Wise Thirst - A Sermon for the Day of Pentecost

The Day of Pentecost                                                                        
May 28^th, A + D 2023
Our Redeemer and Our Savior’s Lutheran Churches
Custer and Hill City, SD
Wise Thirst – John 7:37-39, Acts 2

   We’ve had some nice rain this spring, which is good.  We’ll no doubt dry out fast of course; it’s hard to quench the thirst of this rocky land.   

   Water, along with air and food, is the stuff of life.  The Black Hills has plenty of air, and while
gardening and farming aren’t super bountiful here, we have cattle and bison, and our neighboring areas produce plenty of good food for us.  But here, water is a scarcer commodity.  Drought seems always around the corner, except of course when there’s too much rain.  

     I think we all have sufficient drinking water, but the land always seems thirsty.  We may only rarely experience profound thirst, but we understand what thirst is. 

   I think you know what thirst is, and so for you this morning I have good news:  Jesus stood up and cried out, "If anyone thirsts, let him come to me, and whoever believes in me, let him drink. As the Scripture has said, 'Out of his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.'  Jesus comes to bless us in our need.  For life very often can leave you dry, and thirsty, physically and spiritually.  Jesus blesses us by reminding us that unless you receive the living waters, you will die.  This morning our Lord offers us three nuggets of wisdom for life:    

1) Recognize your thirst for what it is.

2) Don't drink the Devil's water.

3) Drink daily and deeply from Jesus, the only source of true living water.  

   But we have questions.  First, what is this thirst that Jesus speaks of? 

   There is hardly a better feeling than a cool drink of clear water when you are truly thirsty.  The Lord God Almighty is behind every drop of good clean water you’ve ever drunk.  And yet Jesus has more in mind.  He draws on our common understanding of thirst and drinking to drive home His real point: spiritual thirst is a call by the Lord to repent.  Jesus came to save sinners from the eternal desert of death and hell.  Jesus battles with sin and Satan.  In this battle, the prize being fought for is us, body and soul.    

   To thirst means to recognize the battle your caught in, and to recognize your need for a Savior.  Which also means recognizing that you are a sinner, deserving of God's anger and punishment.  Which you are, and so am I, for who we are, and for the things we do, and for the things we fail to do. 

   It may seem obvious that we must recognize our sinfulness and need for a Savior.  But the world denies this, and seems to get away with it.  Sure, most people are willing to say "I'm a sinner, like everybody else."  But when it comes down to specifically admitting that your desire for good things has become greed, or your appreciation for beautiful people is really lust, or your irritation at other people is really anger and hatred, well, then people protest.  You protest.  "No, I know some people may sin like that, but not me.  My pleasure in leisure is not laziness.  My love for talking about people is not gossip." 

   This sounds deluded when we hear it out loud.  But the world is always eager to take another forbidden apple off the tree and declare it to be good, always ready to move another perversion of God's will out of the sin column and into the normal and good column.  And sadly, we are naturally prone to drink the world’s Kool-Aid.  Abandoning your spouse or family?  The world says that’s just the course you needed to follow to be true to yourself.  Homosexual behavior?  That's really just a fun alternative lifestyle.  Cheating on your taxes?  That's just how America works.  Or so the world teaches.   

   In truth, you, and I, are so naturally self-centered and inward turned that we will not and cannot see our sin on our own.  So, to you and me God sends His Word.  Despite the chaos and deafening noise of our world, God’s Word still speaks, and is heard.  God also sends consequences for sin, consequences which God uses to try to get you to confess your sin, before it's too late.  Living in our world today means we are constantly at risk of losing our thirst for God.  So the first necessary wisdom is to recognize your sin for what it is.  Because in the end, God will not be mocked.   

   Now, for our second bit of wisdom:  Once you recognize your sin-caused thirst, be careful how you try to quench it.  You might think Satan concentrates all his efforts on getting people to deny they are sinners, or to say sin doesn't matter.  And certainly he is happy to keep people living such delusions.  But he is by no means done with you, just because you come to recognize your sin.  In some ways, Satan's weapons become all the more potent when you are actively seeking God, actively trying to be good.  Because when you thirst for God, the Devil tries to sell you his drinks instead. 

