Christ Lives in Me - June 12, 2016 - Fourth Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 06) - Text: Galatians 2:15-21; 3:10-14

Our text for this week picks up a little after where we left off last week. Last week, you may remember, we began Paul’s defense of his apostleship. After skipping Paul’s rebuke of Peter that we mentioned last week, we pick up with Paul laying out a proper distinction between Law and Gospel, between the purpose of the Law and the purpose of the Gospel. The question we asked last week was, “Why was Paul defending his apostleship?” and “Why was this so important?” Maybe you remember that we determined that Paul’s apostleship is important so that we can know for sure that the letters which Paul writes to the various churches are not just meant for those churches, but are meant for us today, and that the Word’s which Paul writes are not just Paul’s words, but are God’s Word, given to us through Paul. So, this week we can be sure that Paul’s words are God’s Word concerning this distinction between Law and Gospel.
 

Paul begins with the Jews. He is a Jew and he says that “we” Jews had the Law, but “[we] know that a man is not justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ.” In other words, Paul is saying, they, and his reference was in particular to Peter and the Judaizers, those who were insisting that the Gentiles must become followers of the Jewish law in order to be saved, should have known better.
 

Paul reminds us that the Jews and the Gentiles were alike in their sin. “All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23). We are all equally guilty and condemned in God’s eyes. But, the Jews and the Gentiles are also alike in their salvation. “For God so loved the whole world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). Being saved comes from God’s grace through faith. There was something important in the actions of the Judaizers that threatens the heart of the Gospel. What the Judaizers were saying and living is that we are not saved by faith in Jesus alone. What they were demonstrating is that we are saved by faith plus. And what Paul is saying is that faith plus means no faith at all. If you add anything to faith then you are saying that faith is not what is important, but the “anything” that is added to faith is what is important.
 

It is important, vitally important, that we make a clear distinction between faith and works. We are saved by grace through faith, alone. We are saved because of what Jesus has done for us, that He gave His life for ours on the cross for our forgiveness. This does not negate the truth that we are called to do good works. Good works are those things that are done as a result of, as a response to, what God has done for us. Good works are not a have to, but a get to. Suppose for Christmas one year someone were to give you a brand new car. Would you reach into your wallet, take out a five or even a twenty dollar bill and say, “Thanks for the car, here let me give you this for it”? Of course not, that would be very insulting to the gift giver. So, too, with the gifts God gives. God gives us faith, forgiveness, life and salvation. Do we dare take out our good works and say, “Here, Lord, let me earn some of what You are giving me”? I would hope and pray not.
 

Paul goes on to explain the danger of one thinking they might save themselves by works of the law by properly distinguishing the two. As for the Law, Paul reminds us that “all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, ‘Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law and do them’” (v. 10). The very purpose of the Law is to show us our sins and it does this by being a rule so that we can see that we do not live up to the rule of the Law; by being a guide, again so that we can see that we do not always follow the guide of the Law; and by bing a mirror, that is by being a reflection of our life to show us how we have and continue to transgress God’s Law. As we remember that God’s demand is perfection so we see that in and of ourselves we are not and cannot be perfect, indeed, as we are shapen in iniquity and have been conceived in sin so we see we can never be perfect, thus we can never get to heaven by ourselves.
 

Paul expounds the Gospel by telling us, “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us . . . “ (v. 13a). The Gospel always points us to Jesus, just Jesus. The Gospel shows us our Savior. The Gospel proclaims to us the forgiveness of our sins, all our sins and with forgiveness it gives life and salvation. The Gospel gives faith and strengthens faith when and where God pleases.
 

We talked about this a bit last week in our adult Bible class, in the fellowship hall which meets every Sunday morning at 8:45 am with coffee and donuts at 8:30 am, the fact that so many people in so many denominations, Christian denominations cannot seem to get it right when it comes to the Law and the Gospel and instead of speaking words of Gospel are always speaking words of Law. Now, please understand, I do believe there are Christians in all Christian denominations, just as I believe there are hypocrites even in our own congregation, but the fact remains that I believe that as Lutheran Christians we have it the most correct. As I continue to remind you we get it right when we point to Jesus. The Law points us to ourselves, the Gospel points us to Jesus.
 

