The Installation of Rev. Scott Schaller as Pastor
Trinity Lutheran Church, Taylor TX
March 11, 2018
John 21: 15-19 – Called to Faithful Service
Dear members of Trinity, President Hennings, guests, brothers and sons in ministry, and especially you, Scott, my dear friend and brother in Christ: grace to you and peace from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
It’s an honor to be here today and to be asked to preach this sermon. I first met your new pastor in September of 1992, probably the first week of classes in the new year at Concordia Lutheran College in Austin. I was sitting in the library, reading the assignment from our Hill & Walton Old Testament Survey textbook when this Yankee with a way-too-loud-for-the-library, thick New York accent wearing dark hair and eyebrows demanded, rapidfire: “Hey – reading your assignment for Professor Puffe’s class?” Before I could answer, he was off on his litany of questions, “How ya liking Concordia? You like the dorms? Whatcha think of the food? Have any trouble? You doing OK? Got a girlfriend yet?”
That, as they say, was the beginning of a friendship that has lasted over half of our lives. Since that first meeting, we graduated from Austin together; we both got married and moved to St. Louis where we would go to Seminary together. We lived just a few blocks away from each other and the four of us spent a lot of weekends and evenings together. The two of us spent a lot of time talking, sharing our hopes – and fears – of what the future would be like in ministry. And, when we were placed in our first congregations, we wound up in the same circuit, just 90 miles apart.
It dawned on me as I was writing this, we are a month shy of our 18th anniversary of call night when we found out where we would be serving. It’s interesting to reflect on those nearly two decades of ministry and think about how the Lord has taken two young men, full of arrogance and cockiness – and hair! – that can only be found in theological students, and He has shaped, molded, and turned us into pastors in His Church.
Luther once wrote, “Prayer, meditation on the Scriptures and testing makes the theologian” – not Seminary classrooms. It’s that living out of the life of discipleship, under the cross of Christ, where we experience anfechtung – that testing at the crossroads where faith and life intersect and collide – that’s what makes pastors. In faith, we see Jesus with His hands extended toward us in His mercy and grace; with our eyes we see the world around us, sometimes far, far removed from anything that seems to resemble the will of God. That’s where our people live. And we pastors, called by Christ to serve as His undershepherds, stand with them in that intersection, armed with prayer and the Word of God and we pray, “Lord, I believe…help Thou my unbelief.”
And when you do that, you stand alongside Peter. Boy, you talk about a theological student who was full of himself. One minute, filled with wisdom that only comes from the Holy Spirit as he rightly makes the great confession of Christendom: “You are the Christ;” the next, filled with arrogance that only comes from the Old Adam within, Peter dares to put himself between Christ and the cross and tell Jesus, “You’ll go down there over my dead body.” One minute, Jesus declares him to be Petros – Rock; the next, Jesus rebukes Peter as Satana – satan. One minute, Peter pulls his concealed carry sword, chopping off the ear of one who does not listen that Jesus is the Messiah; a short time later, Peter flees from a servant girl who identifies him by his Galillean accent.
If it is prayer, meditation on God’s Word and testing of faith in life that makes the theologian, Peter fails miserably.
What kind of congregation would want such a pastor. Would Trinity Lutheran Church of Taylor, Texas want such a man? In your pastoral profile, did you include arrogance, or brashness, or being called out as satan as characteristics you desire in your pastor? Did you include apostacy – the denying of Jesus – as a necessary trait? No…of course not. No church would want such a man to be pastor.
Which is what makes this text from John 21 so incredible and remarkable. No congregation would want a man like Peter the Denier…but Jesus does.
In a remarkable, three-fold way, Jesus speaks to Peter: Twice, Jesus asks Peter, “Do you love me so that you are willing to completely give yourself up for me?” Jesus is asking if he is still willing to die for Jesus. The irony isn’t lost on Peter; he can only answer with “Yes, Lord, I love you like a brother” – not I love you enough to give myself up for you. The third time when Jesus asks Peter, he uses Peter’s words: “Do you love me like a brother?” Three questions; three reminders of three denials. Can you imagine the guilt that Peter was carrying, knowing and remembering what he had done to Jesus? Can you imagine his shame after once boasting, “I would rather die with you than deny you,” knowing that he turned tail and ran into the darkness? It’s no wonder that St. John notes Peter is grieved when Jesus asks the third time, “Do you love me?”
