Table of DutiesPublic Life – Vocation

Certain passages of Scripture for various holy orders and positions, admonishing them about their duties and responsibilities

Chain the Catechism: A topical study through the Lutheran confessions

Memorization Verses:

LSB 854

Tune: I Know that My Redeemer Lives

1 Forth in Thy Name, O Lord, I go,

My daily labor to pursue,

Thee, only Thee, resolved to know

In all I think or speak or do.

2 The task Thy wisdom has assigned,

O let me cheerfully fulfill;

In all my works Thy presence find,

And prove Thy good and perfect will.

3 Thee may I set at my right hand,

Whose eyes mine inmost substance see,

And labor on at Thy command,

And offer all my works to Thee.

4 Give me to bear Thy easy yoke,

And ev'ry moment watch and pray,

And still to things eternal look,

And hasten to Thy glorious day.

5 For Thee delightfully employ

Whate’er Thy bounteous grace has giv’n,

And run my course with even joy,

And closely walk with Thee to heav’n.

Sing it!

Reflect on One’s Vocation

Share the highs and lows of your vocation:blessings and challenges, joys and frustrations, fulfillments and limitations. Is it a place to witness?

PRAYER

• Workers• Mangers• Submission• Lord is support• Everyone fulfills the law of loveP raiseR epentanceA ppreciationY ouE veryoneR esolve

Heavenly Father, grant Your mercy and grace to Your people in their many and various callings. Give them patience, and strengthen them in their Christian vocation of witness to the world and of service to their neighbor in Christ’s name; through Jesus Christ, our Lord. You have called Your servants to ventures of which we cannot see the ending, by paths as yet untrodden, through perils unknown. Give us faith to go out with good courage, not knowing where we go but only that Your hand is leading us and Your love supporting us; through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

Jesus wants me for a sunbeam,

To shine for Him each day;

In every way try to please Him,

At home, at school, at play.

A sunbeam, a sunbeam,

Jesus wants me for a sunbeam;

A sunbeam, a sunbeam,

I'll be a sunbeam for Him.

Sing it!

I want to be a worker for the Lord http://www.cyberhymnal.org/htm/i/w/t/iw2bwork.htm

I want to be a worker for the Lord, I want to love and trust His holy word, I want to sing and pray and be busy every day,In the vineyard of the Lord. 

I will work, I will pray, In the vineyard, in the vineyard of the Lord. I will work, I will pray, I will labor every day in the vineyard on the

Lord. 

I want to be a worker strong and brave, I want to trust in Jesus' power to save. All who will truly come shall find a happy home. In the kingdom of the Lord. 

Sing it!

Discussion71 percent of workers are “not engaged” or “actively

disengaged” from their work. –Forbes 2011

The brain is a wonderful organ; it starts working the moment you get up in the morning and does not stop until you get into the office. -Robert Frost

Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work. --Thomas A. Edison

Work is love made visible. And if you cannot work with love but only with distaste, it is better that you should leave your work and sit at the gate of the temple and take alms of those who work with joy. --Khalil Gibran

Discussion QuestionsWhat does a Christian job look like?

Does “Christian work” even exist?Are some jobs more “spiritual” than

others? Do some jobs make us better before God? Are these questions the same?

What does it mean to be “called” to a vocation? How can I determine what “calling” I have?

When we pray the Lord's Prayer, observed Luther, we ask God to give us this day our daily bread. And He does give us our daily bread. He does it by means of the farmer who planted and harvested the grain, the baker who made the flour into bread, the person who prepared our meal. We might today add the truck drivers who hauled the produce, the factory workers in the food processing plant, the warehouse men, the wholesale distributors, the stock boys, the lady at the checkout counter. Also playing their part are the bankers, futures investors, advertisers, lawyers, agricultural scientists, mechanical engineers, and every other player in the nation's economic system. All of these were instrumental in enabling you to eat your morning bread.

Before you ate, you probably gave thanks to God for your food, as is fitting. He is caring for your physical needs, as with every other kind of need you have, preserving your life through His gifts. "He provides food for those who fear him" (Psalm 111:5); also to those who do not fear Him, "to all flesh" (136:25). And He does so by using other human beings. It is still God who is responsible for giving us our daily bread. Though He could give it to us directly, by a miraculous provision, as He once did for the children of Israel when He fed them daily with manna, God has chosen to work through human beings, who, in their different capacities and according to their different talents, serve each other. This is the doctrine of vocation.

