Sermon for Pentecost: "Life-Changing Events"

 + Day of Pentecost – May 23, 2021 +

Series B: Ezekiel 37:1-14; Acts 2:1-21; John 15:26-27, 16:4-15

Beautiful Savior Lutheran

Milton, WA

 

 

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

 

There are certain moments or times in life that we describe as life-changing. Your wedding day or graduation. The birthday of a child or grand-child. Your first day on the job or your first day of retirement. And so on. 

 

Now 50 days after Jesus’ resurrection we celebrate a truly life-changing event, the Day of Pentecost. The pouring out, the giving, the sending of the Holy Spirit just as Jesus promised his disciples, promised you, he would.

 

...when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me…When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth...

 

The Holy Spirit is sent to bear witness to Jesus as the crucified, risen, and ascended Lord. 

The Holy Spirit is sent to lead and guide the disciples into the truth of Jesus’ saving promises.

The Holy Spirit is sent to take everything that Jesus has done – his birth, his perfect life, his redeeming death, his glorious resurrection, his triumphant ascension, his word, water, body and blood – and give it all to you. And this is truly life-changing.

 

Ezekiel gives us a picture of this. A whole valley floor full of dry, lifeless, dead bones. A morbid, but accurate scene. A prophetic vision of Israel’s sin and ours. But this is where the Holy Spirit does his great, life-changing work, bringing us from death to life by the Word of the Lord.

 

And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves, and raise you from your graves, O my people. ¹⁴ And I will put my Spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land. Then you shall know that I am the Lord; I have spoken, and I will do it, declares the Lord.”

 

We see the Holy Spirit’s work on full display on the Day of Pentecost in Acts 2 as well. One moment it was a typical Pentecost festival, the Old Testament harvest festival of Shavuot, or festival of weeks. The next moment everything changed. Rushing wind. Tongues of fire. Apostles emboldened by and filled with the Holy Spirit.

 

When the Holy Spirit came the apostles were changed. They went from abandoning and denying Jesus, speaking in whispers, and hiding in fear to publicly and boldly declaring with loud voices that Jesus is the crucified and risen Lord, the Messiah and Savior of the Old Testament. Who else but the Holy Spirit could bring about such a life-changing event? 

 

And the crowds gathered that first Pentecost, they were changed as well. They had come from all over the Mediterranean to celebrate the Old Testament festival of Pentecost. The great harvest festival that arrived Fifty days after the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread. It was a festival of the ingathering of the winter wheat. And the celebration of the giving of the Torah to Moses on the mountain accompanied by wind and fire. But of course all of that changed in Acts 2.

By the Holy Spirit Peter spoke of the mighty works and wonders and signs that Jesus had done in their midst. By the Holy Spirit Peter showed them how the Psalms and prophets – like Joel - were fulfilled in Jesus. By the Holy Spirit many of the crowd were cut to the heart in repentance and came to faith in Jesus and were baptized. Around three thousand St. Luke tells us. Talk about life-changing.

 

But do not think that the Holy Spirit’s work was done that first Pentecost. To be sure, the day of Pentecost itself – the wind, fire, and the apostles speaking in different languages – that was a one-time event. But in a way, that first Pentecost was a beginning. The Spirit’s work of witnessing to Jesus. Guiding and leading us to Jesus. Returning our hearts to God in repentance and faith. Breathing the life-giving, life-changing breath of God into our hearts and minds. The Spirit’s work goes on today, just as it did that first Pentecost. All by the Word of Jesus.

 

For what the Holy Spirit did that first Pentecost he continues to do for you. Leading you to Jesus. Delivering you the truth of Jesus’ word. Giving you Jesus’ life.

 

You don’t have to go back to that first Pentecost to receive the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit brings his own day of Pentecost to each of you.

 

From the moment God poured out his Spirit upon you in that life-changing and life-giving washing of water and the Holy Spirit, to the day of your resurrection when you will be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, the Holy Spirit is leading you to Jesus, giving you life in Jesus’ name. 

 

Every Sunday is a little Pentecost, where you come and hear the life-giving, life-changing voice of Jesus in the Scriptures. 

Every time you open your bible the Holy Spirit is working his life-changing work in the word you read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest. 

Every time you come to our Lord’s table, the Holy Spirit is filling you with the new wine of Jesus’ body and blood. 

 

These are truly life-saving, life-giving, life-changing events on this truly life-changing day of Pentecost. And so today we pray…

 

Come, Holy Spirit, warm our cold and lifeless hearts with your Gospel fire.

