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The Holy Spirit Gives Us Jesus

5/31/2020

Pentecost 2020
John 14:23-31
The Holy Spirit Gives Us Jesus
May 31, 2020

Pentecost is the day we remember the Holy Spirit being given to the Church as tongues of fire rested on the disciples’ heads and they preached the Gospel in languages they had never learned. This was a mighty miracle of God! Yet, what was a much greater miracle was what they preached. They preached how Jesus suffered and died for the sins of the people and how God raised him from the dead. Their preaching was so powerful that Scripture tells us that about three thousand souls were added to the Church that day. For this reason, Christians prize the Holy Spirit. Where the Holy Spirit is, there is salvation! Where the Holy Spirit is, there the Church grows!
So, we must ask the question: How do you receive the Holy Spirit? Many obsess over this question. In fact, some call themselves Pentecostals, because of how much they emphasize the gifts of the Holy Spirit, who was given on Pentecost. And to be sure, how you receive the Holy Spirit is just about the most important question you can ask! It is akin to asking, “How am I saved.”
Yet, there are a lot of wrong ideas about how you receive the Holy Spirit. And all of the wrong ideas center on you and what you do. I actually googled the question, “How do you receive the Holy Spirit?” and I came upon two answers from two very different branches of Christianity that were pretty much the same. One person from a Pentecostal background quoted Acts 2:38, where St. Peter says, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” The man then concluded that you must first repent in order for God to give you his Holy Spirit. But until you repent, God will not give you his Holy Spirit. So, whether God gives you his Holy Spirit or not is up to you. “The decision is yours.”
Yet, there is a serious problem here. Unless you have already received the Holy Spirit, you cannot repent. St. Paul tells us that we are naturally dead in our sins. (Ephesians 2) In 1 Corinthians chapter 2 he writes, “Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual. The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.” (vss. 12-14)
What St. Peter means by “repent” here in Acts 2 is not simply to turn from sin, but to turn to Christ Jesus in faith! This can only be accomplished by the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit was already working in these people and in their hearts to cause them to repent, that is, to turn them from unbelief to faith in Jesus Christ. This is what Jesus says in our Gospel lesson, “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.” The Holy Spirit teaches by bringing to remembrance the words of Jesus. It is the Holy Spirit, who creates faith in your heart through Jesus’ word as Scripture also says, “Faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.” (Romans 10:17)
In another video I found a Roman Catholic priest explain how we receive the Holy Spirit. He cited Acts 5:32, where St. Peter writes, “And we are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.” So, the priest concluded that in order to receive the Holy Spirit, we must be obedient to God and live according to his word. Now, we certainly should be obedient to God and live according to his word, but we cannot do this unless we first have received the Holy Spirit! We do not live according to God’s word in order to receive the Holy Spirit, but rather, we receive the Holy Spirit so that we can live according to God’s Word. Again, this priest said that we receive the Holy Spirit by our own works. Yet, what does Scripture say?
St. Paul writes in Galatians 3, “Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? Did you suffer so many things in vain—if indeed it was in vain? Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith—just as Abraham ‘believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness’?”
St. Paul makes clear that we receive the Holy Spirit through hearing with faith, that is, by hearing and believing the Gospel. And he makes clear that it is the Holy Spirit who both begins and finishes this work in you. What St. Peter means by obedience in Acts 5:32 is the obedience to the Gospel, that is, being convinced of the reliability of God’s promise. And only the Holy Spirit can convince you.
So, how do you receive the Holy Spirit? Through hearing the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit works through the preaching of Christ to enliven your heart to believe in the forgiveness of sins won by Christ, so that you may be saved! It is the Holy Spirit who brings you to true repentance. It is the Holy Spirit who makes your heart obedient to the Gospel by convincing you of God’s grace. You do not receive the Holy Spirit by your own preparation. And the Holy Spirit does not come to you apart from proclamation of the Gospel.
This is also why Baptism gives you the Holy Spirit. Baptism is a proclamation of the Gospel. It is not just plain water, but it is water included in God’s command and combined with God’s word. Many think that Baptism is our work that we do in obedience to God as a condition to receive the Holy Spirit. But this is wrong. Baptism is God’s work, not ours, as St. Paul says in Titus 3, “He saved us, not by works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy through the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior.” Baptism is Gospel, because its power is in the word and promise of Christ and its benefits are received through faith.
How do you know whether you have the Holy Spirit? Again, there are many wrong answers to this that all focus on you instead of Jesus Christ. Those who say that you receive the Holy Spirit by being obedient teach that you know you have the Holy Spirit by whether or not you are obedient. Well, do you think you have been obedient enough to keep the Holy Spirit within you? Are you confident that you have the Holy Spirit based on how you have conducted yourself as a Christian? Jesus calls the Holy Spirit the Comforter. Is it comforting to know that the Holy Spirit will remain with you just so long as you maintain your obedience to God’s law?
Others say that you know that you have the Holy Spirit if you display gifts of the Spirit like speaking in tongues, prophesying, or healing. In fact, some teach that you do not have the Holy Spirit unless you speak in tongues! And this leads many to babble incoherent sounds while lying to their hearts that they are speaking some unknown language. And it causes others to despair that the Holy Spirit has not come upon them.
Yet, this too is a misunderstanding of Scripture. Jesus did indeed promise that his disciples would speak in tongues and do many other mighty works, but he did not promise that these things would continue forever. Rather, St. Paul explicitly says in 1 Corinthians 13, “As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease...” And Jesus never said that all Christians would display these gifts of the Spirit, but rather that they would be performed as signs confirming the work of apostles, as St. Paul writes, “The signs of a true apostle were performed among you with utmost patience, with signs and wonders and mighty works.” (2 Corinthians 12:12) Yet Scripture does list fruits of the Spirit that will be produced by all Christians forever, “the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.”
Yet, it is important to note that these are fruits of the Spirit. You must be a good tree before you can bear good fruit. You do not try to produce these fruits in order to have the Holy Spirit, but rather, if you have the Holy Spirit you will produce these fruits. We love, because he first loved us. We cannot finish with the flesh what the Holy Spirit has begun. Jesus says, “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. Whoever does not love me does not keep my word.” (John 14:23-24)
So, how do you know whether you have the Holy Spirit? By whether you believe the Gospel! St. John writes, “By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us his Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the World. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us.” (1 John 4:13-16)
You know you have the Holy Spirit through faith in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. If you focus on yourself and what you do, you will always doubt whether God’s Spirit abides in you. But if you focus on Christ and his Gospel which the Holy Spirit teaches you, you have confidence that the Holy Spirit dwells in you by grace as a gift.
Finally, what is the greatest treasure the Holy Spirit gives you? The peace, which the world cannot give. Jesus says, “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.” (John 14:27) The Holy Spirit delivers this peace to us through the preaching of the forgiveness of sins for Christ’s sake. When Jesus rose from the dead, he said to his disciples, “Peace be with you. Receive the Holy Spirit.” and he then gave his church the authority to forgive sins. Scripture says in Romans 5:1, “Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
The Holy Spirit gives us peace with God, which Jesus Christ won for us by dying for our sins and taking God’s wrath away. The Holy Spirit continues to give us this peace by convincing us through the proclamation of this Gospel that God is at peace with us for Christ’s sake. Pentecost is not about your works or your preparation. It is not even about speaking in tongues or doing miracles. Pentecost is about the Holy Spirit convincing you that God is at peace with you for Christ’s sake. Pentecost is about the Holy Spirit giving Jesus to you. Amen.

