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

Trinity 2: God Invites You to Feast on Jesus

6/25/2017

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Luke 14:16-24
When you eat a fine roast, whether it be beef or lamb or chicken, you know it doesn't just magically appear on your plate. An animal was slaughtered, drained of its blood and butchered. And the choice peace of meat was seasoned and placed in the oven to be roasted to the perfect temperature. Likewise, Jesus Christ your Lord and Savior was butchered. He was slaughtered by the hands of the Romans and his blood flowed freely, so that your sins and the sins of the whole world would be washed away.  

Yet, just as you don't leave the roast in the oven forever, but you carve it and plate it and invite your guests to come and enjoy the delicious meat and satisfy their hunger, so also Christ does not stay on the cross forever. Nor did our Lord after dying and rising depart without saying a word. Rather our Lord sent out his disciples to proclaim his death and resurrection, to invite people to come and receive the benefits of his slaughter upon the cross. And these benefits are much richer than the delectable taste of a medium rare roast and the nutrients it provides your body. The benefits of Jesus' slaughter are the forgiveness of sins, peace with God, life and salvation.  

You don't receive the benefits of a roast by leaving it in the oven. Nor do you receive the benefits of Christ's death for you unless you feast on him. Jesus says, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day." (John 6:53-54) How do you so feast on Jesus? Through faith in his word! Jesus says, "I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst." (John 6:35) If you do not listen to Jesus words and believe the promises he gives through his words, you are like a man who's invited to eat a roast but you refuse to eat it.  

Jesus tells a parable of a master who sends out his slave to call his invited guests to his banquet. But they all give excuses. "I just bought a field, please have me excused." "I just bought a yoke of oxen, please have me excused." "I just got married, I can't come." These are they who reject the invitation to feast on Christ, to hear the Gospel, to receive the forgiveness of sins in faith, and to eat and drink Christ's body and blood for eternal nourishment. Why do they reject the invitation? Because they don't want it. They don't have the desire. They aren't hungry for it.  

Sure they are hungry for other things, property, wife, money, games. They're like children who say they are full before they finish their vegetables. But when they find out dessert was an option they ask for ice cream. When their mother says, "I thought you were full?", they say, "I'm full of broccoli, but I'm still hungry for dessert."  

Jesus says, "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled." (Matthew 5:6) To hunger and thirst for righteousness is to hunger and thirst for Jesus. To thirst for his forgiveness spoken to you. To desire that peace with God that soothes your scalded conscience. It is to hunger for Christ's body and blood to be given to you in the Sacrament, which delivers to you the remission of sins, life and salvation. It is to desire God's benediction to be spoken to you. To those who have such hunger, God promises to satisfy; to fill with a fulness that cannot be comprehended here on earth. This blessing is eternal life in heaven, a permanent seat at God's heavenly banquet.  

But what of those who do not hunger and thirst for this righteousness? Are they blessed? No! They are cursed. "None of those men who were invited shall taste my banquet." They will have no seat at the table, no life in heaven, no forgiveness, no peace, but shall be cast out from God's face, eternally lost and unfriended.   

"But that's unfair! A guy needs to tend to his property! He must work! And what does God have against marriage?" Certainly work needs to be done. And God certainly doesn't forbid marriage, but it is among his greatest gifts and he blesses marriage with children, who can be raised in the true faith. But you must recognize that all these things are gifts from God. But God doesn't want you to worship the gifts he gives you. He wants you to worship him. "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and the rest will be added unto you." (Matthew 6:33) Don't seek the kingdom of God after you've got your finances in order, after you've set up your house for your new wife, after basketball season is over. Seek first the kingdom of God. God will provide the rest. How foolish we are to neglect God's greatest gift while striving after that, which God provides to even the heathen and animals and certainly will provide for us.  

God wants to be first. The Third Commandment, "Remember the Sabbath Day by keeping it holy," which means, "We should fear and love God so that we do not despise his preaching and word, but hold it sacred and gladly hear and learn it.", is directly linked to the First Commandment, "You shall have no other gods before me."  

