For the ordination of my dear friend, Rev. Kyle McBee
June 18, 2017
Zion Lutheran Church, Humboldt, Iowa
Click here to watch to the video
In the name of Jesus, dear members of
Zion, brothers in the ministry, Cayleigh, Emma, Matt and Debbie, your family and
friends, and especially to you, Kyle,
In
one way, for those of us who have known Kyle for a long time today is a huge
relief. We made a lot of jokes at his expense about his, how shall I say it,
indecisiveness in choosing a career. You weren’t quite sure what you wanted to
do. I know that at least once, you made jokes comparing yourself to Jonah for
feeling like you were running from God’s call.
That’s
we were really confused when you went and joined the United States Navy. I
could see how this was going to play out. You’d be out there somewhere on some
boat in the middle of the ocean when the biggest storm anyone has ever seen
comes up. All the sailors panic until Kyle comes up to the captain and
confesses that he’s been running away from the LORD. Throw him overboard and
the sea will become calm.
Then
he’d be swallowed by a huge fish and spit up somewhere near the campus of the
seminary in Ft. Wayne. At least that’s how I saw it all playing out in my head.
Of
course, nothing like that ever happened. The Navy must have known something
because in three and half years of honorable service to our country, Kyle never
once set foot on one of our boats.
We
may joke about this all we want, but really you aren’t anything like Jonah. You
were not running away from God, God was preparing you for this moment. Whether
it was working at Target, UPS or serving in the Navy, the same thing was true:
the LORD was shaping you and forming you to be first the man He wants you to be
and now the pastor He wants you to be. The people you met and the experiences
you had will help you more than you can imagine as you minister to God’s people
here at Zion. And don’t worry. That shaping and forming will continue.
So
the parallel between you and Jonah isn’t the reason I choose this text for today.
As we look at this today, we’re going to see the way that God calls people to
bring other people to faith. God wants all people to be saved and to come to
know Him.
Look
at the man God calls to bring His message to Nineveh. Jonah didn’t want to go the
first time God called him, but ran away as far as he could. God had to send a
storm and then a great fish to save his life and bring Jonah back. You know the
story.
Why
did Jonah run? Was he afraid that the people wouldn’t listen to him? Was he
afraid that the King of Nineveh would have him killed? Was he afraid to leave
home? No it wasn’t any one of these things. Jonah told God exactly why He
didn’t want to go. He says,
“O LORD, is not this what I said
when I was yet in my country? That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish; for
I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in
steadfast love, and relenting from disaster.” (Jonah 4:2)
Jonah
knew that God’s character! He’s actually quoting what God Himself said to the people
of Israel after they worshiped the golden calf. This phrase is repeated over
and over again throughout the Old Testament. God is gracious and merciful—slow to
anger and abounding in steadfast love. The point is this: God wanted to forgive
the people of Nineveh.
This prophet was
reluctant because he didn’t want these people to know God’s mercy and grace! Think
about it. It says that Nineveh required a three day journey to see it all—Jonah
only goes in a one day’s journey. His sermon is only five words long in Hebrew. Give a sermon like that next Sunday, some people will be really excited, some people not so much.
But what that sermon does is interesting. “Yet forty days and Nineveh will be
overthrown.” Today you think you’re okay, but what about tomorrow—what’s going
to happen to you in the future. It’s similar to the question we ask in Ongoing
Ambassadors For Christ, “Where do you think you are going to go when you die.” Jonah
was more successful than any other prophet—the entire city repents—and he can’t
stand it!
At
this point, I should tell you that your pastor warned me a few weeks ago and
begged me not to use this text because he said, “Jacob, I actually like these
people! Don’t make them think I don’t!” Kyle, as I told you then, that’s
actually the point. You do like these people and are excited to serve them.
But
that doesn’t take away one thing. I’ve known you Kyle for a long time and if
there’s one thing I know about Kyle, it’s that he is a sinner, just like me.
That’s right; Zion Lutheran Church has maintained its perfect record of calling
sinners to be pastor.
Remember
where we are at the beginning of our reading today. Jonah is sitting on the
beach, covered in fish barf, looking up at the blazing sun for the first time
in three days, and wondering what’s next. He’s just disobeyed God big time, and
what does God do? God calls Jonah a second time. The call that Jonah receives
in 3:2 is nearly word-for-word the same as the call he received in 1:2. The
grace, mercy, and steadfast love that Jonah feared would be applied to Nineveh
was applied to him first.
Kyle,
the same is true for you. When you were sitting in the own filthy fish vomit of
your own sins, God called you to be His own child. He washed you with the water
of holy baptism. He covered you with Jesus’ blood, shed on the cross for the
forgiveness of your sins. He promised you Christ’s resurrection and eternal
life. And now, like Jonah, God has called you to proclaim what you have
received to fellow sinners so that they would also know God’s grace.
Look
at the people Jonah speaks to. The great miracle of the Book of Jonah is not
that the prophet spent three days as fish barf. It isn’t the vine growing up overnight.
