Sermon for the Fifth Sunday of Easter

LISTEN

Jesu Juva

“Fruity Christians”

Text: John 15:1-8; 1 John 4:1-21; Acts 8:26-40

 

Alleluia! Christ is risen! [He is risen indeed! Alleluia!] Alleluia!

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

Jesus wants you to bear fruit. As He said, He is the vine, and you are to be fruit bearing branches. The good fruit of good works born from love of God and love for your neighbor. 

This is not a new teaching of Jesus. The image of a vine is all throughout the Bible and especially in the Old Testament. Israel is called God’s vine. The vine He brought out of Egypt and planted to grow in the Promised Land. And to talk of the good fruit of good works is not new or surprising either. For not only did God command good works, He also did not leave it up to us to figure out what a good work is and what it is not. He told us, in Ten Commandments. Ten Commandments which tells us not only what not to do, works that are not good, works to avoid; but also tells us those goods works we are to do. It is a surprisingly few number, perhaps, especially in our world where bigger is better, where more is better. Maybe it is so they could be easily remembered. So while the Jews at the time of Jesus had come up with 603 more, more rules, more definitions of good works, Jesus always stuck to the Ten. Because while only Ten, they also have an infinite number of applications - ways they are done and kept, and for whom they are done and kept.

And you know them. You’ve learned them. Always put the one true God first in your life. Honor His Name and gladly hear and learn His Word. Honor your parents and the other authorities God has given to take care of you. Respect His gift of life and the means by which that life is created, namely marriage. Protect what He has given, your neighbor’s possessions and good name. And don’t play God! Don’t try to rearrange the people and things God has given for your advantage and the disadvantage of your neighbor. Those are the good fruit Jesus is looking for in His branches, in your life.

So how’s your fruit? Many or few? Big, plump, and juicy, or small, anemic, and shriveled? I know my answer. I’ll bet I know yours, too.

God’s original vine, Old Testament Israel, did not produce the fruit God desired. Oh, at times they did. But far more were the times they did not. When they turned to other gods; the gods of the nations around them. Far more were the times when their love grew cold and their wickedness grew abundant. Despite all God’s care for them, instead of good grapes, they grew wild grapes; grapes good for nothing. Until finally God’s patience and long-suffering ran out, and those branches were cut off. The nation of Israel, God’s vine and vineyard, was no more.

But God promised the vine would grow again. And when Jesus was born, it did. A new vine, with new branches, and new fruit. Or is it a new vine but with the same old branches and same old fruit? For think about Jesus’ twelve, the disciples - did they produce that good fruit Jesus speaks of? When they argued who was the greatest? When they asked Jesus if they should call down thunder and lightning from heaven on the Samaritans? When they rebuked Jesus for what He was doing? When they doubted and feared? When they denied knowing Him? When they ran away and hid in fear? Hearing these words of Jesus, did they wonder . . . wonder if they would they be the branches now cut off and thrown into the fire for their failures? Like Old Testament Israel? Like many perhaps wonder today?

Well, they were not. Because while they perhaps struggled a bit, they also did produce good fruit. We read about that all through the books of Acts. How the disciples preached and healed and loved and gave. Something changed in them. Something changed them. And what changed them was that they received the Holy Spirit. 

And that’s what makes these words we heard from Jesus today words for this Easter season. He spoke them the night He was arrested and taken away. But what He spoke of was what would come from His death and resurrection. Because if you were listening carefully to Jesus’ words, He does not command us to bear fruit. He speaks of it, He desires it, but He does not command it. But He does command something, the something that will produce fruit - and that is that we abide in Him. Listen again to His words: 

Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.

Notice: the command is to abide in Jesus. The result of the abiding - or we could say the promise of that abiding - is that you will be fruitful branches. The work is His through you. His life and His love working in you and through you. And how we abide in Jesus and He in us is the work of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit who gives to us and keeps us alive with the life and love of Jesus. The Holy Spirit who is our connection with Jesus, bringing Jesus to us and us to Jesus. Without this connection to Jesus by the Holy Spirit, we can do nothing. Oh, we can do some things. We can sin! And we do plenty of that. But we can do nothing good. No truly good fruit apart from Jesus. Even out best works are tainted with impurity and sin; selfishness, pride, patting ourselves on the back, expecting some reward, recognition, or favor just for doing what we are supposed to do. 