As we listen to our Christian friends we can get an idea of their faith and who they are relying on for salvation by listening to them talk. For some they will openly say that one is saved by faith and good works. For others they will tell you that you are saved simply by faith, but all you have to do is something. Both of these confuse and commingle the Law and the Gospel and truly nullify the Grace of God. Remember, the purpose of the Law is to show us our sins and how we are completely lost and condemned persons and cannot save ourselves. However, left with just the Law we would either be in despair believing we have no hope for eternal life, or we might be lead to works righteousness thinking that we can do something to save ourselves, especially if we do not believe we are such bad people after all. And the purpose of the Gospel is to show us our Savior, to point us to Jesus, to tell us how much Jesus loves us so much that He lived for us, took our sins upon Himself and suffered for our sins, paying the price for our sin, that He died for us, and the He rose victorious over sin, death and the devil for us and that He gives us this forgiveness freely to us without any merit or worthiness within us.
 

So, what is the big deal in today’s text? The big deal is the difference between being saved by Jesus’ work on the cross, by faith alone, or by thinking we are saved by faith plus. The plus being any attempt we would make to earn our own forgiveness. Remember, faith plus anything equals no faith at all.
 

When it comes to being saved by faith I like to think of it in much the same way as the Gospel Lesson for this morning. Jesus died for your sins and mine. If we do not think we sin much, if we actually think of ourselves as good people, if we actually think we can be the people God would have us to be then we believe that Jesus did not have to suffer or die too much for us and so Jesus’ death does not mean much to us. But, the more sinful we realize we are, the more we understand that we daily sin much, indeed that we are complete lost and condemned persons apart from Jesus and His forgiveness, the more God’s grace means to us.
 

Faith is the top priority. Good works are also important, but only as a response to faith. Let me say that again, because our emphasis this morning is faith alone. Faith is the top priority, but good works are important as a response to faith. There is the connection between faith and works. Faith is seen in our living out our vocations in our lives. Faith is seen in our doing the good works which God has for us to do, indeed good works which He has prepared in advance for us to do. Good works are not what we have to do but what we a get to, they are done in response to faith. It is much like the person who said they recently purchased a new car yet continued to drive around their old junker. No one will believe they have a new car unless they see it. So, too, with our Christian faith. If we say we have faith, yet continually show otherwise, then who will believe that we do have faith and really, do we have faith?
 

This morning the main idea of our text is the importance of understanding that we are saved by faith alone, or better said, by grace through faith alone. And remember as we were reminded last week, the object of faith is just as important as faith. Indeed, to have faith in anyone or anything besides Jesus, even as sincere a faith as one might have, does not save, but only condemns. Faith in Jesus Christ alone is what saves because Jesus Christ alone is the One who saves. Paul is saying, faith plus anything equals no faith. Faith plus good works, faith plus making a decision for Jesus, faith plus being the person Jesus would have you to be, faith plus dedicating your life to Jesus, indeed, faith plus anything means that one is dependent only on the anything. Anytime we try to add anything to faith as a need to be saved we are denying that we are saved by faith alone and we are denying the Gospel message. So, we might ask ourselves, “What, if anything, are we adding to faith in our own lives in order to save ourselves? What are we doing to keep Jesus from having to die too much for our sins?”
 

If we could keep seven of the ten commandments on a daily basis, which is a 70%, a passing grade, that would mean that we would only sin three times a day. However, when we realize that those three sins a day times 365 days in a year means that we have sinned over 1000 times in one year, times how old we are, we get an idea of just how sinful we are. With that said, I would imagine that if we were truly honest we would add an extra zero to the end thus our sins would not simply be in the thousand but in the ten thousand and more.
 

The good news, the greatest news, the Gospel news is that because of His great love for us, not only did God gives us life at conception, not only did He gives us new life through the waters of Holy Baptism, He also took all our sins and put them on Jesus who suffered the complete suffering, the complete price for our sins so that when we stand before our Father in heaven He will see only Jesus’ perfection, made ours by His grace through faith in Jesus given to us through His means of Grace. Thanks be to God.
 

