Pentecost II: Audio Sermon (22-Jun-2014)

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Pentecost II (Proper 7 A) [

This sermon was preached at St Mark's Lutheran Church, Mt Barker (8.30am, 10.30am).

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

The sermon text for today was inspired by the Holy Spirit through the apostle St Matthew. And he was one of the disciples who was sent out by Jesus and instructed with these words:

Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sorrows.

Prayer: Heavenly Father, send to all of us your Holy Spirit, to me that I may preach well, and to all of us that we may hear well, in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

Last week in our Gospel reading, we read about how Jesus was sending out his eleven apostles, the twelve disciples minus Judas who had killed himself, into the world. And Jesus said, “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always to the end of the age.”

Today, we have a wonderful passage from Matthew 10 where Jesus sends the 12 apostles out on a special mission. And our Gospel reading today comes from a sermon that Jesus gives to the twelve apostles as he sends them out to encourage them in their work.

Right at the beginning of the chapter, we read: [Jesus] called to him his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every disease and every affliction.

You can see that Jesus gave to them authority over unclean spirits to cast them out. In our culture today, I don’t think many people really understand what an unclean spirit is. An unclean spirit can be a demon, but we can also call the spirit of any human being that is tainted by sin and has not been received into salvation an unclean spirit—it is the unclean spirit of a particular person. Any spirit, whether it is good or bad, good or bad, angelic or demonic, is something created by God. Either we are talking about a pure angel or a fallen angel, a demon. Either we are talking about a pure, or purified spirit of a person, or we are talking about the fallen, unclean spirit of a person.

When we baptise a person, we often say: Depart from [so-and-so], you unclean spirit, and make way for the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is not created by God, but is the spirit of God himself. The Holy Spirit is God’s own spirit, the spirit which Jesus Christ sends to people from God the Father.

Anyway, Jesus gives the twelve apostles authority over the unclean spirits. We so often want to win friends and influence people. We want to influence people’s spirits. But here, Jesus doesn’t give them any influence over them, but he gives them authority over them.

So who were these people that Jesus gave this authority to? It says: The name of the twelve apostles are these: first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother; Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; Simon the Cananaean, and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him. We’ll recognise many of the names there in that list! Some of those people we don’t much about—and probably in 2000 years most people won’t know much about us either. In fact, people will probably know more about these disciples we don’t know about that they know about us! Now, that’s a humbling thought! So we read: These twelve Jesus sent out, instructing them. And at the end of Matthew 10, when Jesus had finished giving these instructions, it says: When Jesus had finished instructing his twelve disciples, he went on from there. You can see that this passage in our Gospel reading is very clearly spoken by Jesus to his twelve disciple, the twelve apostles.

We often don’t think too much about the twelve apostles, and who they really were. But the number twelve is significant, because in the Old Testament there were twelve tribes of Israel. The whole Jewish nation was divided into twelve families. And now in the New Testament, Jesus sends out 12 new leaders for his church. These 12 were with Jesus throughout his ministry and then were witnesses to his resurrection. Then Jesus sent them out to carry the gospel into all nations.

Anyway, we read that he gave them the authority to heal every disease and every affliction. Jesus gives them power over nature. We even read in Jesus’ sermon where he tells them: Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast our demons. Isn’t it amazing that the twelve disciples had this particular gift to even raise the dead?

We have to remember that on the day of Easter, that Jesus sent his twelve disciples with the most brilliant power of all. He says: If you forgive anyone their sins, they are forgiven. If you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.

And you see, when Jesus gives his twelve disciples the authority to forgive sins he is actually giving to them the power to heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, and cast our demons. The power to perform these miracles goes together with the authority to forgive sins.

You might know about a passage in the bible where Jesus goes and heals a lame man, and he says: Your sins are forgiven. Then when people criticise him, Jesus says: Which is easier to say? “Yours sins are forgiven” or “Take up your bed and walk”? You can see that Jesus heals the man through the forgiveness of sins. And so in the same way, Jesus gives to the 12 apostles the authority to forgive sins and also together with it the power to heal.

Now, you might think, it’s all very well that Jesus should say all of this to the twelve apostles, but what’s all this got to do with us? (Come on, Pastor Stephen! Why don’t you preach to us something that actually relevant to our lives?!)

