“FIND CONTENTMENT AS GOD’S CHOSEN INSTRUMENT”

 The Ordination of Don Frederick Frelitz 

St. John’s Lutheran Church, Mishicot, WI / St. John’s Lutheran Church, Two Creeks, WI
June 27th, 2010

Two important questions stand at the center of a recent article in the Wisconsin Lutheran Quarterly
entitled, “Fan into Flame Your Faith and the Gift of God.” The author went to great lengths to explain the
necessity of continuing education in the Holy Scriptures, as well as the danger when pastors allow their
education to become “stale.” Among all those topics and questions that were addressed in his article, as I read
it, I found myself coming back to two basic, pertinent questions under which every pastor must evaluate
themselves and their public ministry as they serve God’s people. Who is the pastor? What does he do?
Those questions are at the heart of our focus today. For you, my brother-in-law, you have spent the last
four years formally, and many years informally training to know who you are and what your scope of influence
is as the shepherd of these congregations. How appropriate then, that as you begin your public ministry here in
northern Wisconsin that you take the time to evaluate those questions upon which your entire work as God’s
servant will be built.
And for you, the members of St. John’s Lutheran Church, there is no more appropriate time than now,
when the Lord has blessed you with a new shepherd, for you to re-evaluate those same two questions, so that
your understanding of the pastoral office remains in line with what God has revealed in Holy Scripture, so that
your expectations of who this man is and what he does conform to what God has asked him to be and do, with
the intention that together, in mutual understanding, you may be a blessing to each other, pastor and
congregation in your partnership in proclaiming the good news of Jesus Christ and his salvation.
Who is the pastor and what does he do? Simply put, in the words of Acts 9:15, the pastor is God’s
chosen instrument. Be content to be God’s chosen instrument, because that is who you are: chosen...and that is
what God has called you to be...an instrument. Find contentment in that calling, because you have been chosen
by grace to be an instrument of grace to the souls that are now entrusted to your care.

I. You are chosen by grace

Let’s take a few moments to explore the first of those two basic pastoral questions. WHO is the pastor?
Truthfully, the pastor isn’t much different than the sheep he is called to serve. Both he and his flock share the
common thread of being in constant need of God’s abundant provisions of grace and love.
Yes, members of St. John’s, your new pastor is a sinful human being. Certainly you should expect this
man to be a man of integrity, an upstanding individual both among God’s people and in the world, and as St.
Paul says to Timothy, “an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity.” You
should expect that he conform to the qualifications for ministry outlined in 1st Timothy, “above reproach, the
husband of one wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, sober-minded, not
quarrelsome, not a lover of mammon...” All of those things you should expect of the man that sits before you
today ready to be ordained and installed as your shepherd under Christ. Yet, even with those lofty expectations,
do not forget that he is just like you in his spiritual condition. He, like the rest of you, was conceived in sin,
born in sin, and with St. Paul, must confess before the law’s demands, “I am the worst of sinners,” and it is only
by grace, God’s undeserved love that this candidate is a member of the family of believers and an heir of eternal
life. Like you, dear Christians, he is not perfect, he will not be perfect, and if you expect him to be something
he naturally cannot be, such an expectation goes far beyond what the Lord of the Church is asking him to be as
a pastor and do in his pastoral ministry. Remember, brothers and sisters in Christ, that your pastor is like you, a
sinful man, in need of your prayers, your support, your patience, your kindness, and often, your forgiveness.
Brother, as important as it is for the congregation to remember that you are a sinful person, that fact is
all the more important for you to remember, lest you develop an attitude of entitlement when it comes to your
divine call – the sense that you are entitled to stand before this congregation as its shepherd because you
received good grades at seminary, or because you did all the work that our synodical training system required,
or simply because you’re a nice guy and a good family man. While all of those things may be true, the only
thing that truly qualifies you to be a shepherd in this congregation is the fact that God has chosen you for this
service, and has done so by grace alone. You are God’s gracious choice, just as the disciples were, when Jesus
reminded them in John 15, “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear good
fruit!”
It started at the font the baptism, didn’t it? By grace alone, he poured his gospel promises over you at
the font of baptism, drowning your sins and raising you to a new life in Christ Jesus. By grace alone, he used
blessings like Zion Lutheran School in Chesaning, Michigan and Michigan Lutheran Seminary in Saginaw to
keep you connected to the blessings of faith throughout your life, and by grace alone the Lord of the Church
moved you to pursue this full-time calling. And though the road was long and arduous, he has seen you through
to this day, where you have the privilege of standing in front of this congregation to say, “This is the Word of
the Lord.”
What a gracious privilege! But in order for you to continue in that privilege, you have to constantly
remember who you are, a man in constant need of God’s grace in his Word and sacrament, which is why your
need to return to the Holy Scriptures on a daily basis will be vital to your work as a pastor. Every day, you need
to re-evaluate yourself in the mirror of the commandments of your God, and allow them to bring indictments
against you. Every day, you need to return to the shame of the cross, to the blood-stained holy hill upon which
salvation was won, so that you may, then, shepherd your flock there. Without continued immersion in God’s
Word, your call becomes just another “job” that earns a steady paycheck, your work becomes merely “busy-
work,” and the desire to serve precious souls with the gospel that saves will quickly turn into a mindless,
burdensome set of tasks. All those things are brought about if the pastor himself is not immersed in God’s
Word and does NOT have a rich devotional life!
Listen to the words of sainted seminary professor August Pieper on the matter: “The pastor [more than
anyone else] needs God’s Word...more than anyone, he needs daily strengthening through doctrine, comfort,
power, edification, encouragement and warning, so that his light is not extinguished in the darkness, so that he
does not preach to others and himself be rejected.”
Sound advice! Know who you are, dear brother! You are a sinful man, an imperfect man - who
nonetheless has been chosen by God to be a member of his kingdom through the gospel, chosen through the
same gospel to be an heir of eternal life, and chosen by grace to serve his kingdom here at St. John’s Lutheran
Church, to lead souls to the cross - to the same cross to which you must flee for forgiveness. Know who you
are, and then you will know what you need most as a pastor. You need God’s Word in your life. And mark my
words, your rich devotional life will make its way into your ministry tasks, and will benefit and edify the
churches who have called you to be their shepherd under Christ.

