The Day of Pentecost

 The Church Season of Pentecost

The Day of Pentecost, One Year Series

Our Savior Lutheran Church, Midland, MI (May 27, 2012)

Readings:        Psalm 143

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

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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 14^th 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.

 

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

Today is the Feast of Pentecost – the Sunday when we focus on the revelation of the Holy Spirit fifty days after Jesus rose from the dead and ten days after He ascended into heaven.  The Sound of the mighty wind and the appearance of the tongues of fire were a call to gather the faithful men of Israel – the faithful men who had gathered according to the Law given to Moses so many centuries ago.

The Holy Spirit let His presence be known in a rare and spectacular way on that day.  Never the less, the ultimate goal of this spectacular display of sound and light was to draw the faithful Pentecost pilgrims together so that they could hear about the mighty works of God.  The proclamation of the mighty works of God was so important that the Holy Spirit even gave the disciples the ability to proclaim those mighty works in the native languages of all the faithful pilgrims who arrived on the scene.

Jesus Christ died on the cross, but it was not possible for death to hold Him and He rose from the dead.  Now the disciples were telling the faithful that they were witnesses of all these things.  These are the mighty works of God that the disciples were telling to the faithful in their own native languages.

The true work of the Holy Spirit is not in the tongues of fire or the sound of the mighty rushing wind.  The true work of the Holy Spirit is in the proclamation of the mighty works of God.  As Jesus said, “When the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me.”  The sound was impressive and it drew a crowd.  Never the less, the main work of the Holy Spirit witnesses about Jesus.

So, what does the Holy Spirit’s message sound like then?  Jesus said, “When he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment.”

Our own nature is inclined to think that good people go to heaven and bad people go to hell.  The difficulty comes when we try to determine who is good enough to go to heaven and who is so bad that they are definitely going to hell.  The Holy Spirit steps in and settles the argument.  He convicts the world of sin.  He tells us we are not good enough to go to heaven and that I deserve to go to hell.

He comes to us and tells us that I have lost many opportunities.  He says, “As a husband, you have not loved your wife as Christ loved the church.  As parents, you have not brought up your children in the fear of the Lord.  As a son, you have not honored your parents.  He tells a pastor, you have not cared for my sheep.  And ultimately he tells us do not even begin to think that there is anything you can do to earn your way into heaven.”  He convicts us of our sin and shows us that we are indeed totally helpless before God.

And, if the Holy Spirit left us in that state, we would be most wretched – but He doesn’t.  The Holy Spirit convicts the world of righteousness.  The Holy Spirit beholds us in our helpless state before God and says, “There is a righteousness that belongs to you.  This is the righteousness of the Son of God – Jesus Christ.  The righteousness of His perfect life is yours.  The price that He paid is dearer than you can possibly imagine.  He bought you with His holy precious blood and His innocent suffering and death.  With this dreadful price He exchanged His righteousness for your sin.  Now He offers salvation to you for free.”  There is sweet comfort in the Holy Spirit’s conviction of righteousness for it is the righteousness of Christ unto salvation.  It is the Holy Spirit who makes the righteousness of Christ available to us through faith.

Lastly, there is the Holy Spirit’s conviction of judgment.  The world wants to stand in judgment over us, and Satan thinks he is God Himself.  They take it upon themselves to judge between right and wrong – between that which must be condemned and that which must be accepted.  Even though the message of salvation through Jesus Christ is for the entire world, Satan and the World insist that this message is divisive, narrow-minded, intolerant, and bigoted.  The world brings this thinking against God and His Christians in an effort to exterminate the message of the Gospel.

The Holy Spirit fights the judgment of this world with his own conviction of judgment.  He draws our attention to the fate of the ruler of this world – Satan.  Satan’s judgment is already sealed.  He is the one who brought God’s beloved creation into the state of sin and for that he will suffer forever.  As the Holy Spirit reveals the fate of Satan to us, He assures us that judgment and condemnation by the world is not the judgment of God, but that it is the judgment of the devil who is already condemned by God.

God carried out His judgment against sin when He punished His son in our place on the cross.  Now the Holy Spirit reveals God’s judgment.  God looks at all believers in Christ and says, “I see only the righteousness of my beloved Son, Jesus Christ.  There is no condemnation.”

The Holy Spirit could probably introduce us to Christ in an infinite number of ways, but He has chosen to introduce us through the Word of God.  He works and sustains faith in us through the Word of God that we hear with our ears and read with our eyes.  He works faith in us with God’s Word of Holy Baptism as we combine the Word of God with water according to Christ’s command.  He sustains our baptismal faith as we confess our sins to God our Father and hear Christ’s Word of forgiveness on the lips of our pastor.  He strengthens our faith as Christ Himself comes to us as the living Word in His body and blood.  In these ways, the Holy Spirit has chosen to connect us to our Lord and savior Jesus Christ.

Now we might well ask, “How powerful can words really be?  Are words really that important?”  God commanded Ezekiel to preach a sermon to a congregation of dry bones.  Ezekiel preached according to the word of the Lord and the dry bones became an exceedingly great army.

