Sermon for Trinity Lutheran School 70th
anniversary, May 5, 2019
“The fear of the
LORD is the beginning of wisdom. All who
do his precepts have good understanding.”
(Psalm 111:10, EHV) Amen.
Dear friends in Christ Jesus,
I don’t ordinarily like to talk about myself in a sermon
except to acknowledge that I am a great sinner who thankfully has an even
greater Savior. However, this afternoon,
I will say that I think I am the most uniquely qualified person available to
speak to you on this anniversary. I
won’t pretend I am the best qualified, for certainly there are other pastors who
could speak more eloquently and with a greater grasp of history. Rather, I am uniquely qualified for several
reasons: my mother graduated from Trinity Lutheran School, as did I and my
siblings and many cousins, two of my daughters also graduated from Trinity, and
one of my grandsons has played basketball in the gymnasium here the last two
years, albeit, for an opposing team.
Thus, we have four generations with some connection to Trinity Lutheran School.
I attended classes here in the basement of the old church,
in the white, two-room school house, in the present school when it was brand
new, and I was confirmed right up here more years ago than I care to admit out
loud. But, more uniquely yet, I am
pretty confident that I am the only past member of Trinity Lutheran’s school
board who later became a pastor, so you might say I have a history, here, and
connections to this school that are somewhat unique.
Having said all of this, however, I am nothing apart from
Christ Jesus, and the same is true of education; separated from Christ, every other
form of education is only a mirage, or a chimera. Education that does not center on Christ
Jesus may prepare one for life in this world, but it does nothing to address
our greatest need which is the need to reconcile the sinner with our Creator so
that our lives in this world are not the sum of our existence. The wisest man who ever lived wrote, "The fear of
the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is
understanding.” (Proverbs 9:10 NIV 84)
A former president of our little Evangelical Lutheran Synod,
Pastor George Orvick (who since last fall is now sainted and a member of the
Church Triumphant), once wrote,
“An anniversary can be dangerous you
know. Yes, it could lead us to be
self-satisfied that we have reached such a milestone. The Bible says, ‘When you eat and are satisfied, be careful that you do not forget the
LORD.’ (Deuteronomy
6:11-12 NIV 84) Rather,
ask yourselves, ‘What can we do to show our faith and gratitude? How can we serve the gracious Lord in the
next [75] years?’”
Pastor
Orvick then directed his listeners to the passage I have chosen for our sermon
text today:
1
Corinthians 15:55-58 "Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?" 56 The sting of death is sin, and
the power of sin is the law. 57
But thanks be to God!
He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 58 Therefore,
my dear brothers, stand firm. Let
nothing move you. Always give yourselves
fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is
not in vain. (NIV
1984)
After hearing that text, the thought may have occurred to
you—who really wants to celebrate an anniversary with talk about death? Actually, no one. Yet, the reason we are here celebrating the
75th anniversary of Trinity Lutheran School is because of the
victory over death that is ours through the blessing of hearing the Word of God
and the faith that is given to us through Word and Sacrament. In the Easter season of the Church year, we
are reminded again of all that Jesus did so that you and I are not subject to
the endless death of hell, how Jesus lived for us a perfectly holy life in full
obedience to His Father’s will, sacrificing His own innocent life to pay for
our debt of sin. Because of Jesus, sin
and death didn’t win, and our victorious Savior rose from the grave on Easter
morning, so that you and I can know without a doubt that forgiveness of all
sins is ours, and along with that forgiveness is life and salvation for all who
believe.
Now, someone might ask, “Can’t people come to faith without
a Christ centered education?” And of
course, the answer is yes, and many have.
Yet, how great a blessing it is to have an education in which one’s
faith in Christ is not constantly under attack by ideas that are, at best, only
humanly derived. Our Lord Jesus
emphatically declared, "Let the
little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven
belongs to such as these." (Matthew
19:14 NIV 84)
There is much we could talk about, this afternoon, but the
importance of Christian education, at every level, can never be emphasized too
much, and wherever a Christ-centered school is not available, parents must
understand the intense, extra effort they will have to expend to bring their
children up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, “for our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the
rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and
against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” (Ephesians 6:12 NIV 84)
The theme chosen for your school year, and for this service,
is Building
our lives on Christ for 75 years. From
the words of our sermon text, let me add this sermon theme: Your labor in Christ
builds lives. Yes, faith and
salvation are always, and only, gifts of the Holy Spirit, but the Holy Spirit
always works through means. God brings
people to faith in Christ by the means of hearing the Good News of all that
Jesus has done for us. He adopts us into
His kingdom of grace through the water and Word of Baptism. Christ strengthens us and assures us of our
forgiveness by putting into our mouths His own, real, sacrificed, human body
and blood—in, with, and under the bread and wine of the Lord’s Supper, and the
Holy Spirit works to share faith and salvation through the joint efforts of
believers such as yourselves here at Trinity Lutheran Church and School.
