Pentecost 2 Sermon

LISTEN

Jesu Juva

“Binding and Bruising the Evil One”

Text: Mark 3:20-35; 2 Cor. 4:13-5:1; Genesis 3:8-15

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

We’re starting the second half of the church year today, the long green Pentecost season with its focus on the life of the church. The first half of the year we focus on the life of Jesus - His birth, life, death, resurrection, and ascension in the seasons of Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, and Easter. Now we focus on the church in the world after the ascension of Jesus. The Holy Spirit going out into the all the world through the preaching of the Word and the giving of the Sacraments. 

And with that as our focus, the Gospel that we heard today is a good place to start - where we find Jesus opposed and spoken against. As you heard, His family thought He was out of His mind, and some Jewish leaders accused Him of being demon-possessed. The things He said were revolutionary, and so the good He did, well that must be evil too. Or perhaps we could put it this way: For God so loved the world that He sent His only-begotten Son (John 3:16) . . . and the world thought Him crazy at best, and dangerous at worst. 

Now as I said, I think that’s a good place to start this half of the church year because that’s the direction our world seems - in many ways - to be going right now. Christians and churches that hold to traditional, orthodox Christian doctrine are more and more being considered wrong and behind the times as best, and dangerous at worst. Yet this is nothing new. Though history changes and the church has been more acceptable at certain times in history, there have been times like this too - when the world thinks the church so dangerous that it must be eliminated. The first few centuries after Jesus saw the church under intense persecution. That changed when the emperor Constantine made Christianity the religion of the empire and protected and advanced it. But then there was the rise of Islam and the dark ages, the advancement of Christianity again in the renaissance, and then the attacks of rationalism, scientism, communism, and now secularism. Just to name a few.

But no matter what the tide of history, in times good for the church and bad, from the time of Adam and Eve to time still to come, this has been a constant: satan is at work. Sometimes subtle, sometimes obvious. When times are good, tempting us to be complacent and satisfied. When times are bad, trying to get us to hide and be silent in fear. When times are easy, luring us into getting fat and lazy. When times are tough, discouraging us into hunkering down and separating ourselves from the world. And its not just the world and its history - I’ll bet most of you can identify all of those times in your own lives. Times when you’ve grown complacent with your faith and satisfied with your knowledge of God’s Word. Times when you wouldn’t speak about Jesus or the truth because you were afraid of what others would think if they knew you were one of “them.” Times when fat and lazy, the Bible didn’t get opened for a while, your prayers faltered, and church was just going through the motions. And times when you thought: To hell with the world, and you decide to fight evil with evil instead of with love and forgiveness. And maybe you’re in one of those times right now.

Satan working, in good times and bad, in the world and in each of us, trying to weaken and destroy our faith and snatch us from our Father in heaven. 

So how good to hear, then, these words from Jesus today, in response to those who oppose Him. That He is not demon-possessed nor fighting evil with evil, and He is not against them either. In fact, He has come to save them, by binding satan and plundering him. No one can enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man. Then indeed he may plunder his house. And so what happened at the time of Jesus, what was truly so incredible and revolutionary, was that God entered the strong man’s house in the person of Jesus, to bind him and plunder him. 

Now you may be thinking: it sure doesn’t look like He did so! Just look at all the evil and false teaching and godlessness in our world today. Satan sure doesn’t seem bound, and Jesus doesn’t look very victorious. And perhaps that is true if you are thinking of the world as satan’s house. But is it? Consider what we heard from the apostle Paul today: We do not lose heart. Even in a world that seems intent on marching toward evil. Why? Because though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day. For this slight momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.

Now that’s quite the opposite of how many tend to think, thinking that it’s what I can see and feel that’s real, that’s lasting, and what I cannot see, the spiritual, is uncertain and transient. But the truth is just the opposite. And so it’s not this world that satan is battling for, it’s you - your heart and your mind. If he can use the things of this world, great. But it’s not the world he wants, it’s you. What we see in the world are the symptoms of the larger problem - the corruption and enslavement of hearts and minds that he has been able to accomplish.

