WEBVTT 00:00.400 --> 00:04.200 Grace, mercy and peace to you from God, our Father and from our Lord 00:04.200 --> 00:06.000 and Savior Jesus Christ. 00:06.100 --> 00:06.800 Amen. 00:09.400 --> 00:13.000 The text for the sermon this morning for this Opening Service of the 00:13.000 --> 00:17.900 Seminary year is the reading from First Thessalonians chapter 2 00:18.300 --> 00:20.500 especially verses 7 and 8. 00:21.500 --> 00:24.100 Here, Paul writes to the congregation 00:24.100 --> 00:30.900 he had planted saying, we were gentle among you like a nursing mother 00:30.900 --> 00:32.900 taking care of her own children. 00:33.500 --> 00:38.200 So being affectionately desirous of you, we were ready to share with 00:38.200 --> 00:38.600 you 00:38.600 --> 00:44.400 not only the gospel of God, but also our own selves because you had 00:44.400 --> 00:46.800 become very dear to us. 00:47.700 --> 00:48.800 This is our text. 00:50.800 --> 00:55.400 Sharing the gospel, sharing our lives. 00:57.500 --> 00:59.600 I was sitting in a living room 00:59.700 --> 01:03.000 this last summer living room of an older couple and they were 01:03.000 --> 01:07.000 expressing sadness and frustration about their pastor. 01:08.200 --> 01:10.700 They appreciate their Pastor, he preaches 01:10.900 --> 01:12.400 clear sermons, rich 01:12.400 --> 01:15.000 in the gospel. He teaches faithfully 01:15.000 --> 01:20.600 and well. He's humble and a good man, but he just doesn't get out 01:20.700 --> 01:25.000 they said. He doesn't spend time with people in the congregation or 01:25.100 --> 01:26.200 people in the community. 01:26.200 --> 01:29.800 He doesn't seem to know them very well or express care for them. 01:29.900 --> 01:33.400 He's kind of invisible hard to reach. 01:34.100 --> 01:37.600 He's pretty much moved his office away from the church into his own 01:37.600 --> 01:38.200 home. 01:38.600 --> 01:42.500 They said we wonder whether he's the right fit here or whether he 01:42.500 --> 01:43.900 really wants to be here. 01:44.000 --> 01:47.100 Maybe he'd be better off with a fresh start, somewhere else. 01:48.600 --> 01:53.500 It was sad for me to hear .And when I hear people say critical things 01:53.500 --> 01:58.300 about their past are I almost always try to say something encouraging 01:58.500 --> 02:00.400 and put the best construction on things 02:00.400 --> 02:06.700 because I know how hard it is to be a pastor. And I know that the devil 02:07.000 --> 02:12.300 loves to harm pastors and congregations by sowing discontent 02:12.300 --> 02:18.600 and by feeding criticizing chatter, we are not ignorant of his 02:18.600 --> 02:19.400 designs. 02:21.100 --> 02:26.100 But when you hear this kind of thing, you can also imagine some devils 02:26.200 --> 02:30.800 sitting around and laughing to one another. One saying 02:30.800 --> 02:35.500 yeah, you remember just a few years back when it was a home run 02:35.500 --> 02:40.100 if we could get a pastor to be chained to his office desk, busy with 02:40.100 --> 02:44.200 paperwork and graphic designs for the bulletin and all caught up in 02:44.200 --> 02:46.300 online arguments on his computer. 02:46.500 --> 02:47.500 We'd get him thinking 02:47.500 --> 02:51.800 he had a good understanding of his congregation by reading some books on 02:51.800 --> 02:56.600 generational characteristics. We get him all riled up and occupied and 02:56.600 --> 02:59.700 reading online news stories about culture wars. 03:00.000 --> 03:04.200 The Pastor who never leaves the church, that was the gold standard but 03:04.200 --> 03:06.800 these days it's even better. 03:06.800 --> 03:08.000 The devil's cackle. 03:08.400 --> 03:13.800 We convince pastors to just phone it in not even leave home. 03:14.200 --> 03:18.200 They don't seek the sheep and even when the sheep come seeking them, 03:18.600 --> 03:20.000 they aren't in the office. 03:20.300 --> 03:21.600 It's brilliant. 03:23.900 --> 03:29.300 Brothers and Sisters in Christ, and especially you faculty and 03:29.300 --> 03:36.700 students of Concordia Seminary. In this coming year, I challenge you 03:37.400 --> 03:43.400 to read Paul's first epistle to the Thessalonians, read it multiple 03:43.400 --> 03:44.300 times. 