Immediately after our Gospel lesson Jesus says, "If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple." (Luke 14:26-27) Now obviously Jesus doesn't command us to hate our family. We just heard last week, "whoever loves God must also love his brother." (1 John 4:21) But this is a rhetorical device used by Jesus to emphasize how much greater you must love him than even your own flesh and blood. Jesus comes first. He will not be second to anyone.  

And that is what it is to make excuses instead of hearing Jesus' word and feasting on him. It is to put Jesus second, or third, or fourth, or whenever I have time for him.  

But Jesus must be first. Everything else can wait. And so it should be obvious now that there is no good excuse to skip church, where you feast on Jesus. Obviously I'm not talking about those who are home-bound and sick. They still hunger and thirst for Jesus and the pastor must bring them Jesus as often as possible, so that they too may feast on him. But your work, your property, your game, they can all wait. And if you lose money or get kicked off the team for following Jesus, pick up your cross and rejoice that you are Jesus' disciple.  


Wisdom calls the simple to leave their simple ways and live and walk in the way of insight. (Prov. 9:4-5) However, many think that to have faith in Jesus is simply to know that he exists and died and rose. It is like they say to Jesus, "Oh, thanks for dying for me. Now please go over there and never talk to me again. I'll see you in heaven. (And I hope you make yourself scarce there too)." But that is not faith, but  mockery of faith. Rather those who are of faith leave the darkness of this world and walk by the light. They repent of their sins often and constantly desire to feast on Jesus and to learn from him, to gain that perfect knowledge that can only come from true Wisdom. And so each of us must repent of our weak flesh and pray for the willingness of the Spirit to learn from Christ.  

None who were invited shall taste my banquet." These are harsh words of damnation toward those who reject the Gospel. Yet we cannot call Christ ungracious. He invited everyone. Jesus says the same thing in John chapter 3, "For 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." (John 3:16-18) 

But for those who do come to the banquet, What wonderful blessings will meet them. They will feast on Jesus in Word and Sacrament and be filled. Their Lord will not leave them hungry, but their most dire needs will be satisfied. Sure they still will have to go and take care of their fields, oxen, and spouse, but they will have the forgiveness of sins, peace with God and the certainty of joining all the saints in the heavenly feast of salvation with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob the blessed.  

And don't think you are too unworthy to come. God invites the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame. He invites the simple minded. Christ brings sinners to his table to eat and drink and be made holy. Oh, you've committed a great sin and messed up your life and the life of others? Come, Jesus invites you. He restores all things. You've neglected God's invitation for years? Come, God invites you. He will treat you as his own. You don't know anything about religion? Come, your Savior invites you. He will give you wisdom. Come and feast. Have your sins forgiven. Receive God's peace. Be filled with the joy that God has carved your name in a seat next to Abraham. Do you think you're unworthy? Christ gives you his worthiness. Are you hungry for acceptance from God? Come. You are accepted. You are forgiven. You are loved. Come, the banquet is ready.  
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Amen. ​
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Trinity 1 Sermon: We Love Because God First Loved Us

6/19/2017

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Luke 16:19-31

Last week we confessed as a congregation the Athanasian Creed for Trinity Sunday. There is a line in that creed that often causes Lutherans to be uncomfortable. "At His coming all people will rise again with their bodies and give an account concerning their own deeds. And those who have done good will enter into eternal life, and those who have done evil into eternal fire." How can we Lutherans confess this? Don't we believe that we are saved by grace through faith apart from our works? Doesn't this sound like we are confessing to be saved by our works? 
 