   The Devil will offer you an amazing array of seemingly good thirst-quenchers.  But you need pure
water from the river of life.  Don't drink the Devil's water.  Like the ever-expanding selection of flavored sports drinks, Gatorade, PowerAde, Vitamin Water, Propel, many of Satan's offerings look pretty good.  But while sports drinks may, or may not, quench your physical thirst, the Devil’s offerings will never quench your spiritual thirst.  In the end, Satan’s water will leave you thirsting all the more.  If you don't stop drinking what he offers, you will die. 

   What do I mean?  Well, when we sinners thirst for God, realizing we have a sin problem that needs fixing, we all too often end up drinking in a lie. 

   These lies are peddled by any religion that teaches that you must earn God's favor, that the way of salvation is paved, in whole or in part, with your good works.  Every religion except true Christianity teaches this in some form or another.  Islam, Mormonism, Buddhism, New Age spirituality, nativism, earth religions, all these false faiths teach you to conquer your shortcomings and ascend toward God, to conquer your thirst by drawing from within yourself.  The Devil delights to have us draw water from within ourselves.  Because all of our wells are poisoned.  Because you will not ascend to God.  You can't.  Your sin still clings to you and drags you down.  Your thirst remains, you can't make the kind of progress God’s holiness demands.   

   Sadly, this fake water can end up being poured out in Christian Churches too.  Because we want to believe we can make ourselves righteous and holy.  And the Devil's lie tastes so good, feels so good going down.  For a while, it can even make you feel like you've really taken care of your sin.  But you haven’t.  Your sin will come back. Which can lead you to drink even more deeply from false waters.  

   If someone doesn't separate your lips from Satan's water bottle, you'll be like people floating on a raft, lost at sea, driven mad by thirst, until you give in to the urge to drink saltwater.  Like saltwater does to our physical thirst, fake spiritual water only makes your thirst worse.  And eventually it kills you.

   To keep you away from the Devil's water, Jesus stood up [on the last day of the feast] and cried out, "If anyone thirsts, let him come to me, and whoever believes in me, let him drink. As the Scripture has said, 'Out of his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.' 

   This is true wisdom.  Quench your thirst in Jesus.  But what a strange thing for Jesus to say.  Many translations soften the language and say, “out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.”  In the other direction, a more literal translation of "his innermost being" is “his innards.”  "His gut."  Jesus shocks with His promise: living waters that offer real life flow from my innermost being.  From my Body, my guts.   Those who heard Him were confused, and people argued about who Jesus was and what He meant.  Knowing you might be confused too, the Apostle John gives us a little commentary to help. Translating most literally, As the Scripture has said, 'Out of his gut will flow rivers of living water.'  Then John explains:  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.

 
 Today we celebrate Pentecost, the coming of the Holy Spirit to the gathered believers 50 days after the Resurrection.  Tongues of fire lit on their heads, and they spoke in many different languages, proclaiming the mighty works of God.  This was the promised sign of the coming of the Holy Spirit in the new age, the New Testament time, when God's Spirit would rest on all His people.  This miracle drew a large crowd, and Peter preached to them. 

   Our reading from Acts 2 stopped short of the end of that sermon, but we know what happened next.  Peter preached Christ.  He spoke the truth, that this Jesus whom you crucified was the Son of God, who rose from the dead and is now reigning over all things at God’s right hand.  The hearers, cut to their hearts with guilt and fear, asked what they needed to do.  Peter replied:  "Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself." (Acts 2:38 - 39)     Or, as our Lord Jesus said earlier: "If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and whoever believes in me, let him drink. 

   In our Gospel reading, Jesus speaks of repentance as thirst.  In Acts the gift of repentance flows when the hearers are cut to the heart, the preached Word creating in them a spiritual thirst for salvation, a desire to be rescued from themselves.  In our Gospel, receiving forgiveness and the Holy Spirit are spoken of as drinking from living waters.  In Acts this faithful drinking becomes concrete in the waters of Holy Baptism.  The Lord God reserves the right to mix and bend metaphors, in order to save you. 

   Jesus' words in our Gospel, spoken a couple years before Pentecost, created confusion and debate in His hearers.  But 50 days after the Resurrection, the same invitation leads to 3,000 Baptisms.  Why such a difference?  Because of what comes in between.  For in between John 7 and Pentecost stands the Cross, the suffering of Jesus for the sins of the whole world.  In between comes the sacrifice that allows God, who is perfectly just, to declare us sinners not guilty, even though we have not paid our debt.  Jesus has paid it for us, 100%.  In between thrusts the spear, plunged into Jesus side, into his gut, from which flowed out blood, and water.  In between lies the death which gives new life and opens heaven by winning forgiveness for all sinners, eternal quenching of your thirst for salvation.  Believe it, it is for you.    