03:45.800 --> 03:48.600 Takes 10 or 15 minutes, I didn't time it. 03:48.600 --> 03:53.900 Google says it takes 12 minutes to read. Read it every month or read 03:53.900 --> 03:57.900 it at home every Sunday, evening, or read it every Monday morning 03:57.900 --> 04:01.900 when you, first come onto campus. When your formation lab groups, are 04:01.900 --> 04:06.100 talking about what text to read and study together, choose first 04:06.100 --> 04:07.100 Thessalonians. 04:08.300 --> 04:10.600 It's one of the earliest of Paul's letters. 04:11.500 --> 04:16.100 He writes it to the Christians at Thessalonica to men and women and 04:16.100 --> 04:21.500 children whom he himself had evangelized and taught about Jesus. 04:23.400 --> 04:27.400 He had visited there on his second missionary journey, but then had to 04:27.400 --> 04:33.400 depart. And this letter is such a beautiful expression of a pastor's 04:33.400 --> 04:37.500 deep care and connection affection, and love 04:38.100 --> 04:42.400 for those whom God has placed in his life and in his care. 04:43.000 --> 04:48.000 First Thessalonians keeps referring to the life that Paul lived in 04:48.000 --> 04:52.300 their midst, he lived with them and among them. 04:53.000 --> 04:57.800 They knew him and he knew them in that time, though 04:57.800 --> 05:01.100 it was not a long time that he spent there with them, but in that 05:01.100 --> 05:06.800 time, they became precious to him, he cared for them. 05:06.800 --> 05:12.800 He says, like a mother taking care of her own children and like a 05:12.800 --> 05:14.200 father with his children. 05:14.200 --> 05:19.300 Paul writes, he had exhorted each one of them and encouraged each one 05:19.300 --> 05:24.900 of them. Paul, and the other Apostles, shared their lives, their very 05:24.900 --> 05:29.600 selves with those who are entrusted to their care. 05:31.100 --> 05:35.000 Being affectionately desirous of you Paul writes, we were ready to 05:35.000 --> 05:36.000 share with you 05:36.000 --> 05:43.200 not only the gospel of God but also our very selves because you had 05:43.200 --> 05:45.600 become very dear to us. 05:47.300 --> 05:53.900 They had become very dear to Paul. This word dear in this verse is the 05:53.900 --> 05:56.500 Greek word Agape toss. 05:56.900 --> 05:59.800 It could be translated beloved. You 06:00.000 --> 06:03.200 probably heard before that the Greek word for love is agape. 06:03.200 --> 06:07.200 This is the adjective form of that word Agape toss. 06:07.300 --> 06:09.400 Beloved, dear. 06:11.500 --> 06:17.100 These people, these real men and women and children, some of them 06:17.500 --> 06:21.500 tall, some of the medium sized, some of them short, some of them 06:21.500 --> 06:24.700 richer or poorer, some pretty smart, not some 06:24.700 --> 06:29.900 not so much some easy to talk to some awkward and reserve some 06:29.900 --> 06:35.200 wonderfully, kind some a bit a pain in the rear these people they had 06:35.200 --> 06:36.800 become too Paul. 06:37.800 --> 06:38.900 Beloved. 06:40.100 --> 06:46.000 This term Beloved, the same word is sprinkled throughout Paul's 06:46.000 --> 06:46.700 Epistles. 06:47.400 --> 06:48.600 And still it's easy 06:48.600 --> 06:49.600 not to notice that 06:49.600 --> 06:52.600 there. It's easy for us to just read, right over that term 06:52.600 --> 06:57.100 like it's just throw away language, or kind of fluff, but it's all 06:57.100 --> 07:01.900 over the place. And it's not just the Thessalonians who our dear and 07:01.900 --> 07:05.100 beloved to Paul, listen, to how he speaks in his letters. 07:05.100 --> 07:08.000 He calls the Romans beloved. He calls the Corinthians 07:08.000 --> 07:14.400 my beloved. He calls the Philippians my beloved. He refers to his spiritual son 07:14.400 --> 07:17.100 Timothy as my beloved. For Paul 07:17.100 --> 07:19.900 Tychus is beloved. Luke is beloved. 07:19.900 --> 07:23.400 Philemon is beloved. Onesimus is beloved. 