Note: This Pastor’s Page is adapted from my Aug 16, 2026 sermon for Rev. Dr. Leroy Leach’s installation as St. Matthew's Assistant Pastor. The sermon text was 2 Corinthians 5:14-21.

Our Lord Jesus spoke of the serious task of the Holy Ministry both to His Apostles (in the Gospels) and throughthose same Apostles (in the rest of the New Testament). One of those passages is 2 Corinthians chapter 5. How does St. Paul characterize the work of ministry? He calls it “the ministry of reconciliation.” He writes in 2 Cor. 5:18-19, “All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to Himself, and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ, God was reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.”

This type of reconciliation is about much more than people trying to get along or sweep their differences under the rug. As far as it depends upon us, the Lord does expect us to live peaceably with others (Romans 12:18), but there’s much more to this “ministry of reconciliation” than just putting up with others or attempting to “reconcile” our differences maybe even by excusing our own sin or the sins of others.

First of all, 2 Corinthians 5 is about what the Lord has done for us! Without Christ Jesus, there is no reconciliation. Apart from our Savior, there is only alienation and separation from God. That’s the stark reality of our sin. The wages of our sin is death and eternal separation from the Lord.

As pastors, we are called to proclaim God’s Law and the harsh reality that He has pronounced about our sinful condition. But this message of the Law (with the damning nature of our sin, and the separation from God that our sin causes) also prepares us to hear the Gospel as truly Good News from the Lord, like this Gospel statement from St. Paul in 2 Cor. 5:18, “Through Christ [God] reconciled us to Himself!”

Don’t take those words for granted as you read them! Don’t take that message for granted as we pastors teach and preach it each week!  Instead, remember where you’ve come from. … In just one chapter of the Bible, Ephesians chapter 2, Paul uses all of these descriptions of our natural sinful condition: dead in your trespasses and sins; by nature, children of wrath; separated from Christ; alienated from God’s people; strangers to His promises; having no hope and without God; and being far off from Him. Finally, though, Paul preaches Good News for us in Eph. 2:13-14, “But now in Christ Jesus, you who were once far off, have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For Himself is our peace.”  

Through Christ, God has reconciled you to Himself! And Paul says the work of Christ and His cross went even further: “That is, in Christ, God was reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them” (2 Cor. 5:19). This is the very Good News that our Lord Jesus gave Himself for every human soul. Because of this, we ought to regard every single person accordingly,  as a precious soul whom Christ has died to redeem!

But still, this Good News needs to be shared and heard and believed. The blessings of Christ’s cross must be applied to us individually through Holy Baptism. Christ’s plan for making people His new creations is that they be baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit (Matt, 28:19), having their sins washed away, and receiving His promised Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38). And then, having been brought near and reconciled to God in Christ, we need to continue hearing the powerful Word of God, for faith comes by hearing the Word of Christ (Rom. 10:17).

And all of this points to the necessity of the Holy Ministry. God provides pastors for His people, that we might be baptized into Christ, continue growing in His Holy Word, and be fed with Christ’s Body and Blood. Pastors are called to publicly preach and teach God’s Word and administer His Sacraments, that we would know and believe that it is by God’s grace, through faith in Christ alone, that we are saved. 

God Himself is the Reconciler, but He carries out this ministry through His people, through pastors, teaching and preaching the saving Gospel of Christ crucified and risen to make us His new creations, and through Christian lay people, as your words and lives bring the peace of Christ to those in need of it. 

Again, St. Paul tells us in 2 Cor. 5:19-20, how God is “entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making His appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.”

As we go forward, receive Pastor Leach, like any faithful pastor, as the Ambassador for Christ that he is. An ambassador doesn’t just speak on His own behalf. He speaks for the One who sent him. This is what Paul means when he says God is making His appeal through us. When you hear your pastor proclaim God’s Word of Law and Gospel for you and pronounce forgiveness for your sins, the Lord Himself is addressing you through His minister.  

When Pastor Leach appeals to you to heed God’s Word, to live a life that is reconciled to God through faith in His Son, listen and take it to heart. And when he teaches you to let God’s reconciliation filter down into your relationships with your brothers and sisters in Christ, listen up to that as well! You and I have been made new in Christ: made new to live a faithful life, which receives and honors God’s Word, and a life that both shares and practices Christ’s reconciliation with those around us.

So, thank you, Pastor Leach, for accepting the Call to serve as St. Matthew’s Assistant Pastor  and for faithfully making known to us the Good News that, in Christ, God has reconciled us to Himself!

Peace in Christ,

            Pastor Kory Janneke