The Ordination of Niels Thorbjrnsen Ylvisaker

The First Norwegian Evangelical Lutheran Church

Red Wing, Minnesota

October 18, 1868

"We are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be reconciled to God." 2 Corinthians 5:20.

WE ARE AMBASSADORS IN CHRIST'S STEAD

Dear friends! We have dedicated this building today3 to be a house of the Lord and we see already how he is fulfilling his promises that he will fill it with his glory, since he is giving you, a Christian congregation, a servant of the Word, his best gift to a congregation.

Because of the increasing love of the world and hatred of Christ a general contempt and scorn for the Holy Ministry prevails in our days. And from it again follows a disinclination on the part of parents to offer their sons to this ministry which is so glorious in God's eyes but so despised by the world, and in young men an unwillingness to undertake it, and finally, a temptation to those who are in the ministry to do its work reluctantly and unenthusiastically.

If we are going to let ourselves joyfully and willingly be singled out and made capable of the work, enter the ministry and do its work, and with the proper awe and thankfulness accept the ministry and its blessed work among us, then let us think rightly of the glory of the Ministry of the Word and the importance of the work to which a servant of the Word is called. Our text gives us rich occasion for that. The apostle says in the text I read: "We are ambassadors in Christ's stead." It is of those who proclaim the Gospel that he uses this expression: ambassadors.

But of whom are we ambassadors? That becomes our first question and the answer is: Of God, the Lord of lords and the King of kings, of the Most High God who has created heaven and earth. What an honor for us mortals, dust and ashes as we are! What then are kings' and emperors' ambassadors compared to us, messengers of the Most High God! Yes, what is the dignity of kings and emperors compared to that which the Lord gives those who proclaim the Gospel! Kings and emperors of course also have their offices from God; as every one else, they should be servants of God, but only those who proclaim the Gospel does he call his "ambassadors." But this elevated position and honor which the apostle ascribes to the ministry of the Word is increased by the expression: "We are ambassadors in Christ's stead."

Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, the reflection of the Father, the express image of his being, him, the Father sent to the world in order to reveal to it his essence and in order to give it life. And now the apostle says, "We are ambassadors in Christ's stead." Thus the Father sends us on Christ's behalf, in Christ's name. In his name and on his behalf, with his authority then, we should also step forward with our message. That's why Christ also says, "He that hears you hears me; and he that despises you despises me." (Lk. 10:16.)

But the honor which the apostle ascribes to our ministry with these words is not to make us puffed up and proud over toward God or men. Because since we are the Most High's creation, so are we also over toward him only his ambassadors. Whatever honor and power we might have is due us, however, only as his ambassadors from whom we have received it; but should we then boast of ourselves as though we had not received it?

Much rather it must humble us deeply that the Most High shows us such honor and grace that he makes us to be his ambassadors, because when we consider what we are by nature, enemies of God, transgressors of his Law, poor sinners, then of course we certainly have not deserved such honor and grace, but the opposite.

But when God shows us such an honor and makes us to be his ambassadors, then of course he thereby requires from them to whom we are sent that they show the deepest respect for the dignity of our office and the greatest willingness and joy in hearing and accepting the message from the Most High. And in saying that, he is saying to us who should be the bearers of the office, as he did earlier, to Moses: "Put off your shoes from off your feet, for the place whereon you are standing is holy ground," (Ex. 3:5) for whether we are going to be entering the Holy Ministry or we have to carry out whatever it is of its usual functions, then at the thought of whose messengers we are, what errand of the Lord it is which we have to carry out, we must be filled with a holy earnestness, with a glorious trembling so that we shall carry out our errand properly according to his will and present our Lord's message exactly in the way he has given it to us.