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The Lord Works in The Preaching of The Gospel.

5/24/2020

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Ascension of Our Lord (Observed)
Mark 16:14-20
May 23, 2020
For additional readings, please go to: https://sanctus.org/2020/05/21

So then the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God. And they went out and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the message by accompanying signs. ~ Mark 16:19-20
Jesus ascended to the right hand of God the Father, yet St. Mark tells us that he continued to work with his disciples. This is difficult for us to understand. If Jesus has ascended into heaven and is seated at God’s right hand, how can he be with his Church here on earth? Many try to reconcile this by saying that Jesus’ human body is up in heaven at God’s right hand, but his divine nature can be anywhere. So, while Jesus’ body must stay up in heaven, Jesus’ divine spirit can be with us down here on earth. This is the conclusion of many, because Jesus is a human and a human can only be in one place at one time.
Yet, this creates serious problems. We confess one Lord Jesus Christ, not one Lord Jesus who is human and another Lord Jesus who is divine. The divine Lord Jesus and the human Lord Jesus are one and the same Lord Jesus. John’s Gospel tells us that “the Word became flesh.” (John 1:14) The divine Word did not simply possess human flesh for a while, but became flesh. The Son of God assumed human nature, so that he truly is and always will be a human being. This is why the angel Gabriel told Mary that the child to be born to here will be called, “the Son of God.” (Luke 1:35) The Virgin Mary gave birth to God’s Son.
When we speak of Jesus Christ, we always speak of him as both human and divine. He is a man and he is God. Whatever he does as a man, he also does as God. And whatever he does as God, he also does as a man, whether that is being born, healing the blind, dying on the cross, rising from the dead, or ascending into heaven. This is why St. Peter tells the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem, “You killed the Author of Life.” (Acts 3:15) The Author of Life is none other than God himself. God cannot die, yet Jesus Christ who is true God died. Therefore, we rightly say, “Our God died upon the cross.” And St. Paul, speaking to the pastors in Ephesus, refers to God’s blood when he says, “Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the Church of God, which he obtained with his own blood.” (Acts 20:28) Now, God is a Spirit and spirits do not have blood. Yet, God became a human being, so God indeed has blood which he shed for us on the cross.
If Jesus Christ is not a human being, then he could not take our place under the Law nor could he die on the cross in our place. And if Jesus Christ is not God, then his death for our sins would not be a sufficient price to pay for our sins. Unless Jesus is both God and man, we cannot be saved. So, we need a divine and human Jesus Christ at the Father’s right-hand interceding for us at all times and we need a divine and human Jesus Christ working with us here on earth at all times if we are to be saved.
But how can Jesus be both at God the Father’s right hand and here on earth? Well, first you need to understand that God’s right hand is not a place up in the sky that you can find with a satellite. Rather, God’s right hand is his right hand of power (Luke 22:69; 1 Peter 3:22). That Jesus is at God’s right hand does not mean that he is stuck in one place, but rather that he is filled with unlimited power and authority. Psalm 139 emphasizes that God’s right hand is everywhere when it says, “If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me.” And St. Paul speaks of Jesus’ ascension in Ephesians chapter 1 when he says God raised Christ, “and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head of all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.” and again in chapter 4 he writes, “He who descended is the one who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things.”
That Jesus is at God’s right hand means that all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to him. It means that he is with us always even to the end of the age. Jesus’ human nature does not limit him in any way. Jesus our God has the power to be in all places at one time in his body while remaining human. This means that Jesus can be and is indeed with us in his Church here on earth.
Jesus is everywhere, but he is not everywhere for you in the same way. St. Mark tells us that the Lord continued to work with them. What did he work with them to do? He worked to confirm the message he sent them to preach. Jesus said to them,