So what Jesus is explaining to His disciples here - and to us - is how things are now going to be different. That you’re not going to be on your own, or rely on your own strength, willpower, discipline, or faith to do and be who Jesus wants you to be and do. Been there, done that, and failed! Just like Old Testament Israel. But just as the coming of the Holy Spirit changed the disciples, or we could say, changed God’s Israel - so the coming of the Holy Spirit has changed you as well. And with Jesus abiding in you and you in Jesus by the power and work of the Holy Spirit, you will bear much fruit. Or perhaps better to say, Jesus will produce much fruit through you.

That starts with your baptism, when the Holy Spirit grafts you onto the true vine, onto Jesus, and you receive new life from Him. New life that is strengthened by the Word, cleansed by forgiveness, and fed with the Body and Blood of Jesus. Through these means, Jesus abides in you and you in Jesus. So don’t neglect these things. For to neglect them is to starve yourself, to cut yourself off from the source of your life, and you will die. And fruitless branches, dead branches, are cut off and thrown into the fire. 

So to help you, Jesus says, that this might not be, not only have you been given the Spirit, you also have a loving heavenly Father who prunes you. And while you may not like being pruned, God pruning away from your life all that is distracting you from Him, all that is getting in the way, is good for you. So that you produce more fruit. Good fruit. Godly fruit. So if you are not producing those good fruits God desires in your life, the answer is not for you to try harder! The answer is not more you! The answer is more Jesus. More of His life and love and Spirit, given to you to work in you. And He will.

And one of those ways He will work is prayer. Jesus spoke of that as well. He said

If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.

Now those are words that are often misunderstood, I think. Words which cause people to think: Woo hoo! Ask whatever I wish and I’ll get it! Why doesn’t it mean that? Because those are your words, not Jesus’ words! Your thoughts, not His thoughts. Your desires, not His desires. Jesus said, If you abide in me and my words abide in you. And when Jesus’ words abide in you, you’ll pray for what He says, what He thinks, what He desires,  not what you do. It’s not wrong to pray for other things; but this promise is attached to Jesus’ words, not your words. This promise is attached to asking for things like love, for forgiveness, for the Holy Spirit, for faith. Ask for those and it will be done for you. And ask for those, and you will produce that fruit that Jesus desires. The good fruit of a new life that comes through Jesus’ death and resurrection for you.

It was the apostle John who wrote those words of Jesus today, and He would later go on to expand upon them in his First Epistle, from which we also heard today, where he talked about love and new life. That Jesus came to be the propitiation - or sacrifice, or atonement - for our sin, which, he says, was not just to save us from sin, but to save us for Himself. To raise us with Him to live a new life that starts now and lasts forever. The new life the world needs. A world living in sin and steeped in sin and getting more sinful by the day. Defining for itself what is good, unconcerned with what is godly, and persecuting those who do not go along . . . like you.

But you and your good fruit are exactly what a hurting world needs. Notice I didn’t say sinful world. It is, but it is also hurting. Because that’s what sin does - it’s hurts. It promises and pretends to help, to enrich, to give life, to lift up, but it does the opposite. There is instead more and more hate, more and more confusion, more and more division, more and more every man for himself - more and more hurting. And the world needs something new. The world needs to see there is another way, and a better way. The way of the love and life of Jesus. Like Philip taught the Ethiopian man we heard about. It’s not easy to be different and swim against the tide, but it is more important now than ever. That, as Jesus said, they may see your good works, your good fruit, and glorify God.

