The Good News of the Trinity - Sermon for the Festival of the Holy Trinity

The Feast of the Holy Trinity                                                          
May 26^th, A + D 2024
Our Savior’s and Our Redeemer Lutheran Churches
Hill City and Custer, SD
The Good News of the Holy Trinity

Sermon Audio available HERE.

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

   Sometime in the late nineties, a friend of mine invited me to join him at a couple of “Promise Keepers” events.  Promise Keepers was a Christian men’s group, a big deal for a little while. 

   One of those events was a big rally on the Mall in Washington D.C.  I don’t know how big it was, but many tens of thousands, probably the biggest gathering I’ve ever attended.  Which is probably why I ended up out toward the edge; I’m not a big fan of such large groups of people, even if they are all Christian men, mostly singing hymns.  I naturally drifted out toward the fringe, out where dozens of contrary voices set up shop, not protesters really, but rather other religious groups who took issue with some aspect of Promise Keepers.  A bit like parasites hovering around a big, healthy host, these groups sought to engage some of the men, to maybe draw them away to their way of seeing things. 

   One of the groups that called out to me, I don’t remember which one, was anti-Trinitarian.  Promise
Keepers was fairly mainstream; they certainly confessed that God is Father, Son and Holy Spirit, as revealed by Jesus Christ, most notably at the end of Matthew, as He commissioned the Eleven Disciples to go and build His Church by baptizing and teaching in the Three in One Name.  One of the men in this anti-Trinitarian group asked me if I knew that the word Trinity is not in the Bible.  He handed me a pamphlet and told me that the Trinity is a creation of the imagination of men, that the Bible doesn’t teach it.  “Look it up,” he said, “nowhere in the Bible will you find the word Trinity.”  He implied everybody who professed the Trinity was mistaken, was actually lying about God.  This man and his group promised to show me a better way, a truer way. 

    It is one thing to say that the word Trinity is not in the Bible.  It is quite another to say that it is false to teach that the One True God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, that this is a misrepresentation of God.  If this were the case, it would mean that billions of Christians through 2,000 years went to their deaths with a false faith, and so are lost.  It’s a big deal, an important question. 

   I didn’t immediately believe that guy’s story.  But I was troubled.  I didn’t really know how to respond, didn’t know the history of the term Trinity, didn’t know the Bible well enough to discern whether his claims were credible, or should be dismissed out of hand.  Perhaps you assume that men go to seminary because their faith is so strong, so fervent.  This certainly happens.  But it is at least as common that the Lord pushes men into seminary and the ministry to keep them in the faith.  I used to fall into both camps, depending on the day.  I still do.  Lord have mercy.  And He does. 

   The Lord has mercy, and so now I know much better how to respond to doubts that still arise and claims that are still made against the teaching of the Holy Trinity.  I have a tremendous amount to learn, but I know the Bible better now, and I rejoice in the Holy Trinity.  So should you.       

   That man was correct, of course, about the narrow point that the word Trinity isn’t in the Bible.  Trinity is a word that was invented, likely by a 3^rd century teacher named Tertullian.  Trinity is a conjunction of Tri, meaning three, and Unity, meaning one.  Tri-Unity, Trinity, is a technical theological term that developed as the early Church responded to a whole variety of teachers who taught differently about who God is.  Some taught that God only appears to be Father, Son or Holy Spirit, shifting faces from moment to moment.  Others said Jesus was merely a man sent to speak for God.  Still others recognized all three persons as God, but said the Father was superior, that there was a hierarchy between them, and so effectively, there were three different Gods. 

   That there is only one true God, who is also three persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, who are co-eternal and co-equal; this is clearly taught in Scripture.  Tertullian coined and the Church eventually adopted the term Trinity as shorthand for the many long sentences required to correctly describe the nature of the God revealed in and by Jesus Christ.  And the reason they did is two-fold.  First, the doctrine of the Trinity is faithful to Scripture.  Second, without it, the Gospel, the Good News of free salvation given to sinners in Jesus, falls apart. 

   The Three-in-Oneness of the One True God starts being taught in Genesis:  In the beginning, God created, and the Spirit of God hovered over the waters, and God spoke things into existence.  God, the Spirit and the Word, as John would later note in His Gospel, are present from the start.  Then God said, “Let us make man in Our image, in Our likeness.”  This first recorded conversation is between the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. 

   To be sure, the full revelation of the mystery takes the whole rest of the Bible – it is the highest of all mysteries, after all.  Surely if the man and the woman had not sinned, they and we would have understood the nature of God much more easily.  A big part of the Fall is the perversion and degradation of our reason.  Our fallen nature makes God inscrutable to us.  So, revealing the mystery of who and how God is would take time, and our learning takes even more time. 

   That God is Father, Son and Holy Spirit is hinted at all over the Bible, and directly attested many times.  Paul’s final benediction at the end of 2^nd Corinthians for example: The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.  Or from last week’s Gospel, where Jesus, teaching the Eleven on the night He was betrayed, declared: “Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father's who sent me.  These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you,” (John 14:24-26).   