Well, we confess this in the Athanasian Creed, because it is in the Bible and it is true. St. John records our Lord Jesus saying, "Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment." (John 5:28-29) 
So if we are going to hold to the Bible as the inerrant Word of God, we cannot then in good conscience reject the afore-quoted passage from the Athanasian Creed. However, neither the Athanasian Creed nor the Scriptures teach that a person is saved by his good works. First of all, Scripture clearly teaches that a person is saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ and not by his works. St. Paul writes in Ephesians 2, "For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is a gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast." (vs 8-9).  
Rather, good works are the necessary fruits of saving faith. Your good works do not save you, but God makes clear that his Christians will do good works, as St. Paul wrote immediately after his statement that we are saved by grace through faith, "For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them." (Ephesians 2:10) And Jesus just a couple verses before he said that those who have done good will enter into the resurrection of life stated, "Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life." (John 5:24) So if you read Scripture in context you will see that we are not saved by our works, but those who are saved do good works! 
To do good works is to love. Love is the fulfillment of the Law. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind and love your neighbor as yourself. Those who are of God love and they have no fear of judgment, as St. John taught us in our Epistle lesson, "So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world." (1 John 4:16-17) 
Christians love. And the love you show as a Christian gives you confidence for the day of judgment. It shows that you are a disciple of Christ. But you do not become a disciple of Jesus or become "saved" by loving your neighbor or even by loving God! St. John writes in this same chapter, "In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another." (1 John 4:10-11) 
God didn't wait for you to love him for him to show love for you. In fact, it was impossible for you to love God or your neighbor unless God first loved you and you knew that love. As St. Paul writes, "But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." (Romans 5:8) It is Jesus' death on the cross that shows us what true love is. You do not know how to love your neighbor or your God unless you know how God loved you in sending his Son to die for you. This is sacrificial love. Love that hurts. Love that suffers. Love that is patient, kind, and forgiving.  
God's love is also unconditional. God so loved the world, the whole world. This means that he loves your neighbor. And so it makes sense that St. John writes, "We love because he first loved us. If anyone says, 'I love God," and hates his brother, he is a liar. For he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this command we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother." (1 John 4:20-21) 
And here we have the story of the rich man and Lazarus. The rich man didn't love. He hated. And so he proved that he was not born of God. He hated his neighbor. And so he proved that he hated God.  
But the rich man didn't see it that way. In fact, he probably would have given a great defense, "How did I hate Lazarus? I never spoke anything bad about him. I never stole from him or struck him. This is unfair to say I didn't love him. I left him alone!" Here the rich man showed his hatred not by what he did, but by what he didn't do. The rich man had plenty to eat every day. He had a nice house and nice clothing. There was nothing that he didn't have more than enough of. Yet Lazarus had nothing. There was nothing that he didn't lack. And he desired even to have the left over scraps from the rich man's table, things you wouldn't even put into Tupperware, but would throw in the trash. And what is worse, Lazarus is lying right at the rich man's gate and he did nothing to help him! Could you imagine gorging yourself, having that third slice of glazed ham, even though you were full after the first slice while you can see outside your window a sick and starving man lying in your driveway? Yes, the rich man hated Lazarus.  
They both died. Lazarus was carried by angels to heaven. The rich man was buried. And while the text speaks very un-ceremonially of the rich man's death and very gloriously of Lazarus' departure to heaven, what was seen by people on earth was the exact opposite. The rich man likely had an extravagant funeral with the finest casket money could buy. There was a long line of important people giving lofty eulogies and the preacher made every attempt to preach the rich man into heaven. Lazarus meanwhile was wrapped in a cloth and dropped in a hole. Yet it was Lazarus, whose soul was escorted by angels to Abraham's bosom and the rich man who landed in hell.  
Hell is real. Our text says that the rich man was in torment and in anguish in this flame. And this is consistent with other descriptions of hell in Scripture as the outer darkness where the worm does not die and the fire is not quenched (Matthew 8:12; Mark 9:48). Hell is real. Real people go to a real hell where there is eternal punishment. And we should consider this a most serious warning. 