07:23.500 --> 07:25.600 And it's not just Paul who speaks this way 07:25.600 --> 07:27.800 it's Peter too. Beloved 07:27.800 --> 07:30.700 I urge you. Beloved, don't be surprised. 07:30.800 --> 07:32.600 It's the same in John's letters. 07:32.800 --> 07:35.800 Beloved, I am writing to you. Beloved 07:35.800 --> 07:38.600 we are God's children. Beloved if God 07:38.600 --> 07:42.100 so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 07:42.100 --> 07:43.800 It's the same with James. 07:43.800 --> 07:46.100 Don't be deceived beloved. 07:47.400 --> 07:48.800 My beloved Brothers 07:49.200 --> 07:51.400 listen. And Jude 07:51.400 --> 07:56.100 also, you must remember, beloved, you are being built up in the most 07:56.100 --> 08:01.800 Holy Faith beloved. And even the writer to the Hebrews perhaps Paul, 08:01.800 --> 08:02.400 or whoever 08:02.400 --> 08:07.200 he may be those whom, he shared the gospel with had become dear to him. 08:07.800 --> 08:09.100 In your case 08:09.100 --> 08:14.400 beloved, we feel sure of better things, things that belong to 08:14.400 --> 08:19.800 Salvation, he writes. All the apostles who wrote New Testament, 08:19.800 --> 08:24.000 letters speak in this way to their hearers. 08:24.800 --> 08:27.100 It is the apostolic posture. 08:28.200 --> 08:34.700 It is the Pastoral posture. It is the gift of God for them and for 08:34.700 --> 08:35.200 you. 08:36.400 --> 08:41.200 That in there calling to bring the gospel and share the gospel with 08:41.200 --> 08:41.600 others. 08:41.600 --> 08:47.000 They are also called to share their very selves, to share their lives. 08:47.400 --> 08:53.700 And in such self-giving in such sharing of life to grow in sincere, 08:53.700 --> 08:59.600 love and affection for one another. This word share. 09:00.300 --> 09:05.700 Sharing the gospel, sharing our lives, sharing our own selves Paul 09:05.700 --> 09:10.600 says, it's a verb that refers to sharing in the sense of giving. 09:11.300 --> 09:13.500 It's the word that John, the Baptist uses 09:13.500 --> 09:18.100 when he exhorts repentant sinners, let him who has two tunics, share 09:18.100 --> 09:22.400 with him who has none and let him who has food do the same. 09:23.400 --> 09:27.900 It's the word that Paul uses in Ephesians 4 when he writes anyone who 09:27.900 --> 09:32.000 has been stealing must steal no longer, but let him work doing 09:32.000 --> 09:37.200 something useful in order that he may have something to share with 09:37.200 --> 09:41.900 those in need. Sharing in the sense of giving. 09:43.300 --> 09:44.300 What does it mean 09:44.300 --> 09:49.200 then when Paul says that he was eager to share, not only the gospel, 09:49.900 --> 09:52.500 but also his own self. 09:54.000 --> 09:58.700 This word for self here is a rich full word. 09:58.700 --> 10:02.300 It's the word that gives us the term psychology, the study of the 10:02.300 --> 10:07.400 mind, the study of the emotions, the study of the innermost self. In 10:07.400 --> 10:08.300 the New Testament 10:08.300 --> 10:12.300 however, even innermost self doesn't capture the fullness of this 10:12.300 --> 10:12.900 term. 10:13.100 --> 10:16.600 It can refer to a person's whole being their whole life. 10:17.300 --> 10:20.500 Murderous Herod sought to kill baby Jesus. 10:20.500 --> 10:23.500 It says he sought his self 10:23.500 --> 10:28.900 his life, his Su K. his psyche, same word. Jesus taught 10:28.900 --> 10:35.000 Don't be anxious about yourself about your life, what you will eat, 10:35.400 --> 10:36.400 what you will wear. 10:39.100 --> 10:41.400 God will clothe you. God will feed you 10:41.500 --> 10:48.600 Jesus says. Jesus also teaches that whoever finds his self his life 10:48.800 --> 10:55.500 will lose it but whoever loses his self his life for Jesus sake, will 10:55.500 --> 10:56.200 find it. 10:57.700 --> 11:03.600 Sharing the gospel, sharing ourselves, our lives, when we come across 11:03.600 --> 11:08.000 this word used, in this sense, it reminds me of Luther's morning, and 11:08.000 --> 11:11.600 evening prayers, this word for self or life. 11:11.700 --> 11:15.600 Where Luther teaches us to pray for into your hands 11:15.600 --> 11:20.600 I commend myself my body and soul and all things. 