Well, the only reason why you know anything about Jesus at all is because of the twelve apostles. Everything that we know about Jesus was written down by the apostles or their close friends. And when we come together into church each week, we come to listen to the writings of the apostles. Even after the day of Pentecost, we read all the Christians were dedicating themselves to the apostles’ teaching. That’s what we’re here to do today—we dedicate ourselves to the apostles’ teaching.

In a minute, we’ll get to our Gospel reading. But we need to remember that these words apply to the apostles. And then, they apply to us pastors who preach the word of the apostles. And also, they apply to you Christians because you believe and confess the teaching of the apostles. Do you see how it works? Jesus gives this sermon to the apostles: but he also gives this encouragement to me as a pastor because I’m here telling you the same thing that the apostles said, and he also gives this same encouragement to you because you believe and confess with your own mouth and your heart what the apostles also believed in their own heart and confessed with their own mouths.

And so, in the creed we say that we are together as one group throughout the last 20 centuries or so as one holy, Christian and apostolic church. That word “apostolic” means that we believe, teach and confess the same thing as the apostles.

And this word of the apostles has authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, to heal every disease and every affliction. It has the power to heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, and cast our demons. On the last day, each and every Christian who has remained faithful to the end will be healed of every single sickness in such a way that not one drop of sickness will be left, they will we raised from the dead in such a way that they will never die again but will be alive together with Jesus, will be cleansed of all leprosy and will be given skin that shines bright with heavenly light, and all demons will be cast out—not one demon, evil spirit, will walk into heaven with us, because all sin will be forgiven, and every tear will be wiped away from our eyes. Sometimes, where Jesus allows it for the glory of his name that the church should receive a special gift of healing for a time. But most of the time, for most Christians, that is not the case—it only happens when and where Jesus allows us for the benefit of his church. But we have to realise that the complete transformation of our bodies and our souls will be so much better than any of Jesus healing miracles on this earth. In some sense, the reason why Jesus performed these miracles was to show us that he will perform these miracles in each of us when he calls us into eternal life.

So all this is given to us through the word of God, through the forgiveness of sins, through the testimony of the apostles. And so St John, one of the apostles, writes: We [the apostles] are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error.

So if Jesus is going to perform such wonderful miraculous healings on our bodies when we finally enter perfect and sinless into his kingdom, it’s no wonder that in this life, Jesus wants to protect us not just in our souls, but also in our bodies! Don’t you think that’s amazing?

He says in our reading: Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not, therefore, you are more value than many sparrows.

Can you imagine the apostles in their time, how so many of them were killed because they preached about Jesus? And do you know there are so many people all throughout the world who are killed for their faith even today? In Somalia, I heard about a 14 year old girl who was made an example of and shot dead in public in a street simply because she owned a bible.

And Jesus says: Do not fear them. Do you understand the power and the encouragement of Jesus’ words here? He says: Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.

Notice the word: can. Fear him who can destroy both body and soul in hell. Of course, we know that God could destroy our bodies and soul in hell, if he wanted to. But to Christians, that is impossible, because Jesus says: For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that whoever believes in him will not die but have eternal life. Sometimes some Christians really worry that they might be going to hell after all, because they simply have too much sin. Listen—only the Holy Spirit wants you know your sin. The devil doesn’t want you to know about it. But once you do know your sin, the devil wants to take away from you all the comfort. And Jesus died for all sin, and he never wants this comfort to be taken away from you. So if you know your sin, good—but don’t despair. The only people that can go to heaven is sinners, because they are the only people Jesus died for.

Now listen to these words: Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not, therefore, you are more value than many sparrows.

It’s one thing that Jesus comforts us, but Jesus doesn’t only give us comfort, he also gives us help. And I think in the church today, lots of people pray for comfort, and are happy to be comforted, but don’t ask Jesus for any help, or at least don’t expect Jesus to help. So they think, I’m a sinner, and I’m forgiven. Good. But also, I’m sick, I’m depressed, I’m sad, I’m miserable, I’m broken, I’m desperate, I’m poor—and people think, Jesus can’t do anything about any of that. That’s wrong! Don’t you ever give up on Jesus, who has never given up on you. Don’t despair of his comfort, but also don’t despair of his help. If he has redeemed your soul, don’t you think that he can’t also help you in your physical need? The hairs on your head are all numbered. Think about this. Jesus will help you, and he gives to you every gift that you need each and every day. He doesn’t give what we think we need, but he gives what he in his divine love knows that we need. Be still, and know that he is God.