And so it is important for us to know why the rich man went to hell and why Lazarus went to heaven. Abraham answered the rich man, "Child, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner bad things, but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish."  
Now this does not mean that all rich people go to hell and poor people go to heaven. Abraham was very rich and heaven is described as being at Abraham's side! Nor does this teach Karma or that those who have good lives will all go to hell and those who have difficult lives will be rewarded in heaven. Rather, the rich man went to hell, because he regarded his wealth in the wrong way. He worshipped it! He worshipped a false god. He loved his house and clothes and food and his own pride more that God. So he didn't listen to God's word or repent of his sins or believe in Christ. And because he did not have the love of God, neither did he have love for his neighbor, Lazarus. So he went to hell.  
Why did Lazarus go to heaven? Jesus' story doesn't mention any of his good works. And it wasn't his poverty that earned him the pearly gates. At least not material poverty. Rather, Lazarus was the poor in spirit spoken of by Jesus, "for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." Lazarus had nothing to offer God, but he hungered and thirsted for God to fill him. Lazarus was a beggar. He begged from God and God made him rich.  
It wasn't simply that Lazarus had nothing, but that Lazarus didn't consider anything on this earth as true wealth. True wealth is communion with God, the forgiveness of sins and the promise of eternal life. As Jesus says, "For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul?" (Matthew 16:26) The rich man exchanged his soul for the world. Lazarus, however, gave up the world and gained his soul and the kingdom of heaven.  
Lazarus was a man of faith. This is proven by the fact that the angels carried him to the man of faith, Abraham. Abraham believed God and God counted his faith as righteousness, as we heard in our Old Testament lesson. And so God justifies the ungodly not on account of their works, but through their faith. Therefore, St. Paul writes to the Galatians, "Know then that it is those of faith who are sons of Abraham." (Galatians 3:7) Lazarus had faith in God's promise of mercy. He trusted in the Christ. And so he was saved apart from his works, just as Abraham was saved apart from his works. Lazarus did not help himself, but he trusted in God's help, living up to his name, which means, "God helps."  
The rich man in torment in hell begged that Abraham would send Lazarus from the dead so that his five brothers would repent and not join him in the flame. Abraham said, "They have Moses and the prophets, let them hear them." But the rich man quite presumptuously disagrees with Abraham, "No, Father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent." Abraham replies, "If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead."  
"Moses and the Prophets" refers to the Holy Scriptures. Abraham is telling the rich man that if his brothers will not listen to the preaching of God's Word from the Holy Scriptures, that is the Bible, they will not be convinced even by a dead man rising.  
The Holy Spirit creates saving faith through the preaching of the Scriptures, because the Scriptures show you the love of God. They tell you how God sent his Son to die for you. They tell how Jesus suffered the punishment of hell in your place for your failure to love. They tell you that Jesus rose from the dead securing your own resurrection. And the Scriptures tell you that you receive this salvation not by works, but by faith, as St. Paul writes to the Romans, "For what does the Scripture say? 'Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.' Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness." (Romans 4:3-5) 
To listen to and believe the Scriptures is to love God. Just as neglecting your neighbor means to hate your neighbor, so to neglect to hear and believe God's Word is to hate God and his word. Heaven is communion with God. In heaven we will hear God's Word and glory in it forever. And so we should enjoy hearing and glorying in God's Word now. In heaven we will love God and our neighbor forever. So we should strive to love now.  
Scripture shows us the love of God. That means it is always loving to speak God's Word. The world doesn't think so. It thinks it is unloving to tell your children when they are sinning against God through sexual immorality or by neglecting God's Word. But it is always loving to say what God says. God is love. And while God's Word does condemn sin and even threaten hell to those who won't repent, God's Word also offers free forgiveness and eternal salvation to all who repent and believe in the Gospel. This is the love of God that is revealed to us. And when we believe it we too are given the power to love; a love that will be perfected in us when we are raised from the dead and given eternal life for Christ's sake; a love that we will show toward God and our neighbor forever in heaven, even as God has shown this love to us. Amen. ​
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Trinity Sunday: The Holy Trinity Saves

