As we approach Labor Day, it’s worth considering the value of our work. When we think of holy work, our minds often go to pulpits and altars, to missionaries in distant lands or saints who lived extraordinary lives of sacrifice. Yet Martin Luther, in his Small Catechism and throughout the Lutheran Confessions, while upholding church vocations, reminds us that the work of parents, farmers, teachers, mechanics, and office clerks is no less sacred. In fact, it is precisely in these everyday tasks that God delights to serve His world.

Thesis VI—The preaching confers the preaching office through the congregation as the possessor of all ecclesiastical authority, or the Keys, and through the call that is prescribed by God. The ordination of those who are called with the laying on of hands is not a divine institution but an apostolic, churchly order and only a solemn public confirmation of the call.

Here, Pharisees and tax collectors, hypocrites and doubters, saints and sinners, come together as one. Here you confess together: “I, a poor miserable sinner, confess unto You all my sins and iniquities.” And here you hear together: “I forgive you.” Here you cry out: “Lord, have mercy.” And here you hear: “Take, eat; take, drink. This is My body, this is My blood, given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins.” Come, then. Come with your shame, your guilt, your fear, your grief. Come as a sinner. Come to the altar where Christ welcomes sinners. And go home justified.

The preaching office has the authority to preach the Gospel and administer the holy Sacraments, as well as the authority of spiritual judgment. The preaching office is conferred by God through the congregation as the possessor of all ecclesiastical authority, or the Keys, and through the call that is prescribed by God.

So when you are tempted to doubt, when you ask, “Can anything good come from this?” hear again the words of Philip: “Come and see.” Come and see Jesus in His Word. Come and see Him in water, in bread, in wine. Come and see heaven opened, angels ascending and descending on the Son of Man. Come and see your Savior, who sees you, who knows you, who forgives you, and who gives you His Kingdom.

As the fall approaches, many Christian communities gather for Bible Study, Sunday School, and confirmation classes, refocusing on the Scriptures. Our congregation of St. John Ev. Lutheran Church and School in Sherman Center have been committed to preaching and teaching the Word for 170 years! However, the new school year also brings distractions and daily demands that can easily overshadow our commitment to studying God's Word.

Jesus still calls you to His house, calling you away from that. He is wise, zealous, and shrewd — keeps on forgiving you — keeps on calling you His baptized child, keeps on giving you His Body and Blood. And do you know why? “No servant can serve two masters.” You can’t serve two masters — Jesus is your Lord, and He calls you here to His House, constantly reminding you over and over that you are His and that you are forgiven. 

Thesis IV The preaching office is not a special state in opposition to or holier than that of ordinary Christians, as was the Levitical priesthood; rather, it is an office of service.

Thesis V The preaching office has the authority to preach the Gospel and administer the holy Sacraments, as well as the authority of spiritual judgment.

The stakes are high, and the Evil One and his demons are relentless. But with your faith firmly grounded in Jesus and your hearts opened to the power of His Word and Sacraments, you can withstand the attacks of an army of false prophets. So be vigilant, bold, and steadfast in your devotion to the One who has already won the victory for you. When you’re with Jesus, with his gospel in your heart, with his promises in your ears, and his body and blood on your tongues and in your guts, you don’t have to budge for anyone. And why would you? You have God’s Word and faith, the ultimate defense against the schemes of the devil. 

Thesis III The preaching office is not an optional office but one whose establishment has been commanded to the Church and to which the Church is properly bound till the end of time.

Thesis II — The preaching office or the pastoral office is not a human institution but an office that God Himself has established.

There’s only one thing, one person, who makes you a Christian, and it’s not you. It’s Jesus Christ alone through the work of the Holy Spirit for you because the Father wants it. That’s the only thing that translates sinners into Christ’s kingdom.

Think of it this way: Sinners in yourself. Saint in Christ. This is the only freedom to live in this old, dying world with its partial forgiveness and petty mercies. This freedom allows you to live in a world that either forgets its sins too easily or can't seem to let them go. So you trust God absolutely when you pray: “Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.”

PART TWO - CONCERNING THE HOLY PREACHING OFFICE OR THE PASTORAL OFFICE

Thesis I The holy preaching office or pastoral office is an office distinct from the office of priest, which all believers have.

Every Christian for the sake of his salvation is in duty bound to acknowledge and adhere to orthodox congregations and orthodox preachers, wherever he can find such.

To obtain salvation, only fellowship in the invisible Church, to which alone all the glorious promises regarding the Church were originally given, is absolutely necessary.

Thus, St. Peter confessed before the Jerusalem council precisely what Christ had declared to him years before. The only cornerstone that will provide a suitable foundation for the fledgling church is Christ Jesus Himself. Jesus said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” This confession of faith is the firm rock upon which Christ builds His Church. On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand; all other ground is sinking sand. Upon this rock, the gates of hell shall not prevail. Upon this rock, there is true reconciliation between dissenting brothers. Upon the truth of the Word, the church is built and preserved.

Thesis VIII Although God gathers for Himself a holy church of elect at a place where His Word is not taught in its complete purity and the Sacraments are not administered altogether according to the institution of Jesus Christ, if only God’s Word and the Sacraments are not denied entirely but both essentially remain, nevertheless every believer is bound, at the peril of losing his salvation, to flee all false teachers, avoid all heterodox congregations or sects, and confess and adhere to orthodox congregations and their orthodox preachers wherever such may be found.

A. Also in heterodox and heretical churches there are children of God, and also there the true Church is made manifest by the pure Word and the Sacraments that still remain.

B. Every believer for the sake of his salvation must flee all false teachers, and avoid fellowship with heterodox congregations or sects.

C. Every Christian for the sake of his salvation is in duty bound to acknowledge and adhere to orthodox congregations and orthodox preachers, wherever he can find such.

“The LORD doesn’t see things the way you see them. People judge by outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart” (1 Sam 16:7). And what does He want to find in the heart? Not a lover of money, a covetous sinner with a hardened heart. No, God looks for faith. He looks for His Son’s Word. He looks for the Spirit’s work. He looks for what He gives by way of Moses and the Prophets, and especially the promised Messiah to Abraham. And the fear, love, and trust He gives in Christ Jesus for salvation, fulfilling the First Commandment, is the greatest and only wealth that matters in eternity. What matters is not how we appear to men, coram hominibus, or how we look to the world, coram mundo, but only what God sees, coram Deo.

Thesis VII As visible fellowships that still have the Word and the Sacraments essentially according to God’s Word bear the name “church” because of the true invisible Church of genuine believers that is found in them, so also they possess the authority that Christ has given to His whole Church on account of the true invisible Church hidden in them, even if there were only two or three [believers].

Nicodemus has absolutely no idea what Jesus Christ is talking about. And now Jesus is laying out for him what Baptism is, because Baptism is the Holy Spirit blowing on you. And when the Holy Spirit blows on you, the Holy Spirit is going to do with you what He wills. And what will he do? He will give you a promise, not a command. The promise in Baptism provides you with what you otherwise do not know and could not understand—the name of the only Son of God.