“Spirit, Breath, Wind: The Lord and Giver of Life”
(Ezekiel 37:1-14; John 15:26-27; 16:4b-15; Acts 2:1-21)

Today is the Day of Pentecost, a day when we call special attention to the person and work of the Holy Spirit. That is what I would like to do now, using as our theme a phrase we just spoke in the Nicene Creed, where we called the Holy Spirit “The Lord and Giver of Life.”

Life–this is what the Holy Spirit is all about, giving us life. The Holy Spirit, the Lord and giver of life, gives life to dead people. The Holy Spirit gives life in connection with Christ. And the Holy Spirit gives life through his empowering the church to proclaim the life-giving gospel. We’ll come back to each of these points in a little bit. But to start let’s just say that “The Lord and Giver of Life” well describes the work of the Holy Spirit.

Now what about the person of the Holy Spirit? I mean, we’ve said something about his work, which is to give life, but what about his person? In other words, who is he? Is the Holy Spirit just some impersonal force or power? Sort of a “May the Force be with you” Star Wars kind of a thing? No, the Holy Spirit is a personal being, the Third Person of the Holy Trinity, true God, divine in his nature. OK, so is the Holy Spirit–or “Holy Ghost,” as the old English put it–a “ghost” like we would think of Casper the Ghost? No, that’s just a misunderstanding of the language. It just means he’s a spiritual being. He didn’t take on human flesh like God the Son did. No, when we call the Holy Spirit the Lord and giver of life, by saying “the Lord” we are confessing his divinity, that he is true God in his essence. Again, as we just said in the Nicene Creed, the Holy Spirit “with the Father and the Son together is worshiped and glorified.” We could not say that unless the Holy Spirit is true God, the Third Person of the Trinity. This is why Jesus, in his Great Commission, gave us the name of the triune God as “the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”

The Holy Spirit, the Lord and giver of life. We can see that in our lessons today. Now particularly when we look at our reading from Ezekiel and our reading from Acts, I especially want you to notice the mention of the terms “breath” and “wind” in connection with the Spirit. This is significant. Throughout the Bible, in both the Old Testament and the New, the terms “breath” and “wind” are closely associated with the work of the Holy Spirit. Interestingly, in both the Hebrew language, which is what the Old Testament was written in, and in the Greek, which is what the New Testament was written in, in each language there is one word that can cover all three terms, “S/spirit” or “breath” or “wind.” In the Hebrew, it is the word “ruach,” “spirit,” “breath,” or “wind.” And in the New Testament, it is the Greek word “pneuma,” again, translated as “spirit,” “breath,” or “wind,” depending on the context. And when the breath or the wind is associated with the work of the Holy Spirit, it is generally related to the Spirit’s work of giving life.

Look at the reading from Ezekiel. The prophet Ezekiel is shown a vision of a valley full of dry bones. “Can these bones live?” Not normally. Dead, dry bones cannot come to life on their own or by any human effort. But the Lord says to Ezekiel: “Prophesy over these bones, and say to them, O dry bones, hear the word of the LORD. Thus says the Lord GOD to these bones: Behold, I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live.” Ezekiel does as he is told. The breath comes into them, and they live.

The breath that gives life is a picture of the Spirit. The Holy Spirit, the Lord and giver of life, who gives life to dry bones and dead people. The Lord God says, “And I will put my Spirit within you, and you shall live.”

“Dem bones, dem bones, dem dry bones. Now hear the word of the Lord.” This is a word for us. We were like dead, dry bones. Our sins had killed us, condemned us to death. We had no life within us, according to our fallen sinful nature. We were dead spiritually, which leads to physical death and eternal damnation. But then the breath of God came, the life-giving Spirit, who raised us from the dead and stood us on our feet. This is the Holy Spirit, breathing life into us. Spirit, breath, wind: The Holy Spirit, the Lord and giver of life.

