Sermon for Trinity Sunday: "Holy, Holy, Holy"

 + Trinity Sunday – May 26^th, 2024 +

Series B: Isaiah 6:1-8; Acts 2:22-36; John 3:1-17

Beautiful Savior Lutheran Church

Milton, WA

 

 

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

 

There’s an old saying which comes from Christians in Africa: God makes a way where there is no way.

 

When Abraham and Sarah were old and barren and well-past child-bearing age, God made a way through Isaac where there was no way.

 

When Israel was caught between Pharaoh’s army and the Red Sea, God made a way through the sea where there was no way.

 

When we, and the whole world, were dead in trespasses and sin, God made his way where there was no way…to the cross and through the grave and risen from the dead for you. 

 

Holy Trinity Sunday is the day where we remember and rejoice that the Holy Trinity – God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – makes a way for unholy sinners to come into his holy presence and receive his holy gifts. 

 

That’s what happened in our Old Testament reading this morning. The Holy Trinity makes a way for Isaiah to be in his holy presence and receive his holy gifts.

 

In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. 

 

Seven and a half centuries before the Son of God took on human flesh, Isaiah saw him. That’s what Jesus tells us in John 12:41. Isaiah saw his glory. Jesus, the Son of God is the glory of God. And when Isaiah saw the Son of God he’s revealed as King, Judge, and Priest. There’s a throne where he reigns. He wears priestly robes that fill the temple; the place where, throughout the Scriptures, God made a way where there was no way: how do unholy sinners come into his holy presence and receive God’s holy gifts? Sacrifice. Atonement. Blood shed. Forgiveness of sin. This is how God makes a way where there is no way. 

 

This all pointed the Old Testament saints forward to the day when the Temple of God was no longer built of cedar and stone, but when God took on human flesh and bone. When the Father sent his Son. When the Son of God became the Son of Mary and Son of Adam to bring us back to the Father through the Son by the Holy Spirit.

 

For God loved the world in this way,^] that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. ¹⁷ For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

 

This is the same Son of God Isaiah saw in his vision in Isaiah 6. And of whom the angels (the seraphim) cried out: Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!”

 

Not only does Isaiah see the Son of God, he hears a confession and proclamation of the Holy Trinity. Those words: holy, holy holy, are words that reveal the person and work of the Trinity in the Scriptures. To paraphrase the words of the Athanasian Creed, the Father is holy. The Son is holy. The Holy Spirit is holy. And yet there are not three holies but one Holy. 

 

Or, as Ambrose the church father said, “The seraphim say it not once, lest we believe there is only one person in the Trinity; not twice, lest we exclude the Spirit; they say not “holies” but holy lest we imagine there is more than one God. But they repeat three times the same word, that even in a hymn we may understand the distinction of persons in the Trinity and the oneness of the Godhead.”

 

And Isaiah quickly realizes what happens when you come into God’s presence. God is holy and he is not. Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!”  

And yet, the Holy Trinity makes a way for Isaiah where there is no way. He gives him who is unholy a holy gift from the holy God to declare Isaiah forgiven and holy. God sent one of the seraphim to Isaiah. A messenger with a burning coal from the altar. The place of sacrifice and atonement and blood shed to cleanse sinners and bring holiness to unholy people. And he placed the coal on Isaiah’s lips. Cleansing. Purifying. Atoning. Fire. “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.”

The same thing happens to us today on Trinity Sunday, and every Lord’s day in the Lord’s house. The Holy Trinity makes a way for us, unholy sinners, to come into his holy presence and receive his holy gifts. Today we are all Isaiah. The Holy Trinity invites us into his presence. Baptismal words of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit begin and end our time together. Jesus the King and Priest is here with us and for us to reign and redeem and atone for sin. His presence and peace fill his house because heaven is wherever Jesus is. And Jesus is where he has promised to be: in water, word, bread and wine for you. 

 

Like Isaiah we enter God’s presence confessing our unholiness and our unholy sins of thought, word, and deed. We join in Isaiah’s confession. I am lost. I am undone. I am a man of unclean lips.