6/12/2017

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​John 3:1-15 

Our congregation is named Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church. Today is Trinity Sunday. Trinity is the name we give our God to describe him as one God yet three distinct persons. The name Trinity is not in the Bible, but the Bible clearly teaches the doctrine of the Trinity. The Church did not invent the concept of God as three persons in one substance. God taught his Church through his holy prophets and apostles that he is one God yet three equal in majesty persons. "Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one!", proclaimed Moses in Deuteronomy chapter 6 (:4). God is one. This is the first lesson any Christian learns about God. There is only one God. Yet the Father is God; the Son is God; and the Holy Spirit is God as Scripture repeatedly demonstrates and as our creeds confess.  
The teaching of the Trinity is not some advanced academic theory that remains largely unimportant for the common Christian. It is necessary for eternal salvation to confess the Trinity as the one and only God, as we confessed today in the Athanasian Creed, "Whoever desires to be saved must, above all, hold the catholic faith. Whoever does not keep it whole and undefiled will without doubt perish eternally. And the catholic faith is this, that we worship one God in Trinity and Trinity in Unity, neither confusing the persons nor dividing the substance."  
This is the catholic faith. Catholic means universal. The Christian Church has always confessed this. We Lutherans are catholic. We believe what the Christian Church has always believed since the Apostles. That is what it means to be catholic.  
You cannot deny the Trinity and be saved. False religions such as Islam, Mormonism, the Jehovah Witnesses, and the Unitarians, who deny that God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are three persons united in one Godhead deny the only true God. They cannot be saved unless they are converted to the true faith. Now this sounds quite mean. People don't like this talk. How can we insist that you have to believe in one specific belief in order to be saved? And isn't it really all about Jesus? Can't we just say as long as you love Jesus you're saved? Why must we insist that someone confess the Trinity?  
Well, first it isn't us who insist, but God himself. He did this when he said, "You shall have no other gods before me." Secondly, because there is no other God who saves than the Holy Trinity. Allah cannot save you. The god of the Mormon church cannot save you nor can the false god of modern Judaism. Only the Triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit saves. Outside of faith in him there is no salvation.  
You cannot save yourself by your good works. You can only be saved through faith. Our Lord Jesus says, "And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life." 
In Numbers chapter 21 Moses records that the people of Israel grumbled against God in the wilderness. So God sent fiery serpents to bite the people and many died. Try as they might, the people could not heal themselves from the deadly and no doubt very painful snake bites. No potions or ointment could counter the lethal venom. The people cried to Moses. God told Moses to build a fiery serpent out of bronze and put it on a pole. Whoever looked at the bronze serpent was healed. All their efforts to preserve their lives failed. But God provided their salvation. All they had to do was look upon the snake.  
And so it is with Jesus. When the snake bites you, when you've sunk into filthy lusts, when you've spoken evil against your neighbor, when you've gotten unjustly angry, when you loved yourself more than your wife or children, when you've grown lazy and apathetic toward God's word, when Satan deceives you and seduces you into sin and shame and you writhe in the guilt of that bite, what do you do? Do you rush to some home remedy, a balm of your own invention to soothe the burning bite? Do you try to make up for your sins by doing good works? Or do you convince yourself that your sins are really not that bad? None of these solutions will draw sin's poison from you. Instead you must look to Jesus. Jesus, who although he had no sin of his own hangs on the cross in the very form of a sinner. You look to Jesus who takes your poison. And you live... eternally.  
And as you gaze upon that curse hanging from that tree you see the God, who saves. You see the Father, who loved the world so that he sent his Son to die for us while we were still sinning (John 3:16; Rom. 5:8). You see the Son, who although he was in the form of God did not see equality with God a thing to be grasped, but humbled himself, becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross (Philippians 2:8-9). You see the one on whom God anointed his Holy Spirit, so that he would speak good news to the poor even from the cross (Isaiah 61:1; Luke 23:34). When you look at Jesus on the cross you see the Holy Trinity; the God, who saves.  
