Sermon for 5/19/21: The Feast of Pentecost (series B)

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The Miracle of Hearing
Acts 2:1-21

Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Amen. 

“I have spoken; I will do it,” says the Lord. What a wonderful promise from the Lord. It points us to the Gospel text, where our Lord promises that He will send the Holy Spirit to lead us into all truth. And that promise leads us to Pentecost. Pentecost was accompanied by marvelous signs: the sound from heaven like a powerful wind; the tongues of fire that came to rest on the apostles; and, of course, the apostles speaking the languages of the world as the Holy Spirit gave that ability. Those signs were the indication that God was at work. Too often, however, the signs have gathered more attention than the thing to which they were pointing: the Word of God spoken and heard. Jesus often told His disciples to not speak of the signs they had seen Him do. Jesus didn’t want people to come to Him merely because of signs, but by the Word to which those signs pointed. This is the heart of Pentecost: the Word is meant to be heard and believed. The great miracle in all of this is the miracle of hearing, because it is hearing that receives saving faith.

Apart from receiving the Ten Commandments, what we likely remember most about Moses is signs God worked through him in Egypt, the plagues that eventually moved Pharaoh to let Israel go. But those signs pointed to the Word which Moses was given by God to speak. When God called Moses from the burning bush and told Him to go to Egypt, He gave Moses this promise: “I will be with your mouth and will teach you what you shall say.” The all-important thing was what Moses would say to the people and what they would hear. The signs that accompanied the Word could only bear witness to the judgment God would bring to bear on Egypt. It was the Word that would bear the promise of God to save and care for His people. Yes, signs and wonders were often part of prophetic work, but the signs did not save Israel. The signs confirmed the prophetic Word. God’s Word was to be heard, and from the Word comes life and salvation. Pentecost gathers all of this together. The marvelous signs were surely there. But they were there to bear witness to the message of salvation. The real miracle of Pentecost is that the people heard the Word.

Ever since that first Pentecost, many have tried to claim that salvation is something of their own doing. Even some who heard the Gospel preached in their own language that day sought an answer apart from the work of God: they claimed the disciples were drunk. But Peter’s sermon turned away any such explanation. He boldly proclaimed that everything that had been done to Jesus, all that He had endured, was God’s doing, and all of it done for the salvation of the world. And when Peter’s sermon was ended, many were so moved by his words that they asked in desperation what could be done. Peter answered: “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” It was all due to hearing the Word of God.

The miracle of salvation is that it is God who speaks; it is God who makes us able to hear; it is God who saves us. The signs and wonders only confirm that it is God who speaks and saves! You may remember these words from Luther: “I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ my Lord, or come to Him, but the Holy Spirit has called me by the Gospel...” The miracle of Pentecost, the miracle of hearing, is that it is God who speaks and saves. It is God who offered up His Son as the sacrifice for the sins of the whole world. It is God who sent His Holy Spirit to preach this Word through men so that those who hear would be saved from sin, death, and hell.

This miracle of hearing continues even today. Immediately after Peter urged those believers to be baptized, Luke tells us: “They devoted themselves to the apostle’s teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.” The miracle of hearing continues today in the Church’s worship: in the faithful preaching and teaching of God’s Word, in the faithful administration of the Sacraments, and in the prayers of the Church.

If you carefully examine the Acts of the Apostles, the growth of the Church was always initiated and fed by worship and prayer, a work always ascribed to the Holy Spirit, and never merely to the efforts of men. “I planted,” St. Paul says, “Apollos watered, but God gave the increase.” We can’t know how or when God will make a congregation grow, but you can be sure that, without faithful preaching and hearing of the Word, a congregation will die in sin, even if it grows in numbers. If we believe that God answers prayer, then we can surely trust that He will provide opportunities to hear His Word. He will surely provide opportunities to confess Jesus and His saving Word in our various callings in life. Whether it is in our families, among friends, in the workplace—wherever it might be, God has placed us there so that the miracle of hearing the Word would occur. He will give you chances to “...give an answer to everyone who asks the reason for the hope that is in you.”

