Pastor William Heiges

St. Mark Ev. Lutheran Church

Watertown, WI

September 17, 2000

Text: 1 Timothy 1: 12-17

IT’S ALL ABOUT GRACE

I’m the “new guy.” And I suppose there is a natural curiosity to want to check me out - see if I’m worth all the money you spent. Of course, the question on everyone’s mind is “What kind of preacher is he?” Maybe you heard things from the call meeting and had a mental picture of me conjured in your mind. The question for me is, “Will I live up to your expectations?” Well, now that you’ve seen me you probably thought,”He’s different.” I certainly look different, talk different, and act different than the other pastors. I have more hair than Pastor Werner, but I don’t have his photographic memory or his effervesent energy. It won’t take you long to learn that I’m not as smart as Pastor Walther or as sensitive as Pastor Jensen [nor have as many children - by one]. And I don’t have a gold tooth, just one small silver filling. I’m different but the same.

I’m like the motto of your beautiful church renovation: New Look/New Face - Same Message. Think back to all the different pastors who have served here. I can only think back as far as Pastors Wicke, Fricke, Paustian, Kell, Werner, Sutton, Walther, Spaude, Jensen and now Heiges. All looked different, had different styles, but they all preached the same message - Law and Gospel, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. The apostle Paul said (2 Co 4:5,7), “For we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. But we have this treasure (The Gospel) in jars of clay to show that the all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.” Anyone who has worked with clay pots knows how fragile they are. I guess what Paul is hinting at is that God entrusted the message of the Gospel to a bunch of cracked pots like us - just to show that it isn’t about Pastors Wicke, Fricke, Paustian, Kell, Werner, Sutton, Walther, Spaude, Jensen or Heiges.

IT’S ALL ABOUT GRACE

It’s all about what God has done for us through His Son Jesus Christ. No one knew that better than Paul. When he came to the city of Corinth and made his debut as pastor, he wasn’t wearing Armani suits with an expensive hairstyle and a dynamic personality. Listen to him tell it in his own words, “When I came to you brothers, I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. I came to you in weakness and fear, and with much trembling. My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith might not rest on men’s wisdom, but on God’s power (1 Co 2:1-5). Our focus, like Paul’s, is on Christ and the cross, not the man sharing it. Like John the Baptist, we point to Jesus as say, “He must increase, we must decrease.”

If there was one word that described Paul, his life and ministry, it was the word - GRACE. The passage of Paul’s that I claim for my own is: But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them - yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me. Whether, then, it was I or they, this is what we preach, and this is what you believed (1 Co 15:10-11). So what is it that we preach and you believe?

1. GOD, IN HIS GRACE, FORGIVES OUR PAST.

Paul never forgot his past. How could he? It was vivid and violent. He said, “I was once a blasphemer (Someone who mocked God) and a persecutor (he hunted Christians down) and a violent man (someone who deliberately hurt and humiliated people).” He thought he was serving God until that fateful day on the road to Damascus when he was struck to the ground by a blinding flash of light. He asked, “Lord, who are you?” and heard the reply that must have made him sick to his stomach, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.” Ever since that day Paul considered himself to be the least of the apostles and worst of sinners. That’s why Paul could never get over the fact that “I was shown mercy.” He then coined one of the best summary statements of the gospel, “Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners - of whom I am the worst” (vs. 15). Notice that Paul didn’t say “of whom I was the worst, but of whom I am the worst. Paul knew that just because he was an apostle didn’t mean he stopped sinning. He knew full well he was a sinner, the chief of sinners, in need of God’s grace and mercy, “which God poured out abundantly on me, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.” It was a package deal. When you receive grace, you receive the ability to believe and love Christ too.

It took 1/2 of a moving van to haul our worldly goods to Watertown from Colorado, but what Mr. Spafford doesn’t know is that they loaded 10 more trucks full of all my past sins and guilt. But somewhere along the journey (I think it was in Nebraska) those trucks got detoured to a place called Calvary where all my past was unloaded and loaded onto Jesus. The Bible tells us that “he [Jesus] bore our sins in his body on the tree (cross) (1 Pe 2:24). Not even Mr. Spafford could come up with enough money to pay that bill. Only God with his grace could. God, in his grace has forgiven me - and you - all of our sins - past, present and future. I take great comfort in the fact that “where sin abounds, there does God’s grace much more abound.” That is because God pours out his grace into our lives through Jesus.

And here you thought you were getting a “good” pastor. You find out I’m just another sinner saved by grace. But what about you? How many trucks would it take to haul away you past sins? How many skeletons are hiding in your closets? How many “I wish I would have’s” and “I really wish I wouldn’t have’s” have you uttered? How much guilt are you trying to hide and carry around with you? Do you, like Paul and me, see yourself as - the worst of sinners?