 

But our unclean, unholy lips do not get the last word. The Holy Trinity does. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit makes a way for you where there is no way. God brings heaven down to earth. He shares his holiness with you at the altar. With his promise and presence he gives you his holy body in humble bread. He gives you his holy, precious blood in the cup of the new testament. The Lord Jesus sits enthroned on his altar, at his table, in his word and we sing the song of the seraphim: 

 

Holy, holy, holy Lord God of pow’r and might: Heaven and earth are full of Your glory. Hosanna. Hosanna. Hosanna in the highest. Blessed are you who come in the name of the Lord.

 

And then the Holy Trinity brings us to his banqueting table where he sends each of us a gift from his altar to take away our sin. Not a burning coal, but bread and wine. And with those humble, earthly gifts, Jesus’ body and blood are given to you. 

“Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.”

Come to Christ’s table. All is ready. A feast of forgiveness for you. The Holy Trinity has made a way where there is no way. 

 

A blessed Trinity Sunday to each of you…

 

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

Sermon for Pentecost Sunday: "Holy Hide and Seek"

 + Pentecost – May 19^th, 2024 +

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

Beautiful Savior Lutheran Church

Milton, WA

 

 

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

 

Once in a while our kids enjoy a good game of hide-and-seek. Jonah is particularly good at it. The whole point of the game is to hide and stay hidden as long as possible. 

 

And sometimes we think this is how the Holy Spirit works – like a holy hide and seek game where He’s always hard to find, hidden, illusive. Now it is true, the Holy Spirit is hidden, or rather, he hides himself – he doesn’t take on flesh like the Son of God. 

 

But unlike kids playing hide-and-seek…the Holy Spirit wants to be found. And where he wants to be found is in God’s Word. The Holy Spirit and God’s Word are always bound together. It’s in God’s Word where the Holy Spirit reveals Himself to us as true God. The Holy Spirit hides himself where He may be found – in God’s holy Word. 

 

Everywhere you turn in the pages of Scripture, the breath of the Holy Spirit blows in and with the Word. Always working in external gifts – words, water, bread, and wine. The Holy Spirit and the Word are bound together. If you want to know where the Holy Spirit is working, look to where he promises to be for you: in God’s holy Word to bring you life in Jesus.

In Ezekiel’s vision of the valley of dry, dusty, dead bones, the lifeless bones of Israel couldn’t raise themselves back to life. Once again it was God the Holy Spirit working in God’s holy Word to bring life: 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.”

In the book of Acts, at the first Pentecost. The tongues of fire. The languages spoken. The promises fulfilled. It all happened by God the Holy Spirit working in God’s holy Word to bring life. And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh. So that God’s people hear God’s holy word of life.

 

Jesus beforehand promises the Holy Spirit. But always in connection to God’s holy Word. He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. 

 

The Holy Spirit wants to be found…and where he wants to be found is in God’s Holy Word.

 

After all, the Holy Spirit is not so much a power – like jedi master Yoda using the force – though the Holy Spirit is powerful. The Holy Spirit is the third person of the Holy Trinity. He’s the Lord and giver of life. He proceeds from the Father and the Son. And with the Father and the Son we worship and glorify the Holy Spirit. 

 

The Holy Spirit wants to be found…but all too often we seek to find the Holy Spirit in places where he is not found, and has not promised to be present for us.

We turn, where sinners always turn, inward on ourselves. We look to our emotions or experiences to find the Holy Spirit. But our emotions are like the roller coaster down at the Puyallup fairgrounds: shaky and always up and down. How can we tell if it’s the Holy Spirit working in our feelings and experiences or just some bad grocery store sushi we ate. 

 

Don’t misunderstand me; emotions and experiences can be good gifts of God. But they are not given to be our assurance of the work of the Holy Spirit. Your assurance God the Holy Spirit is working is in God’s Word.

 

We seek the Holy Spirit where he is not found when we turn to our intellect and reason as well. Again, our reason and thoughts are good gifts of God, but they are also easily twisted, warped, deceived, and held captive to sin and death. 

