Ordination of Eleven Pastors

During 25^th Jubilee Festival at the West Koshkonong Church

September 2, 1869

Jeremiah 1:17-19

THE LORD'S SENDING OUT OF PROPHETS

Dear friends in Christ!

In the text which I read, the Lord, as it were, ordains the prophet Jeremiah. With these words he is sending him out to do the work entrusted to him, proclaiming the word commanded him by the Lord. Now even as it was so that the holy prophets spoke, moved by the Spirit of God, so that their words, as the clear, unquestionable word of God, could be a flowing fountain and an unfailing rule for all our faith and doctrine, so shall it also be the work of the calling to which you dear young brethren are ordained today. If it was the prophets' calling to lay Christ as the foundation through the proclaiming of the Word of God spoken to them, so shall it be your work to build further upon the foundation of the prophets and apostles as you proclaim the word which the Lord has spoken through their mouths.

Now if no direct call from the Lord has come to you as it came to the prophet, as he himself says, "The word of the Lord came to me, saying: Before I formed you in your mother's womb, I knew you, and be-fore you came out of your mother's womb, I sanctified you; I ordained you a prophet unto the nations," yet, dear brethren, you can comfort yourselves with the fact that the valid call which you have received from the congregations is just as unquestionably the Lord's call. That's why Scripture also calls you "am-bassadors for Christ, the ministers of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God" (2 Co. 5:20; 1 Co. 4:1) and says, "God gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers" (Ep. 4:11) and again, "Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock over the which the Holy Ghost has made you overseers, to feed the church of God." Ac.20:28.

We are going to take these words in our text, then, dear friends, and briefly consider how the Lord is sending the prophet out with them, and apply them here to his sending you out.

I

The Lord's word first contains a summons: "You are to gird up your loins and make yourselves ready."

When a soldier prepared himself for battle or those who run in a race for the race, they tied their long garment up around their waists so that nothing should hinder them during the battle or the race. So are you now also to gird up your loins and make yourselves ready and prepared to take up the battle pre-scribed for you, and to advance unhindered on your course. You have a battle to fight, not against flesh and blood alone, but against principalities and powers, against an army of spiritual wickedness under heaven, and that, not merely for your own souls alone but also for the flock entrusted to you. As its guide and example you are to take the lead and lead it into battle so that you all fight manfully and lawfully. By word and example you are to guide and encourage the congregation to a sure and brisk race on the course, not after a corruptible crown but after the incorruptible, eternal life.

Let nothing then be a hindrance to you. Prepare yourselves for such a battle, for such a race! says the Lord. What, you ask, should then really be a hindrance to us? Alas, unfortunately there is so much which will tempt a servant of the Word and hinder him in his work. There are such things, just to mention some of the most important hindrances, the temptation to pride, to laziness and easy living, to covetousness and care of the belly, to letting himself be led around by the fear or the favor of men. We cannot half love God and half love the world. We are to and we must love God with our whole soul, our whole mind, all our strength and ability. "Love not the world, neither the things which are in the world; if anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him," says John (1 Jo. 2:15). The holy ministry of the Lord de-mands the whole man; whole and complete, with everything which you have, you must dedicate yourself to his service. Talents and powers, gifts and goods, you must offer to him if you want to enter into his ser-vice. "Whoever lays his hand to the plow, and looks back, is not fit for the kingdom of God," (Lk. 9:62) and "whoever does not bear his cross and come after me, cannot be my disciple," (Lk. 14:27) says Jesus.