But that same thought must also give us the proper confidence and staying-power for the work. If we have just ourselves in mind, or if we berate ourselves with our own unworthiness and feeling of inferiority, then he says to us: "I the Lord am sending you." If we are afraid that with our meager strength, in our great weakness, we will be able to do nothing, then he says again, "My strength is made perfect in your weakness," (2 Co. 12:9.) Just that comforts us and gives us new courage that we are only ambassadors and that we also carry a message from him of whom it says in the prophet, "There is none like unto you, O Lord; you are great, and your name is great in might," (Je. 10:6) a message from the Lord for whom "nothing is impossible" (Lk. 1:37) and who himself says in the prophet Isaiah, in the 55^th chapter, the 10^th and 11^th verses, about his word with which he sends us, "For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, and returns not thither, but waters the earth, and makes it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: So shall my word be that goes forth out of my mouth; it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it." Yes, even if many times things appear dark, and fear and tribulations surround us, we shall however be able then to comfort ourselves with the words which the prophet allows to follow in the 12^th and 13^th verses, "For you shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace: the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree, and instead of the briar shall come up the myrtle tree."

But can we then also be sure that we are the Lord's ambassadors? The prophet does however also speak about men of whom the Lord says, "I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran: I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied." (Je. 23:21.) And again, "I have not sent them, yet they prophesy a lie in my name." (Je. 27:15.)

While the Lord did call his apostles directly when the church was being founded, now he has entrusted the ministry of the Word to his church with the command that it is to call shepherds and teachers itself. They who set themselves up as teachers of the church without this call of the church, appealing to an inner call, they, you see, belong to those prophets about whom the Lord says, "they ran, but I did not send them." But them who are properly called by the Church of God, them, the apostle says the Holy Spirit himself has installed as overseers of the flock of God. But these men must be faithful and proclaim the Word of the Lord who has sent them, otherwise they are not ambassadors in Christ's stead but belong to the unfaithful servants to whom the Lord's word came through the prophet Ezekiel in his 34^th chapter, "Woe be to the shepherds of Israel that do feed themselves! should not the shepherds feed the flocks? You eat the fat, and you clothe yourselves with the wool, you kill them that are fed: but you feed not the flock. The diseased have you not strengthened, neither have you healed that which was sick, neither have you bound up that which was broken, neither have you brought again that which was driven away, neither have you sought that which was lost; but with force and cruelty have you ruled them … Therefore, you shepherds! hear the word of the Lord; thus saith the Lord God: Behold, I am against the shepherds; and I will require my flock at their hand, and cause them to cease from feeding the flock; neither shall the shepherds feed themselves any more; for I will deliver my flock from their mouth, that they may not be meat for them." (verses 2-4, 9-10.) Yes, such servants should also be driven away from the ministry in the sanctuary by the congregations if their unfaithfulness becomes obvious.

When a prince sends his ambassadors to another prince they are received with honor and a person honors the prince in his emissaries. How much more should not the Lord's ambassadors be received with joy and honor, and the power and glory, grace and love of the Most High God be praised in his emissaries! But, friends! only to a small degree do we dare expect that it will be like that for us, because the Lord says, "I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves," (Mt. 10:16) and "in the world you shall have tribulation." (Jo. 16:33.) Certainly, an ambassador of God obviously gets his work assigned in the congregation of God which calls him and God's children will receive the ambassador with thanks and praise as a precious gift from the Lord, but God's children still have the old Adam partially clinging to them which often places obstacles in the way of the glad reception of the Lord's ambassador and full resignation to the message which he brings, and there are many hypocrites intermingled among the number of God's children who carry God's name on their lips but whose hearts are far from the Lord, who see the Lord's faithful ambassador or hear his message as little as the Lord's obvious enemies. Finally of course God's church is surrounded by the world of which the Lord says, "It hated me before it hated you," (Jo. 15:18) and "If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you." (Jo. 15:20.) An ambassador of the Lord also has to bear witness to this world in many kinds of ways.

In a word, it is to people who by nature have fallen away from God, who are corrupted and held in bondage by sin, children of men who have fallen under God's wrath and judgment, that the Lord sends his ambassadors

And what then is the message which an ambassador in Christ's stead has to present?

