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1. Faith in the Word
Conni, you were born to be a teacher. No, you didn’t have a little extra holiness built into you at birth. But you were born to be a teacher. God marked you from early on. God arranged the events of your life that would funnel you into the ministry. What Paul said about his ministry applies to your ministry: “I became a servant of this gospel by the gift of God’s grace given me through the working of his power.”
[THE PROMISE] Conni, you “became a servant of the gospel by the gift of God’s grace” as well. His Word touched your heart and moved you into the ministry. But it didn’t stop there. In that Word, He issued you a Promise as you entered the ministry: “I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” That Promise makes all the difference in the world in the ministry. It’s what the teacher drinks with her coffee in the morning. It’s what the teacher sleeps with on her pillow at night. Without that Promise, the teacher has an absolutely futile and frustrating job. For 43 years, you have lived with that Promise. For 43 years, you have lived on that Promise. For 43 years, you have trusted that Promise. It’s what makes your teacher clock tick. It’s what makes your ministry a success. Your trust in that Promise is a Measure of your Ministry. If you had not trusted that Promise, you would have given up teaching in a Christian school long ago.
[THE POWER] But every day for 43 years, you handled something far more powerful than dynamite, something that makes the bomb that leveled Hiroshima seem like a firecracker. You dealt with the Word of God. You dealt with the Word when you were alone with the Lord, when you were surrounded by little ankle biters, when you were consoling a heartbroken young man whose dad had just walked out on the family, and when you were patching a wounded knee or comforting a wounded heart.. Paul said, “I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God unto salvation to all who believe.” You were not ashamed of that gospel either, or you would not have been in the ministry for 43 years. You were full of faith in the Promise and the Power of the Word you handled.
You knew what a powder keg you held in your hands and in your heart all those years. You trusted that you had at your disposal something so powerful that nothing could stand up against it. It can tear a hardened heart to shreds with the Law. That same Word is equally able to salve that shredded heart and repair it with the Gospel. It can glue together a broken family. It can patch together a broken heart. With God and His Word, all things are possible.
So, how does a teacher do it anyway? How does she get up every morning, knowing that each day brings with it the results of the ravages of sin: whether it is the little girl, who just needs a hug because she doesn’t get them at home, or the little boy, who just needs an encouraging word because he gets none at home. Or the young lady who has body image issues, or the young man who is struggling with self-confidence issues. Which of these could Conni Schramm, the psychologist, help? Probably none. Which of these could Conni Schramm, the woman, help? Probably none. Which of these could Conni Schramm, the Christian teacher, help? Now that’s different. Because as a teacher, you had the one thing that these young people needed most: You had Jesus with you. You had His Promise: “I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” You had his Power: “I am not ashamed of the Gospel, for it is the power of God unto salvation to all who believe.” Isn’t that something? With the Promise and the Power of the Word, the impossible becomes possible, just by being faithful to the Word.
[THE PEACE] What peace that brings the teacher—to know that it is the Message, not the Messenger! What peace the teacher can bring! Jesus was with you every step for 43 years. Every home visit -- who was there? Jesus. Every counseling session – who was there? Jesus. Every chapel, every devotion – Jesus was there. Every private prayer in the quiet of your study or the dark of your bedroom – Jesus was there.
And when Jesus is there, power is there. He always packed your words with a punch. A powerful punch. It’s all His. The Promise. The Power. The Peace. It’s all His.
II. Faithful to the Word
Because you were full of faith in the Word, you were faithful to the Word in every situation. He used you as His messenger. It isn’t often that the message-sender goes with the message-bringer. But in this case, He not only went with you, He spoke in you, He spoke to you, He spoke through you, and He empowered your words with His Word. And that brought peace. Peace to you and peace through you to others.
There is honor and dignity that go along with being a courier for the King. As Paul wrote to Timothy: “The elders who direct the affairs of the church well are worthy of double honor, especially those whose work is preaching and teaching.” This school has had a great gift for the past 18 years: a faithful, conscientious teacher. Today, at her retirement from the full-time ministry, we recognize this great gift and apply the double honor to our faithful teacher for her 43 years of service to her Lord.
What good is a teacher with the Word? Well, she can turn the world upside down. If not the whole world, at least a small corner of the world. She can even set the angel choirs to singing when she calls a sinner to repentance with the Law. She can soothe a troubled soul with God’s forgiveness. She can patch up a broken heart by injecting God’s love. She can help glue together a broken home with the adhesive of grace. She can do an awful lot because the Promise, the Power, and the Peace are all God’s! What a blessing to be a courier of the King!
God is good! He hasn’t given you great material wealth, Conni, but He has given you a great wealth of material to use all the days that He will give you. He has given you the Promise of His presence with you. That Promise guarantees the Power to do His work and the Peace to know that you aren’t doing it all alone.
The gunfighter blows off the smoke and counts the notches on the handle of his gun before he hangs up his holster and calls it quits. The college player wipes off the blood and counts the badges on his helmet before he hangs up his jersey and enters the real world. The vagabond wipes off the dust from the road and adds up the stickers on his backpack before he rests from the rigors of the road. The teacher? When the dust settles and the smoke clears at the end of her ministry, how does she measure her ministry? It all comes down to her faith in the Word and her faithfulness to the Word. She measures her ministry by the works of the Word: by the lost she has found, the weak she has strengthened, the sad she has made glad, the strays she has brought back into the fold, the sick she has comforted, the children she has instructed, and the adults she has affected. One day, she will be able to measure her ministry by the homecoming party that will be thrown for her by all the saints in heaven, who are there because she was full of faith in the Word and was faithful to the Word. She taught them the Word, got them into the Word, kept them true to the Word, and close to their Lord.
When these days on this rotting planet are used up, you lay down your teacher’s planner for good, and go home to heaven, then you will hear Him say: “Well done, good and faithful servant.” But today, on this celebration of 43 years in the ministry and your retirement, we recognize your faith in the Word and your faithfulness to the Word, and we get to say it first: “Well done, good and faithful servant.” Amen.
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