That’s a little different way of thinking than many people are used to. That your good fruit, your good works, are not for your benefit, but for the world. But it makes sense if you know Jesus is working in you and through you. For everything Jesus did, everything Jesus does, is for the world. To bind up our wounds, to forgive our sins, to give hope to the despairing, to give strength to the weak, to provide for those in need, to comfort the sorrowful, and give life to the dead. All that you have been given, and all that He gives to others through you. The more fruit you bear, the more lives are touched. Blessing upon blessing. For that’s the way of it with Jesus.

So come now to receive the feeding and forgiveness you need, the Body and Blood of Jesus, that He abide in you and you in Him. And as you leave this place, see how Jesus will use you and produce fruit for others. For a hurting world, filled with hurting people. He will, for that is why He came. That is why Christ is risen! [He is risen indeed! Alleluia!]

In the Name of the Father, and of the (+) Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

The Congregation at Prayer - April 29 - May 4

For the Fifth Week of Easter (April 29 - May 4, 2024)

Invocation: In the Name of the Father and of the (+) Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Speak the Apostles’ Creed. 

Verse: John 15:15 – ”[Jesus said:] No longer do I call you servants . . . but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.”

Hymn of the Week:  Lutheran Service Book #556 “Dear Christians, One and All, Rejoice”

Hymns for Sunday: 556 (1-5), 556 (6-10), 636, 597, 490

Readings for the Week: [The readings for Thursday-Saturday are the Scriptures for this coming Sunday.]

Monday: Psalm 98

How do music and singing aid the proclamation of the Word?

Tuesday: Ephesians 2:19–22

What does it mean to be built on the foundation of the prophets and apostles? Why is this important? How does this make us members of the household of God?

Wednesday: John 14:1-14

Commemoration of St. Philip and St. James, Apostles. What did Philip ask Jesus? What was Jesus’ response? What does this teach us about the Father and Jesus as the Son of God?

Thursday: Acts 10:34–48

What did Peter preach? What happened when Peter preached? Why? How did this confirm his message?

Friday: 1 John 5:1-8

Have you overcome the world? How? Does it seem like it? Look like it? Then how do you know? What confidence do you have?

Saturday: John 15:9-17

How did Jesus love us? How does keeping His commandments help us do the same for others? How can this give you joy?

The Catechism - The Creed, the Third Article [Part 2] – I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Christian Church . . . What does this mean? I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to Him; but the Holy Spirit has called me by the Gospel, enlightened me with His gifts, sanctified and kept me in the true faith. . . .

Collect for the Week: O God, the giver of all that is good, by Your holy inspiration grant that we may think those things that are right and by Your merciful guiding accomplish them; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord. Amen.

The Prayers:  Please pray for . . .

+ yourself and for all in need (remembering especially those on our prayer list).

+ God’s blessing, wisdom, and guidance for our congregational vice president, Scott Killian.

+ the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Lithuania, for God’s wisdom, blessing, guidance, and provision.

+ God’s blessing, guidance, and provision for the Lutheran Church Extension Fund.

Conclude with the Lord’s Prayer and Luther’s Morning or Evening Prayer from the Catechism.

Now joyfully go about your day (or to bed) in good cheer, child of God!

Collect for the Week © 2018 Concordia Publishing House.

Lutheran Service Book Hymn License: 110019268

Sermon for the Fourth Sunday of Easter

LISTEN

Jesu Juva

“The Good Shepherd We Need”

Text: John 10:11-18; Psalm 23; 1 John 3:16-24; Acts 4:1-12

 

Alleluia! Christ is risen! [He is risen indeed! Alleluia!] Alleluia!

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

Do we even need a Good Shepherd anymore? Or a Good Shepherd Sunday? It’s kind of old fashioned, don’t you think? I mean, who’s even seen a shepherd these days! Or, some would say, paternalistic - I don’t need someone to watch over me, or take care of me, or love me! It’s kind of insulting, actually; to think that I do. We’ve got technology. We’ve got AI now. I can love me better than you can anyway, a popular song proudly proclaims these days. Don’t put me in your box . . . or your pasture. I’m free. It’s my life and I’ll do what I want. That’s from a song from when I was growing up! So if the Church wants to be relevant, maybe Good Shepherd Sunday is one of those things that has to go. Thank you, but you’re not really needed anymore. Time to put the Good Shepherd out to pasture.

