The value of each sinner who repents

Posted on June 21, 2015 by Rev. Paul Rydecki

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Sermon for Trinity 3

Micah 7:18-20  +  1 Peter 5:6-11  +  Luke 15:1-10

Today is a day for rejoicing. It happens to be Father’s Day, and it may be that some of you are rejoicing because of that. If you had or have or are a loving a father, that’s good reason to rejoice and give thanks to God for such a gift. It’s a gift that, because of the sin that infects our fallen human race, not all people have. But regardless, today is a day for rejoicing, if for no other reason than this: sinners have come near to Jesus to hear Him. Jesus assures us that, through this preaching of the Gospel, through this ministry of the Word, He Himself is present among us. And you’ve come to hear Him, haven’t you? You’ve come because you know you have sinned against the holy God, but that He is willing to receive you for the sake of His holy Son Jesus.

It’s not the first time sinners have drawn near to hear Jesus, of course. Our Gospel describes the scene as dishonest tax collectors and public, well-known sinners came to Jesus to hear Him. It also describes how the Pharisees and scribes complained when they saw it, complained that Jesus was welcoming such people and even sitting down at the table with them to eat with them.

What we have before us in the Gospel are two specific groups of people. Group #1 is made up of open sinners who know they are sinners and who are turning to God in repentance. Group #2 is made up of secret sinners who think they have no need to repent, who don’t think of themselves as sinners at all. And then we have Jesus, who is the only one in this story who isn’t a sinner, but who has come to seek and to save sinners, to call them to repentance and to bring them safely into His Father’s house.

There are three parables in Luke 15; the first two are included in our Gospel, the parable of the lost sheep, and of the lost coin. The parable of the lost son—the prodigal son—follows. In each parable, someone or something is lost. One out of a hundred sheep goes astray. One out of ten coins is lost. One out of two brothers demands an early inheritance from his father, and then leaves his father’s house and goes and leads a careless, sinful life. In each parable, the lost thing is loved and highly valued by the one who lost it. You can see that as the shepherd leaves the other 99 sheep behind and goes out searching for his lost sheep; as the woman drops everything and sweeps the house thoroughly in search of her lost coin; as the father goes running out to welcome his son at the first sight of his return. And in each parable, when the lost thing is found, the finder and everyone who loves the finder rejoice and celebrate. But, as we see at the end of the parable of the lost son, those who do not love the Father, those who think they have no need of the Father’s mercy, who think they have earned a place in the Father’s house by their hard work do not rejoice when the lost one is found, but instead grind their teeth in anger.

So these parables are told, first, as a warning to those people, to Group #2, to those who think they have no need to repent. It’s like you have one group of people who are covered head to toe in sewage. The other group of people are covered neck to toe in sewage. The head looks clean enough, but the rest of the body is disgustingly filthy. The first group comes to Jesus to be washed clean, while the second group can’t believe Jesus would ever associate with such dirty people as the first group. That’s the situation we’re talking about here. That’s what the Pharisees were doing when the tax collectors and sinners were drawing near to hear Jesus: denying their own filthiness, while despising the other sinners for their filthiness and despising Jesus for offering to wash them clean.

All have sinned. None are clean, by nature. The sins of some people are obvious. The sins of others are less obvious. But all are obvious to God, which is why He calls all men alike to repent, to acknowledge that they deserve His wrath and punishment, to be sorrowful over their sins, and to look to Him, not for praise, not for “acceptance” of their sins, but for mercy, for pardon for their sins, for cleansing.

For them, for those sinners who repent of their sins and of their sinfulness, there is great comfort in these parables, not just for sinners in general, but for each one, for one sinner who repents. Jesus has come to find each one, because He loves and values each one, just like the shepherd who lost one sheep, just like the woman who lost one coin, just like the father who lost one son. It’s the only reason Christ has come. He hasn’t come to set up a glorious kingdom on earth made up of good and righteous people who get to rule the world. He leaves those who think they’re good and righteous behind, in fact, and spends all of His time seeking and saving that which was lost.

How does He do that? He sends out His Word and convicts people of their sin. Then He presents Himself to us as the good and merciful Savior who loved and valued all of us, each of us, took all sin upon Himself and suffered for it on the cross. By means of this Gospel, His Holy Spirit brings us to trust in Christ, like a shepherd hoisting a sheep up onto his shoulders and carrying it home. And then, always, every time, for each one individually, there is rejoicing in heaven. The Father rejoices. The Son rejoices. The Holy Spirit rejoices. And all the company of heaven rejoices together with our Triune God, because those who love God love the things God loves. Those who love God love to see the precious blood of Christ covering yet another sinner. They love to welcome penitent sinners into their Father’s house.

That’s what the Church is all about: proclaiming the Gospel of Christ to the world and welcoming the penitent into the Church, into the Father’s house, with gladness and with rejoicing.