“Go into all the world and proclaim the Gospel to the whole creation.”

Jesus works with the proclamation of the Gospel. Where can Jesus be found? Where his Gospel is preached. The Gospel is the good news that Jesus died on the cross to save sinners. And where did Jesus send his disciples to proclaim this message of good news? He sent them into all the world. Every human being needs to hear this Gospel. This is an urgent command our Lord gives his Church before his departure and it is a task that He continues to work with in His Church even today.
That the Gospel is a message that God’s own Son had to take on our human flesh and die for the sins of the entire world and that it is necessary that this message be proclaimed to everyone in the world, tells us that the world needs this Gospel. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Everyone needs his sins forgiven. Everyone needs to be rescued from the wrath of God and eternal condemnation. This is the greatest problem we all face. And so, we all need this Gospel above anything else.
You might try to deny that your sin is such a big deal that you need this Gospel above all things. You can ignore your own sins by making excuses and justify everything you think, say, and do. You can ignore God’s Law, so that your conscience doesn’t feel guilty. You can cut people out of your life who make you feel uncomfortable, whom you’ve hurt or who’ve hurt you. You can take pills to take away the pain in your body that reminds you that you are indeed mortal. You can ignore the death around you by plugging yourself into Netflix or Amazon Prime and watch your shows, which distract you from reality. You can block out your conscience and God’s word from your heart with banal conversations about things that do not matter. You can do all these things and more to try to keep the reality of your sin from making you uncomfortable. But eventually the reality of sin will strike. You’re going to die. And judgment comes after.
Jesus’ final command to proclaim the Gospel to the whole world emphasizes to us what is most important. We need this Gospel. We need what Jesus gave his life for on the cross and what he continues to work to give us today: the forgiveness of sins and eternal peace with God.
We need to turn from our sins. In St. Luke’s account of this story, he says that Jesus declared that “repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in [Christ’s] name to all nations.” To repent means to turn. When we think of repenting, we think of saying sorry for our sins. And that is good. We should be sorry for the wrong we’ve done. Yet, there is a misconception about repentance. Many think that when you repent you then try to make up for the wrong you’ve done in order to be accepted by God. But Christian repentance does not mean that you turn from your sins to your own works in an attempt to appease God’s wrath. Rather, repenting means that you turn from your sins to God’s grace for forgiveness for Christ’s sake. This is why Jesus declared,
“Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.”
Jesus does not say, whoever does enough good works to make up for his sins will be saved. Jesus does not say, whoever lives a perfect life will be saved. Jesus says, “Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved.” What are we to believe? That Jesus died on the cross for our sins and rose again for our justification. God forgives us and is at peace with us on account of Christ. This is the Gospel that Jesus commanded to be proclaimed to the whole earth.
There must be something else! Certainly, our eternal salvation cannot hinge simply on whether or not we believe a promise from God! Yes, indeed it does. When you believe the promise from God that your sins are forgiven for Christ’s sake, you receive forgiveness and eternal salvation. To make it abundantly clear that Jesus demands nothing else in addition to this faith for our salvation he then says, “Whoever does not believe will be condemned.” Not, whoever does not prove to be a good enough Christian will be condemned. Not, whoever is the worst criminal will be condemned. Rather, whoever does not believe will be condemned. Unbelief is the only damnable sin, because unbelief throws away God’s salvation, which he offers you through Christ. It is just as Jesus said in John chapter 3, “Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.”
So, it is irrefutable that faith alone saves. Yet, what is this talk about Baptism? Is Baptism some work required by us in addition to our faith to save us? No. Rather, Baptism is God’s work which joins us to Christ. And just as with the proclamation of the Gospel, Baptism does us no good unless we believe. Through faith we receive the benefits of Baptism, which include forgiveness of sins and rescue from death and the devil. Baptism gives us these benefits, because it is not just plain water, but water combined with the words and promise of God. Baptism carries with it the power and authority of Christ himself, who commands Baptism. When a child is baptized, although it looks like a pastor pouring on water, it is Jesus Christ himself from the right hand of God the Father who is cleansing that child of sin.
God lavishes the Gospel on us in multiple ways; through preaching, Baptism; also, through the Absolution and the Lord’s Supper. When the pastor forgives your sins in the stead and by the command of Christ, you must believe that Christ himself, who sits at the Father’s right hand is forgiving you with all the authority of heaven. When you eat the Lord’s Supper, you must not believe that this is mere bread and wine, but that Jesus who fills all things is present with his body and blood in order to forgive your sins and strengthen your faith. Baptism, Absolution, the Lord’s Supper, the preaching; these are all Gospel and their benefits are all received through faith in God’s promise.
Jesus seems far away from us, but at the Father’s right hand he is able to be with us in his Gospel with the authority and power to give us eternal life through faith. And he who worked with the first disciples to confirm their word with signs still works with us to produce fruits of faith that glorify God. Christ Jesus is at God the Father’s right hand; therefore, he is with his Church here on earth. Amen.