God will continue to bless His Word as it enters our ears. God will continue to bless His Word as He speaks forgiveness to us and as He feeds it to us in Christ’s body and blood for the remission of sins. His Word will not return to Him empty; it will do exactly what He sends it to do. This is truly a miraculous Word: a Word to lead us from the death and despair of this world to life and salvation in the world to come. “I have spoken; I will do it,” says the Lord. Indeed, He has spoken; truly He has done it. In the name of the Father and of the Son (+) and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen. 

 

The peace of God which passes all understanding will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus always.  Amen.   

Sermon for 5/12/24: Ascension of Our Lord (observed) (series B)

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Not Alone

Acts 1:1-11

 

Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

 

As Jesus was received into the clouds, it was clear to the disciples that they had seen Him for the last time on this side of eternity. This was the end of His appearing among them, speaking to them, keeping company with them. It seems they were left alone, and it was apparent from the way they were gazing up into the heavens that they knew He was gone from their sight for good. Scripture rarely gives us psychological insight into those who inhabit its pages, but surely they must have felt an almost indescribable loneliness. And haven’t we all had moments like that?—moments when we felt alone, bereft of comfort, with no understanding company to reassure us. Moments like that can come upon us at unexpected times and places. Who among His disciples gathered that day expected Jesus to be taken from them suddenly?

Their loneliness, however, was compounded by a question that must have risen in their minds once they had taken their eyes off the clouds: “What do we do now?” It was bad enough to be left alone, but to be left alone without any true understanding of what Jesus had in store for them or any real sense of purpose had to be a startling experience. Jesus had spoken many times about the things of the kingdom of God, but what their task was in relationship to that kingdom was not clear to them. So what now?

It was true, of course, that Jesus had promised them that they would “receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, and all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” But what did that mean?

And then, just as suddenly, eleven became thirteen as “two men stood by them in white robes,” asking them why they were looking into heaven, as though the disciples could bring Jesus back into their midst again. And the implication of their words was this: “Do what He told you to do. Don’t leave Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father to be fulfilled. Just wait.”

Waiting is hard, though, isn’t it? There is an almost inescapable sense among Christians in our day that we must do something if the Kingdom of God is to be established among us. And that is what is so hard about waiting: waiting is so terribly passive! We wait for the action of another, and our own actions do nothing to end the waiting. In fact, our actions may get in the way. We can become so intent on “building the Kingdom” that we fervently devote ourselves to our own human devices at the expense of those means by which the Holy Spirit actually builds the Kingdom. The faithful proclamation of the Word of the Lord, the water poured, and the bread and wine distributed: these are the means by which the Holy Spirit moves. We can be so eager to prod the Kingdom into being through our worldly ways, through programs and pamphlets and schemes, convincing ourselves that numerical success and faithfulness must be the same thing.

So what do we do as we wait for the Holy Spirit to do His thing? In other words, how do we overcome the loneliness of feeling left alone and waiting for something to happen? We gather as those who believe and trust in this mighty Lord who subjected Himself to suffering and death, and who ascended to the right hand of the Father, to His power and glory. Through Him, forgiveness of sins is offered and given—forgiveness that bridges the gap between the Father and our lives. Through this we are comforted and assured, in spite of appearances, that we are not really alone, even when we feel so alone.

And so we are to wait…but not as people who are alone. In His own mysterious way, our Lord’s absence actually became the mode of His presence everywhere and for all time. Wherever His people are present, He is present in their midst: present in the Word proclaimed; present in the water of Baptism administered; present in the bread and wine, the body and blood, distributed and received. He is present in these powerful means: present in and through you and me and the whole Church on earth.

At times we feel so terribly alone, for this world presses in on us at every turn. At times we feel as though we have been left like orphans in a world that beats at us with messages and opportunities that are considerably different than the message and opportunity the Holy Spirit would have us seize upon. In that very moment, two men in white robes stand by us in spirit, saying: “Why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come...” And we, like those disciples, “worship Him with great joy, continually being in the temple, blessing God.” Here, gathered together, gathered in the presence of God, we hear Him say to us: “Behold, I am with you to the end of the age.” And we realize that what has been given us to do is to continue all that Jesus had begun to do and teach.