And so Jesus says: Everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven. Don’t deny Jesus because you’re worried about what might happen to you! Jesus is the Lord of heaven and earth and he knows everything, he knows the very depths of your heart, all the dark corners of your soul, and he pours his light and his grace and his forgiveness over all of it.

Just think when a person is baptised, how not just your soul is enrolled in the Book of Life in heaven, but also your body, and each individual hair on your head. Just think that when we come to the Lord’s Supper, we are not just receiving some spiritual food to help our souls, but this is the body of blood of Christ that will strengthen and preserve us in body and soul until life eternal. This is a down-payment of the complete transformation and resurrection of our human bodies, together with all the hair on your heads.

So, do not fear, you are of more value than many sparrows. Amen.

Lord Jesus Christ, send your angels to guard and shield us in all situations of our life, and give us the boldness and confidence to confess the witness that your apostles have given to us in the church today. Strengthen and preserve us in body and soul until life eternal. Amen.

Holy Trinity A: Audio Sermon (15-Jun-2014)

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Holy Trinity A [Matthew 28:16-20] (15-Jun-2014)

This sermon was preached at St Mark's Lutheran Church, Mt Barker (8.30am, 10.30am).

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

The sermon text for today was inspired by the Holy Spirit through the apostle St Matthew. And he was one of the disciples who was there when Jesus spoke these words:

All authority in heaven and 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, and teaching them to observe everything that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always until the end of the age.

Prayer: Lord Jesus Christ, come and be with us, in my preaching and in our listening today, together with the Father and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Sometimes we might ask children: What would you do if you were in charge of the whole world? What would you fix?

And in our Gospel reading today, this is exactly the situation that Jesus is in. He says: All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

It’s difficult for us to imagine exactly what kind of authority is given to Jesus! If we think of all the world leaders, like the President of the United States, Barak Obama, or the President of Russia, Vladimir Putin, or the United Nations, or whoever—none of these people are given authority over the whole earth. In fact, the President of America is not given absolute authority even over America—he only has authority to fulfil his duties as president. As President, he can’t break the law, for example. We might think that someone like him has absolute authority, but really he doesn’t.

But Jesus says: All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. He doesn’t just have authority over one country, but over all countries. And not only does he have authority over all nations and over the whole earth, but also over heaven as well. All authority in heaven and on earth. And the leader of a country can only influence people from the outside, but doesn’t have authority over people’s hearts. But Jesus has been given all authority. Even in our own homes, or workplaces, or wherever we find ourselves, wherever we have been given a little bit of authority over someone else, we realise that that authority has been given to us by Jesus, and that we are allowed to share Jesus’ authority. Jesus says: All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

When Jesus was going to the cross, and was on trial before Pontius Pilate, we read where Pilate says to Jesus: Do you not know that I have authority to release you and authority to crucify you? Jesus answered him, “You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above.”

So here we see Jesus with all the authority of heaven and earth in his hands. In the book of Revelation, when John has a vision of heaven, he describes this power and authority of Jesus, by saying: In his right hand he held seven stars, from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength.

It’s important for us not to think of this authority as not simply belonging to Jesus because he was true God. We believe that Jesus is true God and that he was there right before the beginning of the world, and created the world together with the Father and the Holy Spirit.

But then at Christmas time, we learn how Jesus took on human flesh for the first time. He became a true human being, a real man, with real flesh and blood. And now all the authority in heaven and earth is given to this one man, Jesus Christ. And his human body is now capable of doing things that most human bodies are not able to do.

Just remember that in each Christian church all around the world today, Jesus is present himself in the flesh in each one of them, speaking his word to each Christian personally. Now no other human being can do that. But to Jesus is given all authority in heaven and earth.

So what does Jesus do with all this authority?

He gathers his disciples together and he says: 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.

First of all, Jesus wants to make sure that his church throughout the whole of its future history is always going to have a plan, a job, a certain task. There should never be a time when a church looks at itself and says, “We don’t know where we’re going or what we’re supposed to be doing.” Right here at the end of Matthew’s Gospel, we see that Jesus gives his disciples all the direction they will ever need. He gives them a strategic plan, a strategic direction, and he says to them: Go! Go in this direction, follow this path, this way. And we know that Jesus says to his disciples: I am the way. I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. Now, Jesus says, I’m going to send you in a particular direction where I choose, but I’m going to give to you and all Christians and the whole church now a purpose and a goal.

So he says: Go and make disciples of all nations.