The Word of God is powerful – not because we say it or use it – but because God stands behind it with His promises.  God has promised: “For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.

The Holy Spirit works through the Word to put the finishing touch of faith on our salvation.  God the Father sent His Son into the world, “in order that the world might be saved through Him.”  The Son has purchased our salvation with His holy, precious blood, and His innocent suffering and death.  The Holy Spirit brings this salvation to us as He calls us by the Gospel, enlightens us with His gifts, and sanctifies us in the one, true faith.  So the work of justification is complete.  We do nothing.  God does it all.  Because God does it all, our salvation is secure and we shall live forever with Him.  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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The Church Season of Easter - Easter 7 - Exaudi

The Church Season of Easter

The Seventh Sunday of Easter  - Exaudi

Our Savior Lutheran Church, Midland, MI (May 20, 2012)

One Year Series

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

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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 15^th chapter of St. John, especially the following verses.

John 15:26-16:4 (ESV)

²⁶ “But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me. ²⁷ And you also will bear witness, because you have been with me from the beginning. ¹ “I have said all these things to you to keep you from falling away. ² They will put you out of the synagogues. Indeed, the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God. ³ And they will do these things because they have not known the Father, nor me. ⁴ But I have said these things to you, that when their hour comes you may remember that I told them to you. “I did not say these things to you from the beginning, because I was with you.

Alleluia!  Alleluia! Christ is risen!

He is risen indeed! Alleluia!  Amen.

Today is the Sunday between the Ascension and Pentecost. It marks the period of time between Jesus removing His visible presence from among His disciples, and the gift of the Holy Spirit.  It is as if it is that time in a race when the starter is crying out, "on your mark . . . get set . . ." and he says "Go!" or fires the starter's pistol, or whatever it is that begins the race.

The Gospel is perfect for this day. It records the words of Jesus during His last great conversation with the disciples before the Passion. This is a warning and a promise, and none of it was spoken to us, directly, but to His disciples who were soon to be promoted to Apostles - from 'students' to those who were to bear witness to what they had seen and heard and to spread the Gospel.

Jesus warns the disciples about troubles that they will face. Jesus warns them "that [they] may be kept from stumbling." It is easy to understand this. They have followed Jesus. He has cared for them, and shielded them from all of the dangers and troubles that might have happened to them. They probably did not understand or even see His love care of Jesus for them, but nothing happened to them. He fed them, and taught them, and led them around the whole of what was once called the "promised land".

But now they were about to be cast out on their own, more or less - Jesus was going to die and rise again and ascend and leave them to be His witnesses. He was going to take His visible presence from them. He was not taking His care away from them, but things were going to change, and God knew about it. In fact, it was all part of God's plan. 

Jesus was warning all disciples were going to become targets of hostility. And though we are not witnesses, as were the Apostles.. We are confessors. We confess what we have heard and believed. We speak what God has spoken to us through His Word. We confess that Jesus is the true Son of God, come down in human form and having taken on human nature on our behalf. We confess that Jesus kept the whole will and law of God, where all mankind has failed, and having earned and rightly deserved eternal life, has suffered and died in our place, for our sins, on our behalf. We confess that His death on the cross is ours, taken for us to meet the justice of God over and against our sins. We confess what those first witnesses bore witness to.

But works righteousness, and decision theology, which deny the very possibility of forgiveness in either Sacrament, or of the real presence of the body and blood of Jesus Christ in the Lord's Supper, these doctrines are unbiblical, and unChristian. They paint a picture of God and of Christ which is unlike our Savior, and they hide the comfort of Christ and the hope of salvation from many that believe them. And some Christians think they need gimmicks. They think that the next program is going to make things happen that only God can make happen! As Jesus said, "they have not known the Father, or Me."

These people will reject us, and try to marginalize us, and when they have the power, they will try to drive us out of the church. That is what Jesus' warnings mean for you and me. That is the Hour that is coming. They will do such things with the complete conviction that they are right, and that they are serving God and God's truth. Of course some will not count God in the picture - they will be convinced that they are serving "truth" and "all that is reasonable" and that they are fighting "superstition". The point is, they will persecute and trouble those who confess the truth of the Gospel, all the while thinking that they are the good guys and on the side of the angels. That is the hour that is coming and indeed is an hour which is almost here!

But do not despair. We have the helper, the One that Jesus promised - the Holy Spirit. Jesus warns us of the reality of the coming hostility of the world to our confession, through the warning to the disciples of the hostility of the world to their witness. It still applies by extension, because our confession is their witness. "But these things I have spoken to you, that when their hour comes, you may remember that I told you of them."

Jesus wants us to know that when we come upon these pains and sorrows and troubles, that it is to be expected. As Peter wrote in His first epistle, letter chapter 4, "Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you; but to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing; so that also at the revelation of His glory, you may rejoice with exultation."

When the pain comes, and people turn on you, and when speaking about the wonderful good news of Jesus gets you into trouble, or pain, or your friends and even your family turn away from you, you will be tempted to be confused, and wonder why some strange thing is happening. Jesus warned the Disciples, and through their warning He warns us - it is the Hour that is coming. Expect it. Knowing that pain is coming doesn't change the pain, but it explains it - and it is for your strengthening and comfort that Jesus tells us about it.