   And of course, in today’s Gospel, Jesus teaches Nicodemus about the Spirit, and then of God loving the world by giving His only-begotten Son.  That is to say, God the Father gave the Son, Jesus, and in Him, God gives salvation to all who believe. 

   The nature of God is beyond our complete comprehension.  Even more, the salvation God has revealed in the death and resurrection of Jesus leaves us entirely dependent on Him.  Which is true, and good.  But, in our human pride, we may not like either of these truths.  We can rail against God being Father, Son and Holy Spirit, say it isn’t logical, that it is impossible.  Or we may protest that there is so much good in mankind, certainly we must contribute something to our own salvation.  But such protest is to kick against the goads, which more or less is like impaling yourself on a cattle prod.  Denying the Trinity is like pretending gravity isn’t real or that we don’t need air and water to live.  We can refuse to believe, and argue all day long that we know better.  But that doesn’t change reality. 

   Sadly, horribly, to reject the Holy Trinity is to cut oneself off from the true God, to cut oneself off from grace and mercy and the free gift of salvation.  If God has not won our salvation through the sending of the Son by the Father to be the once-for-all sacrifice, then we are left to make right all the injustice we have done.  We are left to conquer death on our own. 

   Without the Trinity, the only option left for us is to pursue communion with God by our efforts, by our good works, by our wisdom, by our strength.  Now, maybe we can even make it sound good: “All you have to do is follow Jesus and His example faithfully, and you will gain God’s favor.”  But in the end this is not different from submitting to Allah, and earning eternal salvation by following the 5 Pillars of Islam.  The way of human works ends up not really being that different from sacrificing virgins or children to your sky god, in the vain hope that he or she will give rain and a good harvest, or a good investment portfolio and a comfortable retirement.  In each of these schemes, the burden of achieving salvation rests on your shoulders.   

   Can we be humbled to imagine that perhaps not all the universe must bend to our understanding?  If by God’s grace, our hearts and minds are opened to mystery, then the Good News begins to flow.  Indeed, Good News for sinners is impossible if God is not Triune.  But God is the three-in-one and the one-in-three, who has claimed you, forgiven you, loves you. 

   It is good to know the Biblical basis and the history of the teaching of the Holy Trinity.  It is even better to see the Holy Trinity in action, in our day.  Like He was, on Friday, for the sake of Bud Ehrle. 

   Once God claims a sinner in the Baptismal Name, He does not give up, despite how often we scorn the gifts of Baptism.  The Father, Son and Holy Spirit are seen to be at work in John chapter 3, teaching Nicodemus, and us, about the mystery of God’s saving love.  Friday, the same Triune God was at work, to bring one of His baptized children back into the fold, even as physical death drew near. 

   We have been praying for Bud Ehrle, a friend of Neal and Brenda Larson, for some months now, as he fought a losing battle against mesothelioma.  Spurred by the Holy Spirit and the love of Jesus, Neal has been talking with me for some time, and with Bud, seeking to help reconnect Bud with the Gospel.  You see, Bud is baptized, and used to be an active Lutheran, but had drifted away from the church, for many years.  But the Holy Spirit’s spark of faith does not go cold easily.  And cancer preached the law so that Bud remembered his need for a Savior.   

   And why were Neal and I, and who knows how many other people, trying to help Bud trust in Jesus again?  Because having put on the righteousness of Jesus in our Baptisms, we have the mind of Christ, however imperfectly.  And the intention of Christ is always to reach out, always to forgive, always to rescue lost sheep who have wandered away. 

   As death drew near, Bud had let Neal know he was open to a visit by a pastor.  Through a series of texts and calls and Google searches, Neal made contact with a local LCMS pastor in Minnesota near where Bud was hospitalized.  God’s minister in that place, Pastor Baker, set aside whatever else he was doing on a Friday afternoon, and went to see Bud.  Conversation ensued.  God’s Word was spoken.  Forgiveness was delivered in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Bud received a strengthening and peace-giving foretaste of the heavenly banquet in the Body and Blood of Christ.  

   Yesterday morning, Bud passed away, reunited with His Savior in this life, and forever and ever. 

   For God has loved the world in this way, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.  Bud missed out on decades of peace and fellowship and joy in the Church of Christ.  But the Triune God determined not to miss out on having Bud with Him in perfect peace and glory, forever and ever.  This is the Good News of the Trinity, the Good News of the God who works, who pursues, who forgives, you and me, and all who hear the promise of Jesus, and believe, in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.             

  

Hearing and Trusting the Language of God, a Sermon for the Day of Pentecost, 2024

Day of Pentecost, May 19th, Year of Our + Lord 2024
Our Redeemer and Our Savior’s Lutheran Churches
Custer and Hill City, South Dakota
Hearing and Trusting the Language of God
Genesis 9:1-11, Acts 2:1-21

Audio of Sermon Available HERE.

     Do you understand what’s been said?  The Lord’s goal today, and everyday, is that you hear His voice and grasp the meaning of what He is telling you, so that it might enter your heart.  He wants you to know and trust the truth of His great love for you, shape your life accordingly, and rejoice.  So, do you understand?  Are you hearing what Jesus is saying to you?  Are you cut to the heart, but also healed, restored, and lifted up to heaven? 

