Hearers and preachers working together in the kingdom

Posted on July 21, 2019 by Rev. Paul Rydecki
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Sermon for Trinity 5

1 Peter 3:8-15  +  Luke 5:1-11

It’s good to be back home, here with you, after our vacation. It’s hard for a pastor to be away, but it’s also helpful for many reasons, not the least of which is that it allows a pastor to experience again, a little bit, for a little while, the life of a layman, to go from the pulpit back to the pew, to remember the challenges that you face right here at the divine service: the challenge to pay attention when you’re not the one preaching or leading the congregation in prayer or in song. That’s not easy, is it? I think it’s harder for you than for me. Also, the challenge to focus on Christ and on your part in His Church, when you’ve got so many non-Church-related things going on in your life. How easy it would be for the devil to lure you away from the practice of the Christian faith, not by an open denial of Jesus, but by a steady immersion in worldliness that takes your eyes away from the cross and from your vocation as a Christian.

We have before us today a text on the two overarching vocations of Christians within the estate of the Church: hearers of the Word and preachers of the Word. The focus of the Gospel is on the vocation of preacher: From now on you will catch men. That is not said to all people or to all Christians. It’s said to Peter, Andrew, James and John, who left their secular livelihood and their families and followed Christ, not just to learn about God’s kingdom from Him, but to serve as His instruments for bringing people into it. It’s said to all those who have been called into the office of the holy ministry.

But we’re not going to overlook the other vocation that shows up in our Gospel, that of hearer. Before Jesus calls the disciples to set aside everything in preparation for their future ministry, He approaches them in their non-clergy vocation, that of fishermen. And He uses them there, too, to spread the nets of His kingdom. So we see both vocations being used by Jesus in our Gospel—that of clergy and that of non-clergy, all to fulfill His own purposes, all for the building of His kingdom. Christ reigns from the right hand of God, building His kingdom through His Word, and employing all godly vocations to see to it that His Word gets preached, so that sinners may be saved. In that sense, not every fisherman is a fisher of men, but every boat can become a pulpit. Every vocation an opportunity.

Every Christian has received a general “calling” or vocation to follow Jesus—to repent of our sins, to trust in Him for the forgiveness of sins, to lead a pious, godly life according to His Word, and, as St. Peter urged the hearers—the laymen—in today’s Epistle, to always be ready to give an “apology,” that is, a defense, a confession of the Christian faith, of the hope that is in you, to the one who asks. Repentance, faith, piety, and confession. To those four things every Christian has been called. Every day of a Christian’s life is to be consumed in those four things.

But let’s see how the Lord Jesus used vocation for His kingdom in today’s Gospel.

Peter, Andrew, James and John had already received a general calling from Jesus to follow Him some time before the events of today’s Gospel. They had accompanied Jesus for a time, learning from Him about repentance, faith, piety, and confession. But they hadn’t yet been called by Him to leave their regular, secular vocations and enter the holy ministry. So they still worked as fishermen, manning their fishing boats, letting down the nets for a catch.

Jesus came walking down to their “office,” as it were, to their place of work. He wanted to preach to the people who were gathered around Him, but they were all crowding together; He couldn’t see them all or speak to them all. So He steps into Peter’s boat, and the boat becomes His pulpit, enabling Him to see the crowds and speak the word of God to them.

Luke doesn’t record the sermon that Jesus preached from that floating pulpit, but you can be sure it was like the rest of His preaching, focusing on repentance, faith, piety, and confession.

On repentance: God’s holy Law requires love for God above all things, and to love God is to keep His Commandments. There’s no excuse for disobedience. And there is no leniency in the Law. Obey or die, the Law says. And since everyone has disobeyed, since everyone has sinned, the Lord Jesus calls sinners to repentance, to recognize that they have disobeyed, to admit that they were wrong, and they surely deserve to die.

Some needed to hear about repentance more than others in Israel, as it is today, those who were secure in their sins, imagining that they were safe from God’s wrath. Others knew their sin all too well, but didn’t think there was any hope. To them Jesus preached on faith. That is, He preached on God’s promise to forgive them their sins freely for His sake, through faith in Him, God’s only-begotten Son. Because He bore the sins of the world and would suffer for them on the cross making atonement for all sin and reconciling sinners with God. He called on sinners to trust in God’s promise to forgive them for His sake and in all God’s promises that sustain us throughout this earthly life.

Jesus also regularly preached on piety, the devout and dutiful obedience of God’s forgiven children. Piety includes regularly using the ministry of God’s Word and Sacraments, reading and pondering His Word, prayer, and dutifully keeping all of God’s commandments, not to earn a place in heaven, but as saints who are learning to live as saints, learning to be imitators of our dear Father and of His Son, Jesus Christ.