When we realize the full extent of our sins and the full extent of Jesus’ death for us, for you and for me, then and only then will we come to cherish the sweet message of the Gospel of forgiveness of sins. Then we will say, to God be the glory, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

The Gospel Received from Christ - June 5, 2016 - Third Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 05) - Text: Galatians 1:11-24

Throughout history people have tried to discredit Christians and the Christian faith. Some have tried to discredit the resurrection. One of the main “proofs,” if you will, of the resurrection is the fact of the change of the people who come in contact with Jesus through His Word. Why would the disciples boldly proclaim the resurrection of Jesus if it were not true, especially since it usually meant their death. The same is true for countless Christian martyrs throughout history. This morning we hear Paul as he begins with a defense of his apostleship and in hearing his defense of his apostleship we also hear the validity, the power and the affect of God’s Word.
 

Paul begins his defense by telling the Galatians about his background. Paul says, “13For you have heard of my former life in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God violently and tried to destroy it. 14And I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my own age among my people, so extremely zealous was I for the traditions of my fathers” v. (13-14). In other writings Paul says that he was the son of a Pharisee and a Pharisee of Pharisee’s himself. Paul was educated in the best of Pharisee schools. He was educated under Gameliel. By the way Paul talks and by the history we know of Paul if he would have continued in his life as a Pharisee he may well have worked his way up to be the chief Pharisee.
 

Paul tells us that he excelled in legalism. He was advanced in the rules and regulations of Judaism, especially in the traditions of the church. Remember, these were the religious leaders that had over six hundred rules to “help” a person to keep the ten commandments. We might say that when it came to works righteousness, Paul would have been at the head of his class.
 

Paul was so ingrained in the traditions of Judaism that he was even persecuting the Christian church, trying to put down this uprising of heretics as he thought they were. Paul was very zealous for his faith, which reminds us that not only is faith important, but so is the object of faith. A person can have tremendous amounts of faith in something, in anything, but if that something or if that anything is not Jesus Christ then that person stands condemned. Faith is important, but the object of faith is just as important.
 

Paul was zealous for Judaism, but then Paul was called by God. Paul says that he was called even before his birth. He writes, “15But when he who had set me apart before I was born, and who called me by his grace” (v. 15). In Paul’s words we see God’s foreknowledge. God called Paul from before birth and to that end, so that Paul would be well equipped to carry the good news of salvation to the Gentiles and to be able to speak authoritatively to the Jews, Paul lived the early years of his life being trained in the Old Testament. Paul knew his Old Testament well, which, after begin given faith and the call to be an apostle to the Gentiles, and after his eyes were opened, he could see and boldly proclaim that Jesus is the fulfillment of all the Old Testament promises.
 

God called Paul specifically on the road to Damascus. Paul was on his way to be rid of the Christians in Damascus. He had letters from the church in Jerusalem to do away with these people, but it did not happen as he had planned. On His way into the city he was met with a bright light and a voice, Jesus’ voice, who asked him why he was persecuting Jesus. And we know the rest of the history, that Paul was taken to Ananias’ house on Strait Street where, after three days he was given his sight, was baptized and began “proving” to the Jews that Jesus was the Christ. Then he began his missionary work as the apostle to the Gentiles.
 

In his defense, that the Word which he is proclaiming is the Word of God and not the word of humans, or his own words, Paul’s tells the Galatians about his training in being an apostle. He says, “11For I would have you know, brothers, that the gospel that was preached by me is not man’s gospel. 12For I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ.15But when he who had set me apart before I was born, and who called me by his grace, 16was pleased to reveal his Son to me, in order that I might preach him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with anyone; 17nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me, but I went away into Arabia, and returned again to Damascus. 18Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to visit Cephas and remained with him fifteen days. 19But I saw none of the other apostles except James the Lord’s brother. 20(In what I am writing to you, before God, I do not lie!) 21Then I went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia. 22And I was still unknown in person to the churches of Judea that are in Christ. 23They only were hearing it said, “He who used to persecute us is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy.” 24And they glorified God because of me” (11-12, 15-24). Paul begins by telling the Galatians that what he is preaching did not come from humans, but was given to him by revelation from God. What he is preaching is not his own ideas, but is from God, given to him on the road to Damascus and during the three days that he was blind in Damascus.
 