Listen to those words: all nations. Jesus has just shed his blood for the sin of the whole world. And even though people throughout the world may have different coloured skin, they all have the same coloured blood. And so Jesus pays for the sins of all nations and of all peoples with his blood. Jesus commands these disciples to go wherever he sends them and wherever they find themselves to make disciples. And they are going to have to make disciples out of people that are nothing like themselves. They are not simply to go to their friends and family, but to new places, new countries, new cultures, wherever they find people with red human blood. Sometimes in the church we might feel that the people here are not really like us, and we like to go to a church where we find people just like ourselves. But Jesus never made the church like that—it was always to be for all nations, all ages, all temperaments, all personalities, all stages of life, all levels of education, all nations.

And so, what are the things that Jesus wants these disciples to use in order to make disciples of all nations? He says: Go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.

We might sit around and think of all the different ways in which we might like to spread the good news of Jesus Christ and make disciples of all nations. But Jesus actually has already thought this through exactly, and gives two simple tasks. He says: baptise, and teach. And all our work of mission as Christians boils down to these two things: we bring people to be baptised, and we teach them everything that Jesus said.

So what do you need for a baptism? We need two ingredients: water and the word of God. So when we baptise a person, we put water over them and say: I baptise you in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, just as Jesus says in this passage today. How much water do we need? Jesus doesn’t specify. Sometimes people are baptised by being immersed in water, sometimes people have water poured over their head, and sometimes people are sprinkled with a small amount of water. Each of these situations is a full baptism, because Jesus is the one who does the work here. The most important thing about baptism is not what it looks like or what it symbolises, but what it does. And Jesus wants to give salvation and eternal life and the Holy Spirit through it. St Peter says in his letter: Baptism now saves you. And also Jesus says in Mark: Whoever believes and is baptised will be saved.

If we are immersed fully with water, it reminds us that the old person drowns and a new person rises to new life. If we have water poured on us, it reminds us that the Holy Spirit is poured out with all his gifts. If we have water sprinkled on us, it reminds us that the blood of Jesus is sprinkled on our hearts. But whatever way a person is baptised, the most important thing is not what the ritual or the ceremony reminds us of, but what Jesus actually gives us. And Jesus is not bound by a certain amount of water, because he speaks his word.

So who should be baptised? Jesus says: all nations. Nobody is to be excluded. Men, women, children. Some people, of course, think that babies should not be baptised. But Jesus does not say here all nations except babies. Jesus died for babies too and he wants disciples to made out of them too. He says all nations. And no matter what anyone may say, you will find no passage in the whole bible that forbids the baptism of babies. Usually the reason why people don’t bring babies for baptism is because they don’t believe that baptism is the work of Jesus, but instead that think that baptism is a human work that we need to perform, that babies are simply not able to do. But in baptism, adults, men, women, children, pastors, do nothing: all the work belongs to Jesus.

But the church’s task is not finished simply when we have baptised a person. Jesus says: Go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you.

All the spiritual authority in the church comes through teaching, and not by force. And we are commanded to teach not traditions or our own opinions, but the words of Jesus.

Of course, teaching people means that people need to learn. And basically Jesus says here, if you don’t want to learn something, you can’t be my disciple. There’s always something new that Jesus has to teach you. And Jesus says: Teach them everything I have commanded you. That’s going to take time. People are not going to become model Christians overnight, they are going to need to be taught, and taught for their whole lives. Also, anyone who knows their sin and knows what it’s like to run into temptations knows that we need to be taught again and again that Jesus died and rose again so that he could win for us the pure forgiveness of each and every single one of our sins without any contribution on our part. How easy it is to forget this! How easy it is to build up our own importance and our work, and then to forget Jesus and his work!

And yet, this teaching is the one thing that people often forget when it comes to church mission. We can think of kinds of things that the church could be doing, but teaching? This is the work in the church that gets no respect, no human reward, and no credit. But at the same time, to teach person the words of Jesus one word and one sentence at a time, that is work that Jesus considers to be so valuable. When the teaching of God’s word is going on, no matter whether Christians are gathered in a tin shed, in God’s eyes that place is a crystal palace!

And what better place to start when we teach that to tell them what baptism is? What’s it for? What does it give you? Who is the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit? There’s enough sermons for me for the next year at least!

And then right at the end of this passage, Jesus gives this wonderful promise: And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.

