An Installation Sermon: Hear the Voice of the Gospel :: Luke 10:16
The Lord Jesus speaks a serious word today ... one to which we should carefully.
[Jesus said] those hearing you hear me, and those rejecting you reject me. But the one rejecting me, rejects the one who sent me (Lk 10:16). This is the word for our meditation.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, the Reverend Jeffrey Kyler has answered a Divine Call to carry out Word and Sacrament ministry here at Zion Lutheran Church in accordance with the scriptures and our confession. He is being called to speak God’s Word, lest he should boast of his own and lead you down a path to eternal destruction. He is being called to do the work of an evangelist, preaching the eternal Gospel and administering the Sacraments so that you will receive the forgiveness of sins and eternal life in Christ.
This Word that Pastor Kyler is being called to preach is not his Word ... it is the Lord’s Word. Listen to it. The sacraments he will administer are not his sacraments; they are the Lord’ ... instituted by Christ himself to deliver the forgiveness of sins. Receive them.
Like Saint Paul, Pastor Kyler will call you to repentance. He will reprove, rebuke, and exhort. He may not be able to heal the sick, but he will pray with you when you are. He will urge all of you to walk in all humility and gentleness ... with patience ... eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit. And most importantly, he will preach the Eternal Gospel ... the glorious message of God.
The preaching of the Gospel and the administration of the Sacraments go together. They work together. Receive them together every Lord’s day, if you can. Our Lord has called his pastors to administer these for your good and God’s glory.
1.
In our text today from Luke 10, the Lord Jesus declared 72 men worthy to do work like this work ... to be laborers in His harvest field. Jesus sent them because the harvest is plentiful, and the laborers are few (v 2). Jesus sent them because there are congregations all around us that need a pastor just like the one you are receiving today. Jesus sent them to proclaim peace ... or more specifically, God’s peace ... the Eternal Gospel ... the Good News ... the peace that surpasses all understanding ... the peace that the world cannot give. The Lord knows we all need this peace.
So pray earnestly to the Lord ... to send [more] laborers into [the] harvest ... who upon entering a house will say ... Peace be to this house. And if a son of peace is there, [God’s] peace will rest upon him. But if not, it will return.
Like those disciples, Jesus sent pastors to establish table fellowship in these places so that all who eat and drink at the Lord’s Table will receive the forgiveness of sins ... which is what God’s peace really is ... the peace of God that is with you ... the peace which the world cannot give.
First, your pastor will proclaim God’s Word, then we are receive the sacrament. These two things go together. So hear the voice of the Gospel: Don’t neglect one for the other. Where the Word is received, Christ is received. Where Christ is received, there the Father who sent Him is received.
2..
Now it may sound self-serving to hear a preacher tell you to receive the word proclaimed by your preacher. It would be if this was merely my word. But these are the words of your Lord Jesus who reminds you today that he who hears the Word of God taught in its truth and purity hears the Word of Jesus.
Too often, people reject a preacher because they don’t like the way he speaks ... or they don’t like the content of his preaching. That’s a terrible mistake. Listen to him as he preaches God’s Word.
Let’s face it ... When the Word of God is preached properly, sometimes it hurts to hear it. Sometimes it will make you squirm in your seats. It will hurt because it will show you your sin and your need for a savior. You will squirm because it will show you how you have failed to reflect the image of God. It will show you how you can be proud, arrogant, and abusive; disobedient, ungrateful, and unholy; heartless, unappealing, and slanderous; swollen with conceit and lovers of pleasure. It will show you how you reject the one who sent Pastor Kyler.
This Word of God is not a matter of opinion. It is God’s Word for your good and his glory.
If you don’t receive it, he may be called to walk away.
As Jesus says, Whenever you enter a town and they do not receive you, go into its streets and say, ‘Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet we wipe off against you. Nevertheless know this, that the kingdom of God has come near.’ I tell you, it will be more bearable on that day for Sodom than for that town. ... Because ... when you reject the preaching of the Gospel, you reject Christ and the Kingdom. When you reject the one who has been sent to you, you reject the one who sent him.
3.
Fortunately for you, and knowing Pastor Kyler really well, the Law won’t be the last word you hear from him. So dear brother in Christ, I exhort, preach that Gospel! He who hears you then will hear the one who sent you!
And I know you all know what that Gospel is ... that it is everything that God has done for you, continues to do for you, and will do for you. It will make no demands of you. It literally is good news ... or better yet, the good announcement. It is not only for their good ... it is for yours. And God’s glory.
This Good News is that your sins are forgiven on account of the life, death, resurrection, and ascension of your Lord Jesus Christ, God’s own Son. Although it is primarily words about Christ’s saving work on our behalf, words are not the only form the Gospel takes.
The Gospel is the power of God for the salvation of every who believes and it comes in verbal and visible forms. You will not only hear it, you will see it in the sacraments. You will receive it through words of absolution and you will receive through the water of Baptism and the bread and wine of the Lord’s Supper. Our Lord Jesus gave us these means of grace in order to nurture and nourish your faith in all he has done.
In, with, and under his means of grace ... baptism, absolution, and the Lord’s supper ... Christ gives us the blessings that He purchased for us ... the forgiveness of sins, life and salvation ... on account of his life, death, and resurrection. Though he knew no sin, Jesus died on the cross, to pay the price for your sin. Though you were sinful and unclean, Jesus gave you his righteousness so that you will inherit eternal life through his resurrection.
4.
Pastor Kyler, it is important that these words of Jesus ring in the ears of those to whom you’ve been sent. In the very preaching of Jesus’ shepherds, the kingdom of God becomes a present reality and the kingdom of Satan is firmly defeated. In your proclamation, the presence of Christ to redeem a lost and dying world ensures that Christ’s kingdom will triumph because the one who hears you, hears [the one who sent you].
And they will hear you.
As the psalmist reminded us already, He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God. Many will see and fear, and put their trust in Yahweh.
So you see, brothers and sisters in Christ, there is both warning and promise here from our Lord today. Pay attention to the Word, since those who reject it are rejecting the Lord. Judgment and Hades await those who refuse to heed the message of salvation. But there is the promise here that the holy Lord who sends His preachers will ensure that you are well-fed by this preaching, even to life everlasting.
The Lord guard and keep you in this Word until the Day of Judgment ... when you will no longer have to listen to the Lord through His servants. Instead, you will see and hear Him face to face ... in Jesus’ name alone. Amen.