But it’s never as if we in the Church become like those “just persons” who need no repentance, not as long as we live on this earth. Our goal here on earth isn’t to become like the 99 sheep whom the shepherd left behind; it was a stinging rebuke when Jesus said to the Pharisees that there is more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over 99 just persons who need no repentance. May we never become “just persons” like that, just in our own minds, who consider ourselves more righteous than other people. By faith in Christ, God does indeed count us as perfectly righteous, just people, saints, holy ones. And, as believers in Christ, we do strive to drown our sinful flesh by daily repentance and to live new lives of obedience and service to God. But we are always sinner-saints on this earth. Saints before God by faith in Christ, but still sinners who always need to repent, and who always need to be where Jesus is.

If you recognize that, then you won’t despise open sinners as they hear the Word of Christ and are brought to repentance. And you won’t view the Church as an elite club for clean people, but as a hospital where sinners are always being treated, always being cleansed, where Christ is present in Word and Sacrament, still seeking, still saving, still forgiving, still healing.

That’s why today is a day for rejoicing. Whether or not we have new sinners coming to hear the Word of Jesus with us, each one who came here this morning in repentance, each one who comes over and over again to hear Jesus and to receive Jesus’ body and blood is that one sinner who repents, deeply loved and highly valued by God. And so we rejoice with our Father on this Father’s Day, because He is getting what He desires the most. He has sought and He has found many lost sheep, and He is bringing them even now safely into His house. In the name of Jesus. Amen.

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Born again in the name of the Triune God

Posted on May 31, 2015 by Rev. Paul Rydecki

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Sermon for the Festival of the Holy Trinity

Ezekiel 18:30-32  +  Romans 11:33-36  +  John 3:1-15

Dear Christians: “In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.” With those words we began our service. With those words you were baptized and the name of the Triune God was placed upon you. The doctrine of the Trinity is an important doctrine, to say the least. “Whosoever will be saved, before all things it is necessary that he hold the catholic faith…And the catholic faith is this, that we worship one God in Trinity and Trinity in Unity, neither confounding the Persons nor dividing the Substance.” One God in Trinity, in “three-ness.” And the Three-ness in Unity, in One-ness. Neither confounding, that is, confusing or mixing together the three Persons, nor dividing the Substance, that is, turning Father, Son, and Holy Spirit into three separate “Gods.” It sounds mysterious. It sounds incomprehensible. And, indeed, our God is beyond our understanding, and we rightly echo the words of St. Paul in today’s Epistle: Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out!

But thankfully, it isn’t necessary that whosoever will be saved must “comprehend” one God in Trinity and Trinity in Unity. Whosoever will be saved must worship one God in Trinity and Trinity in Unity. And so we do. We simply worship one God: the Father who loved us and gave His Son for us, the Son who loved us and gave Himself for us as the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and the Holy Spirit who loved us and has brought and continues to bring the Son to us by means of Word and Sacrament, thus bringing us into fellowship with the Father. Not one Person, but three Persons. Not three gods, but one God. That’s it. We don’t claim to comprehend our God. We simply worship Him as He has revealed Himself to us for our salvation.

It’s this simple understanding of our God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—that Jesus presents to us in today’s Gospel. To the unbeliever, as Nicodemus was at the time he spoke with Jesus, it’s still nonsensical. But to the one who has come to know the love of God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—, specifically in the Person of Jesus Christ, who revealed God to us in the flesh, it’s beautiful.

Nicodemus recognized that Jesus had come from God. For no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him. Now, what Nicodemus meant by that was that Jesus had come from God like other prophets had come from God, that is, they were called directly by God sometime during their earthly life, called to be a prophet and to teach God’s Word. Nicodemus did not yet know or believe the real truth, that Jesus was unique, that He was no ordinary prophet, but that He was a Person of the Holy Trinity, who came from God like no one else has ever come from God, as the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all worlds—the Son who, as Jesus says, “came down from heaven,” as He was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary.

But, you notice, Jesus doesn’t spend any time explaining or describing that mystery of the Trinity to Nicodemus. He goes right to the matter of life and death, of salvation and condemnation. Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Jesus takes Nicodemus right to the pressing issue of his own salvation, of his own entering the kingdom of heaven, which, Jesus says, can only happen if a person is born again.

Why? What’s wrong with our first birth, our natural birth from our mother’s womb? “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, And in sin my mother conceived me,” says the Psalmist. Adam’s children are fallen from birth, spiritually dead and doomed from the start. And what’s wrong with the things we’ve done in this life? What about our good deeds? Our sacrifices? Our works of love and obedience? “There is none who does good,” says the Psalmist, “no, not one.” As you heard Ezekiel say in the First Lesson, you have to “get a new heart.” So Jesus drives home the point to Nicodemus: your natural birth is useless for getting you into the kingdom of heaven. And all your works are useless, too. Nothing will get you in, nothing will help you, except for a complete change, a second birth—a second birth that comes with a new heart.

