Pentecost Day Sermon -- John 15:26-27; 16:4b-15 (LSB Pentecost B)

May 31, 2009 at Calvary Evangelical Lutheran Church – Mechanicsburg, PA

“When the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you in all truth, for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak, and He will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take what is Mine and declare it to you.”

The Lord Jesus promises His apostles a Helper, the Spirit of truth. This is no ordinary Helper that they will receive, but He “who proceeds from the Father.” A divine Helper will assist those whom Jesus has called to follow Him and those whom He has commissioned. This Helper who comes will have great abilities and specific functions to fulfill.

That is what the Lord Jesus promises to the Twelve in the Upper Room. They hadn’t exactly known why they would need a Helper, since they had Jesus with them. But Jesus says: “I did not say these things to you from the beginning, because I was with you. But now I am going to Him who sent Me. . . .” Jesus tells His apostles that He is leaving them. Yet during His absence, they still have a commission to obey. So they will have the ability to do this, Jesus sends them the Spirit of truth from the Father.

The departure of Jesus and the commission of His apostles are what the Church has celebrated during the past weeks. You heard Jesus say to the Twelve: “Repentance and forgiveness should be proclaimed in the Christ’s name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things.” But the Twelve are not able to do this on their own accord; they must have divine authority and power to do so. Therefore Jesus says to them: “Behold, I am sending the promise of My Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.”

The events of Pentecost which the Church celebrates on this day are the fulfillment of that promise. The Holy Spirit arrives to the Twelve, and they are able to do amazing things: “They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.” The Spirit of truth empowered Christ’s followers, so they could fulfill their Lord’s will. They do what Jesus commissioned them to do. For you heard the response of the Pentecost crowd who experienced the actions of the apostles: “We hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God.” The Spirit of truth works in the apostolic message.

That is what the Holy Spirit is all about. He does not empower people for His own glory or to show off His abilities. Jesus says: “He will glorify Me, for He will take what is Mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is Mine; therefore I said that He will take what is Mine and declare it to you.” The Spirit’s work is done to accomplish the will of the Father: that people would believe in God the Father and His Son whom He has sent. The Spirit is the Lord and Giver of Life, but ultimately that life is only found in those who have come to believe in the words and works of the Incarnate Son of God. Without such faith, there is no life in people.

How does that life come to people? By the proclamation of repentance and the forgiveness of sins in Christ’s name. And that is how the Spirit of truth has come to work in you. Recall Jesus’ words about the Holy Spirit’s operation: “When He comes, He will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment.” This is the conviction that has come to you through your reception of the apostolic message of Christ’s words and works.

Jesus says the Holy Spirit will convict “concerning sin, because they do not believe in Me.” So the Spirit has convicted you. His work in the proclamation of repentance and forgiveness of sins revealed your unbelief. As the words and works of Christ were made known to you, there is a realization that you were unbelievers, sinners estranged from the Lord God. That Spirit-given realization allows you to say those famous words of the Catechism: “I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to Him . . . .” But as the apostolic message reaches you, that same Spirit of truth calls you to faith in Christ.

Jesus says the Holy Spirit will convict “concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see Me no longer.” So the Spirit has convicted you. His work in the proclamation of repentance and forgiveness of sins revealed your lack of righteousness. As the words and works of Christ were made known to you, there is the realization that you are unworthy, sinful and unclean, again in the words of the Catechism: “We are neither worthy of the things for which we pray, nor have we deserved them, but we ask that He would give them all to us by grace, for we daily sin much and deserve nothing but punishment.” But as the apostolic message reaches you, the Spirit of truth reveals to you the truly Righteous One, Jesus Christ,—though you have not seen Him—and makes His holiness your own.

Jesus says the Holy Spirit will convict “concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.” So the Spirit has convicted you. His work in the proclamation of the repentance and forgiveness of sins displayed your redemption. As the words and works of Christ were made known to you, there is a realization that you were enslaved by the ruler of this world. But now you can say: “Jesus Christ . . . 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 . . . .” As the apostolic message is brought to you, you are given with a new Lord and Master in Christ.

All of this is the purpose of the Holy Spirit’s presence in the world. It is what brings salvation to you. That is why Jesus says about the Spirit: “He will guide you into all truth, for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak . . . .” The conviction “concerning sin and righteousness and judgment” was not the Spirit’s innovation; rather, it was the application of the truth which God the Father had already revealed in His Son Jesus Christ. The Spirit of truth bears witness about the Son by making known what the Father has accomplished through His Son. This is precisely what Jesus says: “[The Spirit] will glorify Me, for He will take what is Mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is Mine; therefore I said that He will take what is Mine and declare it to you.”

