200531 Pentecost Drive in Service

200531 Pentecost Drive in Service

200531 Pentecost Order of Service

The great festival of Pentecost is upon us. At Pentecost the Holy Spirit rushed upon the fledgling Christian Church so that they were compelled to preach. What they had to preach is what you heard from the book of Acts. The end of the ages has come upon us. Sons and daughters prophesy. Young men will see visions. Old men will dream dreams. There will be signs in the heavens and signs on the earth, blood and fire and a rising cloud of smoke.

The prophet Joel had said these things hundreds of years before Pentecost came. The apostle Peter told the crowd that this is what was taking place before their eyes with the tongues of flame, and the ability to speak so that others who spoke different languages could understand them. The great and glorious day of the Lord has come. This was the end of the world.

Now since this took place about 2,000 years ago, I don’t think that folks can help but wonder whether Peter and the apostles were mistaken. Time keeps ticking away. The sun rises and the sun sets. Things continue to go on like they have from the beginning of the world. Where is this end that Christians speak of?

The end times are larger than what we might imagine. The end times are not just those last few hours or days of this old world. The end times began with the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. The Scriptures speak of him as the first fruit of them who sleep. The resurrection of Jesus is the beginning of the harvest. More resurrections from the dead are coming. The time is not yet quite right for that bumper crop to be gathered in. There are still a certain number of people whom God has known and chosen for salvation from before the world was made. These people still must be called by the Gospel, enlightened by the Holy Spirit’s gifts, sanctified and kept together with Jesus in the one true faith.

When those last few who are to be saved are brought to faith, then the end will come. Christ will come on the clouds. The dead will be raised. Every individual will be judged by his or her Maker. Those who have lived evilly will go to hell. Those who have believed in Jesus are forgiven, and they are given Jesus’s righteousness as a gift. Therefore, since they are holy and fit, they shall live together with Almighty God in their resurrected and purified bodies.

What I have just told you is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. You don’t hear it too much these days because people are ashamed of Jesus and his words. This is true even within the Christian Church. This is true even within our own church body. Instead some other, more socially acceptable, quote-unquote “Gospel” is invented. Our flesh has a devil of a time believing that there is any such thing as an end times—much less that we are already living in it.

Therefore this Gospel meets resistance—to say the least! The apostle Paul was laughed at in Athens when he spoke to them about the coming resurrection from the dead. You heard how the apostle Peter, at Pentecost, addressed those people who saw something of what was taking place at Pentecost and scoffed, saying that they were all drunk. The raised eyebrows of unbelievers is nothing new.

But what we cannot do is alter or tailor or edit the words that we as Christians have been given. Cutting out whatever is offensive can seem rather harmless. In fact, it can seem like it would be helpful. If we tone it down a bit on those things that make us seem like we’re crazy, then we’ll be able to rope more people in. Our church will grow. But what has actually happened is that a new religion has thereby been invented.

There’s nothing so common as people inventing religions for themselves. Everybody has a religion. Everybody has beliefs about what will or will not happen to them when they die. The invention of new religions happened already in the Garden of Eden when the serpent invited Eve to believe in something that she found more reasonable and palatable than what God had actually said. So it goes now and so it will be until the lying devil is locked away forever in hell at the end of time.

The Gospel of Jesus Christ has come to put an end to all other religions. That is to say, the Gospel has come as the truth to do away with the lie. This is what has always enraged people who want to hold on to lies. People want to be left alone with whatever it is that they might believe. They want to be validated in whatever hopes they harbor about the life of the world to come. In our times a common hope is that there is no such thing has heaven or hell. As supposed products of evolution we simply melt back into the soil and are gone forever. But this too is a lie. This too is a false hope. For we are not the product of random chance. All people are creatures who are fearfully and wonderfully made. As creatures we are responsible to our Creator for the life that we have lived.

The sophisticated world likes to believe that they have grown up and done away with religion. But are they so sophisticated? This belief, that we simply go away when we die—isn’t this the very thing that the serpent said to Eve? Adam and Eve originally knew God’s truth. They knew that God would punish them if they lived evilly. But what did the serpent say? “You won’t surely die.” “You already know what you want to do. Just do it. You’ll be fine. God won’t care. He probably doesn’t even exist!”

 And the funny thing is that when Adam and Eve ate, they didn’t die right away. They probably thought that the serpent was right in some sense. But they also knew something wasn’t quite right. They discovered their nakedness and didn’t like it. They covered it over. Darkness descended upon them. But it wasn’t until they heard God coming through the garden that they knew for certain that they had been tricked.

So it is for so many people today. People are told over and over again that there is no such thing as God. Or, if they are allowed to believe that there is a God, then surely God must be some power that has nothing to do with a person’s daily life. Surely God couldn’t care about one’s daily life—the things that one has done and left undone. Realize that the people who espouse these beliefs and teach them are the ones who are in our nation’s highest positions of power and our greatest institutions of learning. They are held to be the great teachers of our society. But they are not sophisticated at all. All they are doing is holding to the lie that Adam and Eve first held to, before God came and preached the Gospel to them.

And just as Adam and Eve knew that something wasn’t quite right, so I think this is true for people today too. We’re supposed to believe that we are so advanced and sophisticated and have discovered everything that there is to know. We’ve built our tower of Babel into the heavens. We’ve done such outstanding things with our technology that our inventions would have seemed magical to people who lived in other times. But with all of this being said, I don’t know if there has ever been such a sad people as our people. Our people are so sad that they don’t even want to have children. They think that life is too sad to bring children into it. Just like Adam and Eve, people know that there is something wrong.

