The Spirit gives wonderful works.

Sermon for Pentecost, May 31, 2020

Grace, mercy, and peace be yours in abundance from God, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Acts 2:1-11  ¹ When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place.  ² Suddenly a sound like the rushing of a violent wind came from heaven, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting.  ³ They saw divided tongues that were like fire resting on each one of them.  ⁴ They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, since the Spirit was giving them the ability to speak fluently.  ⁵ Now there were godly Jewish men from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem.  ⁶ When this sound was heard, a crowd came together and was confused, because each one heard them speaking in his own language.  ⁷ They were completely baffled and said to each other, “Look, are not all these men who are speaking Galileans?  ⁸ Then how is it that each of us hears them speaking in his own native language?  ⁹ Parthians, Medes, and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, and of Judea, Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, ¹⁰ Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt, and the parts of Libya around Cyrene; visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes; ¹¹ Cretans and Arabs—we hear them declaring in our own languages the wonderful works of God.” (EHV)

The Spirit gives wonderful works.

I.    Miraculous signs

II.   Amazing faith

III.  Transformed lives

Dear friends of the living God,

            The first thing one might notice when reading this portion of God’s Word is the miraculous signs, but why do you suppose God chose to give those special gifts at that time?  We might find our answer by considering what the reaction of the crowds would have been without the signs.  Do you think many people would have paused to listen to ordinary fishermen and tax collectors if it was just them against the world?  Would anyone have listened if Peter and his fellow believers had just stood up in the city square and begun preaching?  The crowds attending the Pentecost festival had come to offer the first fruits of harvest to the Lord, not to hear some hicks from Galilee tell them about a Savior who had been convicted and crucified.

But then came the first sign: “Suddenly a sound like the rushing of a violent wind came from heaven, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting.”  Was this sound for the disciples’ benefit?  Certainly, but it was also for the benefit of the crowds—and for you and me as well.  As that unearthly sound was heard in the house where the disciples were gathered, the Holy Spirit was calling out to the people who were in Jerusalem for the Pentecost festival to come and see, and to hear the Good News of what the Lord has done for them and for all. 

The second sign given was the tongues of fire upon the disciples’ heads, fulfilling what John the Baptist had prophesied, “I baptize you with water.  But someone mightier than I is coming.  I am not worthy to untie the strap of his sandals.  He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.” (Luke 3:16)  This sign confirmed the arrival of the Holy Spirit Jesus had promised to send. (Acts 1:5)  Now, these tongues of fire alighted on every believer’s head in that house.  The Holy Spirit wasn’t given to some and not others.  He wasn’t sent only to the preachers, or only to the most faithful.  The Holy Spirit is sent to all believers.  In fact, we see that it is the Spirit who makes believers out of us poor sinners.

A third sign was given—one that too often gets outsized attention—the speaking in tongues.  Luke reports, “They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, since the Spirit was giving them the ability to speak fluently.”  Again, this gift was given to all of Jesus’ disciples.  It wasn’t limited to the twelve.  All of those gathered together to wait for the Spirit as Jesus had commanded began to speak as the Spirit gave them to speak.  It included the women.  It likely included the 120 who are earlier mentioned by Luke, all those people waiting for Jesus’ to give His Spirit were given the ability to speak in new tongues, just as the prophet Joel had foretold.

Notice, also, that this speaking in tongues wasn’t babble.  It wasn’t a made-up language no one understood, or some so-called “heavenly tongue” that needed to be interpreted.  Neither was it something the disciples had to figure out how to do.  The speaking in tongues given to the disciples was simply the very words of the Gospel that they were given the ability to speak in languages and dialects of the people they met on the street.  The Holy Spirit gave this ability to speak in new languages so that the Gospel message could be most quickly given to comfort people who needed to hear of the salvation Christ has won.  As Jesus’ followers went out from their meeting house, they were able to tell everyone this wonderful good news in clear words that sounded like music to the ears.  This signaled that Jesus’ disciples had been entrusted with God’s true Word.  What they were speaking didn’t come from men, but from God Himself, so we learn that The Spirit gives wonderful works of miraculous signs.

Yet, the Holy Spirit does far more than give miraculous signs—He works amazing faith.  That faith became evident, both, in how Jesus’ followers were now boldly proclaiming the good news and in the transformation of the crowds.  Did you catch the changes in Jesus’ disciples?  Consider what they had previously been.  Formerly, the disciples had been somewhat petty and seeking honor and power in this world.  Then, when Jesus was arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane, all of them ran away in a panic, and when they saw Jesus was crucified, they were afraid that they were also in danger, so they locked themselves away, hiding from the public view. 

When people sin, it is most common to want to hide.  We see that throughout the Bible.  Adam and Eve hid their shame beneath the tree leaves in the Garden of Eden.  Cain hid behind bluster and defiance when God questioned him about his brother’s murder.  When God was giving His Law from the top of the mountain, the children of Israel hid behind Moses crying, “Speak with us yourself, and we will listen, but do not let God speak with us, or we will die.” (Exodus 20:19)  David tried to hide his sin, and Jesus’ disciples continued the trend as they hid themselves in an upper room, afraid, embarrassed that they had run away from their Lord.