O, what other message, do you ask, can the almighty God, the Creator and Lord of heaven and earth, the holy, righteous God, the all-knowing, eternal Judge really have to bring to them who by nature are his enemies, his disobedient, stubborn children, the transgressors of his holy Law, than the proclamation of his ferocious anger and horrible judgment? And surely, brethren, were it such a message we had to bring, then it were not surprising if we who are guilty of the same judgment avoided presenting such a message, as Jonah did previously.

But, God be praised! Chime in, dear brother! And you, dear congregation! Yes, all the world, chime in! God be eternally praised and lauded! It is not such a message of wrath and judgment which "an ambassador in Christ's stead" has to offer! The Lord Christ said of himself, "I came not to judge the world, but to save the world." (Jo. 12:47) and again, "the Son of man is not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them." (Lk. 9:56.) The world has one who condemns it, namely Moses, but Jesus is the Friend of sinners, come to save that which is lost.

And thus must it also be with them who are "ambassadors in Christ's stead." Neither are they sent out to proclaim to people the wrath and judgment of God but to proclaim reconciliation and peace as Paul says in our text, "We pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God. For he has made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him," "since," as the apostle has said right before this, "God reconciled the world unto himself in Christ, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and has committed unto us the word of reconciliation." (2 Co. 5:19.)

Yes, a "word of reconciliation," a pleasant and saving Gospel it is which "an ambassador in Christ's stead" has to bring to the comfort, life, and salvation of poor sinners. The prophet Isaiah has already articulated the same thing when he says, "He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn; to appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he might be glorified." Is. 61:1-3.

That's why the same prophet praises these ambassadors when he says, "How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that brings good tidings, that publishes peace; that brings good tidings of good, that publishes salvation; that says unto Zion, Your God reigns!" 52:7.

Yes, this is the saving message which we have the command of God to proclaim to sinners and children of wrath in Christ's stead, that the righteous God who is offended by our sins has been reconciled with us and all the world through his Son's bitter suffering and innocent death, that thereby all our sin is blotted out just as also that God's holy and righteous demands upon us in the Law which we could never satisfy and because of which we are guilty of death, are fulfilled for us through Christ, that this Jesus Christ who was delivered up for the sake of our sin and who became a curse for us is risen for our righteousness and has become our Mercy Seat through faith in his blood.

And friends! If now the fact that we are the Lord's ambassadors has to make us all humble and fearless toward the work, oh, must not then the thought of what a message of joy we have to present , and that God's purpose with it is nothing other than that everyone should be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth, the thought that we poor sinners should be God's co-workers for the salvation and blessedness of our brethren, oh, must not this conviction awaken in us proper zeal and joy for the work of the ministry and prompt us to carry it out with the proper faithfulness and patience! Not as though we are capable of this by ourselves, or "to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God; who also has made us able ministers of the new testament -- not of the letter, but of the spirit; for the letter kills but the spirit gives life." 2 Co. 3:5.6.

Yes, we must ourselves have been enlightened by the Holy Ghost regarding the divine truths. We must have been taught by God, have tasted how good he is, have found comfort, peace and salvation for our own heart in Jesus' death and blood. Then the love of Christ will compel us to present the message to poor brethren. Then we will not proclaim the truth as though it consisted of rather uncertain, inconsequential human opinions and thoughts, nor will we then abridge or distort the Gospel of God to please people, nor will we keep quiet like dumb dogs for fear of people when we should lift up our voices like a trumpet and cry loudly and not become weary.

No, then we will say: "I believe, therefore I speak," (2 Co. 4:13) and, "Woe is unto me, if I do not preach!" (1 Co. 9:16.) Then we will "speak words which the Holy Ghost teaches; comparing spiritual things with spiritual." (1 Co. 2"13.) Because we considered ourselves not knowing anything unto salvation save Jesus Christ and him crucified, therefore will also "our speech and our preaching not be with enticing words of men's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power: that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God." (1 Co. 2:4.5.) Because we have learned to know the power of Christ's resurrection and the fellowship of his suffering, then in spite of all contradiction we will also continue preaching "Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumbling block, and unto the Greeks foolishness," (1 Co. 2:3) but the rock of salvation for all those who believe.