Come, Holy Spirit, rattle our dry and dusty bones and make them live.

Come, Holy Spirit, loosen our tongues to speak the good news of Jesus.

Come, Holy Spirit, quench our fevered thirst with the waters of Baptism.

Come, Holy Spirit, satisfy our hunger for righteousness with the Body and Blood of our Savior.

Come, Holy Spirit, put the good news of Jesus into our ears, our minds, our hearts that we may hear it, comprehend it, and believe it.

 

Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful people, and kindle in them the fire of your love.

 

A blessed Pentecost Sunday to each of you…

 

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

 

Sermon for The Ascension of Our Lord: "Crucified, Risen, Ascended King"

 + The Ascension of Our Lord – May 13, 2021 +

Acts 1:1-11; Ephesians 1:15-23; Luke 24:44-53

Beautiful Savior Lutheran

Milton, WA

 

 

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

 

In C.S. Lewis’s famous book, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, the four main human characters – the Pevensie children – adventure through a wardrobe and find themselves in the magical world of Narnia. While in this land they meet and become dinner guests of Mr. and Mrs. Beaver.

 

Over dinner the children learn that they will journey with Mr. and Mrs. Beaver to meet Aslan the Lion, the true king of Narnia. “Is he safe?” Lucy asks. “Safe?” Mr. Beaver replied. “Who said anything about safe? ‘Course he isn’t safe. But he is good. He’s the king, I tell you!”

 

That is one of the many facets of the diamond that is Scripture’s teaching of Jesus’ ascension. Why does Jesus ascend? What’s the big deal about his ascension? What does this all mean?

 

It means, Jesus is the King, I tell you. And he is good.

 

This is what St. Paul is telling us in Ephesians when he writes that God the Father worked with his great might… “in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come.  And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.”

 

The opening to the letter to the Ephesians reads like a royal decree, announcing all of the King’s accomplishments. Notice, though, that Jesus is no ordinary King.

 

Jesus is King on the cross. A crucified, bloody, and beaten King. A King crowned with thorns. A King robed in our suffering, sentenced to death for our sins. A King dying for his disloyal, rebellious subjects. A defeated King. And yet Jesus’ defeat also marks his victory – and yours. 

 

Look no further than his empty tomb. The grave could not hold him. Death swallowed him up but had to spit him out three days later, just like Jonah from the mouth of the great fish. Good King Jesus rose from the dead in triumphant victory, not for his own sake but for you. 

 

This is what makes Jesus the King of kings and Lord of lords. He is not a selfish, power-hungry tyrant, but a self-giving, good and gracious King. His life. His death. His resurrection. Yes, his ascension too, is all done for you. 

 

In Acts 1, Jesus’ disciples learn once again that King Jesus does not act like the kings of the earth. 

 

“Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” 

 

The disciples were still a little confused. They thought Jesus was going to be a king like conquering David, the glory days of Solomon,  or the wealth of Herod. And they were all set to be his right hand men in some kind of new earthly kingdom.

And isn’t that just how sinners like the disciples and us think, to make it all about us. My kingdom come. My will be done. Always curved in upon ourselves. 

 

But this is not the kind of king Jesus is. Jesus is no ordinary king. But he is good.

 

Jesus’ ascension reveals the kind of King Jesus is for you. 

 

Jesus is the kind of King who was born of the Virgin Mary in a humility in Bethlehem, to give you a new birth from above by water and the Spirit.

 

Jesus is the kind of King who lived to serve others that by his life he would redeem you and crown you with glory and honor by dying and rising for you.

 

Jesus is the kind of King who ascends to heaven, not to leave his disciples, his church, or you, but that he might be with you and rule and reign with his grace and mercy in his Word and Supper until he returns again in glory.

 

Jesus is the kind of King who has taken all you are into all He is, and made it everlastingly His own. When Jesus ascends, you ascend with Him. For God “raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places, in Christ Jesus,” (Eph 2:6). 

 

In Jesus’ ascension, God’s throne is not unmanned; it is occupied by the man who contains all men within himself. The divine throne is crowded with humanity. 

 

Jesus’ ascension is one small sitting down for Jesus, one giant uplifting for mankind” (Chad Bird).

 

Jesus’ ascension declares that he is the King and he is good. And that nothing in all creation can separate you from the love of God which is yours in Christ Jesus. 

 

Jesus is the greater King David who has conquered all your enemies. Jesus is the greater King Solomon who brings you everlasting glory and crowns you with life eternal. Jesus is your crucified, risen, ascended King who rules and reigns for you.

