Knowing the Spirit by His Work

Posted on June 8, 2014 by Rev. Paul Rydecki

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Sermon for the Day of Pentecost

Joel 2:38-32  +  Acts 2:1-21  +  John 14:23-31

You’ve heard today about the coming of the Spirit of God. There are many spirits in the world, unclean spirits, wicked spirits. St. Paul says to the Ephesians that even now the spirit of this world, the devil, is at work in the sons of disobedience. You don’t see these spirits, any more than you can see the wind (the word “spirit” means wind or breath), but you can see the results of their work in the world, just as you can see what the wind does to the ocean, to the trees, to the dust of the desert, to anything in its path.

Where there is false teaching about God and His Word, where there is compromise on Scriptural doctrine for the sake of peace, there is an unholy spirit at work. Where there is a mindset that God’s Word is just a matter of personal interpretation, there is an unholy spirit at work. Where there is apathy toward what God says and a stubborn determination to follow human reason and human desires regardless of what God’s Word says, there is an unholy spirit at work. Where there is rebellion against God’s Word or against God’s preachers, where there is lovelessness and selfishness and self-centeredness, there is an unholy spirit at work, seeking to keep people out of God’s kingdom, or to pull people out of God’s kingdom.

There are many of these unholy spirits in the world, putting evil for good and good for evil, convincing people to seek God anywhere and everywhere but in His holy Word, convincing people to justify their sins, or to despair in them. There are many unholy spirits, but there is only one Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth, the Spirit of God. And today we celebrate, because Jesus kept His promise and sent His Holy Spirit into the world, to be with us forever, to testify about Jesus, to call, gather, enlighten and sanctify the whole Christian Church on earth, and to keep it with Jesus Christ in the one true faith.

You don’t see the Holy Spirit. No one saw the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost. But they certainly saw the results of His work, like a great wind that blew through the city of Jerusalem, and has made its way throughout the world, even here to us. We see three kinds of works of the Spirit on the Day of Pentecost.

First, there were the outward miracles. The loud sound from heaven of a rushing, mighty wind, so loud that it got the attention of the whole city of Jerusalem. Not only does the word “spirit” mean wind or breath, but Jesus once compared the Holy Spirit to a wind, as we’ll hear in next week’s Gospel: 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 the wind signaled, “The Spirit has come!”

Then there were the tongues like fire that divided and rested on the heads of Jesus’ disciples. Fire is fueled by the wind, and driven by it. Jesus had promised His disciples that they would be baptized with the Spirit and with fire. He also said, “I came to send fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled!”  But it couldn’t be kindled yet when Jesus said those words. First He had to suffer and die and rise again and ascend into heaven. Then He would send His Spirit to kindle this fire.

What is the fire? It’s not an accident that the Scripture mentions “tongues” of fire. This fire is spread, not by lighting a match, but by speaking. It’s the fire of God’s spoken Word that kindles faith in the heart, from which love also flows. 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? Picture a large fire with the wind blowing behind it, like the wild fires that so often damage our lands in this part of the country. Such is the Word of God, spoken by men, but driven and spread into the hearts of the hearers by the wind of the Holy Spirit.

Then there were the different tongues or languages spoken by the disciples, a special gift of the Holy Spirit to announce to the world that these Christians, these apostles, were approved by God, who had sent His Son Jesus Christ to die for all men and who wants all men to be saved, people in every nation, Jews and Gentiles. The Gospel of Christ does not know any race except for the human race, so it was to be preached in every corner of the world. In this way the fire of faith would spread.

These miraculous signs of Pentecost—the sound of the wind, the tongues of fire, the different languages—were not ongoing works of the Spirit, but attention-getting works of the Spirit, works, designed to teach us something about how He works through the Word of Christ and the message of the apostles. We don’t need to see those signs for ourselves in order to learn from them and benefit from them.

The second kind of work of the Holy Spirit is an ongoing work of His. The second work of the Spirit on Pentecost was His work on the disciples, on the believers. They had been huddling together quietly. They had been fearful and doubtful and silent. But now they are bold to speak to the crowds. Why? Because their faith in God has been strengthened, and their love for their neighbor has been increased. It’s love for the neighbor to speak the truth to him—the truth about his sins and rebellion against God and the judgment that awaits, and also the truth about God’s judgment poured out on Christ crucified so that all who trust in Him are judged innocent by God. This immense growth in faith and love on the part of believers is a work of the Holy Spirit; He was responsible for strengthening and fueling the fire of faith and love in the hearts of believers.

That ongoing work of the Spirit is also for you who believe. We call it “sanctification.” St. Paul said to the Thessalonians, “Brethren, we urge and exhort in the Lord Jesus that you should abound more and more, just as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God; for you know what commandments we gave you through the Lord Jesus. For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you should abstain from sexual immorality; that each of you should know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, not in passion of lust, like the Gentiles who do not know God; that no one should take advantage of and defraud his brother in this matter, because the Lord is the avenger of all such, as we also forewarned you and testified. For God did not call us to uncleanness, but in holiness. Therefore he who rejects this does not reject man, but God, who has also given us His Holy Spirit.” It’s the Spirit of God, working through Word and Sacrament, who builds us up in faith and love, in peace and in holiness of living. Just as He did with the first disciples, He makes us bold to speak God’s Word. He makes us courageous to face the cross and temptation. He takes the peace that Jesus gave to His disciples and works it into your heart, so that the world can crumble around you, and you can still say, or maybe just sigh, “My God loves me, because He gave His Son for me. I am baptized into Christ.”