But knowing that Christ's true ambassadors must go to the Holy Ghost's school and that all their sufficiency is of God, yet they do not however despise the external Means which God gives them for growing true enlightenment and in the knowledge of God, as the enthusiasts do. Much rather, because they know from Scripture that the Holy Ghost will not come to us and enlighten us apart from the Means of the Word of God, just as Christ says: "he shall take of mine, and shall show it unto you" (Jo. 16:15), so with David they will meditate on the Lord's word day and night, and as Paul says to Timothy: "give attendance unto reading," as well as "to exhortation and doctrine" (1 Ti. 4:13).

Yes, with prayer and supplication they will apply themselves to study of the Holy Scriptures so that as good stewards they are able to bring forth things old and new from the rich treasure chambers of the Word, all according to what the various hearers' needs and interests might require. This they will do so much the more as they themselves learn from Scripture that this Word of God on the one hand is the only touchstone according to which they themselves and their hearers can judge whether the message they bring is the Lord's own and whether the doctrine they teach is from God, or they are speaking from themselves, and that this same Word of God is itself on the other hand the power of God unto salvation, or that because this Word of God carries in itself Christ with all his gifts, it is a life-giving seed which makes the golden fields of the heart fruitful and through which the Holy Spirit regenerates the hearts and works faith in them who hear the Word and do not stubbornly harden themselves and resist the Holy Spirit's work of grace.

In such a way, day by day made more capable for his work, an "ambassador in Christ's stead" carries his Savior's Gospel to each and every person in the flock entrusted to him, to rich and poor, prominent and not, educated and not, sick and well, children and adults, the troubled and the happy, sinners and righteous. He passes no one by, will forget no one, not let himself be unconcerned about anyone. The prominent person is not too prominent for him, the insignificant not too insignificant, the learned not too learned, the lay not too simple and ignorant. With Paul he seeks to be all things to all people and because they are all sinners and all need grace and all are redeemed through the blood of Jesus, he therefore pro-claims to them all the incomparable grace of God and the salvation which has occurred in Christ, so that through the preaching of the Gospel they can all come to faith, be strengthened in faith and thus be etern-ally saved, and with this preaching of his he "is instant in season and out of season," as Paul exhorts (2 Ti. 4:2). This is the message from God, the saving Gospel which an ambassador in Christ's stead has to bring.

But since, as we heard earlier, wherever an ambassador of Christ makes his appearance, there are always some despicable hypocrites, hardened sinners, self-righteous, proud hearts which in their natural blindness rely upon and comfort themselves with their natural piety, with their virtues, good works, pious practices, devotion, holy emotions and feelings, self-made repentance and faith, and since the children of God also still carry with themselves the sinful "flesh" in which of course the Scriptures say there dwells no good thing and which always resists the Spirit in them, and since their understanding is still darkened by sin, and their knowledge of what God wants them to do and to allow in all their lives so that their light can shine before men and they can proclaim the virtues of him who led them out of darkness into his mar-velous light, since also this knowledge always remains defective and piecemeal, thus, you see, an "ambas-sador in Christ's stead" must not neglect to preach the Law, God's holy, unchanging will in the Law.

And of course the more he has experienced its crushing power upon his own heart and how it includes everything under sin and condemns all his natural piety and virtue as sin, and himself with it, to hell, but has also experienced how it is without any power to comfort a poor sinner and make him alive, how the Law only demands but does not give, only threatens and kills but does not make alive, the more will he also preach it in all its majesty and severity without leaving out the smallest part of it. He knows that only in this way will it crush the proud, self-righteous, rock-hard heart like a hammer, reveal its deep corrup-tion and judge its thoughts and actions, its word and deeds as sinful and abominable to God. But the more will he also take heed to himself so as not to weaken its demands and judgment in any respect or to use it in the service of self-righteousness. He will see that in that way it will only strengthen the unrepent-ant in their security and lead the sincere into despair.