   Hearing but not understanding is no fun.  One morning, sometime in 2017, I was headed downtown on Line 21 of Tussam, the Sevilla, Spain city bus system.  The big red “autobus” was lurching from stop to stop, and very full, every seat taken and a dozen or more of us standing in the aisle, swaying and grabbing a pole or a strap to keep our balance.  Spaniards are not quiet people, and less so when you jam a lot of them into a small space.  My ears were swimming in a cacophony of banter and laughter.  And I couldn’t understand a thing.  Two years in country, speaking Spanish every day, preaching on Sundays, supposedly my ‘castellano’ was pretty good.  But that morning, it was all babble to me, a startling moment.

  I tried to concentrate, to listen to just one voice.  But the most I could grasp was a word here and there. 

   I understood the recorded voice announcing the stops and warning about moving doors and taking care stepping off the bus, because I had those announcements memorized.  But, I understood almost nothing of the conversations all around me.  It was not the best Spanish ever spoken, to be sure, probably some of the worst.  Think of grade schoolers on a big yellow bus, or the rumble of conversation over coffee, after a church service.  Still, I hated it.  I should have been able to understand some of the conversations going on.  My feelings went from startled to oppressed.  I felt stupid, like a child trapped in a grown up conversation, lost and lonely.  

   It’s no fun, being lost in the midst of voices that you cannot understand.  In Sevilla, I had escape valves, Shelee and the other missionaries, and Spaniards I knew who spoke English, or were kind enough to speak Spanish slowly and carefully.  That bus ride was unpleasant, but short. 

   We might have a variety of reactions if we find ourselves dropped into a place where no one speaks English and we don’t speak the local tongue.  Anger is a not uncommon reaction.  Some people withdraw.  Others speak English, louder and LOUDER, as if volume could substitute for translation or comprehension.  It won’t feel like it at the time, but if one is blessed, there will be no escape valves. 

   If, to stay safe and dry and warm, if, to get fed you have to figure out how to communicate, well, then you will most likely learn how to communicate, fairly quickly.  An empty stomach or not knowing where you are going to sleep tonight both have a way of removing our inhibitions and opening our minds to learn to communicate in a foreign language. 

   The intense separation that language differences can cause is God’s doing, a consequence of His actions at Babel.  My unpleasant bus ride and every other language based lack of understanding are the result of the Lord confusing the language of the men in Babel who were seeking to make a name for themselves and build their own personal stairway to heaven. 

   While the confusion of languages causes discomfort, and can lead frustrated people to do bad things, in its essence, God’s confusing work at Babel was an act of grace, a painful but necessary gift.  God was preventing humanity from separating themselves from Him, forever.  By confusing their words, the Eternal Word began to prepare the way for reunion.  By causing a millennia long and ongoing separation of tongues and tribes and nations, we humans were prevented from losing ourselves in our own fallen identity, stopped from thinking we could build our own way to God’s heaven.  All this so that, at just the right time, the Lord could reunite human language around the proclamation of mercy, that God in Christ has made the Way for us sinners to rise to Him, that through faith in the blood bought forgiveness of Jesus, God has prepared a new name, a good name, for us, and for all people. 

   For centuries, English has dominated the language-scape in North America.  Indeed, many Americans are convinced they could never learn a foreign language.  The truth is, they haven’t had to learn one.  It is not impossible to learn another language.  Some people have a knack for it, especially the young.  But if you have the need, if you are somewhere that no one speaks your language, you will learn.  Hunger and other basic human needs will drive you to learn.  In an echo of the tough love of God at the Tower of Babel, folks  around you who refuse to use English or offer you a translation app will actually be helping you to learn, better and faster.  It’s not always pleasant, but you can do it.   

   As challenging as learning a new human language seems to us, it is even harder to grasp the Lord’s Gospel language.  The miracle of the disciples at Pentecost speaking in many languages that they had never learned was a foretaste of the free communication and perfect understanding that the faithful will enjoy in the new heaven and new earth.  And it is certainly easier to listen to and understand the proclamation of Christ in the language of your heart, of your childhood.  Understanding the words of God and their meaning is always important.  But that’s not the whole deal. 

   There is another, higher communication, which the Church prepares and facilitates by speaking the Truth of Christ to as many people and in as many languages as possible.  We Christians have an indispensable role in this higher communication; we get to say the words.   We get to tell others.  But the understanding that saves, this heart-piercing and soul-reviving part of evangelism is the work of the Holy Spirit.  To close the deal, He must drive home the message and create receptive faith in human hearts.  The final miracle of language belongs to God. 

   The need for this divine communication is clear to see at Babel, and continues to our day.  Those descendants of Noah didn’t struggle to comprehend God’s instruction to fill the earth, they simply refused.  God’s plan didn’t make sense to them, and it seemed like they could do great things by following their hearts, by making their own way.  So, they tried.  Let’s make a name for ourselves!  Let’s build a tower into the very heavens!  Let’s just do it!  What could go wrong? 

