Father, Son, Holy Spirit, One God - June 15, 2014 -Holy Trinity - Text: Acts 2:14a, 22-36

This morning we have a guest preacher. As the first verse of our text tells us, “Peter, standing with the eleven, lifted up his voice and addressed the them...” With these words Luke, the writer of the Acts of the Apostles, draws our attention to who is speaking in our text. Thus, this morning we celebrate Holy Trinity Sunday by hearing Peter preach his Easter sermon.
 

Before we get to Peter’s sermon, and because today we are celebrating Holy Trinity Sunday, we want to first, for a moment, look at the trinity of God as revealed in Holy Scripture. In our Old Testament reading for this morning we have the account of the creation of the world. In this account we will make note that the term God, “el” is in the Hebrew a plural “elohim” in other words, in Genesis we are given that we worship a plural God. Now understand, we do not worship many gods, plural, that is we are not polytheistic, but we worship one God, that is we are monotheistic. We worship one God who has a plural identity. Also, note from Genesis that the “Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the earth.” So, at the very creation of the world we understand that God, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit were all present. In our Gospel reading for today we have Jesus giving what we call the Great Commission, or what I would better describe as the great giving of authority and the great promise. In His words Jesus explains to us more of the nature of God, that is He tells us that God is “Father, Son, and Holy Spirit” God is one God and three persons. And, as we confessed in the Athanasian Creed this morning, the three persons of our one God are undivided and unconfused, even if we may not completely understand him. If you listened closely to the children’s message, I believe the little book I read is one of the best illustrations to help even us adults in understanding the trinity of our God.
 

Now, moving to our text, Peter addresses the congregation, not with the words that we are used to hearing, “grace, mercy and peace be multiplied unto you from God our Father. . .,” but with the words “men of Israel.” Might I remind you that by faith in Jesus we are children of Abraham, thus we are a part of the children of Israel and rightly we would imagine that Peter is addressing us this morning. Peter begins with Jesus, His life and death. Jesus was a human being and He was God. And we might well add that Jesus is still a human being and He is still God. Jesus did signs, wonders, and miracles as “proof” of His divinity or His God-ness. In his Gospel, John continually points to Jesus’ signs and works of might, His wonders and miracles as “proof” of His divinity. Continually we hear of Jesus forgiving sins and healing. The Pharisees would always balk at Jesus’ announcement of forgiveness saying that only God can forgive sins. Then to show that He was God, Jesus would heal the person, because they also believed that only God could heal. Thus, if Jesus could heal, then He was God and if He was God, then He could also forgive sins. We might get bogged down in their logic, but we have the advantage of being able to look back at these events and as we have witnessed Jesus’ life, death and resurrection and we know that He is the Messiah.
 

Peter reminds us that Jesus was born according to God’s set purpose and foreknowledge. Jesus was born just as God told us in the promises of the Bible. Immediately after Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden, God promised to send a Savior. In Hebrew the word is a Messiah and in Greek the word is a Christ, thus we have the beginning of the Holy Christian Church. God reiterated that promise to Abraham, to Isaac, to Jacob, to Moses and to many more throughout the history of the children of Israel, not as a new covenant, but narrowing the family line through which the Christ would be born. Jesus was born in order that He might fulfill all of the promises of God in Holy Scripture. The fullness of the Gospel is this fact that Jesus lived perfectly for us in our place.
 

And now Peter gets personal. You know how it is, you do not mind if I, as your pastor, preach about sin, as long as I do not preach about your sin because when I preach about your sin then I am getting personal and I am getting nosey, or I am meddling. But it is okay if I preach about the sin of the person sitting next to you. Peter gets personal. He points the finger and his finger is pointing through time to us. About Jesus he says, “you crucified and killed [Him] by the hands of lawless men” (v. 23b). Jesus was put to death by human hands, the human hands of the listeners, our human hands. It was because of our sins that Jesus had to give His life. It was because of our sins of greed, envy, selfishness, gluttony, idolatry, cursing, swearing, irregular worship and devotion life, refusal of God’s gifts, name calling, lust, begrudging others, gossip, coveting and the like.
 