So, how do we hide when we feel our guilt?  Do we hide from God by staying away from His Word?  Do we hide behind excuses by blaming others for our sins, or for theirs?  Do we hide behind bluster, and start to question God and His actions in our lives, as Adam did when he accused God of fault for giving him the woman?  When we start hiding from God, we really are demonstrating that we are giving up our faith. 

But look at the amazing faith the Holy Spirit worked in the disciples.  Those men and women, who a few weeks earlier had hidden from everyone, now went out into the crowds of the Pentecost festival and began proclaiming all that the Holy Spirit gave them to speak.  They didn’t hold back any truth.  If we read a little further in the book of Acts, we see Peter accuse the people of killing their own Savior.  But then, the disciples preached the Good News that Jesus had died for their sins, too. 

With the Holy Spirit filling the disciples, fear was no longer an issue.  They now understood what Jesus had been telling them for the last three years: that His kingdom isn’t of this world but a heavenly realm, and Jesus gives citizenship in His kingdom to all who follow Him.  It was an amazing change in the disciple’s faith, and amazing faith came also to those who heard them preach.  Luke tells us the whole crowd were all confused and completely baffled at the signs that the Spirit was pouring out.  But notice, too, that the proclamation of the Good News led over three thousand souls to believe in Jesus that day.  They said, “We hear them speaking in our own tongues the wonderful works of God."

In this short phrase we see what God really intends by this day—that The Spirit gives Wonderful Works of amazing faith.  This wasn’t a magic show.  The disciples weren’t trying to impress anyone with their great speaking prowess or their ability to do miracles.  Rather, they were moved by the Holy Spirit to proclaim the truth of all that God has done for the salvation of the world.  The signs and the speaking in tongues emphasized that these were Jesus’ chosen eyewitnesses.

It truly is the gift of the Holy Spirit that anyone believes in Jesus.  God’s wonderful works include everything He has done for a sinful, disobedient, unfaithful people.  As you read the books of the Old Testament, you see the wickedness of man and the foibles and folly of the Israelites, but in their example, we see how we, so often too, go our own way abandoning the God who loves us and provides for us. 

As we observe the abuse of power and the looting and rioting so near to home this past week, we see again the depravity of man.  Without faith in the Savior God, society eventually breaks down into anarchy where no one is safe.  Thanks be to Jesus; The Spirit gives Wonderful Works.

Though no one on earth could ever deserve God’s mercy, He sent His Son to earn forgiveness for all people by living for us and dying on our behalf.  Daily God provides everything we need to sustain our bodies.  Daily He blesses the world with unearned providence.  But most important, even though all mankind was lost in sin and unbelief, God provided a Savior so that despite our sinfulness, He could be good and gracious as His Spirit gives wonderful works of transformed lives. 

In our text, Luke lists fifteen different nations to which the Jewish people had dispersed.  This gives us an example of how God wants His Word proclaimed to all people without regard to race, color, or background.  The people in the crowd that day said, "Parthians, Medes, and Elamites, residents of Mesopotamia, and of Judea, Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt, and the parts of Libya around Cyrene; visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes; Cretans and Arabs—we hear them declaring in our own languages the wonderful works of God."  God’s great work of salvation isn’t limited to the Children of Israel.  God sent His Holy Spirit on that Pentecost Day to proclaim that His salvation was for everyone on this earth. 

God’s grace for the world hasn’t changed.  Since that moment when the Holy Spirit was poured out on Jesus’ disciples, the Word has been spread from one corner of the world to another.  To this day the Holy Spirit continues to save Christians through His Word.  Through the gospel, the Holy Spirit builds faith in Jesus so that we no longer need fear what the world might do to us.  Safe in our Savior’s love, we don’t need to be afraid of what might happen when wicked people run wild, and we don’t need to fear what will come in the next world, either, because God has promised us a home that will last forever, a home where we will live with Him in perfect peace and love.  Furthermore, the Spirit works a change in our hearts, so that believing, we live to serve Christ in obedience to all of God’s will, and we strive to live in peace with our neighbors.

Because the Spirit gives wonderful works of transformed lives, we, as Jesus disciples, are moved to tell friends and neighbors of the great love and sacrifice of God’s Son, so that they, too, will know that all of their sins have been paid for and there is so much more ahead for those who believe than the highs and lows of this world.

Dear Christian friends, Jesus and the Father sent the Holy Spirit to give you the wonderful works of God: declaring the message of forgiveness through faith in Christ Jesus, showing miraculous signs of God’s forgiveness in the water of Baptism and the body and blood of the Lord’s Supper, giving you faith in the forgiveness that Jesus died to earn, and the salvation Jesus won for you and for all, the signs to confirm the truth of God’s Word, and a transformed life as you believe in Jesus as your only Savior.  By the works of the Spirit, your God shows that He loves you with an everlasting love.  He sent His Son to win your release from fear, from sin, and from death.  In the preaching of His Word, God sends His Spirit to give you wonderful works of signs, faith, and life.  May He sustain you to the end.  Amen.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, forevermore.  Amen. 