And Jesus regularly preached on confession. Whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven. But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven. Confession means speaking the truth about God and professing your allegiance to Him. It means answering questions about God, and it means inviting others to know the true God and His holy Word.

Whichever of those four areas received the focus of Jesus’ preaching from Peter’s boat, the crowds, including Peter, Andrew, James and John heard God’s Word that day because Jesus chose to use Peter’s boat as His pulpit, and Peter gladly provided it.

But the Lord wasn’t done teaching when He dismissed the crowds. It was time for these four disciples to move on to what He intended for them, away from letting down nets to catch fish and toward the letting down of the Gospel net to catch people for God’s kingdom.

He told Peter, Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch. Peter’s training as a fisherman and his experience the night before told him it would be worthless. Master, we have toiled all night and caught nothing; nevertheless at Your word I will let down the net. And immediately so many fish filled their nets that the nets began to break.

Peter knew this was the almighty power of God at work, and so he fell on his knees before Jesus, Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord! But Jesus spoke to him in peace. Do not be afraid. From now on you will catch men. Jesus appointed Peter, Andrew, James and John to the office of the holy ministry, calling them to preach the Gospel. And the implication is that it would be the same powerful working of the Lord Jesus that would fill the nets with people through their preaching. The minister who preaches the Gospel faithfully isn’t responsible either for the lack of people in the church or for the abundance of people in the church. His task is simply to let down the net. The catch is all the work of Christ and of His Holy Spirit. And we’re to trust that He knows what He’s doing, even if it doesn’t make sense to us.

So Jesus used the secular vocation of fisherman to teach His future fishers of men about the ministry. They cannot accomplish anything on their own. But Jesus will accompany them, lead them, work through them, and bring in the people whom He has chosen through their preaching.

If I were preaching to men with the vocation of preacher this morning, I would talk more about the office of the ministry. But since I’m not, let me emphasize once again the importance of the vocation of hearer in the work of the kingdom. Your vocation, your calling to hear God’s Word, to use and to support the ministry of the Word is your primary calling. After that, it all comes back to those four basic parts of the practice of the Christian religion: Repentance, faith, piety, and confession.

Preachers must practice those four things in their vocation as preachers. Those with the vocation of hearers must do the same. Daily repentance and a living faith, piety and a zealous confession of the faith seem far removed from the to-do list that you deal with every day. But don’t let them be! Let them be a part of everything you do, of every aspect of your secular vocations. Fathers, mothers, sons, daughters, husbands, wives, teachers, students, homemakers, retired persons, firemen, military personnel, citizens, neighbors, patriots—in all these vocations, open your eyes to the opportunity God sets before you to put your Christian faith into practice with repentance, faith, piety…

And confession! See your vocation as a potential pulpit. Not for you to become the preacher, but for Jesus to take this opportunity to put someone in contact with His word, which is now being preached, not by His mouth, but by the mouths of those whom He has called into the office of the ministry. Invite! Explain! Answer! Speak of the Lord Jesus who has loved you, who has revealed the truth about sin and about God, who lived, died, and rose from the dead that all people might be saved.

In this way, preachers and hearers, shepherds and their flocks, work together for the kingdom of God. In this way and in no other the Lord Jesus will build His Church and expand His kingdom in the world. Let’s give thanks that we’ve been given a part in it! Amen.

 

 

 

 

 

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Enter God’s kingdom by grace, or you won’t enter at all

Posted on June 30, 2019 by Rev. Paul Rydecki
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Sermon for Trinity 2

1 John 3:13-18  +  Luke 14:16-24

Last week’s Gospel (the rich man and poor Lazarus) taught us to set our eyes on the goal of eternal life with the Triune God, which will both help us get through the trials of this life and help us avoid the temptation to get caught up in the good times of this life. Today’s Gospel teaches us that entrance into eternal life is by God’s grace, and it comes with a warning not to despise the grace of God. Enter God’s kingdom by grace, or you won’t enter at all.

Jesus was sitting at a supper when He spoke the words of our Gospel. He had just warned the other guests not to choose the highest place, as He saw them doing, but to the choose the lowest place, allowing the master of the house to raise them up. Each of the guests was of the opinion, “I think I deserve better than the rest!” Stop that!, Jesus says. Stop thinking about how much you think you’re worth! Even the sinless Son of Man took the lowest place and waited there and served there and even gave His life there, until God the Father finally exalted Him. How much more shouldn’t you, who are sinful and unclean by nature, do the same!

