Holy, Holy, Holy - May 27, 2018 - Holy Trinity Sunday/1st Sunday after Pentecost - Text: Isaiah 6:1-8

Last Sunday we celebrated the giving of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost Sunday. Today we celebrate the trinity of our God, that is that our God reveals and shows Himself to us as a God who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit, one God, yet three persons. We celebrate that the oneness of the plurality of our God is never divided so that wherever the Father is, there is the Son and the Holy Spirit. Wherever the Holy Spirit is, there is the Father and the Son and wherever the Son is, there is the Father and the Holy Spirit. This trinity may not be something we completely understand or can completely and comprehensively explain, but this trinity is how God reveals Himself to us and so this is what we believe.
 

In our text for this Holy Trinity Sunday we see and hear the trinity of our God in the Trinitarian doxology sang by the angels and we see and hear how we might well emulate Isaiah’s response, his confession, God’s absolution and God’s calling to each of us in our vocation. We begin with the song of the seraphim, verse one, “1In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. 2Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. 3And one called to another and said: ‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!’” (v. 1-3).
 

The seraphim were one of the ranks of the angels who serve God and humanity. In his vision, Isaiah sees these angels of the Lord serving the Lord on His throne in His temple. He sees how even the angels show their humility before God, as with their wings they have covered their face and their feet.
 

And we get a bit of heavenly liturgy as we hear their Trinitarian hymn of praise: “Holy, Holy, Holy.” “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory.”
 

Although this is a vision, Isaiah is compelled to confess his sins as he stands in the awesome presence of the Lord. We pick up at verse four, “4And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. 5And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!” (v. 4-5).
 

In this vision, Isaiah recognizes that he is in the presence of God. The awesomeness of God is felt in the shaking of the foundation of the temple. It was the voice of God that caused the foundations to shake.
 

Upon hearing the voice of God and understanding that no one can see God and live, because of man’s sinfulness, Isaiah recognizes his sins and repents, “Woe is me.” And the confession of his sins is a simple confession, “I am a man of unclean lips, . . .” And remember, this is Isaiah the prophet, a great man, called by God to proclaim His Word to the people, certainly someone we might expect would be above the fray so to speak, someone we might not believe to be too bad a person, maybe we might even consider someone who is not so much a sinner, yet Isaiah recognizes his condition before a sinless, holy God, that he is a sinner indeed and has no standing before a perfect God. So, Isaiah confesses.
 

And God grants Isaiah absolution. We pick up at verse six, “6Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. 7And he touched my mouth and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for” (v. 6-7).
 

On Sunday morning, when we confess our sins, we hear God’s Word of absolution as our pastor, the “called and ordained servant of the Word,” announces the grace of God upon us and forgives us our sins. For Isaiah, the seraphim took the tongs and took a coal and touched his lips. In this act of purification, his sins were forgiven.
 

And the angel announced, “your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.” This word, “atone” literally means “to cover.” That our sins are atoned for means that they have been covered. And this covering does not mean simply a covering as a hiding, or a putting of something over them so they are not seen. This is not a whitewashing of sins. This atoning, this covering means that the price for sin has been covered, has been paid.
 

Having called Isaiah to repentance and having confessed his sin, and having been forgiven, we now have God’s call to ministry and Isaiah’s response. Verse eight, “8And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, ‘Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?’ Then I said, ‘Here am I! Send me’” (v. 8).
 

Isaiah has been in the presence of God and has lived. He has confessed his sins and been given forgiveness. He has heard the song of the seraphim. And now he hears the voice of the Lord God Himself who asks, “Whom shall I send?”
 

How else could Isaiah respond? God chose Isaiah. God forgave him his sins. God showed him His angels. God spoke so that he heard God’s voice. Indeed, when God called him how else could he respond except that he responded with the words, “Here am I, Send me.”
 

What Does This mean? God reveals Himself to us as a Triune God. Did you notice the word of the Lord? God asks, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” God speaks of Himself in the singular and in the plural. Of course, this is not our first encounter of such language. In Genesis we have the plurality of God saying, “Let us make man in our image” (Gen. 1:26). In Deuteronomy we have God, and the word God is in the plural, telling Israel, “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God (again, plural), the Lord is one” (Deut. 4:6). In his Gospel, John speaks of the persons of the trinity as a whole with all the persons of the trinity being in existence since before the creation of the world. And the list of these passages goes on and on through Holy Scripture. Our God is a God who is three persons in one God. We may not be able to completely explain it, but this is what God says and so this is what is true.
 