Let your whole life glorify Christ.

Sermon for Easter 7, Exaudi, May 24, 2020

To you the elect, temporary residents in the world,…who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, by the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to be obedient and to be sprinkled with the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace and peace be multiplied to you.  Amen.

1 Peter 4:7-11  ⁷ The end of all things is near.  So have sound judgment and be self-controlled for the sake of your prayers.  ⁸ Above all, love each other constantly, because love covers a multitude of sins.  ⁹ Be hospitable to one another without complaining.  ¹⁰ Serve one another, each according to the gift he has received, as good stewards of the many forms of God’s grace.  ¹¹ If anyone speaks, let him do it as one speaking the messages of God.  If anyone serves, let him do it as one serving with the strength God supplies so that God may be glorified in every way through Jesus Christ.  To him belong the glory and the power forever and ever.  Amen.  (EHV)

Let your whole life glorify Christ.

Dear fellow stewards of God’s grace,

            The opening words of Peter’s letter tell us that God chose us for obedience and to be cleansed by the blood of Christ.  Then, just before the words of our sermon text, Peter wrote of how sometime soon every person “will have to give an account to the one who is ready to judge the living and the dead.” (1 Peter 4:5)  Here, Peter warns, “the end of all things is near.”  Thus, as we draw closer to meeting our Judge, the Holy Spirit teaches us to Let your whole life glorify Christ.

Now, most likely, none of us will ever face a firing squad, or find ourselves mounted on a horse with a rope around our neck to be hung until dead, like in the old movie westerns.  In fact, if we should ever be in a predicament like that, we would have a good idea of how much time we had left, and the answer would be, “very little!”  Even this pandemic that has the whole world in turmoil isn’t likely to kill anyone without warning, but the truth is, none of us knows when our time will end, which is why Jesus warned His followers, “Be alert, because you do not know on what day your Lord is coming.” (Matthew 24:42)

We don’t know when we might be called from this life, nor does anyone know when Jesus will return to judge the world for all its wickedness.  Yet, the Lord doesn’t want us wasting the moments we are given.  God keeps His Church in this world so that the Gospel will be proclaimed and many more people may be brought into the kingdom of heaven, but that doesn’t mean we are all called, or well-equipped for public speaking—many of us are not.  Still, we must remember that “Actions speak louder than words!”  Certainly, we have all been reminded of that truth countless times in our lives.  The Holy Spirit tells us, through Peter, to live our lives as a constant testimony to the Savior who won our freedom from sin and death, so that in Letting your whole life glorify Christ, you proclaim the Lord’s salvation to a troubled world.

Peter tells us to “have sound judgment and be self-controlled for the sake of your prayers.”  The point is that our lives, our worship, and every interaction with God in our prayers is to be purposeful and led by a desire to accomplish His will.  We should make ample use of our time here on earth to bow before the Lord in confession of our sins, praising His mercy, trusting His gracious love that provides all things for us, and pleading on behalf of those who still need to hear what Jesus has done to save them.  Not asking just for material things but that we and all people be blessed by God’s Word.

Peter reminds us to take the blessing of prayer seriously.  God invites us to come to Him in every need.  He also wants us to be watching for every opportunity to pray for those around us.  Only the Holy Spirit can convert anyone to faith in Jesus.  Yet, we can and should pray for anyone and everyone who might yet hear the Good News.  Trusting that “The prayer of a righteous person is able to do much because it is effective,” (James 5:16), we can share God’s Word with lost and wandering souls and pray that the Holy Spirit opens their hearts to hear His Gospel and believe it.

Peter wrote, “Above all, love each other constantly, because love covers a multitude of sins.’”  There are likely times we struggle with this command.  Sure, we love our children, our grandchildren, and our friends.  We find it easy to love those people who like us and treat us well.  But do we, sometimes, struggle to love those who make our lives miserable?  Do you ever find yourself wanting to retaliate when someone treats you poorly?  Sometimes it can seem so hard to love, but notice that last phrase, “love covers a multitude of sins.” 

This is our salvation.  Christ’s love has already covered all of your sins.  All those times when we struggle to love—covered!  All those times when you forgot to pray for your neighbor—covered!  All those times when we neglected to lend a helping hand—covered!  Those times when you are frustrated by the authorities or obnoxious neighbors—covered!  All those times when you find yourself hating someone instead of loving and reaching out to the unlovable—covered by Jesus!

And that, dear friends, is simply amazing!  Every sin of the world has been covered by the blood Jesus shed on the cross.  Now that certainly doesn’t mean we are free to do anything we want.  It means we have been set free from the punishment we deserved for the sins we commit all the time. 

Back before the civil war, the law in our United States required that any slave who escaped from his master had to be returned to that slaveholder.  The master was even allowed to enter the free states to try to recover his runaway property.  Now consider this, with His holy life and sacrifice, Jesus purchased the freedom of every person on the face of the earth from the kidnapper and slaver who had held us in bondage.  Christ set us free and says, “Don’t go back.”  Jesus doesn’t want any of us to be returned to that evil slave-driver, nor does He want us to volunteer to serve that wicked foe, anymore.