- From God at Work: Your Christian Vocation in All of Life, by Dr. Gene Edward Veith.

Christian Vocation: What is it?Three types of “Christian” Vocation:

Externally Called Vocation: Pastors and established teachers of a public church body“Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in

which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood.” (Acts 20:28)

Domestic/Personal Vocations: Being a family member and neighbor as an informal interaction“Only let each person lead the life that the Lord has

assigned to him, and to which God has called him. This is my rule in all the churches. ” (1 Cor. 7:17)

Internally Called Public Vocations: Laborer, teacher, nurse, etc. outside the home for pay.“And to aspire to live quietly, and to mind your own affairs,

and to work with your hands, as we instructed you, so that you may walk properly before outsiders and be dependent on no one.” (1 Thess. 4:11)

Far Cry from RomeRC believes in Man/God contract towards glory

Vocations are man’s pursuit of God’s righteousness

Certain vocations are faster/better at attaining this glory (monasticism)

Deficits in work are fulfilled by the sacramental system of the RC church system

Luther rejects this in favor of: Vocations that are pleasing to God intrinsically

because they have been freed and redeemed by the gospel

Equality amongst all good vocations per a Christian’s spirit-filled sanctification

Emphasis on vocation as comfort to neighbor and simplicity of the working body of Christ.

Vocation Scripture SearchAttitude

2 Thess. 3:10, Lk 10:30, Jn 14:26, Col. 3:23, Mt 6:24, 1 Cor. 10:31, Acts 20:35, James 2:1, Prov. 30:1-33

Where and When1 Peter 2:9, Luke 10:7, 1 Tim 5:16,

Matt. 20:1-16Types

Romans 12: 4-8, Lk 10:2, 1 Peter 2:5, 1 Cor. 11:23-25, Acts 9:17:19, Eph. 4:28

Who benefits?Lk 16:19-31, 1 Tim. 5:18, Prov. 27:17,

1 Peter 3:7, Is. 1:17, James 1:27

Always Something to DoVocation is fulfilled under the freeing

auspice of the Gospel. Yet, sometimes we fail or cannot perform our vocation… What then?Your vocational identity is always

supplied by the Spirit of God. Your prayer is to always be used by the Spirit productively in the world.

Recognize you are a sinner, even in your work. Mistakes teach humility, which leads to compassion

Even if you are homebound or disabled, you serve an important role to teach others about mercy.

Trinity as VocationEven though the Trinity is pre-imenantly

equal, united, and sharing in perfect familial pre-eminant love, each member serves a unique set of vocations defined for our benefit Father: to create, sustain, uphold and have

jurisdiction over law and gospel. Serves the son and honors Him with dominion.

Son: Perfect life, family and friend, sacrifice, propitiation, pre-existing language/logos of God, seperates the wheat from the chaff

Holy Spirit: provides the water for us to swim in, the heart for us to worship, the understanding and words to defend, the will and the desire to love and serve.

Luther QuoteTherefore I advise no one to enter any religious order or the priesthood, indeed, I advise everyone against it - unless he is forearmed with this knowledge and understands that the works of monks and priests, however holy and arduous they may be, do not differ one whit in the sight of God from the works of the rustic laborer in the field or the woman going about her household tasks, but that all works are measured before God by faith alone.

- Martin Luther, The Babylonian Captivity of the Church (1520)

Public Life/Vocation

Say Mean Matter

Key phrases Own words Answer the questions/Personal application

How does the Lord urge workers to apply themselves in

their calling? How does the Lord call managers to treat those who serve them? How does the Lord call young people to live? Why does the Lord include this special counsel for widows? To what duties has God called all Christians? •______________________________

SS Workers M Managers T Submission W Lord is support Th Everyone fulfills the law of love

The Lord calls workers to respect those who manage their labor and to serve with reverence, as though each deed were a prayer to Christ.

Eph 6:5-8 Bondservants,[a] obey your earthly masters with fear and trembling, with a sincere heart, as you would Christ, not by the way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but as bondservants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, rendering service with a good will as to the Lord and not to man, knowing that whatever good anyone does, this he will receive back from the Lord, whether he is a bondservant[c] or is free.

