Easter 7 - Exaudi - 5-24-09

The Church Season of Easter
The Seventh Sunday of Easter - Exaudi
Our Savior Lutheran Church, Midland, MI (May 24, 2009)
One Year Series

“FOREWARNED AND FOREARMED”

Readings:
Ezekiel 36:22-28
Psalm 51:1-12
1 Peter 4:7-14
John 15:26 – 16:4

Sermon Form: Deductive

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Grace, mercy and peace be to you from the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, Amen

The text for today is as recorded in the Gospel Lesson from the 15th chapter of St. John, especially the following verses.

John 15:26-16:4 (NIV)

26 “When the Counselor comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father, he will testify about me. 27 And you also must testify, for you have been with me from the beginning. 1 “All this I have told you so that you will not go astray. 2 They will put you out of the synagogue; in fact, a time is coming when anyone who kills you will think he is offering a service to God. 3 They will do such things because they have not known the Father or me. 4 I have told you this, so that when the time comes you will remember that I warned you. I did not tell you this at first because I was with you.

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit

Forewarned is fore-armed. I hate to say I told you so, but I told you so. I told you what to expect, so why are you now so surprised when it happens just as I said? Whether said as an advance warning offered as advice, whether said in sarcasm, or whether said in response to foregone conclusions most often these words are said because the message has been forgotten or lost in the fog of sin which dims our vision and dulls our senses. At some point in your life as a Christian you were fore-armed. For some it was shortly after your birth, for others it was at some later point in your life but you were prepared for the battle just the same. And you were with the Father before your own knowledge, the Triune God knew you before you were born. And to seal this knowledge of Christ the Lord brought you to a very seemingly unimportant place, to have water poured on your head, and words spoken to you from God. But it is not the action of the vehicle which brought you to that place, whether it was in your parents arms or whether you rode or drove yourself to that place, those were not the cause of your forearming. God caused the faith which carried you to that fount and there the words your name was pronounced and these words were spoken, “receive the sign of the holy cross both upon your forehead and upon your heart to mark you as one redeemed by Christ the crucified.” Then water was poured upon your head three times and the words spoken were, “I baptize you in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.”(Mt. 28:19) Then and there you were sealed, marked, and claimed by Christ and also marked as an enemy of satan. satan and the things and the people of this world they will all attempt to obstruct our vision and dull our senses. But, the message of God’s salvation won for you and freely given to you at that fount, always makes you,

“Forewarned and Forearmed”

Yes, true to His Word, Christ sent the Counselor the Spirit of Truth, the Holy Spirit to testify about Himself. But note closely what also is said here, “And you also must testify, for you have been with me from the beginning.”(v. 27) While these verses in scripture may seem simple, I would also warn you that you must hear all the words of scripture with care and caution. It is true, just like the disciples, we must testify about Christ and all that He has done for all the sinners of this world. And so in order to do these things Christ first gives you faith. He gives you that freely, without any cost, and without any merit or worthiness in you, it’s free. He makes you His in the water combined with God’s Word in your baptism. You hear His holy Word proclaimed in church and your read of your salvation in the whole of scripture. And now you should feel confident that you are as one redeemed by Christ the Crucified, who has done all good things for you. All these things come from and through the Holy Spirit. The faith which you have been freely given, the joy of the Christian faith, all these things you heard by the work of the Holy Spirit which Jesus said is, “the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father, he will testify about me.”(v. 26) That is a lot of forearming so you may ask what gives, why do I need all this forearming? Well, in the very next verse Christ says, “And you also must testify, for you have been with me from the beginning.”(v. 27) The light comes on, the sarcasm comes out, and someone will say you Lutherans always proclaiming free grace and then you turn around and tell me about something I have to do, that is hyprocrisy. That very thought process, that pointing to hyprocrosy is why you were forearmed.

For the world has been forearmed too, by the great evil one. He has given the world doubt about God, He has given the world the misleading knowledge of the many different gods which they may pursue. And the evil one gives the world a sense of pleasure as it attacks you and your faith. And for all that you need to be forearmed and forwarned. Martin Luther said, “The world, [Christ] says, will throttle you as heretics. Then your conscience will also become weak and cause you to wonder: Who knows whether I did the right thing? Oh, I have overreached myself! The world and your own conscience condemn you. Christ says, I know how things will go for you, from the side of world and from within yourself. You will find little comfort, but I am not going to let you be stuck under this assault. I won’t lead you into a quagmire to drown you; rather, when there is no more comfort to be had anywhere, and you are frightened and at wit’s end, then will I send the Holy Spirit who is and is called the Comforter. He will remove all despair from your hearts with his assuring word: Have faith and do not despair; do not concern yourself with the judgment of the world, nor the judgment of your own thoughts, but cling confidently to what I say.”

As a Christian you were signed in and signed on, Christ has placed His mark on you. And your reward for becoming a Christian will be that the world will scorn you, and they will ridicule you. You may not be literally thrown out of the Synagogue, but your Christian, thoughts, words, deeds, and ideas will be thrown out of the great places of intellectual study of our world. You will be attacked by the media, and ridiculed by the so-called learned scholars. They may not kill you physically but the people of this world will take every opportunity to demean you, to call you weak minded and foolish. Yes the world hated Christ’s disciples and the world hates you too. You are forewarned.

For, Christ says that those who don’t believe, in Him will attack and kill you and they will think they’re offering a service to their god of worldly truth. Sadly that type of god is in great abundance in this world. For men make gods out of many things in this world, like the amount of possessions you may have, the types of possessions, or even make you look to see who has the most possessions. It sounds extreme that Jesus would say that those people will attack and kill you as a service to god, but He’s right. You’ll be attacked for your faith, you’ll be attacked because you have faith, and you’ll be attacked and ridiculed. For a Christian does not hold dear to their heart that which the people of this world do, the world holds themselves as the center of all things.

Repent, be forewarned for this is what a Christian should expect. The Christian does not live in a world that is friendly toward, or even tolerant of, Christ and the Truth. And we are joined with the sinful world and we succumb to wonder and doubt about financial problems, diseases, sicknesses, wars, and all the other injustices in the world. And when we doubt we allow satan to slip in further, to make our minds wander further and further from the truth, and that truth is the salvation wrought by Jesus Christ when He died on the cross. There on the cross Christ won and gives to you victory over all the ills of this world. And in your baptism you were forearmed, for there you were given armor which the devil and this world can not pass through the armor of God which is Jesus’ Name. You are forearmed, and refreshed as you partake of Holy Communion and receive the true body and blood of Jesus Christ, shed for you for the forgiveness of sins.

When the world tempts you with its glitter, use the Gospel to drive the world back. When we are tempted to unspeakable evils, the Holy Spirit's speaks the Gospel of Jesus Christ to protect you. When you fall into sin hear the comforting Words of Christ’s forgiveness. When you proclaim the Word of God, expect that the world will return bad will and discontent for all your efforts. Yet in the face of all the world would throw at you, rejoice in knowing that you are forewarned and forearmed. For the world will one day perish but because of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ you will not perish, but will have everlasting life. AMEN.

The Grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God
and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

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