Then, Jesus warned His fellow guests not to invite people to supper who can repay you, or who can invite you back in return, but rather invite people who can’t repay you, that you may be blessed at the resurrection! Their thinking was, “I’ll do nice things for people who deserve it, who will treat me well in return!” Stop that!, He says. Stop dealing with other people selfishly, thinking about what you will get out of it! That’s not how God is, and it’s not how His children are. He does good to those who don’t deserve it and who can’t repay Him, out of the goodness of His heart. That’s what heaven is like, and that’s what the inhabitants of heaven will be like.

And then a man at the supper blurts out, apparently thinking he’s making a profound and pious observation: Blessed is he who shall eat bread in the kingdom of God! That’s where our Gospel begins. And the question is, who are those who will eat bread there?

But before we learn about the “who,” we first have to define what “there” is. Because when many people think of entering God’s kingdom, they think, well, during this life I’ll believe that God exists and that I have a deep relationship with Him, but I’ll basically do what I want, maybe show up for church once in a while, and that’s that. And then I’ll end up in heaven when I die. That’s the kingdom of God, right?

But what are we really talking about when we talk about the kingdom of God? Are we talking about going to heaven? Do we mean the life with God after this life, after the Last Day, after the resurrection of all the dead? Well, that is where the kingdom of God will exist in perfection. But no one will be there in that perfection who did not first enter here in this imperfection.

Jesus proclaimed during His ministry, The kingdom of God is at hand! The kingdom of God is among you! The kingdom of God isn’t something that stands off in the future. It’s where Christ reigns as King in people’s hearts—He the King of grace, we the subjects under Him in His kingdom. To eat bread in God’s kingdom means entering God’s kingdom of grace here and now, that is, the Holy Christian Church, being “in the Church” and part of that great assembly which assembles in little groups here and there throughout the world, but which God sees all at once as one giant assembly.

Now, being “in the Church” doesn’t mean simply being in this church building. It’s much more than that. And it doesn’t mean getting baptized and then going away, or attending services off and on, when you feel like it. It means Baptism accompanied by a living faith, daily repentance, constant nourishment through hearing the Word, meditating on it, receiving the Lord’s body and blood, and then putting the Word of the Lord into practice, growing in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord, avoiding sin, bearing the cross, prayer, showing love to fellow Christians, not in word or in tongue only, as John warned in today’s Epistle, but in deed and in truth, and doing all this day by day by day by day. Those who are thus “in the Church” are already eating bread in the kingdom of God.

This is what it means to be in God’s kingdom. It’s not what a lot of people think. It’s serious business, it’s an earnest practice of the Christian religion. We don’t gather together on Sundays because it’s a nice thing to do. We gather together on the Lord’s Day because it’s part of what it means to be in the kingdom of God and it prepares us all to live as children of God’s kingdom on the days in between. Christianity cannot be a part of our life. It has to be our life.

But that’s not what most people are looking for, as Jesus’ parable demonstrates. A certain man gave a great supper and invited many, and sent his servant at supper time to say to those who were invited, ‘Come, for all things are now ready.’ Come into the Christian Church, God calls out! I’ve sent My Son to redeem you from your sins, to suffer in your place, to guide and govern your life so that you may continue this supper for all eternity. Believe in Him and become part of His body, a member of His beloved Church. I offer it all to you by grace, for free!

But what happened? The ones who were invited made excuses. And they were lame excuses, too, weren’t they? Oops. I bought some land. I have to go see it. Oops. I bought some oxen. I have to go try them out. Oops. I got married, so I can’t attend your supper. Sorry.

Now notice, none of this is happening on the Last Day. It’s happening here and now. The Gospel invitation goes out to come into Christ’s beloved Church, and it’s rejected by all those who were at first invited.

So then the master of the house shows even more grace, more free and undeserved favor. He sends out more invitations, not to people who love him, not to people who can repay him, but to the poor and the maimed and the lame and the blind. Flawed people. Sinful people. Wicked people. People with nothing to offer God. These are the ones whom God calls to repentance and faith in His Son. And then to people along the highways and hedges, people who had no former relationship with this Master at all. Seemingly random people. Anyone and everyone is invited, to enter into God’s kingdom, God’s Church, for free, through Christ.

This is what God has done. And sadly, the first to be invited, like the Jews were, are often the first to decline the invitation. Something similar happens with those who were invited at a young age, or who have been members of the Church for a while. They start to think they don’t need as much grace as the really bad sinners of the world, that they have earned their place in the Church, in the kingdom of God. And then they start to realize, you know, I have better things to do than to pray, than to hear God’s Word, than to worry about what God says I’m supposed to do or how God says I’m supposed to act. And tragically, they end up declining God’s gracious invitation to enter His kingdom by grace.