 

And no matter what the kings and rulers of this earth do, say, Jesus’ death, resurrection, and ascension declare to you that Jesus is your King and he is good. 

 

 

A blessed Ascension Day to each of you…

 

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

 

 

Sermon for Easter 6: "Love in Action"

 + Easter 6 – May 9, 2021 +

Series B: Acts 10:34-48; 1 John 5:1-8; John 15:9-17

Beautiful Savior Lutheran

Milton, WA

 

 

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

 

If the word of the day last Sunday was abide. “Abide in me,” Jesus says; then this Sunday the word of the day is love. “Abide in my love,” Jesus says. In four verses, Jesus uses the word love seven times.

 

Jesus’ definition of love, however, is far different than most people would define love. For many people, love is primarily a feeling, an emotion, warm fuzzies, rainbows, kittens, unicorns, or whatever.

 

For Jesus, love is more than a feeling. For Jesus, love is an action. God’s love is revealed most clearly in his actions. Love is YHWH clothing Adam and Eve even after their disobedience. Love is YHWH rescuing his people out of slavery in Egypt. Love is YHWH sending his eternal Son Jesus to rescue you by going to the cross

 

Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. 

 

There’s a pattern here in John 15. It’s almost like watching dominoes fall one after another. The Father loves the Son from all eternity. The Father sends the Son. The Son loves us. The Son sends his disciples, sends us his people. We love others. 

 

From Jesus’ words you get the sense that God’s love has a holy momentum, like a river that cannot help but move down stream. God’s love moves from the Father to the Son through the Spirit to you. And from you to others. This is why Jesus repeatedly tells us earlier in John 15 that he abides in us and we abide in him, and in him, in his love, in his life, in his promise, we bear fruit just as branches joined to the vine. 

 

As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love. 

 

As we spend some time in John 15 again this morning, it’s worth remembering that Jesus says all of these things – He’s the vine, we are his branches; abide in his Word, abide in his love – it’s all said in the context of Holy Week. Of that Thursday night before Good Friday. Just hours before he would go to the cross and reveal his love for the Father, and for you by laying down his life.

 

All of that is going on as Jesus teaches his disciples to abide in his love. To keep, cherish, treasure, hold on to, guard his commands. And here our English translations lead us of course a bit. We hear commandments and our mind jumps right to the 10 Commandments. But Jesus uses a broader word here. entolh (entolay). These are the words God speaks to us. Words from God. Not just “the Law” but all of God’s words. 

 

To be sure, God wants us to strive and work at keeping his 10 commandments, but here Jesus is saying hold on to, treasure, guard, keep close to my words which are the Father’s words. Just as the Son has life in the Father’s words, we have life in the Son’s words. Not just some of his words. All of them. Words that reveal God’s love in action for us. Words that enact God’s love for us. Words like Absolution that declares you innocent. Baptism that unites us to Christ. Holy Communion where Jesus body and blood abides in us for the forgiveness of all our sins. 

 

Jesus doesn’t speak these words in the midst of calling his disciples, as in, do what I say and then you are my disciples. No, it’s the other way around. Because they are his disciples they abide in his word, keep his word. The disciples’ entire life is surrounded by the love of God in Jesus. 

 

So it is for you.

 

This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.

 

The key phrase there is, “As I have loved you.” Everything flows from Jesus’ love.

 

Think again about all that’s going on as Jesus says these words. He’s sitting with his chosen disciples in the upper room. Around a table. On the very night he is going to give his life for the life of the world. He knows his disciples, even better than they know themselves. He knows they’ll deny him. Betray him. Abandon him. And yet, he loves them. He lays down his life for them.

 

Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. 

 

Jesus calls them not servants, but friends. This puts the disciples in good company. Only Abraham and Moses were called friends of God in the Old Testament. It’s a remarkable gift. Jesus reminds them that they’re not sitting around that table because they made all the right choices. No. He chose them. He took the initiative. He acted. He loved. 

 

And that’s how it goes for us as well. That is the heart of God’s love. He takes the initiative. He chooses. He loves you. He loves the loveless. He loves his enemies, sinners. He lays down his life for you. He calls us his friends and shares his table with us. 

 

And then, like his disciples, he sends us out as his branches joined to the vine, as his people with whom he abides, to love one another as he has loved you. How does that work? We wonder. 