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Ask the Father

5/19/2020

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Evening Prayer, Anna Ancher, 1888, Public Domain

Rogate Sunday (Easter 6)
John 16:23-30

You probably are familiar with the story of when Martin Luther decided to become a monk. He was returning to school in Erfurt, Germany after a visit home. As he walked, he got caught in a thunderstorm and lightning stuck quite close to him. He cried out for help to St. Anne and promised to become a monk. And of course, Luther went on to become a monk, priest, doctor of theology, and finally a professor in Wittenberg where he began the Lutheran Reformation.
But why did Luther cry out to St. Anne? Why didn’t he pray to our gracious Father in heaven as Jesus instructs us when he says, “Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask of the Father in my name, he will give it to you.”? The answer is quite simple. He lacked faith. This is why anyone would pray to some saint in heaven instead of our dear Father in heaven. They lack faith. Faith is simply believing the promise that God gives. Jesus, our Lord and God, promised us that whatever we ask the Father in his name, he will give it to us. But many doubt this promise of God.
People lack faith. They think they are unworthy to ask God for anything, so they look to some saint in heaven. “The saints certainly must be worthy. They have done so many good works. If I were to ask God for anything, he might get angry. But if one of his saints asks him, surely, he will listen to his prayer! So, I will ask the saints to intercede for me on my behalf.” This is how many people think, especially within the Roman Catholic Church. Yet, it is not only those who pray to saints who lack the faith to pray directly to God the Father. Many Christians suffer from a lack of faith, so that they are afraid to pray to God.
St. James writes, “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given to him. But let him ask in faith, without doubting, for the one who doubts is like a sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord.” (James 1:5-7) Yet, it’s difficult to feel confident to pray when you have a guilty conscience! When the sin you’ve committed is so fresh in your memory, you want to put some space between your prayer and your latest vice. You want to let the grass grow over a bit before you can feel confident to ask God for anything, or else he might be too angry to listen to you. But no amount of grass can cover your past sins! Only the blood of Jesus Christ can cleanse your conscience and make you worthy to cry out to your heavenly Father for help! If you try to earn the right to pray to God, you will never be worthy!
Only the Gospel of Jesus Christ gives you the faith needed to pray to God. The Law demands works from you. But those works are never complete. And although you might feel more confident to pray to God when you don’t have any particular sin on your mind and you’ve had a productive and seemingly pious day, your feelings are not what determine whether you are worthy to pray. True faith is not feeling worthy to pray. True faith is knowing that God will answer your prayer for Christ’s sake even when you feel utterly unworthy to pray.
Don’t turn to your works in order to be worthy to pray. Don’t put off prayer until you’ve adequately reformed your life. Rather, listen to the promise of Jesus Christ: whatever you ask the Father in his name, he will most certainly give you. Listen to the Gospel of the forgiveness of sins and believe it. Only that will make you worthy to pray to God the Father directly for help.
Jesus says, “In that day you will ask in my name, and I do not say to you that I will ask the Father on your behalf; for the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God.” Now, Jesus does not mean by this that he does not ask the Father on our behalf at all. As a matter of fact, Jesus is constantly asking the Father on our behalf! Scripture says in 1 Timothy 2, “For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time.” (vss. 5-6) At all times Christ Jesus is at the Father’s right hand presenting to him his pierced hands and feet, proving that he has won for us salvation through his precious blood and innocent suffering and death. Christ Jesus is forever interceding for us to the Father.
And this is why Jesus says that the Father himself loves them. Those who believe in Jesus and believe that he was sent from the Father to die for our sins, know that Jesus is their Mediator. We pray directly to God the Father with the certain hope that he is pleased with us on account of Jesus, who is at all times interceding for us as our High Priest, who has once and for all paid the ransom for our sins.
And this is what it means to pray in Jesus’ name. Although many of our prayers conclude, “in Jesus’ name” or “through Jesus Christ our Lord,” you do not need to even say Jesus’ name in order to pray in Jesus’ name. The Lord’s Prayer is a prayer in Jesus’ name, but it doesn’t say his name. We call it the Lord’s Prayer, because our Lord Jesus taught us the words to this prayer.
In the Lord’s Prayer Jesus teaches us to pray directly to the Father, calling him, “Our Father.” In Luther’s Small Catechism he teaches us that this means that “God tenderly invites us to believe that he is our true Father and we are his true children, so that with all boldness and confidence we may ask him as dear children ask their dear father.” Luther obviously found inspiration for these words from Jesus’ promise in our Gospel lesson. Jesus tells us that the Father himself loves us. He loves us through Jesus Christ. When we call God our Father according to Jesus’ command and promise, we pray in Jesus’ name. This is why St. Paul writes, “He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will ne not also with him graciously give us all things? (Romans 8:32)