Just as God revealed Himself to Isaiah, so He reveals Himself to us. And just as God showed Isaiah his sin, so God shows us our sins. God reminds us that we are conceived and born in sin. He reminds us that every inclination of our heart is evil all the time. God reminds us that we sin in thought, word and deed. God reminds us that we sins sin of commission, doing what we should not be doing and sins of omission, failing to do what we should be doing. One look at our world, one look at the newspaper, at televison, listening to the radio and so forth, should more than anything convince us of the truth of God’s Word, we are sinners indeed and sinners in need.
 

Because of our sin and even more, because of God’s promise to send a Savior, which He fulfilled in Christ. Because of Christ’s giving His life to pay the price for our sins, eternal spiritual death, and because of the message of the Gospel, we are moved to confess our sins. Remember, it is not the Law but the Gospel that moves us to repent. The Law moves us either to despair, thinking there is no hope for us, or to works righteousness, thinking we can earn our forgiveness. The Gospel which speaks of Jesus’ perfect life for us, of His perfect suffering, death and resurrection for us which moves us to repent of our sins, sins already paid for and forgiven. And so as we begin our Divine Service, as we come into God’s presence in our sin the first thing we do is confess our sins so that we might enter into God’s presence and we do confess that we sin. We confess that we sin in thought, word and deed; that we sin sins of commission and omission, that we fail to live lives of faith, that we fail to live lives as priests in the priesthood of all believers, in other words we fail to live lives as living sacrifices for the Lord and instead, we live lives for ourselves. And so we confess.
 

And upon our confession, we are given God’s absolution, earned and paid for by God Himself, by Jesus, God in flesh. Today, the Lord does not send an angel, a seraphim to take a coal with tongs and touch it to our lips, rather, today our Lord comes to us, especially on Sunday morning, when we confess our sins, and we hear the word of the Lord as spoken through our pastor when he says, as we heard this morning, “Almighty God in His mercy has given His Son to die for you and for His sake forgives you all your sins. As a called and ordained servant of Christ, and by His authority, I therefore forgive you all your sins in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” And our response is the response of faith, “Amen.”
 

So, God reveals Himself to us, as He did to Isaiah, as a triune God. God shows us our sins, as He did to Isaiah, calling us to repentance. We repent, because of the Gospel and the promise of forgiveness, as did Isaiah and finally, as God called Isaiah, so God calls us. Today He calls us to our vocation. God calls us to live our lives as living sacrifices for Him. God calls us to live our lives in such a way that they show for the faith that is in our hearts. God calls us and we answer, “Here am I, send him, send her.” Right? Unfortunately that is usually our answer. But, thanks be to God that as we fail and when we fail and no matter how often we fail, He gives us forgiveness, picks us up and gives us another chance and another chance and another chance. So, eventually we might better respond as Isaiah, “Here am I, send me, send me!”
 

Notice, again, as in every instance as we hear God’s Word, it all begins with Him. God revealed Himself to Isaiah. God reveals Himself to us. God called Isaiah to repentance. God calls us to repentance. God granted Isaiah absolution. God grants us absolution. God called Isaiah to service. God calls us to service through our vocation. God does. God gives. God calls. God moves. God starts. God begins. God initiates. And we are done to, called, moved, started, begun, initiated and given to. My prayer is that our song may be the song of the angels, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!” (v. 3b).  To God be the glory, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

I Will Put My Spirit on You and You Will Live - May 20, 2018 - Pentecost Sunday - Text: Ezekiel 37:1-14

Today is the day we celebrate the giving of the Holy Spirit. Today we celebrate Pentecost Sunday. As we begin I am compelled to make a couple opening remarks to clarify what we now celebrate as Pentecost. First, this was not the first Pentecost celebration. Originally Pentecost was a Jewish holiday marking fifty days after Passover and was a first fruits celebration. This meant that a lot of Jews would be in Jerusalem celebrating, making this the “perfect” day for Jesus to send the Holy Spirit. This also reminds us of how perfect God’s planning truly is. Second, this is not the first appearance of the Holy Spirit. We read of the Holy Spirit back in Genesis. Remember, as we will celebrate next week on Holy Trinity Sunday, our triune God is always one, thus God is always at the same time, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, so where there is one person of the trinity there are all persons of the trinity because God cannot be divide. Now let us move on to our text.
 

