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.
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