The Almighty God has given His pure Word to set us free from the slavery of sin, death, and the devil, and in order that we can proclaim to the world what Jesus has done to rescue us and everyone, He continues to give us every good thing so that we can be His witnesses for freedom to a world still suffering in bondage to that evil tormentor known as Satan.

Jesus’ death on the cross paid for our release from the devil’s chains.  The truth is it paid for everyone else’s too.  So, if Jesus paid for everyone’s sins, wouldn’t it be marvelous to be able to share that good news with al others?  You know the answer—of course it is.  Even though we know that not everyone will believe us, we have the great joy of being able to carry Jesus’ Good News wherever we go, and our loving service is a living testimony until some hear the Gospel and believe.

The Holy Spirit tells us, “Be hospitable to one another without complaining.  Serve one another, each according to the gift he has received, as good stewards of the many forms of God’s grace.”  I have to admit, the Holy Spirit sure knows my weaknesses.  It is so easy to find myself grumbling when I have to do something extra or go out of my way for some jerk who couldn’t care less about me or the kind of day I’m having.  How about for you?  Do His words hit you, too?  Thanks be to Jesus, He covered all sins.

In addition to the great gift of forgiveness we have received, you and I are truly blessed when we are given the opportunity to be hospitable to someone else.  We each have been equipped with some “of the many forms of God’s grace,” in order to help others. God gives us the opportunity to be a blessing to others so that we can share His love with those who need it, and we all need it! 

The Holy Spirit gave us our marching orders when He had Peter write, “If anyone speaks, let him do it as one speaking the messages of God.  If anyone serves, let him do it as one serving with the strength God supplies.”  What is the message of your life?  None of us knows the hour God will call us home, but we all should live testifying with loving actions so that your whole life will glorify Christ.  In fact, that is how the world sees that we are God’s redeemed children.  No, we’re not earning any part of our salvation by doing so, but if we choose to follow any other path, we are giving ourselves back into bondage to that horrible thief who stole us from God in the first place.

A lot of times, we find ourselves worrying about what to say, or how to say it.  We don’t need to worry; our Lord will provide the way.  Jesus told His disciples, “You will be brought into the presence of governors and kings for my sake, as a testimony to them and to the Gentiles.  Whenever they hand you over, do not be worried about how you will respond or what you will say, because what you say will be given to you in that hour.  In fact, you will not be the ones speaking, but the Spirit of your Father will be speaking through you.” (Matthew 10:18-20)  Never fear.  When the Lord puts us into position to speak or to act, He puts His words on our tongues and the tools in our hands, so that what we know about Jesus becomes obvious to others, and God often gives us ample opportunity to share our faith with other people simply by the way our actions speak louder than words.

Therefore, when God puts someone in your life who gives you grief, learn to forgive and to help even that unlovable person, because we once were just as unlovable before the Lord loved us anyway.  When we find it takes extra effort to help someone, we need to remember how Jesus has helped us by taking the punishment and death we each deserved.  We remember the nails driven through His hands, the crown of thorns on His head, and that each one of us deserved all the torture and punishment He suffered, but because of Jesus, we won’t have to suffer the curse of hell, because He already suffered even that for you and me.

Dear Christian friends, we are to serve our Lord by serving the people of this world “so that God may be glorified in every way through Jesus Christ.  To him belong the glory and the power forever and ever.”  God glorified Himself through His Son who entered this world to save you and me, and God is glorified by every sinner who repents and believes in Jesus.  Nothing you can ever do will glorify God more than simply living in the true faith that Jesus died and rose again for you.  Jesus has been given all authority in heaven and on earth for the glory He brought to the Father with His perfect life and innocent death: all for you and me and every other person who ever lived or will live.  Nothing more is needed to make us right with God.

This sermon text may sound like a lot of law, but make sure you hear, as well, the Gospel that flows throughout it.  We serve the Lord, because of His great love for us.  We serve our neighbor, also, because of God’s great love for them and for us. 

I want to read a little bit from St. John’s Gospel before we close.  Jesus told His disciples:

This is my command: Love one another as I have loved you.  No one has greater love than this: that someone lays down his life for his friends.  You are my friends if you continue to do the things I instruct you.  I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know what his master is doing.  But I have called you friends, because everything that I heard from my Father, I have made known to you.  You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will endure, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. (John 15:12-16) 

Jesus obeyed His Father’s command to love the world with a holy life and His sacrifice on the cross.  By God’s grace, we are connected to Jesus by faith so that Christ’s command, and His holiness, become ours also.  The Holy Spirit made us Jesus’ friends by bringing us to faith in Him.  Because Jesus laid down His life for you and me, His death saved us from an eternity in the pit of hell.  Anything He asks of us here on earth is a marvelous trade in our favor.  Dear friends, your whole life is your testimony to Jesus’ amazing love.  Let your whole life glorify Christ.  Amen.