Like the Israelites dying of snake bites in the wilderness there is nothing we can do to save ourselves from our dying condition. We can only look to Jesus. Our works cannot save us. Only faith in Jesus Christ and the Father who sent him saves. This seems easy, but it's not. It's impossible. It's impossible to believe in Jesus. "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.", says St. Paul in 1 Corinthians 2. As our Lord says, "That which is born of flesh is flesh. That which is born of Spirit is spirit." You cannot believe in Jesus Christ your Lord or come to him by your own strength or reason. By nature you are dead in your trespasses (Ephesians 2:10). Dead in your unbelief. Dead people can't choose to be alive.  
So what's the solution? Jesus says, "Unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God." Your first birth did you no good in regard to the kingdom of God. You can confess with King David, "I was brought forth in iniquity and in sin did my mother conceive me." And so everything you received from your natural conception and birth is corrupted with sin; all your strength and reason is corrupted. You need to be born again. The first birth just won't do.  
The word Jesus used for "again" can also mean "from above." And Jesus probably meant the double entendre, "You must be born again, that is, you must be born from above." For he himself said, "No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man." And so if you want to ascend into heaven (that is if you want to be saved) you too must be born from above.  
Jesus was born from above by the Holy Spirit. His mother was a virgin. So the Holy Spirit came upon Mary and the Power of the Most High overshadowed her, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit Jesus received a birth from above. This resulted in our God becoming a man. And so by the work of that same Holy Spirit you need a new birth, a birth from above so that you too may ascend to heaven.  
How does this birth take place? Jesus says, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter the kingdom of God." You are born again and from above in holy Baptism. It is there that the Holy Spirit comes upon you and gives you a birth your mother could not give you. St. Paul calls this the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit (Titus 3:5). The Holy Spirit comes upon you and changes you. You are no longer simply flesh enslaved to things of the flesh. You are of the Spirit, empowered to do works of the Spirit, to believe, to trust in God, to love your neighbor.  
This work of the Holy Spirit is called Baptismal regeneration. Many deny Baptismal regeneration, because they don't want to believe that putting water on a baby's head changes anyone. How can water do such great things? Well, it's certainly not just water, but the word of God in and with the water that does these things. And the Holy Spirit works through this word of God in the water to turn hearts of stone to Christ. Your Baptism worked. That you are here learning about your Savior is testimony that the Holy Spirit worked and still works in you.  
Your Baptism was your renewal by the Holy Spirit. Yet you were baptized not only in the name of the Holy Spirit, but also in the name of the Father and of the Son. The Triune God saved you. Only the Triune God can save you. Only the Father could send his Son to die for your sins. Only the Son could become man and take your place under the punishment of hell. And only the Holy Spirit can join you to the Son in Baptism and in faith.  
In our Old Testament lesson Isaiah saw God sitting on his throne. In terror he cried, "Woe is me!" Now in our irreverent culture people might not get what the big hubbub is. "Isn't God everywhere?", they might ask. But God comes to us in specific places and in specific ways. That is why we sing the chorus of the Seraphim before we receive Communion, "Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of Sabaoth!" We confess that the thrice holy God, the very Trinity Himself is before us. He is here, because his word is here. He is here because Christ is proclaimed crucified for your sins. He is here, because the Father is preached as reconciled with you a sinner washed in the blood of Jesus. He is here, because the Holy Spirit is kindling your hearts even now to believe in this forgiveness and peace which can only come from the Holy Trinity.  
We are in the presence of God, the Holy Trinity! And yet we do not cry in terror as Isaiah did. We do not lament, "Woe is me!" Because the Holy Trinity is here to save us. He has washed away our sins in the blood of Christ when he gave us a new birth in Baptism. He put his name on you in your Baptism and at the beginning of each service he proclaims to you again through his servant that his name, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is upon his holy people. The Holy Trinity is here to bear testimony to you what he knows, that testimony is the love of God, which saves you through Jesus Christ. And even today God will touch our lips and take away our sins when he feeds us the divine and human  body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. Yes, we are in the presence of God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And that is exactly where we want to be. Amen.  ​
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Pentecost Sermon 2017: The Holy Spirit Teaches Us About Jesus through His Word