But do sheep make good shepherds? Or are we being duped? Because that happens a lot these days, doesn’t it? That’s why people are afraid to open emails, afraid to answer the phone, afraid to open the front door. Because who is that email really from? Who is calling me? Who is that person at my door? Is that voice on the phone a deep fake? That person at the door a scammer? That email a virus-carrying, malware-infested, worm-delivering trojan horse? So now we keep our doors bolted, we have caller ID, we subscribe to anti-virus software, and it’s still not enough. So, okay, maybe some shepherding would be okay. Maybe I could use some help. But not too much! I still want to be free! To do what I want.

So, who then? Who should be my shepherd? But just when I want one, or need one - not all the time! Maybe the government. They’ll protect, they’ll provide, they’ll help me when I need it and let me be when I don’t, right? But is the government a good shepherd? What if the people in the government aren’t good? Oh, but that would never happen, would it? They would never take things too far, or get selfish, or abuse their power. I mean, that could happen, I guess. That used to happen. Tyrants, dictators, empires, crusades, corruption, world wars - but that doesn’t happen anymore, right? Well, okay, maybe government’s not the answer. Not in an imperfect pasture.

And it is imperfect. That’s one thing we can all agree on! Although we would disagree about how imperfect, I think. How far gone our world is. And even what would make this world perfect. Lots of different opinions about that. So, who do you listen to? How do you decide? Because sometimes, you know, people who say they will help you are really only helping themselves. People who seem to care about you really only care above themselves. We call them predators. And the thing about predators is that they never look like predators. If they did, you’d know what they were up to and stay away from them! Duh! So predators have to disguise themselves. We used to say they were a wolf in sheep’s clothing. But we don’t need a Good Shepherd, right? So . . . so today we called them identity thieves. They take someone else’s identity to misrepresent who they are, to make themselves look like someone else, to make themselves look good, and helpful, and honest, and caring, when they’re not. 

But how do you know? Obviously that’s a problem because many keep falling for them. And it’s not a new problem. Because they very first identity thief was satan himself. In the Garden. With Adam and Eve. And you know who he pretended to be? A Good Shepherd. He promised our first parents he’d take care of them, give them not only what they needed but what they wanted, to help them, but not too much! So they’d be free! And the world went to hell in an apple basket. And hell filled the world with predators. Not to feed you; to feed on you.

So who can you trust? Or maybe that’s not even the question anymore, but now, who can you tolerate? Who can we allow in our pasture? How do we know they’re not predators? Well, I’m not, right? So you have to think like me, you have to be like me, you have to accept me as a sheep, or I’m going to label you, call you, a predator. Then you’re going to be forced out. So there’s a lot of pressure in the pasture, to go along, even if it’s not good. Because the alternative . . . 

In such a pasture, virtue, vice, right, wrong, aren’t even categories anymore. Only in or out. And you don’t want to be out, do you? So the latest vice, or perversion, or alternative lifestyle that comes along, you must tolerate, then accept, then encourage, then exalt. Or you’re out.

But living like that isn’t harmless, it’s infectious. It can change you. If you grow up in a pasture like that, it’s all you know. It’s how you think, it’s how you live, maybe even what you begin to desire. It’s not so bad. They’re not so bad. Bad are the people who think it is! They’re the predators! We need to be saved from them. The bigots, the phobes, the deniers, the close-minded. 

So what do you think would happen to a shepherd who came to such a pasture? To care for the ones they pushed out. To heal the ones who got gored. To carry the ones who were trampled. To bring back the ones who went astray - either on purpose or by accident. To unmask the fakes, the predators. To speak the truth of right and wrong, of virtue and vice. To save the sheep in this hellish pasture. What would happen to such a shepherd? He’d be crucified! So an ordinary shepherd wouldn’t take that chance. But a good shepherd would. Because a good shepherd isn’t there for himself or his own life, like an ordinary shepherd earning a paycheck. A good shepherd is there for the sheep. Because they need him. Because they can’t live without him. Because the danger is too great. Because the predators, the pressures, and their own desires are too much for them. They will be consumed and led astray. 

