January 26, 2025 

Today's Reading: Titus 1:1-9

Daily Lectionary: Zechariah 2:1-3:10; Luke 10:1-9

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

You should have a pastor. There’s a big list of things he should be. They make him above reproach. The list is a comfort to you. It’s terrifying to your pastor because most of us are white-knuckling at least one of those on a good day. It’s way easier for him to be a pastor if his life is in order. He has the bandwidth for all the places your life isn’t that way. It will be his job to hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it. He should have a firm faith and point you to truth, both to point you away from the sin that breaks stuff and to forgive you for when you broke it anyway. It's hard enough to trust your pastor when he has to tell you a law you don’t want to hear. It’s sometimes impossible when you can see all the places the law makes him a sinner, too. That’s the reason for the list of things he should be. It’s not that Jesus didn’t die for your pastor. It’s that sin breaks stuff. And sometimes that gets so distracting it’s hard to hear Jesus from him. So Paul tells Titus not only the list of things he should strive to be but also the reason why so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it.  

Your pastor’s job is to point you to Jesus and point you away from the things that just pretend to be Jesus. The idols. The false comforts. The lies of the evil one, the world, and the lies of your own heart. Because for your pastor, just like for you, there are two things we want. We want faithfulness and godliness. And we also want the lies to be true. Both can’t stand, so we need Christ in truth and purity. And we need to be called out of everything that is not Christ. So God gives you a pastor to point. We are sinners, all of us. It’s all the more reason to hold firm to Jesus. Hear Jesus. Hear the cross. Hear the resurrection. Receive The Sacraments. And there’s finally a place where it’s alright to be white-knuckling it. Hold fast to Jesus. He is the forgiveness for everywhere everything else is falling apart. He is the hope that exists through all the things that tear down. Let nothing distract from Jesus. Especially not the sins He forgives. 

 In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

What makes a church "good?" Come join the fictional family as they test out eight different churches in their brand-new town and answer this question along the way. Will the Real Church Please Stand Up? by Matthew Richard, now available from Concordia Publishing House.