Our text is the Old Testament lesson and the account of the “dry bones.” We begin with Ezekiel recounting the vision and the question, “1The hand of the Lord was upon me, and he brought me out in the Spirit of the Lord and set me down in the middle of the valley; it was full of bones. 2And he led me around among them, and behold, there were very many on the surface of the valley, and behold, they were very dry. 3And he said to me, ‘Son of man, can these bones live?’ And I answered, ‘O Lord God, you know’” (v. 1-3).
 

First, let us make note that this was a vision, not something that was actually happening to Ezekiel. So, in this vision Ezekiel recounts that the Lord had brought him out to a valley full of bones, and as he describes them, very dry bones. We notice the fact that Ezekiel points out that these bones were very dry which is what happens to bones after they have been out in the weather for a long time. In other words, the people in this valley had been dead for long enough for the skin to rot off the bones and for the bones to dry up, quite a long time.
 

And then Ezekiel is asked a question. “Can these bones live?” Ezekiel’s answer is one we would do well to emulate, especially if we do not know the answer, which it appears he did not know. Ezekiel answers, “O Lord God, you know.”
 

I do not believe Ezekiel’s answer was an answer of doubt. Rather I believe his answer was an answer of hope and faith. His answer might also be our answer that is that whenever we might be in doubt we might answer that with God nothing is impossible.
 

We continue the recounting of the vision with the command of God. “4Then he said to me, ‘Prophesy over these bones, and say to them, O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. 5Thus says the Lord God to these bones: Behold, I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live. 6And I will lay sinews upon you, and will cause flesh to come upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live, and you shall know that I am the Lord.’ 7So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I prophesied, there was a sound, and behold, a rattling, and the bones came together, bone to its bone. 8And I looked, and behold, there were sinews on them, and flesh had come upon them, and skin had covered them. But there was no breath in them” (v. 4-8).
 

Again, let me remind you that this is a vision. In this vision, after showing him the valley of dry bones, God tells Ezekiel to prophesy. He tells him to tell the bones to live. And so that is what Ezekiel did. He did as he was told. He prophesied to the bones.
 

And when he prophesied, what he said happened, not because of what he said, but because these were God’s Word given to him to speak. When he spoke God’s Word, God’s Word does what it says, the bones came to life, at least flesh and skin came upon the bones, but really, they were not yet alive as there was not yet any breath in them.
 

And so we continue with God’s second command. “9Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, Thus says the Lord God: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they may live.” 10So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived and stood on their feet, an exceedingly great army” (v. 9-10).
 

God tells Ezekiel to prophesy and tell the bones to live. And again that is what Ezekiel did. He prophesied and he told the bones to live, just as God told him to do.
    And the bones came to life, real life. Not only did the bones have flesh and blood, but now they had breath, that is they had life. Life came into the bones.
 

And finally, Ezekiel and we are given the explanation of this vision. “11Then he said to me, ‘Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. Behold, they say, “Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are clean cut off.” 12Therefore prophesy, and say to them, Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will open your graves and raise you from your graves, O my people. And I will bring you into the land of Israel. 13And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves, and raise you from your graves, O my people. 14And I will put my Spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land. Then you shall know that I am the Lord; I have spoken, and I will do it, declares the Lord’” (v. 11-14).
 

At the time of this vision, the children of Israel were in exile. They had been disbursed to many places and countries around the world. Perhaps for many Israelites they had lost all hope. Now, through the prophet Ezekiel, God is giving a word of hope. Through Ezekiel God says He will restore the house of Israel. Of course, today we understand that this restoration of Israel was not simply a physical, earthly line of descent and restoration, rather this restoration was a spiritual, faith giving, forgiving restoration, so that all who believe in the Messiah will be a part of the true Israel.
 