And so it is precisely there that Jesus has come to bind the strong man and plunder him. To free hearts and minds enamored with sin and captivated by evil, and turn them to Him in repentance and faith. And that’s why the weapon Jesus used looked so senseless and stupid to the world: For how can a captive crucifixion set free? How can death give life? How can shame give honor? In the world it can’t. Jesus is out of His mind. But on the battleground of your heart and mind, the word of the cross is the power of God to set people free. It is the forgiveness of sins that binds satan and strips him of his power. It is the truth that sets our minds on the things that are eternal. For on the cross, satan looked powerful, but in the resurrection, He is exposed. God’s love and life is more powerful than sin and death. And so for those bound in sin and death - you and me - Jesus’ resurrection binds the one who has bound us, and so sets us free.

And that binding and freedom is now accomplished where His cross and resurrection is for us now - in the preaching of the Word and the giving of the Sacraments. Those weapons look senseless and stupid in worldly terms too. Water, words, bread, and wine aren’t weapons! Oh, but they are when the Holy Spirit is in them, making them the very means through which satan is bound still today. For through them the Holy Spirit is working, cleansing hearts, freeing minds, and feeding souls. Neglect these and despise the Spirit who works through them and gives forgiveness through them, and so let satan loose in your heart and mind and face a dangerous eternal reality. But remain in these and satan is muzzled, bound, weakened, and plundered. Your heart and mind claimed by the Spirit for Christ, for life, and for eternity. 

An eternity that’s not just some far distant, dreamy, future hope that we’ll get to enjoy someday, but an eternity that has begun already now. A new reality, a new family, a new life that Jesus has provided for you even now. For Jesus looked about at those who sat around him, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does the will of God, he is my brother and sister and mother.” That is how He looks at you and how we can now look at each other. That doesn’t dimish our earthly relationship but adds to them. And it doesn’t mean we’ll have no problems - as you know, families have plenty of problems and often fight and disagree. Churches too. But it does mean there’s something else that defines us now - not just the family we’re physically born into, but also the family we’re spiritually born into, through water and the word. The family we have Sunday dinner with. The family we sorrow with, rejoice with, and live with in forgiveness and faith.

And as we do, this happens too: Jesus continues bruising the serpent’s head. As you know, He is the offspring of the woman spoken of to Eve in Genesis, who would bruise the serpent-satan’s head through His cross. But know this too: He still is. Everytime a person is baptized into this family, everytime you hear the word of God and keep it, everytime you repent and receive forgiveness, everytime you give forgiveness instead of holding a grudge, everytime you pray, everytime you do good works instead of lashing out, everytime you speak the truth, everytime you help and love and live as the child of God you are . . . you know why satan is so mad? Because it’s his head continuing to be bruised! Like a multitude, a myriad, of little Christ’s little heels being banged onto his head. A constant drumbeat, a constant bruising. The triumph of Jesus on the cross continuing on through the Spirit in those who belong to Him. Which puts a little different spin on things, on your life and what you do, doesn’t it? Even makes it kinds of fun!

And if satan flips out and goes crazy against us because of it? Which, really, is what we should expect, isn’t it? And if the whole world turn against the church? No worries. For we know that if the tent, which is our earthly home, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. 

That’s the confidence we have in Jesus, through His Spirit given to us, making us sons of the Father. So as we sang, satan may have designed our fall (LSB #668), but Jesus has accomplished our salvation. And He is greater. The strong man is bound by the stronger man, and you belong to Him.

That’s a good note to start this half of the church year on, don’t you think? But not only today - to remember and believe and rejoice and live everyday.

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

Holy Trinity Sermon

LISTEN

Jesu Juva

“An Incomprehensible Truth”

Text: Isaiah 6:1-8; Acts 2:14a, 22-36; John 3:1-17

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

Today we celebrate a mystery. The mystery of the Holy Trinity. That the only God, the one true God, is three persons but only one God, one essence, and that this one essence is three distinct persons - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, each 100% God, and yet there are not three gods, but one God. A mystery. A mystery we try to verbalize in the words of the Athanasian Creed, which we’ll soon speak. But though we verbalize it, speak it, we cannot explain it. It is a mystery. Beyond our ability to comprehend or understand. Too large for our small minds to wrap around, too holy for our sinful minds to grasp. We can simply speak the truth as the One who is truth has revealed it - and Himself - to us. This is who God is.