To dispel the thought that he was trained by the other apostles he tells the Galatians that the only time he spent with the other apostles was fifteen days and that was after three years of being out sharing the good news with others. Paul admits that he saw Peter and James, but only for a little while. He also tells us that he had to confront Peter because of his heresy in dealing with the Gentiles. He did not see any of the rest of the apostles because they were out doing their own missionary work.
 

So, what is the big deal? Why are we spending so much time with Paul’s conversion and his defense of his conversion. One reason is because Paul’s letters and writings are not just letters and writings to the people of Galatia, or Colosse, or Thessalonica, or Philippi, but Paul’s writings are for us. Because his writings are for us we want to be sure that we know and believe that His writings are not simply his own thoughts and ideas, but that what he is writing is in fact God’s Word. God spoke through Paul, as He spoke through the prophets throughout the Old Testament. Paul’s writings are God’s Word given to us through which the Holy Spirit works to give us God’s good gifts and blessings.
 

Paul’s words remind us that God’s Word is not bound by time and culture, rather God’s Word is for all time and eternity. Yes, Paul often was speaking to a particular people concerning a particular sin, even at a particular place and a particular time, but Paul’s words have the same meaning and application to us here at St. Matthew Lutheran Church in 2016? Paul’s words and writing transcend time not because they are Paul’s words, but because they are God’s Word.
 

Paul’s words, which are God’s Word, have power. We know and understand that God’s Word is a Word with power. God’s Word is a Word which does what it says. God said He would send a Savior, that is the promise He made to Adam and Eve and to all of humanity in the Garden of Eden. God kept His promise in the sending of His only Son, Jesus in the manager in Bethlehem. God promised that His Son would live for us, and for all people, doing what no one can do, live perfectly and Jesus did live perfectly. God said His Son would fulfill all righteousness, that is that He would obey all God’s laws perfectly and would fulfill all God’s promises, all His prophecies, perfectly, and He did. Jesus kept all God’s laws, perfectly. Jesus fulfilled all God’s promises, all His prophecies concerning the Messiah, perfectly. God said His Son would give His life for ours on the cross and we see that God kept His promise on the cross at Calvary. God said that Jesus would be raised from the dead and we see that God kept His promise when on Easter morning we celebrated Jesus’ resurrection. Before Jesus ascended into heaven He promised that He would send the Holy Spirit and He promised that He would come again. On Pentecost we see Jesus promise to send the Holy Spirit fulfilled and even today we continue to wait for Jesus to fulfill His promise to come again. We know He will come again, because He has promised that He will come again, and just as He has kept all His other promises, so too will He keep this one.
 

Paul’s words remind us that we misuse God’s Word when we fail in keeping, especially the first three commandments, when we fail to personally read and hear the Word read, have personal and family devotions, when we fail to be in divine service and Bible class as often as it is offered, all of which is gift refusal. We misuse God’s Word when we attempt to twist God’s Word in order to justify our thoughts, words or actions, or when we simply refuse to read parts of God’s Word because we know it speaks against what we are doing because we believe if we do not know then we will not be accountable (although we know that even in our society, ignorance of the law is no excuse) and even when we simply want to make everything a gray area instead of simply admitting and confessing our sins so we might then be given forgiveness.
 

And so, Paul’s words remind us that God’s Word is a means of grace. God comes to us through the means of grace, the Word, the Bible and the Sacraments, Holy Baptism and the Lord’s Supper, as well as through confession and absolution. He comes through these means to give us all His good gifts and blessings. He comes through these means to give us forgiveness of sins, earned for us through Jesus’ death on the cross; which is why these means are so important; which is why our divine service is permeated with these means, because these are the means our Lord has to come to us and to give us the good gifts and blessings He promises. Yes, God’s Word does what it says. When God’s Word says we have faith, we know we have faith. When God’s Word says we have forgiveness, we know we have forgiveness. When God’s Word says we have life, even eternal life, we know we have life, even eternal life.
 