The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus unto life everlasting.  Amen.

The Holy One in His dwelling-place.

Sermon for Ascension, May 21, 2020

The God of love and peace will be with you all.  Amen.

Isaiah 57:15  ¹⁵ Certainly this is what the High and Lofty One says, the one who dwells with his people forever, and whose name is holy: I dwell in a high and holy place, yet also with the one who is crushed and lowly in spirit, in order to revive the spirit of those who have been pushed down, and to revive the hearts of those who have been crushed. (EHV)

The Holy One in His dwelling-place.

Dear friends in Christ,

            Sometime in your life, you may have experienced something so painful that you immediately wished Jesus would be here to help, heal, or protect you.  But, I ask you, is it not possible that we are much better off with Jesus in heaven?  Tonight, we will look to see who Isaiah is speaking of, where that Lofty One lives, and finally, what He does for us as the The Holy One in His dwelling-place. 

Isaiah does not hide who is proclaiming this message.  He declares, “Certainly this is what the High and Lofty One says, the one who dwells with his people forever, and whose name is holy.”  This can be none other than the Almighty Creator of the world who told His people, “I, the Lord, am holy, and I have distinguished you from the other peoples so that you belong to me.” (Leviticus 20:26)  This is the true God who demanded of Job, "Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?  Tell me, if you understand anything about it.” (Job 38:4) 

Now, the Bible is very clear that the One true God exists as One God in three persons.  Jesus said, “I and the Father are one." (John 10:30)  Jesus, also teaches us about the Trinity when He promises His disciples, “The Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, will teach you all things and remind you of everything I told you.” (John 14:26)  So, who is the “High and Lofty One, the one who dwells with his people forever, and whose name is holy”?  It can only be the Triune God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

The Almighty God affirms, here, that His name is holy.  We know that a person’s name is more than just the letters in the word; it is his whole reputation.  Therefore, God is telling us that every part of His reputation is holy, and we find God’s reputation in His Word.  In the Revelation of Jesus Christ, St. John saw a vision of the angels around God’s throne, calling out His name as “Day and night they never stop saying: "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come." (Revelation 4:8)  Thus our holy God created us and His Word is holy among us. 

Not only is God holy by definition, but He is perfectly holy in all His thoughts, words, actions and judgments.  The world does not want to believe that.  In our natural state, we were God’s enemies.  We didn’t want to be ruled or defined by someone so perfectly righteous, so even while acknowledging God’s existence, people naturally tend to follow the kidnapper’s lead as he pretends to control the world.  In rebellion, they question God’s actions, His motives, and even blame God for our troubles. 

As part of their rebellion, it is exceedingly normal for people, while they are still God’s enemies, to take all the credit for their successes and joys in this world as something they have accomplished themselves.  In foolish pride, the natural man even imagines he can save himself.  Sinful man has an inflated estimation of his own abilities and works, but lest we get too enamored of ourselves, God holds up His righteous standards, saying, “Be holy because I, the LORD your God, am holy.” (Leviticus 19:2)  Someday, we each must stand before God to be judged, and the end result is that anyone not dressed in perfect righteousness will cower in terror before the awesome holiness of the One who can destroy the heavens and earth with a simple command.

That being said, if all we knew about God was His perfect holiness, we too would forever cower in terror of His name.  Thankfully, Isaiah has told us a little more about The Holy One in His dwelling-place.  He wrote, “The High and Lofty One… dwells with his people forever.”  As we observe life around us, you and I see ongoing frailty and death, so we struggle to understand the concept of eternity.  Nothing in our world lasts very long.  Every creature on earth soon succumbs to the curse of death.  Though Moses was well-blessed in years, he was compelled to write, “The days of our lives add up to seventy years, or eighty years if we are strong.  Yet the best of them are trouble and sorrow, for they disappear quickly, and we fly away.” (Psalm 90:10)  God, on the other hand, lives in a completely different sphere.  In God’s home, life never ends, nor does He.  He is “the Alpha and the Omega…the Beginning and the End.” (Revelation 22:13)

Through Isaiah, God promises us that not only does He dwell in eternity, and high above you and me on earth, but He dwells “with the one who is crushed and lowly in spirit.”  About seven hundred years after Isaiah wrote this, Jesus told Judas, "If anyone loves me, he will hold on to my word.  My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.” (John 14:23)  Because God is perfectly holy and just, sinners must go through death, but God doesn’t leave His people there.  As the perfectly loving Father of all, God sent His Son to earth to suffer our death and become our salvation.  That’s really what brings us to the Ascension of our Lord Jesus: God’s perfect love and sacrifice for us which removed the curse of death from our eternal future.  You see, Jesus is Immanuel—God with us—it is through Jesus that God created us, by Jesus God saved us, and with Jesus we will live forever.

Many people may have wondered why our victorious Savior couldn’t remain here on earth after rising from the dead.  Yet, what conquering warrior would not return to his homeland after the battle is won?  What victorious king would not rule in triumph from his throne?  It’s no different with our Lord.  Jesus entered this world to win the victory over the malicious liar who had kidnapped God’s people.  With perfect obedience of all God’s will, and with the payment of His own life for the sins of the world, Jesus conquered the deceiver and everything he stood for.  Thus, with Jesus’ victory complete, the time had come for Him to return in triumph to where He could help His redeemed people the most—His home in heaven.