Jesus says that he personally, in his human flesh, will be with us always. I heard someone say during this week that when Jesus says: I am with you, it means that his spirit lives on. This is wrong, wrong, wrong. Jesus is physically risen from the dead, and he says: I, he means I, and he means nothing less that I. I am with you always to the end of the age. And when Jesus is with us always in the flesh, we know that his Father is with us, because Jesus says: I am in the Father, and the Father is in me. And we know that when Jesus is with us always in the flesh, we know that he will send the Holy Spirit to us, since he says: I will send the promise of my Father upon you. Receive the Holy Spirit.

So yes—Jesus is with us always to the end of the age, wherever there are people being baptised and taught his word and therefore being made into his disciples. Jesus is with us always, always cleansing each of our sins with his blood, always healing each broken heart, and always binding up the wounds of each person.

What a wonderful thing it is to have Jesus with us always to the end of the age! What a wonderful thing it is to be baptised by him in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit! What a wonderful thing it is to be taught his word and to continually receive the gift of the Holy Spirit!

Amen.

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, we thank you for your word to us today, and we pray that you would give us everything that we need in order to be faithful to you, in our daily lives, in our homes and in our church. Heavenly Father, pour out your Holy Spirit on each one of us, through Jesus Christ your Son, our Lord. Amen.

Pentecost A: Audio Sermon (8-Jun-2014)

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Pentecost A [John 7:37-39] (8-Jun-2014)

This sermon was preached at St Mark's Lutheran Church, Mount Barker (8.30am, 10.30am).

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

The sermon text for today was inspired by the Holy Spirit through the apostle St John. And he was one of the disciples who was there on the day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit came upon them with wind and fire. And we read from his gospel where he records Jesus prophesying about Pentecost:

If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, “Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” And St John explains these words: Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified. (John 7:37-39)

Prayer: Lord Jesus Christ, breathe out upon us your Holy Spirit to work powerfully and mightily amongst us this morning, and to me that I may preach well, and to all of us that we may hear well. Amen.

 

Recently, an older pastor gave me this advice about pastoral care. He said: When you listen to people, listen to what they say about Jesus. Because people can call all kinds of things a “god”, and people can call all kinds of things a “spirit”, but there’s only one Jesus.

Now this might seem like a strange thing to say, especially on the day of Pentecost, when you might be thinking, “I thought we were supposed to be talking about the Holy Spirit.”

Yes, today we’re talking about the Holy Spirit. You’re right! But do you know where the Holy Spirit comes from? This is a critical question that every Christian today needs to think about.

If we look at the creed, either the Apostles’ Creed or the Nicene Creed, we can see that it’s split up into three parts: each part has to do with a person of the Trinity. The first part is about the Father: I believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth. The second part is about the Son: And in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord. And the third part is about the Holy Spirit: I believe in the Holy Spirit.

But these three parts don’t just show us what we believe, but it also shows us the history of the church. In the first two centuries or so, Christians were sent out into the pagan world, where people believed in many gods. At this time, when the Christian church was preaching about Jesus to its first disciples, they were thrown to the lions, because they preached that there was only one God. They preached that Caesar was not god, that Jupiter was not god, and all the other Roman gods, that none of them were God. There was only one God, who is the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth. One early Christian martyr, named Polycarp, was thrown to the lions, and to give him one last chance, he was asked to “deny the atheists”. The Romans called Christians “atheists”, because Christians didn’t believe in all the different gods. So Polycarp gestured towards to Roman crowd gathered there and said that they were all atheists because they didn’t believe in any god that actually existed! So the first Christians had to fight for the first part of the creed: I believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth.

Throughout the next few centuries in Christian history, the big dispute was whether Jesus Christ was true God. During the third, fourth and fifth centuries there were many great Christians, who confessed what the bible says in its truth and purity about Jesus Christ. This dispute became so fierce that the emperor of Rome called the Christians together to sort this out at a council, called the Council of Nicaea. And they wrote what we now call “The Nicene Creed”, which we are going to say together today. Go and read carefully what it says about Jesus being God of God, Light of Light, true God of true God.

Now, what era of history do we find ourselves in? We Christians today need to search the Scriptures and learn from the mouth of God what he says about the Holy Spirit.

I would say one thing about all this, which I think that each one of us should think about very carefully: All the problems we have in the church today amount to one thing – people don’t believe in the divinity of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is true God, he is nothing less than true God, and is completely equal to the Father and the Son.