But the good news is that Jesus did not stay dead. I remember talking to a group of children one morning during chapel service, not here, but elsewhere. We were talking about Jesus dying on the cross. Of course, I never like to leave the children, or anyone for that matter, with Jesus being dead. I always like to end on the good news. And so I said, “but Jesus did not stay dead, He rose from the dead.” And one of the children, whom I would guess had never heard the story, said, “Nuh uh!” And of course I answered, “Uh huh!” Eight weeks ago we came to celebrate Jesus’ resurrection. Last week we came and celebrated the sending of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost Sunday. Today is Holy Trinity Sunday and for the next twenty-four Sundays we will be in the Pentecost Season, yet we will not stop celebrating. We will continue to celebrate Jesus’ resurrection. That is why we worship on Sunday, because each Sunday is a mini Easter celebration. We come to worship, not a dead God, but a living God. Jesus did rise from the dead, just as God promised. Jesus resurrection’ was not something that should have been a surprise to the children of Israel and it should not be a surprise to us. His resurrection was predicted by King David as Peter points out by quoting from Psalm 16.
 

Peter quotes David who was glad that, although he would die, he knew he had eternal life. He knew that although he would die, his body would be resurrected. And He predicted that Jesus’ own body would not see decay, because He would rise on the third day. Of course there are many other passages of Holy Scripture that Peter could have quoted, but this is the one he quotes for us this morning. Jesus’ resurrection was not something about which it was not known that it would happen. God said it would happen, He promised it would happen. He reiterated His promise time and again through the prophets of the Bible. Unfortunately, many people missed it. Many people were like the Pharisees and teacher of the law and even Jesus’ own disciples who had misinterpreted the promises of old and who had come to look for and believe that the Messiah would be an earthly King. Peter quotes the words of King David, given to Him by God, which are a clear testimony and promise that the Messiah would come and die, yet His body would not see decay, because God would not allow that to happen and because He did not stay dead, but rose from the dead. David is certain and we can be certain that because Jesus rose, bodily rose, we too will rise again. Death and the grave have no power over us.
 

Peter’s sermon are words that remind us that he was a witness to these events. He was with Jesus throughout His three years of ministry, His perfect life and His death. He was one of the chosen twelve who were Jesus’ apostles. Just as David died and was buried and his tomb is “here today” as Peter says, so he was a witness of Jesus’ death on the cross and he was a witness of Jesus’ resurrection. Peter says they are the same, he has witnessed David’s tomb, it is a real thing and he witnessed Jesus’ life, His ministry and preaching, His death, and His resurrection. And it was not just once that Peter saw Jesus alive after His resurrection, but several times. Between His resurrection and His ascension, forty days after Easter, Jesus showed Himself many times to His disciples and to many others.
 

Peter is preaching to a crowd of people who know what he is talking about because they were a part of these events. They saw Jesus, they heard Him preach, they were healed by Him, they saw Him suffer and die on the cross, it may be that some of them were the ones in the crowd who praised Him as He came triumphantly into Jerusalem and even some who shouted for His crucifixion at His trial. And it could be that some of them had even seen Jesus after His resurrection.
 

Peter preaches succinctly, these are the facts! Peter comes to us this morning and preaches just as succinctly, these are the facts.
 

What does this mean for us today? It means that we can have confidence in our faith in Jesus. We rest assured that Jesus is who He says He is and that He is who the Bible says He is, that is, He is the Messiah, the Christ, the Savior of the world, your Savior and mine. We make use of the Bible just as Peter did. We go back to the promises of the Old Testament and see how they have all been fulfilled in Jesus, in His life, in His death, and in His resurrection.
 

We have confidence in our certainty of forgiveness. Because Jesus gave His life for ours, because Jesus died the eternal spiritual death penalty for us in our place, because of all that Jesus has done, we have forgiveness of sins. The price of our sins which is death, eternal spiritual death (the wages of sin is death), has been paid. Our sins have been forgiven, cast away as far as the east is from the west, so far have they been removed from us.
 

We have confidence in our certainty of eternal life. Heaven is ours, now. It is a present reality. Heaven is a gift, given to us by Jesus who earned it for us. Because Jesus rose from the dead we know that we too will rise again.
 

This morning we want to thank Peter for his words of confidence and assurance to us. We thank Peter for reminding us that Jesus fulfilled all things. We might summarize the message we heard this morning with the words of the explanation to the second article of the Apostles’ Creed, “I believe that Jesus Christ, true God, begotten of the Father from eternity, and also true man, born of the Virgin Mary, is my Lord, who has redeemed me, a lost and condemned person, purchased and won me from all sins, from death, and from the power of the devil; not with gold or silver, but with His holy, precious blood and with His innocent suffering and death, that I may be His own and live under Him in His kingdom and serve Him in everlasting righteousness, innocence, and blessedness,  just as He is risen from the dead, lives and reigns to all eternity. This is most certainly true.” To God be the glory. Amen.