Through the prophet Ezekiel, God promises that He will give the world a Savior through the house of Israel. These words of Ezekiel are being spoken some 400 years before the birth of Jesus. The Savior that God is promising is not a social political savior. The Savior God is promising is a Savior who will be Israel, who will live perfectly and obey all God’s laws and commands perfectly, something Israel could not do. This Savior will be one who will fulfill all God’s promises perfectly and who will save them from their sins.
 

And we will know this prophecy is true because God will do it. Just as Ezekiel answered God’s question concerning whether or not the bones could live by saying that the Lord knows, and I would suggest implied is that with God all things are possible, so we know that just as God promised to send a Savior, that this will happen because with God all things are possible. Of course, we have the luxury, if you will, of hind-sight and we can see that these things did happen and were fulfill in Jesus, the Savior of the world.
 

What does this mean? As you hear me say, continually, God’s Word does what it says. God gives us His Word, through which He gives us His Holy Spirit, faith, forgiveness, life and salvation. This morning we see, and hear the word of the Lord to Ezekiel. Yes, this was a vision, but even in the vision we see and hear God’s word doing what He says. The vision is not necessarily speaking of the resurrection of the dead in general, but the restoration of God’s people. And this restoration came about because of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection. And the small group of believing Jews in Jerusalem, along with the believing non-Jews, or Gentiles are the ones who began the restoration of the spiritual Israel.
 

This morning, then, we are reminded, again, that it always begins with God. God gives and we are given to. And God gives in particular through means. God gives us His good gifts and blessings, those gifts and blessings earned by the Savior, Christ the Lord, through His means of the cross, and these gifts and blessings are given by God’s grace, through faith, through the means of the Word and the Sacraments. God’s usual way of working with us, coming to us, is not immediately, not directly, but mediately, that is indirectly, or through means. God comes to us through His Word, which does what it say. God comes to us through confession and absolution which give forgiveness of sins. God comes to us through Holy Baptism and the Lord’s Supper to give, strengthen and keep us in faith.
 

God gives and we are given to. And because God gives through means, our desire is to make regular and diligent use of these means. We just cannot help ourselves. It’s something like being a chocoholic. A person who really likes, even loves chocolate will crave chocolate. I am told this is actually true when it comes to sugar, that when we eat sugar our bodies actually crave sugar, but if we can stop eating it we will stop craving it. So it is with God’s good gifts and blessings. So it is with us as Christians. When we are giving God’s good gifts and blessings, we simply crave them. We simply have to have them. We want, more than anything, our desire, more than anything is to be when and where God’s gifts are given out, to be in Divine Service and Bible class whenever offered. We cannot help but remember our Baptism and the fact that God has put His name on us, so we are His. We desire to confess our sins so we might hear the greatest words in the world, “Your sins are forgiven.” We desire to come to the Lord’s Table to eat His body and drink His blood and be strengthened in our faith.
 

This morning as we celebrate Pentecost and the giving of the Holy Spirit, we celebrate that at our baptism and through our reading and hear of God’s Word, we have been filled with the Holy Spirit. We celebrate that it is the Holy Spirit, working in and through us, working through the means of grace, that we are God’s children, that we are brother and sisters in Christ, that we are heirs to eternal life, that He gives us the desire to live lives of faith, and that He gives us the ability to always be ready to give an answer for the hope that we have in Christ and finally that He even gives us the words to speak and the courage to speak at just the right time. And now He moves in us to say, to God be the glory, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

A Witness of His Resurrection - May 13, 2018 - Seventh Sunday of Easter - Text: Acts 1:12-26

We begin this morning by recognizing that today is the secular holiday of Mother’s Day. As a Christian Church we rejoice in God’s gift of the Holy Estate of Motherhood. Indeed as we might understand God speaking through Paul in his first letter to Timothy reminding us that the Savior of the world was born through a woman, as Paul expresses it in kind of a strange way, “Yet she (women) will be saved through childbearing—if they continue in faith and love and holiness, with self-control” (1 Timothy 2:15). So we rejoice in Motherhood. We rejoice in God giving us a Savior through the woman. And we say, “Happy Mother’s Day to our mothers.” We are so glad you are here today.
 