So the Good Shepherd comes and is thrown out! He lays down His life for the sheep. Which would be foolish if that’s all He did! For what good would come of that? But, of course, He did more. He didn’t stay dead. That’s what we’re celebrating this Easter season. That this Good Shepherd who came and was thrown out, came back in. He didn’t stay out, where they wanted Him - He rose from the dead to stay in the pasture - not to make the pasture perfect and do away with all that’s wrong, because then He’d have do to away with us! For when we’ve played the predator and preyed upon others. For when we’ve pressured others. For when we’ve wandered and followed our own desires and wanted to be our own shepherds. 

So instead, the Good Shepherd stays in the pasture - this sinful world filled with sinful people - to be the Shepherd we need. You can go eat weeds if you want, but here, He says, is good grass, good food, the green pastures of His Word of truth. You can go drink polluted water if you want, but here, He says, are the still waters of baptism and forgiveness that revive your soul. Even though predators and pressures surround us, and our own desires tempt us and mislead us, He is with us with His rod and His staff to protect us, to correct us, and to comfort us. His table, too, is here, in the presence of our enemies, those who hate us and accuse us for not going along with them. And the healing oil of His love is here, for when we get gored and trampled and shoved aside. 

And He’s not leaving. Even if the pasture of the world seems really big and really strong, and He and His flock seem really little and really weak, they killed Him once - He cannot die again. He’s here for His sheep. For He is the Good Shepherd. Because we need one. We need Him. 

And He is your Good Shepherd not just here, but wherever you go. Because you have to go to work, and maybe where you work is filled with weeds and polluted water, and predators, pressures, and temptations. And maybe your school is like that and maybe your neighborhood is like that. And the internet and social media are like that, and maybe your friends are like that. And it’s hard. Life in this pasture, this world, isn’t and isn’t ever going to be easy. Don’t expect it to be. If they crucified the Good Shepherd, they’re not going to like those who live in His flock. So expect to get gored and trampled and shoved aside and called names and rejected and taken advantage of. But also know you have a Good Shepherd not far off, but right here in it with you. Who knows you, who knows what you’re going through, and has put you in His flock with others who are also here for you, who love not just in word or talk, but in deed and in truth. 

And then this too: in such a pasture, such a world, when others get gored and trampled and shoved aside and called names and rejected and taken advantage of, we know what they’re going through and we know where there is help for them. And who is here for them. That they too have a Good Shepherd. Come over here. Green grass, still waters, healing, truth, safety, rest. And some will. Not all. As we heard, when Peter and the others were saying this and inviting people to the Good Shepherd and His good pasture and flock, many came, many believed, but many were also greatly annoyed and angry. That’s just how it is. 

But one thing is for sure: we surely haven’t outgrown our need for a Good Shepherd! We need one now more than ever. The predators, pressures, and temptations aren’t going to stop until everything is consumed, until there is nothing left. Our only hope, then, is in the one who was consumed but rose to life again. In the one who gives life and can protect and preserve that life. In the one who knows both us, and the predators, pressures, and temptations we face. The one who came as one of us to be with us, and who stays with us. The Good Shepherd we need.

I am the Good Shepherd, Jesus said. Come to the still waters of baptism which give peace and rest to your soul. Come to the green pastures of My Word which feed you with the truth you need. Come to the healing balm of My forgiveness when sin, death, and the devil take a bite out of you and restore your soul. And come to My table, right here, in the midst of your enemies all around, feed on My risen and living Body and Blood for the strength and assurance you need in a dangerous and frightening pasture. Come to Me who came for you. Come to Me who comes to you. And come to Me until I come again for you, and the goodness and mercy that were here for you all the days of your life, will bring you to the house of the Lord, where you shall dwell forever.

Forever, for Christ, your Good Shepherd is risen! [He is risen indeed! Alleluia!] Alleluia!

In the Name of the Father, and of the (+) Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.