And the thing about that is, your birth is not something that you do, is it? It’s something that’s done to you. Jesus explains the manner of this urgent rebirth: Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. Water and the Spirit. Holy Baptism, the Holy Spirit’s means of rebirthing people, saving people and bringing them into the kingdom of God. St. Paul says the same thing to Titus: Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy God saved us, through the washing of regeneration (rebirth) and renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior. There it is again, a reference to the Holy Trinity: God (the Father) who saved us, through the Spirit’s washing of rebirth, through Jesus Christ our Savior.

Now, it’s true, Baptism is not the Spirit’s only means of causing people to be born again. He also does it through the Word alone, through the Gospel, as Peter says, You have been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever. Or as James writes, Of His own will God brought us forth by the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures. It’s the Word of God that the Spirit uses to change us, to convert us, to bring us to faith in Christ and to give us new birth. Baptism is simply the Word of God attached to water, an external rite, instituted by Christ, that is tied to the promise of God. As we say in the Small Catechism, Certainly water does not do it, but the word of God that is with and in the water, and faith that trusts this word of God in the water. For without God’s word the water is plain water and no Baptism. But with the word of God it is a Baptism, that is, a water of life, rich in grace, and a washing of the new birth in the Holy Spirit.

In our Gospel, Jesus is astounded that Nicodemus doesn’t grasp any of this. Not that Baptism had been around for very long, but God had always taught in the Old Testament that no one could be saved by natural birth or by works, but only by a Spirit-wrought change in a person, through repentance and faith, faith in the promise of a Savior from sin and death. One of the key images of that in the Old Testament was the bronze serpent. The Israelites had rebelled against God and Moses again and were being fatally bitten by poisonous snakes out in the desert. But God gave them a means by which to be saved: a bronze serpent lifted up on a pole, combined with the promise that whoever looked to it would be saved from the serpent bite.

Jesus applies all this to Himself: all men are dying from the serpent bite of sin. But the Father, in His mercy, gave His Son to be lifted up on the cross, with the promise that whoever looks to Him in faith will not die, but live. And that faith, to look to Christ for spiritual healing, for forgiveness, is created by the Holy Spirit through preaching, through water and Word, through the Means of Grace. That’s the Holy Trinity, the God of our salvation.

Dear confirmands: You have been baptized in the name of the Triune God, born again of water and the Spirit and brought into the kingdom of God. You have been brought by God’s Holy Spirit to trust in Jesus Christ and Him crucified, and so to know a loving Father in heaven who will never forsake you, never betray you. I’m so thankful for that. I myself was Christ’s ambassador in baptizing three of you, not that it matters who the pastor was who baptized you. But it has given me another reason to give thanks as I have watched you continue to grow and learn about the Triune God and continue to confess and to worship one God in Trinity and the Trinity in Unity. Your parents and grandparents have been instrumental in making sure you have continued in the Word of Christ. That will, no doubt, continue for a while longer while you still live with them or close to them. But today, today you are here to tell us that you do not wish to rely only on your parents or grandparents, but that you yourselves believe what we believe and confess what we confess and that you intend to make this confession and to hold to this faith for the rest of your lives, even to the point of giving up your life and facing death rather than fall away from the faith of the Triune God.

Now, after three years of extra study of God’s Word and of the Small Catechism, we are about to recognize your confirmation. See, it’s not that you’re confirming anything yourselves, or that we, the Church, are confirming you. By the profession of faith you will make here today, you are simply giving evidence of the fact that you have been confirmed by God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—and will continue to be confirmed by Him, if you cling to His Word, pray diligently, abide in God’s goodness, and faithfully use the gifts you have received. As you do that, I am fully confident that God will sanctify you in love; that He will protect you in your great weakness against the devil, the world, and the flesh; that He will rule and lead you in His ways; raise you up again when you stumble, comfort you under the cross and in temptation; and preserve you for life eternal. This is the work of God the Holy Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. He who calls you is faithful, and He will do it. Amen.

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The Spirit of God sets the world on fire

Posted on May 24, 2015 by Rev. Paul Rydecki

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Sermon for the Festival of Pentecost

Joel 2:28-32  +  Acts 2:1-13  +  John 14:23-31

Toward the beginning of Holy Week, Jesus said: I came to send fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! But I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how distressed I am till it is finished! Dear Christian friends, it is finished! The Lord Christ was referring to His baptism in blood, His own blood which He would shed as the payment for the sins of the world, so that all sinners, any sinner from the beginning of the world till its end can plead the blood of Christ before the throne of God and he will be saved. As of Good Friday, it is finished. As of the third day, Easter Sunday, Christ rose from the dead. And as of the day of Pentecost, 50 days after the resurrection, the sending of fire on the earth began.