Though there might be times we wish Jesus was here on earth helping us, Jesus’ ascension to heaven shows how devoted He is to His most important work.  Isaiah explains: “To revive the spirit of those who have been pushed down, and to revive the hearts of those who have been crushed.”  Before He suffered and died for us, Jesus told His disciples, “I am telling you the truth: It is good for you that I go away.  For if I do not go away, the Counselor will not come to you.  But if I go, I will send him to you.” (John 16:7)  Jesus’ resurrection from the dead showed that our salvation is complete and we are no longer separated from God, so in His ascension to heaven, Jesus was not abandoning us to our fate.  Instead, by returning to His Father’s side to rule triumphantly for us, Jesus could promise His followers, “Surely I am with you always until the end of the age." (Matthew 28:20)

Ten days from today, we will celebrate the festival of Pentecost, which we commonly recognize as the birth of the New Testament Church.  In that festival we see the outcome of Jesus’ return to heaven.  At Pentecost, the Holy Spirit was poured out upon Christ’s followers, and from that outpouring of the Spirit, you and I have been blessed through the spread of Jesus’ Gospel.

Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to work the humility in us that recognizes that we can’t save ourselves.  On our own, we would have continued hoping to make ourselves right with our Creator, but the fear of death would always remain hanging over our heads.  Through the spread of God’s Word by those sent out to preach, you and I have been led to recognize our sinfulness before God, but also to know the hope we have in Jesus.  Apart from Him, we had no hope for life after this world.  Yet, through the Holy Spirit’s work in the Gospel of Christ’s salvation, you and I are lifted up in spirit.

Better than just feeling more spiritual, the Lord makes us alive, again, through the Spirit He sends.  The Holy Spirit promises that we are saved by faith which is given to us through His work.  In our Epistle lesson, we heard Jesus tell His disciples, “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses … to the ends of the earth." (Acts 1:8)  Though the disciples already believed in Jesus, they too needed the Spirit’s power to fully comprehend Christ’s salvation.  But when empowered by the Spirit, they rejoiced to go out telling the world about all that Jesus had done to conquer the devil and his evil partners.

Isaiah foretold that the Holy One would “revive the hearts of those who have been crushed.”  Once we are brought to our knees by the work of the law and the fear of condemnation, and when we finally recognize that we cannot please God on our own, then the Holy Spirit has us ready to hear of the salvation Jesus won for us all.  It is at that point that the Holy Spirit works through the Gospel to transform us from dead unbelievers into living souls that have a future.  Through the prophet Jeremiah, God promised His people, “I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to give you peace, not disaster, plans to give you hope and a future.” (Jeremiah 29:11) 

That future is given to us through faith in Jesus.  Peter wrote: “By his great mercy he gave us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.” (1 Peter 1:3)  Peter also assures us that “Through faith you are being protected by God’s power for the salvation that is ready to be revealed at the end of time.” (1 Peter 1:5) 

My friends, Jesus returned to heaven so that your salvation would be a sure and certain thing; first, so that He could send the Holy Spirit to work faith in you and me, and then, so that He could rule the creation to defend us against the temptations and dangers that are allowed to exist in this world until judgment day arrives.  Christ orders all things so that we are preserved in true faith unto the end.

As Jesus ascended to heaven, He showed us our future.  Two angels stood among the disciples with a question and a promise, "Men of Galilee, why are you standing here looking up into the sky?”  [And then the promise] “This same Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.” (Acts 1:11)  On the appointed day that only God knows, Jesus will return to take us to His everlasting home.  Jesus told His followers what the whole world will see on that Last Day: “Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky.  And at that time all the nations of the earth will mourn.  They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory.  He will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.” (Matthew 24:30-31)

Many people likely question why it is important for us to celebrate Christ’s Ascension.  An honest man will admit that there remains a lot of uncertainty in this world, and there are many things we struggle to understand.  At times, we too may wonder why we must journey through the troubles of life on earth.  Many also wonder why God still allows this sin-damaged world to continue, just as the martyrs pictured in the book of the Revelation cry out, “O Lord, holy and true, how long until you judge and exact justice for our blood from those who live on the earth?” (Revelation 6:20)  However, we celebrate Christ’s Ascension because of the joy, the confidence, and the sure hope of eternal life it brings to those who trust in Christ Jesus for forgiveness and salvation.

Isaiah, here, assures us that all we really need to know is that Jesus is still in control, that He is continually working for the salvation of all those whom God has chosen, and that even though we don’t see Jesus now, He dwells with us in His Word to give us life.  Jesus wants us to keep on working for His purpose too.  He wants us to continue trusting Him and to continue sharing His salvation with all we meet.  In Christian faith and thanksgiving for what He has done for us, we bow before His greater wisdom and His infinite mercy and grace.  We bow before The Holy One in His dwelling-place.  Amen.