However, with all his zeal in the preaching of the Law he will however never forget that he is not to be a Law-preacher but an evangelist, that he is called not to the ministry of the letter but of the Spirit, that like his Lord and Master Jesus Christ he is not sent to judge and to destroy but to save and to make people blessed. He will not forget that when he carries out the ministry of the Law he is carrying out a ministry foreign to him and is only doing it in order to come the sooner to his real work, the ministry of the Gospel. He wounds and crushes only so that the balm of Gilead can the better heal. He topples the proud and self- righteous from his imagined height, to hell, so that he can the sooner be raised up to heaven through the power of God. He lets the letter kill and slay the sinner so that he can become the more willing to let him-self be made alive by the Spirit, because "they that are whole do not need a physician."

Therefore he allows also the preaching of the Gospel to follow side by side with the preaching of the Law, partly so that the sinner himself can the better learn to know God's holiness and earnest hatred of sin at the same time as he is merciful to the sinner and partly so that he can be preserved from despair, but also so that sorrow and a new hope and a new longing after God can begin to be awakened in him at the same time as his heart is gripped by anguish and fear of sin and the wrath of God. Therefore when an ambassador of Christ believes that the Law has accomplished this part of its work and has worked ac-knowledgement of sin and has become a schoolmaster to Christ, then of course he continues to preach the Law to the continued slaying of the old Adam, just as he constantly lets it shine as a light for the believer's feet and as a lamp to his path, but he watches himself carefully in order not to strangle the crushed and anxious conscience with the commands, threats and judgment of the Law. No, he hastens to bind up the broken heart with the Gospel and to proclaim liberty to the captive and the opening of the pri-son to them that are bound. Then he is just as anxious to comfort the sorrowing and to proclaim to the frightened, despairing conscience that Jesus Christ, the Son of God has removed the handwriting which was against us, since he has nailed it to the tree of the cross, that he has freed us from the Law, its power and curse, thus no law lies upon the righteous, and death and hell are conquered for us. Therefore we have no reason to fear and despair but we can sing in hope with Paul, "O death, where is your sting! O grave, where is your victory! The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." 1 Co. 15:55-57.

But one thing more. The more an ambassador of Christ learns in this way to know both the power of the Law and its complete lack of power - power to kill, lack of power to comfort and to make alive, the more still he watch himself for what is so common in our days, namely, making the Gospel itself into a Law; the message of salvation, into a strict demand from God upon people. He will not preach the good news of salvation in Christ in a legalistic manner. He will not allow the Gospel to become a demand on the part of God to people about the fact that they are supposed to believe. He will not present faith as a condition which people have to comply with and fulfill in order that God can be truly reconciled with the sinner and as a reconciled God turn to the sinner with a friendly disposition and bestow his grace upon him.

No, he will above all apply himself to preaching the Gospel, grace in Christ, the forgiveness of sins, righteousness, eternal life and salvation, free and unconditioned, as a free and undeserved gift of grace from God which Christ has earned for everyone with his blood and which he now wants to have proclaimed in the Gospel and given to everyone so that the sinner has only to take for himself from the gifts which are being offered, in faith to make grace his own, which is given in the Gospel. He will seek to picture God's incomprehensible love in Christ in the most winning words, how compassionate and kind he is toward us poor sinners because of Christ's sacrificial offering and how he burns with the desire to embrace sinners.

Yes, he will, as the apostle says in our text, "beseech and pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God." See, though, he will say, how God is reconciled to you through his Son's blood, how he does not have thoughts of anger toward you but thoughts of peace. Therefore do not be afraid and do not be dis-mayed or flee from him but comfort yourself through the reconciliation which the Son has made for you! Apply it to yourself just as God has let it apply to you! Do not pile sin upon sin by despising grace and do not harm yourself in impenitence by treading the blood of the covenant under your feet! Through your unbelief do not make a liar in his own Word! Thus will an "ambassador in Christ's stead" seek by the grace of God to make the Gospel truly glorious, truly pleasant, God's grace exceedingly great so that the Spirit of God can overcome the sinner through his almighty power in the Gospel and persuade him to be-lieve the gracious, saving message and in this faith to have forgiveness of sins, peace and salvation.

