God just can't live with out.
But, when the lights are out and we are alone in our rooms, we know better and so we comfort ourselves with the plan that we will improve our behavior. But, when morning comes, we are back in our sins.
Jesus has a better life than your best life now. He has the forgiveness of sins. God loves us in a specific and concrete way: He gave up His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him – whoever receives Him – shall not perish but have everlasting life.
And you don't have to look in you for that forgiveness – His forgiveness is outside you – in the words of your pastor. It's not Pastor Fouts' words, but Jesus Words. He just speaks them over and over again, “I forgive you all your sins!”
And when Pastor baptizes, it's not him doing it, but Christ doing it through His Office. And when Pastor Fouts puts the Body of Christ into your mouth, it's not his hands, but Christ's hands. Instrument. Tool. That's Pastor Fouts.
And don't blame Ryan for how unbelievable good the Lord is, he only works here.
It's the Lord's fault – Jesus is so good, so gracious, so unbelievably kind that He forgives, forgives, and forgives.
The Father is so full of forgiveness, so full of good things for you, that He would bid you think that He only has good for you – only good all the time. Because He does and is good in Christ.
And if God has to do some thing alien, something He doesn't like doing, and say the words “I retain your sins.” If your pastor has to do that, it is not because God suddenly has changed and ceased being good.
Nope, He hasn't. He's good and what He's doing is good for you. He's the same gift giving Lord.
The Law is good. God speaks through His Law, so that He can speak His Gospel. He preaches repentance toward the forgiveness of sins. He tells you about your sins, He calls you to repent, He puts the mirror up to you, and talks about the hell you deserve, to save you from the threatening peril of your sins.
So that you will not look at yourself anymore – inside you, in what you do, in what you think, even how much you believe.
So that you no longer think that you have to compensate for where you think God hasn't been good to you with something else – something inside of you, some seizing of something that you haven't been given, some taking of something that isn't yours.
When you run off into sin, your pastor will retain your sins and tell you that you are blazing a trail to hell for yourself so that you would repent and turn from your sins.
Then, the gifting will begin again! Pastor Fouts will get to deliver to you God's smiling, “I forgive you all your sins.”
And no Law on you today, Ryan. You've heard enough Law in the last few years with the devil, the world, and your sinful flesh telling you how much you aren't worthy to be a pastor.
You aren't worthy of the calling you have received, Ryan. Neither am I. But God is too good to make this about you and me. This is is about His Cross and the delivery of His Cross to these people. He went through hell and death for them. So, it gives Him great joy to call you to tell them about what He has done for them.
You are His man. His tool. His instrument for the delivery of His gifts. He has called you here and He will carry you straight through each day, even to the end of the age. He is with you. He is that faithful. He is that good.
In fact, He holds the honor of giving far more bountifully than we could ever know, like an eternal fountain that which gushes forth abundantly nothing but what is good, and from which flows forth all that is and is called good.
That is the way of faith, expecting only good from His hand. In all times, in all trials, in all tribulations. In health. In life, even in death. He has only Good. What else could He give other than good to us after Calvary.
And good gifts to men too... like Pastor Fouts to Sugarloaf..
It really is a really simple job. It's not a difficult or complicated task that He sends you to do, Ryan. It is boils down to two things: to forgive and retain sins in His name. Over and over bringing His peace and His life and His salvation to these saints.
No more fear. No more doubt. No more cowering and hiding from God. Only Jesus and His Cross-purchased Words. I forgive you all your sins. In the name of Jesus, our risen and ascended Lord. Amen.