11:21.700 --> 11:25.600 Paul in this epistle shows himself to be eager to share 11:25.600 --> 11:31.000 not only the gospel of God, but himself, his body and soul, and all 11:31.000 --> 11:33.400 things with the Thessalonians. 11:34.800 --> 11:41.800 And in this motherly devotion and self-giving in this fatherly 11:42.000 --> 11:47.800 devotion and self giving Paul bore further witness to the precious 11:47.800 --> 11:51.300 gospel that he had carried into their midst. 11:52.600 --> 11:59.800 The good news to sinners that God has given of himself 12:00.400 --> 12:03.500 so deeply. For God 12:03.500 --> 12:09.600 so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in 12:09.600 --> 12:10.900 Him, shall not perish 12:10.900 --> 12:12.200 but have eternal life. 12:12.200 --> 12:17.400 If God is for us, who can be against us, he who did not spare his own 12:17.400 --> 12:20.500 son, but gave him up for us all. 12:20.500 --> 12:23.900 How will he not also along with him freely 12:23.900 --> 12:26.200 give us all things. 12:27.000 --> 12:32.600 The Son of man came not to serve not to be served but to serve and to 12:32.600 --> 12:35.000 give His self to give His life, 12:35.000 --> 12:41.200 His suke. Jesus says, As a ransom for many, I am the Good Shepherd, 12:41.600 --> 12:47.100 the Good Shepherd gives over his self, his life for the Sheep. 12:47.400 --> 12:54.000 Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down give over his self 12:54.000 --> 12:56.600 his life for his friends, Jesus 12:56.800 --> 12:57.000 says. 12:58.500 --> 13:05.400 By this, we know love John writes that Jesus gave over his self his 13:05.400 --> 13:08.700 life for us. And John continues 13:08.700 --> 13:13.000 we ought to give ourselves our lives for the brothers. 13:14.000 --> 13:17.300 Paul writes, I have been crucified with Christ the life 13:17.300 --> 13:21.700 I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved 13:21.700 --> 13:26.500 me and gave himself for me. And Paul writes Christ 13:26.500 --> 13:32.400 loved the church like a husband his bride and gave himself for her. 13:33.100 --> 13:36.600 Our list of Bible passages could go on and on. 13:37.900 --> 13:39.100 This is the gospel. 13:40.500 --> 13:42.500 The testimony that God 13:42.900 --> 13:51.400 so loved us that he gave us of himself and gave us himself. That the 13:51.400 --> 13:54.700 Father gave his only Son. That Jesus Christ, 13:54.700 --> 13:59.900 our great God and savior gave himself for us. 14:00.400 --> 14:03.100 Gave himself even to death on a cross 14:03.600 --> 14:10.100 to redeem us to forgive us to purify a people belonging to himself 14:10.300 --> 14:13.800 a people zealous for good works. 14:16.700 --> 14:18.300 A people called to love. 14:19.400 --> 14:23.900 A people called to share their selves, their lives with one another. 14:25.000 --> 14:27.700 What could be more natural than that 14:27.700 --> 14:33.800 we would live in the same self-giving love as we proclaim, the gospel 14:33.800 --> 14:39.900 of Christ self giving love? What stands in the way and prevents us from 14:39.900 --> 14:41.800 living such lives of beauty 14:41.800 --> 14:42.800 and self-giving? 14:42.800 --> 14:50.400 Well, our sin stands in the way our selfishness, our love of life in 14:50.400 --> 14:55.100 this world, our love of our self in this world that the new Testament 14:55.100 --> 14:56.400 warns us against. 14:56.900 --> 14:59.800 We begin to think that we have to find ourselves. 15:00.100 --> 15:02.100 Build and attain our self 15:02.100 --> 15:03.600 our life here. 15:04.700 --> 15:09.700 We are curved in on our self. And then there's the devil who is very 15:09.700 --> 15:10.200 real. 15:10.900 --> 15:14.100 There's nothing he loves better than to prevent the giving of the 15:14.100 --> 15:18.800 gospel and to disrupt the self-giving of those who bear 15:18.800 --> 15:24.200 the gospel. He loves to slither in between us to keep us from one 15:24.200 --> 15:27.300 another to isolate us from one another. 