Finally, the third kind of work of the Holy Spirit we saw today in the crowds that heard Peter’s preaching. (We didn’t read about it today, I urge you to read the rest of Acts chapter 2 when you get home.) Peter preached about how the Messiah had been sent to Israel and then rejected and crucified by Israel, and then raised from the dead by God and set at God’s right hand until all God’s enemies are defeated. Those words aren’t all that convincing to human reason. But the Spirit of God works through preaching. He brought at least 3,000 people in the crowd that day to fear and tremble because of their sins, so that they asked the apostles, “What shall we do?”

Then Peter announced the Gospel to them, “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.” And amazingly, miraculously, they did. Many who didn’t before believe in Jesus as the Christ suddenly did. Many who before were impenitent enemies of God were now converted to repentance and faith in Christ the Savior. And they were baptized for the remission of sins, and adopted in God’s family. And then it says that they kept gathering and adhering to the apostles’ teaching, and receiving Holy Communion, and praying together.

The Holy Spirit carries out this same work today. You can’t see Him, but you can see a world that has been filled with this Gospel, a world in which millions and billions of people over these past 2,000 years have been brought to faith and baptized and have formed congregations to continue gathering together around the apostles’ teaching and the Sacraments. Yes, the unholy spirits are also at work among these churches, seeking to mislead Christians by false doctrine and temptations, and there are many false Christians throughout the world. But in spite of all the obstacles, the Church of Christ continues to exist and to grow, soul by soul. That is the work of the Holy Spirit.

I hope you see how vital, how essential is the work of the Holy Spirit in the world, and in our own hearts and lives. You can’t see Him; He works invisibly. But you know how He works— through Word and Sacrament. And you can see the results of His work. Where the Word of God is preached in its truth and purity, there is the Holy Spirit at work. Where Christians gather around the Word of Christ and the Sacraments are administered according to Christ’s command, there is the Holy Spirit at work. Where the Law of God convicts sinners of their sins and brings them to their knees in repentance, where the Gospel of Christ leads penitent sinners to look to Christ for forgiveness and mercy, there is the Holy Spirit at work. Where there is comfort and conviction in the Gospel, where the Gospel inspires courage under the cross, thanksgiving under affliction, and patient endurance under trial, there is the Spirit of God at work. Where there is zeal for the Word of God and for living holy lives here on earth, where Christians show genuine love for one another, where Christians confess the Word of Christ as true and every other religion as false, where Christians are willing to die rather than compromise on a single article of the Christian faith, there is the Holy Spirit at work. Let us give thanks to God for sending us His Spirit, and let us pray for His continued work among us. Amen.

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Cheer up! It’s the cross Jesus told you about!

Posted on June 1, 2014 by Rev. Paul Rydecki

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Sermon for Exaudi – The Sunday after Ascension

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

Before He ascended into heaven, Jesus told His disciples up front what things would be like for them after He had returned to the Father. You heard it in the Gospel today, how He forewarned them about the persecution they would endure, the cross of suffering for the sake of their testimony, their confession of Christ. The same holds true for those who have believed the apostles’ testimony, because it’s the nature of a Christian to confess Christ before the world, and it’s the nature of the world to hate Christ and those who confess Him.

But the message of Jesus in the Gospel isn’t one of despair. It’s one of hope—not the hope of avoiding persecution (the only way to avoid it is to join the world and deny Christ), not the hope of avoiding suffering, but the hope of comfort, or rather, a Comforter who will help you to endure it.

Jesus says, when the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father… Helper comes from a Greek word that has lots of shades of meaning. It’s the One who is called to your side as Helper. Mediator. Advocate. Intercessor. Encourager. And Comforter. Jesus promises to send His disciples such a One, called from the Father’s side to your side. Jesus further identifies this Comforter as the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father. This is the Holy Spirit, whom Jesus promised to send.

He proceeds from the Father and the Son, meaning that this Comforter is divine. He is the Creator-God—one God, with the Father and the Son. So when He comes to comfort, it’s not with the empty or the fickle power of human words, but with the divine power of God.

What does He come to do? How does He comfort? Jesus says, He will testify of Me. Jesus’ disciples had no strength, no courage, very little understanding of Jesus before the Spirit came on Pentecost. Before the Spirit came we find them running away from confrontation. We find them hiding behind locked doors. We find them asking Jesus if now is when He is going to restore the kingdom to Israel, which shows how little they grasped His purpose. But the Spirit would testify to them about Jesus and build up their faith and kindle courage in their hearts as He enlightened their eyes to know Jesus better, and to trust in Jesus more firmly.

This is the gift Jesus promised to send His disciples and did send on the Day of Pentecost, and through their preaching and baptizing, the same Spirit was given to all the baptized, and is still given to all the baptized, as St. Peter proclaimed: “The promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call.” And how does He the Lord our God call? Ever and only through the preaching of the Word of Christ.

Now St. Paul says that The Spirit Himself bears witness (i.e., testifies) with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together. He testifies about Jesus—the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. He testifies about Jesus, that He is true God and the Savior from sin, your Savior from sin, and that there is no other God or Savior besides Him. He testifies about Jesus, who died and rose again and washes you in His holy, precious blood in Holy Baptism, making you a child of God and an heir with Christ. That’s the testimony of the Spirit. It’s a testimony that enters through your ears but penetrates all the way to your heart, so that you believe it, so that you’re comforted by it.

And so that you confess it. And you also will bear witness, because you have been with Me from the beginning. Those eleven apostles had a special task, a special, direct calling from Jesus that no one since has ever had, except for the apostle Paul. They were with Jesus from the beginning—the beginning of His earthly ministry, from the time He was baptized until His crucifixion and resurrection and ascension. They were eye-witnesses of all that Jesus had said and done. So their testimony would be unique.

