Trinity 1: Audio Sermon (26-June-11)

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Trinity 1 [Luke 16:19-31] (26-June-11)

This sermon was preached at St Paul's Lutheran Church, Darnum (9am, lay-reading), Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Traralgon (10am), Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Yarram (2pm) and St John's Lutheran Church, Sale (4pm)

Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ.

Text: (Luke 16:19-31)

He said, “Then I beg you father, to send him to my father’s house – for I have five brothers – so that he may warn them, lest they also come into this place of torment.’ But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.’ And he said, ‘No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.’

Kä cuɛ wee i̱, 'Mi ca jɛn inɔ, ɣän la̱ŋä ji̱, gua̱di̱n, ɛn ɣöö bi jɛ jäkä dhɔr gua̱a̱r, (kɛ ɣöö ta̱a̱kɛ dämaari da̱ŋ dhieec) kɛ ɣöö derɛ kɛ wä luek a /cikɛ dee lɛ ben guäth bo̱lä maac ɛ bɛc bɛc ɛmɛ.' Cu A-bɛ-ram ɛ loc i̱, 'Tekɛ kɛ ŋuɔ̱t Muthɛ kɛn ruaacni göökni. Akɛ liɛŋkɛ kɛ.' Kä cuɛ wee i̱, 'Ëëy, A-bɛ-ram gua̱di̱n, mi wä ram mi ci rɔ jiɛc li̱th wä kä kɛ, bikɛ rɔ ri̱t kä dueerkiɛn.' Kä cu A-bɛ-ram ɛ jiök i̱, 'Mi /cikɛ ŋuɔ̱t Muthɛ kɛnɛ ruaccni göökni bi liŋ, /cakɛ dee jakä ŋa̱th ɛ raan a cäŋɛ mi ci raan rɔ jiɛc li̱th.'

Prayer: Lord God, our heavenly Father, enlighten our darkness with the light of your Holy Spirit, so that I may preach well and we all may hear well, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

St John says in his first letter chapter 3:

Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.

By this we know love, that he [Jesus Christ] laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.

In our reading today, Jesus tells the story of two men. We have a one man who is ridiculously rich, and one man who is ridiculously poor. One man was clothed in purple and fine linen and feasted sumptuously every day. One man, whose name was Lazarus, was covered with sores, with boils of pus, who desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man’s table. And even the dogs came and licked his sores.

So we have a ridiculously rich person and a ridiculously poor person.

Which one are you?

In our gospel reading today, Jesus describes things with extremes. There is a man with everything he needs, and there is another man who simply has nothing except the pains and desires of his heart.

Which one are you? The rich man or the poor man?

You might say, well I’m not that poor, and I’m not that rich. You might think that you would like to sit on the fence comfortably and watch this story happen from a distance. But you can’t.

The rich man dies and is buried and goes to hell.

The poor man is carried up by angels to the bosom of Abraham. (In our bibles it often says, “Abraham’s side”, but in the Greek it says, “his bosom” – Abraham welcomes Lazarus with a warm, loving embrace, and keeps him close to his heart.)

No one in this story is sitting on a fence. One man is in heaven and the other man is in hell. And there is great chasm fixed between the two of them. The fence that we’d all like to sit on has just fallen hundreds of metres below us as this great chasm opens up. And so we are left with two extremes: eternal joy or eternal torment.

Many people scoff at this sort of talk today. Many people don’t believe, for example, that there is a hell. If you also believe that there’s no hell, then your argument is not with me, but it’s with Jesus.

But back to our question though:

Which of these two characters are you? The rich man or the poor man?

And, you’re right: you’re not as poor as Lazarus. I’ve never met a person in my life who is as poor as Lazarus. And Jesus tells you about this man Lazarus in such an extreme way, to make sure that only thing you can say is, “I’m not as poor as him.”

But if you say this, then the alternative is scary. Because you do have nice things in life, you do eat well, you do dress well, you have many gifts given to you from God. But then the problem for you is: the rich man went to hell.

We have to be aware of the fact that money is one of the greatest idols we have in life. Everything good will be sacrificed for money. Everything holy will be sacrificed for money. Family will be sacrificed for money, happiness will be sacrificed for money, God will be sacrificed for money. And all we need is a little bit of a taste on the mouth, all we need is a little drop of water on the tip of our tongue – all we need is just a drop of money, and once we’ve got some, all we want is more of it. And so we all turn up to worship the calf made from gold, and we sacrifice everything: we bring our lives and sacrifice them to the golden calf, we ruin our relationships, we ruin our husbands and wives, we ruin our children and future children – all these things that we do because we think we don’t have enough money!

Pastors are the same. There are two types of pastor: there are those who had no money before they became a pastor, and there are those who gave up a high-paid job to become a pastor. When the first type of pastor is ordained they don’t know what to do with all the money they have now, and carry on as if they had a swimming pool full of money that they’re just waiting to dive into. But the second group of pastors complain about their pay-cut.