Alleluia!  Alleluia! Christ is risen!

He is risen indeed! Alleluia!  Amen.

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The Church Season of Easter - The Ascension of Our Lord

The Church Season of Easter,

The Ascension of Our Lord, One Year Series

Our Savior Lutheran Church, Midland, MI (May 17, 2012)

Readings:        Psalm 110

                        2 Kings 2:5-15
                        Acts 1:1-11
                        Luke 24:44-53

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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 as recorded in the 24^th chapter of St. Luke, especially the following verses:

Luke 24:44-53 (ESV)

⁴⁴ Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” ⁴⁵ Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, ⁴⁶ and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, ⁴⁷ and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. ⁴⁸ You are witnesses of these things. ⁴⁹ And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.” ⁵⁰ Then he led them out as far as Bethany, and lifting up his hands he blessed them. ⁵¹ While he blessed them, he parted from them and was carried up into heaven. ⁵² And they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy, ³ and were continually in the temple blessing God.

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

Alleluia! Alleluia! Christ is risen!  

He is risen indeed! Alleluia!  Amen.

The Paschal candle is lit for services through the Easter season, but today it is extinguished for the rest of the year except for baptisms, funerals and the time of Christmas. 

And today we celebrate Jesus Christ’s Ascension into heaven.  Jesus returns to His heavenly home.  On this day, the day of Ascension, Christ led His apostles to Bethany, He blessed them and then He ascended into heaven.  We can only imagine what the apostles were thinking.  We know that good byes are always hard when the person you love is going away.  We have all shed tears when we say farewell to someone we won't be seeing for a while. 

Christ was leaving, but He was not leaving as the apostle’s understood it.  As an analogy, He left sort of like the Paschal candle left this room during the Holy Gospel.  You’re right, it did not leave merely the light representing Christ was extinguished and you watched as the smoke rose from the candle and slowly vanished.  But the candle is still here.  Jesus is not gone He is here with us still.

When those same apostles saw Jesus alive, their faith was restored.  Scripture tells us that Jesus, "showed himself to these men and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive.  He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God."  (Acts 1:3) During all these appearances the apostles put their trust in Jesus again and He forgave all their doubts and unbelief. 

Our text says "(Jesus) opened their minds so they could understand the Holy Scriptures" (Luke 24:45).  Jesus gave the apostles the ability to understand the Bible, and that He had fulfilled all that was written about the Messiah.  Nothing more needed to be accomplished.  Salvation for the world was complete.  From then on, any person who asked God for forgiveness in the Name of Jesus would get it.  Nothing more can be added to what Jesus had done.

And while Jesus' work was finished, the disciples work was just about to begin.  They were to wait in Jerusalem until the Holy Spirit came to them.  Then they were called upon to preach the message of repentance and forgiveness in his Name to all nations.

And Christ's commission to his disciples continues today.  The disciples, the learning ones, were now apostles, the sent ones.  We continue to proclaim repentance and the forgiveness of sins as John the Baptist did and as Jesus did too. as we receive it from the printed page.

Jesus has ascended to heaven, but He is not distant from us.  He sends us the Holy Spirit through the church's preaching and administering His sacraments.  We ask Jesus to open our minds to understand the Holy Scriptures as He did for the first disciples.  In them we find the meaning we need to guide our lives as servants of God.

At the Ascension of Jesus, the church said goodbye to the face to face contact with Jesus. Now, through the preaching and the sacraments which He instituted, the Holy Spirit brings Christ to us in means that are hidden, yet powerful.  We are to use this time God has given us to prepare for Jesus' return.  There are so many souls to be reached, and there is so little time.  While we may weep that Jesus has ascended, His incarnation has won for us joy beyond all understanding.  While we are here we bask in the joy of salvation won, yet that does not mean we should rest and do nothing.  Christ has won salvation for all and graciously we are called to proclaim that salvation to the ends of the earth.  There are no sad goodbyes today.  Yet we still may ask, ‘what of those tears we shed for those family and friends who have gone before us in the faith?’  The answer is that when we join Jesus Christ in His heavenly home He, “will wipe away every tear from [your] eyes.”(Rev 21:4)  No pain of loss or separation will remain.  In fact, there is no separation, for even in Christ’s Ascension, He has told us that He will still be “with us even to the end of the ages.”(Mt. 28:20)

So when you see the unlit Christ candle here at the altar, remember the candle is still here.  Remember that Jesus has indeed ascended to heaven, and there Jesus our heavenly high priest brings our prayers to the Father, and He rules over His church with grace and forgiveness.  That knowledge of Christ, that faith and belief given to you is the delivery of His promise of salvation.  And the means for this delivery is His Word and Sacraments.  From His house to your house, from His body to your body, free, no postage due, no strings attached just the pure sweetness of the Gospel for you in the promise of eternal life. Amen.

Alleluia! Alleluia! Christ is risen!  

