In this series we are reprinting Spokesman articles by early leaders in the CLC. Pastor Emeritus James Albrecht is the curator of the series. Pastor Maynard J. Witt (1913-1992) was a leader in the formation of the CLC. He served parishes in Palouse and Spokane, Washington. He was synodical vice president for a time, and a longtime member of the Board of Doctrine. He also served on the committee that oversaw the purchase of the current ILC campus in Eau Claire, and the “transplant” of that institution from its original home in Mankato, Minnesota. This article appeared in the Lutheran Spokesman of July 1960. Scripture quotations are from the King James Version.
The Apostle Paul writes in Philippians 4:4, “Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say, rejoice.”
At first blush it would seem superfluous to encourage anyone to rejoice who is an heir of eternal salvation. A pleasant or successful truth and experience generally produces the spontaneous result that one rejoices. And yet the Lord’s exhortation to rejoice is not only in order but also necessary. While our rejoicing in the Lord becomes evident in our prayers, hymns, and diligence in hearing God’s Word, yet it is expressed in its completed form by an earnest, willing, and happy activity in which the God-given gifts are put to use for the glory of God’s Name and the general good and the edification of His Church. This activity, as far as the laymen are concerned, is revealed in the various opportunities that the Lord prepares and offers, and of which they avail themselves.
One of the many opportunities to rejoice in the Lord is given to such as are chosen by the congregation to teach in the Sunday School. It is indeed a wonderful privilege to be able to rejoice in the Lord by becoming a Sunday School teacher because such workers are reckoned as fellow servants of the apostles even as Paul mentions in Colossians 1:7, where Epaphras is cited as “our dear fellow servant.” But this privilege is emphasized when it is remembered that the teacher in the Sunday School becomes directly involved in the joy of bringing the Word of Life to children so that they might be wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. No man can be occupied with a more blessed activity than to tell others of their free salvation in Jesus, and when the Gospel is faithfully taught as it comes forth out of God’s mouth, the Lord assures us that the Word shall accomplish that which is His pleasure, namely, the salvation of souls.
Why then do we often experience a reluctance on the part of some of our lay-people to rejoice in the Lord by becoming Sunday School teachers? It is because of the sinful flesh. With Paul the Christian says, “For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.” (Romans 7:22-23) In order to overcome this interference of our sinful flesh more and more, and in order to bring into fuller execution that which we actually delight in after the inward man, the Word encourages us to rejoice in the Lord. When the Apostle says, “in the Lord” he means that we are to grow in a fuller appreciation of and gratitude for the salvation the Lord won by His suffering and death. As a person’s gratitude increases, the willingness to rejoice in the Lord by serving as Sunday School teachers will also increase.
: 1913-1992