But how much less will such a person be fit to be "a co-laborer" with Christ in the ministry through which souls are to be led into the kingdom of God? Were it your chief concern to take care of your body, to cram your stomach full, thus even if you think that the fear of God is a means for gain, and use the ministry as a convenient opportunity for making a living and an easy life for yourself, how should you then really be able to be willing to make the effort which diligent study demands, or be willing to tolerate cold and heat, night watches and labors, want and lack, for the sake of the congregation? If pride has moved into your heart, tell me: How are you then able rightly to humble yourself before God and to let his strength be made perfect in our weakness, or with Paul, in self-sacrifice be able to strive after becoming all things to all men, yes, for Jesus' sake, to regard it an honor to become the nobodies of the world? If you let yourself be led around by the favor or the fear of people, how are you then to receive power to remain with the truth, to admonish by virtue of your office without respect of persons and to stand firm in a battle where you would reap ridicule, scorn and tribulation from the world and often receive ingratitude from your own people as a reward for the good to which you aspired?

Therefore, brother, the Lord says to you today, "Bind up your loins and make yourself ready!" Let all self-love, all love of the world be gone, because the place you now tread is a holy place! Look up to him who calls you! What an honor to be his co-laborer! But take heed to yourself so that his word to the angel of the church in Laodicea shall not apply to you,, "I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot; I wish you were cold or hot! Therefore because you are lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I will spew you out of my mouth." Re. 3:15.16. Consider the work you are called to do! It is not your own gain but the saving of souls you are to seek to further, but it does not happen with a divided mind. Think of the responsibility you have. Look toward the goal which beckons - eternal salvation! And then the Lord appeals to us, "Be faithful unto death," then you shall inherit the "crown of life!" (Re. 2:10.) And it is to the true servant that he shall say, "You have been faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things; enter into the joy of your Lord." (Mt. 25:23.)

You see, brother! If you have all that before your eyes today and constantly during the race and the battle, then you will also gladly follow the Lord's command, "Bind up your loins and make yourself ready."

And what the proper spirit is and what the proper weapons are with which we should be equipped and ready for the work and the battle, the apostle Paul explains to us beautifully in the last verses of the epistle to the Ephesians when he says, "Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith you shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit." (6:14-18.) Yes, heartfelt faith and confidence in the Lord, con-fidence in his grace in Christ, sincere love for him who first loved us, and for the souls he has redeemed with his blood, and then you will wield the Word of God as the true sword of the Spirit with prayer. This it is with which you, brethren, above all else must be equipped! Then you are ready to take hold of the holy, responsible work to which you are called and today are ordained.

II

Next, the Lord's word to the prophet contains an order: "You shall speak unto them all that I will command you." In saying that the Lord indicates what kind of work it is to which he is ordering the prophet, and you, to do, namely, to proclaim the word of God, yes, the Word of God. It is well to give attention to this, friends! It is not our thoughts, opinions and views which we should preach, but the Word of God alone as he commands us. Our times have high opinions of their wisdom and they really want to proclaim it. The pride in us really wants to carry on on its own. But Paul says, "The wisdom of this world is foolishness with God," (1 Co. 3:19) and "My speech and my preaching was not with en-ticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power." (1 Co. 2:4.) If in preach-ing we are to explain the Word of God to the congregation, then we should not inject our own opinions into the Lord's Word nor venture an uncertain opinion about the Word of God, but let Scripture explain Scripture as Peter also says, "If any man speaks in the church, let him speak as the oracles of God." (1 Pe. 4:11.) Therefore we must be able to prove with the Word of God everything we say in the congregation, and what we are not able to prove, that we should be silent about so that we should not be shamed before both God and men. But the Word of God which we have in the Holy Scriptures, there, in the writings of the prophets and apostles, God has revealed to us everything which it is his will and command that we should preach just as it is his Word which is going to judge us on the Last Day, so is it also according to that which is written that both we and the congregation are to test and judge our speaking.