6/5/2017

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John 14:23-30 
Acts 2:1-11 
June 4, 2017 
 
What is the power of the Holy Spirit? And how do we obtain this power? These questions fascinate many and are why our lesson from Acts chapter two is so attractive. The Holy Spirit rushed upon the disciples with the sound of a mighty wind and tongues of fires appeared on their heads demonstrating that they were filled with the Holy Spirit. And they began to speak in languages they had never learned. This truly was a mighty miracle of God. However, many have missed the point and seek after so-called spiritual gifts to the neglect of the true spiritual gift of faith in Jesus Christ. Many have sought the gift of speaking in different tongues to demonstrate that they have the Holy Spirit, ignoring the fact that God only granted this gift for the purpose of proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus. True the Holy Spirit at times gave the gift of speaking in tongues, but he did not promise this as a perpetual gift to the Church. Rather, St. Paul writes, "as for tongues, they will cease." (1 Corinthians 13:8) But it is the Word of God that will remain and this is the gift of the Holy Spirit we should focus on today.  

Pentecost is the fulfillment of the promise Jesus made to his disciples 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. He teaches through Jesus' words. St. Peter, who just seven weeks ago denied Jesus three times to complete nobodies, now with boldness that can only come from the Holy Spirit confesses Christ to the same crowd of murderers that cried, "crucify him!" "Men of Israel," Peter exclaimed, "hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know- this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it." And after showing from Scripture that King David prophesied of Jesus' death and resurrection, Peter proclaims, "Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified." 

Now where did Peter get such courage? Not from new wine! The Holy Spirit brought to him this bravery. But what did the Holy Spirit use? Neither Peter nor his disciples are talking about insignificant trivialities, but of the mighty works of God! The Holy Spirit did for them as Jesus promised, He brought to their remembrance all that Jesus said to them. "'These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you,'" Jesus says to his disciples shortly before his Ascension, 'that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.' Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and said to them, 'Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations beginning from Jerusalem.'" (Luke 24:44-47) 

The Holy Spirit used the Gospel of the free forgiveness of sins won for all people by Christ's death and resurrection to create courage in the hearts of these disciples, who just weeks ago cowered behind locked doors in fear of this same crowd! And these disciples used the Scriptures as Jesus taught them to, because they are breathed out by God and are profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness. (2 Timothy 3:16) 

"No one can call Jesus Lord, except by the Holy Spirit." (1 Corinthians 12:3) "Faith comes from hearing and hearing through the word of Christ." St. Paul says again in Romans 10. The Holy Spirit uses the Gospel of Christ to seal you for the day of your salvation through faith. We call the Holy Spirit the Lord and Giver of life in the Nicene Creed. Not only does the Holy Spirit give life to all the living; people and animals, believers and unbelievers, but he is the one who enlivens us from being dead in our trespasses to being alive to Christ Jesus. 

The Holy Spirit does this through the  proclamation of the Gospel, that is, the free forgiveness of sins through Jesus' blood and merit to be received by faith. At the first Pentecost, fifty days after Israel's exodus from Egypt, God gave Moses the Law on Mount Sinai. The earth shook and the people were afraid. The Law terrifies troubled consciences and threatens them with punishment. On the Pentecost in our text, the disciples were encouraged by the Gospel. The Gospel offers forgiveness, life, and salvation. The Gospel is the word of Jesus that reveals the Father's love to you. It is through faith in this message of compassion and mercy that God dwells with you and in you. When God dwells in you through faith, you become mightier than death, the devil, and hell, thunder and lightning, all evil, yes even a crowd of murderers.  

This trust in God's love through Jesus is what gave Peter and the other disciples this courage. It is what gave those Egyptian Christians, whom I mentioned last week in my sermon, who were ambushed by Muslim extremists and killed, to confess Christ and refuse to convert to Islam even with guns pointed at them.  