The great miracle is that the people—all the people from the least to the
greatest—repented and believed. After all, it is still a miracle any time any
sinner repents and turns to the LORD with saving faith. This is the power of
the Word you declare. It takes hardened sinners and makes them God’s children.
Twice in the book,
Nineveh is called a great city. There are a lot of reasons that people could say
that Humboldt, Iowa is a great city. I’ve been here for all of one day and I’ve
really enjoyed it. It’s clean and safe. You’ve got parks and walking trails.
The economy and population are growing—it’s a great city. Your city has
certainly lived up to the hype from its website.
None of these things,
however, make Humboldt a great city to God. The Book of Jonah calls Nineveh a
“great city to God.” It wasn’t for any of the reasons that make Humboldt great.
At that time, Nineveh was the capital of the Assyrian Empire—one of the largest
empires the world had seen at that time. We also read that a visit to Nineveh
required three days to take in all its greatness. This is where the mighty and
powerful people lived. This was a great city if there ever was one!
But God did not call Jonah to go
to Nineveh and tell them how great their city was; instead the reluctant
prophet was called to call these people to repentance. Nineveh’s greatness was
achieved with great cruelty. They would scatter the peoples they conquered
throughout their vast empire. The blood of hundreds of thousands of innocent
people was on their hands. Nineveh was a city filled with great sin!
I
serve a congregation in Emma, Missouri. For all the joking Missouri and Iowa
may do about each other, we really aren’t all that different. If Humboldt is
anything like Emma, you’ve got people here who are addicted to drugs and
alcohol, people who have no respect for God’s gift of marriage and sexuality,
people who hurt each other with divorce, abuse, lies, and general apathy
towards their neighbors. You’ve got people who are hurting from the loss of
someone they love, who are suffering from cancer, and whose bodies are failing.
You are all sinners and you are all effected by sin. We are no better than the
Ninevehites. We all need to repent.
If God would have sent fire and brimstone or
an invading army to wipe Nineveh of the face of the earth, everyone would have
agreed that the wicked Ninevehites would have gotten was what coming to them.
However, God had something else in mind. He sent them someone to speak His Word
on His behalf.
This is why God considered
Nineveh to be a great city: they are sinners who need to be called to repent
and then need to hear about His grace. Here’s what God says about Nineveh at
the end of the book:
“And should not I pity Nineveh,
that great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know
their right hand from their left, and also much cattle?" Jonah 4:11
God cares about them
and wants them to hear the message of His love. He was concerned about them
because they were lost and God wanted to bring them back. This is why we heard
that Jesus had compassion on people in this morning’s Gospel reading. The
people were “harassed and helpless like sheep without a shepherd.” Jesus’ command
is that we would then pray that God would call workers into His harvest. Today,
God has answered that prayer for Zion, Humboldt.
Nineveh was about twenty five
times bigger than Humboldt, but to the LORD, such distinctions do not matter. God
thinks Humboldt is such an important place that He continues to call and gather
people to hear His Word. That, Kyle, is why you have been called here. You have
been called to speak God’s Word and not your own to a city that He thinks is
great because His compassion is greater than we can imagine.
You
have been called to proclaim the One who is greater than Jonah—someone who
didn’t spend three days and nights in the belly of a great fish. He spent three
days in the heart of the earth. This is of course, our Lord Jesus. In His
death, we have clear evidence that God is gracious and merciful to us. We
freely receive the forgiveness and life we do not deserve. We see that God is
slow to anger—all of His wrath was poured out on His Son and not on you.
This Jesus was
crucified for us and was buried. But like it wasn’t possible for the fish to
keep Jonah in its stomach, it wasn’t possible for death to hold onto Jesus. It
had to throw Him up! He lives to die no more.
Kyle,
the Gospel that you proclaim, that Jesus calls us to believe, is that He has
done this: He has lived the perfect life that you could not live. He has died
in our place on the cross. And He has risen from the dead so that we would have
forgiveness of sins and everlasting life.
In this Jesus, God is
moved from judgment to mercy just as He was for the people of Nineveh. God
brought this good news to Nineveh through Jonah. For decades now it has been
declared here at Zion and you get to be one in a long line of pastors who call
people to repentance and declare God’s good news.
Jonah walked into
Nineveh alone. He was the only one who knew God. Kyle, you are not alone here.
You have hundreds of people in this congregation who have been gathered by the
Holy Spirit to hear His Word and work for His kingdom. Already you love them.
May the Lord richly bless you as you serve them. Amen.
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| Pastor Kyle McBee! |
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| This is proof that a screen shot of someone preaching rarely looks good. |
To help
the community, Pastor Thwala’s church has worked to provide housing and
educational opportunities for orphans. Many of these orphans lost their parents
to HIV/AIDS. In June of 2016 Pastor Thwala hosted a team of 21 from Emma,
Concordia, Sweet Springs, and the surrounding area. This team was able to build
a house the Mchunu family in the Ntshongweni community. 
