The Grace of Our Lord Jesus Christ, The Love of God, and The Fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you All. Amen.

Zacharias was the first to sing of Christian Peace in the New Testament. As he contemplated the coming of the Messiah, the Lord having opened mouth after nine months of silence, sang, ". . . the Sunrise from on high shall visit us, TO SHINE UPON THOSE WHO SIT IN DARKNESS AND THE SHADOW OF DEATH, To guide our feet into the way of peace."

The angelic host was the next song the peace. "Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased." Simeon sang the third song of peace as he look upon the Christ Child being brought into the temple to do what the Law required. "Now Lord, Thou dost let Thy bond_servant depart In peace, according to Thy word; For my eyes have seen Thy salvation. A Light to lighten the Gentiles and the Glory of people Israel."

Peace was the greeting that accompanied our Lord’s arrival into this dark and sinful world. Peace was also the greeting that accompanied our Lord’s departure as well. In Mark chapter nine, Jesus warns the disciples about the fate of those who give up the faith and live by a code of works righteousness. There He warns them about the perils of hell, then He says, "Salt is good; but if the salt becomes unsalty, with what will you make it salty again? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another."

As our Lord was preparing the disciples for His Passion, He said, "These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace." Let’s not forget that favorite passage of confessional Lutheran pastors in support of the doctrine of the Office of the Keys and Public Ministry. John 20:21 "Jesus therefore said to them again, ‘Peace be with you; as the Father has sent Me, I also send you.’"

So there we have it folks! Pastor Stefanski, brother pastors of the LC-MS, laymen of Immanuel, brothers from our new daughter congregation in Northern Arkansas, friends from sisters congregations, and any would be delegates or participants to the national convention of the LCMS, we are to be about the business of bringing the peace of Christ to all those who have God’s good will. We are to be about the business of living in peace with one another. We are to extend the peace of Christ to one another, as St. Paul did in all his Epistles. "Grace to you and peace

The church, its people, and especially pastors are to be about peace. Ask anyone! They will tell you. Christian or non-Christian, they will tell you, Christians are to be about bringing peace to the world. Everyone knows that.

So there you have it Pastor Stefanski! As the Associate Pastor of Immanuel Ev. Lutheran Church, you are to be about peace. So don’t trouble yourselves with the culture war the rages about us. Don’t concern yourself with the hedonism that seeks to entice our children away from their baptismal grace and a God-pleasing life. Don’t give the Muslims, who seek to drive Christianity and it benefits of freedom and temporal peace, from every corner of the world a second thought. Don’t fret about the gay rights lobbyists who seek to proselytize our children into their lifestyle. Don’t bother with the feminists who seek to turn the created order on its head. Be at ‘peace’ . . . that’s what they tell us. And right there in the Bible the word ‘peace’ is everywhere present.

And as regards the Church, particularly our own synod, why bother . . . why fight over doctrine? Why fight to keep the historic biblical liturgies of the Church? Why make an issue over hymns? Why divide congregations and break friendships over closed communion? Why argue over Jesus the Messiah who saves us by grace not by any work of man verses the Jesus the new law giver who shows us how to make God happier with us. Why debate the questions over the Office of Holy Ministry and the proper duties of lay people toward their pastor and the pastor’s duty toward the people? Why stand against tyranny and corruption in the world and within our own ranks? After all we, the Church of Jesus Christ, and you Pastor Eric J. Stefanski, and every pastor here present, are to be about the task of preaching and of giving the peace that surpasses all understanding.

But there is a bit of a problem now here isn’t there Pastor Stefanski? Admittedly, this is not an ordination, but it is still an installation, an official and authorized one, at least I think so, right President Bueltmann? Good, see I told you. You’ve already been ordained. You have already taken your ordination vows. They are going to be reaffirmed here tonight as this congregation prepares to send you back to those hills to preach the Gospel and to teach the baptized.

But you have already taken the vow, as have all the other pastors in this room, as have I. "Wilt thou preach and teach the pure Word of God in accordance with the Confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church and adorn the doctrine of our Savior with a godly and holy life?" You replied, Yes with the help of God. But you are not alone.

As a matter of fact, all the Lutherans here present, who have been baptized and confirmed in the one true Evangelical Faith have taken a similar vow, namely the vow to hold steadfast to and to put into practice all of the doctrines of the infallible and inerrant Word of God, as rightly summarized and presented in the Lutheran Confessions. You not only took the vow, you promised to suffer death rather than fall away from the full counsel of God. We’ve all, pastor and laymen, taken vows to believe, teach, and confess everything that Christ Jesus has commanded us. That was our Lord’s parting command and so what are we to do?