   The more things change, the more they stay the same.  The challenge of drawing sinners to God through the Cross and Resurrection of Jesus has never been easily fulfilled.  Jesus gave this charge to the Apostles and the Church they built: take the Gospel to every corner of the world and call every human being to repentance.  The visible results of Christ’s Mission have ebbed and flowed throughout 2,000 years.  The tide seems to be very low in our day. 

   On the other hand, nothing sounds more contemporary and familiar than “making a name for ourselves” or “achieving heaven on earth” through human selected projects.  There are so many options to choose from: Neo-Marxism to Make America Great, from day traders and corporate climbers to getting back to the land, from ultra sports fans to fitness nuts to the ultra techie, from the AI Metaverse, to Environmentalism and the Climate Crisis, Internet Influencers, Doomsday Preppers, Social Justice Warriors, or the Trads and the Based. 

   You are constantly told to find your group, which will give you a good name, a good identity, and a shot at enjoying life in the way you define as good.  This seems to be what most people spend much of their time striving towards. 

    How about you and me?  Are we turning to the wisdom of Scripture to learn how God defines a good life?  Do we find our identity, our good name, and our purpose, in that brief moment, probably before our memory, when some pastor splashed a bit of water on us, water made powerful because it was joined to God’s Holy Name?  Do we seek to know and apply the wisdom of God to every situation in our life?  Or are we chasing the same fever dreams as the world, with a few hours of Church-y stuff pasted on like a band-aid? 

    Like the folks at Babel, on our own, we tend to listen to any voice but the Holy Spirit, mostly because the Lord does not cater to our immediate and base desires.  No, He seeks to give us what we really need.  We are constantly tempted to ignore His gifts, and seek immediate and visible success, and pleasure, and pride of self. 

   God knows how we are.  See how the Spirit went to great lengths on Pentecost to break through the noise of earthly salvation schemes, to gain a hearing for the plain, jarring, difficult, but life-giving Word of Christ.  The Spirit’s elaborate efforts, rushing wind, tongues of fire, miracle of languages, and bold Scriptural preaching by St. Peter, these amazing Pentecost happenings match perfectly with the great lengths that Jesus of Nazareth went to prepare the Way. 

    He came and spoke words of promise and peace to His own people, in their own language.  But they would not hear Him.  He plainly explained His plan to save Israel, and the whole world, His commitment to reunite all people, in His own sacrificed body.  But their hearts were hard and their ears were filled with human notions of holiness and greatness.  All of this Jesus did, and more, taking our role as the Sinner, the Rebel, the Enemy of God, taking it all the way to Calvary, all the way through suffering, rejection by His Father and death for the sins of the whole world.  He lived and died the simple story that He had been teaching since the beginning, the story of God’s love for His rebellious children, despite what they deserve, despite what we deserve. 

    Alleluia, Christ is Risen!  Christ is risen, and the Holy Spirit has come, speaking peace from the Father to us, reuniting our hearts with God, through the forgiveness Jesus has won for all people, for you, for me, for everyone.  Rejoice that the Holy Spirit has brought this message to you, in language you can understand, and with holy conviction that pierces your heart and turns you back to God, seeking His mercy. 

    Such a humble life, walking with Christ and His Gospel as your first priority, following His plan for human life as your guide each day, such Christian faith and life has never been the way to popularity, fame or riches.  But in the Risen Christ who covers you with His baptismal grace every day, your Name before God is beloved, your life will be blessed with integrity and grace, and your future is to live with Him, today by faith, and one day, face to face forever. 

    All who call on the Name of the Lord will be saved.  So let us call on Him in prayer: 

O Holy Spirit, day by day grant us faith to trust Your promises, live by Your truth, and rejoice in our future glory, through Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.

Waiting for the Spirit - Sermon for the 7th Sunday of Easter, Exaudi

Seventh Sunday of Easter – Exaudi
May 12^th, A+D 2024
Waiting for the Spirit
Our Redeemer and Our Savior's 
Lutheran Churches
Custer and Hill City, SD

Audio of the sermon available HERE.

   What must the waiting have been like, those ten days between the Ascension of Jesus
and the coming of the Holy Spirit?  Jesus’ final instructions to the Eleven Disciples before He was received into the cloud were to wait, to wait in Jerusalem until they received power from on high, the coming of the Comforter, the Encourager, the Holy Spirit.  Even though Jesus had now declared the Eleven to be Apostles, sent ones, charged to take the Gospel to the ends of the earth, their first task is not to go, but to wait.  How long?  Jesus doesn’t say.  Not many days from now, He promised, but what does “not many” mean?  I can imagine it was excruciating, the waiting.  Will it be today?  Tomorrow?  And what will our Baptism by the Holy Spirit be like, exactly? 

   The 7^th Sunday of Easter, between the Ascension of Christ and the coming of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost, is a bit of a lost Sunday.  Very often, since the Ascension falls on Thursday, churches choose to celebrate it today.  And even if we use the appointed readings, as we have, the focus is not on today, but on next Sunday, Pentecost, the coming of the Holy Spirit.  I imagine the earliest Christians may have felt the same way.  Waiting…

   Waiting.  What are you waiting for?  Looking around the congregation, I know some of you are waiting for medical test results, or medical procedures, even surgeries.  Many young people can’t wait to grow up and be independent of your parents.  Maybe you’re waiting for your financial situation to improve, so you can finally make that big change.  Or maybe you’re waiting for someone, something, to turn around the direction of things in our beloved country.  Waiting for things over which we have no control is the worst.  Will my child get over whatever has upset them, and come back to the family?  Back to the church?  Will my loved one come back from their depression, or their anger, or whatever gets between us now? 