And if we ask about the reason why we should hold so firmly to the Word of God, then the answer is: first, because the Lord whose messengers we are, has commanded us to do so. Next, because we can ac-complish nothing at all with our thoughts and opinions, however profound and highfalutin, however pious, stirring and sweet-sounding even they can be. But the Word of God does not return void, but ac-complishes what the Lord pleases, and what he sends it to do it shall succeed in doing. Because the psalmist says, "Your word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path." (119:105.) "The entrance of your words gives light; it gives understanding to the simple." 119:130. And the Lord says in the prophet Jeremiah, "Is not my word like a fire and like a hammer that can break a rock in pieces!" (23:29) and again in John, "The words which I speak are spirit and life," (6:68) while Paul calls it the power of God unto salvation for everyone who believes, a sword of the Spirit, a Word of grace, of truth, of life, of salvation, and in the Epistle to the Hebrews it is written, "The word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." 4:12. Finally, because the Word of God is the Word which is going to judge us on the Last Day, and the Lord many times cries "Woe" unto them who pervert his Word and thereby blaspheme his Spirit and offend and lead redeemed souls astray. Because it is written, "Yes, to the law and the testimony; if they speak not according to this word, it is be-cause there is no light in them." (Is. 8:20.)

But when God commands you to preach his Word, then he orders you also to proclaim its whole truth. "I have set you," says the Lord to Jeremiah, "this day over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build and to plant." We must therefore not with-hold any portion of the divine truth from his church. You should give so much the more attention to this in the face of the demands of our day, namely that a person is to accommodate himself to the views of the scholars and to public opinion, as if in their preaching the holy apostles should have accommodated themselves to the command of the prince and to the prevailing opinions among the people and therefore remained silent to the sins which prevailed publicly in the church of God. But even if the dear apostles had done such a thing for the sake of souls and not merely in order not to lose the favor of the authorities and to create unrest among the people, as they say, then they would thereby have made themselves guilty of a denial of the truth. But merely to believe such a thing about them is blasphemy against the Spirit of truth who spoke through them. But we will strive after being able to say with the apostle, "Whereunto I take you to record this day, that I am pure from the blood of all men. For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God." (Ac. 20:26.) But at the same time, in doctrine and confession we strive after being "faithful to the truth in love," (Ep. 4:5) so that we certainly should aspire to being all things to all men, with the same apostle. Especially should we remember the words over the weak, "All things are lawful for me, but all things are not expedient," (1 Co. 10:23) and again, "For though I be free from all men, yet I have made myself servant unto all, that I might gain the more." (1 Co. 9:19.)

But if we now, even as faithful servants according to God's command, are to proclaim the whole truth and not withhold any part of it from our hearers, but take things old and new from the storerooms of God's Word, yet we must however adapt the food to each person's requirements, giving the children milk and the more advanced more solid food. Especially must we study "rightly dividing the word of truth." 2 Ti. 2:5. The Word of God of course consists of both Law and Gospel. Each has its purpose and for that purpose we are to use the one or the other according to the various spiritual states and development of our listeners. We should not refresh the secure and the impenitent with the Gospel's heavenly comfort. We surely should not cast pearls before swine and holy things before dogs, even less should we weigh down and hurl into doubt with the punishment and threat of the Law the person who already lies crushed in fear and anxiety. No, we should earnestly chastise the impenitent and stubborn, and admonish the proud; but with the Gospel we should comfort the distressed, refresh the thirsty, make the disheartened glad and cou-rageous, lift up the fallen and make the most corrupt and depraved into children of God through faith in Jesus Christ. If we ourselves know nothing unto salvation save Jesus Christ and him crucified, then we have no one else to whom to direct others, because we know no other truth which can free the human heart bound by the net of sin and the devil's chains, than the truth which is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord. We know no other Good News with which troubled consciences can be comforted and the dead in trespasses can arise to life in God and the prison he opened for captive sinners, than the Good News of him "who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption," our Savior, Jesus Christ (1Co. 1:30.)