And don’t think that pastors are the only ones who do this? Ask yourself, have you ever complained about having too much money?!!

And here’s the catch: The poor man Lazarus was laid at the rich man’s gate.

Someone put Lazarus there at the rich man’s gate. – Maybe it was God.

You see, with money comes responsibility. The rich man was not a king. It wasn’t for him to dress like a king. And we live in a society where people think they can do whatever they like if only they had enough money. This happens at every level of our society. All people want is more money for themselves, with no responsibility.

What does God want you to do with your money? Who has God placed at your gate? Who are you ignoring?

And maybe you think: but I can’t be too generous, because I’ve got to think of myself. I can’t just give my money away.

Maybe the rich man in our story today also thought the same thing.

Maybe you think: I have to save up, I want to be comfortable when I’m old, I want to leave my children something.

Maybe the rich man in our story today also thought the same thing.

Maybe you think: It would be wrong to give my money to someone if I didn’t know what they were going to do with it. It would be irresponsible of me to waste my money on the poor.

Maybe the rich man in our story today also thought the same thing.

Be careful what you say, and be careful what you think! Don’t escape this story or you might end up saying to Abraham: Send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue.

This passage will either make you repent, or it will infuriate you. If it makes you angry, then beware, because you don’t want to be angry for eternity.

Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.

At the end of our reading today, we hear the rich man crying out in desperation, ‘I beg you, father [Abraham] to send [Lazarus] to my father’s house—for I have five brothers – so that he may warn them, lest they also come into this place of torment.’ But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.’ And he said, ‘No, father Abraham, [ -- listen to this desperate man -- ], but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ He said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.’

The rich man says: But if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.

Jesus is risen from the dead. And he’s here. And he’s speaking to you his word – he’s crying out to you in desperation from the other side of the grave, saying, “Listen to me!” Listen to Moses and the Prophets! I’ve put someone at your gates, and all he wants is a bit of food off your table!

And maybe the rich man in our story heard his local Rabbi say the same thing to him! Maybe the Rabbi said to him, “Listen, my son, I hear that there’s a poor man at your gate! Why don’t you go and give him a loaf of bread?!”

He takes no notice, and then the only thing that is said to him is, “Too late. You had your chance. Muffed it!”.

Jesus is risen from the dead, and people don’t seem to repent even though they know this. That’s because they don’t hear the word of God. They don’t listen to Moses and the Prophets. Our flesh hates listening to Moses and the Prophets, because it hates anything that would come back from the dead and tell us what to do. It stinks of death for us. It looks too much like a man with boils with the pus being licked away by dogs.

So: repent. Someone has come back from the dead to tell you to repent and believe the gospel. But Jesus hasn’t come back from the dead, stinking from being in the tomb, with grave clothes still on him: he comes back from the dead bringing the aroma of life, bringing the keys of death in his hand. Jesus comes back from the dead, promising life, forgiveness and blessing and power and strength to everyone who believes in him. He comes back from the dead to draw you to himself. He comes back from the dead, and says, “Trust in me, and where I am you will be also.” Psalm 95: If today you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts. St Paul says: Now is the day of salvation, now is the acceptable time.

The trap for us will be to want to escape the shame, the contempt, and the cross. Maybe Lazarus was once a rich man too but used his money for the good of others almost a bit too much. That’s what Jesus did: He came down from heaven where he had glory and might and riches and honour, and he came to be just like you and me, and almost loved us a bit too much, so that eventually people hated him so much, that they put nails through his hands and feet and stuck him on a cross. But he did it because he loved us. Jesus left us an example that we should follow in his footsteps. We love because he first loved us. Don’t be afraid of shame, don’t be afraid of being poor, don’t be afraid of being despised, don’t be afraid of being laughed at even by your friends, don’t be afraid of being spat upon, and licked by dogs if it means holding fast to the powerful, life-giving gospel that will carry you on angels wings to the bosom of Abraham.

The reason why the world hates you, is because if first hated Jesus.

Jesus says: “Blessed are you when people hate you and when they exclude you and revile you and spurn your name as evil, on account of the Son of Man! Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven; for so their fathers did to the prophets.”

And so little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.

The rich man wanted Lazarus to go and do something for his brothers. The man who never loved in deed and truth wanted Lazarus to love in deed and in truth. The rich man wanted Lazarus to act. But Abraham wants the five brothers to listen – because when the five brothers hear the word of God, God acts.

The church is not a place that is full of talk. It is a place that is full of deed and truth. God doesn’t just speak things to you that hit your head and bounce off. He speaks to you living actions, living truths.

We hear the Word of God when we listen to the bible and the sermon. But then God acts, God actually applies the forgiveness of sins to us in the absolution, which we receive each Sunday. God acts, he does something when he looks at Christ and declares us forgiven because of him. We don’t just learn about heaven here in the church, but the door of heaven is locked and unlocked for us.