The declaration of Christ’s words and works is what reached the people in Jerusalem on Pentecost. Recall again the crowd’s response: “We hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God.” That same declaration has been given to you in your own language, so that you may understand and believe. For in that declaration, the Spirit works His convicting “concerning sin and righteousness and judgment” for your salvation. It is what you confess: “the Holy Spirit has called me by the Gospel, enlightened me with His gifts, sanctified and kept me in the true faith.”

By the proclamation of Christ’s words and works, the Holy Spirit becomes the Lord and Giver of Life for you. What Ezekiel saw in his vision of the dry bones of Israel takes place in you. The apostolic message is the proclamation of repentance and forgiveness in Christ’s name, the speaking of His word and telling of His works. It is just like Ezekiel’s commission: “Prophesy over these bones, and say to them, O dry bones, hear the Word of the Lord. Thus says the Lord God to these bones: Behold, I will cause breath to enter you and you shall live.” That Ruach, Pneuma, Breath is the Spirit of truth, the Lord and Giver of Life whom the Christ has promised for His people. So you have received the breath of everlasting life and salvation.

Like the bones Ezekiel saw, like the Twelve in the Upper Room, like the thousands in Jerusalem on Pentecost, you have been given the Spirit of truth. Jesus’ promise is true for you: “When the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, He will bear witness about Me.” You have heard the witness about Christ’s words and works: His perfect life; His revelation about the Lord God, His character, and His mercy for you; His innocent, sacrificial death; His glorious resurrection; His opening of heaven for you.

All this has been declared to you, so that you may be made a disciple and believer of Christ. All this has been declared to you, so that you also may bear witness—“telling in [your] own tongues the mighty works of God.” All this has been declared to you, so that you may receive the full benefits of salvation, as the Lord God states definitively: “You shall know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves, and raise you from your graves, O My people. And 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.” So the Lord God has spoken, and so the Helper, the Spirit of truth, has made known for you to believe on this Day of Pentecost.

T In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Sunday of the Ascension Sermon -- Luke 24:44-53 (LSB Ascension)

May 24, 2009 at Calvary Evangelical Lutheran Church – Mechanicsburg, PA

[Jesus] said to [the Twelve]: “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures.

The Christ’s own words give us the reason for His Ascension and for our celebration of it. This day that we celebrate is the fulfillment of the Old Testament—the Law of Moses, the testimony of the Prophets, even the mystical, poetic teaching of the Psalms. It is the culmination of the Christ’s work, mission, and life on earth. So it is an important day for us who bear the Christ’s name to remember.

What Jesus reveals to His disciples on the Day of Ascension is the heart of their faith, the hope to which they were called to believe and to declare to the world. That is what their Lord opens their minds to understand from the Scriptures that witness about Him. So He says: “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead.” This is what the Twelve had seen in Jerusalem with their own eyes, and it is what they would “proclaim in [the Christ’s] name to all nations.”

The completeness of the Christ’s work is seen in His Ascension. Remember that Jesus told the Twelve: “Everything written about Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” Everything, no exceptions allowed. Yet, the Twelve question Jesus about His mission. They ask Him if everything really is fulfilled. Even forty days after the Resurrection, the Twelve seem to have doubts about Jesus, or at least some concern that something hasn’t been fulfilled by Him. They ask: “Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?”

But what they seek from Jesus isn’t going to happen. They have a mistaken view of what the Christ was to accomplish. And so, Jesus “opened their minds to understand the Scriptures.” The Christ instructs His disciples about what He had done, how “everything written” had been fulfilled by Him. And then He speaks to what has been accomplished, what the Twelve will bring to the nations: not a new government for the world, but “forgiveness of sins.” For that is what “the Law of Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms” had all testified about the Christ’s work.

What the Christ’s Ascension declares to the Twelve and to the rest of the world is that the prophesied work has been done. There is nothing left to accomplish. All has been completed. And with “everything written” being fulfilled, the Christ leaves this world, leaving what He had redeemed, purchased and won, with His innocent suffering and death and glorious resurrection. With the Scriptures fulfilled, Jesus takes up His rightful place: “seated at [the Father’s] right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the age to come.”

What we see in the Ascension is the public testimony that we have been redeemed, fallen man has been reconciled to God, creation has been restored. Everything that Adam had lost, the perfection he caused to spiral into discord, decay, and death has been reversed. It is what humanity had hoped for from the moment that the Lord God said the ancient serpent’s head would be crushed. It is what every man, woman, and child desired to regain from the moment that Paradise had been lost, its gates shut tight against us.