As confessional Lutherans, Lutherans who took a vow to the whole doctrine of Jesus Christ, we aren’t left with just those Bible verses from our Lord’s entrance into this dark and sinful world. Nor are we left with those few Bible passages from the end of our Lord’s earthly ministry. The problem is for the crowd that cries "peace, peace, when there is no peace" is that we have a whole body of Bible stories, of commands, and of our Lord’s teachings show us that the ‘peace’ that we have in Christ is a very, very, very specific kind of peace.

This is the peace the surpasses all understanding and all circumstance. This is the peace that we have been given in Gospel of Jesus. This is the peace that is the result of the atoning sacrifice of God’s Only begotten Son. This is the peace that sinners like us have with God the Father. This is the peace that declares that we are not longer enemies with God.

That is the peace of which Zacharias, the angels, and Simeon sung. That is the peace with which Paul greets us in all of his Epistles. That is the peace that is extended to the Apostles by our Lord as they hid behind locked doors on Easter morning.

Now listen carefully. The peace of Christ is a very specific kind of peace as I have already said, and that is the only peace that faithful Christians, faithful congregations, and faithful pastors will every know in this sinful world.

Yes this is the only peace we are promised and it is the only peace we have. Remember, we’re confessional Lutherans. We confess all that the Scripture teaches and there are many more Bible passages that ought to keep in mind. For the Church is not to be at peace with devil, the world, or our own sinful natures. The Christian, the faithful congregation, and the faithful pastor is to be about the business of making trouble . . . Yes, Pastor Stefanski, you are to be about the business of making trouble . . . the right kind of trouble and in the right kind of way.

The Gospel lesson appointed for this evening is a case and point. "From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing, and forceful men lay hold of it." [One of those rare cases when the NIV translates the text better than most of the other translations.] Here, the coming of the kingdom of heaven is accomplished through violence and the violent seek to overthrow the kingdom of peace by violence.

Violence is the natural result when two opposing forces meet. When two forces with diametrically opposing purposes collide there can only be one result - - trouble, conflict, and war.

Light comes into a dark place and darkness is driven back. The darkness does not yield willingly. The darkness is not please with the light. At that point where the two meet, there is violence and the violent (darkness) seeks to over throw the light. When a cold and warm front meet, there is violence - - a storm.

So it was when the Light came into the darkness. The darkness could not overcome it. So it was when the Life that is Christ came into the world, violence ensued but Herod couldn’t kill it. The people in Christ’s hometown couldn’t kill Life either. T hey tried to extinguish the darkness, but they could not. On Good Friday, the devil in conjunction with the whole world tried to drive the Life and Life from death and darkness and it could not over come it. When Life met death at the gate of the City of Nain, one of them had to give away and so death was driven back and Life prevailed.

The truth of the matter is, conflict is the natural condition - - that’s why we call it the church militant. For peace is only won through the shedding of blood. That is true for the earthly kingdoms. It is also true in the heavenly kingdom. The difference is, that in the earthly kingdom the combatants try to shed the blood of their enemy. In the heavenly kingdom, the principle Combatant, Jesus Christ, sheds His blood for us - - His naturally born enemies.

Yes, Christianity is to be about peace, but is also about making the right kind of trouble, fighting the right kind of war, and the shedding the right person’s blood. Did you notice that all three hymns selected for this service sing of this trouble?

Luke 19:42 "If you had known in this day, even you, the things which make for peace! But now they have been hidden from your eyes."

Matthew 10:34 "Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword."

Luke 12:51 "Do you suppose that I came to grant peace on earth? I tell you, no, but rather division."

John 16:33 "These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world."

Oh, people tend to get confused over who is the troubler and who is the troubled. Remember Ahab and Elijah? "Then it happened, when Ahab saw Elijah, that Ahab said to him, ‘Is that you, O troubler of Israel?’ And he [Pastor Stefanski] answered, ‘I have not troubled Israel, but you and your father's house have, in that you have forsaken the commandments of the LORD and have followed the Baals.’"

Pastor Stefanski, you have been called by Immanuel Ev. Lutheran Church and are being sent back to Northern Arkansas as our Missionary there. We are sending you do two things. We are sending you to make peace between God and sinner; to turn enemies of Jesus Christ into His brothers and fellow heirs; to give to them the peace that surpasses all understanding through the faithful execution of the Word and Sacrament ministry of the Church; to speak and live in peace with those who have God’s good will.

First we send you to make peace. Second we send you to make trouble for by doing the first, you will automatically cause the second. As the Associate Pastor of Immanuel Ev. Lutheran Church, we are sending you, no expecting you to go back to the mission field and to make trouble for the devil, for the world, for the sinful nature, and for all those who are seeking to take from our church the full counsel of God and the pure Gospel of Jesus Christ.

We therefore send you Pastor Stefanski to begin your work anew making peace, granting peace, living in peace by the Gospel of Jesus Christ . . . and making trouble by the very same.

AMEN.

May the peace that surpasses all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.