   And so goes life in the New Testament age, these days after Pentecost.  How will our lives go?  For all the plans and dreams we have, for all the worries of parents and grandparents,  it's really hard to say in great detail.  But a few things about this life that we can say without doubt. 

You will sin, and so there will be spiritual thirst in your life.  This thirst you can try to deny.  Or you can seek to quench it with false waters. 

Or you can confess your thirst to Jesus. 

Confess your thirst to Jesus.  

        Confess your sins, and your sinfulness.  Repent of trying to save yourself, and return to your Baptism. Repent, and come to the Living Waters. 

Quench your thirst in Jesus, and receive His life, both today, and tomorrow, and forever and ever, Amen. 

No Other God Will Do - Sermon for the 6th Sunday of Easter

Sixth Sunday of Easter, May 14^th, A+D 2023
Our Savior’s and Our Redeemer Lutheran Churches
Hill City and Custer, South Dakota
No Other God Will Do 
Acts 17:16-31, 1 Peter 3:13-22, John 14:15-21

  In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.

     Grandpa Beecher liked to drink buttermilk and eat smoked herring or sardines, just before bedtime.  A strange fact about my father, which, when it came up at dinner a couple of decades ago immediately aroused interest in our then 8 or 9 year-old daughter Madeline.  Our kids never met their grandfather, so this little tidbit offered a window into who my dad was, what he was like.  We naturally want to know something about where we’ve come from, about our grandparents, our ancestors.  So my kids always loved to hear stories about Grandpa Beecher, and visit the ranch where he grew up, and use the few tools of his that I have, stamped with his initials, BWW.  

      Behind our desire to know about our grandparents and ancestors lies the desire we all have to know about God, about the Creator and Ruler of the universe, who He is, what He is like, what He thinks of us.  Christians correctly look to the book of Genesis and the rest of the Bible to learn about the Creator whom we cannot see.  Not yet, anyway.  Non-Christians look for answers in all the wrong places.  But they do look, in native fables and ancient myths, in false religions, or in the pontification of the high priests of scientism.    

      According to Darwinists, our origin lies in an elegant, convoluted and ultimately foolish theory filled with inconsistencies and impossible odds.  What evolution does do well, however, is to maintain the chief article of the evolutionist faith, that God must, above all things, be kept out of the discussion.  Which, since God does exist, is pointless.    

      Schemes to know the Creator vary widely.  Athenians with a whole city full of idols hedged their bets with a shrine to “The Unknown God.”  Every religion, evolutionists included, want to learn about the unseen One who has caused us to be here.  Well, Good News for all the seekers out there.  Today, from Jesus and from Paul and Peter, we have some wonderful insights into who our Creator is, what He’s like, and what He thinks of us.  Beautiful and difficult insights, and also very good news. 

      Jesus lays the groundwork for what we refer to as the Doctrine of the Holy Trinity.  Some people like to argue that the Church made up the Trinity, the teaching that God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, three distinct and co-equal divine persons, but who at the same time are the one true God. 

    Three in one, one in three, tri-unity, or Trinity.  It’s true the word ‘Trinity’ is not in the Bible.  But the teaching of the mystery of the three-in-one God is all over the place, including on the lips of Jesus.  “Hear, O Israel, the LORD our God, the LORD is One.”  So thunders God’s Word from Genesis to Malachi, and throughout the New Testament.  And yet at the same time, Jesus says: “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth…”  Jesus, God’s Son, promises His Father will send the Holy Spirit.  We are commanded to baptize in the One Name of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.   “I and the Father are One,” states Jesus, “He who sees Me has seen the Father.”  The Holy Trinity is simply the term the Church faithfully developed to refer to the One True God in three divine persons, as revealed by Jesus Christ. 

      The words ‘Triune’ and ‘Trinity’ were developed by the Church to serve as short hand to refer to God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  This is needed for us to talk about God, necessary for theology.  If you doubt, try having an in depth conversation about the God of the Bible, but each time you want to refer to God, say God, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  Always saying the full Name of our three in one God would quickly become unwieldly.  And yet it is vital to identify God correctly.  So the Early Church coined the terms Triune and Trinity, good, faithful shorthand to refer to the One True God. 

     We also need to learn all that we can about the true God, to understand ourselves.  God is our Source, for He is the Source of everything, the great I AM, the Source of Being, from whom all the creation comes.  Knowing who God is helps us understand ourselves, because God creates in keeping with His character.  As Paul says, “in Him we live and move and have our being.” 

