Transcript
(music)
O magnify the Lord with me, and let us together exalt the name of the Lord. Come, let us worship God.
(congregational singing)
Let us pray. Let the good news come now, O Lord, not only in word but in power, in the Holy Spirit, and with full assurance, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. Listen to the word of God as it is read from 1 Corinthians chapter 4, beginning at the first verse. Think of us this way, as servants of Christ and stewards
of the mysteries of God. Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found trustworthy. But with me, it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by any human court. I do not even judge myself. I am not aware of anything against myself, but I am not thereby acquitted. It is the Lord who judges me. Therefore, do not pronounce judgment before the time, before the Lord comes, who will bring to
light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart. Then each one will receive commendation from God. The end of the lesson. I want to say a good word this morning about pastoral ministry. I want to say a good word about pastoral ministry in an ethos which exalts academic ministry. Now, I am not against PhDs. I have one. It was in my genes, I think. It was something that eventually had to
be done. But I am always reminded of something my college psychology professor told us one day about degrees. He said there is BS, MS, PhD. He said everybody knows what BS is. MS is more of the same as PhD, just piled higher and deeper. The thing you need to remember is that academics and knowledge is for the sake of ministry. And if you need that extra degree to do the ministry to which God has called you,
then power to you. But this morning I want to say a good word about the first office of the church. That's what Dr. McCord, my predecessor, loved to say about the pastoral office. It is the first office of the church. Now, this text is a beautiful text for saying a strong word in behalf of pastoral ministry. First of all, Paul defines who we are in ministry. He asks the Corinthians to think of him and Apollos and
Cephas and others in this way. As servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. But in order for Paul to ask others to think of him and his colleagues in this way, Paul had to think of himself in this way. You cannot ask others to understand you in a way that you do not understand yourself. And if you are in ministry in the church in this great apostolic train, then it is legitimate for us
to think of ourselves in ministry as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. Those wonderful mysteries of God. God's Heilsplan, as the Germans love to say. God's redemptive purpose. The mysteries of the origin of life, not just the Big Bang and not just evolution, but the real origins of human life. And the origins and the mystery of the goal of human life and the end of human life. The mysteries of what life is
and what death is and how one lives in the face of death, in faith and in hope and in love. These are the mysteries of the gospel which God has entrusted to the ministers of the gospel. Who are the servants of Christ? Now this stewardship is exercised in a great variety of ways. I frankly think John Leith is right on target when he says that the primary function of all those in pastoral ministry is preaching, teaching
and pastoral care. It's so simple. Preaching, teaching and pastoral care. And John Leith believes, and I think he's right, that if you do that, you'll grow a church. If you are found trustworthy and faithful in that stewardship, you will grow a church. By preaching and teaching and pastoral care. But I want to emphasize this morning the pastoral care. I love to preach. Always made it absolutely first priority in my ministry. Spent 20 hours a week preparing
to do it. So this is not a put down of preaching. Second love was teaching, but pastoral care is unsurpassed. At the 50th anniversary of our congregation in Burlingame, and you know 50 years in California is old. Back here that's nothing. I preached in a church Sunday that was founded in 1694. They're just showing off. But our church was founded in 1926 and we celebrated our 50th anniversary in 1976 and we invited my predecessor to come
back. Now he had been pastor of that church for 14 years. The church of 2100 members and in the 10 years he had been gone, there remained 400 people who had been there under his ministry. So California, in California you're preaching to a parade. Well he came back and you would have thought it was Easter. They came out of the woodwork. I mean they were standing room only at both services that morning. It was a wonderful
event. And as we were in my study afterward taking off our Geneva gowns, my predecessor George Peters said to me, You know Tom, it's really interesting. He had been besieged between and after both services by old friends. Some had come from Florida just to be there. He said they don't remember a thing I ever said in the pulpit. But they remember when I was there when their child died. And they remember that I was there when
they buried their mother. And they knew, they remember my being there when their marriage was in trouble. He said Tom, they remember the pastoral services. And my experience confirms that. What they remember are the things you've done as a pastor. I received a letter 25 years after we had founded that little church in Garden Grove, California from a woman. It was postmarked from Long Beach. And she began by saying, You will not remember me. And in
point of fact, without reading too much further, I did remember her. She was a fragile woman who started coming to our little church when we were meeting in the Seventh Day Adventist Chapel, whose husband was dying of lung cancer in the Veterans Administration Hospital in Long Beach. And I had befriended her and three times a week drove 27 miles between Garden Grove to Long Beach to visit that man as he died. And she wrote to tell
me, I will never forget you. You were there for me when I needed someone. And she says, I know it wasn't just you. I'm thinking of the first child I ever buried. The middle daughter of two of our best friends in that first church. It was a Saturday. I was in my Levi's and T-shirt working in the garage. And my wife came out tears streaming down her face to say, Barbie Griesbaum just died. In my
world, children didn't die. That was not the world I knew. And I remember going to the hospital in my Levi's and T-shirt to put my arms around two dear friends and cry with them. There's a bond that has existed between that couple and us that now expands almost 40 years. And I'll never forget as we pulled away from the graveside, this young mother reached over and put her hand on my knee. And she said, Tom,
do you really believe all the things you just said? A moment of truth in pastoral ministry. And in that moment, they don't want to hear about demythologizing. They don't want to hear about deconstruction. They don't want to hear about hermeneutics. They want to know, do you believe all the things you just said? There's fun parts to pastoral ministry too. I'm thinking now of Ben Lashi, one of the most remarkable men I've ever met. Ben retired after
25 years of being the executive officer of the United States Chamber of Commerce. He knew everybody in the business world in the United States. When he retired, they gave him 10 leather-bound volumes of letters of appreciation from every Chamber of Commerce officer in the whole United States. He had not even begun to read them all. And he befriended me as a very young pastor and took me under his wing. And about two years into my
ministry, his wife Peggy died and then one summer Ben mysteriously disappeared and came back and announced that he had gone to Minnesota for a physical at that great hospital there. And truth of the matter was, he knew that a certain woman was going to be at that hospital because her son was a doctor there. And he had dated this woman when they were both 19 in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. And that rascal had gone back to
propose. And he came back radiant. And he wanted to have the wedding in our home. He wanted my wife to stand up for his bride. And he wanted my young assistant pastor to stand up for him. And that was to be it. And I was to do the wedding in front of the fireplace. So one day, as the wedding approached, my young colleague and I, my younger colleague and I were standing out in front of the
church. And here came Ben shuffling up the walk. He had a droll sense of humor, never smiled, but one of the funniest men I've ever known. He walked up to us and straightened himself up and he said, What are you boys doing? And we said, Ben, we were just standing here wondering when you're going to come in for your pre-marital counseling. And he looked at us and he said, What do you boys want to know?
(laughter) Or weddings. After 17 years in one church, you begin to marry young women you baptized or young men. And I'm an incurable romantic. And would stand at the foot of those chancel steps and see these young groomsmen come in with the groom and then the young bridesmaids come down the aisle. And then this beautiful young bride who probably was a friend of one of our daughters that I had known at least since nursery school. And
had a lifetime of relationship with and to have the privilege of bonding her and her chosen in marriage. I will always be their pastor, always. And these are the kinds of experiences you have in pastoral ministry that you can never replicate anyplace else. There is a privilege and a joy and a responsibility that will take everything you have and ask for more. But it's worth it. It's worth it. As we understand ourselves to be the servants
of Christ and the stewards of the mysteries of God. I commend you to it. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
(congregational singing)
Go forth in peace and the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love
of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen. (music)