May 2025
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
As I conclude my 23 years of service here at St. Matthew I would like to use this last newsletter article to highlight the top ten lessons I hope and pray you have learned over all these years.
10. I have sought to continually inform and instruct you as to the business of our Synod, that is our national church body as well as our District. I have done so with the goal that you should know what is being proposed and accomplished within the church body with which this congregation has agreed to walk together (which is what synod means, walking together).
9. I have encouraged you to understand that caring for one another in a congregation is not simply one person’s responsibility, but it is the joy and privilege of being a member of a church family to speak well of one another, as well as the congregation as a whole, and to share in what we call the mutual consolation of our brothers and sisters in Christ by building each other up and caring for one another. As I have said, if you see some in need, seek to be God’s helper; do not simply think that someone else might do it.
8. I have encouraged you in your life of witness and evangelism reminding you that “as you are going,” that is as you are living your life in your various vocations, you have God’s authority to speak His Word, so that as you are asked, you can give an answer for your faith and hope in Christ Jesus, knowing you have God’s promise that He will give you not only the courage, but also the words to speak.
7. I have encouraged you in your faith life and stewardship reminding you that God is the Author and Perfecter of our faith. God gives first, and He gives us His best. Our response of faith is just that, a response of faith. As we learn the joy of first fruits giving and especially of tithing, we will see that we cannot out give God. We will also begin to understand that our response of faith in our giving is just that, a response of faith. We first acknowledge that all we have has been first given to us by God, so our offerings (of our time, talent, and treasures) are simply our thankful response to God’s giving and a step in faith believing God will continue to bless us.
6. I have sought to teach you and encourage you in understanding the importance of making regular and diligent use of the Means of Grace, meaning every Sunday and every day. I have encouraged you to be not only in Divine Service on Sunday mornings but also to be in one or more of the weekly Bible Studies that are offered. I have reminded you that the more you learn about God, the more you realize there is so much more you do not know. And I have warned you that lack of regular and diligent use of the Means of Grace makes us weak and a target of Satan and his lies.
5. I have taught and encouraged you to have a clear understanding that our doctrine (what we believe, teach and, confess) is seen as it should be in our practice (how we act out what we believe) and in particular in our practice of the Divine Service. We also understand that our practice informs our doctrine so that what our worship (noun) demonstrates is what we believe. Thus, on Sunday morning we do not worship (verb) as some others do believing that we are there to do something for God as if He is the audience and as if He needs us to do something for Him. Rather, we worship (verb) by coming to Divine Service to be given the gifts God has to give through His called and ordained servant, the pastor, and the response as laity is to offer hymns, prayers. and first fruits.
4. I have reminded you that, as Lutherans, we have the clearest understanding that God’s usual way of dealing with us, of giving us the gifts He has to give is mediately, that is through means and in particular through the Means of Grace. This understanding does not negate the fact that God can come to us immediately, in a dream, in a voice, etc., but that is not His usual way. God gives us faith through His Word and Holy Baptism. God forgives our sins in Holy Baptism, through Holy Absolution, and in His Holy Supper. God strengthens and keeps us in faith through His Holy Word, through our remembering our Baptism, and through His Holy Supper.
3. I have reminded you that, as Lutherans, we have the clearest understanding of Law and Gospel. The Law points us to ourselves showing our sins (mirror), keeping us on the straight and narrow (curb), and instructing us in holy living (guide). The Gospel points us to Jesus and tells us everything that Jesus has done and continues to do for us. The fullness of the Gospel is the fact that God created us to love us and that love is seen in the fact that Jesus lived for us, the perfect life demanded of us, in our place.
2. I have encouraged and reminded you that we as Lutherans have the clearest understanding of Justification and Sanctification. We are justified in God’s eyes, by His Grace through the faith He has given us, in Jesus. We are Sanctified in that we are made holy and lead holy lives as the Holy Spirit stirs in us and moves in us, and as we live lives as priests as living sacrifices, always being ready to give an answer for the hope that we have in Jesus, we do so to the glory of God.
1. I have continually sought to remind you that we get it right when we point to Jesus. When we point to ourselves, we are talking “Law talk,” and the Law does not save us. When we point to Jesus, we are talking Gospel. We are saved, we are justified, and we are made right before God by Grace. God’s Grace is a gift given to us first in our Baptism as God’s Name is put on us. We are forgiven through Holy Absolution. We are strengthened through our making regular and diligent use of the Means of Grace. We have Jesus put into us in His Holy Supper. God gives, and we are given to!
Let me encourage you as I have encouraged every congregation I have served when concluding my service: the Lord will provide a replacement for me (probably even better than me). Here at St. Matthew I would remind you that you are in a position of not many congregations. You have a history of God’s blessings of over 125 years. You have all your buildings paid for (albeit, some repairs not withstanding), and you have no debt. This congregation has members which possess all the gifts, talents, and abilities you need in this church family, and God will give you all that you need to continue to be His people and His congregation in this place to be a beacon to the community and beyond.
Having served the Lord at St. Matthew for 23 years (the longest tenured pastor of 125), I am reminded of how quickly time passes. We arrived with two children and have added two more the youngest of whom is eighteen. And yet those 23 years have been but a blink of the eye reminding us that our lives on this earth are short indeed as Job says, “Man who is born of a woman is few of days and full of trouble” (Job 14:1) compared to our eternity in heaven. So, again I would encourage you to live a life with a priority of making sure that your real forever life in heaven is a certainty. With that, I will continue to pray for you as I ask that you continue to pray for me and my family.
As many of you know, pastors never retire, or as the bad dad joke goes, pastors do not retire they are put out to pasture. As of this writing I have already been ask to fill in and preach twice in the coming months. I hope to take the Witness Workshop to other churches and publish the books I have written. Hopefully they will soon be available on my webpage for purchase. And You can keep up with what is happening by checking my blog: http://rabswritings.blogspot.com and by visiting my webpage: Point2Jesus.org.
God’s richest blessings.
In His Service,
Pastor Bogs
1 Cor. 15:3-5
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