To sum up. He will of course preach about faith as the only means on man's part through which he can appropriate grace to himself and be saved, and that it therefore is God's earnest will for us that we do be-lieve, just as he wants us to be saved. However, he will not once preach as the Gospel's saving message: You are supposed to believe, you are supposed to believe, but he will by the grace of God set forth the Gospel's content which is salvation in Christ, as an undeserved gift of grace from God to the sinner, so that through it he is enticed to believe, so that faith therefore comes through the Gospel and grasps the Gospel, and with it Christ and salvation. Only then does he understand it, only then does faith also become a gift of God worked by the Gospel, only then does the sinner become justified by grace alone for the sake of Christ. But if he preaches the Gospel as a demand of God, a commandment to people that they are supposed to believe, then he sees that the Gospel becomes law, faith a work of man, and the sinner justified not by grace alone for the sake of Christ but through faith as a work of the Law. May God in grace preserve us all from that!

As now an "ambassador in Christ's stead," he will in this way seek to awaken, comfort, bind up and strengthen the sick and the weak with the heavenly message and as a shepherd feed his flock in the pas-tures of the Word, carry the sheep on his shoulders and the lambs in his arms, so will he also busy him-self with defending and guarding his flock against the wolves, the false prophets, and sacrifice everything, yes, rather lay down his life than to allow them to make their way into and to tear the flock to pieces. And as such false prophets he will consider anyone who departs from the clear word of God in doctrine and will not let himself be convinced otherwise but who continues spreading his errors in spite of all instruc-tion and admonition, even if they seem to be less essential in comparison with other chief doctrines, even if they are very popular with the educated people of the world or with the vast majority of people or whether the errors are those of a false spirituality. As he knows that a little leaven leavens the whole lump and therefore is to be pulled out according to Christ's command, so does he also know that there is more power in one word of God than in all the wisdom of the world, all popular opinion, and all self-chosen demands of spirituality. He knows that he is not called to be their co-worker, but God's co-worker and the servant of truth. If it happens that an ambassador in Christ's stead receives both hatred and cold treatment as his reward for such faithfulness to the Lord who has sent him, as well as to the congregation to which he is sent, he will however not be tempted by it but will comfort himself through the assurance of God's grace and the fact that in spite of the world and Belial, the Lord will uphold his word and his work.

Now where the ministry of reconciliation is thus administered faithfully, there the fruits of the Spirit will not be lacking either. Through the creation of faith and of a new life, hearts have received a desire to rejoice in the Lord's will and the power to begin to do it. However, just as a servant of the Gospel must take heed to himself, guard himself against all offense, seek to adorn the doctrine with a holy life and thus be an example for the flock, so must he also and with all diligence admonish it to thank God for the grace in Christ, to follow after him and to offer itself to him with everything which is theirs, so that God's name and doctrine shall not be mocked because of their sins and vices but much rather so that when the heathen see their good works they must praise God on the day of their visitation.

Now may the Lord who has sent you here, dear brother, may he equip you with the gifts of the Spirit, strengthen you to do the work of an evangelist, let you find an open door to their hearts and bless your work, so that this dear congregation may grow as a member of the body of Christ, to its edifying in love! Amen!

Maanedstidende, Dec. 1, 1868; pages 353-364

 NIELS THORBJRNSEN YLVISAKER was born in Sogndal in Inner Sogn, Norway, February 11, 1832. He worked for several years as an emissary until he came to America in 1868, having received a Call to the ministry. He was examined by a committee and was or-dained to serve the Red Wing congregation and others in Minnesota. He also served Our Savior's congregation in Minneapolis for a while. He died April 16, 1877. He was a brother of Luther Seminary professor Johannes Ylvisaker; an uncle to Sigurd Christian (S.C.) Ylvisaker who served in the now-Evangelical Lutheran Synod and as president of Bethany Lutheran College 1930-1950.