Jesus loves Peter too much to leave him in his shameful grief. It’s as if Jesus is saying this: Peter, I not only love you as a brother, I love you so that I am willing to give myself up completely for you. I took your denial into myself. Where you ran into the darkness to hide, I stood in front of Pilate to be condemned. Where you swore you did not know me, I prayed, “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do.” Where you were not willing to die for me, I was willing to die for you. And, Peter, so that you know that my death for you was sufficient, I was raised to life again on Easter. You have now seen me, not once, not twice, but three times. And where you once denied me three times, I am now calling you back to ministry – not once, not twice, but three times. You know what it is to be forgiven, Peter. Now, go…feed my sheep and faithfully deliver this forgiveness to them as well.”
And in that moment of simplicity, Peter is forgiven, restored, and enabled to stand in the stead and by the command of Jesus Christ, who died for Peter and all those whom Peter would later serve as pastor.
Here is the beauty and power of this text for men of God who dare to stand in the stead of Jesus in the Office of the Holy Ministry. Just as Jesus takes a fallen man like Peter, calls him back to ministry, and uses him – with all of his faults, weaknesses, human desires, idiosyncrasies and quirks – for His glory, so also Jesus uses men like you, Scott, and me, and the pastors who are gathered here today, and He shapes us for service in His Kingdom. He takes young, arrogant, cocky pre-seminarians and shapes, molds, guides and directs us to service and into service in His Church. With all of our failings, and foibles, and sins against both God and man, Christ holds out His hands in blessing and He calls us to faithful service. “Go…feed my sheep.” In the Office of the Holy Ministry, “pastors who have been forgiven much, love much.”
Dear saints of Trinity, I can tell you that Pastor Scott is a man of God who follows in that mandate of Christ to feed His sheep. I can tell you that Pastor Scott, through prayer, meditation on the Scriptures, and living in the crossroads of faith and life, is an excellent and faithful pastor. I can tell you this because he is not only your pastor, he has been my pastor for almost 20 years. He is faithful and diligent in his pastoral care. He will walk with you in your joys and sorrows, in your homes and in the hospital hallway. He will encourage you when you are broken, he will comfort you when you are grieving. He will lovingly confront you with the Law of God when you have sinned against God and your brothers and sisters in Christ, and he will absolve you when your conscience is crushed. He will faithfully preach and teach, baptize, deliver to you Christ’s Body and Blood, and he will bless you in the name of Christ. He will stand as Christ’s undershepherd for you, Christ’s flock because Pastor Scott has heard the voice of Christ, through the Divine Call issued by Trinity Lutheran Church: Feed my sheep.
But, I want you to know that you have continued a perfect, 2000 year old tradition in the Christian church. You have elected a pastor who is still a sinner. There will come a time when you will see that. Probably not in such a dramatic way as Peter the Denier, but there will be a moment when he will want to hide in the darkness because he knows he has sinned against God and against you. And, when that happens, you – the saints whom God has called to this congregation – you will have the opportunity to be Christ to your pastor. You will speak of Christ’s forgiveness to him. You will encourage him. You will lift up his troubled heart, and you will walk with him. And then, you can say to your pastor, “Dear pastor…please, feed us more of God’s Word.”
And, Brother – this flock is hungry for the Word. They want to know Jesus. Go…feed His sheep. They are sinners and saints at the same time, who will need both correcting and forgiving, warning and blessing, all in the name of Jesus. You will have joys and sorrows; you will have what appear to be failures and you will experience successes. You will laugh with those who laugh, and you will weep with those who weep. This is ministry that comes from prayer and meditation on the word and anfechtung - living in the crossroads of faith and life. Brother, follow in the footsteps of the Good Shepherd and in the footsteps of the faithful undershepherds who have gone before you. You’ll continue faithfully delivering what has been given to you by Christ Himself. And Christ will bless you and this ministry that is done in His name.
This is a remarkable relationship, isn’t it? A sinner who serves sinners in the name of Christ; sinners who receive a sinner among them also in the name of Christ. Sinners…who stand together beneath the cross of Christ, baptized, forgiven, renewed, fed and made whole.
Scott – do you remember at our last, 4th year class meeting before Call Night, Dean Rockemann asked us all one question: “Will you serve the Lord and His Church with joy?” In a few minutes, you will get to answer that question again. You will again serve the Good Shepherd, who for the joy set before Him, endured the cross for men like Peter, and me and you.
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