The Lord’s Prayer is intended to be prayed at least every day. This is why we say, “Give us this day our daily bread.” Jesus wants us to depend on God anew each day. This means that Jesus teaches us to pray at least every day, “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.” Luther explains this petition in the Small Catechism, “We pray in this petition that our Father in heaven would not look at our sins, or deny our prayer because of them. We are neither worthy of the things for which we pray, nor have we deserved them, but we ask that He would give them all to us by grace, for we daily sin much and surely deserve nothing but punishment. So we too will sincerely forgive and gladly do good to those who sin against us.” This petition shows us what it means to pray in Jesus’ name. We deserve none of the things for which we pray, but we pray that they would be granted to us for Jesus’ sake!
Having faith in Jesus means that you can pray to God even when you know you are unworthy of the things for which you pray, because of your sin. Yet, this does not mean that your sin is not a big deal. Your sin is the biggest deal! Your sin offends the almighty God! Your sin hurts your neighbor! Your sin sends you to hell! Of all the problems you have in this life, none of them ever surpasses your sin in the urgency to deal with it! Do not think that your careless words or your lustful thoughts are a small matter. Scripture clearly teaches that any transgression causes you to fall short of the glory of God and to deserve hell. This is why you must always turn to Jesus! He alone washes away your sins! He alone forgives you and gives you confidence to speak to God. It is for Jesus’ sake that God forgives you your trespasses every day and gladly hears your prayer.
Some doubt that God answers prayers, because he doesn’t give them anything they want. But when you pray in Jesus’ name, you don’t just ask God for whatever your sinful flesh desires. You ask God for what he promises to give you. The Lord’s Prayer lists everything that God promises to give us in seven petitions. The first and greatest petition is, “Hallowed be Thy name.” Luther’s Small Catechism explains this petition, “God’s name is certainly holy in itself, but we pray in this petition that it may be kept holy among us also. How is God’s name kept holy? God’s name is kept holy when the Word of God is taught in its truth and purity, and we, as the children of God, also lead holy lives according to it. Help us to do this, dear Father in heaven! But anyone who teaches or lives contrary to God’s Word profanes the name of God among us. Protect us from this, heavenly Father!”
The reason this petition is the most important is because unless God’s word is taught in its truth and purity and we God’s children believe it, then we cannot know God or ask him for anything! We only know God and his love for us through his holy Word! This is why Jesus says, “If you abide in my word, you are my disciples indeed, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (John 8:31-32)
Erynn, Kendall, Lucas, and Joe, in your confirmation vows you are going to be asked, “Do you intend to hear the Word of God and receive the Lord’s Supper faithfully?” and you will respond, “I do, by the grace of God.” This is exactly what you are praying for when you pray, “Hallowed be thy name.” You are praying that God will keep you faithful to this vow. And it is by faithfully hearing God’s Word and receiving the body and blood of Christ that Jesus will continue to forgive your sins and keep you in the true Christian faith until you die.
Yet, this is the most tragic thing. Although everyone who has ever been confirmed in the Lutheran Church has promised this very thing, to faithfully hear the Word of God and receive the Lord’s Supper faithfully, many break this promise almost immediately after making it. It is common for youths after they are confirmed to come to church less and less until they finally stop coming all together. Of course, this is no small matter. Neglecting to hear the Word of God is breaking the Third Commandment. But promising to God that you intend to faithfully hear his Word and receive his Sacrament when you have no such intention is to misuse the name of the Lord your God. These are wicked sins that destroy saving faith.
Obviously, the Church takes this very seriously. What can be done to keep confirmands from breaking this vow? How can we keep them faithful? Perhaps if we introduce some new rules, it will increase Church attendance? But, in fact there is only one thing that will keep you four (or anyone) from rejecting this promise: Faith in Christ.
If you believe the promise that Christ Jesus gives you in his word, you will regularly come to hear the Word of God and receive the Lord’s Supper faithfully. You will come, because you desire to have your sins forgiven; to be taught by Christ; to pray to your Father in heaven; to eat the very body and blood of Jesus, which is indeed the only medicine of immortality. If you believe the promise of Christ that through his Word you receive salvation from sin, death, and hell, then you will come to abide in that Word. Only the Gospel of Jesus Christ can draw you to faith. And only faith in this Gospel will give you confidence to draw near to God and call him your Father. Amen.

