Do Not Receive the Grace of God in Vain - June 23, 2024 - Fifth Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 07) - Text: 2 Corinthians 6:1-13

Most of us remember the second commandment, that we are not to take the name of the Lord our God in vain. We understand this commandment to mean that we are not to misuse God’s name because His name is holy. We are not to curse or falsely swear by His name. We are not to lie or deceive others by the way we use His name. We are not to seek palm readers, fortune tellers, nor refer to horoscopes and the like. Instead, we are to rightly use God’s name, calling on Him, especially using His name in times of trouble, we are to praise Him, pray to Him and give thanks to Him. In these ways, we do not take the name of the Lord our God in vain. In our text for this morning Paul urges us not to receive God’s grace in vain. May the Holy Spirit guide us as we understand what Paul means so that we do not receive the grace of God in vain, but for our eternal well being.
 

Our text begins with Paul reminding us of the gifts of God. Paul says, “1Working together with him, then, we appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain. 2For he says, “In a favorable time I listened to you, and in a day of salvation I have helped you.” Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation. 3We put no obstacle in anyone’s way, so that no fault may be found with our ministry,” (v. 1-3). Paul begins by reminding us that the Holy Spirit works in our hearts to give us faith, forgiveness, life and salvation. The way he says this is that “working together with him,” that is with the Holy Spirit working through the Word of God, Paul appeals to us to not receive these gifts of the grace of God in vain.
 

How does one receive the grace of God in vain? One receives God’s grace in vain when a person makes a practice of referring to the Redeemer, but instead trusts in himself and his own merits. And, unfortunately, this happens to us, even to us Christians, many times in our lives. We have a tendency to talk a good talk. We talk about how we believe in Jesus. We talk about how we believe the Lord will take care of us. And then we practice something different. We fret and worry. We get overly concerned about our own situations in life. We worry about monies. We worry about problems. We worry about temptation and sin. We worry and worry and worry. What we are doing is trusting in ourselves instead of trusting in God. We are receiving God’s grace in vain.
 

Paul reminds us that Jesus has taken care of everything. Notice that this is past tense. This is a completed action. We are given to. This is all past, completed action and passive action on our part. We do nothing to earn our salvation. We do nothing to merit our salvation. If anything, we get in the way. We make things worse. We put our faith in ourselves instead of in our Lord.
 

And so, Paul encourages us, in our struggles. He says, “4but as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: by great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, 5beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger; 6by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, the Holy Spirit, genuine love, 7by truthful speech, and the power of God; with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left; 8through honor and dishonor, through slander and praise. We are treated as impostors, and yet are true; 9as unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and behold, we live; as punished, and yet not killed; 10as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, yet possessing everything.” (v. 4-10). Paul previously reminded us that in good times, in favorable times we do not have a problem being a Christian. But now he asks, how do we react during times of struggles? How do we handle adversity? Do we handle adversity and struggles with joy or with bitterness? Paul outlines our struggles at times of affliction, hardship, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger and so forth. And lest we think we may be immune to these struggles and afflictions, perhaps we better think again. As Christianity is outlawed in many countries in our world, there may come a day, real soon, when it is outlawed here in our country. Paul suggests, that as Christians, our reaction will be patience, kindness, living lives full of the Holy Spirit, in genuine love, with truthful speech and in the power of God. In other words, Paul suggests that as Christians we will handle struggles with joy and not bitterness.
 

How we handle adversity is important because the world will see how we react and how we handle adversity. Our handling of adversity may be either a great influence on the world, or it may be a stumbling block. Of course, this simply mirrors our Savior’s affect on the world. For some, Jesus is a stumbling block. For others He is the very cornerstone and foundation of faith. For some, to believe that Jesus is the only way to eternal life is a stumbling block because they like to believe in tolerance, in a tolerant god and in many ways to some type of eternal enlightenment. Too many in our world do not want an intolerant god, because an intolerant god will not allow for them to do their own thing. And so, what happens is, instead of believing in the One True God, too many people believe in themselves and they become their own idols. Thus, Jesus becomes a stumbling block. For others, especially for those who see that they cannot save themselves, for those that see that there is only one true God, only one true religion of grace, only one way to heaven, Jesus is the cornerstone of faith.
 

