Jesus for You, Jesus Through You

By Rev. Harrison Goodman

Vocation is how God ties us to each other. He has given us specific people and has commanded us to love them in specific ways. Parent, child. Husband, wife. Pastor, hearer. Teacher, student. Ruler, citizen. These are God-given and unique roles we fill. We don’t do it for ourselves, but to care for our neighbor. It’s all Law. Do this and not that to these people. You can find the specifics in the Table of Duties—that section we tend to neglect in the Small Catechism. I don’t know about you, but I can’t read it without the phrase “Not enough!” kicking me in the gut. Nowhere in the Table of Duties is there the encouragement to “try your best.” To be honest, I haven’t really done that, either.

I know what it takes to fulfill the vocations I’ve been given, and I know that I’m not enough. That word eats at us: “enough.” It steals our sleep. It bites at us no matter how hard we try to run and hide from it. I’m not a good enough husband, dad, or pastor. Are you a good enough student, athlete, friend, son, or daughter? Or does that word “enough” keep you up at night, too?

This is how the world measures our stations in life. It’s why there’s such pressure on you to succeed, and such shame when you don’t. The church word we use to address that failure, the shame, and the terrible things we’ll do to climb over each other to never feel it again, is sin.

Jesus bled and died for you to forgive your sins. While that’s great news, the forgiveness of sins won’t pass your math test. You’re still not enough. Looking in the mirror is still a disappointment. Deep down we feel like the Gospel shouldn’t be Christ fulfilling the Law for us, but rather Christ teaching us how to fulfill it ourselves. We want Jesus to teach us how to be enough. The problem is that we’re trying to make the Gospel about us rather than for us. The Gospel isn’t about you. It’s about Jesus for you, as Paul reminds us: “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:8–10).

You’re justified before God on account of Christ’s works—not your works. There is no boasting in the word “enough” here. Your Baptism, not what you do, makes you a good enough Christian. Your worth isn’t about what you earn, but what about what God paid for you. This is not measured in your success or failure. It’s not measured in you at all. It’s measured in Christ’s blood, shed for you. It’s enough, even though you aren’t. God loves sinners. God loves you. Jesus didn’t need you to be enough for Him to save you. He doesn’t need you to be enough for Him to work through you either. He sends the Holy Spirit to accomplish this.

There’s a connection between what God has made you to be and what He’ll accomplish through you. Your election, God’s work to save you, and your vocation, God’s work to care for your neighbor through you, are from the same source. God loves sinners. Paul writes that before the foundation of the world God prepared the good works we will do, that we should walk in them. He can even accomplish good through sinners. He’s promised to do so. It rarely looks all that impressive, but that’s okay. Jesus was pretty unassuming, too. He still saved you by His death upon the cross and resurrection from the dead. Unassuming isn’t so bad. Jesus preaches through sinful pastors, loves through sinful parents, and learns through sinful students. God has made you holy, and God does holy things through you.

This promise lets us stand closer to the Law, because the Law can’t hurt us anymore. To us, it’s a guide and even a promise. Christ has called these things good. He has promised to do good through us, and these things will be for our ultimate good and the good of others because of it. Where we get in the way, fail, sin, and break things, He forgives and heals. To the Christian, vocation isn’t a burden, but a gift. It’s not that He can’t help your neighbor through you until you’re not a sinner anymore. This is where God promises to work for the people I love. This is how He’ll get it done, both through me and in spite of my weakness. I may not be enough, but He is. Always.

It’s not about whether I’m a good enough father, but whether God says being a father is good. God wants to see my children cared for. He wants it so much He’ll even work through a sinner like me to do it. If God calls my vocations good, then He is at work through them to serve my neighbor. He prepared these good works before the foundation of the world. He’ll make sure I walk in them.

God wants to see His creation sustained. He accomplishes this through the vocations He gives us. He puts on a mask that looks like you and cares for the people you both love. That’s why it’s important to remember that your election isn’t about you. It’s about Jesus for you. Your vocation isn’t about you either, It’s about Jesus through you. God has made you holy in your election. He has given you people to love and to serve. God’s always the one at work, and He’s never been afraid to work through sinners for sinners. Stop with the word “enough.” Better yet, drown it every day in your Baptism, that the new man may emerge and arise to live before God in righteousness and purity forever.

Rev. Harrison Goodman serves as pastor at St. Paul Lutheran Church in Carroll, Nebraska.