Qualification. It’s a word that can strike fear and anxiety in the hearts of both officer and enlisted alike. Phrases like go or no go, pass or fail. Did you qualify?

Well, what qualifies you to share Jesus with others? Do you need to be called as a pastor or teacher or staff minister in one of our Lutheran schools or churches? Do you need a diploma from a college or a seminary hanging on your wall that states, “Yes, I am qualified to do this”?

In our reading today, the apostle Paul talks about qualifications—not for a PFT or a gunnery—but what qualifies us to serve as those who share Jesus with others. And specifically in this part of his letter, he’s referring to those who are called workers like pastors and teachers and staff ministers. And in his letter to Pastor Titus, he lists those characteristics and attitudes and actions that God would want to see in called workers.

But as you listen to this list as I read it, you’d have to admit that this is a list not just for called workers, but characteristics and attitudes and actions that God would want to see in all believers in Christ.

Listen to the list. Paul says that he should not be “overbearing, not quick-tempered, not given to drunkenness, not violent, not pursuing dishonest gain. Rather, he must be hospitable, one who loves what is good, who is self-controlled, upright, holy and disciplined” (Titus 1:7,8).

I have a confession to make. I don’t always qualify. When I hold my life and my actions and my attitudes up to this list, I fall far short.

And I know that you would have to humbly agree with me. You don’t always qualify. But thank God that pastors and teachers and staff ministers and chaplains and all of God’s people, members of churches, all Christians, we live in the shadow of the cross where we stand forgiven.

So, what is it that qualifies us to share Jesus with other people? Well, Paul adds this at the end of that list of qualifications: “He must hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught” (Titus 1:9). No matter what our vocation, it’s that trustworthy message, that well-known good news that Jesus Christ died for sinners and was raised from the dead to give us the sure hope of eternal life.

It’s that trustworthy message that qualifies each and every one of us. Because that message has affected us, and it moves us to be salt and light in this world.

Just a couple of weeks ago I was FaceTiming with two of our war fighters who are stationed in the Middle East. They’re both officers. And the gentleman was talking about the other officer who was on the call with me, and he said about her, “You know, she just lives differently from everybody else in our squadron. And the way that she lives, it just makes you go up to her and say to her, ‘What is it that makes you different?’ And that’s what I did. And I’m glad that I did, because she shared Jesus with me. She gave me her extra copy of this devotion book that you and your ministry hand out to war fighters, and I’m so glad that she did.”

So, did she go to school to learn how to share Jesus with other people? Does she have a special patch on her uniform that tells everybody, “Hey, I’m an ambassador for Christ”?

No. But she has been living in that trustworthy message as it has been taught to her and continues to be taught to her, and so she can’t help it. She can’t help but live as salt and light in this dark world. So also you and I—we are qualified. We are qualified by that trustworthy message as it has been taught to us.

My encouragement to you is this. Go. Go and live that qualified life as you read and study and pray on the words of your God. Go and live that qualified status as you live as salt and light. Because you are qualified through Christ.

Prayer:
Lord Jesus, it is by your authority that you send us out to share that trustworthy message about you. Grant us confidence as we use the relationships that we already have with people to build bridges to you. Today we ask for your special blessing on all who serve as medics and corpsmen in our nation’s military. Guide their hands. Give them hearts filled with compassion and care. Protect them as they use their skills and gifts to save and preserve life. In your name I pray. Amen.