• Pray: O Lord, heavenly Father,

through Your angels You did bid shepherds of the field not to fear but

to rejoice that Christ, the Savior, was born. Drive away, we pray, all fear from our hearts. Stir up in us this true and perfect joy, that, though here on earth we may be despised, miserable, poor, forlorn, we may, nevertheless, be comforted and rejoice that we have Your Son, Christ, our Lord, as our Savior, who for us became man, that He might defend us from death and evil and save us forever. Amen. (Veit Dietrich, 1506-49).

SS Workers

Employers and supervisors should regard workers as fellow servants of the Lord. They should not manage their labor with threats but reward them for diligence and goodness.

Eph 6:9 Masters, do the same to them, and stop your threatening, knowing that he who is both their Master and yours is in heaven, and that there is no partiality with him.

• Pray: Lord Jesus, it is Your office

which I hold. It is Your work I am doing. It is Your people whom I would build up. It is Your glory that I seek. Help me, therefore, in this hour, that I a poor sinner, may do and perform it all according to Your most holy will, for You have earned

my salvation by Your passion. Amen. (G. C. Dieffenbach, 1822-1901).

M Managers

(Youth) Though the apostle Peter, who was known in his early ministry for boldness, the Lord counsels humility and submission to those with more experience.

1 Peter 5:5-6 Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you,

• Pray: O my God, give me a humble heart,

that I may become profoundly aware of the fact that I have life and breath, prosperity and all from You, to the end that I may humble myself under Your mighty hand, and may not presume to offend You by thoughts, words, or deeds. Teach me to know my wretchedness and

your great majesty; to know that from myself I have nothing but sin, death, and damnation; and that, whatever is good there is found in me, I have received all from Your gracious hand; so that I may not make a boast of anything, but regard all things as Your gracious gifts which You can quickly take form me again if in the multitude of Your mercies I should forget You. Plant in my heart true humility, that I may obey, fear, honor, serve, worship, praise, and magnify You alone. Amen. (Johann Friedrich Starck, 1680-1756).

T Submission

In ancient times, widows depended on their families or the church for sustenance. By contrast, most widows today are supported by retirement benefits. In either case, widows are urged to remember the Lord as their true support and pleasure in life.

1 Tim 5:5-6 She who is truly a widow, left all alone, has set her hope on God and continues in supplications and prayers night and day, but she who is self-indulgent is dead even while she lives.

• Pray: God, You are my Father. Lord,

You are my Brother. Spirit, You gave me birth through my dear mother, the holy Christian church. Triune God, I did not discover these truths in solitude. I did not find them in the

forests or in the grassy fields. You called me to where eager children walk and sing and say, “I believe.” Make me a devout sibling in this communion of saints, through the forgiveness of sins, unto the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting. Amen. (EE).

W Lord is Support

We believe God calls all His people to fulfill the law of love toward their neighbor by keeping the Ten Commandments. Likewise, they are to fulfill the law of love by sharing the Gospel and praying for the salvation and the blessing of all people.

Rom 13:9 For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

• Pray: Lord, make me an instrument

of Your peace. Where there is hate bring love; where offense, may I bring pardon. May I bring union in place of

discord; truth replacing error; faith, where once there was doubt; hope for despair; light where there was darkness; joy to replace sadness. Make me not to so crave to be loved as to love. Help me to learn that in giving I may receive; in forgetting self, I may find eternal life. Amen. (Francis of Assisi, c. 1182-1226).

Th Everyone fulfills the law of love

I'm gonna work and watch and pray

I'm gonna serve Him every day

I'm gonna see His face in glory by & by

I'm gonna listen to His voice, i'm gonna make His will my choice

I'm gonna rise to meet Him in the morning!

Sing it!

Conclusion

Exegesis Through the Church Year Featuring:

Next Time…(8/31)

• Studying the pericopes (church readings) through the church year• Emphasis on church liturgy and traditional worship practice• Training in how to explain and interpret biblical passages• Looking at books of the Bible and characters in holistic context• Book of Concord / church history background• Focus on spirituality and Christian life• Activities• Songs• Prayers

• Psalms• Discussion