You and I have believed the word and testimony of the apostles, that Jesus is the only Savior from sin, our Savior from sin, and the only true God. By that faith we are justified before God. And then, listen to what Paul says about those who believe: The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith which we preach): that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. You not only believe in Jesus, but if you believe in Him, then you confess Him with your mouth. You confess Him with your mouth, and, to an extent, with your actions, in every area of your life as you confess Him to be the only God and the only Savior. You confess Him at work. You confess Him at home. You confess Him in the grocery store. You confess Him before your friends. You confess Him on Facebook. And knowing how poorly the world around you understands Jesus, you have to be careful in your confession to distinguish the real Jesus, who reveals Himself and forgives sins alone through the Word and Sacraments, from the false images of Jesus that are often passed around by the sects.

So you, too, as Christians, as royal priests of God, confess Christ in your daily life, proclaiming the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. —which means that it will go for you like it went for Jesus apostles. He told them ahead of time. The cross is coming.

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. But these things I have told you, that when the time comes, you may remember that I told you of them.

This is the kind of reception the true Gospel has in the world. Some believe, but not most. Most persecute. Most scoff. Most reject the testimony about Christ, including those, Jesus says, who claim God as their Father. In fact, He says, after they have excommunicated you and shunned you and killed you, they will sing praises to God and rejoice that they finally got rid of the “troublemakers.”

I think we often forget what all these crosses hanging all around really mean. Yes, they represent Jesus, but they represent Jesus because they represent the suffering and death of Jesus, and the suffering and death of those who follow Jesus. Welcome to the Christian life! It’s a life of rejection, both by non-Christians and by false Christians. It’s a life of bearing the cross.

And the cross takes many shapes. For confessing Christ before men, you may be killed or beaten or imprisoned, all of which is happening to Christians right at this moment in some part of the world. For confessing Christ before men, you may struggle to get or to keep certain jobs. For confessing Christ before men you may be unliked by your peers, looked down upon by the scholars, even rejected by other so-called Christians who believe and teach false doctrines. But more burdensome still is when Satan presses down on these crosses and attacks your faith, and makes you question everything and despair of God’s help.

So, it sounds like you could really use a Comforter, a divine Helper. And it seems that Jesus knew that all along, which is why He promised to send the Comforter from the Father’s side to yours. Divine help in the face of the cross. For as heavy as the cross may be, if the Creator-God is standing by your side as your advocate, what creature can be more powerful than He? And as the divine encourager, He speaks to your heart and says, “Cheer up!” Remember, Jesus lives and reigns at God’s right hand on your behalf. Cheer up! Remember, Jesus told you all this would happen. His Word is still faithful and true.

So instead of getting depressed or angry when you or your fellow Christians are suffering under the cross, remember that Jesus said that these things would happen. They’re part of His testing of your faith so that you persevere in it until the end. They’re also part of His judgment on the world, so that it may be clearly seen that you belonged to Jesus, the Suffering One, the Cross-Bearer.

Remember Jesus’ promise. The Comforter will come, and we will celebrate His coming next Sunday on Pentecost. Cheer up! That’s not my personal encouragement to you. That’s the work of God’s Spirit in you. Stay close to where He does His work, to the Word and Sacraments. And hear your God telling you, in Baptism, in preaching, in the body and blood of Christ, cheer up! God is on your side. And even more, God the Comforter is at your side. Amen.

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Luther Sermon for the Sunday after the Ascension

Posted on May 30, 2014 by Rev. Paul Rydecki

SUNDAY AFTER CHRIST’S ASCENSION. (EXAUDI).

Preached by Dr. Martin Luther, Wittenberg. (1522)

Text: John 15:26-16:4 (KJV)

1. Beloved, you have heretofore heard much about faith. Today you hear also of the witness of faith and of the cross that follows. Paul says to the Romans, “With the heart man believeth unto righteousness.” Romans 10:10. If one be pious, he must begin in his heart and believe. That serves only unto godliness; it is not enough for salvation. Therefore, one must also do what the Christian life requires, and continually abide in that life.

Hence, Paul adds: “If thou shalt confess with thy mouth Jesus as Lord, thou shalt be saved,” It is these two things that constitute our salvation, faith and the confession of faith. Faith rescues from sin, hell, Satan, death and all misfortunes. Now, when we have this we have enough. For God permits us to live here so that we may reach out a hand to our neighbor and help him. This is how God desires to have his name praised and his kingdom increased. Therefore, we must praise his name, confess our faith and win others to do the same, so that God’s kingdom may be increased and his name praised.*

2. Thus, faith must be exercised, worked and polished; be purified by fire, like gold. Faith, the great gift and treasure from God, must express itself and triumph in the certainty that it is right before God and man, and before angels, devils and the whole world. Just as a jewel is not to be concealed, but to be worn in sight, so also, will and must faith be worn and exhibited, as it is written in 1 Peter 1:7: “That the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold that perisheth though it is proved by fire,” etc.

3. Now, by confession I must take upon myself the load of Satan, hell, death and the whole world — kings and princes, pope and bishops, priests and monks. By faith, everything falls that reason can or ever has devised for the salvation of the soul. It must chastise the apish tricks of the whole world, and its jewel alone must be praised. The world cannot endure this, therefore it rushes in, destroys, kills, and says: “It is expedient for you that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation perish not,” as Caiaphas says in John 11:50. Thus, the confession must break forth, that God alone is the Savior; and the same confession brings us into danger of losing our lives. As the Lord says later to the disciples: “They shall put you out of the synagogues.”

