Our text for this afternoon is John 12:20-26, especially verse 21b: “20Now among those who went up to worship at the feast were some Greeks. 21So these came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and asked him, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” 22Philip went and told Andrew; Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. 23And Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. 24Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. 25Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. 26If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.” This is our text.
In the name of Jesus, Amen.
What a privilege to be invited here for this wonderful occasion. Thank you so very much. Although I know I am speaking to a wonderful gathering of Christian brothers and sisters, I want to begin my remarks to you as I do to the various other groups I am privileged to work with and speak too, namely my daughters American Heritage Girls troop and my sons Trail Life USA troop. I get to serve as chaplain and shepherd at the Baptist Church and the Catholic Church. Little do they know that I am attempting to make Lutherans out of them all.
Our text for this afternoon speaks well of the remarks with which I always begin, namely, “We wish to see Jesus.” So, I ask, and I am asking rhetorically, “To whom or what does the term B.C. on a time line refer or point?” “To whom or what does the term A.D. on a time line refer or point?” “To whom or what does the term Old Testament refer or point?” And “to whom or what does the term New Testament refer or point?” And of course the answer to all of these questions is that they all point us to Jesus. So, I conclude, we get it right when we point to Jesus. In our text, Philip got it right. He pointed the Greeks to Jesus.
One of the difficulties we have in our world today is that we would rather not point to Jesus. We would rather point to ourselves. We would rather elevate our own reason above what God says in His Word, that is rather than point to Jesus we would rather point to ourselves. One example and perhaps you have heard it said before are the statements, “God said it, I believe it, that settles it.” Notice my sticking myself and my reason and belief or mis-belief in the equation “I believe it.” Actually, God said it and that settles it. Point to Jesus.
Why do you suppose we have so many different religions and denominations in the world. Because we do not like what God says and would rather believe what we want to believe. We want to impose ourselves, our human, that is our fallible, sinful human reason on what God says. We want to see something other than Jesus. We would rather something block our view of Jesus.
This afternoon we are installing a man, a sinful man, into the Office of Holy Ministry here in this place. I know Pastor LeBlanc is a sinful man because I am a sinful man and we were in high school youth group together. Interestingly enough, and I say this tongue in cheek as it were, this is the third installation service for him that I have attended. I pray this one sticks. A little humor there. Anyway, we are installing a sinful man into the Office of Holy Ministry. Which makes me sometimes wonder if God knows what He is doing. Of course, what other choice does God have because we are all sinful human beings? Yes, we are installing a sinful man into the Office because God has called him through you to point you to Jesus. God has called him through you to rightly preach the Gospel, rightly administer the Sacraments, to forgive and retain sins, to visit the sick and the shut-in, to point you to Jesus so that by your being filled with Jesus, so that as you are going about living your life in your various vocations you will be ready so that when you are asked you will be able to give others an answer, a defense, of your faith in Jesus. And you will be able to do that because God has given you the authority to speak for Him, He has given you the promise to be with you and to give to you the very words you will need to give an answer. We get it right when we point to Jesus.
I love being Lutheran. Really, I do. For the past number of years I have had the opportunity and privilege to present a sectional at the Higher Things Youth Gathering on Why I am Lutheran and I get to extol the virtues of being Lutheran. It is great to be Lutheran because we get it right because we point to Jesus and we never let anything get in our way of pointing to Jesus. Lutheran doctrine, that is what we believe, teach and confess is always clear in Lutheran practice, that is in the way we live as Lutherans. So, our lives begin in the Divine Service which teaches our faith and our faith informs our Divine Service. Even our church building is built according to our Lutheran faith. And it too points to Jesus.
When we walk into this facility, this church building the first thing we see is the cross. The building points us to Jesus. When we begin our Divine Service we do so with the invocation, a reminder of our Baptism and entrance into the Church, Jesus putting His name on us with the voice of the called Pastor and water with his hands. We look and we see the Baptismal font, Jesus comes to us through Holy Baptism. Our church building and our Divine Service are Lutheran, they point us to Jesus.