With the Ascension, Jesus says “it is finished.” The Lord God’s promise has been made and kept. What Adam lost has been restored. The captivity in which humanity had been bound is overthrown. There is nothing left to be done by Him to change mankind’s fortune, to deliver humanity from eternal condemnation. Rather, we begin to experience the fullness of what our Redeemer has accomplished for us.

During the Easter season, we often hear St. Paul’s description of Jesus as “the firstfruits of those who have died.” He is the first to experience the bodily resurrection, the physical eternal life that Adam had forfeited. St. Paul states: “For since death came through a human being, the resurrection of the dead has also come through a human being.” We also teach that with Jesus’ resurrection, mankind has been resurrected, restored to life. What Jesus does in His mission as the Christ, He accomplishes for corporate humanity to reverse what Adam had lost for the entire human race.

The same can be said regarding the Christ’s Ascension. With His human presence in Paradise at the right hand of God the Father, Jesus has restored the original condition of Eden for all humanity. Adam had dwelt in perfect communion with God, living with Him without any fear, without any flaw, without any barrier. All of that was lost with his fall into sin. But now, Man has the same once again, because Jesus does so. The One who is both true God, but also true Man, lives just like the first man Adam did. And He flings open the gates of Paradise again for all of us to walk through and enjoy for eternity.

That is the great hope that we possess as the disciples of the Ascended Christ. We are promised to leave this vale of tears, to depart from this world which is fatally flawed. We are guaranteed “a place in the Father’s house” to possess for eternity. This is “the hope to which He has called you, the riches of His glorious inheritance among the saints, the immeasurable greatness of His power for us who believe,” as St. Paul described to our fellow disciples in Ephesus.

The greatness of this hope is seen in the use of divine power on our behalf in the events of the Resurrection and Ascension. God the Father raises the Dead to eternal life and seats Him at His right hand. What He does for the Eternal Son is what He does for all of us. Divine power is used to restore us to life, to breathe the Holy Spirit of life into us. Divine power is used to restore us to communion with God, to seat us in Paradise again. What happens to Jesus is the pattern of what will happen to us, as we who have been incorporated into His body the Church, baptized into His death and resurrection, follow in the path that He has laid out for us.

That is what makes this day not just about what happened millennia ago to one Man on a mountainside on the outskirts of Jerusalem. It is a preview of what we will experience firsthand. It is the story of our life as Christ’s disciples. It is the heart of the message of forgiveness that the apostles and their heirs have handed down to us. It is the full measure of what Luther described in the Small Catechism about the forgiveness Christ has brought to us: “where there is forgiveness of sins, there also is life and salvation.” And the life and salvation which is provided is not just for this world, but for eternity, just as we see in the Ascended Christ.

We do not know when it will happen for us individually. As the Lord Jesus says: “It is not for you to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority.” But what the Christ promises, we believe. It is what we hope for. And we point to Him, to what He has achieved and what He has been given, and we say: “There is my proof. There is my pattern. There is my preview. I dare not doubt, but rather build my hope on what Jesus has done.”

The Ascension of Christ and His Session at the right hand of the Father shows us that He truly is “far above all rule and authority and power and dominion.” He is victorious over the slavemaster Satan. He has conquered death. He has gutted the grave. They all must submit to His rule. Jesus, the Ascended Redeemer, demonstrates that His suffering, death, burial, and resurrection are a complete victory, fulfilling what the Scriptures had testified, leaving nothing for our salvation undone.

So we have the same “great joy” of the Twelve on this day. We worship with festivity and excitement, as our Lord Jesus and the Holy Spirit “have opened our minds to understand the Scriptures.” We hear the story again, we hear the prophecies fulfilled, and we are glad. We need not “stare into the sky,” but rather follow Jesus the Way, the Truth, and the Life, anticipating our own ascension. In patience, endurance, and the full hope of our eternal inheritance, we await the return of this same Jesus, “who has been taken up into heaven.” For then, we will experience firsthand the fullness of what His death, burial, resurrection, and ascension all have accomplished for us.

So may it be for all of you who bear the Lord God’s name given to you: the Name of the Father and of the T Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Easter 6 Sermon -- John 15:9-17 (LSB Easter 6B)

May 17, 2009 at Calvary Evangelical Lutheran Church – Mechanicsburg, PA

Jesus said: “As the Father has loved Me, so I have loved you. Abide in My love. If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love.”

The love that the Father has for His Son is nearly incomprehensible. To speak of how the Persons of the Holy Trinity interact with one another is an awesome thing, and it stretches mortal minds to their limits. But the Lord God has revealed the love that He shares. Jesus speaks about the love His Father has for Him in ways that humanity can understand.