4. One cannot paint the cross differently than it is here painted; that is its true color. But the cross of illness — to lie in bed at home ill — is nothing compared with the cross of persecution. The first is indeed suffering: but the suffering is golden when we are persecuted and put to death with ignominy; when our persecutors have the praise; when right and honor apparently are on their side, while shame, disgrace and injustice are on our side, compared with the world that wishes them thereby to have God’s honor defended, so that all the world says we are served right and that God, the Scriptures and all the angels witness against us. There can be no right in our cause, and without trial we must be banished and isolated in shame and disgrace. So it also was the lot of Christ — they put him to death in the most scornful and disgraceful way, and crucified him between two thieves or murderers; he was regarded as chief of sinners, and they said, with blasphemous words: Aye, he called himself God’s Son; let God help him now, if he wills it differently. Since he does not, God and all the angels must be against him. So Christ says in our Gospel, “They will kill you,” and not in an ordinary way, but in an infamous manner, and all the world will say that they thereby offer God a service. It is, indeed, hard to hold and confess that God is gracious to us and that we have a Savior who opposes all the world, all its glitter and shine. But, let the struggle be as hard and sharp as it will, faith must express itself, even though we would like to have it otherwise.

5. Faith must expect all this, and nothing follows its confession more surely than the cross. For it is certain to come to us, either in life or at death, that all our doings will appear to be opposed to God and the Scriptures. It is better that it be learned during life, from the people, than from the devil at death; for the people cannot force it further than into the ears, but Satan has a pointed tongue that pierces the heart and makes the heart tremble.

Satan torments you until you conclude that you are lost and ruined, that heaven and earth, God and all the angels, are your enemies. This is what the prophet means in Psalm 6:7-8, when he says: “I am weary with my groaning; every night make I my bed to swim; I water my couch with my tears. Mine eye wasteth away because of grief; it waxeth old because of all mine adversaries.” It is hard to endure this. Now you see how weak you are who are permitted to bear witness of this faith. One fears his wife, another his children and riches, and a third fears himself.

6. Faith is in vain where it does not continue steadfast to the end. Christ says in Matthew 10:22, and 24:13: “But he that endureth to the end, the same shall be saved. Hence it is better to experience persecution here than punishment at the end. If one flees persecution, there is no faith in his heart — only a dead knowledge or erroneous belief, without sap and strength, marrow and bone; but where there is a true, living faith, it presses forward through sword and fire. Let us now notice how the Lord comforts his disciples. He says: “But when the Comforter is come.”

I. CHRIST’S SERMON OF COMFORT.

7. That we may, under no circumstances, despair, Christ says, I will send you a Comforter, even one who is almighty. And he calls the Holy Spirit here a Comforter; for although both my sins and the fear of death make me weak and timid, he comes and stirs up the courage in my heart, and says:

Ho, cheer up! Thus he trumpets courage into us; he encourages us in a friendly and comforting manner not to despair before death but to cheerfully go forward, even though we had ten necks for the executioner, and says: Aye, although I have sinned, yet I am rid of my sins; and if I had still more, so that they overwhelmed me, I would hope, that they should do me no harm. Not that one should not feel his sins, for the flesh must experience them; but the Spirit overcomes and suppresses diffidence and timidity, and conducts us through them. He is powerful enough to do that.

Therefore. Christ says further: “Whom I will send unto you from the Father.”

8. For he, the Father, is the person that takes the initiative: I am the Son; and from us the Holy Spirit proceeds. And the three persons are one, and one essence, with equal power and authority, as he better expresses it when he says: “The Spirit of truth, who proceedeth from the Father.”

9. That is as much as to say: He who will comfort you is almighty and Lord over all things. How can the creatures now harm us, if the Creator stands by us? Notice how great the comfort of the Holy Spirit is. Now let all the Turks attack us. As long as he is our guard and rearguard, there is no danger. John also says in his first Epistle,1 John 3:19-20: “Hereby shall we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our heart before him; because if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things.” Likewise, in the following chapter, verse 4, he says: “Ye are of God, my little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world.” So the Lord now says, Him will I send unto you, so that nothing can harm you. Is not that liberal comfort? Who would not be fearless and cheerful in view of this?

And Christ calls him “The Spirit of truth;” that is, where he is and comes there is a rock foundation through and through, the real truth. Neither falsehood nor hypocrisy is there, for the Spirit is not hypocritical. But wherever he is not, there is nothing but hypocrisy and falsehood.

This is also why people fall away in the moment of truth, because the Spirit of truth is not present.* Christ now further says: “He shall bear witness of me.”

10. That is, if he is in the heart he speaks through you, and assures and confirms you in the belief that the Gospel is true. Then, as a result, the confession of the Gospel springs forth. What, then, is the Gospel? It is a witness concerning Christ, that he is God’s Son, the Savior, and beside him there is none other. This is what Peter means when he says: “Ye are a royal priesthood, that we are elected thereto, that we preach and show forth the excellencies of Christ.” 1 Peter 2:9: Hence, there must always be witnessing. Witnessing loads upon itself the wrath of the whole world.

Then the cross follows, then rebellions rise, then the lords and princes and all who are great become angry; for the world cannot hear, nor will it tolerate, this kind of preaching. Therefore, the Gospel is hated and spoken against.

