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Sermon for Epiphany VI (A), February 12, 2017
1 Corinthians 3:1-9 (esp. v. 7)
Pastor Micah Bauer
In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Our sermon
text for this morning is from 1 Corinthians chapter 3: “So neither he who plants nor he who
waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth.”
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Pastor Micah Bauer
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Pastor Karl Korte
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Pastor Matthew Wurm
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Pastor Walter Hannemann
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Pastor Terry Naasz
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Pastor William Erb
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Pastor Richard Townes
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Pastor C. Monrad Gullerud
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Pastor Douglas Chinberg
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Pastor Arthur Laesch
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Pastor Terrill Bramstedt
How many of Mount Calvary’s pastors can you remember being here? And for those of
us who transferred in, how many pastors did you have before you came to Mount Calvary?
Who baptized you? Who confirmed you? Who married you?
Who buried your grandparents;
and perhaps your parents, spouse, and, God forbid, your children? To whom have you confessed
your deepest, darkest sins, only to hear the promise of Jesus Christ spoken directly to you
through his servant? Who has been the very presence of Jesus to you?
Pastor Wurm and I are your pastors now, but the day will come when that will no longer
be the case—whether you move or transfer to the Church triumphant, or whether we accept
other calls at some point, or even if we retire here—and by the way, neither us has any plans or
desire to leave you. But the nature of the Office of the Holy Ministry is such that God sends his
servants where he needs them.
And, when Pastor Wurm and I are thinking straight, we don’t
even imagine that we’ll be the most influential pastors in your life. In fact, we hope that you
have better pastors than us, because we each know our own flaws and how we have failed you.
We pray that you will grow in faith by the working of the Holy Spirit through Word and
Sacrament, even if we are not the ones giving you these gifts.
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How absurd would it be, then, for you to think, “I follow Pastor Bauer,” or, “I like Pastor
Wurm better!”
Are my sermons the best in the Synod? No, they are not! Did Pastor Wurm
rekindle the fire of faith within you when he came to visit you? No, he did not. The Holy Spirit is
not at our command. We do not appoint him specific tasks each week; he is not on the payroll.
Now, the Holy Spirit sure works here, as is evidenced by your faith and your lives. But he is not
our servant; we are his. He humbles himself to work through even our preaching, and teaching,
and feeble words of comfort. —I’m constantly amazed when people will tell me something in
particular in my sermon that really touched them, and I never said anything of the sort. That’s
the Spirit working.— Christ Jesus continually upholds his Church even through such foolish men
as us.
And he even works through that pastor that you can’t stand. That pastor against whom
you still hold a grudge. That pastor who never really connected with you when you were
growing up. That pastor whose sermons were, well, you know. In the Church, we still respect the
Office, regardless of who holds it. These are God’s servants. These are the men whom God has
called to shepherd this flock. There is no #notmypastor.
“What then is Pastor Bauer? What is Pastor Wurm? What is Pastor Townes? Servants
through whom you have believed, as the Lord assigned to each. One plants, another waters, but
God gives the growth.”
It is not our job to create faith within you. It is not our job to make your kids Christian
or to keep them in the faith. We cannot do these things. “It is God who gives the growth.”
What, then, is our job? As it says right here on my call documents, to preach and teach the Word
of God in its truth and purity, and to administer the Sacraments in accordance with their divine
institution. That’s the job. That’s the call. We are to give you Jesus, in season and out of season.
We are to give you God’s gifts, so that the Spirit might work through them to grant you
repentance and faith. We are to speak words of condemnation and absolution on behalf of the
Lord himself. We are to do these things publicly, for your benefit, and in good order.