   Time is a gift from God, given us to receive His other gifts and use them to His glory, for the benefit of others, and for ourselves.  In theory, with all the technical marvels, material bounty and ease of living we enjoy, we should have more time than ever to read or listen to God’s Word, to pray, and to gather together for teaching, worship, fellowship and the mutual consolation of the brethren.  But most of us struggle to find time for more than the minimum.   

   We should be very relaxed about the time we have and the tasks we need to complete.  But I think we all know this isn’t true for most of us.  Most of us struggle with time.  If you have reached the zone of not feeling rushed and overscheduled, and yet you also you find lots of rewarding, valuable things with which to fill your time, well, give thanks, for you are especially blessed by God.  This isn’t normal for the rest of us.  Most of us all too often jam our schedules beyond full, rush from event to event, frazzled and irritable. 

   Childhood in America today mostly lacks the unplanned hours that used to provide kids with salutary boredom and the chance for adventure, real and imagined.    

   Electricity means we don’t have to go to bed when the sun goes down, and the TV and internet can easily distract us for hours.  So, sleep deprivation is commonplace, and we struggle to use the time we have, because we can barely stay awake.  All of which is to say that life today in America is often too busy, for most of us. 

   Until suddenly it isn’t.  Until suddenly the loss of a spouse or a degradation of health rob us of the reason or capacity to be busy.  Suddenly all we have is time, time that we don’t know how to fill.  Deadened, lonely time, for which we lack the energy to enjoy or use productively.   

   “Come, Lord Jesus!”   Many problems, including our struggle with time, rightly prompt Christians to cry out for the Lord’s return.  There is certainly a 7^th Sunday of Easter quality to all of Christian living.  For we all, like the Apostles before Pentecost, are waiting, waiting for the promised final appearing in glory of our Lord Jesus.  To react to the stresses of our days with a prayer for Jesus to “Come, now!” is good. 

   But the Biblical prayer starts with Amen.  “Amen, come Lord Jesus.”  (Revelation 22:20)  That is, we are taught to cry out “Amen, I believe, and so I ask you to come now, Jesus.”  Believing in the Amen, trusting that the final change to come is Good News, this can be hard.  Trusting that everything will work out is difficult, especially when we are tossed to and fro by the tumult of daily life.  We may even fear the End, even as we pray for it.  Which is a miserable way to wait.         

   The very earliest Christians might have something to teach us about waiting.  They too, had witnessed tremendous changes.  They had endured great suffering, intense trauma.  The disciples of Jesus did not experience the kind of technological, cultural and political changes that have made us dizzy.  No, life under the Roman Empire and the Jewish Sanhedrin hadn’t really changed much between A.D. 29 and A.D. 33.  However, without changing many things visible, Jesus had changed everything, turned everything upside down and inside out. 

   By the first century, the faith handed down by Abraham, Isaac and Jacob had been warped by the same fallen human presuppositions about religion that are always threatening.  Jesus’ teaching was radical not because it was new, but rather because it shattered the lies that had infected the faith.  Lies that had become the accepted opinion of most. 

   Then as now, chief among these lies is that God is in His heaven, far away, inaccessible, and it is our job to achieve the necessary holiness in order to make our way to Him.  To reveal and reject this lie, God showed up in flesh of Jesus of Nazareth.  God came as a baby, grew up, and declared “No, God is not far away.  I AM the Lord, come to seek and save the lost.  I AM God, present for My people, as I always promised, only now more so.” 

   Another lie was that salvation was just for the Jews, just for the circumcised, law following, kosher eating descendants of Abraham.  But Jesus came to remove divisions, and to be the Savior of the Nations.    

   The Pharisees were masters at detailing the many good works sinners had to do to make their way to God, step by step, work by work.  Jesus said no, I AM the Way, no one comes to the Father, except through Me.  “To the one who does not work, but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness…  ⁷ “Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; ⁸ blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin.”  (Romans 4:5-8)

    Jesus came as the Son of David who would reign on the throne of Israel forever, but then He went and got Himself crucified.  Indeed, the Nazarene taught that to save your life, you have to lose it.  Life comes from death, the death of God’s Holy Son. 

   Jesus’ radical teachings were hard to believe.  When He breathed His last on Golgotha, it appeared to all that He was a failure, a sham, not the Savior Messiah He had claimed to be.

   But Jesus didn’t stay dead.  And that changed everything.  Suddenly, all the upside down claims of Jesus made sense, suddenly the turbulence of life was calmed by the peace that passes all understanding, the peace of knowing that Jesus died, and then rose again, never to die again.  Everything is different, because Jesus lives to share His new life with all who hear and believe. 