Alone is never really alone when we are accompanied by the ascended Lord. He is both a marvelous Comforter walking beside us in the midst of the turmoil of this life, and the One who bids us be His voice, His hands, His heart, into the world around us. Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

Sermon for 5/5/24: Sixth Sunday of Easter (series B)

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True Love in Obedience

John 15:9-17

 

ALLELUIA! CHRIST IS RISEN! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

 

 

Is there any word more misused and more confused than the word “love?” “Love” is used to describe everything from promiscuous bed-hopping, to those first emotional stirrings in the adolescent heart, to the same sex relationships which Scripture describe as abomination. And what often characterizes this “love” is that it is selfish and self-centered; it is more interested in what it can get than in what it will give.

There is, however, no confusion about how Jesus defines love. To love is to keep the commandments of God. Jesus showed His love for the heavenly Father by keeping His commandments, and His disciples will show their love for Him by doing the same: especially by keeping the commandment to love one another. Love is obedient action: taking responsibility for the way you care for others. You may have heard love defined this way: “Love means never having to say you are sorry.” This displays the worldly attitude that love is all about me. But true love is all about others.

There is some confusion, even among Christians, about where we can find the strength and power to love one another in this way. Genuine love is not something we can stir up in our minds or emotions. It is, like grace, a gift of God, a gift that first comes to us that we might also love one another. Of course, God is love. It is not just that God loves; He is love. Love is His nature, and everything He says and does is an expression of that nature.

The world teaches that anything done in the name of love is okay—even things God, who Himself is love, calls sin. Love is never free to do what it pleases. Love means obedience; it means commitment. And here, in the love of the Son for the Father, is perfect love. The commandment of the Father to the Son is found in these words of Jesus: “I know that His commandment is eternal life...” The commandment of the Father to His Son meant humiliation and the cross; it meant affliction and suffering; it meant physical and emotional pain beyond anything we can understand. This love had a terrible price, but the obedient love of Christ means salvation for us all.

And now, the love that the Son has for His Father is turned toward His disciples. To them Jesus said: “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lays down his life for his friends.” Jesus, of course, lives this greater love. He is the One who determines how the relationship between them will go. The disciples did not and could not choose Him; He chose them. This relationship to Him was one of pure grace; without Him they could do nothing. And yet, He calls them friends. By calling His disciples “friends,” Jesus does not remove that distinction between them. He is still their Master, and they His disciples. He simply means that He is prepared to favor them with His gifts of grace, to which they are to remain faithful. And then He does what no one would reasonably expect the Son of God to do: He chooses to serve them rather than be served by them. There is no greater or finer love than this: Jesus lays down His life for them.

We said earlier that love is obedient action; it is taking responsibility for the way you care for others. And that is just what Jesus did. He purposely and deliberately laid down His life and then, just as purposely and deliberately, took up His life again in the resurrection, all for the sake of redeeming His world. Jesus serves those who, under all normal circumstances, should be serving Him. He serves them—and us—with the forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation, with joy and hope, with peace and certainty. And through this service to us, His friends, He makes us able to faithfully love Him and our friends.

How will we love the Master and the “friends” He has given us to love? We will do so by abiding in His love. To do that, we need to acknowledge our need for that love and then acknowledge that Jesus has met this need for us. There is no greater love than what He has done for us: giving His life for those who should rightly give our lives for Him. That is a love of such compelling power that it draws us deeper and deeper into its joy and peace.

Where is the fruit of this love to be found? It is found in the gifts of life and salvation Jesus has given to His Church. It is found in the Word of the Gospel that is preached through our ears and into our hearts, creating and sustaining faith in Jesus Christ. It is found in the water and Word of Holy Baptism and its cleansing from sin and death. It is found in the Word of Holy Absolution that answers our repentance with the promise of the forgiveness of sins, life, and eternal salvation. It is found, as it will be offered and received again this day, in the holy body and blood of our Savior, served by Him in His Holy Supper for the remission of our sins.

Fed with this love from God to us, we can, and truly will, love one another as brothers and sisters in Christ. And then will come to pass the words of the Savior: “These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.” ALLELUIA! CHRIST IS RISEN! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

The peace of God which passes all understanding will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus always.  Amen.