And finally, Paul speaks words of encouragement. He says, “11We have spoken freely to you, Corinthians; our heart is wide open. 12You are not restricted by us, but you are restricted in your own affections. 13In return (I speak as to children) widen your hearts also.” (v. 11-13).  Paul is speaking words of love and concern as he describes himself as his heart is wide open. Paul encourages us to speak to others in the same way. And yes, this does mean we may be putting ourselves into situations where we may be vulnerable. We may get hurt, emotionally, psychologically, mentally. I guess the only words of encouragement I can give is to think about what our Lord has done for us. Our Lord created us. He redeemed us. He continues to love us. And what happens. Time and again we fail. We mess up. We sin and we sin boldly. We hurt Him. Ultimately we hurt Him by nailing Him to a cross. And yet, He still opens Himself wide open for us, He still loves us.
 

When we are hurt, how does that affect our affections? When we get hurt, do we still love others. Here, the only comparison I can make is the comparison of parents or grandparents, and children. We love our children and when our children hurt us, do we get angry and desire to get even, or do we forgive and continue to love?
 

How do we live “wide open” heart lives? We live “wide open” heart lives by inviting others to be a part of our lives, by making our lives inviting lives, by making our church an inviting church. We live “wide open” heart lives by not receiving the grace of God in vain. We bless those who curse us. We love those who hate us. We pray for our enemies. All the things we do not do naturally, but with the help and by the power of the Holy Spirit, we do imperfectly.
 

What does this mean? Because of our nature, our inborn human nature, we do tend to receive God’s grace in vain. Especially when life is going smoothly, when we are not having too difficult of a time in our life, during these times we have a tendency to talk about Jesus, but more often than not, we still put more trust in ourselves. At times we have a difficulty in that we compartmentalize our lives. When we are at church we talk about Jesus and our faith in Him. When we are sick or having a difficult time with life, when we are having struggles, we may pray more during that time of our lives. But when push comes to shove, instead of trusting in God to do the right thing, we rather trust in our own human knowledge and abilities. We trust the doctor and his opinion. We trust our savings and our own financial standing. We trust our own opinions. Yes, we naturally trust more in our own selves rather than trusting in our Lord.
 

And we tend, again, because of our nature, to be stumbling blocks. We tend to refuse the gifts God has to give and instead to rely on ourselves and our own resources. We tend to want to rely on our own good works, thinking that we are not so bad a person, after all we have never actually stolen anything, at least not on purpose. We have never actually killed anyone. We do not think bad thoughts, well at least not too bad of thoughts about others. We do not do the awful things other people do. And what we fail to realize is that until we recognize how sinful we really are, then we cannot begin to fathom how great God’s love and grace really is.
 

We tend, once more, because of our nature, to not live “wide open” heart lives. When we get hurt, we keep to ourselves. We do not want to be open to being hurt again. We tend to be protective of ourselves. We do not reach out to others, again, because we do not want to get hurt.
 

The good news is that Jesus has already done everything for us. He has been tempted for us. He has suffered all the temptations and even greater temptations than we suffer. He has been hurt, humiliated, emotionally, mentally, psychologically, physically hurt more than we might ever imagine. He has taken care of all our sins. He has done everything for us. And more, He continues, through the sending of the Holy Spirit, to do everything for us. He continues to work and move in us to do those things we have not done and those things we cannot, because of our nature, do ourselves. He continues to keep His heart “wide open” for us knowing that we will hurt Him more, time and again.
 