As we begin this morning we also make note that last Thursday was a holiday. Unfortunately, it probably went unnoticed by most people. Last Thursday we celebrated the holy day of Ascension. We celebrated that after Jesus showed Himself to be alive for forty days after Easter, that He gathered His apostles, disciples and followers and ascended before their eyes to heaven, from where He had descended.
 

Our text for today is the account that follows, beginning at verse twelve, “12Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day’s journey away. 13And when they had entered, they went up to the upper room, where they were staying, Peter and John and James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot and Judas the son of James. 14All these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer, together with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers” (v. 12-14).
 

Our text comes during the ten days between the ascension of Jesus and the day of the sending of the Holy Spirit, Pentecost, which we will celebrate next Sunday. Our text is the choosing of a replacement for Judas. In our text Peter explains what happened. We continue at verse fifteen, “15In those days Peter stood up among the brothers (the company of persons was in all about 120) and said, 16‘Brothers, the Scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit spoke beforehand by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who became a guide to those who arrested Jesus. 17For he was numbered among us and was allotted his share in this ministry.’ 18(Now this man bought a field with the reward of his wickedness, and falling headlong he burst open in the middle and all his bowels gushed out. 19And it became known to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the field was called in their own language Akeldama, that is, Field of Blood.)” (v. 15-19).
 

Peter reminds the group that had gathered that Judas was one of them, a follower, a disciple of Jesus. Actually, Judas was an apostle. Peter reminds the Apostles that Judas was one of them, yet he strayed. Peter’s words show us his attitude in keeping the eighth commandment. Peter reminds us today of the truth of the old saying, “but by the grace of God, there go I.” Peter was not judgmental in speaking about Judas, he simply spoke the facts.
 

Peter says that Judas earned what he deserved. Again, notice that Peter does not say what Judas earned, only that he got what he deserved. What Judas earned was a field. The money Judas got for betraying Jesus, which he threw into the temple before he committed suicide, was used to buy a field to bury people with no other place to be buried.
 

And Peter says that Judas went to where he deserved. Again, he does not say where that was, just that it was where he deserved to go.
 

Our text continues with Peter explaining what needs to happen. We continue at verse twenty, “20‘For it is written in the Book of Psalms, “May his camp become desolate, and let there be no one to dwell in it”; and “Let another take his office.” 21So one of the men who have accompanied us during all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, 22beginning from the baptism of John until the day when he was taken up from us—one of these men must become with us a witness to his resurrection’” (v. 20-22).
 

Peter quotes from Scripture showing the need for a replacement for Judas. Notice how the Bible is the rule for making decisions. We do not make decisions according to our own feelings or intuition. We do not make decisions according to what we believe to be best simply for ourselves. We make decisions according to the guidance and direction of the Lord, especially as He guides and directs us through the means of His Word.
 

According to Scripture, Peter is convinced that Judas needs to be replaced. So, Peter notes the criteria for the one that is to be the replacement for Judas. First, he must have been with the group from the time of Jesus’ baptism until His ascension. This was important because the replacement was to be able to bear witness to others from first hand experience what happened, from the time of Jesus’ baptism until His ascension.
 

The second and probably the most important criteria was that the replacement must have been a witness of the resurrection. How can a person be a witness of the resurrection if they did not see it?
 

Our text continues with the “call” process. We pick up at verse twenty-three, “23And they put forward two, Joseph called Barsabbas, who was also called Justus, and Matthias. 24And they prayed and said, ‘You, Lord, who know the hearts of all, show which one of these two you have chosen 25to take the place in this ministry and apostleship from which Judas turned aside to go to his own place.’ 26And they cast lots for them, and the lot fell on Matthias, and he was numbered with the eleven apostles” (v. 23-26).
 

The call process consisted of choosing someone who fit the criteria previously laid out, that is, that it was someone “who ha(d) accompanied [them] during all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among [them], 22beginning from the baptism of John until the day when he was taken up from [them].” Only two men fit the criteria, “Joseph called Barsabbas, who was also called Justus, and Matthias.”
 

