Our hymn devotion for this week is Hymn 897 - Lord Jesus, You Have Come.
The eighth Sunday after Pentecost, Year B, focuses our attention on God’s gospel servants being sent out to preach the gospel. This theme is the central, beating heart of the Christian church. We are called to proclaim the gospel! And what a wonderful opportunity that is, to share with others the good news that we are forgiven and eternal life is ours through faith in Christ Jesus!
But the task of spreading the gospel message isn’t an easy one. Jesus has told us that the world will hate us and our message, just as it hated him. Christians must work against three bitter rivals of the gospel message: the devil, the world, and the sinful flesh of those hearing our gospel message. Proclaiming the gospel can get so very discouraging.
There’s also fear involved. Fear of rejection, ridicule, or even fear of being ignored are all strong factors that fight against the gospel ministry. “How will they react when I tell them?” “Will I lose a friend or an opportunity if I tell them about Jesus now?” “I’ve told them this before, how much is too much? When do I wait, and when do I speak?” These are all questions any Christian trying to proclaim the gospel has struggled with.
In response to all these enemies, doubts, and fears, we have an amazing answer from our God in heaven: we have been sent with God’s own authority! Jesus clearly tells us that he is the one sending us out and he will be with us. He also promises to send his Holy Spirit to guide us and give us the words to say when the time is right.
Our hymn for this week is a great encouragement to us in this gospel ministry. It focuses our attention on how Jesus came first, he preached the gospel first, and as the Word of God made flesh for us, he is ultimately the one responsible for the gospel message. He gives us these precious words of life and gives us the authority and the opportunity to go out and proclaim that gospel message to others.
Verse 1:
Lord Jesus, you have come a teacher sent from heaven, and by both word and deed, God’s truth to us have given. You wisely have ordained the holy ministry that we, your flock, may know the truth that sets us free.
Those familiar with the G.I. Joe action figures might also know a tagline from the G.I. Joe TV show: “Knowing is half the battle!” Sun Tzu also reflected this in his well-known work “The Art of War” with the phrase: "if you know yourself and your enemy, then you need not fear the outcome of a thousand battles.” For a soldier or a general to be effective, they must know their own strengths and weaknesses and the strengths and weaknesses of their enemies. In our task as Christians, we must also know our own strengths and weaknesses and the strengths and weaknesses of our enemies. Our greatest strength is the knowledge that our fight is already won! Our enemy has already been defeated! We have been set free from the bondage of sin and given eternal life! Never forget this amazing truth that sets us free. With this knowledge, we go out and preach the gospel.
Verse 2: O blessèd ministry of reconciliation, that shows the way to God and brings to us salvation! Lord, by your gospel pure you bless and keep your fold, you call, enlighten, keep, you comfort and uphold.
A well-known aphorism is “you can’t pour from an empty cup.” By this, people mean that it’s important to make sure that your own needs are taken care of before you see to the needs of others. With the recent rise of mental health and wellness, people are learning that they can’t always help unless they’ve been helped first. To put this into Christian terms, a person can’t preach the gospel until they’ve been preached to first. Through the preaching of the gospel, God’s servants are brought to God and washed in his forgiveness and redemption. This verse lists the many different ways God’s people are filled up and encouraged by the gospel! The gospel calls, enlightens, keeps, comforts, and upholds Christians. If we want to go out and preach the gospel, we need to be fed on the gospel first.
Verse 3:
Preserve this ministry while harvest days are keeping; and since the fields are ripe and hands are few for reaping; send workers forth, O Lord, the sheaves to gather in, that not a soul be lost which you have come to win.
Jesus’ words about the harvest and the workers are very familiar to us these days. As churches and schools across America face pastor and teacher shortages, many are left scratching their heads and wondering what can we do if we don’t have called gospel ministers to go out and proclaim the gospel. The answer is found right here in this verse, hiding in plain sight. We pray that God would preserve his ministry! God has promised that his word will go out and will not return to him empty. So, we take him at his word and we trust that he will continue to do exactly that. But at the same time, we also recognize that God has placed us in unique situations where we, not a pastor or a teacher, can tell someone about Jesus. Through prayer and trust, we can all go out and gather the sheaves from Jesus’ harvest field, so that no one is lost.
Verse 4:
The servants you have called and to your Church are giving, preserve in doctrine pure and holiness of living. Your Spirit fill their hearts and charge their words with pow’r; what they should boldly speak, O give them in that hour!
The prophet Zechariah has a well-known phrase that is quoted in the gospels: Strike the shepherd and the flock will scatter. Pastors and teachers make excellent targets for the devil’s evil attacks. He knows that if he can get a leader in the church to fall, the souls they are responsible for will likely follow. This is why God’s people need to keep their pastors and teachers in their prayers! But again, there is an active role they can play in this as well. Through words of encouragement like cards, posts on social media, even kind comments in the narthex on Sunday morning, God’s people can fill their pastors and teachers with those words of power that the Savior has given us. May we all remember to keep our pastors and teachers in our thoughts and prayers, and to encourage them and work with them in the gospel ministry to which all of us have been called.
Verse 5:
Bring those into your fold who still to you are strangers; guard those who are within against offense and dangers. Press onward with your Word till pastor and his fold through faith in you, O Christ, your glory shall behold.
One of the best pictures to describe a church is used by Jesus in the gospels: we are a sheep pen! We have been called out of the dangers of the world around us and brought into safety together as a church. We have a Good Shepherd who looks out for us, and undershepherds who assist in the gospel ministry. But just because we’re in the sheep pen doesn’t mean we’re free from danger. People can wander off. Predators can get in. The flock can shrink as people go home to heaven. That’s why the flock needs to be looking for strangers on the outside of the sheep pen! That’s why they need to guard and protect against false doctrine! How is the flock able to do this? Through the preaching of the Word! When we’re fed on the Word we will naturally want to share that word with others. And when we’re fed on the Word, we know how to sense dangers and stay away from them! May Jesus, the Good Shepherd, keep us protected and fed until we’re safely home in heaven with him.
The gospel ministry is a team effort. Just like a body can’t be all eyes or ears or hands, so too, a church can’t be only the pastors and teachers preaching the gospel. God has sent us all out with the authority of Jesus! And each of us will have opportunities to preach the gospel at the proper place and time. Think of how many people your pastor might interact with within a week. A couple dozen? A hundred? Several hundred? Now think of how many people everyone sitting in church on Sunday morning interacts with within one week. Thousands! There are so many opportunities for us to extend the gospel ministry by telling someone we know about Jesus. May Jesus give us the strength and the knowledge to choose the proper time and place to tell someone about him. And may he encourage us and keep us strong in the faith during our time on this earth, until he brings us at last to the joys of heaven. Amen.