And they are right about that. The thing that is wrong with us couldn’t be more fundamental. We creatures have estranged ourselves by our sins from our Creator. We judge ourselves and we don’t like what we see. We try to cover our nakedness. We go and hide in the bushes rather than face our Creator, because we’d rather not be further exposed, further judged. Then we tell ourselves that everything’s just hunky dory. What kind of a life is this? But people put up with it and they try to make the best of it, because they don’t think that there is any alternative.

Pentecost: this is what declares to us the alternative. The end of the ages has come upon us. The fullness of God’s revelation is before us, and what does God reveal in that revelation? He reveals that although you deserve nothing but God’s punishment both in this life as well as in the next, he has sent his only begotten Son to suffer and to be punished in your place. By the atoning sacrifice that Jesus has made on the cross you have been reconciled with your Creator.

It does not matter what sins you have committed in the past. You should not fear the sins that you will unfortunately commit in the future. Jesus is more powerful than your sins. He has dealt with them.  Between you and God peace has been made. Not a fake peace—not a peace where God just pretends that he doesn’t see whatever you have done. The Father is fully satisfied with the Son and the atonement he has made. Therefore, God is fully satisfied with you who have been baptized into him and who believe in him.

Pentecost changed the lives of the apostles and all those who became Christians through their preaching. These folks were no longer believing that they could make their own way. They quit believing in all towers of babel whether they be ancient or modern. They were living a new life in fellowship with their Creator. They no longer looked forward to being rich with earthly treasures. They were already rich with the precious blood of Jesus. They were no longer looking to make a name for themselves. They were looking to glorify the name of Jesus, which saves all who call upon it. Their perspectives were widened so that they no longer looked at what happened in this world as being the only things that mattered. There is a life of the world to come. Now we are in the wilderness. Beyond the Jordan there is a promised land, flowing with milk and honey.

Accordingly these folks spoke to their friends. They spoke to their family. They spoke to their neighbors. And so it has happened that the saving Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ has been passed down to us to this very day and this very hour. It is not possible for us mere mortals to trace the lineage of the Gospel that we have heard all the way back to Pentecost, but God knows how it has happened. Peter and the apostles and all the rest of the Christians preached the Gospel. Those who believed, also preached. Thus it went, so on and so forth, until the Gospel was preached to you. But it probably wasn’t just one person. Your parents probably preached to you. They had you baptized. Pastors in the past have preached to you. Your family members have preached to you. I am preaching to you.

God willing, you have also preached to others. All Christians are called upon to preach the Gospel wherever and whenever the opportunity to do so arises. You have not been asked to do this for a congregation, like you have asked me to preach for you, but you are certainly called upon to speak the saving Gospel to those you know. I’ll tell you what: Very often people will listen more carefully to what you have to say to them than they will to me. That’s because people assume that I have to say what I say because I’m a preacher. It’s my job. But if you take the risk, if you put your relationship with that person on the line—that person takes note of that.

And so I wish you a blessed Pentecost today. Today I’d like you to realize what goodness God has worked in you by the power of the Holy Spirit—that you should know the truth that overcomes the devil’s lies. You know the truth that your salvation is assured in the Lord Jesus Christ. In Jesus you have peace. You have a hope that no one can take away from you, for through the blood of Jesus you have been reconciled to your Creator.

On this Pentecost I’d also like you to see your role in moving the ball forward when it comes to the saving Gospel. God has freely given to you through the preaching of many Christians—some called to preachers, but many more who were not. You have been given to. Now you give. Tell others the truth. Help them to be a disciple. Encourage them to go to church. Let them know that they can learn how to be a Christian—your pastor will teach them the catechism. Teaching the catechism is probably the most important job that a pastor has.

And I am not saying this so that we grow in numbers and become a mondo big congregation. Who cares about the size of our congregation? This congregation will not last forever. No congregation will last forever. But the Gospel that is preached through all the members of this congregation—that will go on.

We are living in the end times. The fullness of God’s revelation has been given to us. We know the truth that overcomes the devil’s lies so that people are saved through faith in Jesus. Preaching this to those you know and love is the nicest thing you could ever do for a person—regardless of how it might be received by them. The peace of Jesus be with you in this. In the world you will have trouble, but you have peace in Jesus.

 

200524 Easter 7 Drive in Service

200524 Easter 7 Drive in Service Audio

200524 Easter 7 Order of Service

Sermon manuscript:

The people of Israel were specifically chosen by God to be his own. They were the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. They were led out of Egypt by God’s powerful hand. They cleansed the polluted land of Canaan, putting its idolatrous inhabitants to death, in order that they may live there eating milk and honey. Everyone had his own vine and his own fig tree. But what was more important than any earthly treasures (which were never as great could be found in other lands) was the fact that they knew the Lord God. They had the Word of God that went all the way back to creation. They were given judges and prophets and kings to make known the will of God so that they would fear, love, and trust in him, calling upon him in every trouble, praying, praising, and giving thanks.

There was no other nation like Israel on the earth. No other nation named their children with such faithful and pious names. Samuel, Daniel, Michael, Ezekiel—the “el” at the end of these names is Hebrew for “God.” They all say something about God. The same is true for those names that have a “Jah” or “Yah” in them. That’s another way to say God’s name. John, Jonathan, Joshua, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Hezekiah, Zechariah—all these names are saying something about the Lord. They are saying that he is gracious or that he remembers, and so on.

And so there was a tremendous relationship in Israel. God loved this people. This people loved God. It did not last, though. God did not change, but this people did. Their love grew cold for God. Their love for other things grew hot. And so they somewhat left behind the Lord God for other gods. They did not leave the Lord God behind entirely. In fact, they continued to name their kids with these very pious names. But they came to believe that the way you get ahead in life is by copying what the more powerful people around you do. And that is just what they did. The began to believe that the ways of the Canaanites or the Egyptians or the Phoenicians or the Assyrians were better than the life that God had given to them. They had milk and honey, but now they wanted gold and a life of convenience and leisure.