He is risen indeed! Alleluia!  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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The Church Season of Easter - Easter 6 - Rogate

The Church Season of Easter,

Easter 6, One Year Series

Our Savior Lutheran Church, Midland, MI (May 13, 2012)

 

Readings:        Psalm 107, 1-9                                   

                        Numbers 21:4-9         
                        1 Timothy 2:1-6
                        John 16:23-33

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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 as recorded in the 16^th chapter of St. John, especially the following verses:

John 16:23-33 (NIV)

²³ In that day you will no longer ask me anything. I tell you the truth, my Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. ²⁴ Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete.

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

             Have you ever ask yourselves these questions?  “Don’t you just wonder what God was thinking when… or the first thing I’m going to do when I get to heaven is ask God about ______.”

            Jesus said to his disciples, “In that day you will no longer ask me anything.”  Asking is something we’re told is sometimes good at and other times we’re not so good. Sometimes we ask questions because inquiring minds want to know the answer to things that puzzle them.  Sometimes we say what we want God to tell us because it has hurt us or someone we know.  Children seem to be the champions of asking questions in a never ending “why game” where no matter what the answer is the next question is always, “but why?” And then there are those who ask questions because they really want to know what something means, why something is happening of or how something works.  Sometimes we don’t ask questions because we don’t really don’t want to hear the answer.  Sometimes we ask questions just so everyone else will see that we know the answer.  And other times we ask only after we have hit rock bottom and whatever it is that we desire overrides our personal pride and then we ask God.  The disciples had Jesus there with them and when they doubted or misunderstood they could go to Him and ask.  When we have a question about what God says, we still go to Christ and ask, and we can do so in prayer or by simply going to the Bible and searching for the answer.  But when we have particular spiritual or physical needs then we pray and request, and in Jesus' Name, we pray.

During the three and one half years of Jesus' ministry the disciples showed their immaturity again and again. For example, when Jesus fed the 5000, He first asked the disciples how they would feed all these people.  When asked to find a solution the disciples were lost as to what to do.  They had in their hands, five loaves and two fish and that didn’t give them a good solution.  While they may have thought, “It just can’t work, or how can I make it work,” the disciples were looking in the wrong place.  The disciples looked to their knowledge and skill, they looked within themselves and could find no answer.  But they still wanted to answer.  And so what they failed to do is to ask Jesus.  They just looked to themselves, said this is all we have, and so it can’t be done. 

In the Gospel lesson today, Jesus shows them how it worked.  Jesus announced to His disciples that He would be betrayed, he would suffer, die, he would be resurrected and ascend in to heaven.  Jesus told the disciples all these three times (Mt. 16:21; 17:22; 20:18) but it only grieved them. Oh the disciples did ask questions, like, “³⁶Simon Peter asked him, "Lord, where are you going?"(Jn 13:36) or Thomas who asked, "Lord, we don't know where you are going, so how can we know the way?"(Jn 14:5)   And Philip said, "Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us."(Jn 14:8)  And when Jesus prophesied about the time, when they would have fuller knowledge of all things, the disciples thought that time had already come.   So they didn’t feel the need to ask, they weren’t engaged, they assumed their own answer, and so Jesus told them what they would do, He said, “a time is coming, and has come, when you will be scattered, each to his own home. You will leave me all alone.”(v. 32)  They didn’t understand that, they didn’t ask, they didn’t want to ask, they didn’t want to hear Christ’s words.  Left to their own knowledge and fears, they did just what Christ said they would do, when Christ was betayed, they scattered to try save themselves.

Because of their lack of faith they abandoned Him in the Garden of Gethsemane. They failed to attend His trial. And except for John they did not go to Calvary either and on Saturday and Sunday they locked themselves into their room.

They did not ask Jesus how all this would happen and even if they did the result would be the same.  They would indeed scatter, and regardless of their actions Jesus would still help them.  Only a few hours later, in the Garden of Gethsemane, the disciples ran from the Jewish authorities and the Roman soldiers. The disciples were in tribulation. But even though they didn’t realize it, the peace of God went with them. And so you may ask, what is this peace? Well actually St. Paul gives the answer in his letter to the Romans,  “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand.”(Rom 5:1-2)

Because we are justified by faith in Jesus, we need not ask if God is angry with us, He is not. This peace of God guarded their minds and hearts in Christ Jesus, it was the peace of God, not of something they found in this world.  Even though they would desert Jesus, He still said: "Be of good courage, I have overcome the world." Indeed, in this world, our flesh and the world overcomes us, but Jesus has overcome the world.

We ask if there will ever be a time when we will ask no questions of doctrine, question what scripture tells us, question why our prayers aren’t immediately answered, or even ask, “What does Jesus mean?” All those questions have been answered.  Jesus sent the Holy Spirit who gave us the Holy Scriptures. The scriptures lead us in all truth.  While we may want to debate or ask many questions which the scriptures do not answer, the scriptures give an answer to all we need to ask. We do not need any further revelations, because the Triune God has given us the whole Truth in the New Testament which is the fulfillment of the Truth of Jesus Christ.