II. You are an instrument of grace

So, who is the pastor? He is God’s chosen one by grace, and here chosen to serve two congregations of
souls, charged with a very specific task – administering the Word and sacraments to the joy and edifying of
Christ’s holy people. The second question that we must consider is equally important. What does the pastor
do? And when I ask that question, I’m not asking what individual tasks he is responsible for. The sense of the
question is, what is the scope of his influence? What is the role to which he has been assigned by our God?
Because a proper understanding of what the pastor does, what his role is, can safeguard both the pastor and the
congregation from despair and hopelessness.
Let’s return once again to the verse at the center of our meditation for the answer: “But the Lord said to
Ananias, “Go! This man is my chosen instrument to carry my name before the Gentiles and their kings and
before the people of Israel.”
“My chosen INSTRUMENT” That’s what the pastor’s role is...to be an instrument. Literally a σκευος,
a jar, or a piece of pottery. Think of it like this: a person is walking alone in the desert, no water in sight, the
moments of life slipping away, when all of a sudden, they miraculously come upon two big jars. One is
beautifully ornate, with gold paint and mosaics on the outside, a beautiful piece of artwork, one that could be
showcased in a museum – unfortunately, the jar is empty. The second jar is plain, no gold paint or mosaic art,
but on the inside, it’s full of life-refreshing water. Which one is more valuable to the thirsty desert wanderer?
The ornate jar is worthless because it’s just pretty to look at. The plain jar is the one that is truly useful, because
its contents in accomplish refreshment for preservation of life.
At times, the young pastor has a tendency to put far too much effort into looking pretty on the outside,
when all God asks him to do is be a jar, a bearer of living water. At times, the young pastor forgets that there is
only one means through which our Lord bestows life everlasting, and it isn’t the his charisma, his energy, his
enthusiasm, his ideas, his creativeness, his eloquence, or any other outward expressions of the pastor’s faith and
life. Those things are certainly blessings of the Spirit to be used for ministry. But only the living water of the
gospel gives life. Only the living water of the gospel gladdens the heart. Only the living water of the gospel
can enliven churches and congregations and empower them for continued service in the kingdom by offering
lasting satisfaction to the thirsty soul.
Remember, dear brother, what it is that God has asked you to do. He doesn’t ask you to BE the living
water. He asks you to be the instrument, the vessel, the jar which carries the good news that gives life to
mankind. He has not asked you to be the means of grace. He has asked you to the delivery man, not the
package – the trumpet, not the tune, a man chosen to sound the melodic tune of grace which converts souls to
Christ and preserves faith to eternity. Find contentment as the instrument. For if you seek to accomplish
through external gifts what can only be accomplished through the means of grace, you will find yourself
wallowing in despair and dissatisfied with God and his Word. Remember what it is you are to do. Be the jar!
Carry the life-giving water of the gospel to these precious thirsty souls, for that is what God has asked you to
do.
Members of St. John’s Lutheran Church, let him be that vessel. Do not ask him to be responsible for
what God has not assigned as his responsibility. It is not up to this man to produce a certain percentage of
growth in this congregation. It is not up to this man to enliven every single member with vigor and energy so
that there are no more inactive members, and so that everyone is excited about ministry and excited about their
church. All of those things are accomplished by the Holy Spirit when members are regular recipients of Word
and sacrament. Let him be the vessel. Let him be the plain jar. Have expectations of him that conform to
God’s will and his divine call. He isn’t the tune, he’s the trumpet! Let him be that trumpet. Let him do what
the Lord has called him to do, to lead you to the cross week in and week out. And be assured, both candidate
and congregation, that in such an arrangement, the Lord will bless your ministry together and your partnership
in the gospel.
Who is the pastor and what does he do? Two questions that every pastor should consider often in their
ministry! Remember often, dear brother, the words of Luke which answer both of those questions
unequivocally, you are God’s chosen instrument! You were chosen by grace to be an instrument of grace to the
congregations to which you have been assigned. Find contentment in that calling, find contentment in your role
as the chosen instrument, and be faithful to it – all to the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.