It was a different kind of fire, of course, not the kind that burns up forests, but the kind that burns through the human heart, convicting of sin and kindling faith in Jesus Christ and Him crucified, where and when it pleases the Spirit of God. That fire has now been sent and kindled in every corner of the planet, even here in America, so many years after that special day of Pentecost. The Spirit of God has, indeed, set the world on fire.

The Day of Pentecost that we Christians commemorate wasn’t the first Pentecost. Pentecost means “fiftieth,” the fiftieth day, or seven weeks + 1 day after the beginning of Passover. Since the days of Moses, the people of Israel were required by God to come to God’s temple three times a year: for Passover, for the Feast of Weeks, and for the Feast of Tabernacles. Just as the sacrifice of Christ, the Lamb of God, changed the significance of the Passover forever, so the coming of the Holy Spirit changed the significance of Pentecost. It used to be celebrated as a harvest festival, and in celebration of the giving of the Law to Moses on Mt. Sinai. Now it is celebrated for the harvest of souls that began 50 days after Jesus’ resurrection, and in celebration of the giving of Gospel of Christ, who has fulfilled the Law of Moses for us.

Let’s consider first the three miraculous signs that occurred on the Day of Pentecost. The disciples of Jesus were all together in one place, in Jerusalem, where Jesus had commanded them ten days earlier to remain until they received the promised gift of the Holy Spirit.

Sign #1: And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting.

Remember, the word for “spirit” in Greek and Hebrew is related to the word for “wind.” Jesus had promised to send His Holy Spirit from heaven. And now there comes this sound from heaven of a rushing mighty wind. The sign for the disciples was clear: this is it, what Jesus promised, the sending of the Spirit.

But there was no destruction involved with this rushing mighty wind, no visible movement at all, just the sound of the wind. So the Spirit, too, would blow through the world mightily, not visibly, but audibly, through the preaching of the Gospel.

Sign #2: Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them.

Here is the fire Jesus promised to send. And it’s just like Jesus to send it in this way. He speaks of fire, and immediately men imagine some spectacular wildfire burning through the earth, or fireballs raining down from heaven. And there will be that kind of fire destroying the world on the Day of Judgment. But on the Day of Pentecost, the fire was only visible for a moment, not a raging fire, not a fire to destroy Jerusalem for having crucified the Christ who was sent to them, but a fire that looked like tongues, hovering over the heads of Jesus’ disciples. This was a sign that the Spirit of God would fill the speech of Jesus’ disciples and would work mightily through the Word they would proclaim. Like a fire spreads through the earth, so the Holy Spirit would go through the earth in connection with the preaching of the Word of God.  As God once said through the prophet Jeremiah, “Is not My Word like fire?” Always working through the Word, the Spirit would convict the world of sin, and would kindle faith throughout the earth.

Sign #3: And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.

The disciples were suddenly able to speak in tongues, in foreign languages they had never learned before. In fact, they probably weren’t even able to understand what they were saying. But the crowds of Jerusalem did! The crowds of Jerusalem were attracted by all the commotion in the house where the disciples were, and the crowds who were visiting Jerusalem for the Feast of Weeks from all the foreign countries in that part of the world heard the wonderful works of God being proclaimed in their own native tongues.

And so God’s Spirit confirmed the word Jesus had already spoken to His disciples: “Go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature.” “Go and make disciples of all nations.” “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

We’ve talked about the signs of Pentecost and their meaning. Now let’s consider the ongoing meaning of the Holy Spirit’s coming.

The Word of Christ has gone out from Jerusalem, just as the Old Testament prophets had prophesied that it would. No longer are people directed to seek God in His temple in Jerusalem. Now God the Holy Spirit has gone out from Jerusalem seeking to build God’s temple—God’s Church—in every place, even turning human hearts into temples of God, as the apostle Paul says to the Church in Corinth, “Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God?”

See what the Holy Spirit has done! You don’t see the Spirit of God, just as you don’t see the wind. But you see the effects of the wind. So also with the Spirit. You see His works, His effects on the world. We call the Spirit’s work “sanctification,” that is, the act of setting people apart for God as holy people, as saints. And there are two parts to sanctification: regeneration and renewal.

Regeneration means causing a person to be born again. It’s what the Spirit does through preaching and through Baptism as He convicts people of sin and brings them to faith in Christ. Regeneration is how the Holy Spirit brings people into the Holy Catholic, Christian, Apostolic Church. Some 3,000 people were regenerated on the Day of Pentecost, and that work has been continuing ever since. See how the Church has spread to every corner of the globe, how the Word of God is being proclaimed in every place, how sinners, one by one, are still being converted from unbelief to faith, still being baptized, still coming into the Church, still being changed from hating Christ to loving Christ. Here, too, in this place, the wonderful works of God are now being proclaimed in English, in our own tongue, because the Spirit’s fire has spread to us, too, and has caused us to be born again. The Spirit’s work of regeneration is also called “justification,” or “the forgiveness of sins.” And it’s something He will continue to do until Christ returns, bringing more people into the Church by giving them a new, spiritual birth. This is the fire that the Holy Spirit spreads.