      “Let us create man in our image,” said One Person to the other Persons within the Godhead, hinting from the start at the “more than one-ness” of the One True God.  And so we were created, male and female, in the image of God.  Our first parents were not gods.  They were definitely less than God, derivative, different.  Creatures.  But, unique in all creation, we are creatures made in God’s image and likeness. 

    There is enough to discover in this wonderful mystery for dozens of sermons.  Today let’s simply consider this fact: God is Father, Son and Holy Spirit; relationship is a reality in God.  Which means relationship is also part of who we are.  We are created for relationships, first husband and wife, then parents and child, then brother and sister, neighbor, friend, all because God, within Himself, is in relationship. 

    The Father loves the Son, and gives all things to Him.  The Son loves the Father, and desires above all things to serve Him.  The Spirit flows from both Father and Son and desires above all things to give glory to the Father by telling people about the Son.  Our innate desire for relationship is not a weakness.  It is not an evolutionary adaptation.  Our desire for relationship is a reflection of God, and of how He made us to be. 

      God is life.  He himself gives life to all mankind, our breath and energy and all we have.  And so we are alive, designed to live forever. 

      God is just, loving the right and the good, and hating evil.  God is just, and so we are moral, created with a longing for right to prevail, and for wrong to be defeated.

      God, who is love, pure and good, is in constant service within Himself, the Father, Son and Spirit serving each other in perfect joy.  God serves in relationship, and so we also are designed to serve, husbands created to love and serve and protect wives and children.  Wives likewise are created to love and serve and support husbands and children.  Each one of us is called into a variety of relationships, vocations, in which we have opportunity to serve others, everyone benefitting from the mutual service of everyone else.  Our relationships of service are a reflection of who the Triune God is.

      Of course, here we find the scary part.  As we take to heart how God has created us to love and serve and live rightly, the reality of our lives becomes frightening.  We are all tempted at this point run off to gods of our own imagination, be they mythological or scientific, or just watered down, false versions of the Christian God.  We are tempted to run away from the True God because we fear the reality of our brokenness.  We are exposed by the light of who God is, and who we are supposed to be.  Learning about the True God strikes fear in us.  Knowing God and knowing ourselves becomes a life threatening problem, for we daily deny the Trinity. 

    We were made by God to love, made for justice, to always choose the right, made to serve others.  But, we do not.  Far too often we are instead selfish, self-centered, desiring evil.  We use people in relationships.  We like to claim that they did it first, that we didn’t start it, and that might be true.  But it doesn’t matter.  We are not who God has made us to be.  We do not live as God expects.  So, our lives are in danger.  By our thoughts, words and deeds we reject God and His way, and that is eternally dangerous.  Because the loving and just God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, is the only source of life.   

      It’s depressing, the way we are.  Depressing, and, if we pay close attention to what God says about the wages of sin, also very frightening.  For the Triune God tells us in His Word that the wages of sin is death, separation, being cut off from God and all His blessings, everlasting suffering.  This fearfulness tempts us to turn to a different idea of God, to turn to a god who is less demanding.  More like us.  A god we can deal with.  Our reading from John’s Gospel comes from the Upper Room, on the night when Jesus was betrayed.  It is instructive that Judas Iscariot gave in to the Tempter on this night at the end of Holy Week, when Jesus revealed so much about God.  Judas couldn’t handle the God Jesus described, and so he betrayed Him.     

      Knowing the true God is frightening, and the temptation to deny Him and run away is great.  But don’t do it.  Don’t dumb down your idea of God to fit within your logic, or to try to hide from your sin.  Because, while the Trinity is bad news for us because we are sinners, even more, the Trinity is good news for us sinners.  The Gospel, the good news of salvation for sinners, is embedded in and flows from the reality of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. 

      For God, who does not live in houses made by human hands, who does not need anything from us, none the less desires to live with us.  We are His most cherished thing in all Creation.  Jesus tells the disciples that the Spirit is already dwelling with them, and would soon be in them.  The Spirit dwells with them because Jesus, who is one with the Spirit, dwells with them.  And the Spirit will dwell in them, after Jesus is glorified, after Jesus is lifted up on the Cross.  Christ’s atoning blood is what makes true intimacy with God possible for us sinners.  Indeed, God’s desire to live with us, to be in close, loving relationship to humans like you and me, this is the cause behind the whole story of Christ and His Church. 