 

It works, not by focusing on our own love and works, but on Christ and His love for you and for those around you. It seems counterintuitive at first. We think that if you want to improve in some area, you focus on the area you need to improve and practice and work on it. And that’s generally true when you are talking about mastering skills such like axe throwing or baking or almost anything we do. But love isn’t a skill one masters. Love is the fruit that forms on a branch that is joined by faith to the Vine and draws is life from Jesus.

In other words, fix your eyes on Jesus, His love for you. Abide in His love. For greater love has no one than this that Jesus laid down his life for you.

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

 

Sermon for Easter 5: "The True Vine Abides"

 + Easter 5 – May 2, 2021 +

Series B: Acts 8:26-40; 1 John 4:1-11; John 15:1-8

Beautiful Savior Lutheran

Milton, WA

 

 

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

 

God is the God who abides with his people. God walked with Adam and Eve in the cool of the garden. God sat in the midst of Israel upon the mercy seat in the tabernacle. God was with Moses in the burning bush and atop Mt. Sinai.

 

The Scriptures proclaim over and over that God is not absent, distant, impersonal or aloof. But he is the God who abides with his people.

 

“I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. 

 

Back in at the beginning of his gospel, John reveals God as the God who abides with his people. “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us... full of grace and truth” (1:14). How remarkable, that the holy, almighty God chooses to abide, to dwell among His people. Throughout John’s gospel, we see this wonder unfold. 

 

Jesus enters into places and engages in conversations with people. He sits at the side of a well in Samaria. He walks along the Sea of Galilee. He shares the joy of a wedding and the grief of a funeral. That Jesus dwells among us is a wonder. Though we are lost in sin, He comes to find us in grace. He comes to a well in Samaria and along the Sea of Galilee. Wherever you are, whoever you are, Jesus brings forgiveness to you. He has come to dwell among us, to abide with us, so He might call you to be a disciple, speak to you in grace, and guide you as you follow Him in the world.

 

“I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. 

 

The obvious truth about a branch is that branches have no life of their own. Their life flows from the vine. a branch severed from the vine withers and dies. So, too, we have no life of our own. 

 

This is part of what it means to be God’s people – his branches. To be joined to him, receive life from him. Be fed, nourished, forgiven, and strengthened in him. This is why we celebrate the Lord’s Supper weekly where Jesus abides with us and we abide with him in Holy Communion. This is why God gathers us here Sunday after Sunday – that we might abide in the words of Jesus; and that in those words, in this bread and wine, in these gifts, Jesus abides with you

 

Apart from Jesus abiding with us in his word. Apart from Jesus the true vine we wither and die. Apart from Jesus we can do nothing. And yet when Jesus abides with us, as he promises to do, we have everything. When Jesus promises to abide with his disciples that means he promises to abide with you as well. 

 

I am the vine; you are the branches…whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit. 

 

To abide is to dwell, to reside, to have your home and place somewhere. To abide in Christ is to live in Him through faith. It’s a baptismal way of speaking. You have been baptized into Christ. Your life is hidden with Christ in God. You have been grafted into the true and living Vine. By the Holy Spirit, you’ve been given the gift of faith, that grafts and unites you to Christ the Vine. In Christ you receive all that He has to give you – His forgiveness, His life, His love. Christ is your life. There is no life apart from Him. 

To abide is not a sporadic thing, something that happens once a week for an hour or so. Abiding is not sticking one foot in the water, it’s diving in the deep end. It’s a fruitful communion where Christ feeds us and makes us fruitful. Where Christ prunes us, disciplines us in his love to live as his branches.

To abide in Him, Jesus says, is also to bear fruit. And here’s where Jesus’ Vine and Branches analogy works so beautifully. Love flows from the Father through the Son by the Spirit to the branches who are alive in Christ. It flows from the wounded side of Jesus, the water and the blood, from the font and the Supper, from the words that flow into your ears, that love of God for the sinner in Christ flows to you. 

And it doesn’t just stop with you. Nice green leaves are a sign of a healthy branch. But fruit is how the branch is known. “By their fruit you will know them.” That love of God in Christ that flows through you produces fruit for those around you.

“By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and be my disciples.” Not “prove to be” as some of our English translations say, just “be.” Abiding in Jesus, being his branch, his disciple, isn’t about proving, but about being. The branch shows itself for what it is by the fruit it produces. We don’t become branches joined to Jesus the Vine because we bear fruit. It’s the other way around. We bear fruit because we are branches joined to Jesus the true Vine. Because Jesus abides with you and you abide in him.

Jesus is the true Vine. You are his branches. Rooted. Alive. And fruitful in Jesus who abides with you.

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