Mid-Lent 1
Table of Duties: Pastors and Hearers
2/25/26
During
my life growing up in the Lutheran church I often heard about the “six chief
part” of the Small Catechism – the sections that deal with the Ten
Commandments, the Creed, the Lord’s Prayer, Holy Baptism, Confession and the
Sacrament of the Altar. But when I arrived at the seminary, I was in for a
surprise because by I learned that there were two other parts of the Small
Catechism that in my experience no one had ever talked about.
The
first was the Daily Prayer section which describes prayer at the beginning and
ending of the day, and also before and after a meal. And the second was the Table of Duties – a
list of Scripture texts describing how Christians are to live. I learned that for Martin Luther, these two
parts were just as much part of the Small
Catechism as the prior six parts. They described how the faith, that had
been created and nourished by the first six parts, prays and lives.
This
is the first of our mid-week Lent services.
Lent is about repentance as we reflect on why our Lord died on the cross
for us. But Lent is also about catechesis – about teaching the faith. That is
why the Lutheran church has historically used Lent as a season when preaching
focuses on catechesis.
And so during Lent we are going to
focus on this last and most practical part of the Small Catechism – the Table of Duties. In this list of Bible
passages, we find a description of how we live out our faith in Jesus
Christ. In his writings Martin Luther
endlessly returns to the theme of faith in Christ and love for our
neighbor. It is faith in Christ alone that
saves. But where this Spirit worked gift
is present, there will flow forth love for our neighbor. Luther pointed out that God doesn’t need your
love. Instead, your neighbor does, and
God wants to use you as the means by which he cares for those around you.
To
do this, God has created various vocations, or callings. He instituted stations in life that we
occupy, and God uses us in these positions to care for others. The Table of Duties is divided up according
to these holy orders and positions. And so tonight we consider the first pair,
the verse that deal with “To Bishops, Pastors and Preachers” and “What the
Hearers Owe Their Pastors.”
During
Lent we are preparing to remember how Jesus Christ died on the cross for our
sins on Good Friday, and then rose from the dead on Easter. Christ did that
some 2000 years ago in Palestine. But we don’t live there and then. Instead, we
live in 2026 here in the Marion area. We can’t go back there and then to
receive the forgiveness Christ won. And so instead, he delivers it to us here
and now through the Means of Grace. He uses the word in its various forms. He
uses the word preached and spoken in absolution. He uses the word added to the
elements of water in Holy Bapitsm, and bread and wine in the Sacrament of the
Altar.
However,
none of the Means of Grace happen on their own. And so God has not only
provided the Means of Grace, but he has also provided the means by which the
Means of Grace are given to his people.
He has instituted the Office of the Holy Ministry. This is the vocation into which pastors are
called. It is God’s Office. No one can take the Office for himself. Instead, God must call a man through the work
of His Church. And God tells us the
requirements for the office in 1 Timothy 3: “The overseer must be above
reproach, the husband of but one wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable,
hospitable, able to teach, not given to drunkenness, not violent but gentle,
not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. He must manage his own family well and
see that his children obey him with proper respect.”
As
one who acts in the stead and place of Jesus Christ, the pastor is a man. A candidate for this office must be someone
who reflects Christ in the way he lives.
No Christian is perfect. No
pastor is perfect. All live by the
forgiveness that Jesus Christ won by his death and resurrection. Yet as those who shepherd Christ’s flock, we
do hold pastors to a higher standard. That is why Paul cautions in the second
verse that, “He must not be a recent convert, or he may become conceited and
fall under the same judgment as the devil.”
Instead, pastors are to be examples to the church, and so we call those who
have lived in the church for some time.
The
pastor in the Office of the Holy Ministry attends to the work of the
Gospel. This is a work that takes place
in the world. But the pastor must also
be able to live in the world, and so in the first three verses under “What the
Hearers Owe Their Pastors” we learn that hearers provide for a pastor. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 9, “The Lord has
commanded that those who preach the Gospel should receive their living from the
Gospel.” He says in Galatians 6, “Anyone
who receives instruction in the word must share all good things with his
instructor. Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.”
God
has commanded you to support a pastor who will administer the Means of Grace.
And of course more broadly this also includes all of the things we need for the
Means of Grace to go on here. If we didn’t pay the church’s electric bill, we
would be sitting here in the dark.
God’s
word teaches us about how this is done. Paul says in 2 Corinthians, “The point
is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows
bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each one must give as he has
decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God
loves a cheerful giver.” God tells us to give an offering that is voluntary and
cheerful as an expression of thanks to him for all of his blessings.
And
Paul also says in 1 Corinthians, “On the first day of every week, each of
you is to put something aside and store it up, as he may prosper.” We
learn two things in this important statement. First, our giving is to be first
fruits – it comes off the top of what God has given us. Second, it is to be
proportional – it reflects how God has prospered us. In the Old Testament this was figured out as
a tithe – ten percent. We have no specific command in the New Testament about
how much we are to give. But certainly,
we who have received the Gospel aren’t going to give less. A tithe – ten
percent of the income that we receive from God – continues to be our starting
point as we think about returning an offering to God that will support the
Means of Grace in the Church.
Paul
makes it clear that the pastor is not there to speak his own ideas or opinions.
Instead he instructs in Titus 1 that, “He must hold firmly to the trustworthy
message as it has been taught, so that he can encourage others by sound
doctrine and refute those who oppose it.”
The pastor must teach what is true and correct what it false. Yet this discernment goes beyond simple
doctrinal statements. It takes in how
the faith is confessed - or denied – by the way we live.
Here
it is crucial that we remember again whose Office of the Ministry it is – it is
God’s. And we need to remember how the
pastor came to serve in that position.
He did not put himself there.
Instead God did, working through his Church. That is why Paul told the
pastors gathered at Miletus: “Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all
the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has
made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which
he obtained with his own blood.” For the
same reason Peter called the members of a congregation those who have been
“allotted” to the pastor.
Because
of this Paul wrote in 1 Thessalonians 5: “We ask you brothers, respect those
who work hard among you, who are over you
in the Lord and who admonish you. Hold them in the highest regard in love
because of their work. Live in peace
with each other.” For the same reason,
the writer to the Hebrews wrote: “Obey your leaders and submit to their
authority. They keep watch over you as
men who must give an account. Obey
them so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no
advantage to you.” We recognize the spiritual authority that pastors have in
caring for God’s people in the matters that deal with God’s word. We learn that
pastors are accountable to God for how they care for his people. They must
speak the truth of God’s word, and carry out pastoral care on that basis – even
when this his hard.
As
we live in a world that is becoming more and more like the first century world
of the New Testament a pressing challenge faces both pastors and congregation
members. Will pastors be willing to
speak the truth? Will they say that Christ
alone is the way to salvation? Will they say that Scripture is the inspired and
inerrant word – the authoritative revelation of God? Will they say that sex
outside of marriage is sin, and refuse to marry couples that live together?
Will they say that homosexuality is sin?
And for congregation members, will they be willing to hear, believe and
accept these things … even when it pertains to their own son, daughter or
family member?
This
is the great challenge that faces pastors and hearers. But we do not face this by our own
powers. Instead, we face these things secure
in the knowledge that Christ who was crucified on Good Friday, rose on
Easter. The risen Lord through his
Spirit enables us to live in the confidence of his resurrection. He causes us to be different from the world,
because he has called us out of the world.
He gives us eyes to recognize his Church – pastors and people; shepherds
and sheep – as the place where his forgiveness reigns and gives life that will
never end.
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