And nevertheless, God the Father sends us the Holy Spirit through Jesus Christ and his holy, pure, life-giving words. And the Holy Spirit will not be given at all, not one little bit, through anyone else’s words. If you have Jesus and his words, his way, his truth, his life, you have the Holy Spirit. If you have someone else’s words, someone else’s way (which is a dead-end way), someone else’s truth (which of course is a lie), or someone else’s life (which is death in disguise), you don’t have the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit says: thus says the Lord. The devil says: Did God really say?

The first way is the way of life, the second way is the way of death. It’s as simple as that.

St John says: 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. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already.

Listen carefully to these words: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God. I would encourage each of you to go and read the history of the day of Pentecost in Acts 2, and take note very carefully about what Peter preaches on that day. He doesn’t actually say very much about the Holy Spirit: most of the sermon is dedicated to preaching about Jesus coming in the flesh, and being raised from the dead.

And so, have a think back to the advice I received from that pastor: Listen to what people say about Jesus. Because people can call all kinds of things a “god”, and people can call all kinds of things a “spirit”, but there’s only one Jesus. As St John says: Every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of antichrist.

And so with that in mind, let’s have a look at our Gospel reading today.

We read: On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink.

Here is Jesus at this great festival, and we read that he stood up and cried out! This was no ordinary message that he wanted the people to hear. He wanted to speak it from the rooftops, to make sure it was heard loud and clear. He says: If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink.

Oh boy! Surely you know what a thirsty world we are living in today. Surely you know what a thirsty nation Australia really is today. Surely you know how thirsty and parched Mt Barker is.

Do you know this? I’m not talking about the fact that South Australia is such a dry state and we all need to have rainwater tanks. I’m talking about that great spiritual thirst. And I’m not talking first of all of all the people who are out there in the world who have never heard the gospel. I’m talking about all you thirsty people inside the church.

Maybe you think you are not thirsty. Well, Jesus says: Whoever is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. If you are not thirsty, there’s no Jesus for you, and there’s no Holy Spirit for you. Jesus will only let a thirsty one come to him and drink from him.

You see, there are all kinds of lies around today which say that the whole future of the church depends on you, personally. People say: you must work, you must act, you must busy yourself until you drop dead, otherwise the whole church must fail. Wrong! The church is not built through your work, and your actions. The church belongs to God, it is built through the pure words and works and actions of Jesus Christ.

You might think that your spirituality, your prayer life, your salvation all depends on you, and your brilliant ideas. You might even be so filled up and drunk with yourself that you come into the presence of God foaming at the mouth. God will not tolerate such a thing in his presence. Everything depends on Jesus and his word and his brilliant ideas. And there is only one real Jesus.

If you want to replace Jesus and his word and his sacraments of baptism and the Lord’s Supper with something else, the only thing that you can replace him with is human works.

Jesus says: If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink.

Jesus compares himself to a living fountain, a running river, a clear stream. Psalm 46 says: There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God. Jesus Christ is that river. Every word that he speaks is a pure living drop of everlasting water than comes pouring out of heaven into your mouth. Why do you think Jesus pours out his Holy Spirit on us through the use of water in holy baptism? Because he wants to show us that he is living water. And how do we drink from this living water? We listen to the words that come streaming forth out the mouth of this man, Jesus Christ, who is true God. I baptise you in the name of the Father and of the Son and the Holy Spirit. Yours sins are forgiven; go in peace. Take and eat, this is my body given for you. Take and drink, this is my blood shed for you for the forgiveness of sins.

Just think what Jesus can achieve with one syllable of his word. Just think what Jesus can achieve with the tiniest drop of water in baptism. Just think of what Jesus can achieve with one crumb of the Lord’s Supper. And we are given not just to drink from him in small measure, but he says: I have come that they may have life and have it abundantly. Think of the soldier who pierced Jesus’ side on the cross, and then the blood and water that flowed out: think about how this fountain flowed for you, and how Jesus comes to wash you in the middle of his church today from that same fountain.

Listen thirsty one! Listen, all of you, who come here to church with parched tongues, with your dried up palates, with your tongues sticking to your gums, with your dried up jaws. If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Jesus and drink.

The Holy Spirit does not proceed from you, and the Holy Spirit does not proceed from me. The Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son. That’s why in the church we seek to preach nothing but the word of God, and to preach to you Christ crucified. St Peter calls the teaching of false prophets waterless springs. It is dried up. Jesus is a fountain of the water of life. He says: If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink.