III

Thirdly, the Lord's word to the prophet contains a warning, "Be not dismayed at their faces." The Lord says this because he knows that when his servants faithfully do the work to which they are ordained, that it does happen as it says in the prophet, "In vain have I smitten your children; they received no cor-rection: your own sword has devoured your prophets, like a destroying lion." (Je. 2:30). He knows well that the Word of the cross is always a stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to the Greeks because, as Simeon confessed when he took the child Jesus in his arms in the temple, "This child is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel; and for a sign which shall be spoken against." (Lk. 2:34.) And you who preach him are also going to be persecuted and mocked in the world for his sake, just as Jesus de-clares, "but I have chosen you from the world, therefore the world hates you." (Jo. 15:19.) "The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you," (Jo. 15:20) and John says, "Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hates you." (1 Jo. 3:13.) He surely knows that for the sake of the sheep the shepherd must expose himself to the attacks of bears and wolves, that the righteous servants of the Word must lead the way into battle and that the blows of the opponents must hit them especially. You will be the object of the world's mockery, ridicule and persecution. But when this happens to you, brethren, when the Lord's word is fulfilled upon you, "And you shall be hated of all men for my name's sake. And a man's foes shall be they of his own household," (Mt. 10:22.36) when you must experience that your best efforts are misjudged, that you are chastised, must endure evil report and dishonor and be considered seducers and deceivers because you will not move from the divine truth in any point, yes, that your own brother is he who lifts up his heel against you, when you see how God's little flock is pressed on all sides, that among them who press upon it are all those who have a reputation in the world for wisdom, might, riches, holiness and virtue, and that the number of these enemies is as great as their shrewdness and cunning so that it often appears to human eyes that God's people are going to be completely destroyed and his truth eradicated from the earth, and in addition, brethren, there come the feeling of your own inability, weakness and sin, then your heart will easily be afraid, and flesh and blood despair. But the Lord counsels you with his word of warning, "Be not dismayed at their faces." Do not let your heart be struck with terror when you see the sight, multitude and advance of the enemies so that the Lord becomes small to you in comparison with them, so that you let go of the truth and power of the Word of God and doubt the Lord's wisdom, might and faithfulness and think that the Lord's arm is shortened so that he no longer is able to uphold his Christendom and defend and preserve his truth! Because, if you thus make flesh your arm and your heart wavers from the Lord and you forget that "his right hand has gotten him the victory," (Ps. 98:1) that he is the One who says to the storm: "Peace, be still," and to the waves: "Calm down," and who also now is powerful to quiet the stirred-up waves of the people, then the Lord says in his word of warning to the prophet that the consequences of that will be that he will terrify you before them. Then he will as a chastisement for your unbelief and your idolatry which you commit by placing more confidence in human power than in the divine, and by making him, the Mighty One, weaker than a child of man, then he will himself so fill your heart with terror and horror before them that you shall hardly be able to free yourself from them, but must despair and perish in them. But if on the other hand, in spite of everything which you see and feel, you hold fast to the Lord and his word and say with the prophet Micah, "I, I will look to the LORD, I will wait for the God of my salvation; my God shall hear me. Rejoice not against me, mine enemy; when I am fallen, I shall arise again; when I sit in darkness, the LORD shall be my light. I will bear the indignation of the LORD, because I have sinned against him, until he will plead my cause and execute judgment for me; he shall bring me forth to the light, I shall behold his righteous-ness," (7:7-9) if you thus cling to the Word alone against all anxiety and fright which can inject itself into your heart, then, then shall fear and anguish give way, and your heart again be of good cheer and courag-eous in the Lord.

IV

The Lord also states the reason why we should not be terrified before them in the words of comfort, and the promise which is the last portion of his address to the prophet. "Because I," he says, "behold, I will today make you a defenced city and an iron pillar and brazen walls against the whole land, against the kings of Judah, against its princes, against its priests and against the people of the land. And they shall fight against you and not prevail over you; because I am with you, says the Lord, to deliver you."