God speaks his promises to us, but then also applies his promises to us individually by baptising us. He does something! We hear the sermon, we hear the words and the talk, but then God loves us in deed and in truth, when he feeds us body and soul with the body and blood of his Son, Jesus Christ.

God doesn’t just talk about carrying us on the wings of angels to the bosom of Abraham, but he actually does it – he actually carries us on angels’ wings, as he feeds us in his sanctuary, not with a few crumbs that fall off his table, but with the true body and blood of Christ, the bread of life, that will keep us in body and soul until life everlasting. And where Jesus Christ is, there is joy! Joy in life, joy in sorrow, joy in generosity, joy in everything!

And those angels who carry us and bear us up in their hands cry out from one end of the earth to the other: Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of hosts. Heaven and earth are full of your glory. Hosanna in the highest!

Amen.

Lord God, heavenly Father, if we want riches, you are the richest of all, and you pour out the abundance of your grace upon us. Give us courage to love not only in word and talk but also in deed and truth. As your Son gives us his body and blood, teach us and lead us to give our bodies and blood for those around us in love, both in deed and in truth. Fill us with your Holy Spirit, forgive us our sins, and carry us on angels’ wings to the bosom of Abraham to feast with you forever at your heavenly banquet, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Holy Trinity [John 3:1-15] (19-June-11)

This sermon was preached at St Paul's Lutheran Church, Darnum (9am) and Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Traralgon (11am).

Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ.

Text: (John 3:1-15)

Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.

Prayer: Lord God, our heavenly Father, enlighten our darkness with the light of your Holy Spirit, so that I may preach well and we all may hear well, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Today is the Sunday of the Holy Trinity, which is the last Sunday in the first half of the church year, which we call the festival half of the church year.

And it’s strange in some sense that we should have a Holy Trinity Sunday, because every Sunday is a Holy Trinity Sunday. Every Sunday is a Sunday where we say Glory to the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Every Sunday services is one which is empowered by those living words: “In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit”. Every Sunday is a Sunday where we say in the creed “I believe in the God the Father Almighty. I believe in Jesus Christ. I believe in the Holy Spirit.”

And the teaching of the Holy Trinity is a great mystery, it is a great mysterious teaching of the church. It is in some sense impossible for us to understand fully. It’s a great mystery.

But also, the teaching of the Holy Trinity as we confess it in the creeds is what defines us as a church, it is the line in the sand between the church and the world. If we don’t believe in God as the Holy Trinity then we are not Christian, and we are not the church. In the Athanasian Creed, it says: “Whoever wishes to be saved must think thus about the Trinity.”

And so, when we say that the teaching of the Holy Trinity, or the doctrine of the Holy Trinity, is mysterious, and that it is a mystery, it doesn’t mean to say that we don’t teach it. It is not the church’s job to explain the Holy Trinity, it is the church’s job to teach it. And it is not the church’s job then to understand the Holy Trinity, but it is the church’s job to believe it, or rather believe in the Holy Trinity, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

The church is not about explaining away mysteries, and it’s not for you to comprehend great mysteries, as it says in our epistle reading today: “Oh the depths and riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!”

But on the other hand that doesn’t mean that you don’t ask, seek, knock at the Holy Trinity’s door, and simply say: “It’s all a mystery! I can’t understand anything anyway, so why bother?” That’s the way an atheist and an unbeliever speaks. That’s the way Pontius Pilate speaks: “What is truth?”

No – we don’t understand the Holy Trinity by trying to get our head around it all. We understand the Holy Trinity by believing in God, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and by experiencing the Holy Trinity. Quite simply, if you want to understand the Holy Trinity, then pray to God the Father to send you the Holy Spirit through Jesus Christ. There it is: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. St Paul says in Galatians: “God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts crying out “Abba Father”. You pray to God the Father, you ask for the Holy Spirit, and you do it in the name of Jesus Christ. If you want to understand the Holy Trinity without prayer, without being involved in the powerful life of the Holy Trinity, without being drawn into the life of God himself and being filled with God the Father, the Son and Holy Spirit, then you’ll find yourself at a dead end. It simply can’t be done.

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In our reading today, the Gospel reading says: Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.” Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

Nicodemus perhaps wants to come at night to discuss some things with Jesus. Maybe he comes at night because he is afraid of the other Jews. But he comes and speaks to Jesus not in the public places, but in a private place. And he says: “We know that you are teacher come from God.” Instead of saying, “I”, he says “we”. He means to say, “It’s not just me who thinks this, but other Pharisees too.”

Here’s the problem, though. Where are these people to say this for themselves? Why don’t they come and say it to Jesus’ face when he’s there in public?

Now for us too, there’s a real trap and a temptation for us to want to talk about Christianity in such a way that it’s an intellectual thing. We want to keep our distance from the real life-giving power of God. We want to distance ourselves from being like those crazy Christians down the road: We don’t want to be too much like them, or too much like those ones. And so it’s easy for people to want to stay neutral and not be involved in the life of the Holy Spirit and simply say, “Let’s have an intellectual discussion.” “Let’s talk about this: let’s try and work out what the truth is, without really committing to anything.” “Let’s go to church to give ourselves a pat on the back so long as we don’t have to be religious.”