The other part of sanctification is called renewal. 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. First the Spirit regenerates a person and brings him to love and trust in Jesus. Then the Spirit continually works on the reborn so that we keep the Word of Jesus. He sustains us in faith. He increases our love for God and for our neighbor. He sets us apart from the sinful world, brings us the body and blood of Christ in the Sacrament for the forgiveness of sins, strengthens, guides, and molds us into the image of Christ. And He does all this work of renewal, as the signs of Pentecost teach us, through tongues, through the preaching of the Word of God.

Do you wonder what makes Christians ready to be burned alive or have their heads cut off rather than deny Christ? Or more locally, do you wonder what makes Christians ready and willing to accept heavy fines or other life-changing penalties rather than renounce Christ and His truth? Do you wonder what makes Christians willing to show love to their enemies and to their friends alike, or what makes Christians willing to sacrifice their earthly comfort for the sake of the truth? It’s all the work of God’s Holy Spirit in us, sanctifying us, renewing us and keeping us with Jesus Christ in the one true faith. This, too, is the fire that the Holy Spirit spreads.

And so on this Festival of Pentecost we give thanks to God for the invaluable, fire-spreading, life-giving work of His Holy Spirit. And we pray that the Spirit of God would make us wise to understand the Word of Christ, bold to confess the name of Christ, and eager to walk in the commandments of Christ, until He comes again. In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

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Luther Sermon for Pentecost – Acts 2:1-13

Posted on May 21, 2015 by Rev. Paul Rydecki

Sermon by Martin Luther

Text: Acts 2:1-13 (KJV)

THE GIFT OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.

1. The historical facts of this day, as well as the beautiful sermon the Holy Spirit delivered through the apostle Peter, which might appropriately be fully treated at this time, we shall leave for the special sermons on the various festivals of the year. For the present we will but briefly speak of the occasion of this festival, and of the office of the Holy Spirit.

2. The festival we call “Pentecost” had origin as follows: When God was about to lead the children of Israel out of Egypt, he permitted them to celebrate the Feast of the Passover on the night of their departure; and commanded them on every annual recurrence of the season to observe the same feast in commemoration of their liberation from bondage and their departure from Egypt. Fifty days later, in their journey through the wilderness, they arrived at Mount Sinai. There God gave them the Law, through Moses; and there they were commanded to observe annually, in commemoration of that giving of the Law, the fiftieth day after the Feast of the Passover. Hence the name “Feast of Pentecost,” the word “Pentecost” coming from the Greek “Pentecoste,” or “fiftieth day.” Our Saxons, rather more in conformity to the Greek, use the word “Pfingsten.” So we have it here of Luke: “When the day of Pentecost was now come,” or “fully come” — when the Jews had properly commemorated the giving of the Law of God on Mount Sinai — the Holy Spirit came, in accordance with Christ’s promise, and gave them a new law. We now celebrate this feast, not because of the old historical event, but because of the new one — the sending of the Holy Spirit. It is in order, then, to give a little instruction concerning the difference between our Pentecost and that of the Jews.

LITERAL LAW AND SPIRITUAL LAW.

3. The occasion of the Jews’ observance was the giving of the literal law; but it is ours to celebrate the giving of the spiritual law. To present the point more clearly, we cite Paul’s distinction of the two covenants. 2 Cor. 3:6. And these two covenants respectively relate to two kinds of people.

4. First, there is the written law commanded of God and composed of written words. It is styled “written” or “literal” because it goes no farther and does not enter the heart, nor are there any resulting works other than hypocritical and extorted ones. Consisting only of letters — a written law — it is wholly dead. Its province being to kill, it ruled a dead people. With dead hearts men could not sincerely observe the commandments of God.

Were every individual left to do as he pleased, being uninfluenced by fear, not one would be found choosing to be controlled by the Law.

Unquestionably, human nature is conscious of the fact that while it prefers to follow its own inclinations it is impelled to do otherwise; for it reasons: “If I observe not God’s commandments, he will punish me, casting me into hell.” Thus our nature is conscious of obeying unwillingly and contrary to desire. Because of the punishment men fear, they soon become enemies to God; they feel themselves sinners, unable to stand before God, and consequently not acceptable to him. Indeed, they would rather there were no God. Such enmity to God remains persistently in the heart, however beautifully nature may adorn itself outwardly. We see, therefore, how the Law, so long as it consists merely of written words, can make no one righteous, can enter no heart. Upon this topic we have elsewhere preached and written at length.