Jesus Christ said, a time will come when we can bring any spiritual or physical need to Jesus and He assures us that He will answer. That time has come and it is now.  Jesus hears your prayers.  In fact, Jesus' promise is complete.  He is one with the Father, He always has been. And we are the Father's dear children in Christ Jesus.  Remember Luther even said that in the Small Catechism, in the introduction to the Lord’s Prayer, in the response to “Our Father who art in Heaven,” the response is, “With these words God tenderly invites us to believe that He is our true Father and that we are His true children, so that with all boldness and confidence, we may ask Him as dear children ask their dear father.”  In fact He gives us much, much more than we could ever ask for, for in Baptism He gives us the promise of eternal life.  Christ was bloodied and beaten, and He went to the cross, so that we could ask forgiveness of our sins.  Though we have left Him alone there on the cross, He does not turn away from us.  So ask away, ask to “Take my life and let it be consecrated, Lord to Thee,”(LSB# 784) or “Lord, Open Now My heart to hear, and through Your Word to me draw near.”(LSB# 908)  Just ask, “and you will receive, and your joy will be [eternally] complete.” 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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The Church Season of Easter - Easter 5 - Cantate

The Church Season of Easter,

Easter 5, Cantate, One Year Series

The Confirmation of Justin and Jacob Beck

Our Savior Lutheran Church, Midland, MI (May 6, 2012)

Readings:        Psalm 66, v. 1-8
                        Isaiah 12:1-6  
                        James 1:16-21
                        John 16:5-15

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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 as recorded in the 16^th chapter of St. John, especially the following verses:

John 16:5-15 (NIV)

[Jesus said] ⁵ “Now I am going to him who sent me, yet none of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ ⁶ Because I have said these things, you are filled with grief. ⁷ But I tell you the truth: It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. ⁸ When he comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment: ⁹ in regard to sin, because men do not believe in me; ¹⁰ in regard to righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; ¹¹ and in regard to judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned. ¹² “I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. ¹³ But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. ¹⁴ He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you. ¹⁵ All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will take from what is mine and make it known to you.

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

Alleluia! Christ is risen!  

He is risen indeed! Alleluia!  Amen.

            As has become our custom here, the first Sunday in May is confirmation day.  And the sermon for the day is one addressed particularly to the confirmands, but we do allow the rest of the congregation to overhear the words in which Scripture speaks to you Jacob and Justin.  These past few years have had more than a few milestone for your lives.  Two years ago in confirmation I was taller than you, today you are both taller than me.  Hopefully that will not be your greatest achievement. 

            In our Gospel lesson the apostles spent three years with Jesus, learning from Him and He told them that it was now time for Him to go.  Jesus was sending the Holy Spirit who would guide them in truth.  While they were with Jesus the apostles sometimes understood, sometimes they did not, sometimes they stood by Jesus and in His most critical hour they did not.  The apostles were human, they succeeded at times and failed at times, but in the end we can safely call each one of them martyrs for the faith.

            We think of people like St. Peter, as martyrs, because he died for his belief in Jesus Christ.  As legend tells us St. Peter was crucified upside down because he was too humble to die the way that Jesus did, or St. Paul who went through shipwreck, torture, and threat of death rather than keep quiet about the good news Jesus had sent him to tell.  And in your lessons you have learned that you Jacob & Justin are to share the Gospel, the good news of Christ.  So you, and  all Christians are called to be heroes of the faith, for you and they are to keep calling on the Name of the Lord no matter what they face in life. You Jacob and Justin probably know that better than anyone your age should. 

            And today on your confirmation we want to remind you of all that God has done to save you, and encourage you to continue to be a hero of the faith. Jesus said in the 12th chapter of Luke, "If you boldly claim me before the world, I will claim to know you before my Father in heaven. But if, for whatever reason, you don't claim to know me before the world, I will have to claim I don't know you when you come looking to get into heaven."

            Jacob & Justin you can claim to know God because he first claimed you. When Jesus died on the cross, He gave His life to work forgiveness for the sins of the world. Jesus also gave Himself personally for you. When you were baptized, God put His Name on you and counted you part of his family. He put faith into your heart, and your parents and sponsors promised to raise you in a way that would teach you who your Savior is.

            Ever since that day you've belonged to God. When you were crawling around the house, you belonged to God. When you went to school for the first day, Jesus was there with you. When you were out on the basketball court, sitting in school taking tests, or going on vacation with your family, or even sliding down that big icy ramp at your grandparents house, Jesus was right there with you. He forgave your sins and washed you clean every time you asked for it.

            I have asked you many times why you were coming to confirmation class.  You know that you didn’t come to those classes to become a member.  You have been a member of this church since the day you were baptized. You know you’re are not completing your salvation today. You were saved when you were baptized.

            We've come to this point today to celebrate God being with you and to ask you some very important questions.  Just two more, but now these will be easy.  Number 1 is do you believe in Jesus only because your parents or grandparents make you, or do you believe in Him as your Savior on your own? And the number 2 question is are you going to continue to be a Christian and stay close to Jesus every day you live in this world?

            In a few minutes we’ll put those questions to you for you to answer. But before we do, let's take them one at a time and go over them so we all know what we are promising to do.