The love that the Father has for His Son is eternal: it has no beginning and has no end. The Father has always loved His Son, just as He has always given existence to His Son. He desires His Son to be and continues to sustain Him. It is an eternal generation, as Proverbs states: “The Lord possessed Me at the beginning of His way, before His works of old. From everlasting I was established, form the earliest times of the earth. When there were no depths I was begotten, when there were no springs abounding with water. Before the mountains were settled, before the hills I was begotten.” Forever and ever the Father has loved His Son.

As the Father has given His Son existence, He also shows His love to His Son in many ways. The Father gives the Son His authority. The Father entrusts His creatures to the Son’s care. The Father declares to the entire world that He has joy in His Son: “This is My Beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” The Father restores His Son to life after His sacrificial death for sinners like you. And as the Son has fulfilled the Father’s commands, the Father welcomes Him to be seated at His Right Hand for all eternity. The Father provides an eternal feast to celebrate the victory of His Son.

This love which the Father shows to His Son is selfless, not seeking anything in return. It is given freely to the Son. It is not an exchange of feelings, but the demonstration of favor that the Father has for His Son. And that favor which the Father has is confirmed by what His Son does: He keeps His Father’s commands—including the command to lay down His life—and He abides in His Father’s love as He finds His existence in it.

But that type of love which the Father shows His Son is completely foreign to you by nature. Certainly fathers show similar love to their sons. You know of proud fathers who praise their sons. You know of fathers who entrust their property to their sons. You know of fathers who hold great banquets in celebration of their sons and their achievements. But that is human-to-human love, and it is always imperfect. The type of love that the Eternal Father shows to the Eternal Son is not directly shown to humanity. The Father does not love the world in the same way that He loves His Son . . . until His Son shows that love to the world.

This is why Jesus says: “As the Father has loved Me, so I have loved you. Abide in My love.” Through the work of the Son divine love is shown to humanity. Jesus is telling His followers: “You heard Me talk about the selfless love that My Father has shown to Me. That is the type of love that I show to you. And I am going to demonstrate it in concrete ways for you to see.” Everything that the Father has given to the Son will be given by the Son to His people.

Jesus says: “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lays down his life for his friends.” That greatest love, the full expression of selflessness that Jesus makes, is what His disciples receive. The Son lays down His life for His friends. He does this, so that He can be their source of life, just as the Father is the source of His existence. The Son gives His people His authority to can proclaim His goodness, just as the Father gave the Son His authority to speak everything about Him. The Son declares His people to be forgiven and clean and righteous, just as His Father said that He was well pleased with His Son. All of this is the divine love that is shown by the Son to you, the indirect way that the Father loves you.

It is important for you to know this love. Jesus says: “These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.” Your joy is to be found in the divine love that the Father shows His Son and that the Son shows to you. And it makes sense that it is so. Selfless love is not common. You know times when you have shown it, but just as many times when you have not. You know that you are not a deserving object of common love, let alone selfless love, as your faults cause rifts in relationships and bring nothing in return.

But Jesus says: “As the Father has loved Me, so I have loved you. Abide in My love.” He knows that you are undeserving, and yet He still show selfless love to you. He knows that you really have nothing of value to give in exchange for His actions, and yet He lays down His life for you. The Son does these things, so that He can find joy in having His own people, in having things which are connected to Him. He finds joy in being the source of your existence, just as His Father found joy in being the source of His Son’s life by eternally begetting Him.

Jesus tells you: “Abide in My love.” He wants to have joy in you, as His acts redeem you. By abiding in His love, your sins are absolved, you are given everlasting life, your salvation is delivered to you. Trusting in what Jesus has done for you, you abide in His love and you have life in Him. That is why the Apostle John writes: “Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of Him.” Faith in the love that Jesus shows by laying down His life for you is the source of your new life. That is how your joy will be full, as you are given something greater than what you could ever achieve or obtain.

Because you have been shown that selfless love by the Son and have been given life by it, you now are able to show the same to others. Jesus’ teaching says that in the same way the Father loves Him, so He loves you. But it also says that in the same way the Son has loved you, so you also love one another. This is why He can say: “This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.” It is not a vain command. There is a divine capability given to you by the Son similar to the authority, power, and ability that the Father has given to Him.

Jesus gives the instruction to love. But He tells you why He gives such command: “You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit may abide.” The Son has chosen you to follow Him. He has chosen you to be the object of His selfless, divine love. He has sacrificed Himself for you, in order to remove your sins, to be the source of your life, to deliver you from death and destruction. Because He has done so, you are now able to go and show love to one another, even without expecting anything in return.

Remember how the Father is the source of the Son’s existence? The Son is the source of your life. So likewise, you can be the source of life for each other. This is so for parents, but also as you are all called to “help and support your neighbor in every physical need.”