11. Reason thinks: Aye, one can, nevertheless, easily preach the Gospel in a beautifully simple and plain way, without a revolution in the world, and then it will be heartily welcomed. This is the utterance of Satan; for if I believe and say that faith in Christ alone does and accomplishes all, I overthrow the monkey play of the whole world; and that they cannot allow. Therefore, Christ’s teachings and man’s teachings cannot stand together; one must fall. Priests and monks, as they are at present, are dependent in name, character and works upon human institutions, which the Gospel thrusts to the ground. Hence, they dare not accept the Gospel, and they continue as they are.

12. Thus, I say that the Christian faith is founded upon Christ alone, without anything additional. The priests will not permit their affairs and institutions to fall; in consequence, seditions and rebellions follow.

Therefore, there must be dissension where the Gospel and the confession of Christ are; for the Gospel opposes everything that is not of its own spirit. If the teachings of Christ and the priests were not antagonistic, they could easily stand together. They are now pitted against one another. As impossible as it is for Christ not to be Christ, so impossible is it for a monk or priest to be a Christian. Therefore, a fire must be kindled. The Lord himself, in Matthew 10:34 and Luke 12:51 says: “I came not to send peace, but a sword.” Then follows in our text: “And ye also bear witness, because ye have been with me from the beginning.”

13. Yes; then, first, when you become certain of your faith through the Holy Spirit, who is your witness, you must also bear witness of me, for to that end I chose you to be apostles. You have heard my words and teachings and have seen my works and life and all things that you are to preach. But the Holy Spirit must first be present; otherwise you can do nothing, for the conscience is too weak. Yes, there is no sin so small that the conscience could vanquish it, even if it were so trifling a one as laughing in church, Again, in the presence of death the conscience is far too weak to offer resistance. Therefore another must come and give to the timid, despairing conscience, courage to go through everything, although all sins be upon it. And it must, at the same time, be an almighty courage, like he alone can give who ministers strength in such a way that the courage, which before a rustling leaf could cause to fear, is now not afraid of all the devils, and the conscience that before could not restrain laughing, now restrains all sins.

14. The benefit and fruit of the Holy Spirit is, that sin will be changed to the highest and best use. Thus Paul boasts to Timothy, when he was converted, that whereas he had lived such a wicked life before, he now held his sin to be so contemptible that he composed a hymn and sang about it thus, in 1 Timothy 1:12-17: “I thank him that enabled me, even Christ Jesus our Lord, for that he counted me faithful, appointing me to his service; though I was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious: howbeit I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief; and the grace of our Lord abounded exceedingly with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus. Faithful is the saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief: howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me as chief might Jesus Christ show forth all his long-suffering, for an example of them that should thereafter believe on him unto eternal life. Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen.”

II. CHRIST’S SERMON OF WARNING.

“These things have I spoken unto you that ye should not be caused to stumble.”

15. Now that Christ had comforted and strengthened his disciples, he warns them of their future sufferings, in order that they might be able to bear them valiantly. He is an especially good friend who warns one; and the evil visitation is much easier borne when one is prepared beforehand for it.

Christ says: “They shall put you out of the synagogues; yea, the hour cometh that whosoever killeth you shall think that he offereth service unto God.”

16. You will certainly experience this; therefore, arm yourself and be prepared. The most of all will be that, when they have treated you in the most shameless manner, they will think they did a good work in doing so, and it will appear to them as if your God had taken stand against you, and they will sing over it a Te Deum laudamus (Lord God, we praise thee), as if they had done God’s will and offered unto him a service. Hence, he arms them here, that they may be of good courage when it comes to pass; and he concludes with the thought that they shall have God’s favor, although at the time there shall be no signs of it; for God does stand on the side of his disciples. He adds: “And these things will they do, because they have not known the Father, nor me.”

17. Therefore, be patient, be prepared, be firm. See to it that ye, by no means, take offense at me. Remember that I told you before that they have known neither the Father nor me; and therefore they will heap upon you dishonor, shame and persecution. You should never forget this, for it will give you great comfort and make you bold, cheerful and undismayed.

Therefore, Christ concludes the admonition by saying: “But these things have I spoken unto you, that when their hour is come, ye may remember them, how that I told you. And these things I said not unto you from the beginning, because I was with you.”

18. Who, now, has been considered to be worse than he who told the pope that he knew not the Father? The pope would, of course, declare the contrary and say: Aye, Satan has commissioned you to speak that. Now, they all say that they know the Father. The Turk also says that he does. In like manner, they declare they believe God and the Scriptures. But there are two kinds of knowledge. The first for example, such knowledge as one might have of the Turk from his noise and reputation; the other the knowledge one would have of the Turk through his deeds were he to capture and occupy Rome. In this latter sense we do not know the Turk.

19. It is this first kind of knowledge that some people have of God. They know very well how to say of him: I believe in God the Father, and in his only begotten Son. But it is only upon the tongue, like the foam on the water; it does not enter the heart. Figuratively a big tumor still remains there in the heart; that is, they cling somewhat to their own deeds and think they must do works in order to be saved — that Christ’s person and merit are not sufficient. Thy work is nothing, thy wisdom is foolishness, thy counsel is nothing, thy truth also amounts to nothing, neither does the mass avail anything before God. Then they reply: Aye, the devil has prompted you to speak thus. They say, Christ has truly died for us, but in a way that we, also, must accomplish something by our deeds. Notice how deeply wickedness and unbelief are rooted in the heart. The puffed-up pride of the heart is the reason why man can know neither Christ nor the Father.