      The goal of this story is God dwelling with and even in mankind.  The problem of the story is our sinfulness, by which we reject and cut ourselves off from God.  The Hero, the protagonist of the story, is Jesus Christ, the only begotten and eternal Son of God, who comes into our world, who becomes a human being without giving up any of His divine nature, in order to fix the problem our sin creates, by shedding His precious blood on the Cross, for us.  Only a man, a human being, could do the work and pay the debt required by human sin.  But none of us sinners are capable of the perfect life required, not even to pay our own debt.  Let alone to atone for the sins of the whole world.  Only God could complete a task this great. 

   If Jesus Christ is less than truly and fully God, then we cannot be sure God is truly and fully reconciled to us by His life, death and resurrection.  Non-Trinitarian religions must always include in their way of salvation a requirement for works on our part.  But the work of salvation is too great for us.  Our sin stains every attempt we make to appease God.  We need Jesus to be fully God, so He can be fully, 100%, our Savior. 

    And Jesus is truly and fully God, who became a human, born of the Virgin Mary, God enfleshed, to save us sinners, to finish the work, all the way, for us.  As Peter tells us this morning, “Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit.”

      This Trinitarian Gospel is the reason for the hope that is in you.  It is the promise of your Baptism, which now saves you.  The Good News of Salvation depends on God being the Trinity.  

    For how could God the Father send the God the Son to be conceived in the Virgin Mary by the power of God the Holy Spirit, if God was not Triune, three in one? 

    How could the Spirit be sent from the Father, be given to you in your Baptism, or deliver Chirst’s forgiveness to you by His Word, if God was not Father, Son and Holy Spirit? 

    The three-in-oneness of the Godhead is how God has revealed Himself, and it is also very good news for you.  Because it is God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, who has completed and who delivers real and complete salvation, to you.  No other god will do.

 

     So we rejoice to claim the Name of the Trinity, placed upon us in our Baptism, because in this God we daily find forgiveness for sins, real and eternal life, the free gift of salvation.  We rejoice, standing ready to give the reason for our hope, knowing all the while that confessing this God may, like Paul in Athens, get us in trouble.   The reality of the Triune God will be rejected by many, because it is above and beyond the capacity of human logic to fully understand or explain.  Confessing the Trinity also means confessing that we are creatures, less-than and dependent-on God for all things, a dependence that human nature hates.  But dependence on the Holy Trinity is blessed dependence, for with the Trinity always comes the Cross and Resurrection, God’s solution for our problem of sin and separation. 

    Confessing the Trinity and the Cross and Resurrection may get us in trouble.  For many, it seems too exclusive, and too condemning of human sin.  So be it.  Stick with your confession of Cross and Trinity because it is true, and because it is your salvation.  God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, who comes to serve us, here, in this and every place believers gather around His Word.  The Triune God meets us here, to feed us at this table, to wash new believers at this font. 

    This is the place of Law and Gospel, of Truth about mankind and the Truth about God, the Truth of God’s merciful Way.  This Truth is the aroma of death to those who disbelieve.  But to all who believe, to all who sorrow for their sins but look to Jesus in hope, to all who are being saved, this merciful Truth is the very aroma of life,

 in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.  

Jesus, Stephen and You - Sermon for the 5th Sunday of Easter

Fifth Sunday of Easter
May 7^th, Year of Our + Lord 2023
Our Redeemer and Our Savior’s Lutheran Churches,
Custer and Hill City, South Dakota
Jesus, Stephen, and You
Acts 6-7, 1 Peter 2:2-10, John 14:1-14

 

Saint Stephen was a Christian, a little Christ, who strove,

By serving, working, teaching, to show the Savior’s love.

Sharing bread with gladness, the Apostles he relieved,

To pray and preach and study, this Word on which we feed.

 

The Law and Gospel of His Lord, filled Stephen’s heart as well,

He preached the God-Man Jesus, who rescues us from Hell.

But many would not hear the Truth, God’s grace embitters pride,

Those who find scandal in the Cross, enlist on Satan’s side.   

 

The Victor’s crown was his to wear, for Jesus was his Lord,

This made Steve bold, and eloquent, brandishing the Sword,

The only weapon God, has given to His flock,

The Spirit’s Word in power, the gates of Hell unlocks.

 

Stephen spoke of truth and grace, proclaiming by the Spirit,

But his hearer’s hearts were hard, they simply would not hear it.