The Gift of the Holy Spirit - June 8, 2014 - The Day of Pentecost - Text: Acts 2:1-21

Not too long after the flood waters had subsided, Noah and his family, his three sons and their wives began repopulating the earth. By the time we get to the chapter eleven of Genesis, just two chapters after the flood, the world has already begun crumbling back to its old sinful self. And then we get to the account of the tower of Babel. Remember the Tower of Babel? The people of the world were working to make a name for themselves, that is a nice way of saying they were perceiving themselves as being their own gods and goddesses. Instead of spreading out and filling the world, as the Lord had commanded, they stayed in one place, looking to make a name for themselves. The Lord’s response was quick and sure. He came down and He confused their languages and from there the people were scattered, as He told them to do in the first place, and from there we have the initiation of the various cultures which are present in our world today. And understand, these are not races as proposed by the religion of evolution, but cultures and people groups. Cultures which came about as the people of each language took certain dominate genetics with them to the various countries of the world.
 

Today we celebrate the Day of Pentecost. The day of Pentecost was fifty days after Jesus’ resurrection and ten days after His ascension. Also, in the year of Jesus’ death and resurrection, this day coincided with the Jewish festival of Pentecost which was not unlike our Thanksgiving celebration. This day, that is the day of the giving of the Holy Spirit, is called, by some, the undoing of the day of the confusing of the tongues at the tower of Babel. The day of Pentecost was celebrated by the children of Israel as the harvest festival. This was the second great Jewish festival.
 

Because this was an important festival, Jews came to Jerusalem on pilgrimage from around the world to celebrate. I certainly believe that this, too, was a part of God’s plan, that His death and resurrection corresponded to this day, which He has now given to us as a day of celebration of the sending of the Holy Spirit. Because this was an important Israelite holiday, there were many Jews in Jerusalem and many who spoke different languages.
 

So, what happened at the giving of the Holy Spirit? Luke outlines the visible phenomena. He says that they heard a great wind. I guess that makes sense, because you cannot see wind, but we certainly know how, when a big storm arises, we can hear the wind and we can see the branches and bushes as the wind blows them. Luke describes the wind as a “mighty rush of wind.” And he says, “it filled the entire house where they were sitting.” So, this was not some natural phenomena that was occurring outside, but this was a supernatural phenomena that was happening in the house where they had gathered.
 

Next Luke tells us that “divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them.” This fire is an image of divine presence, thus they knew that this was something from the Lord. The tongues appeared, certainly as a metaphor, symbolizing what was about to happen next, namely the speaking in tongues, or the languages of the people who had gathered and were present in Jerusalem from the various parts of the world.
 

Which brings us to Luke telling us that they “began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.” This gift of tongues was not simply a babbling as some would think of speaking in tongues in our modern world. This gift of tongues was indeed the gift of languages, that is these disciples, these uneducated men were now, without any formal training, able to speak in languages or literally in the dialects of which they were not able to speak in before. Thus, at the tower of Babel the languages of the people were confused, so now the Lord gives the ability to speak in the languages of all the people, indeed an undoing of the tower of Babel.
 

Luke outlines the visible phenomena and then he explains the invisible phenomena. How is all this happening? All of this is happening as a gift of the Holy Spirit. God is directing these doings. God is giving the gifts and the disciples and the people are being given to. This is what Jesus promised to His disciples just ten days earlier at His ascension when He told them to wait in Jerusalem until the coming of the Holy Spirit.
 

Why is this day and the giving of the Holy Spirit important? Why is the ability to speak in other languages important? Because all these pilgrims to Jerusalem would be able to hear the Gospel message, the message of Jesus’ death and resurrection and then they would be able to take that message back to the people of their homes and share the message with them. It is the same in our churches each and every Sunday. It is so important that we regularly and rightly hear the message of law, of our sins, our sins of thought, word and deed, our sins of omission, not doing what we are supposed to be doing and our sins of commission, doing what we are supposed to be doing. It is so important that we understand our role, our part in putting Jesus on the cross, that is that He died for you and for me. It is so important that we hear the law so that we might hear the Gospel, the Good news of Jesus’ life, suffering, death and resurrection for us, in our place so that we are assured of our own forgiveness and our eternal salvation. The sending of the Holy Spirit today is just as important as at the first Pentecost.
 

Again, the first Pentecost is what some refer to as the reversal of the tower of Babel. At the tower of Babel the languages were confused and people moved to the various places around the world. Unfortunately many of the fathers failed to share the message with their children and so, many were lost because they no longer had the message or heard the message. Now, there is a new opportunity for the message to be heard.
 