5. The other law is spiritual; not written with ink and pen, nor uttered by lips as Moses read from the tables of stone. We learn from the historical record of the event that the Holy Spirit descended from heaven and filled all the assembled multitude, and they appeared with parting, fiery tongues and preached so unlike they were wont to do that all men were filled with amazement. The Spirit came pouring into their hearts, making them different beings, making them creatures who loved and willingly obeyed God. This change was simply the manifestation of the Spirit himself, his work in the heart. He wrote in those hearts his pure and fiery flame restoring them to life and causing them to respond with fiery tongues and efficient hands. They became new creatures, aware of possessing altogether different minds and different tendencies. Then all was life and light; understanding, will and heart burned and delighted in whatever was acceptable to God. Such is the true distinction between the written law of God and the spiritual. Herein we perceive what is the work of the Holy Spirit.

THE OFFICE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.

6. From this we should learn what is the office of the Holy Spirit in the Church, and how or by what means he is received in the heart and works there. In time past it was preached that he merely endorses what the councils conclude and the Pope establishes in the Spiritless papal Church.

The fact is, however, the doings of Pope and councils are mere outward matters; they relate to external commands and government. The above theory is, therefore, wholly inconsistent and perverse. Of the work of the Holy Spirit, the Papists make a dead, written law, when it is really a living, spiritual law. Thus they render the Holy Spirit a Moses, and his words mere human prattle. It is all due to ignorance of the character of the Holy Spirit, of the purpose of his coming and the nature of his office. Therefore, let us learn and firmly grasp those things and be able rightly to distinguish the Spirit’s office.

7. Observe here, the Holy Spirit descends and fills the hearts of the disciples sitting in fear and sorrow. He renders their tongues fiery and cloven, and inflames them with love unto boldness in preaching Christ — unto free and fearless utterance. Plainly, then, it is not the office of the Spirit to write books or to institute laws. He writes in the hearts of men, creating a new heart, so that man may rejoice before God, filled with love for him and ready, in consequence, to serve his fellows gladly.

8. What are the means and process the Spirit employs to change and renew the heart? It is through preaching Jesus Christ the Lord, as Christ himself says ( John 15:26): “When the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall bear witness of me.” As we have often heard, the Gospel is the message God would have preached world-wide, declaring to every individual that since no man can through the Law be made righteous, but must rather become more unrighteous, God sent his own beloved Son to shed his blood and die for our sins, from which sins we could not be released by our own effort.

9. It is not enough simply that Christ be preached; the Word must be believed. Therefore, God sends the Holy Spirit to impress the preaching upon the heart — to make it inhere and live therein. Unquestionably, Christ accomplished all — took away our sins and overcame every obstacle, enabling us to become, through him, lords over all things. But the treasure lies in a heap; it is not everywhere distributed and applied. Before we can enjoy it, the Holy Spirit come and communicate it to the heart, enabling us to believe and say, “I too, am one who shall have the blessing.” To everyone who hears is grace offered through the Gospel; to grace is he called, as Christ says ( Matthew 11:28), “Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden,” etc.

10. Now, with the belief that God has come to our rescue and given us this priceless blessing, inevitably the human heart must be filled with joy and with gratitude to God, and must exultingly cry: “Dear Father, since it is thy will to manifest toward me inexpressible love and fidelity, I will love thee sincerely, and willingly do what is pleasing to thee.”

The believing heart never sees God with jealous eye. It does not fear being cast into hell as it did before the Holy Spirit came, when it was conscious of no love, no goodness, no faithfulness, on God’s part, but only wrath and displeasure. But once let the Holy Spirit impress the heart with the fact of God’s good will and graciousness towards it, and the resulting joy and confidence will impel it to do and suffer for God’s sake whatever necessity demands.

11. Let us, then, learn to recognize the Holy Spirit — to know that his mission is to present to us the priceless Christ and all his blessings; to reveal them to us through the Gospel and apply them to the heart, making them ours. When our hearts are sensible of this work of the Spirit, naturally we are compelled to say: “If our works avail naught, and the Holy Spirit alone must accomplish our salvation, then why burden ourselves with works and laws?”

By the doctrine of the Spirit, all human works and laws are excluded, even the laws of Moses. The Holy Spirit’s instruction is superior to that of all books. The Spirit-taught individual understands the Scriptures better than does he who is occupied solely with the Law.

12. Hence, our only use for books is to strengthen our faith and to show others written testimony to the Spirit’s teaching. For we may not keep our faith to ourselves, but must let it shine out; and to establish it the Scriptures are necessary. Be careful, therefore, not to regard the Holy Spirit as a Law-maker, but as proclaiming to your heart the Gospel of Christ and setting you so free from the literal law that not a letter of it remains, except as a medium for preaching the Gospel.

BELIEVERS MUST YET RESIST SIN.

13. Here we should be intelligent and know that in one sense all is not accomplished when the Holy Spirit is received. The possessor of the Spirit is not at once entirely perfect, pure in all respects, no more sensible of the Law and of sin. We do not preach the doctrine that the Spirit’s office is one of complete accomplishment, but rather that it is progressive; he operates continuously and increasingly. Hence, there is not to be found an individual perfect in righteousness and happiness, devoid of sin and sorrow, ever serving all men with pleasure.