In answer to this, Jesus says: “You are neither hot nor cold, but you are lukewarm, and I will spit you out of my mouth.”

“Unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” “Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.”

That’s it. No argument. You are either involved in the life of the Holy Trinity, or you are outside the kingdom of heaven. If all you want to do is rationalise, and think, and talk about the Holy Trinity, but you have no desire to live the way the Holy Trinity commands you to live and to believe what he commands you to believe and you don’t have a desire to bring every one of your thoughts into conformity with Christ as he himself commands you and expects of you, then you are simply out. If you have no desire to see your old self drowned with all its lusts and desires, and to put on the resurrected Christ and his divine life, you cannot enter the kingdom of God.

That which is born of flesh is flesh, and that which is born of Spirit is spirit.

The human mind, your human mind is a gift from God, but it is something that God gave you through your natural conception and birth from your mother and father. And so, your mind is part of your flesh.

Psalm 51 says, “In sin did my mother conceive me.” When you are born into the world, you are born into it as a sinner. Just because we leave the womb of our mothers, doesn’t mean we automatically qualify for heaven. Now God didn’t created the world bad, and he didn’t make humans bad. But because of the fall into sin, we are now corrupted. We are conceived and born in sin, we are part of the history of the fallen human race, and anything that we receive from our mother and father through birth is corrupted by sin and is disqualified from entering heaven automatically. It is common for Christians to think today that everyone is saved, simply because they are a human being. It’s not true. That which is born of flesh is flesh. And Jesus says: Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.

Instead, we need to be born again, we need to be born again of water and the Spirit. To be born again does not mean that we make some decision for Jesus, or something, because that’s something that belongs to our flesh, to our minds. Jesus talks here about being born again of water and the Spirit. This is talking about Holy Baptism here. Anyone who talks about being born again, and doesn’t mean “baptism” is not talking the same language as Jesus.

And the power of baptism is not the water, but the living and powerful Word of God in the water, which washes your sins away through the powerful and effective resurrection of Jesus Christ. God needs to give birth to you again in a new way. He doesn’t want you to contribute to it, because you can’t. You didn’t help your mum a brass razoo when you were born, (just ask them!!) and you don’t help God a brass razoo when you are baptised and born again.

St Peter says: “You have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God.” St John says that people who are born of God, have God’s “seed abiding in them.”

So here we are, we are all born according to nature from the seed of our parents. And this seed is corrupted. It is perishable.

But God calls us to be born again by water and the Spirit, so that God will plant the seed of his word in us, which is pure and perfect, and imperishable, incorruptible. It is a living seed that forgives sins, and grows into a forgiven tree with forgiven branches and forgiven leaves. That Word of God is spoken over us at baptism, when the pastor says as Jesus Christ’s mouthpiece: “I baptise you in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” Now the word of God is planted in you.

And that word of God needs to continue to grow through continual hearing of the word of God, through continual renewal in the life of the church, through the preaching of the Word of God, through the Absolution, through the Lord’s Supper.

And Jesus says: “Do not marvel that I said to you, “You must be born again.” The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

Many people think that this means that we never know how the Spirit works, and we never know what the Spirit does. People also think that it means that Christians are just blown around like a feather on the breeze, and to follow God simply means that we do whatever we feel like. That’s not true.

If we don’t know where the Spirit is actually working, why did he just tell us to be born again by water and the Spirit? If you want the Holy Spirit, go and get baptised! If you are already baptised, then stay there in baptism, at the foot of the cross, and learn from Jesus everything there is to know about the faith. As Jesus said: Disciples are made by baptising them and teaching them to observe everything I have commanded them.

Jesus says: “The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound.” Yes, folks, we do hear the sound of the Holy Spirit. We hear the sound of the Holy Spirit whenever we hear the Words of our powerful and living God and of our Lord Jesus Christ. We do hear the sound of the Holy Spirit, when you hear the words: “I baptise you”, “I forgive you all your sins”, and as we will all hear later in our service, “Take and eat, take and drink”. “The Lord bless you and keep you.” This is the sound of the Holy Spirit.

How the voice of the Holy Spirit entered your ears, and your life, you don’t know because you didn’t see it, just like you can’t see the wind. And where the God who has baptised you will lead you, you don’t know. You can only hear the Holy Spirit through the powerful prophetic voice of the Scriptures. Your not commanded to listen to the Spirit in your feelings, because that which is born of flesh is flesh, you are commanded to listen to the Spirit in the Scriptures, because Jesus says that the words he speaks to you are Spirit and life.

So listen to the sound of the Holy Spirit here in the church, today. The voice of the Holy Spirit – the proclaimed, preached Word of God, the forgiveness of sins – is what renews you. The Holy Spirit is given to you freely in Holy Baptism, because it is a new birth. The forgiveness of sins is given to you freely, without anything that you contribute, and nothing that you can do to earn it. It’s free, free, free.

Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so also Jesus Christ was lifted up on the cross, so that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.

Glory to the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit! This faith, this gift to you, from the calling of the Holy Spirit, does not come from the flesh. If you are baptised, if you are born by water and the Spirit, and believe that baptism saves you, then you know that this call to be part of God’s church is a call from the Holy Spirit, and from the Holy Spirit alone. The Holy Spirit’s the one who brought you here, he’s the one who called you to new birth by water and the Spirit, and he’s the one who keeps you here. The Holy Spirit’s the one who saves you, and preaches to you the words of our heavenly Father and of our Saviour Jesus Christ. This is what it means to receive the life, the power, the vitality of the Holy Trinity, our living, powerful and eternal God: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. You can’t stay outside of God’s life – Christians were never called “philosophers” or “understanders”, but “believers”. Believe this powerful, life-giving faith and remain in it!

Amen.

Glory to the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit! Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Keep us strong in this faith, heavenly Father, renew us in the new birth of water and the Holy Spirit which we have received, and let your name be kept holy in the words of our mouths, the confession of our lips and through our actions of love which you have prepared for us and which you have promised to work in us, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Pentecost: Audio Sermon (12-June-11)

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Pentecost [Jn 14:23-31] (12-June-11)

This sermon was preached at St Paul's Lutheran Church, Darnum (9am), Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Traralgon (10am, lay reading), St John's Lutheran Church, Sale (4pm) and Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Yarram (11am, Wednesday 15-June-11).

Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ.

Text: (John 14:23-31)

The Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.

Prayer: Lord God, heavenly Father, on this Pentecost day, when you poured out your Holy Spirit on your disciples, we also ask that you pour out your Holy Spirit on us: your Spirit of truth, of prayer, of love, joy and peace. Clean out from us everything that is bad, wrong and evil, and renew and strengthen us in everything that true, just, pure, lovely, commendable, excellent and praiseworthy. Renew and strengthen us in your Holy Spirit, so that your church may be built up and shine as a brightly shining lamp on a lamp stand, as a city upon a hill. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

Where shall I flee from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there! If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me.

This is what King David says in Psalm 139. And what a great psalm it is! Where shall I go from your Spirit? He says.

On this Pentecost Day, we have come to celebrate the church festival of the Holy Spirit. So drink deeply from the Holy Spirit’s fountains, breathe deeply from the breath of God.

Jesus says in our reading today: But the Helper [the Comforter], the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.

 In Acts 19, Paul meets some disciples in the city of Ephesus, who say to him, “We have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.”

And today, we have the same problem. There are many people who have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.

This is not so much a problem in the church. Some people I have spoken to have said that not much was said about the Holy Spirit when they were young. And that’s true. The reverse is almost true that some people have heard so much about the Holy Spirit, that they haven’t even heard that there is a Father and a Son.

St John says in his first letter: Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world.

When we talk about the Holy Spirit, we have to make sure that we test the spirits, to see whether they are from God. Because there is one Holy Spirit, the third person of the Holy Trinity, the living and eternal God, and we want to make sure that that one Holy Spirit is the only spirit that is poured out on us, because even the devil manifests himself as an angel of light.

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Our Gospel reading begins today with these words of Jesus: “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father’s who sent me.”

Before Jesus talks to his disciples about the Holy Spirit, he makes sure that they understand that the Father and he himself will also dwell them. The Holy Spirit’s not going to be alone. The Holy Spirit is not going to come to you without the Father and the Son. The Holy Spirit is not going to work without the Father and the Son.

Jesus also says: “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him.”

He will keep my word, Jesus says. The Holy Spirit is not going to work without the word of God. The Father and the Son will come and dwell in those people who keep the words of Jesus, which also belong to the Father.

Let’s make sure we understand what this means. In other places, Jesus says: “If you love me, keep my commandments.” But here, he says, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word.” Jesus is not speaking here about the law of God. He doesn’t say, “If anyone loves me, he will keep the words of Moses”, but he says, “my word.” And Jesus’ word is that word which he specifically came into the world to bring: the good news of salvation, the word of life that forgives your sins, the word of truth that pours the forgiveness upon you because of Jesus’ own death and resurrection. Keeping Jesus’ word, means believing that he died for you, rose again, and prays for you. It means that you believe that he forgives your sins, and that you will have eternal life with him. Keep it! Keep his word. In other words, believe it, receive it, hold it close to you, keep it in your heart, in your mind, on your tongue.