The day of Pentecost is also important, especially for the Apostles and disciples of Jesus, because at the giving of the Holy Spirit, God now gives a complete understanding of the events of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection. Remember, before Jesus’ death, whenever Jesus spoke about death and dying, His disciples did not understand. Now they have a complete understanding.
 

And so, they are also given boldness. Now that they understand the purpose of Jesus’ life, that is that He lived for them and for us. Now that they understand the purpose of Jesus’ death, that He died for them and for us. Now that they understand His resurrection, that He is and remains a living God, watching over, ruling over, and interceding for them and us. Now that they understand that He has sent the Holy Spirit so that He is with them and us, even to the end of the world. Now they no longer need to fear. They no longer need to be afraid of the Pharisees, or the teachers of the law, or the Romans, or anyone. Now they may freely, with all boldness and confidence, go out and proclaim the message of salvation, by grace, through faith, in Jesus Christ alone.
 

What does this mean for us today? Today we continue to celebrate Pentecost and the giving of the Holy Spirit. We celebrate that the Holy Spirit continues to come to us today. Today He comes to us through means and in particular through the means of grace, the Word, that is the Bible and the Sacraments, that is, Holy Baptism and the Lord’s Supper as well as through Confession and Absolution. Through these very means our Lord comes to us to give us the good gifts and blessings He has to give.
 

And what are those good gifts and blessings our Lord has to give to us? Through these means of grace the Holy Spirit gives, strengthens and keeps in faith. Through these means of grace the Holy Spirit gives forgiveness, life and salvation. Our Lord’s usual way of coming to us today is not to come to us directly. In other words, in Jesus’ day and immediately following His resurrection, ascension and the sending of the Holy Spirit, Jesus continued for a short time, coming directly through His apostles and disciples so that His Word through them might be confirmed as just and right and true. As time moved on and the days of the apostles ended, our Lord decreased His immediate activity among us. Even though our Lord may choose to come to us directly today, that is not His usual way of coming to us. Today His usual way of coming to us is to come through means namely through the means of grace. Thus, we see the importance of making regular and diligent use of these means. In other words, to make regular use of the means of grace means to be in worship as often as worship is offered. To be diligent in use of the means of grace means to pay attention to the proclamation of the Gospel. To make regular use of the means of grace means to personally, daily, read the word of God or hear it read, to have personal and family devotions. To be diligent about these means of grace means, again, to pay attention to that Word. To make regular use of the means of grace means to daily remember your baptism and how at your baptism the Lord washed you and put His name on you. He forgave you, He wrote your name in the book of Life. To make regular use of the means of grace means to hunger and thirst for the Lord and to come to His Table to eat and drink His body and blood at His holy supper. For, to absent ourselves from these means takes away the means through which our Lord comes to gives us His good gifts and blessings. To absent ourselves from these means would be like refusing gifts at your birthday or at Christmas. To absent ourselves from these means, to not desire them intimates a lack of or a weak faith indeed. Thus, we certainly see the importance of these means of grace.
 

But, not only does the Holy Spirit give us individual gifts, faith, forgiveness, earned by Jesus suffering and death on the cross, life and salvation. The Holy Spirit also gives gifts to the Church, that is, the Holy Spirit gives the Church, His Holy Christian Church, all that it needs to be His Church here on this earth.
 

And finally, the Holy Spirit also continues to give us boldness. Our nature is certainly not the nature of our Lord. Our nature is to sin. Our nature is not to make use of the means of grace. Our nature is not to acknowledge our Lord. And so, our Lord takes care of this weakness in us as well. For the Holy Spirit works in us and through us to, with all boldness and confidence, respond to all our Lord has done, all He does and all He will continue to do for us, by living lives of faith as He would have us to live. And yet, even here we fail and so He must continue working in and through us. Notice again, our focus is always back on our Lord who gives all and does all.
 

Today we celebrate Pentecost. We celebrate the giving of the Holy Spirit, whom Jesus continues to send today. We celebrate that the Holy Spirit also points to Christ, who has taken care of everything for us, namely our forgiveness, life and salvation. We celebrate that the Holy Spirit works in us to give us, strengthen us and keep us in faith. We celebrate that the Holy Spirit works in us to respond to the faith given by moving in us, stirring in us, working in and through us to believe the message of Jesus Christ alone for our salvation, to live that message in our lives, and to speak words of thanks and praise to our Lord for all that He does for us. Yes, to Him be the glory for Jesus’ sake. Amen.