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When we faithfully preach the Word and administer the Sacraments, do y’all further trust
God’s promises to you? And do y’all better learn and believe the Scriptures? By the Holy Spirit’s
working, yes. Can we better or worse preachers, teachers, visitors, counselors, etc.? Well, sure. If
we’re bad at our job, it’s of no benefit to you; and when we’re good at our job, it typically is of
benefit to you. But the point I’m making is that it is the Spirit working through the Word who
creates faith; it always has been, and it always will be. Pastors may come and go, but still the
Spirit of God remains. “The grass withers and the flower fades, but the word of the Lord
endures forever” (Isaiah 40:8). Christ, the great bridegroom, will not abandon his bride the
Church. The gates of hell will not prevail against our confession that Jesus is the Lord. We may
be slandered; we may be sentenced; we may be slaughtered; but we will not be silenced.
You see, all of this church stuff is not about you. Mount Calvary does not exist primarily
to meet your preferences. Now, for anyone who has ever moved and had to find a new church
home, you know this struggle. You want to find a church that’s “a good fit.” You want a church
that welcomes you. You want the worship to be familiar. As you are “shopping,” you try a few
of them out; you take them off the rack, slip them on, and see how they look and feel on you.
And you put back whatever you don’t care for and you walk away.
I have this struggle when I sit up on campus on Thursdays. I’ve got a table on Main
Street in the Union. To my right, students are advertising the “Capers” variety show. To my left,
the LGBTQ club is reaching out to sympathetic people. And here I am in the middle with my
“Free prayer” signs, advertising my services in the marketplace. As students walk past, some
notice my collar and smile (probably assuming that I’m Roman Catholic). Some even stop by—
whether out of curiosity or crisis—and I get to glimpse into their lives and offer up their needs
to our heavenly Father. But most students have trained themselves not to be taken in by all the
advertisers on Main Street who want their attention and their time. They keep their eyes straight
and keep walking until they’ve made it through the tunnel of ads. And I am just one of the many
distractions that they ignore.
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But here’s the thing: the Church is not one of the shops in the marketplace. We are not
one of many organizations who can improve your life. We don’t serve the same function as
entertainment or community. We have the Gospel. We have the Good News that, although
you’re a terrible person, nevertheless God loves you so much that he sent his Son to save you
from yourself—your sin and your death.
You see, the Church is not about you. It’s all about Jesus.
Pastor Wurm and I are not
the leaders of this organization; Jesus is the head of the whole Church on earth and in heaven.
Our job is not to conform ourselves to whatever makes you comfortable; our job is to kill you…
and make you truly alive, by proclaiming God’s eternal Word. The Church is not here to make
you feel good about yourself; the Church is here to make you despair of yourself and trust Jesus
for all things.
All of us—we are not here simply to be your friends; we are here to be your
doctors and nurses, dispensing to you God’s Law and Gospel—the only medicine for the cure of
souls. We are your brothers-in-arms, standing side by side in the war against Satan.
How trivial is it if your lieutenant smokes, or if your doctor’s jokes are terrible? When one
says, “I follow Pastor so-and-so,” are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way?
Church is not something that fits into your life; it defines your life. It is simply the Truth—
it’s the way things actually are—and your life fits into it.
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Thank the Lord for sending his servants, who reinforce this truth in our lives.
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Thank the Lord for sending his servants, who feed us and give us respite along the way.
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Thank the Lord for pastors, and church workers, and for all who teach the faith.
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Thank the Lord for fathers and mothers, husbands and wives, who live lives of
forgiveness and repentance.
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Thank the Lord for children, who teach us the simple faith.
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Thank the Lord for all who govern, for they promote our peaceful and quiet lives.
Thank the Lord for you, for you have received his Word with thanksgiving, and you are a
constant encouragement to the rest of us. “For we are God’s fellow workers. You are God’s field,
God’s building.”
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“Neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything.” We all receive. We all give. We all
invest our lives in the lives of others as the Lord assigns to each. So receive the Lord’s gifts to
you through whatever servant he chooses. Receive the Lord’s gifts through the Lord’s servants in
the Lord’s name. Amen.
The peace of God which surpasses all understand guard your hearts and minds in Christ
Jesus. Amen.
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