Both the Old Testament reading and the Gospel lesson speak well of our nature as human beings. How often we tend to be like Job and question God, when we have no right to question Him. And how often we tend to be like the disciples, unbelieving and of little faith. And in both instances, God shows Himself to be almighty, all powerful, all everything. And God does not get angry because of our lack of faith. Instead, He continues to open Himself up to us, pouring His grace out on us and giving us all His good gifts and blessings. What a great God we have. What a gift giving God we have. What a grace giving God we have. And as Paul urges us, so I urge you, do not receive the grace of God in vain.
 

God the Holy Spirit works in us to give us faith, to strengthen and keep us in faith, so that we may face the struggles that lie ahead in life, so that we do not harden our hearts, so that we do not become stumbling blocks to others because of our bitter attitude, but that our hearts might be wide open, freely expressing our love for others. And our response is just that, a response, a response of faith which says, to God be the glory, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

We Live by Faith - June 16, 2024 - Fourth Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 06)/Father’s Day - Text: 2 Corinthians 5:1-10 (11-17)

A few weeks ago we celebrated Mother’s day. Today, in order not to show favoritism, we celebrate Father’s day. One of my favorite sayings about fathers is this: “anyone can be a father, but it takes a special person to be a daddy.” It is true, “anyone can be a father,” especially in our world today, “but it takes a special person to be a daddy.” We hear a lot of talk about fathers, and even mothers, spending quality time with their children. I think we should encourage, not just the spending of quality time but the spending of quantity time with children. I have never heard a child or an adult say, I wish my father would not have spent so much time with me. Or, I wish my father would have been gone away at work more often and for longer hours. As it is, as we have heard over the past two weeks, our time on this earth is fast and fleeting. Our time on this earth is a mere handbreadth as the Psalmist reminds us. Now is the time to be a good daddy because as you have heard me say many times we will not live forever on this earth.
 

Last week we summarized Paul’s words by saying that by faith’ in Jesus resurrection from the dead, faith given to us by God, the Holy Spirit stirs in us to share that faith with others so that God might be glorified. At the same time, although we struggle with our aging bodies and fight against those who oppose Christ, we know that this world and these struggles are only temporary for our eternal home is heaven. This week we move on to the next chapter in Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians.
 

In our text for today Paul again puts our lives into proper perspective, and yes our text for this morning sounds a lot like our text from last Sunday because it begins with the verse we ended with last week. Paul says, “1For we know that if the tent, which is our earthly home, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens” (v. 1). Paul reminds us that our life on this earth is very short compared to our life in eternity. To emphasis this point he uses the comparison of a tent to a house. He reminds us that our life here on this earth is like living in a tent, a temporary structure, while our life in heaven is like living in our building, a house, built by God, a permanent structure.
 

Think about it. How often do you hear the phrase, “my how time flies.” How often do you hear people say something like, “why it was just yesterday that . . .,” something happened and you can fill in the blank. Most of the time we think about ourselves traveling through time, but when we have an important event coming up it is more like time is traveling towards us at an extremely quick pace. Years ago our nation started reducing the work week, thinking that we would have more free time to enjoy life. Then computers came along in order to give us more “free” time. What has happened is that the more free time we have the more things we try to cram into that free time. The busier we get the faster time seems to go. It is not that time is moving any faster, it is just that we are unaware of it because our minds are on something else.
 

We are on this earth for a relatively short period of time, especially when compared to eternity. Eternity is millions of billions of forever years and our lives in this world, on this earth are what, 70, 80, 100 years, if that. I hate to break the news to you, but you will die. People every day are dying, people of all ages, young and old alike.  Check the obituaries, watch the news, read the newspaper. The only way out of this world and into eternity is physical death, unless Jesus returns first.
 

Until we die, as Paul says, “2For in this tent we groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling,” (v.2). We groan. We groan a sinful groaning when we disrespectfully question God and ask, why can’t life be perfect?, as if God had something to do with making our world imperfect. We sinfully groan when we ask, why does bad happen to me? as if we deserve only good to happen to us. We sinfully groan when we ask, why do I have to live as a good person? as if our living as a good person makes us right before God and gives us justification for only good to happen in our lives.
 