And so one of the essential and foundational truths of Christianity we cannot explain - we can only confess. This is the truth. That has led some to mock us. How can you believe in a God you cannot even really explain? But perhaps the question really should be: How can anyone believe in a god they can? For if we could fully understand and explain God, figure Him out and contain Him in our minds, that would make us greater than God and, in fact, make us god. That’s what satan wants and so mocks the idea of the Trinity and the mystery. That’s what our sinful natures want as well, not content to humbly rest in the mystery, but to master it; to master God and put Him in our debt and so turn everything upside-down. For that’s what sin does - it makes good evil and evil good; it makes the truth a lie and lies the truth; it makes man his own god, master of his own destiny and shaper of his own fate. And then most to be pitied. For you are a dying god and one whose kingdom is falling apart and does not last. You are a god who cannot even save yourself.

So today we confess the truth - that God is (to use some of the words of the creed) uncreated, infinite, eternal, almighty, incomprehensible, holy. Everything we are not, He is. All that we have is from Him, and all that we have He does not need. And so we are here in the presence of this great and awesome God not to give but to receive; not to do but to rest; not to get answers and information but to worship. For the true worship of God is not primarily an intellectual or moral exercise, a thinking or doing - it is to receive life from Him in the forgiveness of our sins. For when you have forgiveness you have life, whether you live or die.

And our model of that today is Isaiah. Isaiah got it exactly right. In the presence of this almighty, infinite, incomprehensible God, he was toast. And he knew it. He was unclean. And not just his lips, but all of him. His heart, his mind, his eyes - all unholy and corrupted by sin. And therefore his coming into the presence of a holy God was like gasoline coming into the presence of fire. And so he is undone and filled with fear. Woe is me, he cries out. I am dead.

Yet something most wonderful happens. He does not die. There is something Isaiah has not taken into account. There is an altar. An altar for sacrifice. And when something from that altar touches his uncleanness, he is not toasted! Rather, his guilt is taken away and his sin atoned for. Or in other words, he is made clean; he is made holy; he is forgiven. He is born again, raised from the death of his sin to a new life. Nothing he did. He just died, so to speak. It’s what God did. And with that his dread and fear are gone, replaced by faith and hope and confidence. So that when the voice of the Lord then says, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” - us: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit - Isaiah hesitates not one moment! Here am I, your child. Here am I, the one you have made alive and rescued from death. Here am I! Send me.

It is what happens here and wherever God gives His gifts. You, lost and condemned sinners, are made alive and rescued from death. You cry out “Woe is me!” in confession and death, and the Lord answers with forgiveness and life. You are born again and raised when the sacrifice of God from the altar of the cross - the Father’s own Son! - touches you and your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for. The uncleanness of your lips and hands and minds and hearts made clean when the water from the sacrifice touches your head, when the word of the sacrifice touches your ears and heart, when the body and blood of the sacrifice touches your lips. And you are made new. A gift just as incomprehensible, powerful, infinite, and eternal as the God who gives it - and keeps giving it - to you.

And with this gift the Lord is now sending you. But where? This too may be incomprehensible. It may not be where you think and not where you want, but where He needs. Maybe He will send you into suffering, or to suffer with a loved one. Maybe you will be sent into grief or hardship, into pain or sadness. Maybe into joy, maybe into the unknown. But wherever or however it is, you are not alone and never will be. For the God who sends you is with you. The Father, who gave His Son for you and gives His Spirit to you, won’t stop giving what you need . . . including Himself. And maybe that will be through others who He sends to be with you. That, too, is often incomprehensible, isn’t it? How God brings Himself and others into our lives and gives His good to us.

But most incomprehensible of all is how this awesome, holy, infinite, almighty, eternal God became small - became a man. That too is in the Athanasian Creed. That the Son of God in person, but all of God in essence, became man in the one single fertilized egg of His mother Mary, and was born and grew for us. How can the God who created all things become a creature? How can the God who feeds all creation Himself need to be fed? How can the all-powerful God become weak and lowly? Yet this too we confess. And His death on the cross in our place - not because He couldn’t save Himself (like us), but because He wouldn’t - to provide the atonement, the forgiveness, we need and cannot live without. That dying and rising, we who are dead might rise too, with Him, to this new life. That’s the truth Peter was preaching on Pentecost, when the Lord sent him after raising him from the death of his denials. 

And that’s what Jesus was trying to teach Nicodemus, who seems to me like a very modern man. He wants to learn and get things figured out. He wants to wrap his mind around God and the things of God, like so many today. But he can’t. Jesus is telling him incomprehensible mysteries. About God and what God is doing; about being born again and born from above. Nicodemus wants to be in the classroom, but before Jesus he is in church. Jesus has come to give him what he needs - not understanding, but Himself.