And so, while there is great comfort in today’s Gospel for the poor sinner who yearns for God’s grace, it ends with a dire warning: For I say to you that none of those men who were invited shall taste my supper. That is, none of those who declined the invitation. If we were only talking about missing out on one earthly supper, big deal! But we aren’t. We’re talking about life and joy with God vs. death and torment in hell. To decline God’s invitation to join His Church and to be a living member of it is to remain in death and to choose everlasting condemnation. None of the excuses people made in this life will prove to be valid.

So the Holy Spirit pleads with you today, enter God’s kingdom by grace, or you won’t enter at all. And having entered, never leave! Always give thanks for the gift of being included in the Holy Christian Church, and treasure God’s grace, because there will never come a time when you need it less. Amen.

 

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An eternal perspective for your earthly life

Posted on June 23, 2019 by Rev. Paul Rydecki
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Sermon for Trinity 1

1 John 4:16-21  +  Luke 16:19-31

Last week we celebrated Trinity Sunday and thus stepped into the longest season of the Church Year, lasting half a year. In the festival half of the year, we focused on the major events in the life of Christ. In this non-festival half, the focus is still on Christ Jesus, but specifically, it’s on how Christ rules His Church from the right hand of God and what it means to live in the world as a part of His dear Church, as disciples of our Master Teacher.

Today the high stakes of discipleship are placed before us and we’re given the proper perspective as we begin our walk through this half of the Church Year. You’re not here on earth to get rich. And if you’re poor, it doesn’t matter at all. What matters is where you will spend eternity, the life after this life, because that one isn’t as short as 80 or 90-some years. That life goes on forever. That’s the perspective Jesus gives us in today’s Gospel. You’re rich. You’re poor. So what? Where will you spend eternity? And how will the answer to that question affect your life on earth?

The rich man in Jesus’ parable had what most people would consider to be the perfect life—all the riches anyone could ever want, no financial worries at all. He dressed well. He ate well, every day. He was the envy of the town. He had it all—so it seemed.

The poor man, Lazarus, had nothing at all, not even his health. He had a miserable life—extreme poverty, hunger, sores on his body, and no hope for anything better for the remainder of his earthly life. Who would envy such a man? Who would want his life? No one.

But then the earthly life of both men was over. They died, as all men do since Adam and Eve rebelled against God and gave up the earthly Paradise that should have been theirs and their children’s. And then we see a very different picture. The poor man’s soul was reverently carried by the angels to the heavenly Paradise, to Abraham’s bosom, while the rich man’s soul was tormented in the infernal flames. Now the roles are reversed. The man who was poor on earth has riches in heaven, and the man who had riches on earth is miserable in hell.

Now, some unbeliever might say, “Yeah, well, but to have a really good life on earth, it’ll be worth it!” But that’s not how the rich man saw it, is it? He longed for the smallest bit of comfort, which he couldn’t receive, and he begged Father Abraham to send Lazarus back to earth to warn his brothers, “It isn’t worth it! You need to change your ways, even if it means giving up the life of luxury you have on earth! You must avoid this agony at all costs!” But even that wish couldn’t be granted.

We learn some important lessons from this parable. We learn, first, that Lazarus was a godly man, a believer in the true God who promised to send a Savior into the world, who promised Abraham a Seed, an Offspring through whom all the nations of the earth would be blessed, a Redeemer who would save sinners from their sins by the shedding of His own blood. Lazarus believed that promise. He relied on it with all his heart. He was a child of God and an heir of the promise made to Abraham already in this life. How do we know that? Because poverty doesn’t get you into heaven. Having a miserable life on earth doesn’t atone for sins or buy you a place next to Abraham at the heavenly banquet. Only faith in Christ gives anyone a place in Paradise.

But understanding that, we also learn that the godly, the believers in Christ, do not always prosper on earth. God, for His own reasons, sometimes allows His children to suffer, and not just for a little while. Poverty, chronic sickness, and loneliness are experienced by God’s children, too. They aren’t signs that a person has fallen out of favor with God. They’re the consequences of living in fallen world, consequences which every sinner may face, including the sinners who are also saints by faith in Christ Jesus.