Jesus says: Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’”

Here we see what happens when the Holy Spirit draws us near to Jesus and when we come and listen to his words: We believe in him. And Jesus says: Whoever believes in me, as the Scriptures has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.

Here Jesus cancels all works and makes them nothing. Maybe you have tried to work hard for Jesus and you have thought that your reward may be the Holy Spirit. Maybe you exerted all your effort so that you too could receive a taste of whatever spiritual gift you saw in a friend of yours. Maybe you have sweated blood so that you could receive some gift of the Holy Spirit. Maybe even you have thought that all your getting out of bed on Sunday mornings and making the effort to simply come to church earns you the Holy Spirit, as if there’s nothing here worth hearing and nothing worth receiving from God.

It’s all cancelled! Jesus doesn’t say, whoever really tries hard, whoever passes a kidney stone for my sake. No: he says: Whoever believe in me, as the Scripture has said, “Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.”

Listen to how it says: Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water. This living water will flow out of you and overflow to other people. The temptation again here is to go and try and fill up on the Holy Spirit somewhere in your heart. No—don’t go to your heart for your own living water. It’s the wrong place. Go to Jesus—fill up from him. Go and drink from him. Fill up on his word, on his sweet gospel, that forgives each and every single one of your sins. This is where the Holy Spirit is to be found. Notice how in the book of Acts, it doesn’t say that the Holy Spirit increased in people. It says that the word of God increased, and the Holy Spirit is sent where the word of God increases. Fill up from the words of Jesus, and not in such a way that you’re looking to follow a set of rules, as if Jesus is giving you some magic formula. No—it says: Whoever believes in me. Yes, Jesus: I know you are not a liar. I know that what you have said in your word is truth, that you love me, and that you have all the power in your hands to carry out your work of salvation in me. As St Peter says: Pay attention to the word of God, as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts, until the Holy Spirit convinces you of the truth of this powerful and living word.

So what was this living water?

We read: Now this [Jesus] said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.

We see here a wonderful prophesy of the day of Pentecost! And now: Jesus has been glorified, and the Spirit has been given. Do you see how the Holy Spirit once again depends not on our glorification, but on the glorification of Jesus? The Holy Spirit will not be given to us in our self-glory, our self-promotion—no, the Holy Spirit is poured out on the church when Jesus is glorified. And we believe this happened when Jesus ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of God.

And so, who will pour out this Holy Spirit upon the church? Jesus, Jesus, only Jesus. The Holy Spirit will not be manipulated by you, the Holy Spirit cannot be bought, the Holy Spirit cannot be pressured, blackmailed, coerced, or forced in any way. The Holy Spirit is true God. The Holy Spirit will be breathed out by Jesus, through his word, and he will be breathed out by no other person, through no other mouth, and through no other words.

Jesus says: Whoever is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.

Amen.

Lord Jesus Christ, send us the Holy Spirit. Let us come to you and drink from you, we who are so thirsty, and have spent too long drinking from our own fountains and dried up springs. By the living power of the Holy Spirit, strengthen in us your word and faith until we die. Amen.

Easter 7 A Wednesday [John 17:1-11] (4-Jun-2014)

This sermon was preached at St Mark's Lutheran Church, Mount Barker (11am).

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

The sermon text for today was inspired by the Holy Spirit through the apostle St John. And he was one of the 12 disciples who was present with Jesus at the Last Supper, when Jesus prayed the words from our gospel reading today, which we read earlier. And we read:

And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.

 (John 17:1-11)

Prayer: May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.

 

In our Sunday’s Gospel reading, we read a part from what if often called Jesus’ High-priestly prayer. Just before Jesus is about to go and die for the sin of the world, just before he is about to offer himself as the great sacrifice for the sin of the world, he prays this wonderful prayer in the hearing of his disciples. And this is the only place in the whole bible, where we hear Jesus praying intimately with his Father at great length. Sometimes, we read about where Jesus prayed a sentence or two, but here we have a whole chapter purely devoted to a single prayer of Jesus.

And it is a great privilege to come and listen to Jesus as he prays this prayer. If you read the gospel of Luke, Jesus’ prayers are mentioned quite often. Even when Jesus is baptised, Luke is the only evangelist to mention the fact that Jesus was praying at this time.

One of the things that I notice about this high-priestly prayer from John 17 is that Jesus speaks in a way that we don’t normally speak. It’s very difficult to understand and take in if the whole thing is read in one sitting. And I think that it to be expected. I would expect that Jesus’ prayers are most of the time so holy and pure, that it’s almost too much for us to take in.