While the defenseless city lay open to every attack and its citizens lacked every protection, yet on the other hand they could dwell securely in the defenced city in the shelter of the protecting walls from which the watchmen warned and called the warriors in the defense against the approaching enemy. The Lord made the prophet Jeremiah such a defenced city for the whole land. "I have set you for a tower and a fortress among my people, that you may know and try their way." Je. 6:27. The Lord equipped him with wisdom and power. He put his word in his mouth and made him firm in confidence in the Lord's protec-tion. Thus he openly exposed all the attacks of the enemies and in spite of the fact that the kings and princes of Judah, its priests, yes, the people of the country mocked and persecuted him because he chas-tized them for their sins and prophesied to them the most dreadful punishment, yet because of confidence in God's faithfulness and the truth of the Word, he stood as immovable as an iron pillar. He did not let himself bend like a weak reed by the favor or threats of the most mighty or be deceived by the seductive speeches and false grounds of comfort of the priests or become frightened and give in to the cries and rage of the people. And for the few who accepted discipline and turned to the God of their fathers and relied on his help, for them he was a wall of brass from which the enemies' shots and arrows fell back powerless without harming them. However many and mighty the enemies were, yet they did not prevail over the prophet because the Lord was near to him in the Word of faith which he preached, so that later we hear him say himself, "The LORD is with me as a mighty terrible one; therefore my persecutors shall stumble, and they shall not prevail; they shall be greatly ashamed; for they shall not prosper; their everlasting con-fusion shall never be forgotten." Je. 20:11.

In these last times also the princes and the priests and the people of the nations go about in various ways against the Lord and his Anointed. They are also going to fight against you, brethren! The rich and the mighty most often aspire to the increase of their riches and power, or the satisfaction of their lusts. They want to spend their days in splendor and luxurious living. A large share of the pastors are false prophets who cry to the people, "Peace, peace," and there is no peace, or who seduce souls with their doctrines of men but do not teach the way of salvation properly. And the masses of the people are a race torn away from God, who, drowned in an appalling materialism, for the most part use the name of Jesus for covering up their service of mammon and the worship of their own flesh.

Now if you are not to keep silent like a dumb dog but are to say to them what the Lord has commanded you, chastise them for their sins and threaten them with God's wrath and judgment if they do not turn to the Lord their God from whom they are fallen, then their wrath is going to be kindled and they are going to fight against you.

But the Lord will also make you a firm city, an iron pillar and a wall of brass before the country before them, while more and more he increases the true knowledge of God in your hearts and gives you the blessed certainty of faith so that you hold firmly to his Word and promises and fearlessly and courageously confess him as your Savior, him, who came down in order to give life to the world, and who was delivered for our offenses and raised again for our justification. Yes, if you just humbly hold firmly to the Lord's Word and promises in prayer and supplication, then you shall also stand solid as an iron pillar which is not bent by every wind of doctrine or does not waver under the weight of the cross which rests upon you. Then you shall also be as an unyielding city and a brass wall for the many or the few who have their delight in the words of the Lord and who know and follow the voice of their Shepherd. God's people shall dwell securely with you, warned by you against all the craft and cunning of the enemy and protected by the mighty brass wall of the Word of God with which they are hedged around by you. So even if they may fight against you, yet you shall experience that they shall not prevail over you, "because I am with you," says the Lord, "to deliver you." (Je. 1:8.) Because where the Word of God is believed by upright hearts, there Christ himself dwells in the heart by faith, and where the Word of the Lord is confessed in truth and purity, there is he near in the Word of faith which we preach, he, the Mighty One who has created heaven and earth and who will one day create the new heaven and the new earth - he, the Lord of the Church, who has said, "All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth," (Mt. 28:18) he "before whom every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth." (Ph. 2:10.)

But, brethren, if you thus have the Lord's promise that he himself will be with you to deliver you, then you can surely also be sure that he himself comes in the storm and that even if he does not stir it up or cause it himself, yet it is, however, he who permits the enemies to storm against you to their own des-truction but to your chastisement, purifying and victory, so that all the attacks of the enemy must serve to the furtherance of the kingdom of God even against their will, and to your own and your congregations' salvation!