Nicodemus doesn’t get it . . . not at first. That he needed to be like Isaiah. But it seems like he did later, being one of the two men who cared for Jesus after He died, taking His body down and laying it in the tomb. Maybe it was that very day that connected the dots for Nicodemus, when the sacrifice from the altar touched him and raised him, when he saw Jesus on the cross and remembered those words spoken to him a few years before in the darkness of night: 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. And his guilt was taken away and his sin atoned for.

So whether it is Isaiah, Nicodemus, Peter, or you, the story is the same. Our incomprehensible God does incomprehensible things. His love, His forgiveness, His life, His incarnation, His death and resurrection, His Spirit, Word, and Sacraments now in all the world - we might ask today with Nicodemus: How can these things be? And even if we cannot explain it, we confess it. This is the truth. That God [the Father] so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him [through the working of the Spirit] should not perish but [be born again, born anew, and] have eternal life. And so we worship - we come and receive forgiveness and life from - this God and no other. For there is no other. 

Blessed be the Holy Trinity and the undivided Unity. 

Let us give glory to him because he has shown his mercy to us (Introit Antiphon).

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

Pentecost Sermon

We were privileged to have one of our seminarians, Daniel Broaddus, with us this weekend and who proclaimed the Word of God to us. Here is the audio of his sermon - his first one for us and only his second time before a congregation. Enjoy!

Easter 7 Sermon

LISTEN

Jesu Juva

“Jesus’ Prayer for the Spirit”

Text: John 17:11b-19 (1 John 5:9-15)

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

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

In the Holy Gospel we heard today, Jesus is praying. That fact, in itself, is not that unusual. We are told often of Jesus praying. He gets up before the sun and goes off by Himself to pray. He prays before miracles. He goes to the Temple to pray. Jesus is an expert in prayer. In fact, He is the only human being who has ever mastered the art of prayer. We falter in our prayers. We struggle with our prayers. We often do not know how to pray as we ought. But for Jesus, praying is the air He breathes.

That should teach us something. It certainly did the disciples, who went up to Jesus and said: We want to be like that! Like you. Teach us to pray (Luke 11:1-4). In reponse to that request, Jesus gave them - and us - the words of the Lord’s Prayer. He gave us words to say, which, if you understand the depths of those petitions and what they mean, really do pray for everything we need. 

But Jesus didn’t just give His us this prayer, He also then told His disciples a story about a man who needed food for a friend who had arrived on a journey. But he didn’t have any food to give him. So he goes to his neighbor who he knows can help, and begs him repeatedly for what he needs, until he gets it (Luke 11:5-13). And that, Jesus is teaching His disciples, is also how He will teach them to pray - by bringing people in need into their lives, people whose needs they are unable to help, and so they will have to pray. They will have to go to the One they know can help - their Father in heaven. And keep at it! Keep praying. Don’t give up.

And so for us - the people in Nepal after the earthquakes there, the people in the Midwest suffering devastation after tornadoes, the people killed and injured in the train wreck in Philadelphia - what can you do for them? Go to the One who can do all things and provide exactly what is needed. Pray for them. They may not be able to pray. They may not know how to pray. But you do. They are your neighbor in need, to drive you to prayer and teach you to pray.

So today in the Holy Gospel, Jesus is praying because His friends are in need. He is about to leave them. Up to this time, while He was with them, He has kept them and protected them. But now He is leaving and the world is going to hate them and the evil one will be after them. Jesus has already been the object of this hatred and wrath from the world and the evil one, so He knows it’s not going to be easy for them. And He’s not going to be with them to keep and protect them anymore. So what can He do? He prays for them. 

Now as I said, Jesus praying is not unusual. But what is is that here we are told what He is praying. That we are not often told, so when we are we should pay close attention and consider these words precious. And so here, today, we hear Jesus go to His Father and ask four things for His disciples then and for all time:

(1.) keep them in your name; or in other words, keep them in the faith, believing;

(2.) keep them from the evil one; protect them from his crafts and assaults that seek to pull them into false belief or misbelief;

(3.) sanctify them, holy them, in the truth, in the Word; and

(4.) make them one; unite them with each other and with the Father and the Son, just as they are one.