At the same time, the words that Jesus speaks are not hard to understand. Jesus prays in such simplicity, much simpler than we pray. We often think we have to make up big long complicated prayers, so that we end up patting ourselves on the back when we’ve prayed, or else we think that none of our prayers would be any good anyway, so we just don’t pray in the first place.

Jesus today teaches us something completely new. He says to us: I know that you’re hopeless at prayer. I know that you’ve really got no idea. I know that those who think they know everything about prayer know absolutely nothing. But now, I am going to teach you about prayer. I am going to send you my Holy Spirit to give you the words, to help you. And I am going to give you my name, like a password, so that whenever you come before the Father to pray, you can use my name and join in with me in my prayers and I will join in with you.

So here we come to God with all our second-rate prayers, all our fumblings and half-sentences, and embarrassment and stumbling, and Jesus knows all of it. And he says: I am going to cover your prayers with my blood, so that when God the Father hears all your dodgy prayers, he will hear them as completely perfect prayers because of me. Just as Jesus covers all our sin, so that when God the Father looks on us he sees only the purity of Jesus, so also Jesus covers up all our prayers, so that when God the Father listens to us he hears only the prayers of Jesus.

In our reading today, we read where Jesus says: Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.

I’d like to stop and reflect on these last words today[1]: Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed. This is one of the most wonderful passages in the whole New Testament which speaks of the eternal divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ. It also it speaks about the glory and majesty of his human nature. Just think—if Jesus had a glory with God before the world existed, then he must be almighty God. This is what Thomas confesses, when he sees the wounds of Jesus for himself and says to him: My Lord and my God. Jesus had this wonderful glory with God before the world existed. And so, in the letter to the Hebrews, the writer calls him the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature. He calls Jesus the radiance of the glory of God—this is just like the radiance that goes out from the sun, that bright light, and yet that light is still united to the sun. So also, Jesus is called the radiance of the glory of God. The radiance goes out from God and yet Jesus is still united to God and is true God together with the Father. Also, Hebrews calls him the exact imprint of his nature. He is God’s image, the very image of his nature, and also at the same time he is God. So if Jesus already has all of these things, why does Jesus pray this prayer, glorify me with the glory which I had with you before the world existed? Well, Jesus is about the suffer and die. He has taken on a human body, and now this human body which belongs to Jesus is going to be glorified with that same glory which he had before the world existed. Jesus’ flesh, his human body, his humanity is going to be glorified with divine brightness and radiance and glory when he ascends into heaven. It’s not some kind of ghost that gives life to the world, but Jesus’ flesh gives life the world. Think about it: The blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin. If Jesus weren’t a true man, he wouldn’t have any blood. If he weren’t exalted and glorified with the glory which he had before the world existed, then he wouldn’t be able to cleanse us. And so Jesus has real human blood, and yet as true God is able to come and transcend space and time and scrub us clean with this same blood.

You might like to think of the time when Jesus was transfigured. You can see there when his body shone brighter than the sun. Now, because Jesus has ascended into heaven, His eternal divinity shines perfectly in his holy body, as his eternal temple, and God’s glory fills this temple from top to bottom. This is the same body that we are going to come and eat in a few minutes, and Jesus’ cleansing blood is the same blood we are going to come and drink.

This brightness and glory and radiance is hidden from us though. We can only believe it through the word. Jesus conceals this glory in his human body, and hides it from us, because it would be too much for us. But he tells us about it so that we would believe in it. Blessed are those who have not seen, and yet have believed.

This is such a wonderful comfort for us, as we think about the fact that our bodies too are going to be glorified just like the glorified body of our Lord Jesus Christ. For Jesus, he is glorified with the glory which he had with his Father before the world existed. We will probably not be glorified in exactly the same holy, special way that Jesus is glorified with, but it will still be a glorification.

St Paul says: Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven… For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable will put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality.

And this is what we have come to share even today when we hear the simple word of God and receive the sacrament today, the sacrament of the body and blood of Christ. We come to share in that glory, the glory which Jesus had before the world existed.

Amen.

Lord Jesus Christ, we ask that you would come and pray with us, and we thank you for your continual prayers for us, which we catch a glimpse of in the high priestly prayer in John 17. Teach us to pray, Lord, and send your Holy Spirit to us, to guide us and lead us in your school of prayer. Amen.

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