The Scriptures make plain the Holy Spirit’s office — to liberate from sin and terror. But the work is not then complete. The Christian must, in some measure, still feel sin in his heart and experience the terrors of death; he is affected by whatever disturbs other sinners. While unbelievers are so deep in their sins as to be indifferent, believers are keenly conscious of theirs; but Christians are supported by the Holy Spirit, who consoles and strengthens till his work is fully accomplished. It is terminated when they no longer feel their sins.

14. So I say we must be prudent; we must take heed we do not arrogantly and presumptuously boast possession of the Holy Spirit, as do certain proud fanatics. The danger is in becoming too secure, in imagining ourselves perfect in all respects. The pious Christian is still flesh and blood like other men; he but strives to resist evil lusts and other sins, and is unwillingly sensible of evil desires. But he who is not a Christian is carelessly secure, wholly unconcerned about his sins.

15. It is of no significance that we feel evil lusts, provided we endeavor to resist them. One must not go by his feelings and consider himself lost if he have sinful desires. At the same time he must, so long as life lasts, contend with the sins he perceives in himself. He must unceasingly groan to be relieved of them, and must permit the Holy Spirit to operate in him. There is in believers continual groaning after holiness — groaning too deep for expression, as Paul says in Romans 8:26. But Christians have a blessed listener — the Holy Spirit himself. He readily perceives sincere longing after purity, and sends the conscience divine comfort.

There will ever be in us mingled purity and imperfection; we must be conscious both of the Holy Spirit’s presence and of our own sins — our imperfections. We are like the sick man in the hands of the physician who is to restore him to health. Let no one think: “Here is a man who possesses the Holy Spirit; consequently he must be perfectly strong, having no imperfections and performing only worthy works.” No, think not so; for so long as we live in the flesh here on earth, we cannot attain such a degree of perfection as to be wholly free from weakness and faults. The holy apostles themselves often lamented their temptations and sorrows. Their feelings concealed from them the Holy Spirit’s presence, though they were aware of his strengthening and sustaining power in their temptations, a power conveyed through the Word and through faith.

16. The Holy Spirit is given only to the anxious and distressed heart. Only therein can the Gospel profit us and produce fruit. The gift is too sublime and noble for God to cast it before dogs and swine, who, when by chance they hear the preached message, devour it without knowing to what they do violence. The heart must recognize and feel its wretchedness and its inability to extricate itself. Before the Holy Spirit can come to the rescue, there must be a struggle in the heart. Let no one imagine he will receive the Spirit in any other way.

17. We see this truth illustrated in the narrative here. The beloved disciples were filled with fear and terror. They were disconsolate and discouraged, and sunk in unbelief and despair. Only with great difficulty and effort did Christ raise them again. Yet their only failing was their faint-heartedness; they feared the heavens would fall upon them. Even the Lord himself could scarce comfort them until he said: “The Holy Spirit shall descend upon you from heaven, impressing myself upon your hearts until you shall know me and, through me, the Father. Then will your hearts be comforted, strengthened and filled with joy. And so was the promise fulfilled to them on this day of Pentecost.

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A Helper to face a hostile world

Posted on May 17, 2015 by Rev. Paul Rydecki

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Ezekiel 36:25-27  +  1 Peter 4:7-11  +  John 15:26-16:4

On Thursday we celebrated Christ’s ascension and His sitting down at the right hand of God the Father Almighty. The Lord Jesus has been highly exalted, and now He reigns over this world for the good of His body, the Church: to support and sustain those whom He has called out of darkness into His marvelous light, and to build His Church through the preaching of the Gospel. Christ was hated by the world when He came, and the world treated Him as it wanted. But now Christ is done with suffering. Now He has entered into glory.

But we are still in the world. The time of our glory hasn’t come yet. First we have work to do in this world—in this world that hates those who belong to Christ just as they hated Christ. Earlier in John chapter 15 Jesus told His disciples: If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. You see, it’s not that Christ ever hated the world. It’s that the world hated Christ. In the same way, it’s not that Christians hate the world. It’s that world hates Christians. Sometimes you can feel that hatred. Sometimes not. Sometimes Christians run away from that hatred by abandoning the doctrines that the world finds most offensive, and sometimes Christians become more worldly by adopting the customs, practices, and beliefs of the world. But those who would be true to Christ, true to His whole doctrine, those who put His doctrine into practice in the world will have many enemies here. It’s a hostile world toward Christians, and it always will be.

Our ascended Lord has not abandoned us here behind enemy lines. He went away, He ascended into heaven precisely in order to send us the help we need so much, as we’ve been discussing over these past few weeks. Christ promises to send us a Helper to face a hostile world.

