Ephesians 4:11  And He gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers.

John 20:21 Jesus said to them, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent Me, even so I am sending you."

"Who's in charge here?" The principal may ask that question on entering an overly noisy classroom. The teacher appears to be teaching, but the students do not appear to be learning. They talk and giggle and disrupt. Who's in charge?

The question may come up in Lutheran congregations as well. Who's in charge? Is it the pastor? He is a highly trained theologian. He received a certificate of ordination. He knows the biblical languages. He preaches, teaches, baptizes, consecrates, marries, and buries.

Or is it the congregation? They called the pastor. They pay his salary and provide him housing and health insurance. They make important decisions in voters' meetings. They elect leaders and establish boards and committees.

Who's in charge, the pastor or the congregation? Neither!!! Christ is in charge! It is His church. However, He works through people to accomplish His will for His church. He calls men into the Office of Public Ministry, yet He does so through the congregation. He gives His pastors authority to forgive and retain sins, but He gives it through His people in a local congregation.

Think of the harmony that would prevail in congregations when we all acknowledge who is actually in charge! Members would respect their pastor as the undershepherd of the Good Shepherd, sent to minister to them. Pastors would respect their members as the sheep of Christ's pasture to love and nurture as Christ Himself does.

So, pastors, relax. Laypeople, relax. Christ is in charge! Joyfully serve Him together.
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Helping people live life with Jesus everyday,

1 Peter 2:9  But you are a chosen rave, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for His own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.

Colossians 3:16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.
 

A change takes place in children at roughly age 9 or 10. Prior to this change, children will respond to a teacher's request with enthusiasm. "Who would like to erase the whiteboard?" "Pick me! Pick me!" As children pass into adolescence, they respond to the same  request with sullen reservation. What was once a privilege is suddenly a burden. Christians often respond in a similar fashion to God's call to, as Luke writes, "teach, instruct, admonish, comfort, and rebuke." Far from an onerous liability, telling others about Jesus as part of the priesthood of all believers is described as a consummate joy! Peter writes that we are chosen, royal, and holy. 

So it is! Chosen, we recognize that God stepped forward to rescue us from sin and darkness. We receive the benefits of His saving work. God made us royal and holy as a reflection, not of who we are, but rather of who our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, is. The King of heaven came into the world to save sinners. Through His suffering and death, Jesus earned our forgiveness. God's Holy Spirit brings that forgiveness to us through faith, setting us apart, making us holy and ready for heaven. There is no title more precious than Christian, and no message more important than salvation in Jesus - and God has given His priests the right and power to share it.

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Helping people live life with Jesus everyday,
 

John 20:22-23  And when He had said this, He breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld."

We know that Jesus has given two keys for the door of heaven. One key locks the door shut. The other key opens the door. Sometimes, as a Christian, I need the key that locks the door shut to me. I need to see the true severity of my sin. I may think the door is open to me, even though I continue in my sin without any concern for God's Law. This is the binding key. It binds my sin until I turn to Jesus. And it's good for me because it shows me my evil and calls me to faith.

Other times, I need only the key that opens the door to heaven. This is the best and most comforting key. In my guilt and shame, I imagine that the door to heaven is closed to me and will never be opened again. Yet  I confess my sin to Jesus and beg for mercy. And I hear the sweetest sound of heaven's doors swinging open to me in these words, "By the command of Christ, I forgive you all your sins." And I know that when a called pastor of the Church deals with me in this way, it's just as true and certain as if Jesus Himself dealt with me.

This is how my good and faithful pastor Jesus Christ loves me and cares for me. He uses these keys to keep me on the middle road between prideful arrogance and hopeless despair. He walks me down that road of humble and joyful faith into the open doors of heaven.
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Helping people live life with Jesus everyday,

Matthew 16:19  I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.

The Pirates of the Caribbean attraction at Disneyland guides visitors through a pirate's life as they drift down a stream on the boat ride. One scene depicts prisoners in jail, calling for a stray dog to come over to their cell. The dog just so happens to be holding the keys to their cell in his teeth. Dangling a bone through the bars of the cell, the prisoners know that the dog possesses the keys that will set them free.

While most people have not been locked behind bars, we have all been in chains that bind us. In Romans 6:17-23, Paul described us as once slaves to sin but now set free because of Jesus. Our sin separates us from God and from others, but Jesus' work of salvation on our behalf opens the prison and sets us captives free, just as the prophet foretold in Isaiah 61.