Not all of our groaning is sinful groaning, sometimes we groan because of illness. Of course we understand that illness, too, is a result of sin and the curse from Genesis three. Our bodies groan in illness, proof that our bodies are imperfect. Remember how Paul describes our earthly bodies as tents, compared to our heavenly bodies being described as houses. Tents get old, they begin to wear out, they leak, they rip, they tear. Our bodies are not getting better, they are continually getting worse.
 

Even as Christians we groan. We groan because we want out of this world. We get tired of temptation and sin. We get tried of “losing” our family, friends and loved ones who have passed on before us. We groan because we want to be in heaven. As Christians we groan, not a demanding or questioning groan to God, but a groan of desire to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling.
 

Thanks be to God that our groaning is not for nothing. Paul continues by telling us the very purpose for which God made us, “5He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee” (v.5). We have talked about this before, the fact that God has created us for a purpose and that is to love us, and God has redeemed us for a purpose and that is to do the good works which He has prepared in advance for us to do, even if we can only do them imperfectly. God has given us His Holy Spirit to work His purpose in us so that eventually we will be transformed into the perfect likeness of Christ. Eventually we will be perfect, of course that eventually is only when we are in heaven.
 

“6So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord,” (v.6). That is, we know that as long as we are living in our bodily, earthly tents we cannot be in our heavenly houses. Yet, we remain confident knowing that this does not mean that we are deprived from the Lord’s spiritual presence with us in our daily lives. We are confident that the Holy Spirit is continuing to work in and through us daily.
 

Therefore, “7we walk by faith, not by sight” (v.7). The world may tell us that God is dead. It may appear that God has left our world and is letting it become as corrupt as it can, but we do not let these mere appearances get us down. No, we live by faith, that is we know with no uncertainty that God has given us His Word that He will be with us always. We know that He keeps His Word and we know that He is with us.
 

Therefore, “8Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord” (v.8). By the power of the Holy Spirit working through God’s Word we have seen Jesus. We have seen Jesus live the perfect life for us, because we cannot. We have seen Jesus take all our sins upon Himself. We have borne witness to the fact of Jesus’ suffering, death, and resurrection. We are confident that we too will rise again to be with Him in heaven and that is our desire, more than anything in this world.
 

“9So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him” (v.9). By the power of the Holy Spirit working in and through us, what we call sanctification, we strive to live our lives according to God’s good and gracious will. We do this not to gain anything for ourselves, because everything has already been given to us, what we call justification, but simply as a response of faith as a way to please our loving Father in heaven. And although we will fail, time and again, we know that with our Lord there is always forgiveness.
 

When our final hour comes Paul tells us as Christians, “10For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil” (v.10). We will be judged by the things that we have done or not done, because what we do reflects what is in our hearts. We must make note that Paul is not speaking about our being justified before God by our good works, because Scripture is clear that there is no salvation for those who do not believe, no matter how many good works it may appear they have done. Paul is speaking about sanctification, that is, he is speaking about our living our faith, with the help of the Holy Spirit.
 

The result of Jesus’ work of salvation and the work of the Holy Spirit in and through us is that we are God’s people. Paul continues, “11Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade others. But what we are is known to God, and I hope it is known also to your conscience” (v. 11). As our Lord encourages us through these words of Paul, we bear witness of our faith through our fear and love for Christ.
 

Paul continues, “12We are not commending ourselves to you again but giving you cause to boast about us, so that you may be able to answer those who boast about outward appearance and not about what is in the heart. 13For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you” (v. 12-13). Not only do we bear witness of our faith through our fear and love for Christ, we also bear witness of our faith through our encouraging and building each other up in the body of Christ, as well as defending and speaking well of each other. We focus our attention, not on ourselves, not on what we might think we are doing, besides being sinners, but rather we focus our attention on what God in Christ has done, does and continues to do for us. We focus our attention on Christ running the verbs.
 

