Why did you want to become a pastor?  Next question something along the lines of “Who was the biggest influence on your decision?”  I’d like to say that there was some big, emotional story of God’s call to the pastoral ministry, but in reality it’s all quite ordinary.  The first question was easy. I liked the Bible, theology, and I wanted to tell other people about Jesus.

The second question wasn’t all that difficult either. The most important people were probably my parents. They didn’t do anything extra-ordinary really. They brought my family and I to church. They prayed with us. We did devotions together, not all the time, but on a regular basis. We used an Advent wreath and calendar at home.  They helped me with confirmation homework. They modeled the Christian faith. Sunday School teachers (Granny Joyce), pastors along the way most of whom I don’t remember their names or what they were like. They simply told me of Jesus and delivered His goods that I may receive them.

Who was the most important figure in your life of faith? Who told you of Jesus, of His salvation? Who explained the wonderful mysteries of the faith? Parent or grandparent? Pastor?  Sunday School teacher?  Friend?  School teacher or classmate?

 Paul’s opening in 2 Timothy on the various ways the teaching of faith is passed from one person to another, from one generation to the next, “a faith that lived first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, lives in you” (v. 5). The gospel we speak and hear, the care and comfort we give and receive, comes person to person, heart to heart.  Paul brought Timothy’s faith into maturity, and this faith was made whole not only by the doctrine he was taught but by the life that they shared. 

More often than not, the kind of mentorship that Timothy received from Lois, Eunice, and Paul is “caught” rather than “taught.” It’s the whole axiom, “actions teach louder than words.”  One of the confirmation kids said something last week that really struck me. I asked how he knew all this stuff. He looked at me with a dumbfounded look and said, “My family is Christian. We go to Church. I go to a Christian school. We go through this stuff over and over and over and I just remember it. It’s the way things are.”

The easiest evangelism we do, yet also one that is often neglected, is that which takes place in the home. Parents are the most important and have the most impact on a child’s life. Timothy’s mother and grandmother, Lois and Eunice, taught Timothy the Christian faith from infancy.  They passed the faith by reading and speaking the Word of God to him. What they hear, what they see, what they practice at home. As the head of the house ought to teach his children. Parents, don’t starve your children of the Word of God.  Don’t leave them to fend for themselves in a world where temptation will come and many will be seduced. Taught by parents and the community of believers through the preaching and teaching of the Word of God. Lived out in the home, in school, in the world.

We have a deep need, a deep human need, to be formed into the life we live, not only in our formative, growing-up years, but at every stage of our lives. We can always be shaped by the wisdom and teaching of those who know more, who have lived longer, who have been where we are now. And we can receive the faith they give us as a gift. It can, indeed, “rekindle the gift of God” within us.

It is the Apostle Paul who will be the first to remind us that this faith that was passed from one hand to another, didn’t start with any of them either. “This grace was given to us in Christ Jesus before the ages began, but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel” (vv. 9–10). None of us can stand in faith without standing on the shoulders of sainted forefathers, brought to light in the ageless grace of the living Christ who was resurrected from the dead.

St. Paul encourages us to guard the good deposit entrusted to us. To remain in the Christian faith that was passed on down to us so that we might pass it on down the line.  Keeping faith with those who came before is just as important as passing on the unchanging sacred deposit whole and undefiled to those who come afterward. The pattern of sound words of the Christian is what we pass on.  We don’t just make this stuff up. We aren’t just left in the dark or having to try to reinvent the Christian faith – both what is believed as well as how it is lived out. What are the pattern of sound words? Scripture. We use the Small Catechism to help with this, which is nothing else than Scripture.

This is for the Confirmation kids in particular, so listen up.  It’s for those of you who attend Zion’s school, and those who participate in Sunday School and Bible studies.  But it’s also for the rest of you as well.  When you’re asked to memorize Bible verses, the Small Catechism, I don’t want you to put in your own words. I want you to use God’s Words. I want you to take the deposit and pattern of sound words, learn them, believe them, and then tell them to others. In part, this is why we have Sunday School, adult Bible studies, women’s Bible studies, Men’s Bible studies. This is so important that we devote ourselves to the study of God’s Word so that we are ready to give an answer to the hope that lies within us.

One of the most common questions I hear as a pastor is wanting to tell others about the hope you have in Christ is not knowing what to say. What do you say to the wife whose husband of 60 years just died? What do you say when a mother has just had a miscarriage? What do you say when someone denies the existence of God, or wonders how a loving God could allow evil? These are hard questions, but they are nothing that hasn’t been asked before.

What do you say to someone who wants to know what God’s purpose for them is in life?  You tell them the 10 Commandments and teach them what they mean. What do you say when someone wants to know what you believe about God?  You speak the Creed and confess what it means. The Creed helps us do what the 10 Commandments demand of us. What do you do when someone wants to pray but doesn’t know how or what to pray for? You pray the Lord’s Prayer with them.  What do you say when someone asks if God still cares or if God is involved in the world? You tell them about Baptism, Confession and Absolution, and Communion – the means by which God delivers His grace to His people.

As God’s grace in Christ is the instrument of strength for spreading the Gospel in which are revealed the glory and power of God, we pray with the Disciples of Jesus, “Lord, increase our faith.”