God, again, for his part, continued to be faithful. The prophets he sent to his people were no joke. They denounced and warned and threatened so that the people didn’t take God’s grace for granted. Those who heard and were frightened, they also comforted: “The Lord is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love.” God was patient and sent prophets for centuries—amazing, wonderful men like Elijah and Isaiah, but the people resented having their sins pointed out to them. They wanted to do what they wanted to do, and they weren’t going to let some preacher get in the way of their plans. If those prophets stuck to their posts and stuck to their guns, then they would have to be forcibly removed.  And so it came to pass that God’s people ended up killing God’s prophets.

What can God do with a people who will no longer listen to the ones whom he sends to preach his Word? God, in his anger, took up blunter instruments and punished his people with them. Whenever trouble befalls us we do well to ignore what the world and our own flesh say about it. The world and our flesh are comforted with the thought that it is just happenstance and fate that brings tragedy, not the heavy hand of the Lord. But we do well to fear God when we are judged by him, so that we repent and do not plunge headlong into eternal disaster.

When God finally smashed the northern and southern kingdoms of Israel with blood and violence and pandemics and the death of loved ones, I guarantee you (knowing human nature) that most of them said that this was just a stretch of bad luck, but don’t worry, the sun will come out tomorrow. Therefore, God did not relent and spare them. He pushed harder, but they would not repent. Finally, they were scattered to the wind—sent away from their homeland. No more milk, and no more honey; but what’s vastly more important is no more instruction in God’s Word, no more prophets. They became strangers and aliens to God. They melted into the unbelieving population, just thinking like everybody around them thinks. This is the worst thing that can ever happen to a believer. When hearts are hardened against the Word of God being spoken, God will finally take that Word away altogether.  Then there is no hope of salvation.

This introduction that I’ve given helps set the scene for our Old Testament reading this morning from the prophet Ezekiel. After humbling his people with an incredible amount of violence and heartache, God had mercy on those who would listen by raising up Ezekiel and sending him to speak. Ezekiel is one of the last prophets. He lived during the time that the Jews were conquered by the Babylonians and had to live in exile in Babylon. He spoke to a people who used to be great, but now had been brought low. They didn’t even have a temple to worship in anymore. The Babylonians had leveled it to the ground and taken all their money away. All the hankering after gold and success was impossible with this basically enslaved people. They didn’t have anything left.

But they did have God. It is better to have everything taken away from you, and to still have God, than to be on top of the world without him. The bitter experience that the people of God had just been through taught at least some of them this hard lesson. It is to these humbled and frightened people that God speaks through the prophet Ezekiel.

We heard in our reading: “Therefore, say this to the house of Israel, ‘This is what the Lord God says. I’m about to act, O house of Israel, not for your sake, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations to which you came.’”

There are two things I’d like to point out here. First, how good it had to have sounded to these God-forsaken people to hear God say, “I am about to act.” That had to have been music to their ears. But then, notice, secondly, that God also says, “I’m not doing it because you have earned it.” In fact, the people hadn’t learned their lesson. As they were driven out they became worse not worse. God said that they had profaned the name of God among those people to whom they were driven.

The Bible, and the Bible alone, teaches us what people really are like. The world gets fooled into thinking that we are pretty good people after all. We’re able to learn our lesson. No. Not even with the best teacher of what’s right and wrong—namely, God—we still can’t become a lick better by our own reason or strength.

So God says that he is going to act because his name is holy—not because the people have kept his name holy. Then he says, “I will take you from among the nations. I will gather you from all the lands, and I will bring you to your own land. I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean. I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your filthy idols.” God does not flatter these people. He does not tell them that they are good little boys and girls. Because he won’t like this with flattery, it can make him seem harsh. That is totally wrong. He speaks truth. The truth is that he is gracious. He couldn’t have said anything kinder to these people who were so miserable. He tells them that he will gather them to himself and be their God. He will bless them and protect them. He will sprinkle them with clean water so that they don’t stink anymore with the filth they rolled themselves in while worshipping the devil.

This speaks to what we are about in the new Israel—the Christian Church. When God is gracious, when he raises up Christians to speak, what these Christians have to say is the same as what God says through Ezekiel here. We say to those who are lost in perversions, in excesses, in hatred of themselves, “Come, be sprinkled with clean water. Be baptized. Be set free from the devil’s bondage that you are otherwise under.” This speaking, done by Christians, is God’s way of gathering together the people whom he has chosen. Or another word you could use is “congregation.” God congregates people into congregations. There God himself cares for them by feeding their souls with his Word, washing them with baptism, feeding them with Holy Communion. In this way those who formerly did not know God, come to know him—that he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love.

But this is not the end of the story. God has more gracious words to speak to us through the prophet Ezekiel today. He says, “Then I will give you a new heart and put a new Spirit within you. I will remove the heart of stone from your body and give you a heart of flesh. I will put my Spirit within you and lead you so that you will walk in my statutes, and you will be careful to observe my judgments. Then you will live in the land I gave your forefathers. You will be my people, and I will be your God.”

Here God speaks about what is known in the Church’s vocabulary as “sanctification.” To sanctify means “to make holy.” And so sanctification is the process of being made holy. As it seems to be with all the parts of our Christian faith, the devil loves to confuse what’s true. He does it with sanctification too. All too often sanctification is seen as the part that we now need to play in order to pay God back for saving us from hell. Jesus did his part. He died on the cross. Now we need to do our part of being good boys and girls.