Remember how the Father entrusted people to His Son and gave authority to His Son to oversee them? The Son has also entrusted people to you, placing you in relationship with one another. So likewise, you have people under your care. You are called to serve and protect them.

Remember how the Father praised His Son, calling Him beloved and pleasing to Him? The Son has also praised you, declaring you to be righteous. So likewise, you can commend one another. You are called to “defend you neighbor, speak well of him, and explain everything in the kindest possible way.”

Remember how the Father has given the Son knowledge about Himself? Jesus also said: “All that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you.”? So likewise, the Son has given you knowledge about Himself. You are called to “proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light,” so that others may know it, that others may know the Son’s love.

All of this is included in Jesus’ statement: “This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lays down his life for his friends. You are My friends if you do what I command you.” It is a command, but at its root is what the Son has already done: “As the Father has loved Me, so have I loved you.” At the heart of the whole matter is the eternal love that the Persons of the Triune God have for one another. That is what has been shown to you by the Son’s work. So you are saved, being born of God and loved by Him. That is what you now know; so now you can show it to one another.

T In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Easter 5 Sermon -- John 15:1-8 (LSB Easter 5B)

May 10, 2009 at Calvary Evangelical Lutheran Church - Mechanicsburg, PA

Jesus said: “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in Me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.”

Again Jesus uses a metaphor to describe Himself and the relation He has to His people. Last week, you heard Jesus say: “I am the Good Shepherd.” That metaphor also told you that Jesus’ disciples were His sheep. Today, you heard Jesus say: “I am the vine; you are the branches.” This speaks to the connection that Jesus’ disciples have to Him. Jesus is their source of life, the reason why they will have an eternal place in His kingdom, sharing in salvation that He had earned for them.

Jesus is very clear that the reason why His disciples have life in them is because of their connection to Him. That is the major point of the Vine-Branches Metaphor: “I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in Me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.” That last statement is very exclusive, dispelling any sort of idea that salvation can be self-determined and gained. A grape branch cannot and will not produce any clusters unless it is connected to the vine. It does not have any power or ability in itself. And so it is with you: you will not produce anything good unless you are connected to Jesus.

So how is that connection made? Jesus describes how it is established: the work of the Holy Spirit done through His Word. Jesus says that is how His disciples have already been forgiven: “Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you.” Jesus’ words of absolution, His words of eternal life, bring salvation to His hearers. They are cleansed of their sins; their guilt is removed. This happens when Jesus calls someone to follow Him, to listen and trust His words and rely on the promises given to them. His statements declare sinful people to be clean, sick people to be well, dead people to be alive. So they are made His disciples, given a share in what Jesus has earned for them.

But the effect that Jesus’ Word has in His disciples is not limited to the first calling. It must be continual, constantly delivering to them what Jesus has accomplished. This is why Jesus follows up His statement about the cleansing effect of His Word: “Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.” Jesus tells them His disciples that they have been forgiven. But there is more to their discipleship then being forgiven. Just like a branch of a vine is to bear fruit, so Jesus’ disciples are meant to do good works, which is impossible unless they abide in Jesus and continue to receive His life.

That is the significance of Jesus’ statement: “Whoever abides in Me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.” Humans possess no ability of their own in matters of salvation and the Christian life. All of it is a gift, something delivered by the Holy Spirit as the Word of Christ is heard and believed by them. Jesus wants His people to understand that everything that He had laid out for His disciples both to receive and to do is dependent upon the maintenance of His relationship to them. They must abide in Him, and He must abide in them. And that only takes place through the continual connection to Jesus which is effected by the reception of His Word.

The ongoing reception of Jesus’ Word by His disciples is what brings them life. It keeps the branches connected to the vine, to use the language of His metaphor. The importance of this connection is clear: “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch of Mine that does not bear fruit He takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. . . . If anyone does not abide in Me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned.” Connection to Jesus or lack thereof has eternal consequences.

The eternal consequences of connection to Jesus are why it is vitally important for His disciples to continually receive His Word. They must receive it in the ways that Jesus has determined—whether it be paying attention to His teaching, or being washed with water connected to His Word in Holy Baptism, or eating His Word connected to bread and wine in the Lord’s Supper, or hearing His Word of forgiveness spoken by ministers. This is how Jesus’ disciples abide in Him, and He abides in them. It is how they are able to live out the way of life that Jesus has given them, including what John the Apostle wrote: “This commandment we have from Him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.”

