Whose Church is it?

At the Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod convention this summer, Dr. Loren Kramer, in his sermon at the installation service of the newly elected officers asked four very important questions:

· “Whose Church is it?”
· “Who’s in charge of the Church?”
· “Where are the headquarters of the Church?”
· “What are the orders for us from our Leader?”

The answers to the questions may seem obvious, but we need to ask these questions of ourselves and remind ourselves of the answers to keep the mission of the church before us at all times:

· “Whose Church is it?” It is not ours, but Jesus Christ’s, who not only planned it but paid for it through His death on the cross.

· “Who’s in charge of the Church?” Not the pastor or vicar, not the council or elders, not the voters’ assembly, and not even the members -- there can be only one head – Jesus Christ.

· “Where are the headquarters of the Church?” Not in the church office, nor the district office (mission support center), nor St. Louis (LC-MS headquarters) or any other earthly place, but in heaven, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God the Father almighty.

· “What are the orders for us from our Leader?” To use the grace and the gifts God gives abundantly to each of us for the good of the body, practicing love and extending forgiveness.

We are to see with God’s eyes in order to “see His plan”. Each person doing what they are gifted and called to do blesses the whole body and much of God’s work of “feeding and equipping the saved, and reaching the lost” gets done.

We are encouraged not at act as “thermometers,” simply gauging the climate of the church, but as “thermostats,” helping to create a healthy climate in which God’s work gets done.