Theoretically this seems like it should work out fine—I think that’s why our reason likes this notion. But anybody with any experience at all of trying to be a Christian knows that theories are one thing, real life is another. Anybody who tries to live a holy life will soon bitterly learn what Paul says in Romans chapter 7: “The good that I want to do, I don’t do, and that which I don’t want to do is the very thing that I end up doing! Who will deliver me from this body of death!?” Theoretically it would be nice if we could give God tit for tat. We’d feel a whole lot better about ourselves if we could do our part and pay back God. But then we would come to love and believe in ourselves more than we ought. God, therefore, may very well allow us to fall into sin so that we learn the bitter lesson that we aren’t as good and faithful as we hoped we were. Then we are turned away from ourselves as the source of blessing (which will totally disappoint us) and turned toward God as the fount of every blessing. (He will not disappoint).

And so instead of seeing sanctification as payback, as an obligation, as a debt we have to pay, we should see it as a gift on top of a gift. It is a continuation of what God does when he sprinkles us with that clean water, washing away all the filth. The new heart of flesh (that is to say, the heart that loves) is better than the old heart of stone. The heart that follows after the will of God is joyful. The one who follows after the will of the devil is filled with self-loathing. God works on the hearts of his people, sanctifying them by his Word and Holy Spirit. As he does this, day in, day out, we are fed and built up. It is just like sheep who are brought into good pasture. They are nourished and grow and become healthy and strong. It is a good thing that God does in his Christians. He reworks us, conforming us to the image of his Son. This is something wonderful that God does already in this life, in part. He will finish this work with the death of our old sinful flesh, and our resurrection with purified, that is, sanctified bodies.

God speaks to us today through the prophet Ezekiel. Our times and circumstances are different than those of his time, but not nearly as much as you might think. The story of our existence has been basically the same from the beginning. The devil’s on one side. God is on the other. The devil wants us to never think of God at all, to be filthy, to hate ourselves. God wants us to believe and trust in him, to be clean, and to live together with him. Therefore, hear what God is saying to you today and rejoice in it.

God is gather you to himself, even though you have been and are a sinner. He who has begun a good work in you will bring it to completion in the Day of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who has called you is faithful. He will surely do it.

200521 Ascension of our Lord Drive in Service

200521 Ascension Drive in Service Audio

200521 Ascension of our Lord Order of Service

Sermon manuscript:

I didn’t grow up going to Ascension services. You probably didn’t either. They weren’t offered in the church where I grew up. The first time I ever went to an Ascension service was when I was in seminary. Up to that point I hadn’t really thought much about Christ’s ascension into heaven. It was just a line in the creed: “He ascended into heaven.” It was kind of a raw historical fact, but I was at a bit of a loss as to the significance of it.

This goes to show something about our regular church services. We easily take them for granted. With the repetition every year of the same Sundays, the same festivals, it can seem like just a matter of course. Long time Christians probably aren’t blown away by all kinds of new information when they come to a church service. Maybe there is only one or two things at most that they might learn from a service. But those things add up over the years. Christians slowly but thoroughly learn the meaning of the Christian festivals over the years. This was at least part of why I didn’t know what to make of Christ’s ascending into heaven.

In fact, to be honest, I think I secretly thought the ascension wasn’t too good of an idea. It seemed to me that we Christians would be better off if Jesus had stuck around. It seemed to me that it would be easier for people to believe in him if they could see him. So the ascension almost seemed to be something that should be mourned rather than celebrated.

But this is thinking in a rather earthly way. This is thinking about the successfulness of one’s congregation or church body. This is the hankering after earthly power and success—wanting the excitement that comes with being with a large crowd of people. Jesus was not interested in this kind of thing. If he were interested in making a big and powerful movement, then he would have done a lot of things differently than he did.

True success for the Christian church is not a matter of accumulating big followings, big offerings, putting yourself on the map. The Christian church is not a building or an organization. The Christian church is solely made up of people. The Christian church is the communion of saints.  The Christian Church consists of people who follow the voice of the Good Shepherd. They are born again by the water and the Holy Spirit in baptism. Their old evil heart is being sanctified by the power of the Holy Spirit so that they no longer cling to evil lusts, but rather to love God and one’s neighbor. As holy people, as saints, they are on their way to the promised land to live together with God.

There will be no Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod in heaven. There will be no bureaucracies or church officials. There will be no pastors in heaven. There will only be one Pastor, or Shepherd, and that is Jesus. He will lead us, his sheep. He will shelter us with his presence so that we will hunger no more, neither thirst anymore, the sun shall not strike us nor any scorching heat, for the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be our Shepherd. He will lead us to springs of living water. And God will wipe away every tear from our eyes.

So if you think of the successfulness of the Christian Church as getting bigger and bigger, as getting more and more powerful, more and more persuasive, then Jesus’s ascension isn’t good news. The Christian Church’s message would be more acceptable to our reason if Jesus had stuck around.  But this is not what the true Christian Church is. The true Christian Church is made up of believers, not visible, powerful, earthly institutions. And if you believe in Jesus, then the Ascension is, indeed, something to celebrate.

This is, first of all, something to celebrate as far as Jesus is concerned. Then, secondly, it is something that we celebrate as his disciples. It is something to celebrate as far as Jesus is concerned because he has finished his course on earth. The Son came down from the Father, was born of the Virgin Mary, and accomplished the redemption of sinners with his holy, precious blood and his innocent suffering and death. He rose triumphant over death on Easter morning. Death is something that would otherwise hold us in its eternal grip if Jesus had not defeated it for us. Having done all things well, now the Lord Jesus Christ is going back to the Father from whom he came.

During this Easter season we sing, “This is the feast of victory for our God.” In a way this is more appropriate for Jesus’s ascension than it is even for Easter. The reason why he ascends is because his work of salvation is complete. His course on earth is done. Now he reigns and rules over his spiritual kingdom at the right hand of God. He reigns and rules by the Word and Sacraments through which people believe in him by the power of the Holy Spirit. This is the feast of victory for Jesus.