How often have you not, dear congregation, experienced this in the twenty-five years which have passed since the Lord gathered you here and built you up on the foundation of the prophets and apostles? What besides the Word of God did we have to cling to? It was our shield. It was our sword with which we de-fended the precious truth we inherited from our fathers, the truth which saved them, which saves us and which shall save the generations after us, as many as believe. And when enemies raged against us because of this truth, who was it really that comforted us in tribulation, upheld us in battle and turned the enemies' cunning and power into a disgrace for them but good for us and to the glory of God and his truth? Who else really than the Lord Jesus Christ, our church's King and Prince who will never let his truth and those who cling to it be put to shame? Thus at this our Jubilee Festival we will take the comfort and assurance with us from days past in the work and the battle which awaits us, that "he who has begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of our Lord Jesus Christ," (Ph. 1:6) yes, also perform it in them and through them who today are ordained to his service, whose ordination itself is the most excellent testimony of his faithfulness from generation to generation.

Therefore, brethren, in the power of the Most High, let us freely take up the work, go courageously into the battle which is appointed us, finish the course and keep the faith! Then shall we also be able to sing confidently with the psalmist at all times, "We will not fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof. There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the Most High. God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved: God shall help her, and that right early." 46:2-5.

To that end may God help you and us, for Jesus' sake! Amen.

Kirkelig Maanedstidende May 15, 1870; pages 145-153.

Kirkelig Maanedstidende Oct. 1, 1869, pages 314-316 gives the names and a brief biography of the eleven men. After brief biographical information I give only the congregation(s) which they began to serve in '69:

Torger Olsen Juve born in Vinje in Telemarken, Norway, October 23, 1840. Came to America when he was 12. Studied four years in Madison, WI. Luther College, Decorah, IA, 1863-66. Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, MO, 1869; to West Prairie and other congre-gations in Wisconsin.

Ellef Olsen born in Gol in Hallingdal, Norway, April 25, 1841. Luther College, 1866. Concordia Seminary, St,. Louis, MO 1869; to Brule Creek, South Dakota.

Johannes Ellefsen Bergh born in Voss, Norway, May 5, 1842. Came to America when he was 15. Luther College, 1866. Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, MO 1869; to Muskegon and Cedar Creek, Michigan congregations.

Lars J. Markhus born in Skonevig, near Bergen, Norway, June 23, 1842. Luther College, 1862-66. Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, MO 1869; to Norway Lake and neighboring congregations in MN.  

Olaus A. Normann born Jefferson Prairie, WI, Jan. 25, 1845. Luther College. Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, MO 1869; to St. Paul, MN, and Reiseprest for the Northwest.  

Peter Sjursen Reque born in Voss, Norway, July 15, 1842. Came with his parents to America in 1845. Luther College, 1865-67. Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, MO 1869; to Our Savior's in Pope County, MN.

Ole Ambrosen Sauer born in Hitterdal, Norway, Mar. 2, 1844. Studied at Gjertsen's Latin School in Kristiania 1862-1866, B.A. Kristiania U., 1866. Came to U.S. 1866. Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, MO 1869; to Fjeldberg congregation, Story County, IA.

Stener Svennungsen born in Saude in Telemarken in Norway Feb. 15, 1843. Luther College, Decorah, IA 1865-1865. Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, MO 1869; to French Creek and other congregations in Trempeleau County, Wisconsin …

Johannes Johnsen Tackle born Evendvig, Ytre Sogn, Norway, Mar. 8, 1838; Stordens seminary in Norway, 1861; Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, MO 1869; to Lee County, IL.

Jorgen Andreas Thorsen born at Drangedal , Krager in Norway Sept. 12, 1838; Asker seminary in Norway; 3 yrs as teacher in Kristiania (Oslo), during which time he studied languages under private instruction; emigrated 1867. Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, MO 1869; to East and West St. Olaf congregations in Olmsted & Dodge Counties, MN.

Johan Henrik Simonsen born Drammen, Norway, Sept. 24, 1840; Kristiania U. '66; taught a couple of years in Norway. Came to U.S. in '69 to be pastor at Jefferson Prairie & Long Prairie, in Rock County, WI.