 

If not our experience, or reason, perhaps we can find the Holy Spirit in the work of our hands. And it’s true, the Holy Spirit is hidden in your good works, in the life of faith…but always as fruit from the tree. We are the branches. Christ is the Vine. Good works are not the foundation of faith, but the fruit. Not time cards we punch to get paid by God, but gifts of the Holy Spirit.

 

The problem with looking for the Holy Spirit where he has not promised is that we end up searching within. When we look for the Holy Spirit apart from where He has promised to be for us: in God’s holy Word and holy sacraments - we will soon invent or craft our own, our own precious idols to replace God and his gifts.

 

The Holy Spirit wants to be found. And he is found in God’s gifts given outside of you. Words into your ears. Water and word washed over you. Bread and wine with Jesus’ body and blood placed onto your mouth.

 

Why does God the Holy Spirit choose to work this way? After all, he’s God, he could choose some other way perhaps. But that’s not what Scripture reveals. 

 

Instead, He chooses ordinary things. Tangible. Touchable. Hearable things: words of good news. Words that forgive. Raise the dead. Give life. Words from a friend or loved one who says, “I forgive you. I’m here with you. The Lord is with you.” Words that wash away sin with water and the Spirit. Words that heal and forgive as you receive Jesus’ body and blood. 

 

Why does the Holy Spirit work this way? So we know where to find him. 

 

So we know that when Jesus speaks these words, the Holy Spirit is with us: He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. 

 

So we know that when we hear the Word of Ezekiel the Spirit is there working for us too. Son of Man, can our bones live? Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they may live.”

 

So we know that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

 

If you want to know where the Holy Spirit is working, look to where he promises to be for you: giving you faith, life, and joy in Jesus. Its’s right here in his holy Word. In holy water. In the holy supper. Always with God’s word and promise. That’s where the Holy Spirit finds and seeks you.

 

A blessed day of Pentecost to each of you…

 

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

 

 

 

Sermon for Easter 7: "Holy In Jesus"

 + Easter 7 – May 12^th, 2024 +

Series B: Acts 1:12-26; 1 John 5:9-15; John 17:11-19

Beautiful Savior Lutheran Church

Milton, WA

 

 

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

 

We call Jesus’ prayer in John 17 the High Priestly prayer for good reason. Sanctify. Consecrate. Sanctified. These are priestly words spoken by Jesus the great High Priest to us his priestly people.

 

Sanctify them^[b] in the truth; your word is truth. ¹⁸ As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. ¹⁹ And for their sake I consecrate myself,^[c] that they also may be sanctified^[d]in truth.

 

When Jesus prays to the Father “Sanctify them in the truth of your word” he was first speaking to his disciples, but also to us who hear his word through the disciples. And for us, as for his disciples, holiness (sanctified) is always a gift received, not something we achieve. That’s worth repeating. We don’t self-generate holiness. It is always and only his gift to you in Jesus. 

 

To sanctify something is to make it or declare it holy. That word “holy” is used a lot around churches: Holy Bible. Holy Baptism. Holy Absolution. Holy Communion. Holy Christian Church. 

 

You see it in Scripture a lot too: people, places, time, spaces, and things are holy. Picture the tabernacle and the temple of the Old Testament: the sabbath time of rest in God’s holy promises. Aaron and his sons, the Levites were a holy priesthood. The holy ground around the burning bush where Moses knelt before the Lord. The holy objects and the holy space within the temple itself. The holy place and the holy of holies. All were called holy. Why? It’s rather simple: God was there. And where God is, there’s holiness.

 

Holiness is always connected to God’s presence. Where God is, there’s the holy. For he and he alone is holy in and of himself. We are not. Any holiness we have is always and only in connection to Christ. Christ’s Holiness is always a gift given and received, not something achieved.

 

For something or someone to be holy they must be connected to the presence of the Holy One of God. 

 

All of this is the foundation and background to Jesus’ words in John 17: Sanctify them^[b] in the truth; your word is truth.

 

Sanctifying – making and declaring holy – these are priestly words. And this is Jesus’ priestly work for you. Whenever you hear the word holy and sanctifying in the Scriptures, know that God is at work. And that God is doing the work of declaring and making holy.