But though Jesus prays for these four things specifically, He is really praying for just one thing for us: the Holy Spirit. For all these four things are the work of the Holy Spirit. And this is also what Jesus told His disciples at the end of His teaching them about prayer, after the story that I mentioned earlier, when He concluded with these words: If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him (Luke 11:13)! Jesus, the master of prayer, is asking for the Spirit for us. 

And next week, we’ll celebrate the answer to that prayer as we celebrate the Feast of Pentecost, when the Spirit came upon the Church in all His fullness to do those very things Jesus prayed for. 

For it is the Holy Spirit that gives faith. We confess in the Creed 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 . . . (Small Catechism, explanation to the Third Article). It is the Holy Spirit who puts the name of God upon us in Holy Baptism, gives us the gift of faith, and works to keep us there through Word and Sacrament. If He didn’t, we would be no match for the evil one, who would easily pull us away. So keep them in your name, Jesus prays. Keep them from the evil one. Send them the Spirit to keep them.

And it is the Holy Spirit that sanctifies us, or makes us holy. It’s easy to remember that because it’s in His name: Holy Spirit - the Spirit that makes holy. And He does so by taking what Jesus has done for us, taking His forgiveness, life, and salvation, and giving it to us through the means of grace, the Word and Sacraments. I explain it in my catechism classes like this: in New York City, there are 10 million or so people who need water. Where do they all get it? They actually get it from reservoirs upstate, many miles away; giant reservoirs that are filled with rain and snow melt. That water is carried down to the city through aqueducts built for just that purpose. That’s what the Word and Sacraments are for us - the Spirit’s aqueducts that bring Jesus’ forgiveness to us. His forgiveness that by taking away our sin and cleansing us makes us holy. For this Jesus consecrates Himself and fills the reservoirs of heaven, and the Spirit, then, brings it to us, through the Word of truth, and the Word connected to water, bread, and wine. So sanctify them in the truth, Jesus prays. Your word is truth. Send them the Spirit through the Word to holy them.

And then this too, Jesus prays: that [we] may be one. This too is the work of the Holy Spirit because Jesus is not just praying for people of a certain time and place to be one, but of all times and all places. This is a unity far beyond just putting a “coexist” bumper sticker on the back of your car - this is the Church transcending all times and places and united in Christ. That we be one with the believers of the Old Testament, the martyrs of the early church, the persecuted in the Middle East today, and the little ones baptized somewhere just this morning. That we be part of that “one body, one Spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all” (Ephesians 4:4-5). That is not a unity we can do or achieve; only the Holy Spirit can. So, Jesus prays, make them one; send them the Spirit to unite them with us, Father. One Church, militant and triumphant, in heaven and on earth. One in Christ. 

Then right after Jesus prays these words, He is arrested. And He departs in joy and peace, for He knows His prayer has been heard and answered. He knows His friends - and those who believe because of the Word they preach - will be taken care of. He entrusts us into the hands of the Father, who does all things well. 

And the Father sends the Spirit on Pentecost. But not only then. Through the preaching of the Word and the water of baptism the Spirit has come to you and is working this work in you: keeping you, guarding you, sanctifying you, and making you one. Which, in a world hurtling toward unbelief seemingly faster than ever, we need more than ever. That we be a people formed not by the truths and teachings of the world, and conformed to the world, but formed by the Word of God and prayer and united in Him. Jesus knew it wouldn’t be easy, and so prays for you. 

A prayer which is also answered here, as we come to the Table to receive the Body and Blood of Jesus today. Here we are made one with angels and archangels and all the compnay of heaven. Here we join with the saints who have gone before us and those all around the world who gather wherever they are, for we are all gathered by one Spirit, around one Lord, to be fed and forgiven by Him. A oneness and unity only our Lord could achieve, and does. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, for you.

And given all that, we too now pray. Like Jesus. With the same confidence as Jesus. We pray the prayer Jesus taught us and for all people according to their need. What a blessing that we are able to do so, for people we know and don’t know, for those close or far away, for family and friends, for old or young, schoolmates, even for our enemies, and to know this too: that our Father hears our prayer. And so we entrust ourselves and all for whom we pray into His hands, knowing there is no better place to be. And so we, just as Jesus, no matter how or when, can depart in joy and peace. We are in the hands of our Father, redeemed by the Son, and in the care and keeping of the Spirit. Our God, who does all things well.