The first question you will be asked is this: Do you acknowledge the gifts God gave you in your baptism? And remember from the Catechism that the gifts of Baptism promised to you are forgiveness, life and salvation. This question is another way of saying if you were to die tonight, do you know that you would go to heaven. You are not answering that with a maybe, but a solid "YES!" You can answer yes because you know what Jesus has done for you and you have learned that Jesus brought you to that faith through baptism and the teaching you have learned from your parents, grandparents, and your whole family.

            The next question asks: Do you renounce the devil and all his works and all his ways? I know that nobody thinks they belong to the devil. We recognize him as the great enemy of every Christian. So. it's important for us to remember that we don't belong to ourselves either. As created people, we do belong to somebody. We don't belong to the devil; we belong to the Heavenly Father. From your baptism until now, from this day on and in every situation of life, remember who you belong to, you belong to Jesus Christ.

            After that we’ll ask if you believe in the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. We will speak together the Apostles' Creed. This creed was read when you were baptized. It is a symbol of the religion you were belong to. Together you studied the Apostles' Creed very carefully in your Catechism instruction. Today you speak that creed as a symbol of all you've learned about God and hold to be true.

             The next question.  Do you intend to continue steadfast in this confession and Church and to suffer all, even death, rather than fall away from it?  No one can answer that question on their own, but only with God leading you, you can and you will.

            The next question asks if you believe the Bible is the inspired word of God, and the doctrine you've learned from the Catechism is true to the Bible. If you believe the Bible is true, then you are going to keep studying it. Today is not your graduation from Christian education. Confirmation means you now have the tools to begin studying the Bible for yourself. Keep reading the Bible. Don't let your catechism book get covered with dust.

            We will ask if you wish to become a member of the Evangelical Lutheran Church and of this congregation of Our Savior Lutheran Church.  If you answer yes, then you are committing yourself to supporting the church with your presence at the worship services, with your talents and special abilities, and your treasures.

            You are welcomed now to come to the Lord's Supper and eat and drink with us the Body and Blood of the Lord. We have taught you to come in the right way, prepared to meet Jesus by confessing all your sins and asking Him to help you lead a godly life. You can't drink the cup of Jesus and the cup of the world at the same time. You've got to make a choice every day of your life how you want to live: as a Christian or not.

            Jesus on the cross is the reminder that God the Father helped him keep his promise to save us. He loves you both very much and promises to be right there with you every step of the way. He gives you the power to follow him. And when you find that you've failed, you've sinned and gone astray, come back to Jesus and ask his forgiveness, and He will always welcome you back. God loves you very much. Your parents, grandparents and family love you also. I love you, I will always have time to listen or share the Gospel of Christ. This whole church loves you. Remember we are your Christian family. Be on guard against your enemy, and stay with God and us all your life. This is your confirmation promise today. But you already know that because your great students and great young men. And God keeps His promises for you.  In fact He gave His Son Jesus Christ so that you may have the promise of eternal life.   Amen.

Alleluia! Christ is risen!  

He is risen indeed! Alleluia!  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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The Church Season of Easter - Easter 4 - Jubilate

The Church Season of Easter,

Easter 4, One Year Series

Our Savior Lutheran Church, Midland, MI (April 29, 2012)

Readings:        Psalm 147:1-11                                 

                        Isaiah 40:25-31          
                        1 Peter 2:11-20
                        John 16:16-22

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Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God the Father

and the Son and the Holy Spirit, Amen

The text for today’s message will be from the Gospel lesson as recorded in the 10^th chapter of St. John, especially the following verses:

John 16:16-22 (NIV)

¹⁶ “In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me.” ¹⁷ Some of his disciples said to one another, “What does he mean by saying, ‘In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me,’ and ‘Because I am going to the Father’?” ¹⁸ They kept asking, “What does he mean by ‘a little while’? We don’t understand what he is saying.”

Alleluia, Christ is Risen!  He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

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

When joy is taken away and our darkest fears come true, then our Lord’s words in today’s Gospel seem shallow. Jesus says, you now have sorrow; but I will see you again and your heart will rejoice, and your joy no one will take from you. He also says our sorrow lasts a little while. Psalm 30 says weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning. Distresses are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us by Jesus Christ.

This might sound like another “chin up, cheer up, buck up, rub some dirt in it, get back to work” speech we’ve heard or perhaps we’ve given to others. But, is that what Jesus means? No. He urges us to look beyond tears of sorrow and misery. Christ also is saying so much more. Unlike what we say and hear, Jesus is not making promises based on vague notions that things will be better soon. He is grounding His words in Himself, not in life experience or the ability to know and understand more. Jesus bases and establishes His promise in what He has accomplished for us – and continues to work in us to this day and every day.

This business of a little while is not about our afflictions as much as it is about Christ’s afflictions on our behalf. Jesus endured afflictions not to understand what it’s like to be human. Jesus endured suffering and death so we would not have to go through what He went through. His suffering and death is not about our possibilities, but about His true hope.