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The Holy Spirit Guides Us in the Truth

5/11/2020

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Cantate 2020
John 16:5-15
May 10, 2020

Sorrow has filled the disciples’ hearts. They are sorrowful, because Jesus is going to depart from them. In fact, by this time of the night in which Jesus would be betrayed, the disciples have caught on that Jesus is going to go and die. That is what Jesus means when he says that he is going to the Father; he will go to the Father by way of the cross. Yet, Jesus says that it is to their advantage that he go away, because if he does not go away, the Helper will not come to them. The Helper is the Holy Spirit. Why will the Holy Spirit not come to them unless Jesus go away? Because if Jesus does not go away, the Helper will have nothing to bring the disciples in order to comfort them.
Jesus says that the Holy Spirit will take what belongs to Christ and give it to his disciples. But unless Jesus depart and go away, the Holy Spirit cannot do this. Jesus goes to bear the sins of the whole world, to suffer punishment we deserve, to die our death, and to rise from the dead. Unless Jesus does this, our sins are still on us. Unless Jesus go to the cross our debt is not paid. Unless Jesus suffer and die, then God’s wrath is still on us. There is no victory for the Holy Spirit to give to us from Christ unless Christ go and win that victory!
It has become popular among many so-called Christian theologians to downplay the importance of Jesus’ crucifixion on the cross. It seems too barbaric and primitive for our modern age. How can we believe in a God who demands sacrifice? How can Jesus’ suffering satisfy our God’s wrath? But such voices refuse to be taught by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit proclaims to us the crucifixion, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. And the Holy Spirit teaches us that this suffering, dying, and rising is what makes peace between God and us sinners. This is why the Holy Spirit caused St. Paul to write, “For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to the Jews and folly to Greeks, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.” (1 Corinthians 1:22-24)
The Holy Spirit takes what belongs to Christ and gives it to his Church. We see this happen in John chapter 20, when Jesus returns from the grave alive and says, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven. If you withhold the sins of any, they are withheld.” This authority to forgive sins is rooted in Jesus’ work of redemption, when he paid the price for our sins on the cross. The Holy Spirit gives the Church this authority, because Jesus Christ has earned it himself. The Holy Spirit takes what is Christ’s and declares it to us. Yet, if Jesus does not die for our sins, they cannot be forgiven and the Holy Spirit cannot forgive our sins.
This is why the Church must always preach Christ crucified as an historical event. This isn’t a myth or a legend. It really happened on this earth. Jesus’ blood poured into the ground. His soul departed from his body. And God’s wrath against all sin was satisfied. On the third day Jesus rose from the dead as Scripture declares with many witnesses. On the basis of these facts the Holy Spirit gives to us what belongs to Jesus: forgiveness of sins, adoption by God, the Kingdom of God as our inheritance, and eternal life.
Jesus tells his disciples that the Holy Spirit will convict the world concerning sin, righteousness, and judgment. The Holy Spirit convicts the world of sin by convincing the world with words. In fact, the Holy Spirit will speak through these very disciples in order to convince the world concerning sin, righteousness, and judgment. Jesus spoke earlier on this same night, “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.” (John 14:26) After Jesus’ death and resurrection, the Holy Spirit brings to remembrance all that Jesus taught his disciples. And he gives them boldness to preach what Jesus taught them. We see this when we contrast how St. Peter denied Jesus three times on the night when Jesus was betrayed, yet boldly preached Christ’s resurrection to a large crowd on Pentecost having been filled with the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit convinces the world of sin, because they do not believe in Jesus. Unbelief is the greatest and indeed the only damnable sin. This is exactly what Jesus says in John chapter 3, “God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” (vss. 16-18)
Unbelief is the only damnable sin, because Jesus has paid for the sins of the whole world. He purchased salvation, so that it might be given to all who believe in him. But if you do not believe, you reject the gift. When you look at the passion of Christ, you see God’s wrath against sin. You see the true weight of our trespasses; the depravity of our sinful hearts. When the Holy Spirit proclaims the cross of Christ, he convinces the world of the seriousness of its sin and the necessity to believe in Christ’s passion for it. Christ’s passion on the cross brings to light the sin of the world.
Unbelief is the root of all sin. Idolatry, disobedience, murder, adultery, theft, slander, covetousness: all these sins are committed, because people do not believe in a God who provides, who loves, and who judges. Yet on Christ’s cross, this God is revealed with all his providence, love, and judgment.
The Holy Spirit convinces the same world of righteousness. This is quite remarkable, because righteousness and sin are polar opposites. How can this be possible? Because Jesus went to the Father by way of the cross. Jesus made atonement for all sins. If you believe this, then you are righteous. If you reject this, you are still in your sin.