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

The Ascension of Our Lord Sermon

LISTEN

Jesu Juva

“Even More, Even Greater”

Text: Acts 1:1-11; Luke 24:44-53

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

Leo the Great, an early church theologian who lived in the fifth century, said that in Jesus and all His work for us, we have gained greater things than we had lost through the devil’s malice. That’s quite a statement. For sin has cost us greatly. We lost Paradise. We lost harmony with one another. We lost our fellowship with God. We lost our life. We lost the peace of a sinless world and now live in a world where hate, discord, and destruction are the norm. We live in a world where sadness and pain limit our joy and where things are so bad that many do not even believe there is a God at all. For if there were a God, why is the world like this?

But it is not God’s fault. It is our fault. The fault of Adam, whose sin plunged the world from perfection and life into brokenness and death, and the fault of us, whose sin daily adds to all that. The discord, separation, pain, and sadness we sow, either through our actions or our failure to act. There is a God, but we did not want Him. We thought we knew better, could do better, would be better, and this is what we got. We have truly lost a lot.

And then there is your own life. Who among us has not personally experienced loss? Of health, of a loved one, of a friendship, of that which gives us joy.

But God did not sit idly by. Our pain pains Him - this is not how He created things to be for you. He loves you. And so He sent His Son to clean up our mess, and in all He did, He gave where there was loss. He gave sight, He gave hearing, He gave cleansing, He gave strength, He gave hope, He gave forgiveness. And then when the world rejected Him again, crucifying Him on the cross, He gave life. He rose from the dead as we have been celebrating this whole Easter season, that even this greatest loss of ours be reversed. That we who die might live again.

And if He had stopped there, we could rightly say that Jesus had restored all that we lost. He had undone all that we did - all that was left now was to give this gift to all and abolish sin, death, and the devil to hell forever. 

But Jesus did more than that: He ascended into heaven. And not just as the Son of God He was when He came down from heaven, but also as a man. For that’s who Jesus is: true God and true man. Always both. Not one or the other. He did not leave His human nature behind, which He used for a while but was now done with it. No, our human nature ascends with Him into heaven, restored not just to an earthly paradise, but given even more: a heavenly one. Ascending above and beyond the angels’ ranks and the archangels’ heights to the very right hand of the Father. That just as He came down from the heights to our depths, to be with us where we are, so in the same way we may rise with Him from the depths to be with Him where He is. To a glory far greater than Adam’s; far greater than we can imagine.

And that’s what we sang in the hymns today. On Christ’s ascension I now build the hope of my ascension.  . . .  That where the Head is, there as well I know His members are to dwell (LSB #492 v. 1). And then we sang this too: He has raised our human nature on the clouds to God’s right hand; there we sit in heavenly places, there with Him in glory stand. Jesus reigns, adored by angels; man with God is on the throne. By our mighty Lord’s ascension we by faith behold our own (LSB #494 v. 5).

That’s why the disciples were filled with joy when Jesus ascended. They knew this. When Jesus died they were sad. When He rose they were at first confused and scared. But over the course of the next forty days, He taught them all this. He opened their minds to understand. He opened their minds, cleaned out all the junk, and then filled them with the truth. And they were filled with joy. For as He ascended, they knew He was not leaving them - He had promised to send them the Holy Spirit, and that through His Spirit He would continue to be with them. But also they knew they were going with Him. That as He ascended, so were they, and so would they. He was paving the way and preparing the place for them (John 14). 

And so from then on, they went out and proclaimed Jesus, proclaimed His forgiveness, proclaimed His life. And though they were arrested for it, beated for it, and then killed for it, none of that mattered. They had already been given the victory in Jesus. They saw Him ascend, and they knew they were too. Whatever they lost, whatever this world could take away, Jesus had even more for them. 

And so it is for you as well. That’s all true for all who have been baptized into Jesus’ death, resurrection, and ascension. Where you go He goes, and where He goes you go. For Jesus’ ascension means not that He is gone, but exactly the opposite - that He is with you. For now reigning from the throne of God, far above and transcending all time and space, He is not just in Jerusalem or Galilee, but here with you, and in every place His Word and Sacrament are. Still providing for every loss, forgiving every sin, and comforting in every trouble and sadness. Until that day when, as we sang, we depart in joy and peace (LSB #492 v. 3) to the joy and peace of His presence in heaven. When what we now believe we will then see.

And so a hymn of glory (LSB #493) we will sing at the end of our service tonight. Practice for later.

