Why I AmJohn 3:16-18

16God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God's one and only Son.

I do not remember a time when I did not want to be a pastor! From my earliest childhood memories to this very moment, being a pastor was all I ever wanted to be! Yes, there were short periods of time when I wanted to be a paratrooper, like my Dad. And when the television series “Sea Hunt” was popular, I wanted to be a scuba diver.

But my interest in those careers was short-lived. I remained steadfast in my intention to become a pastor. Once I determined the pathway of schooling I had to take to be a pastor, my life’s plan was settled. I knew how and when I would become a pastor. This was so well established in my family, that most of my Con-firmation gifts were books my relatives felt I would need as a pastor.

Of course, adults always like to ask children what they want to be when they grow up and why – and I got that question plenty of times. I still do get asked why I am what I am! I never knew exactly what to say back then, so I tried to look serious and said I wanted to be a pastor, and didn’t know exactly why. It wasn’t until I grew older and was better versed in the Bible, that I realized what the answer really was.

It turned out that the answer is really twofold. There is a theologically correct answer and a more personal answer. Speaking on the basis of Holy Scripture, I wanted to be a pastor because the Lord wanted me to be a pastor. He called me and equipped me with the tools I had to have in order to be a pastor. He pro-vided the certainty in my heart and mind that it was my calling to serve him and his people as a pastor.

Now you can snicker about that, or ridicule that, or doubt me, but you’ll never convince me otherwise! If you knew the path by which the Lord led me to being a pastor, you would be more inclined to believe that God called me to be a pastor and then set about to make that possible. I am a pastor because he called me to be a pastor and for the past 25 years he has called me to serve you here as your pastor!

The second reason, the personal reason, is found in our sermon text for this morning. I am a pastor be-cause I believe these words! I believe that whoever does not believe stands condemned already, be-cause they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. I believe that those who do not believe in Jesus as their Savior will perish.Yes, you understand me correctly. I am a pastor because I believe in hell. I know that if you do not be-lieve that God loved you enough to send his Son, then you are going to hell. I believe that anyone and ev-eryone who has not put their faith and trust in Jesus as their Savior from sin will be condemned to ever-lasting torment in hell, right next to Satan!

Yes, I believe in eternal life, a life everlasting with our Lord in the bliss of heaven. But that is not why I am a pastor! I am a pastor because sinners like you and me are doomed to hell because we simply cannot be accepted by God as we are. We must have the guilt of our sin paid. Our penalty of death in hell must be lifted by the life and death of our Lord Jesus Christ.

If there is no hell, then there is no point in being a pastor – you would be better off with a trained social worker or psychologist! If there is no chance of anyone going to hell, there is no point in being a pastor – we should all get jobs that accomplish something. If there is no life after death, then pastors should be honest about it and leave consciences alone.

If there is no hell, or nobody goes to hell, or there no life to come, I would not have become a pastor! But there is a hell, and so I am a pastor! If Jesus Christ – crucified on the cross and raised again to life on the third day – is not the Savior of us all, I would have nothing to offer you as a pastor. But Jesus is your only Savior and I must tell you about him!

It is as simple as that! That is why I am what I am! I want to do anything I can to keep you out of hell! I want you to have the comfort and the joy and the peace of mind that can only come from the certainty that God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. I want you to know the depth of God’s love for you!

I want you to know that when your life here is over, and you fall asleep in the darkness of death, you will awaken to the glories of heaven and not hell. That’s why I am a pastor. That’s why I say what I say and why I do what I do! I do not want you to go to hell! I do not want anyone to go to hell! And as your pas-tor, I want you to feel that way, too!

That’s why it scares me to death when you fail to worship! I worry that the joy of being freed from hell has cooled and you no longer are thankful to the One who saved you. I worry that your faith is slipping and your lack of gratitude to the Lord is evidence that you are losing your saving faith. Otherwise, why wouldn’t you want to be here worshiping the God who loves you so much, the One who delivered you from hell?

That’s why it scares me to death when you fail to study God’s Word with your fellow Christians in Bible study. I worry that the reality of hell has left you along with the desire to know more about the Lord of Life! Otherwise, why wouldn’t you want to learn as much as you can about your relationship with him now and your future with him in heaven, not hell?

That’s why it scares me to death when I see our congregational offerings decline, along with our support of missionaries sent by our Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod. What does that say about us? Are we saying that some new gimcrack or geegaw is more important to us than the souls of people going to hell because they haven’t heard, much less believed, that God sent his Son into the world to save everyone in it?

That’s why I am a pastor! I want you to see the way out of hell. I want you to worship the Lord and enjoy the blessings that brings! I want to show you the dire conditions of people who don’t believe what you do, and remind that the Lord expects and equips you to share the good news with as many people as you can!

That’s why I became a pastor. That’s why I am a pastor! Now, in a very short time, I will no longer be a pastor – not your pastor, not anybody’s pastor. It will no longer be my privilege to serve you as I have served you for all these years. I will be a non-pastor, just like all of you who are here this morning.

So, where does that leave me? What am I going to be now? What do I do about my belief in hell and its unstoppable arrival to those who do not believe in Jesus as God’s one and only Son, given as the sacrifice needed to save human beings from hell? For that matter, where does that leave you? You have never been a pastor and you share my concern about people and hell. So, what do we do?

Our love for people certainly hasn’t changed, nor has our conviction of hell. The Lord no longer wants me to be a pastor, so how do I act on those beliefs? How do we? We begin with ourselves! We do not want to go to hell. We know we have saving faith, so we will use our time to strengthen it!

We will continue to use our time to read and study God’s saving Word. In this way we will fortify our faith and build our unity with the Lord and his will. This will certainly lead to prayer – not just for our-selves, but for others. We want to use the opportunities we have to bear witness to the truth.

That means we’ll strive to live the same life of love for others that our Lord lived for us. In that way, any personal witness we may give will be supported by what we do! To say one thing and to live another way, doesn’t accomplish what we want! But we also realize that we must speak, we just can’t live for the Lord, we must share the Lord with our words.

We are to be living witness to the salvation God provides for all mankind through faith in Christ Jesus. But that is difficult to do – it is so very personal and risky. But it is important to us! So we’ll begin by sharing the Gospel with those closest to us, people who already share our saving faith, so we will not have to worry about their reaction our words. We anticipate daily devotions with our spouse. We will encour-age our children and our grandchildren in every way possible.

Then we will be much more prepared and more comfortable in sharing the Gospel with others when op-portunities arise. It won’t be as hard as it seems and any rejection we encounter will pale when compared to the joy of sharing such good news of what the Lord has done for us all! We will do everything we can to spare as many as possible from the death of hell and rejoice with those who are already heaven bound!

This is why I am what I am and what I will be! I believe all these words: God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God's one and only Son. Amen.