St. Paul writes, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and are justified by his grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith.” By the proclamation of the suffering, death, and resurrection of Jesus the Holy Spirit persuades the world that God declares her righteous, because Jesus has removed the punishment which she rightly deserved for her sin. The same people the Holy Spirit convinces of sin, He then convinces of righteousness by the merits of Christ to be received as a gift through faith.
The Holy Spirit convinces the world of judgment because the ruler of this world is judged. The ruler of this world is Satan. He leads all people into sin and unbelief. He lures us to follow our basest and most depraved passions. And then he accuses us in order to convince us that we can expect nothing of God but judgment and damnation. The Holy Spirit convinces the world by the proclamation of Jesus’ suffering and death that Satan has lost, he’s judged and condemned. Satan bruised Jesus’ heal, but Christ crushed Satan’s head.
All who join Satan in sin and unbelief will join him in judgment and condemnation. The world is judged for following its leader. But all who believe in Christ do not come into judgment, but pass from death to life (John 5:24). There is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1).
The Holy Spirit uses true words that tell of historical events and eternal truths in order to convince the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment. He opens our eyes and gives us ears to hear; he enlightens our minds, which were darkened by sin, so that we might recognize truth for truth and believe in Jesus’ death and resurrection for us. This is how the Holy Spirit our God works among us.
“Pastor, I think God is speaking to us.” I’ve heard this many times in the past couple of months in regard to this current virus and how it has practically made the world stop on its axis. And I agree! God is indeed speaking to us! There is a message from God in relation to this virus. But how do we know what that message is? There are many different things you could conclude by just looking at the world around you. But to find the answer, you must look to Scripture. St. Peter writes, “Knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone's own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.” (2 Peter 1:20-21) And St. Paul likewise wrote, “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.” (2 Timothy 3:16)
It is popular for people to claim that the Holy Spirit is speaking through them or leading them. But, unless they are listening to what the Holy Spirit says in Holy Scripture, they’re lying. It is common for Christians in an effort to have the Holy Spirit lead them, to fold their hands and pray for the Holy Spirit’s guidance. Yet, they leave it at that without actually turning to where the Holy Spirit speaks to them! If you are going to pray that the Holy Spirit guide you, then you better listen to the Holy Spirit when he speaks to you. He speaks to you through his Word! And the Holy Spirit’s Word is recorded in Holy Scripture. This is why preachers must be able to back up everything they preach with Scripture.
God is indeed sending us a message with this virus. But you will not know what that message is unless you listen to what God says in Scripture. No, I don’t mean for you to comb through the book of Revelation or pull passages of the Prophets out of context to find some fulfilled prophecy. I’m saying that whenever disaster strikes we should listen to what the Holy Spirit says. The Holy Spirit says that death is the result of sin. The Holy Spirit convinces the whole world of its sin. Yet, the Holy Spirit also convinces the whole world of righteousness, because Christ Jesus has gone to the Father by way of the cross. This is what you need to hear more than anything; more than the evening news. This is what you need more than a vaccine, more than a job, more than life! The righteousness that the Holy Spirit convinces you of by the preaching of Christ’s cross.
Is this virus God’s judgment against sin? Yes. All death is judgment against sin. Repent. Judgment will come upon the whole world. In fact, the ruler of this world will be judged! But those who believe in Jesus will not enter into judgment. God is speaking to us through this virus, you bet. And what he is telling you is to listen to him.
It’s Mother’s Day. It is good to honor mothers. When you were in your mother’s womb God formed your eyes, ears, and brain along with all of your organs. God did this by means of your mother’s body through the food she ate. God gave you life by means of your mother. Mothers even have the ability to nourish their children after they are born entirely with their own bodies throughout infancy! And throughout life God uses mothers to feed, nurture, and protect children. This is one of the greatest works of man. God honors women by giving them this task.
Yet, the eyes God forms in your mother’s womb are blind to God’s truth; the ears are stopped from the truth; the mind is darkened by sin. The body that is born is corrupted with sin and will die. And no matter how much a mother nurses, snuggles and kisser her child, she cannot give him eternal life. But Christian mothers know this. That is why they bring their children to Church. The Church is our heavenly mother. In the Church the Holy Spirit works through God’s Word to open our ears and eyes, to enlighten our minds, to give us a new spiritual birth, and grant us nourishment that lasts into eternal life.
As we thank God today for the help and comfort our mothers have given us throughout our lives, let us also give thanks to God for the help and comfort he sends us through his Holy Spirit in the Church. By the convincing power of the Holy Spirit we will believe the truth of Jesus Christ and be members of his Church forever. Amen.