True hope is not a wish about what could be. True hope is the Holy Spirit Who gives us confidence to believe that what Jesus says is true. The Means of Grace matter. Christ’s life is now lived in us, even as we live in Him. With that Spirit-given confidence, we have hope that is both defiant and firm. We have hope that allows us to face our fears, own up to our faults, live through our sicknesses, laugh during our grief, and stare our own death in the eye without blinking. That’s what stands behind our Lord’s promise about a little while.

There’s an even harder to imagine promise Christ gives us in today’s Gospel. Jesus gives us a joy that no one can take from us. What sort of joy is that? Surely, it must be more than the many joys we experience. Our joys quickly sour, just as our hopes and dreams are often disappointed.

The joy Jesus gives us is the joy of His Holy Spirit. A joy which goes far beyond emotion. Not a surface joy of goose bumps or chills, or belly laughs.  A joy which burrows through our bones into the very marrow of who we are. However deep our fears go, however hidden our unhappiness and troubles, however entrenched our sinful lusts and dissatisfaction there may be, there is the Holy Spirit, there is the hope in Jesus, and there is the joy He produces.

The Spirit’s joy is not a pious wish or a rosy prayer. Think about when we sing the portion of Psalm 51 , “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me…restore unto me the joy of Thy salvation, and uphold me with Thy free Spirit.” These words are the fulfillment of our Lord’s Word, the realization of His promise lived out on our lips. This is possible only because of our Lord’s little while. The Lord’s little while is where He Who fills all things was swallowed by the grave and hell. His little while is when He Who is almighty was defeated, when Life Himself was dead.

Yet God the Father raised His Son Jesus from the dead. In that resurrected flesh, our Lord speaks His Spirit into our spirit. The Holy Spirit of God bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God. And so who can harm us? Who can undo what the Lord almighty, the death-destroyer, gives us? Even if we are overwhelmed by sorrow, and our bodies wracked with unending pain and our minds continually afraid – who can take away our joy? The Lord and Giver of Life has given us the Life that our Jesus is. In so doing, He has united us in God – in a communion that our Father will not revoke.

The only sorrow that remains is the sorrow of refusing the joy our Lord gives at His altar, the joy that truly lifts up our hearts and allows us to give thanks unto the Lord our God. Yet even this sorrow our Father, through His Son by His Spirit, works continually to overcome. Some of us have returned, even though we may have never departed! All of us know the joy of our Lord’s never-hesitant, always-relieving forgiveness.

Endure the little while. Serve the Lord joyfully for He has served you unto His death.  We enter the kingdom of God through many tribulations. Do not lose heart. Though we have sorrow, our Lord Jesus sees us now and He will see us in His House. Our hearts rejoice, for we have the joy given to us freely that no one can take from us.

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

Alleluia, Christ is Risen!  He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

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The Church Season of Easter - Easter 3 - Misericordias Domini

The Church Season of Easter,

Easter 3, One Year Series

Our Savior Lutheran Church, Midland, MI (April 22, 2012)

Readings:        Psalm 23                                            

                        Ezekiel 34:11-16       
                        1 Peter 2:21-25
                        John 10:11-16

+INI+

Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God the Father

and the Son and the Holy Spirit, Amen

The text for today’s message will be from the Gospel lesson as recorded in the 10^th chapter of St. John, especially the following verses:

John 10:11-16 (ESV)

¹¹ I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. ¹² He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. ¹³ He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. ¹⁴ I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, ¹⁵ just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep. ¹⁶ And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.

Alleluia, Christ is Risen!  He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

The Good Shepherd is the work of God. He is the one who does not run from danger - any danger, but pays the price. What that tells us, is that it's not that Jesus didn't want to flee. He told His disciples that He was sorrowful to the point of death - He really didn't want to go to the cross. He cried out earnestly to His Father in heaven that if there was any other way, He wanted to avoid the cross. But He is the Good Shepherd. He is not a hireling, but the Owner of the sheep. So, Jesus could not run. He could not deny the need of the flock. He could not take care of Himself first. The Good Shepherd lays down His life for the sheep. You are His sheep.  Jesus died - on the cross - in your place and in mine. He died for His sheep, because they were His and He is the Good Shepherd.

And if Jesus is the good Shepherd, we must be the sheep. It is important to consider the image that Jesus leaves with us about who we are. People will often have this wonderful, warm feeling as they consider the picture, but the picture they have in mind is the one where Jesus is holding the sweet little lamb in His arms or on His shoulders. That is not a picture of sheep. That is a picture of Jesus. Sheep are another thing altogether.

Just think of the phrase, "a bunch of sheep." It is not a positive image. Sheep are, in fact to be kind, known to be among the least intelligent of animals. They will wander from safety into danger without a thought. They will go where they cannot get back from without assistance, repeatedly. They are helpless in the face of danger. Sheep often do not understand the dangers that confront them - and even when they do, it is often too late for them to flee or do anything about it to protect themselves. That is what makes sheep a perfect image for God's people - and the Shepherd the perfect image for God Himself. We often do not understand the depth of the danger we live in. And which we get ourselves into by our own actions and words.