Next Peter prayed a prayer. Peter’s prayer is an example to us today of how to pray. Peter’s prayer was not a lengthy, drawn out preachy prayer, rather it was a short, simple, to the point prayer. God does not answer our prayers because of their length or because of their eloquence. He answers our prayers because He is our good, gracious, and kind God who loves us. He answers our prayers according to what He knows we need according to what He knows is best for us.
 

So, prayers were said and the lots were cast. The lots that were cast were probably two small stones that were different colors. One stone was for Justus, the other for Matthias. They were put into a gourd and shaken until one stone was shaken out. That was the stone of the man that was chosen. The stone that came out, the lot that was cast, was in the favor of Matthias. And interestingly enough, we do not hear either of Justus or Matthias any more in the Bible.
 

So, what does this text have to do with us today? Or, what does this mean? We could use our text to describe our call process and perhaps to some degree it does. Yet, I think that there is more to our text than just describing the call process. I think this text describes our lives. We are constantly making decisions in our lives. We could make decisions with a fatalistic attitude. We could say whatever is going to happen will happen and there is nothing I can do about it, so I make no decision. Or we could remember that God gives us a brain so that we can use our brain to help us in making decisions.
 

As we make decisions we begin by realizing that we are sinners and as sinners in and of ourselves we will tend to make decisions that are contrary to God’s will and Word. Thus we struggle with decisions.
 

The way of the world is that we make decisions that are based on our feelings and on what will gain us power and authority. The way of the world is to tell us that we are nothing unless we are something in the eyes of the world. The way of the world is the way of power and authority. Notice how this flies in the face of God. God’s way is the way of service and self-sacrifice. God’s way is the way of living our lives according to His good and gracious will. God’s way is shown to us in the giving of His Only Son. Jesus is true God. As true God He was in heaven enjoying all power, authority and glory that were His. Yet, He gave up the glory of heaven, He gave up complete authority and took on human flesh and blood. He came as a servant, to give His life for ours so that we might have forgiveness of sins, life and salvation.
 

How foolish God’s ways are to our world. The world would have us believe that it is foolish for a person to give up their own personal “power and authority” for the sake of another. Jesus tell us that a person can have no greater love for another, than the love of giving their life for another. As you have heard me time and again talking about our vocations and our calling as priests in the priesthood of all believers, we understand that as priests, our calling is to live our lives as living sacrifices for the Lord and this is how we are to live out our callings. The purpose of our vocation is to love and serve our neighbor and this love flows out of God’s first love for us. We are to live, not for ourselves, but for others. Using the examples of the vocation of a husband and a wife, Jesus tells us that husbands are to love their wives in the same way that He loves us, so much that they would lay down their lives for their wife. You do not see that happening too much in our world today. Maybe we need to work on that. Today we celebrate how Jesus’ love is also shown in the lives of mothers, who give up their power, authority and glory to serve in the tremendous task of being mothers.
 

The way of the world is that we make decisions that are based on power and authority. The way of the Lord is that we pray for His guidance in making decisions. We pray to the Lord and we let Him guide us. And He does guide us. His usual way of guiding us is through means, and in particular through His means of grace, the Word and the Sacraments. He guides us as He works through these means to give us faith, to strengthen our faith, to gives us forgiveness, life and salvation.
 

We are not apostles. We are not Matthiases. We are God’s children. We are brothers and sister and heirs with Christ. We are disciples, followers and learners of Jesus. By God’s grace, through faith, given through the means of grace we are eye witnesses of the resurrection of Jesus. And so we are priests. And as priests, God has given us the privileged to live lives of faith. We are privileged, with the help of the Holy Spirit, to lives our lives in such a way that others see the faith that is in our hearts. We are privileged that, as others ask, we are able, again, with the help of the Holy Spirit, to give an answer, an apology, that is a defense of the faith which God has given to us. We are able to give an answer as God gives us the words to say. And He gives us the words to say as we use every opportunity to read and hear God’s Word through which our Lord gives us all His good gifts and blessings. And we rejoice and give thanks even share those gifts and blessings, faith, forgiveness, life and salvation, with others. And to that we say, to God be the glory for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

The Good News about Jesus - April 29, 2018 - Fifth Sunday of Easter - Text: Acts 8:26-40

You may have noticed by now that during the Easter Season, that is during the Sundays following Easter, until we reach Pentecost Sunday, we do not have an Old Testament Reading, instead our First Readings have been readings from the Book of The Acts of the Apostles. Instead of listening to the prophecies of old that pointed to Jesus we are looking at the early Church as the word of the resurrection of Jesus began to spread and as the early Church, by the power of the Holy Spirit working through the means of the Word of God, began to grow.
 