The Holy Spirit is working, brothers and sisters. He's working right here and right now! And it is important to recognize the Holy Spirit's work. It is important for you to know if the Holy Spirit is working in you and if the Holy Spirit is working in your church. Now, the Holy Spirit is invisible. You can't see him. So you can't look at someone and tell that he has the Holy Spirit by a flame hovering over his head. But you can recognize the work of the Holy Spirit in you and in your church.  

Does the Holy Spirit dwell in you? 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." This is how God dwells in you. Through faith in his Word, which reveals God's love for you. This is why despising and neglecting God's word is so dangerous. The Holy Spirit dwells in you and works in you through his word. If you love Jesus, you will keep his word. To say that you love Jesus, but to ignore his word is like saying you love your mother but ignoring everything she says to you, never visiting her, and pretending she is dumb. But Jesus is not dumb. He speaks. He speaks to you. And if you love him you will cherish his words. Cherish the forgiveness of sins and friendship with God that comes from his words.  

Listen to how the three thousand converted Christians continued in Jesus' word as the Holy Spirit worked in them, "And they devoted themselves to the apostles teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and prayers." (Acts 2:42) They listened to sermons. They were willingly taught, because the Holy Spirit gave them such willingness. They sought the fellowship of Christ's flock. They partook of Christ's body and blood in the Supper; Gospel that you can see and touch! They lifted up prayers based on the promises of God found in his Word. They went to church and took their faith home with them.  

No you can't see the Holy Spirit. But you can see his work. And you can see when you reject his work. If you neglect to hear and learn God's Word and to receive Christ's Sacrament, repent. Love Christ. Love his Word. Receive the Holy Spirit.  

It is also prudent that I warn you, brothers and sisters, of behavior that works against the Holy Spirit. Obviously avoiding God's Word is the worst, because it neglects the Holy Spirit all together. But when the Holy Spirit calls you by faith in Jesus, he calls you out of darkness into light. Therefore St. Paul warns, "Do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit." (Ephesians 5:18) And, "Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body." (1 Corinthians 6:18-20) 

You take the Holy Spirit home with you from church! He gives you confidence in your salvation and the strength to turn from sin and to repent when you do fall. Mark and avoid sinful behavior that will work against the Holy Spirit, whom you have received. And pray that the Holy Spirit would strengthen you against all sins, including drunkenness and sexual immorality.  

Does the Holy Spirit dwell in your church? The Holy Spirit worksthrough God's Word. So is your church faithful to God's Word? Is what is taught from the pulpit based on Scripture, the words Jesus promised the Holy Spirit would use to create saving faith? The Holy Spirit works where God's word is taught in truth and purity. This is how you know that your salvation is secure, because it is not based on you or your thoughts or your feelings, but on the promise of God. This is why we should mark and avoid churches that teach falsely and find a faithful church that preaches God's Word purely. That is how you know the Holy Spirit is at work.  

The Holy Spirit is working where God's Word and Sacraments are given. St. Peter proclaimed, "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." (Acts 2:38) You don't need tongues of fire on your head or to speak in unlearned languages or to be able to heal or be healed spontaneously or to hear a mighty rushing of wind or have some other supernatural experience to know that you have the Holy Spirit. Are you baptized? God's Word tells you that you have received the gift of the Holy Spirit. Do you believe the promise that Jesus died for all sins and gives eternal salvation to all who call upon his name? Then you have the Holy Spirit! 
 
The Holy Spirit gives you power to believe Jesus' word and to trust that you are at peace with God. He gives you courage to confess Christ. And through the word of Christ, which you cherish, you will recognize the power and working of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is working here in this congregation. Here he tells you of the love of Jesus, that no matter who you are or where you're from or what you've done, Jesus died for you and freely forgives all your sins and gives you eternal life. Here is where you leave with the peace which surpasses all understanding, peace that the world cannot give. And may the Holy Spirit work in you everyday as you cherish the word's of God's love for you through Jesus Christ our Savior.
Amen. 
 
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    Rev. James Preus

    Rev. Preus is the pastor of Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church in Ottumwa, IA. These are audio and text of the sermons he preaches at Trinity according to the Historical Lectionary. 

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