   Because of these changes, Jesus’ disciples began to live differently.  Peter and company hadn’t always seem to be the best students.  But now they knew the Risen and Ascended one.  And so, despite Jesus’ making them wait, for some undetermined amount of time, the Eleven acquitted themselves pretty well.  As we read in Acts chapter 1, they did three things, which could help us today. 

   1. They stuck together.  2. They prayed constantly.   3. They prepared for their future ministry by filling the roster spot Judas Iscariot abandoned. 

   How could they do all this?  They believed the promises of Jesus.  They knew the Christ had died and risen and ascended on high.  They knew their sins were forgiven, and their eternity was assured.  And so however long the wait, they were resting in Christ. 

   What can we learn from them for our lives today? 

   We should stick together.  You, and I, all of us should prioritize life in our congregation.  It’s good for you and good for your brothers and sisters in Christ.  Don’t give up gathering together.  And once you’re here, ask how you can help to make things go smoother, better.  Build up your fellow Christians, never tear them down.  Invite someone to dinner or a coffee.  Get to know a member you see at church but have never really talked to.  Stick together, for Christ is in our midst, and together with Him is where you need to be, where you want to be.

   Pray constantly.  Pray each day, for yourself, for each other, for our congregation, and sister congregations.  Pray for the Church in the whole world.  Pray for the conversion of everyone.  Pray big, and trust that the Lord will answer perfectly, even though we may not see the results right now. 

   Prepare for the future ministry of our Church.  What might this mean?  Well, certainly you could support a seminarian.  Even more, young and not so young men should consider whether they might be called to serve as pastors or other church workers.  Women too, young and not so young, should consider being a deaconess or a missionary, or somehow serving Christ’s church full time.  And each of us should work to deepen our knowledge and faith, to know Christ better, and so be better able to tell others why we rejoice to trust in Him.  For the Holy Spirit works through all His members, all the lives of every child of God.    

   Your ability to do any of this depends on your trust in the promises of Jesus.  Christ has died, and risen, and ascended on high to rule over all things.  Your sins are forgiven, and your eternity is assured, in Jesus.  However long we must wait, to our last day on earth, or until the Last Day when Jesus will return, riding the clouds, we rest in Christ. 

   We wait to celebrate Pentecost next Sunday.  But you already have the Holy Spirit.  He was gifted to you in your Baptism.  You hear Him in the voice of Scripture.  He gives you faith to trust and so rightly receive the Body and Blood of Jesus, given and shed on the Cross for the forgiveness of all your sins, given to you here at this altar.   

   Jesus calls the Holy Spirit the paraclete, that is the Helper.  Your advocate, your defender.  Also your encourager.  The one who exhorts you to grow and serve.  Whatever Word we need, the Holy Spirit is with us, speaking His powerful Word, sustaining us and moving us in the Way Jesus desires.  And so we wait with confidence, knowing that God is on our side, in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, today, and forever and ever, Amen. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Salutary Abiding - Sermon for the Sixth Sunday of Easter, (Free Texts)

Sixth Sunday of Easter, (Free Texts)
Our Savior’s and Our Redeemer Lutheran Churches
Hill City and Custer, South Dakota
Salutary Abiding – Jeremiah 2:21-22, 1^st John 2:1-11, John 15:1-17
May 5^th, Year of Our + Lord 2024

 Audio of the sermon available HERE.

It is salutary to abide in the True Vine.

   A dear friend of mine does not like that we use the word ‘salutary’ in the liturgy, as in, “It is good, right and salutary that at all times and in all places, we give thanks to you, O Lord…”  His concern is that today nobody knows what ‘salutary’ means, and so using it in our worship tempts us to check out and not consider the meaning and significance of what God is doing in our midst, and what we are saying in response.  Which makes it all the more a miracle of the Holy Spirit that this man is such a good friend to me.  Because I like ‘salutary’ and I always use it.  And yet my friend certainly has a point: Scripture teaches us to know and understand the words God has given us, to strive to speak in a way that allows young and old to receive God’s Law and Gospel, through the use of language they can understand.  We will see this principle on display in two weeks, on Pentecost Sunday, when we will rehearse the miracle of languages that God gave, so that the people in the crowd on that Pentecost Day could each understand the Gospel in the language of their upbringing, of their heart. 

   Language is always changing, evolving through usage, as each generation tweaks meaning and pronunciation, and substitutes one word for another, leaving some words on the ash heap of archaic expression.  We know that the Church will make adjustments to her language, some small, some large.  Otherwise, we would be worshiping in German, or maybe Norwegian.  The question is, how fast do we change our language?  And will we change thoughtfully, with an ear for the linkage old words make to the generations that have come before? Jesus is, after all, the same, yesterday, today and forever, (Hebrews 13:8).  Indeed, sometimes word connections take us all the way back to the sound and significance of words that our Lord Jesus Himself uttered.  Amen, Amen, I tell you the truth, choosing how best to adjust our language is an ongoing challenge for the Bride of Christ, that is, for the Church, for us.  Whether to keep or discard ‘salutary’ is a good case in point.  Shall we switch it out for a better-known synonym, or shall we teach ‘salutary’ and use it, so that we can treasure it?     