Getting to our text, we read first of Philip’s calling. We begin at verse twenty-six, “26Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, ‘Rise and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.’ This is a desert place. 27And he rose and went. And there was an Ethiopian, a eunuch, a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasure. He had come to Jerusalem to worship 28and was returning, seated in his chariot, and he was reading the prophet Isaiah. 29And the Spirit said to Philip, ‘Go over and join this chariot’” (v. 26-29).
 

Our text begins by telling us that an angel came and told Philip where to go. He told him to go to a deserted road. Philip had been going north. The angel tells him to turn 180̊ and go south. Philip obeys and begins heading south.
 

It just so happened, coincidentally, that the Lord had lead an Ethiopian to use that same road. Here is where I would like to make an aside and say that I do not believe in coincidences and this is why: All a coincidence is, is God’s unseen hand moving in our lives. It did not just so happen that the Lord lead the Ethiopian to use this road. It did not just happen that the angel told Philip to go to this road. The Lord had in mind for Philip to meet and share the good news of Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, with the Ethiopian. All we know about this Ethiopian is that he was an important official in Ethiopia and that he was a proselyte, in other words, he was a convert to Judaism. And because he was a eunuch, he was only a proselyte of the gate. Because he was a eunuch, because he was not a whole man, shall we say, remember only those, again, shall we say, those that were worthy could enter the inner court, thus he could not go into the inner courts and worship with the others.
 

The angel directed Philip to walk along beside the chariot and to listen as the man read from the book of the prophecy of Isaiah. The man must have been reading out loud, to himself, as was the custom of the people in those day. And as he was reading, being a newcomer to the faith, he did not fully understand what it was that the Word was saying to him.
 

Before we go on, one more note of interest. Our text tells us that the Ethiopian was in charge of the treasury of Candace. Candace is not the first name of the queen of the Ethiopians, rather it is a title. Very much like all the rulers of the Egyptians were called Pharaoh, so all the rulers of the Ethiopians were called Candace.
 

Getting back to the text. Our text continues with Philip opening the Scripture to the Ethiopian. We pick up at verse thirty, “30So Philip ran to him and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and asked, ‘Do you understand what you are reading?’ 31And he said, ‘How can I, unless someone guides me?’ And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. 32Now the passage of the Scripture that he was reading was this: ‘Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter and like a lamb before its shearer is silent, so he opens not his mouth. 33In his humiliation justice was denied him. Who can describe his generation? For his life is taken away from the earth.’ 34And the eunuch said to Philip, ‘About whom, I ask you, does the prophet say this, about himself or about someone else?’ 35Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning with this Scripture he told him the good news about Jesus” (v. 30-35).
 

Philip begins by asking the question, “do you understand what you are reading?” This does not intend to mean that the Bible is difficult to read and understand, rather we have an indication that for a new Christian it might be more difficult to make connections between prophecy and fulfillment, especially if this is the first time you are reading it. And think about the time that this is happening. The Ethiopian is reading the Old Testament prophecy of Isaiah and this prophecy had just been recently fulfilled in Jesus Christ.
 

The Ethiopian asks the question, “is the prophet speaking about himself or another.” His question is, “Is the prophet going to be killed, or someone else going to be killed?” Certainly his question is understandable especially for a first time reader.
 

Philip answers his question by beginning with this very passage of scripture and explaining the good news of Jesus. Philip’s “evangelism technique” is one which we would do well to follow. When someone asks about our faith, or asks a question about God’s word, we would do well to begin with that question and answer it rather than move to a different statement and be confusing. Remember, all God asks is that we are always ready to give an answer, a defense of our faith and we are ready as we are filled with the Lord’s Word through our regular and diligent use of the means of grace, through our reading God’s Word, having personal and family devotions, being in divine service and Bible class.
 