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A Little While And No One Will Take Your Joy from You

5/2/2020

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Christ Preaches the Apostles, Duccio, Date: 1308 - 1311, Public Domain

John 16:16-23
Jubilate Sunday
May 3, 2020

What is the worst-case scenario? We’ve heard a lot about worse case scenarios in the past couple months. Back when the government first began the lock down, there were fears of 2.2 million deaths in the United States due to the coronavirus. Some sources warned of much higher numbers. Early warnings claimed that 3 maybe even 4 percent of people who contracted the virus would die. By God’s grace the mortality rate is much lower than that. Others fear the economic repercussions from the current crisis. Tens of millions of Americans are already out of work. In some areas of the country nearly a quarter of workers are jobless. There are fears that the economic hit could last months or years; that we could enter a new Great Depression. Others worry about possible food shortages and many people going hungry. Mass death, poverty, hunger. What is the worst-case scenario?
The worst-case scenario is to be without Jesus. Jesus says to his disciples, “So also you have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you.” Jesus says that his disciples will have sorrow. Why will they have sorrow? Because Jesus will be away from them. That is true sorrow. Unless you know Jesus and have faith in him, you cannot understand this sorrow. No one has sorrow like a Christian has sorrow. And no one has joy like a Christian has joy.
Jesus compares this sorrow and joy to the sorrow a woman feels during labor and the joy she feels after a man has been born. There is no naturally occurring pain that is worse than the pain a woman feels when she delivers a baby. We husbands don’t know how our wives feel, no matter how sympathetically we look at them and hold their hands as the pangs of death come upon them. And I doubt we know of such joy that a mother has when she holds her newborn baby in her arms for the first time. Children are the greatest physical blessing we can receive on this earth. They have immortal souls for which Jesus died to save. By God’s grace we can take our children to heaven with us. Sadly, the current generation in its madness despises children and cherishes junk that breaks instead. But this generation doesn’t know what it’s talking about. Jesus does.
For part of my family’s morning devotions, we memorize portions of Scripture. We say a Bible passage every morning until we can say it by heart and then we move on to another Bible passage. The passage we are working on right now is from Galatians chapter 5 where St. Paul lists the fruits of the Spirit. One of the fruits of the Spirit is patience, but our New King James Bible translates it long-suffering. To be patient means to have endurance to suffer for a long time. Long-suffering is a fruit of the Spirit, because it is a quality obtained when you have faith in Jesus Christ. In fact, it is a quality of Christ himself. No one is more patient that Jesus Christ. No one has endured greater suffering than our Savior Jesus.
Jesus suffered more than any human being on the cross, when he not only endured excruciating physical torment, but bore the wrath of God against all sins laid on his soul. Yet, he did it patiently and willingly, because he knew what joy he would receive for his suffering. Hebrews 12 states, “Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of God.” Jesus endured the cross for the joy set before him. That joy is our eternal salvation. By Jesus’ merits, we will be present with Christ and the Father and Holy Spirit in inexpressible joy for all eternity!
This faith produces the fruit of patience; long-suffering. The world has sorrows. It deals with pain and death. And we earthlings aren’t very patient. We take pills to cover our pain. We hide from hard work and avoid our problems. We find what is comfortable. Yet, we can’t escape pain and sorrow. But the world doesn’t really know sorrow. Because the world doesn’t really know joy. We know sorrow, because we know what true joy is.
St. Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 5, “For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this tent we groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling, if indeed by putting it on we may not be found naked. For while we are still in this tent, we groan, being burdened—not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee. So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, for we walk by faith, not by sight. Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him.”
We do not fear death, because we long to be with Christ. This is different from those who despair without faith in this world, who want to shed this earthly tent and be naked. We do not want to be naked, but further clothed. Our earthly tent is our body. In our body we suffer. We get sick. We feel anxiety. We desire what we cannot have. We lose friends. We die. We Christians, who have turned to Christ in faith desire to please Christ with our bodies; living in purity and holiness. Yet, we often don’t understand our own actions. The good we want to do; we do not do. And the evil we do not want is what we keep on doing. Our sinful desires constantly remind us that we are clothed in a body of death.
This is why we do not truly fear death when we trust in Christ. We look forward to the shedding this earthly tent. Not because we long to be disembodied spirits. Not because we want to cease to exist. Rather, we long to be further clothed. We long for the restoration of our bodies after the image of Christ. Bodies that will be perfect, without sickness, without pain, without sin, invulnerable to any virus, immortal. We know that our bodies will be like this, because Christ Jesus died to sin and is risen imperishable forever. And whoever trusts in Christ shares in his glory.
Those without this faith still suffer. They feel the pains of the body. Anxiety and depression rock their souls. And sadly, some seek to destroy this earthly tent thinking they will then escape all suffering. Of course, that is not the way it works. After this life comes judgment. It is only those who trust in Jesus Christ who escape judgement. Only through faith in Jesus can we escape the suffering of this world.
As long as we live in our earthly bodies, we seek to please our Lord even as we suffer. We seek to help our neighbor, to repent of our sins, to be kind, patient, and loving. We know that it is God’s decision when we will die, not ours. As long as we live, we live for God’s purpose. And when we die, we know that our sorrow comes to an end and our endless joy begins. So, we Christians need endurance until that perfect joy begins.
The coronavirus is most deadly to old and sick people, but even young healthy people can die from it. Of course, even young healthy people die. Even young men grow weary and faint. But consider our Old Testament lesson from Isaiah 40. The Lord never grows weary. He never gets tired. That means we, who must suffer here on earth as we are away from the Lord, have a source of strength and energy that we can look to for endurance. And Christ gladly feeds us and sustains us during this little while of sorrow.
You can’t muster endurance to suffer by digging deep inside you. Patience, that is, longsuffering is not a quality that comes from your naturally born sinful flesh. It is a fruit of the Spirit, born in faith in Jesus Christ. That means you receive the strength to endure this present turmoil from Jesus. Jesus strengthened his disciples for that first little while of sorrow by feeding them his very body and blood, which would be given and shed for them on the cross. And he strengthens his entire Church for the little while we must now endure through the proclamation of his Gospel and the distribution of his body and blood, both of which give us the forgiveness of sins and strengthening of faith.
St. Paul wrote from prison, “I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me.” (Philippians 4:11-13) It is Jesus who strengthens us. He is the one who makes us strongest when we are weakest. We suffer because of our sins. Yet, God in incredible patience bore with our sins for generations and Christ Jesus himself bore them personally on the tree. We suffer because of sickness and worry. Jesus bore in his body and soul every burden we bear. When I exhort you to patience and long-suffering, I am not telling you to lift yourself up by the boot straps and suck it up. I’m telling you to cast all your anxieties on Christ. Lean on him. Listen to him. Hear his forgiveness. Eat his Sacrament. Trust in him!
We’re all suffering now by various degrees. But the worst sorrow we can have is to be away from Jesus. We are all away from Jesus in the sense that he is physically away from our eyes in heaven. Yet, Jesus comes near to us to strengthen us and cheer us with his holy word, his forgiveness and mercy which we receive through faith. Jesus himself strengthens us for this little while of sorrow, so that we might endure until we see him face to face and our joy is fulfilled forever. May God grant this to each and every one of us for Christ’s sake. Amen.

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"For faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ." ~ Romans 10:17

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A Little While And No One Will Take Your Joy from You

Rev. James Preus

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