For 75 years, the efforts of generations of believers have
blessed people such as myself and my children, for as I said, of myself I was
nothing, but through faith in Christ, by God’s gracious gift, and much of that
given to me through this school and the efforts of this congregation, I have
the sure hope of life everlasting in our Savior’s presence in heaven. As St. Paul wrote, “Thanks be to God! He gives us
the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
God, by His grace, has given us the victory over sin,
death, and Satan through the sacrifice of His only-begotten Son. What great joy is ours to know that, and to
know that through faith in Christ, God has made us His own dear children, who
have an inheritance of glory waiting for us in heaven. But, how could we know that if no one told
us? Furthermore, what would happen to us
if we weren’t continually defended and supported by our loving God? That is why God uses means to bring us to
faith and to keep us in His kingdom. It
is through congregations of believers like Trinity that God works to share His
saving Word with sinners. Here on earth,
we become the hands and the voice of God.
We don’t preach ourselves, but Christ crucified for all.
Trinity Lutheran school has been caring for the souls of
children for seventy-five years. We dare
not take that lightly. For my family, it
means generations that have been rescued from the death and darkness of
unbelief. What it has been for my family
is also true of so many more, and that will continue; it must continue!
I have often told my daughters that I want to meet their great,
great-grandchildren in heaven. The only
way that is possible is if their children, and every generation in between, are
taught about Jesus so that the Holy Spirit is given the chance to bring them
into Christ’s kingdom. This is why Moses
taught the children of Israel: “Fix these
words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and
bind them on your foreheads. Teach them
to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk
along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.” (Deuteronomy 11:18-21 NIV 84) We dare not let up in our service for even a
moment, for if even one generation loses the message of salvation, it is lost
to that family going forward, maybe forever.
Dear friends, only the Word of God can save. All the education in the world is useless if
it doesn’t help us know Jesus. All other
religions and philosophies lead ultimately to destruction. You heard Jesus’ counsel in the Gospel lesson
this afternoon: "Therefore everyone
who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man
who built his house on the rock. The
rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that
house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock.” (Matthew 7:24-27 NIV 84) Keep on trusting in the Rock that is Jesus
Christ, for Your labor in Christ builds lives.
Our children, and those of your friends and neighbors, are
continually buffeted by the storms and trials of life. As long as this world will last, the devil will
be seeking to devour God’s children by spreading lies and half-truths. What will protect them if we don’t keep
teaching all that the Lord God has given us?
St. Paul tells us, “Therefore, my
dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing
move you. Always give yourselves fully to
the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in
vain.” In fact, for seventy-five
years here at Trinity Lutheran School, Your
labor in Christ has been building lives.
As we look into the future, I know that sometimes, it will
seem like an impossible task lies before you, but we need to remember who gives
us the strength and who provides us with the abilities and blessings to keep
this important ministry thriving. St.
Paul wrote, as you also heard a bit earlier:
“But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have
been brought near through the blood of Christ.
For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed
the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility…For through him we both have access
to the Father by one Spirit.
Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow
citizens with God's people and members of God's household, built on the
foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief
cornerstone.…And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling
in which God lives by his Spirit.” (Ephesians 2:13-22 NIV 84)
Thanks
be to God, and to all the members, parents, and grandparents who for
seventy-five years have labored and sacrificed to make this school a place to
be built up in Jesus. Your labor in Christ has built many lives.
Dear friends, hold on to the blessings you have been given
through these decades of building up little dwelling places of our God. Take heart in all the Lord Jesus has promised
you: that your sins are forgiven, that you are counted holy before God through
faith in Jesus, and that He will be with you always, even to the end of the
age—the Father and the Son dwelling together with you. (John 14:23)
As I wrote this sermon, I didn’t have any idea how many
lives have been touched by Christ through the work of Trinity Lutheran School,
but I’m sure it is thousands, and many more when you consider the sons and
daughters of this congregation in whom Jesus has worked the faith to continue
to carry His message as parents teach their children, and especially, as pastors
and teachers in other places and other congregations. I don’t know all their names, so I’ll let
someone else list them. But, I am one,
as is our daughter, Amanda, who has been a WELS school teacher teaching Christ
Jesus to little ones in the 2nd grade at Living Hope Lutheran School
in Shakopee for the past fourteen years.
(I guess that means I am getting old.)
As I said before, and all of you who know me know so well, of
myself I am nothing. Apart from Jesus, I
would be destined to an eternity of suffering and pain. Praise God, Your labor in Christ builds lives.
Praise God, He has been building lives at Trinity Lutheran School for
seventy-five years, including mine, for it is here that I learned about
Jesus. May the Lord continue to bless
this ministry for all the generations of children yet to come. Amen.
“Now to him who is able to keep you from
stumbling and to present you faultless in the presence of his glory with great
joy, to the only God, our Savior, be glory, majesty, power, and authority
through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all time, now, and to all eternity. Amen.” (Jude
24–25, EHV)
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