15:28.400 --> 15:32.400 In fact just a few verses beyond our reading from First Thessalonians 15:32.400 --> 15:34.700 chapter 2 ahead in verse 18. 15:35.000 --> 15:39.300 Paul actually blames the devil for keeping him from returning to be 15:39.300 --> 15:40.500 with the Thessalonians. 15:40.500 --> 15:42.800 He says we wanted to come to you. 15:43.100 --> 15:46.900 I Paul again and again but Satan hindered us. 15:48.700 --> 15:54.600 Our sinful selfish hearts our malicious enemy, the devil, these are 15:54.600 --> 15:56.500 powerful forces. 15:58.200 --> 16:02.200 But they cannot match the warmth of Christ's mercy. 16:02.900 --> 16:08.400 They cannot match the power of Christ gracious, reign, and life-giving 16:08.400 --> 16:09.300 spirit. 16:09.700 --> 16:12.300 The Lord Jesus has triumphed. 16:13.100 --> 16:17.200 He has triumphed in his self, giving love in his self giving death in 16:17.200 --> 16:17.800 his self 16:17.800 --> 16:22.800 giving Resurrection. He has claimed you as his own in your baptisms. 16:23.100 --> 16:27.700 He has forgiven you all your sins, sprinkling you with His blood and 16:28.000 --> 16:32.900 clothing you in his righteousness. He has raised you up to new life, 16:32.900 --> 16:36.700 preparing in advance, good works that you might walk in them. 16:36.900 --> 16:43.500 He has called you to find yourself to find your life by losing it, or 16:43.500 --> 16:48.900 rather, by giving it away by sharing your very selves with others. 16:50.200 --> 16:56.700 But all that you give away, he will more than repay from his fullness, 16:57.300 --> 17:00.900 from his Abundant Life, from His abundant love. 17:01.900 --> 17:07.300 He will richly and freely pour this out on you again and again through 17:07.300 --> 17:13.599 this life and he will never stop. Jesus will never stop sharing with 17:13.599 --> 17:13.800 you 17:13.800 --> 17:15.599 the good news of his love 17:18.099 --> 17:23.000 Aand all that flows from the fullness of his own self and life. 17:24.500 --> 17:29.000 Dear friends, let us be Christians who reflect always dimly 17:29.000 --> 17:34.200 Yes, but truly who reflect the character of our Lord and of our 17:34.200 --> 17:35.900 forefathers in the faith, 17:35.900 --> 17:40.800 like the Apostle Paul. May they coming year be a year lived in the 17:40.800 --> 17:47.300 Christian vocation of love and self giving. Beware of forming habits, 17:47.300 --> 17:51.500 that will prepare you to be a pastor, who loves his space, loves his 17:51.500 --> 17:56.900 study, loves his computer, loves his hobbies' loves his life, but does 17:56.900 --> 17:59.800 not share his life. Rather let us be 18:00.000 --> 18:04.900 like those early Christians in Acts chapter 2. The Believers were 18:04.900 --> 18:08.500 together and had all things in common. Day by day 18:08.500 --> 18:12.900 they attended Temple together and broke bread together in their homes. 18:13.000 --> 18:16.000 Receiving their food with glad and generous hearts 18:16.000 --> 18:21.100 and praising God. They devoted themselves to the apostles teaching and 18:21.100 --> 18:24.300 to fellowship to the breaking of bread and to prayers. 18:25.300 --> 18:29.100 Like them, like Paul and the Thessalonians 18:29.700 --> 18:35.400 let us come together regularly, and often and let not the devil hinder 18:35.400 --> 18:35.800 us. 18:36.400 --> 18:39.300 Let us share the gospel with one another. 18:39.800 --> 18:41.700 Let us share our lives with one 18:41.700 --> 18:43.500 another each morning 18:43.500 --> 18:49.100 in this Chapel in our classrooms, on our campus, in our homes, in 18:49.100 --> 18:54.600 conversation, and mutual care and service. Sharing the gospel of 18:54.600 --> 18:54.900 Christ 18:56.200 --> 18:58.800 with all of his hope and encouragement. 18:59.400 --> 19:04.600 Sharing our lives and our very selves. God grant it 19:04.600 --> 19:05.800 for Jesus sake. 19:06.700 --> 19:07.300 Amen. 19:09.000 --> 19:10.900 We stand now to sing the Te Deum.