The Day of Pentecost - May 23rd, 2010

The Church Season of Pentecost
The Day of Pentecost, One Year Series
Our Savior Lutheran Church, Midland, MI (May 23, 2010)

“The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit Comes to us”

Readings:   
    Psalm 143
    Genesis 1:1-9
    Acts 2:1-21
    John 14:23-31

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’s message will be from the Gospel lesson, from St. John the 14th chapter, especially the following verses:

John 14:23-31 (ESV)

23 Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. 24 Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father’s who sent me. 25 “These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. 26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. 27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. 28 You heard me say to you, ‘I am going away, and I will come to you.’ If you loved me, you would have rejoiced, because I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. 29 And now I have told you before it takes place, so that when it does take place you may believe. 30 I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming. He has no claim on me, 31 but I do as the Father has commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father. Rise, let us go from here.

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

On this day of Pentecost, we hear Jesus speaking with His disciples.  They had been following the Lord and listening to His teaching and learning the doctrines of the Church for nearly three years. Jesus knows where He is going. He is on the way to the cross in order to be crucified and die for the sins of the world. Then Jesus will arise from the dead in victory over death and the devil. He will ascend into heaven and send the Holy Spirit Who proceeds from the Father and the Son. He teaches the disciples of the Law that accuses and condemns, and of the Gospel that comforts and forgives so that, after all this takes place and when the disciples have fled from Jesus and sinned horribly, they would recall God's Word. Then the Holy Spirit would remind them of all these things. Thus, they are being told that the Word is critical for them so that they would be able to recall that repentance is a gift worked by God through His Word.  In simple terms Jesus Christ comes to you, but how?

Well, Jesus knows where each of you is going in the days, weeks and years that stretch out before you.  God the Father, in His mercy, kindness and grace, has provided His Son as the Savior of the world. Rather than giving the world what it deserved, the Father has given unto His fallen Creation and rebellious mankind what was not deserved. Therefore, "let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid." The Christ was incarnate by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary and was named Jesus. The Son of God is also the Son of Man and the Savior of the world. In His perfect Life and in His sin-atoning death Jesus gave Himself in order to be our Redeemer ... the One Who bought us back and He is the only One Who takes away the sin of the world, your sin included ... the sins of your past, the sins of the present and the ones of the future. "And now I have told you before it takes place, so that when it does take place, you may believe." And because Jesus rose again from the dead, you have a future with Him, both in the days and years ahead and in the eternity that can come at any moment. The Counselor, the Holy Spirit, works faith in the heart through the Word of this Good News.  Yes, yes we know all these things, but what do we have to do to find Jesus, where do we find Jesus?

I recently was listening to radio interview with the Rev. Dr. Norman Nagel, a beloved professor from our St. Louis Seminary, he is a scholar’s scholar, and a pastor’s pastor.  Dr. Nagel was interviewed from a nursing care facility in which he now resides as a result of a debilitating stroke.  Though his voice does not sound the way it once did, nor is his delivery the same, his wisdom regarding our Lord still flows freely from his mind even if garbled by his lips.  Dr. Nagel was asked, “Where do you find Jesus?”  Having had the honor to visit the St. Louis Seminary, and to have sat in one of his classes, I can visualize his response.  “Jesus isn’t where we think He ought to be, Jesus is where He has promised to be, for us, and that promise is fulfilled in what we call the means of grace, His means for giving out His gifts, Holy Baptism, Holy Scripture, Holy Communion, Holy Absolution, to say Holy is to say that it belongs to the Lord and He is the One who does it and fulfills those things, as it says in the Large Catechism, ‘to be baptized in the Name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is to be baptized by the Lord Himself.  Although we see His instrument, the pastor, saying His Words, and pouring the water, it is the Lord who has done our baptisms and who gives to us His Body and Blood, and who gives to us the forgiveness of sins, ...so for Jesus we go to the places which He has appointed for us to go Baptism, Lord’s Supper, Scripture, and if we look for Him somewhere else we won’t find Him.”(Norman Nagle, Issues etc, 5/20/10)

Jesus has already answered the what and where questions.  As Dr. Nagel said, if you look for Jesus, you will find Him where He has always promised He would be.

Jesus is in you Baptism as the water combined with God’s Word promise. In the words of Holy Absolution, you are forgiven of all your sins in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. This is soul-cleansing and spirit-renewing Word of comfort gives peace to you. Or, as the Holy Spirit caused the very Words of Jesus to be written in the Bible for our remembrance, "Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you."

The Father gave His Son for the world and that includes you. Jesus was born for you, lived for you, fulfilled the Law perfectly for you. He Who is the Truth taught the Truth for you. The miracles that He performed were for you. He went out into the desert to defeat the Devil for you. Jesus allowed Himself to be crucified in your place and gave of Himself to satisfy the wrath of God for you. All your sins have been paid for. He died for you and was placed in death's chilly tomb for you. Jesus descended into the hell to proclaim victory over that God-forsaken place for you. Our Redeemer rose again from the dead for you and ascended into heaven for you and, in addition, is still truly with you forever. The Father and the Son have sent the Holy Spirit for you and the Holy Spirit works through the Word to give you faith and keep you in the one truth faith unto life everlasting. Jesus is in Holy communion where gives His Body and Blood for you for the remission of all your sins.

If you are looking for Jesus, look no further, He has found you.  In Baptism you have received the water and the Word, He has found you innocent.  Receive His Word this day, He has found your ear, and spoken to you, all is okay, your sins are forgiven.  Receive Christ’s true body and blood, in Holy Communion Jesus touches your lips, His forgiveness reminds you that you are His, your faith is renewed, the world and all that has and will attack you has been conquered. 

On this day of Pentecost, if you seek to see Jesus Christ, look no further, “the Holy Spirit, whom the Father [sent] in [Jesus’] Name, [taught]you all things.” And today, in Absolution, in the hearing His Words, and Holy Communion, He has “[brought]to your remembrance all that Jesus Christ said to you.”(v. 26)  And that is, Jesus Christ IS where He said He would be, He IS still and always will be, with you, even to the end of the age.  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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