20. But to know Christ in the other and true sense is to know that he died for me and transferred the load of my sin upon himself; to so know this that I realize that all my doings amount to nothing. To let go all that is mine, and value only this, that Christ is given to me as a present; his sufferings, his righteousness and all his virtues are at once mine. When I become conscious of this, I must in return love him; my affections must go out to such a being. After this I climb upon the Son higher, to the Father, and see that Christ is God, and that he placed himself in my death, in my sin, in my misery, and bestows upon me his grace. Then I know also his gracious will and the highest love of the Father, which no heart of itself can discover or experience. Thus I lay hold of God at the point where he is the tenderest, and think: Aye, that is God; that is God’s will and pleasure, that Christ did this for me. And with this experience I perceive the high, inexpressible mercy and the love in him because of which he offered his beloved child for me in ignominy, shame and death. That friendly look and lovely sight then sustain me. Thus must God become known, only in Christ. Therefore, Christ himself says to his disciples: “No one knoweth the Son, save the Father; neither doth any know the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son willeth to reveal him.” Matthew 11:27.

21. On the other hand, those who parade their own works, do not know Christ. Neither do they know what the Father has done through Christ.

Nor do they know that God is not interested in their good works, but in his Son alone. Thus, they do not know the Father, neither do they know what they have received from the Father, through Christ. Therefore, they must fall and perish, and behold God in his severest aspect — as a judge. They try to silence the judgment with their good works, but they find no good work that is sufficient to do this, and then they must finally despair. When people see that they, themselves, are nothing, and establish the foundation of their hearts upon Christ, esteem him as the highest good, and know God as a Father in death and life — this is to “know God.” Enough has been said on this Gospel. We will pray to God, to give us grace to know him and his Christ aright. Amen.

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Whatever you ask in Jesus’ name

Posted on May 25, 2014 by Rev. Paul Rydecki

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Sermon for Rogate Sunday – Easter 5

Jeremiah 29:11-14  +  James 1:22-27  +  John 16:23-30

This Thursday we will celebrate Jesus’ ascension into heaven, forty days after He rose from the dead. But before Jesus ascended into heaven, He gave gifts to His disciples—lots of them. Paul says to the Ephesians: “When Christ ascended on high, He led captivity captive, And gave gifts to men.”

First and foremost—and really the foundation for all the other gifts—He gave Himself. Paul says in Eph. 5, “Christ loved the Church and gave Himself for her.” He Himself is God the Father’s gift to a world full of sinners that could never deserve for God to give His Son into our humanity and into death for us, who were His enemies. And yet He did it. He gave His life. For us. To pay for our sins and to earn forgiveness and God’s favor for us.

Then, He also gave the gift that actually connects us sinners to Him for the forgiveness of sins, the gift through which He gives us His life: Holy Baptism is Christ’s gift. As Paul goes on in Eph. 5, He gave Himself for her, “that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word.” With the waters of Holy Baptism, Christ gives the gift of His Holy Spirit. As Peter said on Pentecost, “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.” The Spirit, through Baptism, works forgiveness of sins, delivers from death and the devil and gives eternal life to all who believe this. Gifts!

Faith is a gift! Paul says in Eph. 2: “By grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.”

The Word of Christ itself is a gift! A gift that never passes away, though heaven and earth pass away. Faith only comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of Christ. And Christ left that word here on earth for us, so that each one here has every opportunity in the world to read, hear, learn and study God’s Word.

Pastors, ministers of the Gospel, are gifts from Christ to the Church. Paul says in Eph. 4, Christ Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ.

And just before the words of our Gospel today, Jesus had given a great gift to His disciples. On the night in which He was betrayed, Jesus gave the gift of the New Testament in His blood, the gift of the Sacrament of the Altar, His body and blood given to us Christians to eat and to drink, to seal to us the forgiveness of sins, life and salvation.

Our Gospel today speaks of yet another gift that Jesus gave to His disciples before He went away to the Father, a different kind of gift. He gave them—He gave us—the right to ask things of God, and more than that, the command to ask things of God, as well as the amazing promise that what we ask will be granted. He gave us the gift of prayer. Whatever you ask the Father in My name He will give you. Let’s take a moment this morning and consider what a great gift that was and is.

Most assuredly, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in My name He will give you…Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.

This is a most important gift, because we are truly needy creatures. First, we have bitter enemies in this world: the devil, the world, and our sinful flesh. And they are all more powerful than we are. They seek to destroy faith in Christ. They seek to separate you from God. They seek to silence the Word of God. Not a day goes by, not a moment goes by when you don’t need the Father’s protection and help against these enemies.

Then, aside from our enemies, there is the simple fact that we are not in control—not in control of our health, our future, the weather, the government, the actions of other people. Our actions may have some influence in those things, but ultimately, God is the One who decides whether the earth keeps spinning or not. And Jesus has given us Christians the gift of being able to approach our Father in heaven—the One who is in control—and ask for things which He has promised to grant.

To ask for things “in My name,” Jesus says. What does that mean?

First, Jesus tells us what it doesn’t mean. It doesn’t mean, He says, “that I shall pray the Father for you.” Now, you can pray to Jesus. But you shouldn’t pray to Jesus as if you couldn’t pray to the Father, as if you want Jesus to take your requests to the Father for you, because the Father is big and mean and scary and would never listen to you directly anyway. No, Jesus says. The Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me, and have believed that I came forth from God.

So, to pray in Jesus’ name means to ask the Father directly, as one who loves and believes in Jesus. That is the basis of a Christian prayer, a prayer in Jesus’ name. That you bring your requests before God the Father, not relying on anything you’ve done, but instead, with the name of Jesus on your lips, as one who has been baptized into the name of Christ. Hear me, Father, for the sake of Jesus, Your dear Son, and for His sake alone. Whether you say those words, or whether you simply believe those words, God knows.