When the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me. And you also will bear witness, because you have been with Me from the beginning. Christ kept this promise. Ten days after He ascended into heaven, He poured out His Holy Spirit on His believers in Jerusalem. We’ll celebrate the coming of the Helper next Sunday on the Festival of Pentecost.

How did the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father and the Son testify of Christ? He confirmed the believers in their faith. And He taught them what they needed to know and understand about Christ so that they understood the Scriptures that were written about Him and how He had fulfilled the Scriptures in every way, especially by His suffering for sin, His crucifixion and His resurrection from the dead. And the apostles did bear witness, from the Day of Pentecost until the day of their final testimony, their martyrdom. They bore witness to Christ and have left behind for us the whole New Testament as the inspired testimony of the Holy Spirit.

But these words also apply to us who have been brought to faith by the testimony of the apostles that has come down to us through the ages. The Holy Spirit is promised as a gift to all the baptized, as Peter said on the day of Pentecost, “Repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” The same Spirit of truth speaks to us and, as St. Paul writes to the Romans, “bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.” By this testimony, He enables us to remain steadfast in faith and love in the face of the world’s hatred. He guides us to know the truth and renews us so that we become more and more like Jesus Christ. We’ll say more about the Spirit’s work next week.

As for our testimony, it’s different than that of the apostles. Jesus says His apostles would bear witness “because you have been with Me from the beginning.” We don’t bear witness about the things we’ve seen and heard from Jesus; we weren’t with Him from the beginning. We bear witness about the things we’ve been taught by the apostles (and prophets).

That’s not what most people when they think of “Christians giving their testimony.” Most people think of a person standing up in the middle of a church service and telling everyone about their own personal conversion experience or their own personal belief in Jesus. But that’s not what Jesus is talking about. He’s talking about the testimony we have received from the Holy Spirit, confirmed in the apostolic writings, that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, who died for the world’s sins and who rose again from the dead, who calls all men to repent of their sins and to trust in Him and be baptized for the forgiveness of sins. That is the Holy Spirit’s testimony, and it is the testimony that all true Christians will give.

That testimony, all by itself, will bring some people to faith in Jesus. That testimony of the Holy Spirit will frighten some people because of their sins and will give them a new heart to trust in Christ, who is a good and merciful Savior. But that testimony of the Holy Spirit will also enrage the world against Christians, as Jesus says: These things I have spoken to you, that you should not be made to stumble. They will put you out of the synagogues; yes, the time is coming that whoever kills you will think that he offers God service. And these things they will do to you because they have not known the Father nor Me.

In other words, Jesus is being very upfront with His apostles, and with all of us who come after them. He isn’t painting His Church on earth as a smiley, happy, prosperous group of people who will be treated well in the world. On the contrary, He tells His Christians that they will be persecuted, and not only by the atheists, but by those who call themselves the Church, by those who think of themselves as religious people. Those are the people who will excommunicate you and even put you to death, all the while thinking they are serving God.

But those who persecute people for their confession of the truth are not truly God’s people at all. These things they will do to you because they have not known the Father nor Me. People can pretend to be Christians all they want, but if they persecute other Christians for holding to the truth of Christ, they are hypocrites, pretenders, not fellow citizens of heaven.

It’s important for us to get this. Why will the world do these things to Christians—to apostles, pastors, or laymen? Because you’re so mean? Because you’re not eloquent? Because you don’t have the right people skills? Because you aren’t sensitive enough to their musical tastes? No. Because they have not known the Father nor Me.

When the world mistreats us for being Christians, we mustn’t whine about it. Lots of Christians are tempted to whine about the world’s injustice toward Christians. “That’s not fair!” Well, it isn’t fair. But let God take care of justice. As for us, Christ calls on us to bear the cross, as He bore it, without complaining. He calls on us to continue to trust in Him, and to love our neighbor as Christ continued to do even when He was being tortured, and to speak the truth fearlessly even as Christ continued to speak it before Pontius Pilate. We are not to become hostile toward the world. We are to simply keep testifying to the truth.

What shall be your comfort and strength at that time when the world hates you and the outward church persecutes you? Jesus tells us: But these things I have told you, that when the time comes, you may remember that I told you of them. I told you. I told you, Jesus says. None of this is a crisis. None of this is out of My control. It is part of my reign at God’s right hand until I return, to allow the world to hate you even as I allowed the world to hate Me, to show that you are My servants, My people; to show that the world truly deserves the wrath that will soon be poured out on them. And also to glorify My Gospel and My Spirit, who has such power to bring people to faith and to sustain you in the faith, and even to sustain your love, even in the midst of so much cruelty and injustice.

We couldn’t keep going, we could never face this hostile world without divine help. But we don’t have to face it without help. We have a Helper who is stronger than we are and stronger than the whole world’s strength combined. Cry out to Him for help in every time of need. He is a very present help in trouble. Amen.

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