At this point our text does not give us Philip’s words, but simply says that he told him the good news about Jesus. The Isaiah text is for another day and another sermon, but let me say this, Isaiah’s words do remind us that Jesus is the suffering servant who gave His life on the cross that we might have forgiveness of sins, life and salvation.
 

God’s Word does what it says. God gives us His Word. His Word gives us His grace. His Word works faith in our hearts. The Ethiopian, through the word, was brought to the point where he knew that he wanted to be Baptized. We continue at verse thirty-six, “36And as they were going along the road they came to some water, and the eunuch said, ‘See, here is water! What prevents me from being baptized?’ 38And he commanded the chariot to stop, and they both went down into the water, Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him. 39And when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord carried Philip away, and the eunuch saw him no more, and went on his way rejoicing. 40But Philip found himself at Azotus, and as he passed through he preached the gospel to all the towns until he came to Caesarea” (v. 36-40).
 

How true the Bible is when it says that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. The natural response to hearing God’s Word is Holy Baptism. The Holy Spirit, working through the Word, worked faith in this man’s heart and he was ready to be given even more of God’s gifts though Holy Baptism.
 

Notice that our text does not tell us the mode of Holy Baptism, whether the man was immersed or sprinkled. It does not mention the mode, because the mode is not what is important. What is important is that Baptism takes place and that it is done with water and Word.
 

Immediately following his Baptism the Ethiopian went on his way and Philip was taken to Azotus. God had further plans for the Ethiopian, for him to go back to his own country and share the Word of the Lord with his people. And as for Philip, God took him elsewhere to continue spreading the good news of salvation.
 

It is with great joy that we come to divine service to worship our Lord, to hear the good news of salvation; to hear the good news that our sins are forgiven because of Jesus’ life and death on the cross; to celebrate the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ; to be filled with His good gifts and blessings and then to take those gifts and blessings and share them with others. It is with great joy that we come to serve the Lord as His people in this place.
 

We have God’s Word. We can read God’s Word at home. We can come here and hear God’s Word. We can come here and hear God’s Word expounded. We have God’s Word which reminds us of our sins, that we sin in thought, word and deed, that we sin sins of omission and commission, that we are conceived and born in sin, that every inclination of our heart is evil all the time, and thanks be to God that we have His Word which reminds us that Jesus lived perfectly for us in our place, that He took all our sins upon Himself, that He gave His life for ours on the cross that we might have forgiveness of sins. It is through God’s Word alone that we are given, strengthened, and kept in faith. It is by God’s grace alone that we are given God’s Word, through which He gives us all His good gifts and blessings. And it is by faith alone, which our Lord gives to us through His means of grace, the Word and the Sacraments, that we are saved. Notice how it all points to God’s giving and our being given to.
 

And what is more, our Lord also gives us the privilege of being like Philip, that is the privilege of being witnesses of the faith that is in our hearts. We are witnesses in all we think, say and do. Our entire life shows forth the faith that is in our hearts as we, the priests of the Lord, in the priesthood of all believers, live our lives as living sacrifices for the Lord.
 

And we remember that we serve the Lord only as He works through us to serve Him. Again, it goes back to the Lord. He is the prime mover.
 

This morning we continue to celebrate the Easter resurrection. This morning we celebrate the gift of God’s means of grace, the gift of His Holy Word. We celebrate that the Holy Spirit works through the Word of God to give us the good gifts and blessings He has to give, faith, forgiveness, strengthening of faith, life and salvation. We celebrate God’s gifts of Holy Baptism. Certainly, in our text we see faith given through the Word and then that faith’s desire was to be baptized, yet we also know from God’s Word that Holy Baptism in itself if also a Sacrament, a sacred act, a means of grace through which God gives faith as He reminds us through the Apostle Peter, that Baptism saves us. And we continue to celebrate God’s means of grace of Confession and Absolution as well as His Holy Supper. We celebrate that God works through such ordinary earthly things as water, bread, wine and His Word to give the good gifts and blessings He has to give. Indeed, we celebrate that He stirs in us hearts that give thanks to God for His gifts, faith, forgiveness, strengthening of faith, life and salvation. Indeed, we rejoice and say, to Him be the glory, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.