They dragged the deacon out, their only thought to kill,

But Stephen had God’s peace, trust in the Father’s will.

 

The deacon saw the Son above, in His Father’s glory,

And joyful, told the vision which, led to death most gory.

He mimicked what His Savior, on Calvr’y asked for him,

And prayed that those who stoned him, be pardoned for their sin.

 

Bold faith like Steve’s has just one source, the Stone which was rejected,

As chosen stone in God’s own house, brave Stephen was protected.

The rocks they hurled to end his life, had just a moment’s power,

Eternal joy replaced all tears, for Stephen’s soul that hour. 

 

Can we be bold, can we speak truth, when th’world rejects the Savior?

We can if we, like Deacon Steve, are grounded in God’s favor. 

So do not doubt, you can be brave, your strength flows from the same,

The Font where you like Stephen were, sealed in God’s Holy Name. 

 

The shape of call the Lord gives you, will vary in great measure,

Each living stone in Jesus’ house, serves per the Father’s pleasure.

You need not seek to do great things, you must not seek for glory,

Your glory’s with the Lamb above!  The key down here? His Story.

 

Th’Apostle’s Word, the Fellowship, the Supper and the Prayers,

Devote yourself to these, and cast on God your cares.

He will provide your needs, and give you ways to love,

Until the Day He calls you, to join Steve up above.  

 

This is the Way of Jesus Christ, path to the Father’s home,

The humbling Truth, which sets us free, grace, mercy and shalom.

Sins which us kill, now washed away, our guilty souls relieving,

Means life is ours, come now what may, God’s heaven is our ceiling.  

 

And so we pray, in Jesus’ Name, His kingdom to increase,

That more would hear, and not reject, God seen in Christ’s dear face.

We do not fear when stones are hurled, and we are poor and lowly,

Christ’s love is sure, our future bright, with all the saints most holy.   

 

They up above, we down below, are all one blesséd chorus,

Praise and thanksgiving to the Lord, the Lamb who suffered for us.

The Excellencies of our God, sound loud and clear above,  

And on the earth, amidst the fight, we praise the precious Blood.

 

Praise to the Lord, the Father who, in love sent Christ our Savior,

And to the Spirit, heavenly dove, who bathes us in God´s favor.

With Stephen and the martyr throng, we marvel at the light,

God´s Holy will us to possess, sustains us in the fight. 

 We close with the Exhortation and Doxology from the Epistle of Jude:

   You must remember, beloved, the predictions of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ. ¹⁸ They said to you, “In the last time there will be scoffers, following their own ungodly passions.” ¹⁹ It is these who cause divisions, worldly people, devoid of the Spirit. 

    ²⁰ But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, ²¹ keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life. ²² And have mercy on those who doubt; ²³ save others by snatching them out of the fire; to others show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh.

     ²⁴ Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of His glory with great joy, ²⁵ to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.

Jesus Shepherds His Church - Sermon for the 4th Sunday of Easter

Fourth Sunday of Easter
April 30^th Year of Our + Lord 2023
Our Savior’s and Our Redeemer Lutheran Churches
Hill City and Custer, South Dakota
Jesus Shepherds His Church – John 10:1-16, Acts 2:42

     I AM the Good Shepherd, declares Jesus, staking the claim of being the LORD God Almighty, (I AM who I AM, explained God to Moses at the burning bush).  Jesus also promises to personally lead, to shepherd, or pastor His flock, His chosen people.  Far too many of the men who should have shepherded ancient Israel faithfully did not do so.  So, the LORD had promised through the prophet Ezekiel, “I myself will be their shepherd.”  Now Jesus brings that promise to its in-the-flesh fulfillment. 

     Down through the centuries, there have been countless shepherds, or pastors, of the many, many congregations of Jesus’ Church.  But everywhere and always, these men only stand in for and serve as the mouthpiece of the One Shepherd, the only Savior.  Only Jesus is the Good Shepherd, the True Shepherd, who calls His own by name, and they follow Him.  Only Jesus has laid down His life, and taken it up again, so that sinners can be restored to God’s family.  And so there is one flock, and one Shepherd. 

   Sadly, with all the division and confusion and false teaching that have plagued the Church since shortly after the first Pentecost, it is very hard to see this Church Jesus describes.  It is hard to recognize the Church on earth as one, victorious, and unified body of believers, who hear Jesus’ voice and follow Him wherever He leads.  But she truly exists, because Jesus calls her into existence.  He has laid down His life for His flock on Mt. Calvary, rising the third day.  Now Jesus works with His Spirit to fulfill the charge He received from His Father, to gather all the faithful into one flock, one universal and invisible Church.  This Church will, some day soon, be visibly gathered around the throne of God in glory.  Amen! Come Lord Jesus, and lead your sheep into eternal green pastures.   