Realize, though, that with every victory there is a judgment that is rendered. There are winners, and there are losers. The winners are vindicated. The losers are revealed for what they really are. So it is also when we speak of Jesus’s victory. Jesus is vindicated. There were some people who thought that he was a blasphemer. Some people thought that he was a fraud. Some people thought that he was destructive to the Church and the Jewish cause. Folks at the cross wagged their head at him and said, “If you really are the Christ, then come down from that cross. Then we’ll believe you.” When Jesus didn’t do this they scorned him as a miserable fool. But he was not a fool. He rose from the dead. He ascended into heaven. He will come again, in even more power and glory, to bring to light how things really are.

The ascension is Jesus’s victory. It is a victory for us as his disciples too. This is a bit of a strange way of speaking for us—that it is our victory—because we don’t seem to be involved in Jesus’s ascension. But Christians do not make their own way. They follow after their master. That is what it means to be a disciple. Jesus’s victories become our victories as we follow after him. Therefore, Jesus’s victory over death is ours. Jesus’s resurrection is ours. Jesus’s ascension and life together with almighty God is ours.

Christians are also vindicated in their way of life. Just as Jesus was judged as being deluded by thinking he was Son of God while he was dying on the cross, so also people think it is foolish to work at being a Christian. There is no shortage of people who think that it is a waste of time to hear God’s Word or receive his Sacraments. They know of many diversions that they could do that offer more pleasure. They also regard it as foolish to pursue the sacrificial and humble life that is ours as Christians when we love God and our neighbor. They say that if you want to get ahead in this life, then you have to look out for yourself. Nobody gives it to you, you have to take it. Fight for every dollar and cent, every trophy and reward, and make yourself glorious. If you don’t do this, then you are some kind of loser.

Working your tail off for your own glory actually works pretty well for this earthly life. If that common saying is true—that you only have one life to live—then why would you deprive yourself of anything, why should you suffer, why should you love anybody but yourself? But the ascension vindicates a different way of life. What is life all about? It is all about our Creator who has loved us, and therefore sent his Son to redeem us. He also sanctifies us, so that we begin to love God and our neighbor instead of only loving ourselves. The one who is truly glorious is not someone rich and the famous, but the one who loves, sacrifices, and suffers. These are folks that are like Jesus. They are a spitting image of their master.

This will all become clear when Jesus returns on the clouds to judge the living and the dead. People whom the world has no time for—humble people, people who just do their job quietly, who work at loving and serving—these people will have more glory than the rich and the famous for they have lived better lives. They have lived better lives because the best life that anybody can lead is the one that is shown to us by Jesus—the life of love.

Jesus’s ascension, therefore, is important and relevant for us. It shows us the way to go. We do not live like the world, which does not know what the good life is. We follow after Jesus, preaching repentance and the forgiveness of sins in his name. Jesus is victorious and glorious as he ascends, and we will be too if we do not give up. We continue on our pilgrim way, misunderstood by the world, but known by our Savior.

But while we make our pilgrim way, Jesus has not left us as orphans. He has sent his Holy Spirit. He gives us many gifts. For example, tonight he offers us Christ’s body to eat and his blood to drink. We have not been able to receive this gift very easily lately. It is food for the journey to heaven. The world cannot understand how it helps in the least, but Jesus tells us that it works. It increases our faith in him and helps us to fervently love one another. This is exactly what we, in the Christian Church, need more than anything.

It is good to rejoice tonight. This is the feast of victory for our God. It is the feast of victory also for you. Jesus is drawing you to himself in heaven. Follow after him.

200517 Easter 6 No Audio! Sorry!

I'm very sorry, but I forgot to turn on the audio recorder for this service. I'll try to not let it happen again!

Here is a copy of my sermon manuscript:

One of the nice things about this part of the Church year is that for several weeks in a row all our readings come from the same few chapters of John’s Gospel. This portion of John’s Gospel is known as the “final discourse” because Jesus gave this instruction on Maundy Thursday, just before he was arrested. It was his last chance to teach his disciples as he had so many times before. One of the things that Jesus is doing with his teaching in the final discourse is preparing his disciples for what is about to happen.

A couple weeks ago you heard Jesus preparing his disciples for his coming death and resurrection. He said, “A little while and you will not see me, and again a little while and you will see me.” He goes on to say that this experience will be like giving birth. When the disciples lose sight of Jesus it is like when a woman goes into labor. She has sorrow, for her time has come. She has fear of what might be happening to her. She has pain. But then, when the child is born, she can no longer be described as fearful or sad. She has joy. A new little person has been born. So it will be when the disciples see Jesus again. They have sorrow now, but joy is coming. When every disciple (including you) will see Jesus the joy will be indescribable. Jesus adds that nobody will be able to take these disciples’ joy away from them.

I bring this reading up from a couple weeks ago because this is the portion of John’s Gospel that is just before our Gospel reading today. Our reading today begins with the words, “In that day.” In what day? In the day that Jesus has just been talking about—the one that comes after a little time of sorrow, when they will see Jesus. That is the day when they will have joy, and nobody will be able to take their joy away from them. When the disciples saw Jesus resurrected from the dead, they had joy.

Now Jesus is adding to that joy in our reading today. He says, “In that day you will not ask me anything. Amen, Amen, I tell you: Whatever you ask the Father in my name he will give you. Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask, and you will receive, so that your joy may be made complete.”