Without the continual reception of Jesus’ Word, His disciples will not bear fruit, and so will suffer the consequence: “If anyone does not abide in Me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned.” But when Jesus’ followers continually receive His Word, great things happen. Jesus says: I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in Me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit.” He speaks the words of eternal life, the living word that causes wells of living water to spring up in His hearers’ hearts. The Holy Spirit who works in them brings forth His fruits: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, and self-control.

Jesus even says that His Father works to help His disciples become more productive: “Every branch that does bear fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit.” The corrective nature of the Divine Law applied to Jesus’ followers is meant to remove the impediments that they put up by sins of mind, mouth, or member. After this pruning, the work of the Gospel then will take place, leading to the fruitful life. Again, this requires the continual reception of Jesus’ Word, since His Word contains both Law and Gospel, the way to correct what is wrong with His disciples and to produce what is good, right, and salutary.

This is what the Apostle John referred to in his letter to Jesus’ followers: “No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and His love is perfected in us. By this we know that we abide in Him and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit.” That divine love which is perfected in us is what the Holy Spirit leads us to do as we abide in Jesus and continue to follow in His ways. It is what we do as we love one another. John says: “We love because [God] first loved us.” And that we know only through the reception of Jesus’ Word, that Word handed down through the apostles who “testify that the Father has sent His Son to be the Savior of the world.”

Without that first and continued reception of Jesus’ Word, none of this is so. There is no salvation to be had by you. There will be no good deeds done by you. There will be no life in you. You will be like branches that are shriveling and dying, producing nothing. The Vinedresser will come and cut them away, leaving them to wither, be gathered, and burned. But this need not be so for you; in fact, Jesus desires it not to be so at all. Your Lord wants you to be branches who produce great works which show love for your neighbor, the works which stem from your love for Jesus above all things. So it will be, as you hear through Jesus’ Word about the love He showed to you through His death and resurrection.

Jesus’ metaphor is not meant simply to frighten. It is meant to direct you to how Jesus is able to give you salvation. The Vine-Branch Metaphor is given, so that you can rightly identify Jesus as the source of your life and the reason why you are pleasing to God the Father. For even more than His warnings about being cut off from Him, Jesus promises great things for you: “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be My disciples.”

Proving to be Jesus’ disciples by abiding in Him, listening to what He instructs you, and doing what He instructs means that you will be continually receiving His Word. It means that Jesus will continue to give you His gifts, since “apart from [Him] you can do nothing.” And it means that what you most wish—to be delivered from sin, death, and Satan and be raised to everlasting life—will be done for you. So it will be, because the Lord Jesus has spoken it. Abiding in His Word, you will remain connected to the Vine. And wherever the True Vine is, there you, the branches, shall be for all eternity.

T In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Easter 4 Sermon -- John 10:11-18 (LSB Easter 4B)

May 3, 2009 at Calvary Evangelical Lutheran Church - Mechanicsburg, PA

[Jesus said]: “I am the good shepherd. I know My own and my own know Me, just as the Father knows Me and I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep.”

The shepherd is tied to his sheep. He has a relationship to them: the sheep are his, and he belongs to them. His identity as a shepherd is determined by having sheep. So Jesus describes Himself to His disciples. Jesus calls Himself a shepherd, and not just any sort of shepherd, but the Good Shepherd. He states that He has a flock, and that His interest is in the flock’s welfare, for so Jesus is tied to His sheep.

That is what you heard from John’s Gospel on this Fourth Sunday of Easter, which we call Good Shepherd Sunday. Jesus wants His followers to know that He is concerned about them that their welfare is His top priority. But this concern about the sheep’s welfare is more than an earthly concern. Rather, Jesus is determined to bring His followers life for eternity and to protect them from losing it to those who desire nothing other than to harm them. Jesus’ concern stems from His identity as the Good Shepherd.

Listen again to what Jesus says about a shepherd’s connection to and concern for his sheep: “He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep.” Jesus makes a point from discussing the negative: a hired hand does not care for the sheep under his watch, since his identity and interest are not tied up with them. A hired hand is defined by his wages; he is an employee who happens to have sheep to tend. But when his interest is threatened, when his life is in jeopardy because of a wolf, the hired hand is willing to abandon the sheep.

But this is not so for a shepherd. If the flock is scattered and killed, then his both his identity and interest are lost. Every sheep killed by the wolves damages the shepherd’s assets. He becomes poorer one lamb at a time. But this harm is compounded by the fact that one cannot be a shepherd without sheep. The wolves scatter the flock and devour the stragglers they can catch. By this, the wolves begin to destroy the shepherd’s identity, as his flock is lost.