     But how exactly does Jesus personally shepherd His Church, today?  This can also be hard to see.  The world and the devil are always tempting us to doubt our Shepherd’s care for us, to doubt the Truth of His Promises.  So it is vital that we sheep are confident of and know how Jesus cares personally for us, His people, His flock.  The office of pastor, or shepherd, the man or men called to minister to a local congregation, certainly is key to the Way Jesus shepherds His flock.  There is an icon built into the office of pastor.  The called and ordained servant standing before the altar, leading the congregation, visually represents the greater reality of Christ as the Head, the Good Shepherd, of His Church. 

   This is not to say that the pastor is impressive to look at.  We tend to paint Jesus as a very handsome fellow.  And He is in His essence perfectly beautiful.  But according to Isaiah, Jesus had nothing in his outward appearance to attract us.  So also, the men who have served in the pastoral office through the centuries usually appear unimpressive.  The Good Shepherd was an unlikely carpenter from Nazareth, not someone you would pick out of the crowd and say: “Hey, there goes the Son of David, the Messiah of God, the Shepherd of Israel.”  This tradition continues with pastors. 

     The men called to publicly represent Jesus come in all sizes and shapes.   In many traditions, like our own, we cover them in baggy robes which make them all look more or less alike.  The pastor’s stole often matches the paraments, helping him blend in with the furnishings.  Because you are not called to look at the pastor, but rather to see beyond him to the Good Shepherd.  Jesus and His message are the main thing.  So, you may end up with an unlikely jarhead from some backwater town like Forsyth, Montana.  Not very impressive.   And that’s the point.  Jesus and His unlikely work are the main thing.  The Good Shepherd is present and working, in the Way He chooses, including through the sinners He calls to serve and feed His flock. 

    By choosing and sending the 12 Disciples, a motley crew, to be sure, Jesus gives us the basic form of “pastor and people together” as His chosen vehicle for shepherding His Church.  But we of course need a bit more detail.  The men serving as pastors and the congregations they serve need more specifics, to keep both the man in the office and the congregation on the right path.  Because left on our own, we will surely make a mess of things. 

     Luke provides this detail for us this morning.  On the Day of Pentecost, after the coming of the Holy Spirit, the tongues of flame, the miracle of languages, after Peter’s preaching which led to the conversion and Baptism of more than 3,000 souls, then we hear this summary of the infant Church’s activity:  they devoted themselves to the Apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.  What the Spirit of Christ led the earliest Christians to do is still His call for us today:  as the Church, we are to be devoted to the Apostles’ Teaching, the Fellowship, the Breaking of the Bread, and the Prayers.  Five components to this brief guide, one describing the activity and attitude of the Baptized believers, and then four things to be about.  Let’s check them out.

    “They devoted themselves to…”  Another way to translate this is “they were occupied with…”  or “they were continually doing” or “they persevered in.”  This verb is most often used in the book of Acts, to refer to the ongoing activity of Christians.  In chapter six, when the growth of the Church caused the work to become too much for the 12 Apostles, 7 deacons were appointed to see to the distribution of bread amongst the fellowship.  This expansion of the ministry allowed the Apostles “to devote themselves to prayer and the ministry of the Word.”  So devotion has to do with prioritizing activities, to giving your time and energy to the most important things. 

   The important things begin with the Apostles’ teaching.  For all that He did in His earthly ministry, as far as we know, Jesus didn’t write anything down on paper.  Neither did He visibly remain with His Church to lead their mission efforts.  He ascended to God’s right hand, and continues with His Church to the end of the age, truly present, but invisible.  Delivering forgiveness and mercy and strength for Christian living through the activities of His flock, Christ is unseen, but active.  And His chosen front men in this project were the Apostles.  Their teaching is the center of the Church.  This refers to their preaching and teaching, their speaking in the Name of Christ, and eventually, also to their writing.  These are the Gospels and letters either directly composed by the 12, like Peter, Paul or John, or by another minister who worked directly with the Apostles, like Luke and Mark. 