Likewise, the unbelievers of the world often prosper on earth. They often seem to have it all. Their prosperity is not a sign that they are in good standing with God. It’s clear from today’s Gospel that the rich man was such an unbeliever. Why? Because he was rich? Because he didn’t help Lazarus? No, not necessarily. We only know for sure that he was an unbeliever because of where he ended up, and because of the words he spoke to Abraham from hell. You notice, he didn’t once mention God? He didn’t once express remorse for his sins or faith in the merciful Father in whom Abraham had believed. And he didn’t have any faith in Moses or the prophets, but was convinced that the Word of God was worthless, that only the miracle of a man raised from the dead would convince his brothers to repent.

So, again, having it all here on earth, or having a miserable life here on earth—in the end, it’s meaningless. Being saved from your well-deserved and eternal torment in hell, being received into eternal life with God—that’s what matters. And there is only One who can save: Christ Jesus, who gave Himself into death for your sins and for the sins of all, who calls on sinners to recognize and mourn over their sins, who graciously invites sinners to trust in Him for the forgiveness of sins and for free entrance into eternal life when this earthly life is over.

And the only way for any sinner to come to repentance is to hear the Moses and the Prophets, the Word of God, telling us the truth about God’s commandments and His expectations of complete obedience and His wrath against those who break His commandments. And, to hear the Word of God inviting us to believe in Christ Jesus, to receive the Sacrament of Holy Baptism where sins are washed away, to receive the Sacrament of Holy Communion, where the Holy Spirit applies to us the atoning work of Christ for the forgiveness of sins.

So, instead of feeling sorry for yourself because of how miserable your life on earth may be, take heart! God’s favor is still held out to you in your misery, which you may still have to endure for a time. But there will come an end to the misery, and it won’t be more than God will help you to bear while it lasts. Until that end comes, you have the treasure of God’s Word and Sacraments in abundance, no matter what other things you may lack. Run to them! Use them! God will help you by them.

Likewise, it’s useless to spend your life trying to get rich or trying to get happiness or living it up while you can. I know it’s appealing. I know the world runs after all these things and tries to get you to run along with it. But it’s meaningless. An eternal perspective reveals that. And it can also be very dangerous. Because even a Christian’s appreciation for God’s love can be replaced by an appreciation for the good life. Even a Christian’s love for God and for our neighbor can be replaced by a love for the things of this world, so that we don’t even notice the beggar lying at our gate, or if we do notice, we close our heart to him.

I’ll give you an example of all this. You know I just returned from visiting our little church in Colombia. In some ways, these Colombian Christians are like Lazarus. They’re poor by the standards of this world, though not beggars. Some of them are actually Venezuelans who have taken refuge in Colombia, because the entire life they had built for themselves in Venezuela has been stolen from them by their socialist government and they’ve had to leave all their riches behind just to stay alive. The people in Medellin live with constant threats of violence and robbery from the drug cartels who are still very powerful in the city. We spoke with taxi drivers who have seen it all, who were forced at gunpoint to transport cartel members, whose own family members have been robbed.

And yet, our church family there is not despairing. They aren’t depressed. Nor are they jealous of all the nice things you and I possess. Their lot in life is a hard one. But they’re joyful in the Lord and in the Gospel of Christ Jesus, and they know that they have God’s favor here, and riches waiting for them in heaven.

You and I are, in a sense, like the rich man, in that, by the standards of the world, we really are rich—even the poorest among us. But, unlike the rich man, we have been convinced of our great neediness before God, and, as John said in the Epistle, we have known and believed the love that God has for us. And the love that God has for us produces, not only faith, but also love for our neighbor in need. Specifically, you and the other congregations of our diocese reached out in love to the Colombian church with the special offering that was gathered, so that our brothers and sisters there are not like Lazarus, who was left longing to be fed with the crumbs that fell from the rich man’s table. Instead, they are so, so grateful to receive the help we’ve been able to give, which came from the eternal perspective Jesus has given us of our earthly life, showing us that it’s not about hoarding money or enjoying earthly pleasures. It’s about knowing the true God, hearing His Word, securing our eternal home, and then using earthly wealth to help our neighbor and especially our fellow Christian in his need.

Work to keep that eternal perspective, and to grow in it, because the allure of earthly happiness is powerful and persuasive. But the Word of God is more powerful still. Keep hearing it faithfully and listen to what it says. In it, God’s love for us is fully revealed, so that, whether we’re rich or poor, well off or miserable, we never lose sight of what really matters: an eternal home with God in Paradise, purchased for us with Jesus’ own blood; and helping our neighbor along the way until we get there. Amen.

