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.