Here we have some thoughts that are almost a little too much for us. First of all, Jesus ushers us up into heaven before the holy and fiery God. Jesus is God incarnate. He is enfleshed. The Father is God only, as is the Holy Spirit. In a way, Jesus, who is bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh, makes God approachable for us. Jesus is meek and mild and unassuming. He was born in stable, laid in a manger, and always associated with the lowly. Children came to him to be blessed by him. He is like our good big brother who helps us and protects us.

God in his majesty, or you might say, the naked God—as he is in himself without the covering of Jesus’s flesh—is astounding. This is the God of Mt. Sinai. There he enveloped the top of the mountain with a thick, dark cloud. There was thunder and lightning. The earth shook. A trumpet sounded and only grew louder. The Israelites were so afraid after they heard God speak the Ten Commandments that they thought they were going to die.

But even here at Mt. Sinai God is hiding himself. It was not the raw power of God; he gave them only a glimpse. For the Scriptures say that no one can see God and live. And this makes sense, if you will only think about it. God is the Creator. He has all power. The vast expanse of the universe is not even like a back yard to him. Tornados and tsunamis and whatever other powerful forces we might be able to bring to mind are nothing compared to who he is in himself.

Jesus says to his disciples that when he is risen from the dead, they will not go to Jesus for what they need. They will go to the Father. This is because of the reconciliation that Jesus works between soiled sinners on the one hand, and the might and holy God on the other. Without the forgiveness of sins that Jesus works, without his righteousness and holiness that he gives to us, we could never meet our Maker—or at least we could never meet him in a way where we would be blessed.

This is the thing about Judgment Day. It is the most wonderful thing and the most dreadful thing that will have ever happened at the same time. Those who have been reconciled to God through Jesus’s blood will be so happy on that day, that words utterly fail in getting across what that will be like. Those who remain in their sins with a hardened heart where either there was no faith to begin with or that faith was extinguished by disobedience and unbelief—those folks will be filled with dread and terror.

If ever we have been frightened of being found out by our parents when we have done something wrong; if ever we have dreaded seeing the police pull up when we have done something wrong—these things are only tiny foreshadowings of that day for those whose conscience has not been washed in the fountain of Jesus’s blood. They will have all their sins come crashing down on them at once. God save us all from this terrible fate!

But it is not necessary that we continue to be filled with fear and dread. This is not just my opinion, nor is it wishful thinking. This is what Jesus says. In that day when he is resurrected from the dead, and the disciples see him, they will be filled with joy. They need not go to Jesus for what they need. They can go to the Father himself. Through faith in Jesus they are reconciled to God. Through faith in Jesus you are reconciled to God. You are holy—not because you feel like you are holy, nor by wishful thinking, but by the work of Jesus on the cross. He did not redeem just a portion of the world. He redeemed the whole world. By your believing him it is yours.

Jesus’s words in our reading today also clear up a common—almost a natural—misconception. It is not uncommon for people to imagine that God the Father is the mean one, the stern one, whereas Jesus is the nice one. I say that it is almost natural for us to think this, because that is what the difference in their countenances does to us. There is a difference in the way these two persons of the Triune God strike a person. As I’ve mentioned, God in his raw power is awesome. No one can see him and live. In a very real sense he is dangerous—for he can do unimaginable things. It is only natural for us to shy away from such a one.

Edith isn’t here today—she’s staying overnight at a friend’s house—and so I can talk about her a little bit. She is starting to grow out of this now, but ever since she was a baby she was frightened of men with but one exception. She wasn’t frightened of her father. But with other men she would almost turn inside out if they started talking to her. And if they were loud and brash—that made her fear much worse. She was greatly mistaken with this fear, because all of the men who would talk to her had good will towards her. They were nice and friendly. However, what I think she could sense is that they were not what you would call “safe.” They were not “safe” like women were “safe.”

In a similar way we can be mistaken about God the Father. All people are intimated by God. If a person isn’t intimidated by God—even if he is the biggest and manliest man that ever lived—such a one is a fool with a capital F. But look what Jesus reveals here. He tells you that you may approach him and ask him even though he is more powerful and “dangerous” than we can even imagine. The Father isn’t the mean one; Jesus, the nice one. There is absolutely no difference whatsoever in what the Father wants and what Jesus wants. All that Jesus does is nothing other than the Father’s will. The Father says from heaven, both at Jesus’s baptism as well as at his transfiguration, that this man is his Son. He is well pleased with him. That means that God the Father is pleased with everything that Jesus did. Even when Jesus was shamed and spit upon and beaten and whipped and nailed to a cross—this was the Father’s will. And why? So that our fellowship may be restored with him.

I say “restored,” because there was not always enmity between God and us. Sin did that. Therefore with the removal of sin, through Jesus, the fellowship is restored. Although God is all powerful, although it is exhilarating to even think about it—much less to experience it, we may be happy and confident in God’s presence. We may regard him as our dear father and we as his dear children, so that with all boldness and confidence we may approach him in our prayers as dear children ask their dear father.  

Now realize that you will need to work to believe this, and therefore to pray. I say you need to work on it, because it does not come naturally. The devil does not want us to be free and easy and confident with God. Our reason also says that this is no good, for our reason knows about our sin. “How can someone like you—How can someone who has done the things that you have done—dare to be confident and trusting before God? You should run for the hills!” Faith, which overcomes such thoughts, is a miracle worked by the Holy Spirit. Christians believe even though they are sinners. They believe that their righteousness is not in themselves, but in Jesus, who has loved them and gave himself for them.

It is good for us to have joy. It is good for us to have confidence. As a preacher I work pretty hard so that you lose your joy and your confidence in a sense. I work pretty hard that you recognize your sin and fear God. This is a hard thing to do, because we are so stubborn about recognizing our guilt. We’re no different than we were when we were children. Have you even tried to impress upon a child that he or she has done wrong? They become as slippery as eels! Who can catch them? But once we get caught, once we have been brought low so that our joy and confidence and faith are no longer in ourselves, then we are to learn to have our joy and confidence in Christ. Christ’s redemption is such powerful stuff that it even grants access to the Father. We can pray to the one who can move mountains.