That God’s Word is a means of grace means that God’s Word works faith in the heart of the unbeliever. We read and hear time and time again about people who have read God’s Word for the first time, or even to try to disprove it and instead have been brought to faith through it. God’s Word works faith when and where God pleases, but it also, especially for us who have already been given faith, it strengthens our faith, and preserves our faith. God’s Word keep us in faith until Christ comes again.
 

Thus we see that God’s Word is a most precious thing and is something of which we will want to continually make use. We make use of His Word by daily reading our Bible, by daily have personal and family devotions, by daily speaking to Him in prayer, by regularly, every Sunday and whenever it is offered, being in Divine service and Bible class, and by responding to that Word by living our lives as a reflection of that Word. We make use of His Word by hungering and thirsting after His Word so that we simply cannot get enough of it.
 

Paul’s defense is important because it reminds us of what a gracious, loving and forgiving God we have and how, in His love He has given us His Word so that His Word through Paul’s letters as well as all of Holy Scripture are not the Words of human beings, but are the Words of God spoken to us through the various apostles and prophets. Our Bible is God’s Word. It does not just contain God’s Word, so that we have to find His Word in and amongst the rest of the words. The Bible is God’s Word and is profitable for reproof, for correction, and most importantly, for working faith, forgiveness, life and salvation. God’s Word is that means through which our Lord comes to deliver the gifts He has to give and so our response is to rightly always be eager and ready to be where that Word and those gifts are given out. To God be the glory, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

Fulfillment - May 22, 2017 - Holy Trinity Sunday - Text: Acts 2:14a,22-36

This morning, as we celebrate Holy Trinity Sunday, we have a guest preacher of sorts. As the first verse of our text tells us, “Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd...” 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 come to hear Peter preach his Easter sermon.
 

Before we hear Peter’s sermon, however, let me simply say a couple words concerning the fact that this is Holy Trinity Sunday. In the Old Testament reading we hear words of God reminding us that Jesus is God who was with the Father and the Spirit at the creation of the world. In the Gospel reading we have the confession, the claim of Jesus the He is truly God as He says, “before Abraham was, I am.” His words of “I am” echo the words of God when speaking to Moses in the wilderness when Moses asked Him “who should I say sent me?” and God answered, “tell them ‘I Am’ has sent you.” You may notice, however, that as we celebrate Holy Trinity Sunday that our texts really do not focus their attention on proving the plurality and oneness of God. You also may notice, throughout His life here on earth, Jesus never focuses His attention on proving anything either, rather He simply always pointed to His works. God does not have to prove anything to us, His people. Rather, He simply gives us His Word, gives us faith, and gives us all the good gifts and blessings He has to give according to His good and gracious will and for that we give thanks.
 

Getting back to our text, Peter address 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. Of course this goes along with our understanding that all of Holy Scripture is God’s Word spoken through the one He inspired and moved to write, thus again, all of Holy Scripture is speaking to us. Peter begins with Jesus, His life and death. Jesus was at the same time a human being, one hundred percent human, and He was God, one hundred percent God. He did signs, wonders, and miracles as “proof” of His divinity or His God-ness. In his Gospel, John continually points to Jesus’s signs and works of might, His miracles as “proof” of His divinity. Continually we hear of Jesus forgiving sins, healing, feeding crowds of people, casting out demons, raising people from the dead and the like. 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, demonstrating that He was God according to their logic, because they believed that only God could heal. Thus, using their own logic, if Jesus could heal, 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 so we have already witnessed Jesus’ 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. God reiterated that promise to Abraham, to Isaac, to Jacob, to Moses and to many more throughout the history of the children of Israel. Jesus was born so that He might do what a whole nation could not do, so He could do what no one could do. Jesus was born in order to live perfectly and so that He might fulfill all of the promises of God in Holy Scripture, perfectly.
 

And Peter gets personal. Today, 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 of I preach about sin in general or 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 at us, at you and at me. He says, “you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross.” Jesus was put to death by human hands, the human hands of the listeners, our human hands. It was not the Pharisees and teachers of the Law, it was not the Romans who put Jesus to death. 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. It was because of our sins of thought, word and deed. It was because of our sins of omission, failing to do what God would have us to do, failing to be the people He would have us to be. And it was because of our sins of commission, doing the things we should not be doing. Yes, it was because of us. It was because of you and me. We put Jesus on the cross.
 