So Jesus says He will not have His followers lost. For Jesus’ identity is caught up with them: “I am the good shepherd. I know My own and my own know Me, just as the Father knows Me and I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep.” Jesus differentiates Himself from hired hands: He is more than a leader who happens to have followers; He has been given a duty more than supervision. Instead, Jesus’ interest is in the welfare of His sheep, His people.

Jesus says: “I lay down My life for the sheep.” He does so, because it is in His interest. The sheep benefit from having their shepherd defend them from wolves, even to the point of his death. But in this case, Jesus says that He, the Good Shepherd, also benefits from this: “For this reason the Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it up again. No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of My own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from My Father.” Jesus indicates that He receives His Father’s love because He lays down His life and takes it up again for the benefit of His followers. By so doing, Jesus remains their shepherd and His sheep’s welfare is preserved.

This extended metaphor that Jesus uses helps you, His sheep, to understand His death and resurrection. It explains why Jesus underwent His suffering and why the Father glorified Him by raising Him from the grave. The work that Jesus did by His dying and rising was to keep His sheep from destruction. By taking upon Himself the pains of death, enduring the assaults of Satan, even suffering the forsaking of His Father, Jesus makes it possible for humans not to experience any of this. Jesus’ sheep will be saved, and the attempts of Satan and his allies to harm them will be thwarted.

This is the charge that Jesus received from His Father, as He said. It is a charge that Jesus fulfills. He does not leave anything undone. Just as the Lord God revealed in the Scriptures, Jesus does what is prophesied of the Messiah. Salvation is given to the Lord God’s people. Their welfare is Jesus’ interest. By delivering them through His sacrificial death, Jesus becomes their shepherd, even their Good Shepherd. So Jesus has a people which are connected to Him, and by their existence, Jesus has His identity as Redeemer.

This is what has been accomplished for you. For you are the sheep that Jesus speaks of. He has laid down His life for you, and He has taken it up again. You belong to Him, as Jesus has established a relationship with you. Jesus’ words describe this fact: “I am the good shepherd. I know My own and My own know Me. . . . I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to My voice.” Jesus calls you His own. His identity is being your Good Shepherd. His sheep listen to His voice. So you do, as you hear His teaching, hear His claims about His identity and work, and believe it.

Because you are Jesus’ own, His flock, His identity is wrapped up in your following Him. He is your Good Shepherd. And not only is Jesus’ identity connected to your following Him; because you are His sheep, your welfare is His interest. The caring that the Good Shepherd has for His sheep is not a one-time concern. It goes beyond Jesus’ suffering, death, and resurrection. Rather, it is ongoing. The Good Shepherd continues to tend for His sheep, warding off the dangers that the wolf, Satan, brings.

The ongoing protection of the sheep is what Jesus brings to you through His appointed means. His voice that you listen to is given through the Church’s proclamation—the reading and teaching of the Scriptures. Like the shepherd in David’s psalm, Jesus leads you to “the still waters” of Holy Baptism, making you His sheep through that act, but also returning you to the holiness given there, so that you sins are cleansed. Through His Spirit, you are led and guided through life, being instructed how to walk “the paths of righteousness for His Name’s sake.” The Good Shepherd ensures that you are fed and nourished, as “He prepares a table before [you] in the presence of [your] enemies,” even in this world’s wilderness.

The ongoing care that Jesus makes certain is because He cares for you, His sheep. Just as much as you are bound to Him as His disciples, so Jesus is bound to you as your Lord. You are His own, so your welfare is His interest. You are His own, so you are part of His identity as the Good Shepherd. Jesus is tied to you, and you are tied to Jesus.

That is the relationship that Jesus describes in John’s Gospel, the theme of this Sunday. You are not sheep that happen to be under His supervision, so that Jesus may earn wages. He is not a hired hand with the bothersome duty of herding another’s sheep. No, He is your shepherd, so that life may be yours, the very life that He laid down for you, showing His love beyond all measure. He is your shepherd, so that your eternal welfare may be secured. By His dying, Jesus has destroyed death. By His rising again, Jesus has opened the way to everlasting life. And as Jesus fulfilled the charge given by His Father, you may share in His glory, so that “[you] shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”

T In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Warren "Joe" Arnold Funeral Sermon -- John 14:1-7

May 6, 2009 at Calvary Evangelical Lutheran Church - Mechanicsburg, PA

Jesus said: “Let not your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in Me. . . . You know the way to where I am going.”

Jesus knows His disciples’ worries, fears, and anxieties. That is why He says: “Let not your hearts be troubled.” He is a sympathetic and empathetic Lord and Master, unlike many who claim to be leaders, yet care not for their followers. Jesus does not want His disciples to be burdened with doubt and trepidation, especially on this day. He knows that events will occur which jar the mind and shake the faith. But in the midst of them Jesus says: “Let not your hearts be troubled.”