 

But our sinful flesh always wants to sneak in and take credit, even here with God’s holiness. We think holiness is a quid-pro-quo; it’s not – it’s a gift. We think holiness can be achieved by following seven principles for holy living. It’s not. It’s a gift in the holy life and death of Jesus. We think holiness has something to do with our goodness. It doesn’t. It has everything to do with Jesus your holy and great high priest. Christ’s Holiness not something achieved; it is given and received as a gift, just like faith.

 

How then do we become holy? How do we holy lives as his holy people? 

 

Remember, holiness is a gift. Holiness is always connected to the presence of the Holy One of God, Jesus. Your holiness is given to you in Jesus. You are holy by being connected to Jesus, Holy One of God. He is your temple. Your holy of holies. Your holy place. And in him you are holy. In his promise and presence you are holy.

 

This is where Jesus’ prayer in John 17 is so incredibly comforting. Sanctify them^[b] in the truth; your word is truth.

 

Jesus prays for and does the sanctifying work for you. He makes you and declares you holy by his life, by his cross,  by his resurrection, by his promise, and his presence. You live a holy life in him: the good fruit you bear, he prepared for you and through you; the sinful, unholy failures we all have, he forgives those too. 

 

And it’s his holy word that does it all. Jesus’ word declares that we all were unholy and dead in sin, but on account of Jesus' suffering and bloody death, we’re now holy and alive in Him forever.

 

Your sanctification – your life of holiness – begins, ends, and is sustained in Jesus. 

 

Christ’s Holiness is always a gift given and received, not something achieved. And to give us holiness, our Lord Jesus continues to be present with us in holy things:

 

When we hear God’s holy word, the Gospel, we are forgiven and sanctified in Jesus.

When we are baptized, we are sanctified in Jesus.

When we confess our sins and receive his absolution we are sanctified.

When we receive Jesus’ body and blood, we are sanctified.

 

You are holy in Jesus…and that means….the world will hate you for this, for your faith in Jesus, for his cross, for his forgiveness, for all his grace. The fallen world will rage  and hurl all sorts of unholy things your way. But remember that the devil, the world, and our sinful flesh gave Jesus our worst on Good Friday. In Jesus you are kept from the evil one. In Jesus you have a sure and certain word that holds as your anchor even in the most violent of storms and a light in the darkest of nights. In Jesus life and death and promise and presence, you are holy. 

 

Here in John 17, Jesus prays for his disciples. And he prays for you. And when he prays for you, he also sanctifies you. You are his saints. You are holy in Jesus.

 

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

Sermon for Easter 6: "What Is Love?"

 + 6^th Sunday of Easter – May 5^th, 2024 +

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

Beautiful Savior Lutheran Church

Milton, WA

 

 

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

 

The word of the day in John 15 is… love. Jesus uses it 7 times. A good biblical number. A perfection of love. But what does that word mean? What is love?

 

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 the Lord clothing Adam and Eve even after their disobedience. Love is the Lord rescuing his people out of slavery in Egypt. Love is the Lord 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. 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. 

 

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. 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 off 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 of confession where we repent. Words of Absolution that declares us 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. By grace. Jesus 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. 

 

Love is praying: “Lord, help me a better father, mother, spouse, son, or daughter; make me a faithful servant in all the places you call me.”

Love is praying for your enemies.

Love is asking God to give us patience as we bear with people we find unbearable.

Love is attending to daily devotions and going to confession and absolution, and receiving God’s gifts in God’s house with God’s people.

Love is looking not to your own good, but the good of your neighbor.

Love is inviting your next door neighbor to hear God’s Word in church or bible study, or how you can pray for them.

Love is pestering your friends or family to have their children baptized.

Love is asking your brother or sister in Christ how they’re doing and taking the time to listen.

Love is comforting someone who’s grieving with good news of Jesus who bore our griefs and carried our sorrows.

Love is writing a card to one of our shut ins or someone you see in the weekly prayer list who’s in need.

As John says…We love…because Christ first loved us

 

Love is the fruit that Jesus forms in us, his branches. 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.