How blessed is everyone who fears the LORD, everyone who is walking in his ways.  Amen.

Rejoice for prayer in Jesus’ name.

Sermon for Easter 6, May 17, 2020

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

John 16:23-30  ²³ In that day you will not ask me anything.  Amen, Amen, I tell you: Whatever you ask the Father in my name, he will give you.  ²⁴ Until now you have not asked for anything in my name.  Ask, and you will receive, so that your joy may be made complete.  ²⁵ “I have told you these things using figurative language.  A time is coming when I will no longer speak to you using figurative language, but I will tell you plainly about the Father.  ²⁶ In that day you will ask in my name, and I am not telling you that I will make requests of the Father on your behalf.  ²⁷ For the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God.  ²⁸ I came from the Father and have come into the world.  Now I am going to leave the world and go to the Father.”  ²⁹ “Yes!” his disciples said, “Now you are speaking plainly and not using figurative language.  ³⁰ Now we know that you know everything and do not need to have anyone ask you anything.  For this reason we believe that you came from God.” (EHV)

Rejoice for prayer in Jesus’ name.

Dear friends in Christ,

            The apostle Paul wrote from a prison cell, “Rejoice in the Lord always!  I will say it again: Rejoice!” (Philippians 4:4)  There hasn’t been a whole lot of rejoicing in our country of late.  Weddings have been postponed, graduation ceremonies cancelled, much of our way of life has been disrupted, and most of us can’t even visit our grandchildren and other loved ones.  Yet, as Christian believers, we have many reasons to be always rejoicing.  Here we learn to Rejoice for prayer in Jesus’ name.

Since at least the fifth century, the Christian Church has used the 6^th Sunday of the Easter season to rejoice for Christian prayer.  The Church follows this practice because prayer is such a great gift of God to all believers.  Regrettably, we are often lax in opening that gift of the Father.  So, never forget that Jesus promises His disciples that His Father will hear and answer their prayers. 

Now, the command to pray to God is certainly not new.  The Children of Israel had always known that they were supposed to turn to God for help, and they knew God had commanded them to offer sacrifices of thanks for His answered prayers.  However, they also always had to rely on an intermediary to carry those requests to God.  Jesus tells us, here, that from now on His followers can go directly to the Father and the Father will gladly and richly answer their prayers.  Jesus said, “In that day you will not ask me anything.  Amen, Amen, I tell you: Whatever you ask the Father in my name, he will give you.”

“Whatever you ask the Father in My name He will give you.”  What a wide-open promise!  All of our prayers to God will be heard and our every need will be filled.  You and I should never again be worried or afraid.  The troubles and hardships of this world should no longer bother us because all we must do is ask God in Jesus’ name, and whatever we want is ours, right? 

To answer that honestly, we need to understand what it means to pray in Jesus’ name.  Proverbs 28:9 says, “If anyone turns a deaf ear to the law, even his prayers are detestable.”  Passages like this can terrify us, and well they should.  God has no ear for the prayers of unbelievers who arrogantly refuse to repent of their sins.  But that’s not praying in Jesus’ name, is it?  

My friends, Jesus isn’t giving us a new law on how to pray.  Rather, He is assuring us that God is always faithful in answering the prayers of His children.  Proverbs 28 declares that “He who conceals his sins does not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them finds mercy.  Blessed is the man who always fears the LORD.” (Proverbs 28:13-14)  Jesus was assuring His followers that those who pray in His name will have their prayers heard and answered by the Father.  Yet, the question remains, “What does it mean to pray in Jesus’ name?” 

Experience tells us that we don’t always seem to get an immediate response to our prayers, so some might start to wonder: did I pray correctly?  Is God really listening?  Then, if it doesn’t seem like God is answering quickly, Satan tries to worm his way in and torment us with questions like: “Have you been faithful enough?  Does God hate you?”  And the devil accuses: “You must be too sinful for the Father to hear your prayers!”  At those times we might begin to wonder.  We might even start to accuse Jesus, saying, “You said the Father would give me what I want, well I’m waiting for that promise to come true!”  Does any of that sound like you? 

Jesus told His disciples, “Ask, and you will receive, so that your joy may be made complete.”  Our heavenly Father wants us to come to Him persistently.  So, I have to ask you, do you spend every moment of every day praying to the Father?  Do we always look to God first for every need, or want?  Do we always trust that our heavenly Father is already providing us with every good thing?  I can only speak for myself, but I know that I don’t always measure up to that standard.

It is for times when we feel weak that Jesus assures us: “The Father himself loves you, because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God.”  The Father doesn’t love us as a reward for believing in Jesus, and He doesn’t answer our prayers as a reward for using Jesus’ name.  Rather, our faith in Jesus shows that the Father has already loved us by bringing us to faith in Christ, just as John wrote saying, “We love because He first loved us.” (1 John 4:19) 

To pray in Jesus’ name means that we confess our sins before God and trust in His mercy for Jesus’ sake.  As we live in God’s grace, we trust that God is answering every one of our prayers in the way that He knows is best for us.  We leave all doubt behind as we trust His gracious goodness for Jesus’ sake.  To ask in Jesus’ name means that we never turn aside from trusting Him, but spend every moment confident that the Father gives us everything we need for this life and the next. 