We don’t see sin for the evil thing that it is, nor do we often see our sins as sins, until it is too late. We don’t consider what it means when we make our religion into something we like.  Rather than following God, we follow our family, our friends, our neighbors, just like sheep, into things we ought not do, and into attitudes and values which deny our God and betray the faith we confess. Like sheep, we allow ourselves to be drawn away from what is wholesome and good, and many times, by our expectation of some pleasure, or some joy, or some "greener grass" on the other side of the fence.

And what can threaten us? Lives accustomed to sin. Too much free time and too great a hunger to be tickled and pleased. Too great a pride to admit our errors. Too much wanting wealth and happiness of a worldly sort, and too little willingness to set aside the desires of our flesh for what God lays before us. That is what Luther meant by the phrase, “The devil, the world and our own sinful flesh.” Anything that causes us to forget to trust God or causes us to despair of God's love and good will and forgiveness threatens us.

The truth about Jesus is the Gospel. Jesus is the Son of God - True God Himself - who came down from heaven and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit and was made man. That means that He became one of us, taking on human nature and flesh and blood and was born fully human, while still truly and fully God as well.

The truth about Jesus is that He lived without sin, and spent the last few years of His life teaching His disciples and doing things that should have identified Him as the promised Messiah of the Old Testament, the Savior intended by God for our rescue from the mess of sin into which we had gotten ourselves.

Then Jesus died. "The Good Shepherd lays down His life for the sheep." He died on a cross, as we just celebrated on Good Friday. His death was ours. We had earned it and we deserved it and He did not, but He died for us and in our place anyhow. Because of His great love and His self-giving sacrifice, we are forgiven. Our sins are not held against us. We are no longer reckoned as guilty and deserving punishment and death, but holy and righteous because of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Jesus won this for all people, and God has promised that all who trust His promises, and expect what He has promised will receive and possess those promises of forgiveness and love and blessings now, and life everlasting and resurrection of these tired bodies from our graves, only they will be outfitted for unending and eternal life before God in Glory, which is His gift to those who believe, though Jesus Christ.

“Jesus' sheep hear His voice and follow Him.” We follow Jesus into our graves trusting in His power to raise us from the grave to eternal life. We follow with lives of faithfulness and holiness, by His help and power. We will follow Him in His resurrection, also by His help and power. In the course of this life, we hear Jesus’ voice where He has placed it, in the called servants of the Word who are faithful. We follow by faithfully doing what He has given us to do. We believe in Him, and we cling to His Word and His truth - that is sound doctrine - and we follow His voice.

Others don't. That is an unfortunate truth. Jesus said that. “His sheep hear His voice.” Those who cannot hear it are not His sheep. Those who will not listen are not His sheep. Those who will not believe the things His voice says are not His sheep. Those who will not follow Jesus are not His sheep. Shepherds lead their sheep, the sheep hear the shepherd's voice and follow Him. Jesus' sheep hear his voice. He said so. Those who do not hear and follow Him are simply and sadly not His sheep.

Jesus is the Good Shepherd. There are other shepherds out there. They speak different words and lead in different directions. Each has his own agenda. But they do not care for the sheep, except as a means to their own ends. They do not love the sheep because they do not own them, and they cannot save them, because the kind of saving the sheep need is beyond anyone but Jesus. When the dangers of life, or death and hell confront the sheep, those false shepherds, those hirelings, run away and abandon the sheep to their destruction.

But Jesus is the Good Shepherd. That means you are safe. “The Good Shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.” He will keep you in all your ways. He will guide and guard and bless you. He will not desert you in the hour of need, because He is not merely a hired hand. You need have no fear of life or death. He is Your Shepherd. He has loved you to death and into everlasting life, and He will keep you until you arrive at the heavenly sheepfold.

You and I are the other sheep that Jesus mentioned in our text. We are the ones whom He has added to His flock. There are still many false shepherd and hirelings out in the world today. They are those who have their own agendas. Some want to build a large flock that they can lead wherever they will. Some use the sheep for their egos, or they are serving another who would be shepherd, but is not and cannot be. Some just want to fleece their flock. Whatever their goal or agenda, only the Good Shepherd has forgiveness and life and salvation. Only the Good Shepherd can bless and only the Good Shepherd can save.

Only the Good Shepherd, Jesus Christ, is the One promised in ancient prophecy, "I will feed My flock and I will lead them to rest," declares the Lord GOD. "I will seek the lost, bring back the scattered, bind up the broken, and strengthen the sick; but the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them with judgment." He has sought you. He has gathered you together into His flock. He has healed your deepest wound - sin and death. And He gives you the rest - the peace and joy of the Gospel. Only those who are too strong and too comfortable to listen to His call are in danger. Those He will destroy.

So listen for His voice. Be careful to hear His voice and not another. And when you have heard His voice, and you will know that it is His voice, follow Him. Do not let anything, not fame or wealth, not family or friends, not pleasures, or fear, or troubles, or sorrows, or any other thing stand in your way, but follow Him. And be at peace in whatever circumstance you may find yourself, for the Jesus Christ, your Shepherd, is the Good Shepherd. He leads you to eternal life.

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

Alleluia, Christ is Risen!  He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

+++SDG+++