So don’t believe any old person who comes to your front door and says that if you don’t speak in tongues, then you don’t have the Holy Spirit. Don’t believe anyone who puts a law on you, and calls your faith into doubt because of some miraculous sign. Don’t let anyone say “nuts” to your trust in the word of God. If they say “nuts” to the word of God, they say “nuts” to God, and they say “nuts” to the Holy Spirit. Don’t let some Christian salesperson come to you and say that they are a better Christian that you, because you can’t prove it with the latest product from the catalogue of spirituality. Prove it with your baptism. St Peter said to all the people on the day of Pentecost: “Repent, and be baptised everyone of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”

Luther said: “I don’t care if they’ve swallowed the Holy Spirit, feathers and all, I have the Word, and I stand by the Word.”

Jesus says: “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father’s who sent me. These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.”

Jesus says: Not as the world gives do I give to you.

Search your heart with this passage: If you want the peace that the world gives you, then you don’t want the Holy Spirit. If you have a sense of peace about something which is wrong, evil and bad, then your peace is false, and it is not the Holy Spirit’s peace, but it is a fake peace.

Jeremiah says about the false prophets: They say, Peace, peace, where there is no peace.

Some people might go on top of a mountain, and breathe in the fresh air, and say that it is the Holy Spirit. Some people feel a sense of peace and calm over their bodies. Some people feel great most of the time. Some people have special gifts.

And all these things are sent to us by God and are good things. But the peace of the Holy Spirit is the peace that comes from the word of God, and nothing else. The peace that Jesus leaves with us is the peace that the Holy Spirit brings to our minds through the word of God. The peace of the Holy Spirit is the word that reminds us that the Father and the Son have come to make their dwelling in us.

We are so confused, because the word “spirit” gets so misused today. It means so much and it means so little. It means everything and nothing. In the church, we talk about the Spirit of the Living God, the Holy Spirit, the Comforter. Then people talk about the “human spirit”, we say, “that’s the spirit!” QANTAS even calls itself the “spirit of Australia.” Whenever you hear the word “spirit” when it not connected with the Father and Son, and the living and powerful words of the Father and the Son, then you can be sure that it is not the Holy Spirit.

If we have worldly peace, peace from nature, peace in life, peace in our bodies, in our health, in our finances, peace even in our spirituality, and all of this is a hindrance to us in reading the word of God, and helplessly relying on the love and graciousness of our heavenly Father, then we should stand up and say: “Heavenly Father, take away every last scrap of my peace, if it means taking away the word of God from me, and the peace of Jesus.”

Because all flesh is grass, and its beauty is like the flower of the field. The grass withers and the flowers fade, but the word of our Lord will stand forever.

Remember this. If your heart is set on grass, then put your idol to death. If your heart is set on the peace that the world gives, then pray to God to remove your heart of stone and to give you a beating heart of flesh.

St Paul says: “Put to death your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.”

In other words, put to death your love for any old spirit, put to death your sense of being spiritual, put to death anything which says your baptism is nothing, put to death your feeling that you are a good person because you are better than others, put to death anything that stops you relying on God for everything, put to death anything that deceives you from staying away from the word of God.

And put on the new self: put on a love and a desire for the words of Jesus, put on a love for his word, keep his words of forgiveness close to you and bury them deep within you. Put on a new desire to hear his life giving words which were spoken to all the people at Pentecost. Put on a new desire to come and receive the Spirit-filled body and blood of your Lord Jesus Christ.

And maybe sometimes you worry that maybe you never received the Holy Spirit after all. Have you heard the words of Jesus? Is he the Lamb of God who died for the sins of the world? Good, then he died for you too. But if you worry about your salvation, good! The Holy Spirit is leading you more deeply into relying on the words of Jesus. You can’t trust all that mess that goes around in your own mind anyway. So don’t trust it. Let the Holy Spirit bring to your mind the words of Jesus, and let the Holy Spirit teach you to trust nothing but the words of Jesus.

St Peter says in his 1^st letter: “The same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood through the world. And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. To him be the dominion forever and ever.”

Our Lord Jesus Christ has ascended into heaven in great joy, to be worshipped by all the angels. And now we share in that great joy through the outpouring of the Holy Spirit through Jesus’ holy words and his life-giving Sacraments.

Come Holy Spirit, fountain of love, our hearts now inspire

with the holy flame of your pure fire;

that in Christ united, One in endeavour,

friendship plighted, We walk together.

Come Holy Spirit, heavenly dove,

Come to your people from above,

fill them with graces, and restore

Your creatures as they were before.

Amen.

Lord God, heavenly Father, renew us, restore us, strengthen us, with the living flame of your Holy Spirit. Come and dwell with us with your Son and your Holy Spirit. Increase in us a love for your words of your Son Jesus Christ, the good news of the forgiveness of sins, won for us on the cross and applied to us in baptism. Send us the Holy Spirit, and lead us in your paths, fill us with every gift from your throne, and keep us strong in word and in faith until we die, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. 

Ascension: Audio Sermon (2-June-11)

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Ascension [Mark 16:14-20] (2-June-11)

This sermon was preached at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Traralgon, 7pm.

Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ.

Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!

Text: (Mark 16:14-20)

So then the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God.

