A big part of seminary education in the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod is dedicated to helping future pastors speak God’s word faithfully. So it comes as a surprise to a young pastor that this skill is so little prized among some in his flock.
Pastors are frequently afflicted with comments such as “That’s just your opinion” or “It doesn't matter what you believe as long as you are sincere or as long as you are a good person.” Trying to remain faithful to the whole counsel of God in our preaching and teaching can be a thankless job.
Yet faithfulness to God’s word is not only required of pastors but it is required of all Christians. When we pray for God’s name to be hallowed, we are praying that it would not be used for lying or inventions. We pray that in our midst no one would say, “God says,” when God does not in fact say such a thing.
Martin Luther writes in the Large Catechism: “We should pray against whatever opposes and persecutes our Gospel and pure doctrine and would suppress it.”
Luther understood, as we should as well, that for the Gospel rightly to be taught and believed is the most important task of the Church. Lent is particularly a time to get the Gospel right as we see our Savior nailed to the cross for the sins of the world.
Prayer: O Father in Heaven, may our preaching and teaching always be faithful so that your name would be kept holy among us. Amen.
God’s richest blessings in Christ,
Pastor Philip Quardokus
Download a pdf of all the Lenten devotions here.
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