   I like ‘salutary.’  Now, part of this has nothing to do with God’s Word, but rather with “Charlotte’s Web.”  ‘Salutary’ reminds me of the hello of a certain spider created by E.B. White:  “Greetings and Salutations,” said Charlotte to Wilbur, who, I hope you know, was “SOME PIG.”  But, there’s more to my fondness for ‘salutary’ than a favorite childhood novel. 

   ‘Salutary’ means healthful, or beneficial, something good for your well-being.  ‘Salutations’ as a greeting really means “Health to you!”  It is a blessing.  It is a prayer for health for the person you are greeting.  When we Americans clink our drink glasses at the start of a special meal, we tend to say “cheers,” whatever that means.  But the French, Spanish and Italians all say their version of ‘salutations,’ ‘Salut, Salud and Salute,’ to be precise.  “Good Health to you.’  That’s a nice toast.  Speaking of another special meal, we declare in the Preface of the Lord’s Supper liturgy that it is salutary, that is, healthful or beneficial, to give thanks to God in every time and place.  How salutary it would be if we all gave more thanks to God in our day-to-day life. 

   The Latin and Greek roots of salutary take us even deeper.  Looking back, we learn that wholeness, being complete, unbroken, these ideas are also in play in the word salutary.  Wholeness.  Restoration.  These is what we broken sinners need.  Salutary carries us in the direction of ‘shalom,’ that Hebrew word that Jesus is always blessing people with.  “Shalom to you,” says Jesus, “My shalom I give to you.” (John 14:27) ‘Peace’ is how we normally translate shalom, and that’s pretty good, as long as we remember the peace Jesus offers is much more than simply the absence of war, much more than some uncertain pause in the fighting.   Rather, Jesus gives us His divine peace, His eternal peace, His heavenly shalom, which includes wholeness, integrity, a broken vessel all put back together and restored, perfectly salutary, in the end. 

   It is salutary to abide in the True Vine, because of the blessings that come to the soul which is joined to and remains in Jesus.  Branches, He calls us, living in Him and bearing good fruit.  Alive and full of the sap of God’s love, we rejoice to give thanks to the Lord at all times and in all places.  A salutary, healthy heart is created and sustained when we are planted and abiding in the Vine.  The Vine and Branches is one of Jesus’ very best metaphors for the Gospel and Christian living.  It is salutary, good for you, body and soul, to abide, to remain planted, in Jesus. 

   This is not just physical health, nor just mental, nor just emotional.  It is salutary in all these areas to abide in Jesus, and more.  For abiding in Jesus, being connected to Him, is a spiritual work, done by God’s eternally saving word, the Word of Christ empowered by the Holy Spirit, which in turn produces good fruit in your life.    

   It is salutary to remain in the True Vine.  Apart from Jesus, separated from Him, we wither and die.  Dead branches in the end are gathered up and thrown into the fire.  Abiding in Jesus is salutary; being separated from Jesus is unsalutary, unhealthy, harmful, even noxious.   We all know this, in small ways and in dramatic ways.  To deny who we have been made to be in Christ by falling into sin is painful. 

   Oh, maybe the sin seems satisfying in the moment.  The angry, hurtful outburst against someone who has hurt or annoyed us feels like justice, but it will eat you up inside, eventually.  That sexual dalliance, whether in thought or in images or in the flesh, may thrill at first, but not for long.  If I seek escape from the pressures, pain or monotony of my life in a bottle, if I lie and manipulate others for my benefit, or just for fun, if I cheat on my taxes or shoplift at Krull’s, all of these sins may have some attraction.  But fear and guilt and bad consequences will follow, sooner or later. 

   Guilt and remorse come quickly, if we are still blessed with faith, however weak.  Guilt for my sin is good, if it drives me to turn from my sins, confess them to God and my injured neighbor, and seek forgiveness.  If the Spirit works repentance and delivers forgiveness to me, then such failures and sins, which injure my connection to Jesus, do not have to separate me from Him completely. 

   If this changes however, suddenly, or slowly, if the sins you or I struggle to avoid stop creating guilt in us, if we aren’t stabbed in our consciences and turned back to Christ, well then our faith is dwindling to nothing, and salvation is in peril.  It is painful to hear God’s convicting Word when we have fallen into sin, and so we may avoid it.  But our Vinedresser Father grafts us into Christ and prunes us clean by His Word.  Avoiding the pain of God’s accusing Word is unsalutary.  It is eternally dangerous, actually.  For without the clean pruning of God, we will be separated from the Vine.  

   It is unsalutary to be separated from the Vine, because life comes from God and we can do no good thing apart from Him.  And in truth, the situation is even more dire than Jesus details.  The prophet Jeremiah helps us understand more fully the dangers of being separated from Christ. 

   The darker complication is that when we leave the True Vine, we don’t remain rootless.  No, we plant ourselves into another vine, a false source of life, a false religion, an idol.  Jeremiah in our short Old Testament reading asks why Israel, the choice vine planted by the LORD, became a wild vine.  By which he means, why did Israel go chasing after the false gods of her neighbors?  Why did she exchange being planted in the LORD for being planted in an idol?  We cannot separate ourselves from the true God, but then be unplanted, unconnected.  We are believing and trusting creatures, by our nature.  We will trust and worship and follow the true LORD God, or we will trust and worship an idol. 