Next, in our Divine Service, we confess our sins and we hear the most beautiful words we can hear. Yes, through the mouth of the sinful pastor God speaks and does what He speaks, He forgives our sins. And because it is God’s Word we know that His words does what it says and gives the gifts He speaks, we know our sins are forgiven. We are pointed to Jesus.
As the service continues we hear the very word of God read by our called and Ordained Pastor, as if God Himself were speaking His Word to us. And then, from the pulpit we hear him preach and expound in Law and Gospel those very words. Jesus comes to us through the Word of God. And notice it is the Divinely Called Pastor who has been called to read and speak to us the Word of God and point us to Jesus. As disciples of Jesus we are called to come to the Divine Service and be given to so that we might read, learn and take to heart these very words of Jesus read and spoken to us by the Pastor. We are pointed to Jesus.
And the Jesus we are pointed to is the Jesus who is glorified in His death and resurrection. The price for sin was set in the Garden of Eden, death, hell. God’s command to be perfect was never rescinded. The only way to heaven is perfection and we cannot be perfect. So, God took care of that for us as well. The fullness of the Gospel is not simply Jesus’ death and resurrection but the fact that He lived the perfect life demanded of us for us in our place because we cannot. Jesus perfectly obeyed all God’s commands and promises, then of His own free will He took our sins upon Himself and allowed Himself to be crucified. No one took His life, He gave it freely for us because of His great love for us. Jesus paid the price for our sins, all of our sins and He gives that forgiveness to us. We are pointed to Jesus.
Following our hearing the Word of God, after we have had an opportunity to respond to the gifts of God through our prayers, our offerings, and our hymns our attention is drawn to the altar where in Jesus comes to us to give us His body and blood in His Holy Supper for the forgiveness of our sins. As the pastor speaks the words of God so the gifts God gives are given to us. God gives and we are given to. We are pointed once again to Jesus.
Finally, our Divine Service concludes with a benediction, the Aaronic threefold putting of God’s name on us benediction. God using the mouth of the pastor speaks His word of blessing on us. We are pointed to Jesus. And notice, nothing is in the way of the cross, the pulpit, the altar, the font. Nothing draws our attention away to the side or in front of the cross. Nothing points us to ourselves, to our emotions, to our experience, to us. We are pointed to Jesus. Our Lutheran doctrine and practice put our focus where we desire it to be, as the Greeks said, “We wish to see Jesus.” Because it is only as we see Jesus that we are prepared to go out into the world and live as priests in the priesthood of all believers, living our lives as living sacrifices always being ready to give an answer for the hope that we have. I tell you, it is awesome being a Lutheran.
“20Now among those who went up to worship at the feast were some Greeks. 21So these came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and asked him, ‘Sir, we wish to see Jesus.’” This afternoon we rejoice in the wonderful gifts God gives to us His people, His sinful people. We rejoice in the wonderful doctrine of the Lutheran Church which is on display in the Divine Service and in the lives of God’s people. We rejoice in the answer we have for the hope in Jesus we have, an answer given to us, spoken through us, and used by God to give, strengthen and keep in faith. And especially this afternoon we rejoice in God’s gifts of a new pastor, sinful though he is, through which God will come to speak to us, to point us to Jesus, to give us the gifts He has to give to us, to fill us to the point of overflowing and as our cup overflows, as we go out into the world, in our various vocations we cannot help but spill out the good news to others, as they ask of the hope that we have. And invite our family and friends to come to this place and see Jesus.
Pastor Wolfmueller, members of St. Paul Lutheran Church, and family and friends in this community, God has richly blessed you with two fine pastors who will indeed, point you to Jesus. Indeed, what a great God we have, what a loving God we have, what a gift giving God we have. God gives and we are given to. God does and we are done to. And we can be confident that God gets it right. Thanks be to God and to Him alone be the glory, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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