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The doctrine of the Holy Trinity, simplified

Posted on June 16, 2019 by Rev. Paul Rydecki
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Sermon for the Feast of the Holy Trinity

Romans 11:33-36  +  John 3:1-15

Today’s Epistle highlights for us this truth: that our God is far beyond our ability to comprehend. St. Paul is referring specifically to God’s judgments and God’s ways, to the mind of the Lord. Why God determines to do what He does is something we can never hope to fully grasp as creatures, except to the extent that He reveals it to us in His Word. And He’s revealed many things. But there are some questions we’re not supposed to be able to answer fully. We’re supposed to know God and His ways as far as He’s revealed Himself and His ways to us, and no further.

So we focus on what He has revealed about Himself and we confess the Christian faith based on what He has revealed. Thus the Athanasian Creed, from the 5th or 6th century AD, which we confessed this morning. It confesses the doctrine of the Holy Trinity and of the Person of Christ as far as God has revealed it in Scripture. It doesn’t answer every question. It doesn’t solve every mystery. It simply says what can be said about those two articles of faith, focusing today on the doctrine of the Holy Trinity.

In summary, we worship one God in three Persons and three Persons in one God, without “confounding” or blending the Persons together into one another, as if they weren’t really three distinct Persons, or as if God just appeared sometimes as the Father, sometimes as the Son, and sometimes as the Holy Spirit; and without “dividing the Substance,” that is, without dividing the one God up into three separate parts, so that each of them would be 1/3 God, or into three separate beings, so that there would be three Gods.

Is that still too complicated? Let’s simplify it even further and consider the Trinity in a simple, concrete way, as Jesus reveals it to us in today’s Gospel.

It was early in Jesus’ ministry. Nicodemus had heard some of Jesus’ initial teaching in Jerusalem and was intrigued by it, but not yet convinced by it, not yet bold enough to approach Jesus during the daylight hours, when he might be seen by someone talking to Jesus.

Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him. Without even knowing it, Nicodemus identified all three Persons of the Trinity in those words. Jesus, the teacher, the Son of God; who came “from God” the Father; attested with signs, which were evidence of the Holy Spirit, as Peter later said in the book of Acts: God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.

But, as I said, Nicodemus didn’t understand all that yet, and even so, it’s not nearly enough to know that Jesus came from God—not enough to be saved. The demons know that Jesus came from God, too. Muslims and Mormons believe that Jesus, or at least their twisted, unscriptural version of Jesus, came from God. But in what way did He come from God? For what purpose did He come from God? How does He actually bring us to God? That Nicodemus didn’t yet know, and even if he had known it, knowing it isn’t enough. Relying on—trusting in—the Triune God for salvation is just as important as knowing Him rightly.

How did Jesus the Rabbi, Jesus the Teacher, come from God? Well, before He was conceived as a human being, He was with God the Father in the beginning. The Bible simply calls Him “the Word.” He was begotten of the Father “before all worlds,” or, “from eternity,” which just means the Son being “begotten” by the Father wasn’t an act that took place “a long time ago,” but is the eternal relationship between Father and Son. He is the divine, living, self-subsisting Word who springs forth from God the Father. He “came from God” in that sense, but He also “came from God” in that He was conceived by the Holy Spirit of the Virgin Mary. He became Man, so that he is now both true God and true Man. As John says in verse 16 of chapter 3, the verse after our Gospel today ends, God, that is the Father, so loved the world that He “gave” His only-begotten Son.

For what purpose did the Son come from God the Father? For what purpose was He “given” to the world? To be lifted up, Jesus said. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. We were—all of us—going to perish eternally for our sins. As Jesus said, Unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. We had—all of us—begun our lives with a twisted soul that hated the true God and loved to make up or invent false gods whom we understood very well, because we made them; they didn’t make us. They were exactly how we wanted them to be and acted exactly as we wanted them to act. Did we want to condone sex outside of marriage? Then we created a god who condoned it, or maybe even required it. Did we want to support abortion or homosexuality? Then we created a god who would support it, too. Did we want to worship God however we wanted, pick and choose what to believe and what to do? Then we created a god who allowed it. Did we want to be praised for what good people we are? Then we created a god who would praise us instead of telling us the truth: that we’re all poor, miserable sinners who deserve only His wrath and punishment.

But the true God—God the Father—gave His Son to the world, to mankind, to be lifted up on the cross, to bear the sins of mankind, to suffer the condemnation we should have suffered, to be righteous where we were unrighteous, to be our Substitute before the throne of divine justice that we might approach the Throne of Grace with confidence, that we should repent of our sins and believe in the Son of Man, Jesus Christ, in order not to perish for our sins, but to live eternally with this Holy Trinity.

