Sermon: WA Board - Camp Okoboji, IA (Vespers) - Nov 2, 2020

2 November 2020

Text: Jer 1:1-19

 In the name of + Jesus.  Amen.

I am willing to bet that most people’s mental image of a prophet is that of a grizzled old man with a flowing white beard.  But in the beginning of Jeremiah’s prophetic book, we learn that when his call to be a prophet came, he was “only a youth.”  It sounds like Jeremiah began serving in the ministry of prophet before he even had a beard.

The Lord, spoke to Jeremiah, “Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.”  And in response to the young prophet’s concerns regarding his age, the Lord said, “Do not say, ‘I am only a youth’; for to all to whom I send you, you shall go, and whatever I command you, you shall speak.  Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you, declares the Lord.’”

We have the privilege of teaching children and youth.  We have the unspeakably holy call to form the minds of young people to our Lord Jesus Christ, to bring the Gospel to them, to educate them, to prepare them for life in these increasingly dark times.  And we have the comfort and the privilege that these young people were formed by the Lord in the womb, that He created them for a divine purpose.  Our vocation is to teach, to guide, to love, to call to repent, to forgive, to build up, and to be instruments by which the Lord God prepares young men and women for service in both church and society.

For we too, were known by God while we were yet in the womb.  We too have been consecrated for this holy vocation as educator.  We too have been appointed to serve in the Kingdom to bring God’s Word to the nations according to our particular callings, to love and serve where the Lord has placed us.

He has placed you here, dear brother, dear sister, here, at Wittenberg Academy, servants of Christ and servants of our students and their families.

We don’t know what the future holds, but we do have the counsel of the Lord: “Do not be afraid” as we carry out our callings as the days grow shorter.  Now, more than ever, our students need godly mentors and teachers and examples of how to live the Christian life in a world that hates us, even as it hated our Master before us.

Let us take courage knowing that in our callings, we too have the assurance of God Himself, so long as Holy Scripture is on our lips: “I have put my words in your mouth,” declares the Lord!

Amen.

In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.