And Paul concludes, “14For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; 15and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised. 16From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. 17Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come” (v. 14-17). We bear witness of our faith through our living lives of faith. We bear witness of our faith that although we fail, although we daily sin much, with Christ there is forgiveness because He died for all.
 

What does this mean? In the beginning God created the world, plants, animals, and us.  God created us to live. God did not create us to die. Because Adam and Eve fell into sin in the Garden of Eden, physical death became a part of our living on this earth. Now God has given us each a certain length of time to live on this earth. Remember, death is not a part of God’s plan, death is a result of sin. Paul is so right, we daily sin much and are in need of forgiveness. We daily sin much and groan begging our Father in heaven to give us strength to hold up under the massive temptations of this world. We daily groan as we pray to be taken from this vale of tears to live in heaven.
 

God has given us life at our birth. He has given us new life and faith at our baptism. He continues to give us strengthening of faith through His Word and His Sacraments. He continues to give us His gifts of forgiveness, life and salvation. Every morning we awake we pray to our Lord, thanking Him for the gift of a new day in which we might serve Him and live our lives for Him. Every day we thank the Lord for sending His Only Son, Jesus to live the perfect life we could not live. We thank the Lord that Jesus loved us so much that He took on Himself the punishment for all our sins, that He died the eternal death penalty of hell for us in our place.
 

Because of all that God has done for us, we overflow with response, with the help of the Holy Spirit. We respond by living our lives according to His good and gracious will. We respond by letting our faith bubble over through our actions so that others may see our hope for eternal life. We bubble over with praise and thanks to our Heavenly Father who has done it all for us, who saw to it that when our short time on this earth in our earthly tent is over, He has a permanent building, a permanent house waiting for us in heaven, for Jesus’ sake. To Him be the glory. Amen.

Wasting, Transient Tent vs Eternal Heavenly Home - June 9, 2024 - Third Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 05) - Text: 2 Corinthians 4:13-5:1

This morning we are being taught by Paul as he writes to help us to understand the distinction between our earthly life and our eternal life in heaven. Paul begins by reminding us that faith shows itself in action, as he says, “13Since we have the same spirit of faith according to what has been written, “I believed, and so I spoke,” we also believe, and so we also speak, 14knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into his presence. 15For it is all for your sake, so that as grace extends to more and more people it may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God” (v. 13-15). Paul reminds us that as we have been given faith that faith is such that we cannot help but share that faith through word and action. It is kind of like when we get something new, a new car, a new house, a new job, a new whatever, we simply get so excited that we cannot help but go out and tell others. The same is true with our faith in Jesus. As we come to Divine Service and Bible Class, as we are filled with the Word of God, we get so excited in the faith and forgiveness we have been given that we want to share that with others, both through our words and through our actions.
 

Of course, as we live lives of faith those outside of faith will most certainly question our faith and so Paul address this issue as well. He reminds us that the certainty of our faith is in the resurrection of Jesus. The reason Jesus spent forty days showing Himself to be alive after His resurrection was so that we might have such certainty. And the reason we have the very Word of God is so that we might have that certainty as well. As John reminds us in his Gospel, “but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name (John 20:31). You see, those outside the Christian faith continually question the Christian faith, even despising the Christian faith because of it exclusive claim that there is one and only one way to eternal life in heaven. As Christians our faith will be continually questioned by others so Paul here assures us of the certainty of what we believe by pointing to the resurrection of Jesus.
 