But the good news is that Jesus did not stay dead. I believe I have shared this with you before, but I believe it bears repeating, a few years back while I was serving in another parish I remember talking to the daycare children one Wednesday morning during chapel. 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 with the good news. And so I said, “but Jesus did not stay dead, He rose from the dead.” And with those words one of the daycare children, whom I would guess had never heard the story, said, “Nuh uh!” And of course I responded very theologically and eloquently by saying, “Uh huh!” At Easter and really, every Sunday for us Christians, we come to celebrate Jesus’ resurrection. Yes, we just moved through what we call the Easter season, the seven weeks of Easter, but we do not cease celebrating Easter. That is why we worship on Sunday because, for us Christians, each and every Sunday is an Easter celebration, a celebration of Jesus’ resurrection. We come to worship, not a dead God, but a living God. We come to celebrate that 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, “‘25bI saw the Lord always before me, for he is at my right hand that I may not be shaken; 26therefore my heart was glad, and my tongue rejoiced; my flesh also will dwell in hope. 27For you will not abandon my soul to Hades, or let your Holy One see corruption. 28You have made known to me the paths of life; you will make me full of gladness with your presence’” (Acts 2:25b-28).
 

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’ 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. He reiterated His promise time and again through the prophets of the Bible. Unfortunately, many people missed it. Many were like the Pharisees 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. Peter was with Jesus throughout His three years of ministry and His death. He was one of the chosen twelve who were not only Jesus’ disciples, but His chosen and set apart 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, 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 were fed 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 rode triumphantly into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday and it may even be that some were the ones 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 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, God in human flesh, 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, the cost, of our sins, 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. And as we listen again to these words of explanation, we may be reminded, once again of the plurality in the oneness of our God who shows Himself to be a triune God. “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, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

The Gift of the Holy Spirit - May 15, 2016 - 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 populating 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 historical 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, instead of subduing the earth, 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 that point the people were scattered, as He told them to do in the first place, and from that point we have the initiation of the various culture and people groups which are present in our world today. The religion of evolution, as I call it, teaches that over millions of years human beings evolved from apes and then if you “google” the old evolutionary charts you will see the teaching is then to pygmies which evolved from apes, then came aborigines, then lighter and lighter skinned people. And that is how we get the term “races” and were racism developed. As we look at the Bible and understand that at the Tower of Babel, when God confused the languages of the people, as the various language groups spread throughout the world they took certain dominant DNA, genetic information with them, so that we have in the various language groups around the world, people of various cultures, yet all related to Noah and his family. Indeed, there is only one race of people, humans and many languages and cultures, which makes a whole lot more sense.
 

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. For the children of Israel, the day of Pentecost was given as a day to celebrated the harvest festival. This was the second great Jewish festival, after the Passover celebration.
 

Because this was an important festival, Jews came to Jerusalem on pilgrimage from around the world to celebrate. Now, did you catch that, Jews from the various language and culture groups from around the world came to celebrate, in other words there were those of the Jewish faith who were not necessarily of genetic Jewish descent around the world. 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. As we are told by our Lord, at just the right time, Jesus came into the world. 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” (v. 2). 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 “divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them” (v. 3). 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” (v. 4). 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.
 

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 doing. 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 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 the fulfillment of all the Old Testament Scriptures, the message of Jesus’ life, His suffering, His death and resurrection and then they would be able to take that message back to the people of their homes and countries and share the message with them. It is the same in our churches each and every Sunday. It is so important that we 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 not 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. And that is why, today, we have so many people groups and cultures who do not know Jesus, because their fathers failed to share the message with them. Now, today, 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 and through Confession and Absolution. Through these 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 Divine Service as often as it is offered. To be diligent in our 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, or to refuse to eat at your daily meals. 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. Yes, believe it or not, He does give us everything we need to be His church, His congregation here in this place.
 

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 always 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 works of thanks and praise to our Lord for all that He does for us. Yes, to Him be the glory for Jesus’ sake. Amen.