And where He sees faith in Jesus, Jesus tells you, the Father loves you. He loves you because you have loved Jesus and believed in Him, that He came from God, that He has made satisfaction for your sins, that He is your Savior.  He loves you, not just because you exist, not just in the same way He loves all people, but in a special way, a fatherly way. You have a direct Father/son, Father/daughter relationship with God the Father through faith in Christ.

See, then, how useless are the, “God, I don’t know if you can hear me” prayers. If a person doesn’t know if God can hear him, if a person doesn’t know if God cares, then he clearly doesn’t believe in Jesus or in His promises and God won’t hear such prayers from unbelievers.

See also how useless are the, “God if You do this, then I’ll do that” prayers. That’s not praying in the name of Jesus. That’s praying in your own name, offering your own deeds to God. God will not hear such prayers.

See how useless it is to pray to the saints, as if you needed them to carry your petitions to the Father. Jesus says that you don’t even need Him to carry your petitions to the Father, but you can go to Him directly, through faith in Jesus.

Now, if God loves you, as Jesus says that He does, if God has invited you to pray in Jesus’ name and has promised to grant your prayers in His name, then see how foolish it is not to pray.

And what do you pray for in Jesus’ name? If you’re praying in Jesus’ name, you’re praying as Jesus prayed, and as Jesus has taught us to pray. Here the Lord’s Prayer serves, not only as a prayer that Christians are to pray, but as a model of prayer, so that you know what things Jesus would have you ask.

First, you pray to your Father, our Father, the Father of our Brother Jesus. And as one who loves Jesus, you also love God’s name, so you pray for God’s name to be hallowed—for His saving name to be holy through pure teaching of His Word, and through pure living on the part of those who bear the name of Christian. As those who love Jesus, you pray for God’s kingdom to come, for God to send out His Word and His Spirit to bring people into the kingdom of the Son He loves and to tear down the kingdom of Satan in the process.

Then, whatever requests you make, whatever godly desire of your heart, you pray as Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane, adding, “Thy will be done,” because you know that God’s will is always good and right, even when you don’t understand it, even when your flesh disagrees with it. You know God’s will is best.

You pray for daily bread and ask our Father to provide for the specific needs of your body, your family, and of others. A godly spouse for yourself one day, or for your children. Godly friends, a job through which God will continue, not only to provide daily bread for you, but that He may provide through you to others, to your church and to your church family, to the poor and needy.

You pray for forgiveness as you repent daily of your sins, and you pray for strength to beat down your Old Adam, to bring your flesh into submission.

You pray for God’s help in every temptation and for deliverance from every evil of body and soul, including the final deliverance of a believer’s death and of the blessed resurrection of the body.

Just about everything you could ask for in Jesus’ name falls somewhere among those petitions of the Lord’s Prayer, and Jesus has already promised that such prayers will be granted.

Cherish the gifts that Christ left behind for His Church before He ascended into heaven. But don’t just cherish them theoretically. Use them. His gifts aren’t for being admired up on a shelf. They’re for Christians to use. So use them. Use the Sacraments—those blessed gifts. Use the Word of God and take advantage of the opportunities God gives to read it and to hear it preached. Use the ministry of the pastor God has given you to learn and to grow in God’s grace and knowledge. And use this other gift, too, this gift of prayer that you can use anytime, anywhere. Your Father will hear, and your Father will help, because He loves you and has called you into fellowship with His beloved Son. Amen.

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The Helper convicts the world

Posted on May 18, 2014 by Rev. Paul Rydecki

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Sermon for Cantate – Fourth Sunday after Easter

Isaiah 12:1-6  +  James 1:16-21  +  John 16:5-15

Today, the Word of God before us, we are taught to sing for joy. And it has nothing to do with the tune. Maybe you liked the old tune we just sang in that hymn (“I Will Sing My Maker’s Praises”). Maybe not. Maybe you loved the poetry of that old Lutheran hymn writer, Paul Gerhardt. Maybe not. But you can’t argue with the content of his song as we sang in stanza after stanza of God’s great love that “abides for aye,” that remains forever.

God’s great love does abide for aye, but Jesus’ disciples, on the night in which He was betrayed, couldn’t fathom how God’s great love could abide for aye, if Jesus was going away, as He told them He was. He told them He was going away to the Father. And they felt sorrowful and sad and abandoned. But they wouldn’t be abandoned. We won’t be abandoned. Jesus assures us of that in today’s Gospel. On the contrary, Jesus’ departure to the Father was a good thing for us.

We can understand the sorrow of Jesus’ disciples. Where Jesus is, there is life and forgiveness and mercy to be had in abundance. Where Jesus is, there is divine truth and teaching and authority. Where Jesus is, there is peace and protection against every evil, even against the Evil One himself. Where Jesus is, there is access for sinners to God.  Where Jesus isn’t, there is no access, and no protection, and no truth, no heavenly authority, no divine teaching, no mercy, no forgiveness, no life.

Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away, Jesus told his disciples. How on earth can that be?  for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you.  Jesus’ departure doesn’t just refer to His ascension into heaven. It also includes the path He would walk before ascension day. He departed to His Father by way of the cross, and the tomb, and the resurrection from the dead. He departed to His Father, having fulfilled God’s Law for us, having shed His blood for the sins of the world, having crushed the devil’s head, having conquered sin and death for us.  By His merits, He earned forgiveness for sinners and eternal life. Truly His departure was to our advantage!

But God’s grace and favor and forgiveness are tied to Jesus. How would He distribute the treasures He had earned after He departed to the Father? He would send the Helper.

