Sermon May 31 2009

Pentecost
Brothers and sisters,
Grace and peace to your from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Last week, I went to the Memorial Day parade and I, along with many others was given a little American flag. This allowed us to wave the flag and show the pride we feel as Americans. We have an inherent desire to be able to show something for ourselves,; whether it’s having something to be able to show for who we are, or where we are from or what we have accomplished or just about any other aspect in our lives, we embrace the opportunity to be able to show something for ourselves.
And I think part of this is because we just like to be able to express ourselves visually. And that’s why we wave flags at parades, or why we might pick one certain colored car over another, or why we wear t-shirts with writing on them or hats with the logo for our favorite tractor company or any other number of ways that we find to express ourselves. But I think another reason for this is that it’s just not in our nature to take people at their word. You see, this goes beyond a need to express ourselves, it’s also reflective of an inherent need we have to live by sight and not by faith. How many times have you uttered the expression “I’ll believe it when I see it.”?
We need college degrees so we can show employers that indeed we did graduate. We need receipts so we can show that we are the ones who bought some particular piece of merchandise. We need driver’s licenses so we can show that we are capable of driving. Through our inherently self-serving and sinful natures we have created an environment where our first instinct is simply not to trust each other, not to take each other at our word.
And like I said, this can all be traced down to our inherent desire to live by sight and not by faith. And this goes back to the fall when the Serpent said to Eve “For God knows that when you eat of it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” And then it says that when the woman saw that the tree was good for food and that it was a delight to the eyes.. then she partook of it.
This desire to live by sight is one of the desires that the devil appealed to when presenting Eve with the very temptation that would bring about the fall of humanity. And it’s because our desire to live by sight is so vulnerable to the insidious ploys of sin and the devil that Paul writes in 2 Corinthians that we walk by faith and not by sight.
To live entirely by sight is ultimately to live without hope. For Paul writes in the lesson from Romans this morning that we were saved in hope, but hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what is seen? Following Paul’s words we are assured through this same lesson that we can hope for what we do not see in patience.
To live entirely by sight is to live in such a way that you are placing your hope in the futility of this world. This world that we see around us, no matter how appealing it might appear at times, ultimately offers only inward groaning. It offers only futility. It offers only bondage to sin and the devil. And the devil is good at making all of that seem pretty enticing. The devil is good at making that which opposes the perfect and divine and just will of God, seem normal and acceptable, and tolerant, which of course is a virtue praised perhaps more than any other in this temporary world that we live in and see every day.
But as appealing as sin and the devil may appear to be able to make this world seem to be, it will all prove to be only temporary and futile when our Lord Jesus, whose Word we can take returns as He has promised to. When the old is removed and behold all things have been made new, including us, then this old world will be exposed as being what it is; temporary. Those who lived by sight will see all that they placed their hope in as they lived by sight, gone.
And those of us who walk by faith will see that the suffering and pain and hopelessness that this world offer will also disappear; and in light of the glorious eternity that awaits those of us who walk by faith in Christ Jesus, we will realize that everything that we experience in this imperfect and sinful world is but an instant, or a season as some like to say.
And so we wait with patience for the promised return of Christ. We cling to the hope that Paul speaks of. For we as baptized children of God have something much greater and much more glorious than anything that we might be able to see in this temporary, broken and sinful world. We have the pledge of an eternal future and the promised fulfillment of a great and glorious kingdom where all things will be made new.
And we know that we can trust this pledge because it comes from Christ Jesus, the eternal Son of God-Who was born of the virgin Mary, suffered the burden of our sin which He took upon Himself and laid down His life for us, paying the penalty for our sin-so that we might be reconciled to God. We know that we can trust this pledge because it comes from Christ Jesus who was sent to us by His Father who raised Christ Jesus from the grave for our salvation.
But still, as they did in the Garden with Adam and Eve sin and the devil will attack and tempt you, trying to tempt you to live by sight. Sin and the devil will try to convict and condemn you to despair. Sin and the devil will try to convince you that this world with all it’s brokenness and despair that you see is all there is. Or perhaps they will take a more insidious route, trying to convince you that you can fashion a god of your own design-trying to convince you that you can live by sight and that you can find God in nature.
You might be tempted to join the ranks of those who say that they find God when they look at the Grand canyon or a sunset or when they take nature-walks. And certainly in nature we see a reflection of God’s creative power, but in nature we also see a reflection of God’s destructive power via disease and storms, and ultimately we are left with the image of a cruel and uncaring God. And so knowing that we needed more than a glimpse and a reflection, God sent His Son not only to show God’s love for us, but to literally be that love for us by laying down His life for us-doing away with the sins of all those who would believe upon Him.