Mëë ci Kuäär ni Yecu rac kɛ kɛ inɔ, cua jɛ naŋ nhial, kä cuɛ wä nuur kui̱c cuëëc Kuɔth.

Prayer: Sanctify us with the truth, Lord. Your word is truth. Amen.

Often at Christmas time, Christians often complain about the commercialisation of Christmas. Christians sometimes complain about how shopping centres take over Christmas and make into something about presents, materialism and money.

And the same thing happens at Easter with Easter eggs, and all that sort of thing.

But on the other hand, even though the shopping centres hijack these festivals and even organise Christmas pageants on Sunday mornings marching right past the Catholic Church in Traralgon during their Advent season Sunday morning mass, God still uses this commercialisation for his good. Many people attend Easter and Christmas services in churches, since the church festival has been brought to their mind. With all the commercialisation, with all the money, and spending, Christmas and Easter are still on the consciousness of many people – and with that then comes a window into the truth about Jesus Christ being born of the Virgin Mary, suffering under Pontius Pilate, dying, and rising from the dead.

But could you imagine if people made the same fuss about Ascension? Many Christians don’t celebrate it. Many Christians don’t know about it. But also many Christians don’t know what the point of it is either.

What’s so special about the fact that Jesus went into heaven?

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The strange thing is that only two of the Gospels actually mention the Ascension. If we want to read about the Ascension of Jesus into heaven, we will find it in the last chapter of Mark, the last chapter of Luke and the first chapter of Acts.

The end of the Gospel of Matthew though is one of the most interesting passages. In Matthew we read that Jesus said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

And that’s the end. It doesn’t say anything about Jesus going into heaven. Of course, we know that that’s exactly what happened, though. He did in fact ascend into heaven, but Matthew doesn’t tell us. Matthew reports that JEsus said, “I am with you always to the end of the age.”

If we’re going to understand the Ascension, we have to understand this. When Jesus leaves his disciples, he is not leaving his disciples. When Jesus goes away, he’s not going away.

Many people say, that Jesus went into heaven, and then he leaves us with the Holy Spirit. Yes, he does send us the Holy Spirit, but that doesn’t mean that he himself, Jesus, is somewhere else. Jesus is always there in the place where he gives the Holy Spirit. Any spirit that is not breathed from the mouth of Jesus is not the Holy Spirit, but a demon, an unclean spirit.

Jesus doesn’t say, the Holy Spirit will be with you always. He says, I am with you always. There is nowhere in the bible where when Jesus says, “I”, he actually means “The Holy Spirit”. The Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God, but there are not three Gods but one God.

The whole point of having a church is that Jesus is actually there in it. When we say that Jesus is the Good Shepherd, and the true pastor, the true leader and head of the Church, he’s not a CEO, in an office somewhere, organising the church from far-away Melbourne or Sydney or even Rome! He’s here in the church, organising his church, as he’s part of it. He prays for Christians in the church, he actually comes in through closed doors and stands among us, and he speaks to us his Holy Word through the ministry, and through the forgiveness of sins, he joins himself to you, and makes you him, and he makes himself you. And he feeds you with his body and blood, so that you’re life will be hidden with him in God. As St Paul says: “For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.”

Christ is not stuck up in the clouds somewhere. Churches that don’t believe that the body and blood of Christ is actually here in the Lord’s Supper also don’t believe that Jesus is in the church. What they believe is that Jesus has gone up into heaven, and he’s stuck at the right hand of God, so he can’t actually be in the Lord’s Supper. Jesus is not with us, but the Holy Spirit is with us. So when Jesus said, “I am with you”, what they really mean is that, “The Holy Spirit is with you.” Now that’s not what Jesus said. Jesus is not stuck up in heaven. Yes, he is seated at the right hand of God, but the right hand of God is not a place stuck somewhere. God the Father is everywhere: heaven and earth are full of his glory. And his right hand is also not confined to some physical space somewhere. God is continually looking after the world, and his right hand is everywhere. So Jesus, true man and true God, one person, can also be everywhere, wherever he promises to be. 

That’s the great joy of the Ascension: Christ is seated at the right hand of God, he is worshipped by all the angels and saints in heaven, and we here on earth in the church join in. The Ascension is the festival which celebrates the liturgy, it celebrates the Divine Service. It’s the day of the year when we say, Yes! The Ascension of Christ into heaven is what makes our worship and our divine services here in these little churches possible. The Ascension is where we celebrate that Christ our risen Lord has won the victory not only over death, but also over time and space. And so he comes to gather us together with the angels and archangels and all the company of heaven, so that he can also win the victory for us over our temptations with the devil, victory over our struggles in the world, and the victory over our sin.

Hebrews says: Let us keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, who for the joy that was set before him (the joy of ascending into heaven), endured the cross, despising the shame and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

When it says “look to Jesus” it doesn’t mean look to Jesus in the past, or look to Jesus in the future, or even look to Jesus up there, but look to Jesus as he carries you in all your struggles, and all your sufferings, and all your crosses. Look to Jesus where he has promised to be, in the church, in your crosses, in the font, on the altar, in the pulpit.