The Helper is the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth, the Third Person of the most holy Trinity. The Spirit of God was not a stranger to the world. He was active in the creation of the world. He had been the one inspiring every prophecy and every word of Scripture that had been written in the Old Testament. But now, Jesus would send Him to His Church with all the gifts Jesus would win on the cross. Now Jesus would send Him to His Church to reveal Jesus to the world and to empower the preaching of the Gospel—everywhere, all at once, when and where the Word of God is proclaimed in its truth and purity and the Sacraments are administered according to Christ’s institution.  The Helper brings Jesus to us with his mercy, peace, life, forgiveness, grace, protection and access to the Father.  And so God’s people sing for joy that Jesus has departed and has sent back to us His Holy Spirit.  No, it’s not the same as having Jesus here visibly.  But in a way, it really is better, at least until the Helper’s work is done.

And what is that work? Jesus tells us. And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: of sin, because they do not believe in Me; of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more; of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.

He will convict the world.  Notice, “He” will convict the world, not apart from the preaching of Christ’s apostles, but through it. It doesn’t say that we will convict the world, or that He will help us to convict the world. He will convict the world. Now, some will say, “A really good preacher can convict a lot of people.”  That may be true when it comes to earthly things, but when it comes to spiritual things, it’s an absolute lie.  Neither a preacher’s eloquence nor his level of sincerity nor his friendly personality will move people a hair’s breadth closer to Jesus.  Nor will his lack of those things prevent the Holy Spirit from doing His work. Some will say, “If you really engage the world, attract the world, impress the world, give the world some of what it wants, then you’ll convict the world.”  That’s a lie.  The Church is not called to “woo the world,” as a Lutheran pastor once put it. Our only calling is to proclaim the Gospel that was first proclaimed by the prophets and apostles and that has been passed down to us in Holy Scripture. The Holy Spirit alone convicts.

The Helper convicts the world through the weak and powerless mouth of Jesus’ apostles.  He chooses the weak things of this world to shame the strong, and the despised things to shame the noble things.  The Helper brings Jesus to the world in the humble message of Christ crucified and risen.

He will convict the world of sin, Jesus says, because they do not believe in me. What is sin?  Ask the world what sin is, ask a lot of Christians what sin is.  What will they say?  At best, they’ll agree that breaking some of the Ten Commandments is a sin, although most people aren’t even convinced of that anymore. When more than half of our country can’t even admit it’s a sin to kill a little baby in her mother’s womb, it’s pretty clear that the truth about sin has gone out the window.

What is sin?  Yes, it’s the abuse of drugs and alcohol; it’s disobedience to one’s parents and to those in authority. It’s murder and theft and sex outside of marriage, it’s homosexual behavior and unscriptural divorce.  It’s also greed and lust and hatred and bitterness and holding grudges.

But Jesus doesn’t mention any of these here.  What does He call sin?  “They do not believe in me.”  That is the chief sin, from which all other sins flow: not to believe in Jesus, the Son of God, the seat of God’s mercy. Because where there’s faith in Christ, he wipes out all sin.  Sin can’t exist where Christ is.  He forgives it all, because he paid for it all.  The righteousness of Christ cancels out all sin in those who believe in him.  Not to believe in Him is to reject God’s own Son, and God’s own plan of salvation. Not to believe in Him leaves a person guilty of everything.

He will convict the world…of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more.  The Holy Spirit convicts the world of righteousness, because the world seeks to create its own righteousness. Who would have thought?  That righteousness does not consist in giving to charity.  Righteousness does not consist in making lots of money or in nice and proper speech or in social justice.  Righteousness does not consist in a dedicated prayer life or in going to church.  Righteousness consists in Jesus Christ and Him crucified, buried, risen and gone to the Father and reigning at His right hand.  He is the world’s righteousness. But the world doesn’t want Him.

Righteousness ascended into heaven with Jesus. How, then, can God declare us down here on earth to be righteous? The answer is, the Holy Spirit brings the righteousness of Jesus to us in the world, and it is received by faith. Faith in the crucified, risen and ascended Christ is that righteousness that counts before God. And where there’s faith, then the heart that wasn’t able to do a single good work now produces good fruit as naturally as an apple tree produces apples, or a grapevine produces grapes.

Finally, He will convict the world of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.  What a horrifying message for the world: its prince, the devil, has already been judged. Judgment happens here and now.  The Spirit convicts and announces the judgment—condemnation for the devil and for all who are found in his kingdom. All false belief stands condemned.  All adding to or subtracting from the Scriptures stands condemned.  All the works of the world stand condemned.  Not by you or by me, but by the Spirit of God.

And as He convicts the world concerning judgment, His Word is always effective—it always produces some result.  Either people will be convicted and hardened in their unbelief, or they will be convicted and brought to repentance and faith in Christ Jesus in whom there is now no condemnation, no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, in whom there is no judgment or answering for sins, because His blood has already answered for sins and blotted them out for all who believe in Him.

This is the Spirit’s work.  This is the gift Jesus sent back to His disciples from heaven, and it is better than having Jesus here as He once was with His disciples. Because this way, by the help of the Helper, Jesus can be here with you today, with each one of you, and wherever His Word is preached and wherever baptismal waters are poured and wherever His body and blood are given to eat and to drink.

The Helper has brought Jesus to the world and will continue to bring Him until His work is done and the world is convicted and those who have been called out of the world to faith in Christ are brought safely home. You and I have never known Jesus in any other way than by the work of the Helper in the Gospel.  And if we can know Him and love Him here and now by the work of His Spirit, without seeing Him, just think of the joy there will be when we do see Him face to face.  If we sing for joy now, we will truly sing for joy then.  Amen.

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