For Christ is ascended! [He is ascended indeed! Alleluia!] 

And in Him, so are we.

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

Easter 6 Sermon

LISTEN

Jesu Juva

“Love In, Love Out”

Text: Acts 10:34-48; 1 John 5:1-8; John 15:9-17

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.

So Peter opened his mouth and said: “Truly I understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him.”

Our world is filled with partiality, with favoritism, with division. In Peter’s day it was Jew / Gentile. Think of some today. There is no shortage of them. Heterosexual / homosexual, pro-choice / pro-life, republican / democrat, black / white, just to name a few. We make divisions and distinctions all the time, and because of them we tend to look at people differently - it’s hard not to. But God does not. He shows no partiality. Because in God’s eyes, no matter what side of those divisions you’re on, we’ve all got this in common: we’re all sinners; we all deserve nothing from Him. And on that playing field, we’re all equal. Whatever you have, whatever you have been given, whoever you are is gift - all gift - from your God, who gave it to you not because you deserved it, but because He loves you. He loves all people. And He wants all to be His children. Us and them.

And so God sent His child to love us, to befriend us, that we may be His friends and love Him and each other in return. No matter who you are, no matter who they are. And that love is clearly the focus of the readings today. If you were here last Sunday, you heard Dr. Just count certain words in the Gospel and how often they were repeated, so I’ll do the same today. The word love is used five times in the Epistle and nine times in the Gospel. So if you’re going to take one thing away from those readings today, remember that. [Jesus said:] “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 

Which sounds simple, doesn’t it? But it’s not quite that simple. For two reasons. First, we have to know what love is. And second, how can we love in a world as divided and divisive as ours?

I’ll tackle the second one first: how can we love in a world as divided and divisive as ours? John gave us the answer in the Epistle: this is the victory that has overcome the world— that overcomes the divisions and partiality and favoritism of the world - our faith. Not that our faith is so great, because often its not. One day our faith is strong and the next day it’s weak and frightened. One day it’s up and the next days it’s down and doubting. But our faith overcomes the world not because it’s so great, but because the One our faith is in is. Because our faith is in the One who has overcome the world and all the things of the world and the ruler of this world - satan. In His death and resurrection, Jesus has provided us with everything we need for both this life and the next. There is nothing we need that He hasn’t promised and nothing He has promised that He won’t deliver. 

The problem is: we don’t believe it. We do, but we don’t. We do, we say we do, we try to, but the evidence shows otherwise. And the evidence that we don’t is that we keep on sinning. We take because we don’t trust Him to provide. We hurt because we don’t trust Him to protect. We lust because we don’t love Him but the things of this world. We rebel because we don’t trust the authorities He has placed over us. And that’s just to name a few. We take matters into our own hands because we think we can do better.

But the God who loves you provides for you even in this - giving you the forgiveness that you need in Jesus for all that and more, and strengthening the faith He has given you to trust and believe. To know that when He calls you His friend, when He calls you His child, that is not something He takes lightly. Those aren’t just words. Jesus laid down His life for you and traded places with you to make it so. And compared to that, everything else you need pales in comparison.

And to this truth, John tells us, the Spirit, the water, and the blood testify. And so in Peter’s day, in the first reading from Acts, we see this testimony. The Spirit testified as it came upon the Gentiles as Peter preached to them. Through the Word the Spirit worked and came, testifying that yes, these Gentiles were His children and He their Saviour and He loved them. And then the water testified as Peter baptized them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit - just as Jesus had commanded him to do. To baptize all nations in His Name - no partiality or favoritism or distinction - all nations. Jesus sent Peter carefully and specifically to the Gentile Cornelius and his family to show just this - and to testify that His blood, shed on the cross, was for all people. That there is no one on earth that Jesus did not lay down His life for. No one.

And so the victory of Christ’s that is ours by faith enables us to love. Or as a continuation of the Gospel that we heard last week: Jesus is the vine and we are the branches. And so connected to Him and abiding in Him, He abides in us and gives us His love - His no partiality, no favoritism, love - that we may love others with that love.

Which leads, then, to that second point: to love others we have to know what love is. The world thinks, or claims it knows what love is. But does it? 