The power to forgive sins is God's alone, but He entrusted His Church with His authority and power to bind and loosen the sinner's chains, saying, "Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.

Perhaps it is because God created us as relational beings that our churches call pastors to hear our confession and, by God's authority and because of Jesus' death on the cross, look us square in the eye to specifically tell us our sins are forgiven and proclaim liberty to the captives.

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Helping people live life with Jesus everyday,

1 John 1:9  If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

The day's religion lesson had begun well. Twenty-one third graders eagerly filled a mural paper with all of the sins they could name in preparation for a discussion on forgiveness. They relished the opportunity to write about "bad stuff," and a mad rush of writing ensued. Brightly colored ink spelled out words like lying, cheating, hitting, stealing, swearing, and even murder. The students were then asked to sit down and follow the directions on the board, which read,

          Think back on your day so far. Which of these sins have you committed today? Write

           each one on a sticky note and leave them on your desk until tomorrow.
 

The lesson hit a snag. There was no mad rush to fill the paper this time. Many sat in disbelief, while others flatly refused to comply. Even those who had begun writing sat hunched over, hiding their work with arms, hands, and torsos. One outspoken student shook her head and said, "This is just a little too personal." Directing them to our verse, the teacher pointed out that God promises forgiveness if we confess our sins. She went on to explain that God knows and loves us personally, so we can trust Him to hear our honest confession and forgive our sins.

In the act of confession, God does ask us to get personal. He expects us to be open and honest with Him and to trust that sincere confession leads to forgiveness. Each time we obey, God is quick to pour out His love and grace on the penitent sinner. Whether in private prayer or during a time of corporate Confession and Absolution, we can rest assured that God is faithful and just to forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

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Helping people live life with Jesus everyday,
 

1 John 1:9  If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

The day's religion lesson had begun well. Twenty-one third graders eagerly filled a mural paper with all of the sins they could name in preparation for a discussion on forgiveness. They relished the opportunity to write about "bad stuff," and a mad rush of writing ensued. Brightly colored ink spelled out words like lying, cheating, hitting, stealing, swearing, and even murder. The students were then asked to sit down and follow the directions on the board, which read,

          Think back on your day so far. Which of these sins have you committed today? Write

           each one on a sticky note and leave them on your desk until tomorrow.
 

The lesson hit a snag. There was no mad rush to fill the paper this time. Many sat in disbelief, while others flatly refused to comply. Even those who had begun writing sat hunched over, hiding their work with arms, hands, and torsos. One outspoken student shook her head and said, "This is just a little too personal." Directing them to our verse, the teacher pointed out that God promises forgiveness if we confess our sins. She went on to explain that God knows and loves us personally, so we can trust Him to hear our honest confession and forgive our sins.

In the act of confession, God does ask us to get personal. He expects us to be open and honest with Him and to trust that sincere confession leads to forgiveness. Each time we obey, God is quick to pour out His love and grace on the penitent sinner. Whether in private prayer or during a time of corporate Confession and Absolution, we can rest assured that God is faithful and just to forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

--Helping people live life with Jesus everyday,

Romans 6:4  We were buried therefore with Him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.

God uses Baptism to wash away your sins. Whatever sins you have - past, present, and even future - were paid for when Jesus died on the cross, and in Baptism His sacrifice is applied to you. His blood covers you. His forgiveness is sufficient - more than sufficient - for you. There is not a sin in the world that Jesus did not pay for, and so there is not a sin in the world that Baptism does not wash away? In Baptism, you therefore die to the person you were - someone who did not love God and who loved him - or herself more than others. In Baptism, you receive the new life of a child of God. You become a co heir with Jesus of everlasting life. The Spirit fills you and moves you. You are a new creation, and in the power of the Holy Spirit, you begin to live as that new creation, that coheir of Jesus, that child of God.

Yet, as you well know, you are not yet the perfect child of God that you will be. There is only one remedy for the conflict between the old, dead, sinful you and the new, living, righteous you. Return to your Baptism. Repent of your sinfulness rather than embrace your sins. Tell God you are sorry. Remember that you are baptized and that your old, sinful self was put to death. And then, enlivened by the forgiveness that God gave you in Baptism, embrace the good works God's Spirit works in you.
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Helping people live life with Jesus everyday,