Fear, dread, shame—these kinds of things are only for this life. They are like the pains of childbirth. They’re no good. Who wants them? But who would dare to say that the birth of a child is no good? Likewise, being born unto eternal life is good, even though it involves pain as we make our pilgrim way through this veil of tears.

In this section of John’s Gospel Jesus is very encouraging without engaging in fairy tales. He acknowledges the troubles that his disciples have. He doesn’t pretend that they don’t exist. But he says, “Hold on!” And not just any “hold on,” but “hold on to me.” “What I have promised, what I have said will come true,” Jesus says. “Do you have sorrow now? That’s okay. Just hold on. Soon you will see Jesus, and your joy will be full, and no one will be able to take your joy away from you.” Then you will even have the exhilarating experience of being in God’s glory without being afraid—for reconciliation has been worked by Jesus’s death and resurrection.

200510 Easter 5 Drive in Service

200510 Easter 5 Drive in Service (audio)

200510 Easter 5 Order of Service

Sermon manuscript:

Our Gospel reading this morning is one of the most important and relevant portions of Scripture for us as Christians. It speaks to what we are about as Christians and what we do. This is always a very important thing to understand for anybody. A farmer, for example, needs to know what he is about and what he is supposed to do. If he didn’t know what to do, how could the crops get planted, tended, or harvested? Or what if he planted his seed six feet deep, or planted it in the fall or planted it in a lake? Such a farmer who does not know what he is about or what he is supposed to do would be a very poor farmer indeed. Likewise, it is important for us to know what it is to be a Christian, and what the Christian Church is to be about. Our Gospel reading answers that very clearly for us this morning, for it speaks about the work of the Holy Spirit.

We don’t speak as much about the Holy Spirit as we do about the other two persons of our Triune God, the Father and the Son. But that does not mean that the Holy Spirit is unimportant. In fact, the Holy Spirit is vital for us during this time. When Jesus ascended, ten days later the Holy Spirit descended, on Pentecost. By the power of the Holy Spirit Peter preached on Pentecost to the wicked men who had conspired to crucify Jesus. He did this in spite of much danger to himself, and he spoke surprisingly gracious words to them. He told them that although they had despised and hated Jesus, Jesus had loved them. By his death and resurrection he had worked forgiveness of all their sins. Therefore, even though they had killed Jesus, salvation was to be theirs in Jesus’s name.

Many, by the power of the Holy Spirit, believed and were baptized, but there were also some who, by the power of their sinful flesh and the devil, maintained that the apostles were fools and quite possibly drunk. Regardless, the apostles continued to preach that Jesus Christ is the only saving hope of all people. Apart from him there is no forgiveness. Apart from faith in him people will get what they deserve for the sinful life they have led—namely, death and eternal punishment in hell. But through faith in Christ people are received as children of God, holy and blameless, because of the powerful blood of Jesus that cleanses us from all our sins.

The apostles continued to preach this Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit is always in this proclamation. When and where it pleases the Holy Spirit he creates faith in those who hear this message, just as it happened at Pentecost. And so it is to this very day and this very hour. The Holy Christian Church, made up of all believers in Christ, is a creation of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is in and with the Word of the Gospel that is preached. He is in and with the sacraments of Holy Baptism and Holy Communion. He is the Counselor who will teach and preach and bring about saving faith until he has converted the very last person whom God has chosen for salvation. Then the end will come. Jesus will return on the clouds with power and great glory. The dead shall be raised. All people will be judged. And the Holy Spirit will give eternal life to you and to all believers in Christ. Then you will live under Christ in his kingdom and serve him in everlasting righteousness, innocence, and blessedness, just as he is risen from the dead and lives and reigns to all eternity. This is most certainly true.

And so we, as Christians, are all about the Holy Spirit. If the Holy Spirit does not do his gracious work among us, then nothing truly good can happen. It is also very important and beneficial to know what the work of the Holy Spirit is—as Jesus teaches us in our Gospel reading today—for there are many false teachers who would like to teach you all kinds of things about the Holy Spirit. There are misguided Christians who crave spectacles and unusual signs, and they want the Holy Spirit to perform these for them.

To be sure, the Holy Spirit could perform these signs if he wanted to, but you do not hear of these things from Jesus’s words today. Spectacles, being slain in the Spirit, speaking in tongues, performing miracles—these things do not save. They did not even save at the time of the apostles. Only faith in Christ saves the sinner from the punishment that he or she deserves. This is precisely the thing that Jesus does talk about as the Holy Spirit’s work in our reading today. Those who pay no mind to the forgiveness of sins that comes through faith in Christ, or who take this for granted, don’t know what it means to be a Christian or what they are to be about. They are like a farmer who plants his corn six feet deep, or plows snow banks, or harvests in the spring instead of the fall. All their labor is for nothing. So let’s learn what the Christian Church is all about from our Gospel reading today, for Jesus teaches us what the work of the Holy Spirit is.

There are three things that Jesus says the Holy Spirit will do. He says that he will convict the world concerning sin, concerning righteousness, and concerning judgment. Now Jesus speaks here in a way that sounds a little strange to our ears. It would sound a lot better to our ears if Jesus would say that the Holy Spirit will convict the world of having sin, of lacking righteousness, and as being under judgment. When we speak about sin, righteousness, and judgment we speak of them very specifically, with pin-point accuracy. When Jesus defines the Holy Spirit’s work he keeps thing more broad. The Holy Spirit will convict the world about sin, about righteousness, and about judgment.