Jesus showed us what love is when He laid down His life for the life of the world. He showed us a love that wasn’t a feeling, that wasn’t looking out for what it wanted, but an action that does what is best for the other. And then He spelled out specifically what that looks like for us in the commandments, which, if you do them, you’ll truly be laying down your life for others. Both those who agree with us and those who do not. Because love doesn’t distinguish, divide, or show partiality or favoritism. Love just acts. Like Jesus did. Laying down His life for sinners, for criminals, for mixed up and messed up folks like you and me. Not to make us servants or force us into labor or service to Him, but to make us His friends, His children. Willing, united, connected to Him.

And to do that, Jesus was no weak and wimpy pushover. That’s usually the picture of love that pops into people’s heads, isn’t it? Weak and wimpy and easily pushed around. But that wasn’t Jesus. He loved enough to speak the truth (strongly!), and He loved enough to do love - even to those who didn’t love Him - all the way to the cross. 

Now the question is: what will that look like for you and me? Specifically. Because that’s always where doctrine get tough. As long as teaching is just theory, it’s easy. When it gets real and practical, it’s tough.

So let’s frame that love in terms of some very hot-button issues in our world today. Loving by speaking strongly and doing even more strongly.

We will speak and not stop speaking the truth that God created man and woman and that these are the only two genders there are, and that when a man and a woman are united as one flesh, that is a marriage.

We will speak and not stop speaking the truth that God created life and loves life - all life - no matter how small or weak or disabled, no matter who you are, and that for us to kill or otherwise dispose of any life is contrary to His will.

We will speak and not stop speaking the truth that Jesus is the one and only Saviour from sin, that He is the one and only Son of God made man, and that there is salvation in no one but Him.

We will speak and not stop speaking these truths (and others) because it is loving to do so.

But at the same time, for teaching these truths, we will be - and already are -called unloving, bigoted, hateful, dangerous, and not welcomed in society. For these truths Christians are being targeted, persecuted, and killed, and perhaps the day is coming and is not so far away when folks will show up outside of our little church and picket us, or worse. When, like is already happening in other places, pastors or others who speak out are jailed, or a bulldozer will show up and level our church. And this, all in the name of love.

So here’s the question that leads us to: how will we respond? Will we give in and change what we believe and teach? Will we fight back with equal and opposite violence and force? Or will we continue to love? And again, not weak and wimpy love - but love that continues to speak the truth, and at the same time does love. Imagine if we did that. That while continuing to speak the truth, we gave food and water to those picketing us? If we helped to repair the house of the guy who bulldozed our church? If we stood up for those who threw our pastor in jail? It would take a lot of strength and love to do those things! But what message would it send? What love would it show?  . . .  Would some ridicule us? Surely. Would some take advantage of us? Certainly. But would some also take notice of such faith and love, hear of the truth of Jesus and come to faith?

Now those are big things and perhaps hypothetical things right now. But what about the little things that you could do right now? What would such love look like in your life right now? And realize how Christ-like all those actions are. The One who loved though rejected and crucified.

And so the Spirit, the water, and the blood still testify today. The Spirit that has come upon us and lives within us, testifying to the love of Christ for all people, and helping us do that love. The water testifying as all nations are baptized into Jesus - who still wants all to be His friends, His children. And the blood testifying, as the Body and Blood of Jesus are given to us for the forgiveness of our sins. For the favoritism and partiality that we do show, for our lack of love and failure to trust. For when we come up here and stand here there are no distinctions or divisions; it is as equals - no matter who you are - equally sinful beggars, equally unworthy receivers.

But the Spirit, the water, and the blood testify that there is no sin too great, no sinner too far gone. There is no condemnation in Jesus, only outside of Him. And He invites us to abide in Him and His truth - to repent and receive His forgiveness and His life, and live it. To love even those who wish us dead, like they wanted Jesus dead. And they did it. They killed Him. And now risen from the dead, He lives to forgive us and all. That we rise from sin, rise from death, and live with Him, in love, even now. 

So as we sang: Dear Christians, One and All, Rejoice! (LSB #556) Rejoice, for you have been so loved, you have been so mercied, you have been thus raised to a new life in Christ. For Christ is risen! [He is risen indeed! Alleluia!] And you are His - His friend, His child. So love one another, and don’t worry about yourself. For with His love, you can never out-love, out-give, or out-care what He has for you.

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

Easter 5 Sermon

We were pleased to have Rev. Dr. Arthur Just with us this weekend for our Good Shepherd Seminar. Listen to his sermon for Easter 5.