There’s an old German hymn which calls Jesus “der Beistand deiner Kreuzgemeine”, “the helper of your cross-congregation”. He signs us with the cross, he makes us a church of the cross, a church which bears the cross, and one that rejoices in the cross, rejoices of being counted worthy to suffer for the name of the Lord Jesus. Because for the joy that was set before him, Jesus endured the cross, despised the shame and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

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In our Gospel reading tonight, we read from the Gospel of Mark about the ascension of Jesus into heaven.

Jesus said to his disciples: “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. Whoever believes and is baptised will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up serpents with their hands; and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover.” So then the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God. And they went out and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the message by accompanying signs.

So we see that before Jesus ascends into heaven, he gives them some instructions. He gives them a charge, he tells them what should happen in the church. “Proclaim the gospel”. Wherever the word of God is preached in its truth and purity, where the precious, sweet words of the Gospel are proclaimed, there is the church.

“Whoever believes and is baptised will be saved; whoever does not believe will be condemned.” Wherever the sacraments are rightly administered according to Christ’s institution, there is the church. That’s what makes a church. Word and sacrament. The Word of God: and the message that Christ died for the sins of the world and rose from the dead. That’s the word of God. Small Catechism: “The Holy Spirit has called me by the Gospel.” But we don’t become Christians by making a “decision for Jesus”: He says: “Whoever believes and is baptised will be saved.” That’s how Christians are made, through baptism. And when we believe that “baptism now saves you” as St Peter says, when we believe that baptism is the place where all of Jesus gifts are poured out on you, when we trust in baptism to do what Jesus promised about it, then we will be saved.

Jesus is not telling us to be saved by works. Baptism is not your good work. Baptism is God’s work on you. You can take no credit for it. And when we are baptised as babies, there is even more reason to take no credit for it, because we had to be carried there.

But also faith is not your work either. You don’t say, “I’m so good, because I believe.” Faith says, “Jesus is my righteousness, Jesus is my Saviour, I am baptised and the devil can’t touch me.” If we think baptism is a good work that we do to be saved, or if we think that baptism is nothing, then we obviously don’t believe in it. That’s why Jesus says: “Whoever does believe will be condemned.” Baptism is God’s work, and faith also is God’s work in us, which trusts that Baptism is God’s work.

Baptism and faith are not prerequisites for salvation. Baptism and faith are not the things that you have to have to be saved. Baptism and faith are salvation, and God gives them both to you. They are not things that you give to God. If you think that baptism and faith are your gifts to God, then you’ve missed the point. Baptism and faith are you salvation, and they are God’s gifts to you. And if you baptised, you can be sure, that there is nothing that belongs to Jesus that doesn’t belong to you. You can be sure that the forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation belong to you. You can be sure that the Holy Spirit belongs to you. You can be sure that Jesus lives in you. But you can also be sure that everything in you belongs to Jesus. You can be sure that every sin, every struggle of yours, every single disappointment in your life was in actual fact died for on the cross, and nailed into Jesus’ hands. God made Jesus to be sin for us, who knew no sin, so that we might become the righteousness of God.

And so as Jesus ascends into heaven, he says, “I’m going to be hidden from now on. But if you want to find me, look for me where the gospel is proclaimed and where people are baptised.” I will be with you always to the end of the age.

And when Jesus had ascended, it says “they went out and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them.” He worked with the apostles, he worked many signs, many miracles, and gave them much encouragement.

And even today, Jesus is still working with the church. He’s still here in his word and sacrament, working with us, as we preach everywhere. Everywhere throughout the world where these things happen, Jesus works with them.

The only thing is, we might think “what happened to the miracles?” Well these miracles of the apostles are not just for the encouragement of the people back then, but also for us. They bring us joy too. And when people are faithful to the word of God, and proclaim the gospel, there are always many miracles, demons are always being cast out, the sick are always being healed, people are always being protected from extraordinary harm and danger, people are being upheld in their faith under the weight of extraordinary crosses through Jesus Christ himself – not to mention the miracle that the Holy Spirit still comes to people in baptism, and Jesus still gives us his body to eat and blood to drink in the bread of wine. The miracles do not show us where the church is, the miracles protect the church and make sure that it continues. And surely we know that there are many times when the church could have easily been taken away from us through people’s silly fights and arguments, through sin, or pressure from the world, and all sorts of schemes of the devil, but in actual fact the church has been preserved, and continues to be preserved, throughout the world, throughout Australia, throughout Victoria, and even here in Gippsland by a special miraculous work and intervention of our risen, ascended Lord Jesus, who is seated at the right hand of God.

Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of hosts, heaven and earth are full of your glory. Hosanna in the highest! Blessed is he, Blessed is our ascended Lord Jesus Christ, who comes and stands among us in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!

Amen.

And the peace of God which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds safe in Christ Jesus.