And although He did return to sit at the right-hand of the Father Who sent Him, Christ Jesus sends the Spirit of truth, the Holy Spirit Who comes doing nothing other than testifying of the One who sent Him-Christ Jesus. This is what the Holy Spirit has been doing since that first Pentecost when the Holy Spirit arrived and testified about God’s deeds of power.
It’s true that at Pentecost, there were people who were speaking in languages they themselves did not understand, but that was so people who spoke those languages could understand. They were not speaking some language that nobody could understand, but the languages that was spoken by all those around them so they could understand clearly the proclamation of God’s deeds of great power-so that they might call on the name of the Lord and be saved.
And that is the work He continues to do today, testifying to God’s great deeds of power by testifying of Christ; by proclaiming that through the life, death and resurrection of Christ Jesus, God has reconciled repentant sinners to Himself. And conversely, He will convict those of the world who insist on living by sight by proving them wrong about sin, because they do not believe in Him.
And without the Holy Spirit, our actions can never displease us. Without the Holy Spirit we can’t tell when we’re living by sight. Without the Holy Spirit we would remain in sin and condemnation. And since Christ has borne the penalty of all the sins of those who believe upon Him, all condemnation comes down to unbelief.
But as He is doing right now through the Words of my mouth, the Spirit of truth comes and testifies of Christ. As He will do in a few minutes, the Holy Spirit will come to you once again in the body and blood of Christ in the bread and the wine of Holy Communion, and testify to the sacrifice Christ Jesus made on the cross for you, to do away with your sin. And He does all of this to bring you to faith so that you might call on the name of the Lord and be saved, and to continually and repeatedly time after time as you endure the attacks of sin and the devil, keep you in that faith and preserve you in that faith, so that you will not live by sight but continue to walk in faith. And as you leave here, cleansed of your sin, walking in faith in Christ, remember the Holy Spirit is working through you to testify of Christ to your neighbor-that they might call upon the name of the Lord
Amen

Sermon May 24, 2009

Seventh Sunday of Easter
Brothers and sisters,
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ,
What are the apostles thinking in the lesson from Acts this morning? I mean here they are, presented with the task of having to select the successor for Judas. This is no insignificant task. They are selecting someone who would go down in history as one of the founding apostles of the historic Christian church.
And how do they go about this task?? They pray and then they cast lots. Casting lots would be similar to flipping a coin, except it would be done with stones. What is important to recognize is that, from a worldly vantage point it would have the appearance of being left totally to chance. It would be a decision that had the appearance of being totally impartial; not affected by politics or nepotism or any type of favoritism.
What were they thinking? How could the apostles possibly think that they could have made a sound decision of such magnitude simply by casting lots and praying?? What about forming a call-committee?? Didn’t they want to read their paperwork?? Certainly there should have been some synodical candidacy process that Joseph and Matthias should have been expected to go through. And when were they going to take it to a congregational vote?? Certainly they couldn’t have been expected to make any decisions as a church without voting on them-without seeking a consensus.
I am sure that most of you have figured by now that I am being extremely sarcastic. I think that the way that the apostles chose to make their decision speaks a great deal of the faith that had been created in them. I think the fact that they essentially put it all entirely in God’s hands shows that they had finally begun to understand the magnitude of what God was doing in His Son Christ Jesus. They finally began to understand that this One whom they had followed for so long, Who had laid down His life for them, was and is the eternal Son of God given to them by God the Father.
They realized that everything that they had witnessed in the life, death and resurrection of Christ Jesus testified to the fact that not only had Christ been given to God’s people by the Father but that God’s people had been given to Christ Jesus by God the Father. For as we read in the Gospel lesson this morning, as disciples of Christ we belong to God the Father and God the Father gave us to Chris Jesus. We still belong to God the Father, but we also belong to Christ Jesus. And the name of Christ Jesus, and what He has done for us taking upon Himself all of our sin and bearing the penalty of that sin and bringing us salvation through His resurrection, is how God protects us from the attacks of sin, death and the devil that come through the world.
And so the apostles relied on no worldly measures whatsoever when deciding on who should replace Judas. They laid out a simple criteria for who was qualified; that it be someone who was with them and accompanied them during all the time that Christ Jesus was with them, in other words someone who saw and heard the same from Christ Jesus that all the other apostles had. And based on that criteria, the field is narrowed down to two men. And then they put it entirely into God’s hands by going to Him in prayer and casting lots. And thus a pattern is set for us.