The Lord Jesus says those words in the context of death. He speaks them to His closest group of followers just hours before His own suffering leading to crucifixion takes place. Jesus’ disciples will see this, witnessing His arrest and trial, watching from a distance as His strength gives way while hanging suspended above Mount Calvary. With their own eyes, they will look upon the dreadful sight of a strong man succumbing to death. And yet, Jesus says: “Let not your hearts be troubled.”

So the Lord Jesus says to you, His disciples, who once again witness the earthly demise of one you know well. Jesus knows your worries, fears, anxieties, sorrows, and mourning that come in the context of human death. He knows the troubled hearts that you have at this time as you have taken leave of Joe. Jesus knows how you are really no different than His first followers in the Upper Room whose confidence was shaken at the mention and experience of His dying.

But the Lord Jesus does not want your hearts to be troubled. And the comforting words that He speaks are more than empty platitudes. Jesus wants His disciples to be confident, hopeful, focused on what will be theirs, even as their situations do not convey such thoughts and feelings. That is why Jesus does not stop with telling His disciples to be untroubled. Instead, He tells them why. He tells them what will be theirs after the time of suffering has passed.

Jesus says: “You believe in God; believe also in Me.” And then He tells His followers, including you why: “In My Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go and prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to Myself that where I am you may be also. And you know the way to where I am going.” Jesus reveals what will take place: He dies in order to prepare a place for His followers; He is buried to prepare a place for His followers; He rises again to prepare a place for His followers; He ascends to heaven to prepare a place for His followers.

This is what Jesus’ disciples knew, because He had told them this many times before. It was not a secret; Jesus had taught this openly. This is what Joe knew, because he had been told this many times before. In fact, Joe had stated it openly, as he confessed the Church’s creeds, prayed the Church’s liturgy, and repeated the Church’s teaching—that which convey the words of Jesus from generation to generation. This is what you know, as you have heard and believed the words of Jesus spoken to you.

Like the first followers of Jesus in the Upper Room and like our brother Joe, “you know the way to where [Jesus is] going.” It is a path of suffering and death for Jesus and His disciples. “Where [Jesus is] you may be also,” including the time of death and burial. But Jesus’ way is also a path of glorification and life, even for His disciples. For Jesus’ journey did not stop in the grave, but led out of it all the way to the Right Hand of the God the Father. “Where [Jesus is] you may be also,” including the time of resurrection and everlasting life. That is why Jesus tells His disciples in the Upper Room and Joe in his last room and you in this sacred room: “Let not your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in Me.”

These words of Jesus accomplish what they say. They set into motion what the Lord God had promised to His people years ago: “He will swallow up on this mountain the covering that is cast over all peoples, the veil that is spread over all nations. He will swallow up death forever; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces, and the reproach of His people He will take away from all the earth, for the Lord has spoken.” So the Lord God promises a destination for His people away from the trials and tribulations, sorrows and fears of this veil of tears.

Jesus’ path that His followers travel does bring sorrow and pain. He does not promise a lack of it. But His path brings a greater end; it leads to that promised destination. Jesus promises that His disciples will not be overcome by sin, death, and Satan or the troubles and harms that they bring. There will be a better day, a blessed reality. The Upper Room disciples witnessed what seemed to be final: the death of their Lord and Teacher. For all of you gathered here, this day is very real and seems to be final, just as Friday and Saturday were for Joe’s family. There will be the closing of hearse’s doors and the sealing of a tomb which seems to be the end. Hearts need to be comforted.

That is why Jesus says to you: “Let not your hearts be troubled.” and “You know the way to where I am going.” Because you know where Jesus went, you know that the grave is not final. Because you know that Jesus has been raised and glorified, you know that Joe will be also. Because you know that Jesus has ascended, you know that you also will have a place in His Father’s house. That is the greater reality, the true conclusion. With that in mind, your hearts need not remain troubled.

So you who follow Jesus on His path can say: “This perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality, because my Lord Jesus did.” You can say: “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting? Tell me, because my Lord has defeated you.” You can say to Satan: “You cannot deceive me, for I know Jesus who is the Way and the Truth and the Life. And He has promised me truer and greater things.” For those are the responses of untroubled hearts, the statements made by those who follow Jesus and believe Him. They are even the declarations now made by our brother Joe.

On this day, Jesus desires to hear such things. And so we shall say them: in our prayers, in our hymns, and in the repetition of Jesus’ words of promise. The Lord God has spoken, the matter is closed. We believe in God and in Him. We know the way that He has gone, the path that we shall travel. And where He is, there the Twelve Apostles and we and Joe shall be also.

T In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.