And Paul reminds us that our sharing Jesus’ love with others is what brings a multiplication of His grace and even more brings glory to God. Indeed, as we live in our vocations, as we live lives of faith, no matter where we are, God gives us His authority to speak in His name and His promise that He is with us always even to the end of the world, so that as we are asked about our faith, as we are questioned concerning our faith, He gives us the words and courage to speak and share our faith with others so they too might be a part of God’s kingdom. This promise reminds us that we never need to question or second guess our speaking and giving an answer for the faith that we have. This most certainly gives God glory.
 

Yet, Paul understands that while we are in this world our lives are not perfect. He understands our struggles and so he addresses those struggles. Paul says, “16So we do not lose heart. Though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day. 17For this slight momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, 18as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal” (v. 16-18). Paul says that our nature is wasting away. Yes, Paul reminds us that we are not getting any younger, but indeed we are growing older. As we grow older our bodies begin to show the results of the aging process. But notice that he calls this process our “slight momentary afflictions” and certainly when we compare our short time on this earth to our time in heaven we would have to agree that our struggles in this world, our aches and pains are a “momentary” affliction.
 

Paul makes a definite distinction and focuses our attention, not on our earthly body, but rather on our spiritual well being. Paul puts the best construction on everything. He reminds us that as we mature, as our bodies grow old, we are to grow in our faith. Indeed with this encouragement then we are reminded that our time in this world is short and rather than spend so much time being concerned about our lives in this world we would be better suited in being prepared for our eternal lives in heaven.
 

In speaking about the afflictions of this world Paul is speaking both about afflictions from the unbelieving world, perhaps meaning being persecuted for our faith, and afflictions from our aging bodies. Yet he reminds us here as he does in Romans that neither of these afflictions are anything compared to the glory which will be ours in heaven. Thus, we understand the momentary nature of this struggle.
 

I think most of us will readily admit that the older we get the faster life seems to move. As someone once described time, it is not as if we are traveling through time but rather that time is traveling at us, like a locomotive and nothing can stop it. Indeed, the older we grow the more transient, the more temporary we know this world to be. Unfortunately too often it is on ones deathbed that this realization occurs and then there are regrets about how one lived. I have never heard anyone on their deathbed say anything like, “You know, I wish I had spent more time at work and away from my family.” “I wish I had spent more time being away from Church and God’s Word.”
 

In the last verse of our text Paul compares the temporary nature of this world verses permanent nature of heaven. He says, “5:1For we know that if the tent, which is our earthly home, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens” (v. 5:1). Paul describes our bodies as being merely tents and he does so in much the same way as John related in His Gospel concerning the fact that Jesus merely tented among us. A tent is a temporary structure, a cover for a short time, until one packs it up and moves to the next place. Our lives in this world, indeed, our bodies in this world are merely temporary structures or housing for our souls until we reach heaven.
 

Our permanent home is in heaven. Our permanent home is a house not made with human hands. God has made our home in heaven. Jesus has paid the price for our home in heaven. And our home in heaven will not be a temporary residence, but will be our final home, our eternal home.
 

What does this mean? As we live in this world our usual approach is to focus our attention on this world and the things of this world. When we are young our focus is on our daily needs and wants. We focus on food and drink, on clothing and shoes, on a place to sleep and rest. We focus on games and distractions. As we grow older our focus is on our education, on preparing for getting a job, on getting married, on purchasing a house and a car, on purchasing those things we believe will make our lives better. We focus on our enjoyment of this world and the things of this world. As we grow older still our focus moves to preparing for retirement, on making sure we have the wherewithal to provide for ourselves as we grow older. Now let me say that in and of itself there is nothing wrong with such a focus and certainly we should concern ourselves about such matters. In our text Paul directs our focus away from ourselves, reminding us as always that we get it right when we focus on Jesus.
 

More important than focusing on the things of this world is focusing on the things of the world to come, because the fact is and the difference is that if we fail in preparing for this world our lives may be more of a struggle, but that is only a temporary thing. If we fail to be prepared for the world to come, that is if we fail to prepare for heaven, that means eternal death and hell which is most certainly not a temporary struggle.
 