But even faith itself is beyond our power. So how does God bring us to God? How does God bring us to faith and give us entrance into His heavenly kingdom? Through the work of His Holy Spirit. Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. So this Person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit, is the one responsible for giving new birth to spiritually dead sinners. And He uses water to do it, of all things! The water included in God’s command and connected to God’s word, the water of Holy Baptism, which is the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, as Paul wrote in Titus chapter 3.

The Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son. He is responsible for the inspiration of the Holy Scriptures. He is powerfully working in the Christian Church through the preaching of the Word and the administration of the Sacraments to break through stony hearts, to raise the spiritually dead to life, to convert the lost from unbelief to faith in Christ, to comfort Christians, to strengthen and to guide us, and to preserve us in the true faith until the end.

That’s who our God is. That’s what we’re “compelled by the Christian verity” to acknowledge and moved by the Holy Spirit to believe. To believe in the Father, who loved the world and sent His Son. To believe in the Son, who was sent from the Father and came down from heaven that He might be lifted up on the cross as our Savior. To believe in the Spirit, who proceeds from Father and Son, who works through Word and Sacrament to give faith and new birth. To believe in Father, Son and Spirit as three distinct Persons, and yet not as three gods, but as one God who is zealous for the salvation of the human race that He created.

In fact, we are so bold as to confess in the Athanasian Creed that “whoever wants to be saved, before all things it is necessary that he hold” this catholic faith, that is, this faith that is common to all who are rightfully called Christians. Because unless you know these basic truths about who God is, you don’t know God, and if you don’t know Him, you can’t trust in Him.

We’ve attempted to simply the doctrine of the Holy Trinity this morning, so that all can see that all the things you need to know and understand and believe for your salvation have been placed within your reach by the Holy Spirit.

It’s a gift to be able to know God in His simplicity and to study the things He’s revealed to us about Himself and to study what His beloved Church has confessed about Him through the ages. But in the end, whether it’s His triune nature or His unfathomable ways, we’re still left with our jaws dropped in awe and wonder, amazed at all the things we don’t understand about God and just as amazed at the things we do. And all that’s left is to say with the Apostle Paul: Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! … For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen.

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Knowing the Spirit by His works

Posted on June 9, 2019 by Rev. Paul Rydecki
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Sermon for the Feast of Pentecost

Acts 2:1-13  +  John 14:23-31

The high feast of Pentecost is the culmination of the Easter season and, really, of the entire Church Year. So it will be good for us to hear what the Scriptures say about all the amazing events of that day. You heard already the Epistle from Acts 2:1-13. Listen now to the rest of the story, through verse 42. (Acts 2:14-42 is read.)

How would you know who the believers in Jesus were on the Day of Pentecost and in the days following? You couldn’t see their faith or their love for God which flows from faith. But what you could see were their actions. Some 3,000 were baptized, and then—they didn’t just get baptized—but then they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers. You could tell who the believers were by what they did. As Jesus said in the Gospel, 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.

So it is with the Holy Spirit. You can’t see the Spirit of God. But you know Him by what He does. Now, the Scriptures are full of the deeds—and the words! —of the Holy Spirit. But today, on the Day of Pentecost, God gives us the opportunity to know Him and His Holy Spirit through the mighty works of the Spirit revealed on Pentecost.

First, there were the three signs from heaven. The sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind in the place where Jesus’ disciples were gathered. They were doing exactly what Jesus had told them to do. He had commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father—the sending of the Holy Spirit. How were they to know He had arrived? By the sound of rushing wind. Early in His ministry, Jesus told Nicodemus, The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit. So this sound of wind was a sign that the Spirit had come, and that He would continue to blow like the wind throughout the world, converting sinners to God when and where it pleases Him.

Then there were the divided tongues, as of fire, that sat on each of the disciples. What were they to know about the Spirit from these tongues of fire? Well, tongues are for speaking, and fire is for burning and spreading, like the wildfires that sometimes ravage our land. The Holy Spirit would allow the disciples to “speak with fire.” That’s like what God said through the prophet Jeremiah, Is not My word like a fire? says the LORD, and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces. In other words, the Holy Spirit would be working through the preaching of the Apostles to set hearts on fire—to break through stubborn hearts and bring sinners to see their own wickedness, to fear God’s wrath, to sorrow over their sins, and then He would kindle faith in their hearts—faith that looks to Christ and His sacrifice for sin, so that there they might find a gracious Father, who forgives sin for the sake of Christ alone.