   Our Old Testament reading is so short because to give more context would have brought in some very graphic language that Jeremiah was inspired to use to describe Israel’s unfaithfulness.  You can check it out for yourself in Jeremiah, chapter 2.  Adultery and prostitution are how God describes His chosen people separating themselves from Him to go after other gods.  For the LORD had made Israel His Bride.  Unfaithfulness to God by His people is equated with unfaithfulness of a wife to her husband.  Most Israelites, male and female, were guilty. 

   We also are always prone to such idolatry.  For Israel there were literal idols all around them: Baal, Ashtoreth, Moloch, images fashioned by human hands from wood, stone, and metal.  We too have false religions that call to us.  Still, I think most of our idols tend to be other material things, or ideas, or activities and not obviously false religions.  We tend to idolize material blessings and wealth.  Or some status, like popularity, or pride of self.  Or perhaps we idolize activities, like sex, or gaining power, or running other people down.  Whenever we separate from God, when we leave Jesus, we always replace Him with some unsalutary thing, even if we can’t identify exactly what that false vine is.  Whatever they may be, false vines cannot give real life. 

   It is salutary to be planted in the True Vine and abide in Him.  It is unsalutary, it is deathly, it is foolish and sinful to separate ourselves from Him.  And it is all joy to know that we did not choose Jesus, but rather He chose us. 

   God chose you, before you were born.  Before the foundation of the world, the Son of God was looking forward to having you, to joining you to Himself as a branch to a vine. 

So then, to fulfill His promise to save every soul He has chosen, Jesus became the True Vine.  Jesus became the choice vine that Israel should have been, that you and I should be, but are not.  Taking His humanity from Abraham, from David, from the Virgin Mary, Jesus united Himself in the flesh to His people, in order to redeem them, and the whole world.  As He lived the perfect life of love and service, and marched resolutely to the Cross of Calvary, Jesus of Nazareth was the One True Israelite, the One faithful Servant of God, the Choice Vine.  He became the faithful shoot from the stump of Jesse, who would restore and renew the precious vine He had planted.  Wrapped around a Roman cross like an ivy on a trellis, Jesus poured out His blood, to give us new life. 

   And now, Alleluia, Christ is risen!

   Christ is risen, never to die again, with forgiveness and life for all who are rooted in Him by faith.  How can you be sure that God chose you?  He baptized you.  With the washing of water and the Word, Jesus cleansed you, and planted you within Himself.  You are His precious branch.  He loves you.

   Still, because of the sin that clings so closely to us, Christian life can seem like a frightening roller coaster ride.  Again and again we sin, which is to hack at our connection to God with a machete.  We feel we must find a way to stop sinning and heal the wound we have created between us and the Vine. 

   But remember, you did not choose Jesus, He chose you, and He recovers you.  You do not re-choose Him after you fall into sin.  When we sin, we do not bring ourselves to repentance, we do not prick our own hearts and turn ourselves back to Christ.  God the Holy Spirit, through the Father’s pruning and cleansing Word, seeks you out, washes you clean through the forgiveness of sins, and binds you to Jesus, again.  Whatever idolatries are burdening your conscience right now, Jesus declares to you, “You are forgiven.”  You are His, and He is yours, like branch and vine.   

   United in Christ, your faith is salutary, and so you desire and truly seek to abide in His Commandments, and love your neighbors as He has loved you.  The more deeply the Gospel sap of Jesus flows through you, the more Word and Supper you take in, the stronger this new creation reality will be.  And, when we recognize truly Christian good works in ourselves and others, we tremble with awe, for we realize this is the working of the LORD, in and through us, (Philippians 2:12-13).       

   Why did you come here this morning?  Did you know it was good, and so eagerly made the choice to set aside other things and gather around Christ and His gifts?  If so, very salutary, very good.  And yet, if this is your reason, know and remember that this too is the work of God in you.  As the old hymn says: “I sought the Lord, and afterward I knew, He moved my soul to seek Him, seeking me.”  This good work, like every good work, is only possible because you abide in the True Vine. 

   Are you here because of a thoughtless habit?  Because somebody made you come?  Maybe even out of guilt?  These are not ideal motivations.  I know, because they are all too often my motivations.  But do not despair, God is at work in these motivations, too.  Jesus does not want to leave you in your imperfect reasons for gathering to hear Him, but He will use them.  He blesses churchly habits, even when done mindlessly.  He rejoices to gather the guilty, so He can give them a good, clean, salutary conscience.  He praises the parents and spouses and other family and friends who nudge their loved ones to come, even though they don’t feel like it.    

   So now that we are here, gathered together, from whatever set of motivations, the angels rejoice, and you can too.  For Jesus our Vine is present.  The Father has His pruning shears in hand.  The Spirit flows as the sap of God, making us alive in Christ.  And in a few minutes, as the branch receives nutrition from the vine, Christ will offer us the meal of immortality, the Supper of forgiveness, the communion with His true Body and Blood which also creates and maintains a loving communion between us.  It is truly good right and salutary to abide in Jesus, our True Vine, today, and forever and ever, Amen.