That is why I, like the other pastors who serve with me and have served before me, preach God’s Law in all its sharp biting fury. We hold its mirror up so you see your sin nature as God sees it, so the Holy Spirit will lead you to repentance. And that is why we preach the Gospel in all its velvety beauty. We want you to know that Christ saved a world full of sinners - and that includes you and me. He rescued us much like the mother in Florida who saw an alligator grab her little boy by the shoulder. She grabbed onto his legs and a tug of way ensued. The mother refused to let go. And she won. Weeks later the little boy proudly displayed the wounds in his shoulder, but the wounds he was most proud of were those on his leg - from his mother’s fingernails. You and I have been rescued by Christ and the wounds we are proud of are those in his hands and feet, on his head and back.

Another fact that Paul, and I, could not get over was the fact that

2. GOD, IN HIS GRACE, CHOSE US TO SERVE HIM.

Paul just couldn’t figure out why, in view of his violent past, God, in his grace, chose him to serve as an apostle. “I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength, that he considered me faithful, appointing me to his service “ (vs. 12). But that’s just like God. He doesn’t look at the outward appearance or at the past. He deals with us in grace. He looks at the heart. He chose Moses to lead the Israelites out of Egypt even though he had murder in his past. He chose David to lead Israel during the height of its glory days, even though he had been guilty of adultery and murder. He chose Peter even though he denied Christ and he gave John Mark a second chance even though he had quit and abandoned the ministry. There is only one reason why God chooses anyone to serve him - grace.

There is no way to explain why God chose me to serve as a pastor. It certainly wasn’t because of anything in me or my background. I come from a long line of heathens on both sides of my family. No one went to church. My parents and grandparents on both sides were divorced. My one grandfather deserted my grandmother and mother before she was born. My other grandfather died an alcoholic with a bottle in his hands. I have one brother who died from an overdose of drugs, another who has diabetes from years of abusing his body. Four of my siblings are divorced. But God saw fit to send a pastor down my street one day canvassing for VBS. One thing lead to another and that pastor encouraged me into the ministry. All along the way God, with his hand of grace guiding me, brought certain people (like Coach Kruse) to steer me on to the ministry.

God, in his grace, has chosen Pastors Werner, Walther, Jensen and I to serve you. We will rejoice and laugh with you and we will mourn and cry with you. We will baptize your babies. Together with the excellent Lutheran Elementary and Sunday School staff we will teach your precious children about Jesus. We will confirm them and teach them through high school. We will preach and provide Bible Classes for you and your family to grow spiritually. We will counsel you and visit you when you are sick, in the hospital, shut in or straying. We will encourage you to remain faithful, to grow spiritually, to give yourself to the Lord and the very best of your money, time and talents. We will strongly encourage you to be in the Word daily and in church every week. And we will train and equip you for your own works of ministry, because we know that God chose you to serve him alongside of us. Paul calls our relationship with you a “partnership in the Gospel.” God made all of us partners and teammates - from the pastors, teachers, staff, leaders, volunteers - and you. And...

3. GOD, IN HIS GRACE, USES US AS AN EXAMPLE.

It is God’s will that all people everywhere come to know Jesus as their Savior and be saved. And the truly amazing thing is - God uses us as an example of how absolutely anyone can come to faith and receive eternal life. Paul knew that he was the best example of God’s grace at work. He tells us, “But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his unlimited patience as an example for those who would believe on him and receive eternal life” (vs. 16). God used Paul as an object lesson to teach us about grace. How God loves us in spite of our past. He saves us in spite of our past. He chooses us in spite of our past and he uses us in spite of our past. It’s all about grace - what God has done for us in Christ and what he continues to work in us and through us by his grace. That’s why Paul could say, “Follow my example as I follow the example of Christ.” He was a living lesson of grace.

And then there’s me and you. We’re a perfect match: an imperfect pastor for an imperfect people. And still God uses us - that’s grace! God has works of ministry for all of us to do - whether we are pastors or teachers, moms or dads, grandparents or children, married or single. Like Paul and me, you may feel inadequate. But Paul reminds us that God gives us strength. He will always with his grace equip you to do what he calls you to.

He wants people in the Watertown community to be able to point to St. Mark’s and say, “Well, I guess if God can save and use people like that Pastor Heiges and the rest of them, he can certainly save and use me.” And God will make us faithful. From A - Z his grace does it all. That will inspire us to work even harder to his glory. Remember the sinful woman Jesus used as a lesson for a self-centered Pharisee? Jesus said, “I tell you, her sins - and they are many - have been forgiven, so she has shown me much love” (Lk 7:47). That is our motivation - the fact that our sins - which are many - have been forgiven by the blood of Jesus. That is why we want to do more, work harder, give more - our best - because we have been forgiven much.

Paul opened and closed every letter he wrote praying the grace of Jesus on his people. And that is what I pray for you. God has superabundantly poured out on me and you - grace. You know it’s not about me or any of the other pastors who have and still serve here. Never was. Never will be. It’s all about Jesus. It’s all about grace. Amen.