As you have heard me say time and again, our greatest need is forgiveness of sins. Without forgiveness our sins remain on us and we would be doomed to eternal death and hell, but with forgiveness is life and salvation. Our greatest need is to focus on things eternal. Our greatest need is to be about the business of being in the Word. Through the means of grace, through the Word of God, through Confession and absolution, through Holy Baptism and the Lord’s Supper Jesus gives us faith and the surety of that faith comes through His resurrection.
 

As the saying goes, God never promised us a rose garden. Of course as I hear that quip I am reminded that even roses have thorns, thus we are reminded that God never promised us an easy life. We will have struggles while living in this world, indeed, the fall into sin and the curse of this world accounts for the struggles we will bear while living in this world. The struggles of this life may be discouraging, yet our focus is heavenward not earthbound. Our focus is to be drawn to Jesus who has taken care of our eternal home, our permanent dwelling place.
 

So Paul encourages us in reminding us of the key, that is that our faith is renewed daily and weekly through the means of grace. When struggles happen in life we can go one of two ways, we can blame God and run away, which is what the devil wants you to do, or we can cling to our Lord even more knowing that He is the answer, the only answer and the only one who is capable of helping us through our struggles. As we live lives of faith, as we live in our vocations, as we live as husband or wife, father or mother, aunt or uncle, butcher or baker, CPA or lawyer, plumber or electrician, banker or teacher, son or daughter, student or professor, engineer or builder, life guard or carpenter, whatever our vocation, as we live lives of faith, we are to always be ready to give an answer for the hope that we have in Christ, because as we live lives of faith our hope in Christ will be seen so that others will ask, “What is this faith you have? And remember, we have God’s authority to speak of our faith and we have His promise that He will give us not only the courage, but also the words to speak.
 

Our lives can point to the importance of the things of this world or our lives can point to our heavenly home. Paul encourages us to, with the help of the Lord, live lives that point to our heavenly home and in so doing we will bring glory to God.
 

Might we summarize Paul’s words to us this morning by saying that by faith in Jesus’ resurrection from the dead, faith given to us by God, we are stirred to share that faith with others so that God might be glorified. At the same time, although we struggle with our aging bodies and fight against those who oppose Christ, we know that this world and these struggles are only temporary for our eternal home is heaven. Thanks be to God and to Him be the glory, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

Fulfillment - May 26, 2024 - 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 Pentecost 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 the calling of Isaiah and we hear the triple “holy, holy, holy,” and the questions of the Lord in verse eight, “who will go for us,” an indication of the plurality of God. In the Gospel reading we have the confession of Nicodemus that Jesus is from God because of the works He was doing and we also have those great words we call the Gospel in a nutshell in John 3:16. 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 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. Peter begins with Jesus, His life and death. Jesus was a human being and He was God, or better said even today, Jesus is a human being and He is 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, because they knew 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 as we have already witnessed Jesus’ life, death and resurrection and we know that He is the Messiah.
 

Peter reminds us that Jesus was born according to God’s set purpose and foreknowledge. Jesus was born just as God told us in the promises of the Bible. Immediately after Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden, God promised to send a Savior, a Messiah, a Christ, the beginning of the Christian Church. God reiterated that promise to Abraham, to Isaac, to Jacob, to Moses and to many more throughout the history of the children of Israel. 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 live perfectly and so that He might fulfill all of the promises of God in Holy Scripture, perfectly.
 

And Peter gets personal. You know how it is, you do not mind if I, as your pastor, preach about sin, as long as I do not preach about your sin because when I preach about your sin then I am getting personal and I am getting nosey, or I am meddling. But it is okay 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 Divine Service attendance 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. A few years back while talking to a group of children. 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 child, whom I would guess had never heard the Easter account, 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. He was with Jesus throughout His three years of ministry and His death. He was one of the chosen twelve who were Jesus’ disciples. 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 death penalty of hell 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 death and hell (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.