    The teaching of the Apostles’ is recorded, preserved and gathered together for us in the book we call the New Testament, which is based in the Old, and gives us the true interpretation it, and of all things.  To be the Apostolic Church means to be hearing, reading, copying, translating, teaching and seeking to live based on the deposit of truth Christ through His Apostles has left for us. 

   It’s a big task.  I dare say all of us could benefit from some increase in the quantity or the quality of our devotion to the Apostles’ teaching.  It’s challenging.  There are hard questions the Word does not answer.  From the world and our own hearts and minds there are always issues arising that challenge the faith.  And so we continue in the Word, and we are blessed to see it shape our thinking and doing.  It is a daily wrestling match for the New Israel, through which the Holy Spirit keeps us following along in the flock of Jesus.       

     They devoted themselves to the fellowship.  The things in common.  By this, Luke refers to life together as Church.  For the Jews who became Christians at Pentecost, the need for devotion to their common life together was impossible to miss.  Following Christ meant accepting the rejection of the Jewish religious and political leaders.  Being baptized meant your family might well disown you.  Many a new believer had to depend on the other believers for their daily bread, along with Bread from Heaven.  So they combined resources, and took care of each other, in body and soul. 

   This one is hard for us.  Perhaps we need more crises, more tribulation.  When there is an accident, a disaster, a sudden and terrible disease, we pull together and meet each other’s needs of body and soul.  But we also have an independent and go-it-alone streak in us.  The cost of being a Christian for us here, today, is not so great that we have to constantly depend on each other to survive.  Not yet.  But perhaps we should devote ourselves to each other more now, open ourselves up to mutual support.  And not just because things seem to be getting worse for faithful Christians.  Harder times for Christians do seem to be coming, and in many ways are already here.  But we also would be wise to strengthen our fellowship, our life of mutual support within the congregation, for the sake of joy.  In this life, Christian joy is found in receiving the blessings of God in Christ, and sharing them with others.  We are loved in order to love others.  If we shortchange ourselves on the loving-each-other part, we miss out on joy.  Could you use more joy in your life?

     They devoted themselves to the breaking of the bread.  Just as our Good Shepherd hides His shepherding beneath the unimpressive exteriors of the men we call to be pastors, so also the most sublime fellowship we share is hidden under the simplest of meals, half a bite of bread and a sip of sweet wine.  But combined with Christ’s Word of promise, the “breaking of the bread,” is a mystery where we feast on Christ and are united to Him and to one another.  Call it the Lord’s Supper, the Eucharist or Holy Communion.  This little meal does not seem like one of the most important things, to which we are called to devote ourselves.  But if we remember that in the Supper, Jesus comes today and devotes Himself to us, forgiving, restoring and energizing us for life, today and forever and ever, if we hear and trust the Apostles’ teaching about Holy Communion, then we will be led to receive it with joy, and seek it whenever we can. 

     Finally, the earliest Christians devoted themselves to the prayers.  What are the prayers?  They include every conversation with the Lord God that we have.  Think of the prayers like a wheel: our corporate prayers, the Words we say and sing together as the flock of God in this place, these are the hub.  The Sunday prayers serve as the center, anchoring all our conversation with God in the Apostles’ teaching, in the community of care, and in the miraculous meal that prepares us for the week to come. 

    Your daily prayers, read from the Psalms, or form Portals, or flowing from your heart as you drive to work or before you go to sleep, these prayers proceed from and call you back to the center, to the prayers of your congregation, gathered together around Christ and His gifts.  As you are devoted to prayer, corporate, family and individual, God’s Word will be in your mind and heart.  Christ and His Word will be with you as you interact with your neighbors, ready with a good word for a hurting friend, a word of truth for someone who needs to know Jesus, a word of invitation for a sheep whom the Good Shepherd is seeking to reach, through you.   

     As we review this playbook for the Christian Church on earth, I am convicted, and I suspect you are too.  My devotion to these things is too often feeble.  Such a review is healthy, revealing our misguided priorities and pointing us to better paths.  As baptized believers, we are called to such Godly devotion, just as much as the first Christians were.  And so the Holy Spirit calls us to repent.  Turn from lesser things, and set your eyes and heart on the things that come down to us from above.   

     And thanks be to God, as we turn our devotion from the lesser, and sometimes plainly sinful things that attract us, as we turn and look again to the Apostles’ teaching, the fellowship, the breaking of bread and the prayers, our eyes are blessed to see in them the Good Shepherd, calling to us with outstretched and nail-scarred hands, calling us to Himself, today, and forever and ever, Amen.