To pray in Jesus’ name isn’t about just adding that phrase to our prayers.  It means that the Holy Spirit has given us faith in Jesus as our Lord and Savior.  When Jesus told the disciples to pray in His name, He was promising that His work for the human race would restore the family relationship with the Father that Adam had long ago lost.  When we pray in Jesus’ name, we are trusting in all that the Bible says about Him.  Because of Jesus’ saving work, you and I can, again, go to the Father with full confidence, because He made us His dear children at our baptisms, and out of love for us, He hears our prayers and gives us whatever we need. 

To pray in Jesus’ name means that we recognize our natural sinful condition.  It means that, in faith, we repent of our sins, turn away from them, and trust the only source of forgiveness which is God’s only begotten Son, who lived for us and died on the cross to take away all of our sins, even our sins of doubt and our sins of slowness to use that wonderful gift of prayer.  It means that trusting in Jesus, alone, for our salvation, and putting no hope in anything but Him, we then pray with all confidence that the Triune God will deliver what He promises. 

Rejoice for prayer in Jesus’ name, because when we put all of our trust in Christ and His Father, then the Father will provide for us better than we even know what to ask for, and faith assures us that we can never ask for anything better than what the Father knows we need and wants to give us.  Therefore, in every request the believer lays before the Father, he prays as Jesus did in the Garden of Gethsemane, saying, “Yet not what I will, but what you will.” (Mark 14:36)  And, the Father answers exactly as we need.

“Ask, and you will receive, so that your joy may be made complete.”  Our Lord Jesus urges us to keep on asking our Father for everything we could ever want or need.  The prayers of believers go up to God as a sweet smelling offering to Him, because true prayer shows that we trust Him in all things.  Yes, we are frail and weak.  Yes, we sometimes find ourselves doubting and worrying and wondering what will happen next, but Jesus died on the cross to pay for those sins.  When Jesus made these promises to the disciples, He was looking forward to His complete accomplishment of our salvation.  He was looking forward to that moment when He could say, “It is finished.”

Jesus’ disciples responded to His encouragement by saying, " Now we know that you know everything and do not need to have anyone ask you anything.  For this reason we believe that you came from God."  You and I should have that same confidence.  Jesus proceeds from the Father from eternity.  He is true God, begotten of the Father.  Jesus came down to this earth to win our salvation, and after winning our salvation, Jesus returned to the Father not in defeat, as the world might think, but in overwhelming victory.  Jesus rose from the grave to show the world that sin, death and Satan have been conquered, and forgiveness and salvation is now available through faith in Christ.

The disciples said that Jesus needed no one to question His authority.  Those who believe and trust in Jesus don’t worry about what the world thinks.  Nor does the believer listen to Satan as he tempts us to doubt.  The Holy Spirit has given Christians faith in Jesus, and even if all the world should turn against us, we hold onto these truths: that Jesus is from the Father, that He has won your forgiveness, your salvation is an accomplished fact, and you and I have an eternal home in heaven.

Dear Christian friends, we live in a world that will continually try to lead us away from the promise Jesus gives here.  No doubt, Satan will try to get you to doubt that God is listening to you.  Rejoice for prayer in Jesus’ name.  Hold onto Jesus’ promises.  Live your life praying in Jesus’ name, trusting that everything He said is true, and that everything Jesus did accomplished your full and free forgiveness and salvation.  It is in that faith that all your prayers will be answered.  When you live trusting in Jesus and praying in confidence to the Father, your joy will be full, just as Jesus promised.  Even if you have to suffer in this world, the joy that follows will be everlasting, making the troubles of this world look pretty small.

Jesus said, “I have told you these things using figurative language.  A time is coming when I will no longer speak to you using figurative language, but I will tell you plainly about the Father.  In that day you will ask in my name, and I am not telling you that I will make requests of the Father on your behalf.  For the Father himself loves you.”  Full understanding of what Jesus promised was withheld from the disciples that day, but later, Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to make their understanding complete. 

You and I have likewise been blessed by the Holy Spirit as He brought us to faith in Jesus through the application of the Gospel.  St. Paul wrote, “Faith comes from hearing the message, and the message comes through the word of Christ.” (Romans 10:17)  The Holy Spirit, working through Jesus’ Gospel, is what brings us together here this morning.  That same Holy Spirit will keep us praying in Jesus’ name as long as we continue to heed His Word.

My friends, Jesus told Peter that “the gates of Hades will not overcome” (Matthew 16:18) Peter’s confession of faith, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." (Matthew 16:16)  Hold on to that confession and to all of Jesus’ promises.  Trust everything the Bible teaches about Him.  In Jesus’ name, live your faith and pray with your whole life.  Rejoice for prayer in Jesus’ name.  Amen.

Now may the Lord of peace Himself give you peace, always, in every way.  The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.  Amen.