Now don’t get me wrong. This is not to say that there is anything wrong with utilizing the gifts and talents and resources that God has made available to us in the world around us. Quite to the contrary, I believe that God blesses people with talent and intelligence in all sorts of areas such as science and medicine and technology for the benefit of our daily lives. But that has to do with this world and the kingdom of this world.
The apostles knew that the decision that they had to make was much bigger than themselves. They knew that the decision that they had to make was much bigger than the kingdom of the world. For they knew that the decision of who should replace Judas had to do with the continued coming forth of the Kingdom of God. They knew that the decision they had to make had to do with the continued proclamation of the promise of forgiveness of sins through faith in Christ Jesus and thus the continued coming forth of the eternal Kingdom of Christ. And so even though they were able to narrow down the choices to two men who believed in the Son of God and thus had the testimony of God in their hearts, the apostles still left the choice up to God.
I think we can look at the apostles making this decision through prayer and casting lots not as irresponsible or reckless, but as acting totally and completely in faith. They were living by faith in Christ and not by sight of the world. And so a pattern and an example is set for us. For you see, even though Judas’ betrayal was propheceid, he was still acting according to his own will.
All of the disciples messed up to be sure. But Judas was never able to realize the magnitude of what he had witnessed in the life and death of Christ Jesus. He acted totally and completely by sight, totally and completely according to the wisdom of the world. He was always worried about money and appearances. Judas was never quite able to see that Christ Jesus was bringing forth an eternal Kingdom much bigger and grander than the one he lived in. And so Judas was never able to move beyond the wisdom of the world into faith in Christ.
And so it is with us. We are every bit as weak as Judas. And so we too struggle with faith. We too give in to the temptation to cling to the wisdom of the world rather than faith in the eternal Word of our Lord. In the methods they chose to select Matthias as Judas’ replacement the apostles have given us a foolproof pattern that, by the grace of God, can be followed when making decisions relating to our faith.
And the pattern is simple, go to God’s Word and go to prayer. But Jesus says something else regarding us His disciples. In the Gospel lesson He says that He has given us His Word and the world has hated us, because we don’t belong to the world. And we don’t. We belong to Christ Jesus and He belongs to us.
But we just can’t handle that the world hates us. We like that Jesus loves us and forgives us and we like that that means that we will be in His eternal kingdom. But we’re not in His eternal kingdom yet. We’re in the world. And the world hates us because of Christ Jesus. The world hates us because we proclaim Christ Jesus as the way the truth and the life and that nobody gets to the Father except through Him. And we don’t like to be hated. Do we?
So we try to convince ourselves that we can have it both ways; that we can belong to Christ and the world at the same time. And so we speak of Jesus saying to those who were about to stone the adulterous woman to death “Let He who is without sin cast the first stone.” But we conveniently forget what soon after that Jesus says to the adulterous woman herself-“Go forth and sin no more.”
Or we love the beatitudes when Jesus speaks of the meek inheriting the earth or God blessing the peacemakers, but we conveniently forget what Jesus says not long after that when He says that looking with lust upon someone is the same as adultery or that getting angry with your brother is the same as murder.
But you see this is nothing but the same living by sight foolishness that led to Judas’ downfall. This is the same foolishness that leads to our arrogantly thinking that we can control the Word of God or the law of God. This is the same foolishness that leads to our arrogantly thinking that we can gain greater insight into God’s Word, by seeking consensus on it or voting on it, rather than actually going to God’s Word.
You see the difference between Peter and Judas, who’s replacement selection Peter was overseeing was not that Judas was a sinner and Peter wasn’t. Far from it, Peter betrayed Jesus also; three times in fact. The difference was that Peter recognized that Jesus was who He said He was and that His coming marked the coming of the eternal Kingdom of God. If Judas had been aware of that He might have responded the same way to his betrayal that Peter did to his. He might have repented and believed upon the Lord Jesus. But right to the end Judas clung to the wisdom of the world, and it led to his suicide. And ultimately this is what trying to belong to the world and Christ at the same time leads to-death.
But I have good news. In the waters of baptism, you have been given to Christ and He has been given to you. He has taken your sin and paid the price for it, and you have been given His eternal righteousness and the promise of eternal life in His kingdom. It’s a done deal. You don’t have to worry about the world hating you. You have been freed to share the Word of Christ with your neighbor. And some will hate you for it, but you need not worry. For where there is a Judas who can’t let go of his love of the world, there might just be a Peter or a Matthias waiting to hear God’s glorious call to repentance and forgiveness of sin in Christ Jesus.
Amen