Finally, there was the speaking in tongues—in different languages that they had never learned, languages that were understood by all the Jews who were visiting Jerusalem for the Feast of Pentecost from the other countries where they lived. What did that reveal about the Holy Spirit? That He would accompany the Apostles throughout the world as they discharged their office of speaking the Gospel to people of every tribe, tongue, and nation.

Now, you may wonder why we don’t see these signs still today. Well, remember, two of these three signs never happened again—the supernatural sound of wind and the tongues as of fire. The speaking in tongues was given as a sign of the Spirit here and there during the days of the Apostles, as well as other miraculous signs like prophecies of the future and the healing of the sick. The signs were there to confirm the testimony of the apostles, to show the world that the Holy Spirit really was working through their preaching. But as in all things, once something has been confirmed, it doesn’t need to keep being confirmed over and over again forever.

So much for the spectacular signs of the Spirit’s work. But the gifts of the Spirit are not restricted to external, miraculous signs. Even more important are His other gifts, many of which we see revealed at Pentecost.

Look at the powerful preaching of the Apostle Peter on that day, when the crowds were attracted by the commotion caused by the signs. See the boldness that was lacking before, when he and the others were hiding in fear from the Jewish authorities. And especially note in Peter’s preaching, the emphasis on the person and work of Christ Jesus, and how he correctly ties together the Old Testament prophecies and shows how they pointed to Christ’s suffering, death, and resurrection. That’s a mark of the Holy Spirit, as Jesus Himself had said: The Spirit will testify about Me. Or again, He will glorify Me. Or again in today’s Gospel: He will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you. Fearless, Christ-centered, consistently Scriptural preaching is a work of the Holy Spirit.

And not the preaching only, but also the Sacraments are tied to the Spirit’s work: Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. What did Jesus say that Baptism is? It is to be born again of water and the Spirit. What did Paul call Baptism? The washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit.

Christ-centered preaching. Baptismal regeneration or rebirth. Those are the Spirit’s works, even though they’re performed by men. But there’s yet another work of the Spirit on the Day of Pentecost in the response of the hearers.

What was the response of many who heard Peter’s preaching on that day? They were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Men and brethren, what shall we do? Cut to the heart. In other words, the Spirit-filled words that Peter spoke had an effect on the people. His revelation of their sin, especially their sin in enabling the crucifixion of the Christ, worked godly contrition or sorrow in their hearts. And then, when he proclaimed the promise of the forgiveness of sins in Christ’s name, in Holy Baptism, what was the response? Some 3,000 were baptized on that day.

Now, faith, trust in Christ Jesus for the forgiveness of sins, isn’t something a person can come up with on his own. It’s a gift of God, St. Paul says. It comes by hearing. Or as he writes to the Corinthians, no one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit. All those who believed the Apostle’s message on that day, and every day after that day, are evidence of the Holy Spirit’s work.

And not just the initial faith, but also the continued devotion to God’s Word and Sacraments, to the whole truth proclaimed to them by the Apostles; the deeds of love that followed as Christians loved one another, supported one another, forgave one another, and lived together in harmony with one another and at peace with the world, wherever possible; also, the ongoing repentance of the believers, the growth in righteousness and sanctification, the daily struggle between the New Man and the Old Man, the inner peace of the believers, who know what it is to have peace in the midst of all the turmoil of this world, the peace that Jesus promised to His disciples in today’s Gospel: Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. All these things are evidence of the Holy Spirit’s work.

Preaching and the Sacraments. Faith-filled hearing. And all the godly works that follow. In short, the Holy Christian Church on earth is the work of the Holy Spirit. It the thing that the Spirit has built. It is the thing that the Spirit sustains and preserves. It is the thing that stands throughout the world as a testimony to the Holy Spirit’s power and working, even as the doctrinal divisions in the Christian Church stand as testimonies to the demon spirit’s working. But still, the Church stands. And still the Church will continue to stand and to thrive—spiritually, if not externally—until the Holy Spirit finishes His work by raising up our dead bodies on the Last Day and giving eternal life “to me and all believers in Christ.”

This is the power of Pentecost, the power of the Holy Spirit working every day in the Church, and in the world, through the Church, through Word and Sacrament, as we preach and as we hear. You don’t see the Holy Spirit working directly, but without His presence in the Church, there would be no Church, and you would have no faith, no love for God or your neighbor, no hope, and no peace. But thanks be to God! The Lord Jesus kept His promise and sent the Spirit into the world, to bring us into His kingdom and to keep us here, and to sanctify to Himself people who love Him and who keep His word, that He may dwell within us and among us, both here in time, and there in eternity. May your Spirit-worked faith be known in the world by your love for Jesus and by your keeping of His word! Amen.

 

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