Why is that? By speaking this way Jesus is saying that the world and our unbelieving flesh have a bigger problem than just this specific thing or that specific thing. Not only do we sin, but we don’t even know what sin is. Not only do we lack righteousness, but we don’t even know what righteousness is. Not only are we under judgment, but we don’t even know what should be judged as good or bad, right or wrong.

This is borne out by the explanation that Jesus gives for these three things that the Holy Spirit does. The world cannot make heads or tails of how Jesus explains these things, for the world has very different definitions for them. Jesus says that the Holy Spirit will convict the world about sin, because the world does not believe in him. The Holy Spirit will convict the world about righteousness, because Jesus goes to the Father and we will see him no longer. He will convict the world about judgment, because the ruler of this world, the devil, is judged.

If you asked somebody what sin is, you would not get the answer Jesus gives unless that person had been taught by the Holy Spirit. Instead you would get answers like murder, lying, adultery, stealing, and so on. If you asked somebody off the street whether it was a sin to not believe in Jesus, I’m not sure that they would say that it is—and even if it is a sin, to most people it is a pretty minor sin. It certainly is nothing compared to child abuse or some other dreadful crime.

But the world doesn’t know what it’s talking about. Outside of Christ all things are unclean, rebellious, selfish, and foul. The fall into sin has affected us so deeply that all that we are and do is tainted. It is only by being born again by the water and the Spirit that we can see the kingdom of God. It is only through faith in Christ that we can be anything other than sin. However, through faith in Christ we are no longer sin. Jesus has atoned for our sins on the cross. The forgiveness of sins has been worked for the whole world—including murderers, liars, adulterers, thieves, and child abusers—that is to say, forgiveness of sins has been worked for you. Because Jesus was judged and punished in your place for your sins, God no longer judges you according to your thoughts, words, and deeds, but according to the righteousness of Jesus that is given to you through the faith in him that is worked by the Holy Spirit.

This brings us to the second thing the Holy Spirit will do. He will convict the world about righteousness. If you asked somebody off the street what righteousness is, he would tell you pretty much the opposite of what he said about sin. Somebody who is righteous doesn’t commit sin. Plus they do good works. This is a definition of righteousness that works quite well for our earthly life, but it does not pass muster before God. Jesus says that righteousness is him going to the Father and you not seeing him any longer. Now what does Jesus mean by this?

Well, why does Jesus go sit at the right hand of God the Father? Is it not because he has done all things well? Is it not because his work of redemption is complete? Indeed, this is why. And so when Jesus says that righteousness is because he goes to the Father, included in all that is all that Jesus has done for our salvation. Righteousness is by how he became incarnate in the womb of the Virgin Mary, by being born and laid in a manger, by his baptism, fasting, and temptation, by his agony and bloody sweat, by his cross and passion, by his precious death and burial, by his glorious resurrection and ascension, and by the coming of the Holy Spirit, the Comforter. Jesus’s righteousness is a superabundant and wonderful righteousness that is well pleasing to the Father, and it is given to you through faith in Jesus.

This is what Jesus is referring to when he says, “because I am going to the Father and you will see me no longer.” We see Jesus no longer, but we believe in him. Through our faith in him we are righteous even though we otherwise would not be judged as righteous. Jesus said to Thomas after he invited him to touch his hands, feet, and side: “You believe because you have seen me. Blessed are those who have not seen, and yet believed.” Therefore righteousness is not how the world would define it, which is based on one’s own works. Righteousness is all that Jesus is and does. Those who believe in him are righteous.

Finally Jesus says that the Holy Spirit will convict the world of judgment because the ruler of this world is judged. The ruler, the prince of this world, is the devil. We gave ourselves to him by our fall into sin in the garden. He rules over all hearts and minds unless they be buried and die together with Christ in the waters of baptism and born again. When Jesus says that the devil is judged, to be sure he is saying that the lying, murdering, perverted devil is judged. The devil loves misery, putrid, rotting flesh, and all that is dark and evil. Even the guy off the street knows that it is good that such a wicked creature be condemned.

But it is not just the devil that is black as coal that is judged and condemned, it is also the devil who dresses himself up as an angel of light. The devil is also behind all those high and mighty philosophies that say that what life is all about is making the world a better place, or building another tower of babel with our technology and advancements, or even just being the best person that you can be. These are noble sentiments. People would applaud you if you said them on television. But even if you applied your whole heart, soul, and mind to accomplishing them, you would still eventually die and your body would decompose.

The good life is the one where we are reconciled to our Creator through the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. What does it profit a man to be the noblest, most beautiful, most accomplished person on earth, but to have despised Jesus—the crown jewel, the best thing that has ever happened to this earth, and who gives us eternal life?

And so it is that the Holy Spirit convicts the world of having very poor judgment. They don’t know what is good or what is bad. They don’t know what promotes life and what destroys life. They are like that stupid farmer who doesn’t know how to tend his field. All the running around and high speeches and great institutions are all for nothing in the end. The one who should like to have eternal life must eat Jesus’s flesh and drink Jesus’s blood, as Jesus says in John 6. That is, you must believe in him. Jesus says, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me will live, even though he dies. Whoever lives and believes in me will never die.” The one who listens to Jesus’s words and thinks that Jesus has good judgment—that he knows what’s what and how life is—that is someone who has been blessed by the work of the Holy Spirit.

And so let us give thanks today. The Holy Spirit is still among us. He is teaching us. He forgives our sins and gives us Jesus’s righteousness. He makes us wise unto salvation. The knowledge that you have heard from Jesus today is not a dime a dozen. You won’t hear it very often, even from Christians, because it conflicts so severely with the wisdom of the world. But these words are true and reliable. Believe in Jesus and you are removed from the devil’s kingdom and will be blessed forever as a beloved child of God.