So first: The Holy Spirit, the Lord and giver of life, gives life to dead people. Second, the Holy Spirit, the Lord and giver of Life, gives life in connection with Christ. This is what Jesus says, isn’t it, in the Gospel reading from John. In teaching there on the Holy Spirit, Christ tells his disciples: “He,” that is, the Holy Spirit, “He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you.” The Holy Spirit gives life to us by glorifying Jesus. There is no life, real life, apart from Jesus. The dead bones would still be dead if it were not for what Christ did to win life for us, the very life that the Spirit now gives us.

This life comes from what Christ has done for us. To raise dead bones, the life has to come from somewhere. And it comes–it only comes–from the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ on our behalf. By his death Christ conquered death. And by his resurrection he brought life and immortality to light. Jesus Christ died the sinner’s death for us on the cross, the righteous and holy Son of God dying in your place and mine, taking the punishment for our sins upon himself. Jesus broke the back of sin and death in the process. Death lost its hold over you. Forgiveness was won by Christ’s blood. And then when Jesus rose again on the third day, it was showing the victory of life, the victory that Jesus now shares with us. And it is the Holy Spirit who delivers this life of Christ to us, to each one of us personally and to all of us together, through the ministry of the gospel.

I often describe the work of the Holy Spirit as taking all the benefits that Christ won for us on the cross, back in Jerusalem in A.D. 30–the Holy Spirit is the “delivery man,” the “Fed Ex man” or “UPS driver” who delivers the goods to us, with our name on the package, here where we live, now in the year 2012. And the vehicle that the Spirit uses to deliver the goods is the gospel, the preaching of the word and the sacraments which Christ has instituted. The Holy Spirit glorifies Christ in this way, and this is how he gives us life.

The Holy Spirit gives life to dead people. The Holy Spirit gives life in connection with Christ. And now third, the Holy Spirit gives life through his empowering the church to proclaim the life-giving gospel. This is where the “wind” comes in. Literally. Or at least the sound of a mighty, rushing wind.

That is what we hear in the reading from the Book of Acts: “When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind.” Before his ascension, Jesus promised his disciples that soon he would empower them to be his witnesses, to preach repentance and forgiveness of sins to all nations. Acts 2, on the day of Pentecost, in Jerusalem–this is where and when it begins. The sound of the rushing wind signals the arrival of the Spirit for the purpose of empowering the witness, the church’s gospel witness that will give life to people.

And so this is what happens. The company of believers are all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they begin declaring the mighty works of God to the assembled multitude. Peter gets up, and he begins preaching a sermon. We get the first part of Peter’s sermon today; we’ll get the rest of it next week. But the bottom line is that he preaches the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and he calls people to repentance and faith, with the promise of the forgiveness of sins. “And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” There it is. The Holy Spirit is giving people life through the preaching of the gospel of Christ. And the sound of the wind signals the Spirit’s arrival.

That wind is still blowing today. The Holy Spirit is still giving people life in our day, here and around the world. Where the preaching of Christ crucified and risen for our salvation–where that is happening, there the Holy Spirit is giving life. So it is happening, right here, right now, this morning. The Spirit is glorifying Christ Jesus, your Savior. The Spirit is breathing life into you, raising you from deadness to life. Breathe in the life. Feel the power of the wind. The Holy Spirit is doing his work.

Spirit, breath, wind: The Holy Spirit, the Lord and giver of life, “who with the Father and the Son together is worshiped and glorified.” On this Day of Pentecost, we do worship and glorify the Holy Spirit for doing his life-giving work among us.

“Sanctified in the Word of Truth” (John 17:11b-19; 1 John 5:9-15)

In today’s Gospel reading, Jesus prays for his disciples–he prays for all believers, he prays for his church–he prays for us, here in this time between his ascension and his return. And one of the things Jesus prays for us is this, where he says to the Father: “Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.” “Sanctified in the Word of Truth.” Let’s find out what that means for us now.

The prayer that Jesus prays in John 17 is often called his “High Priestly Prayer.” Jesus is coming to the Father, interceding for us on our behalf. Jesus literally is coming to the Father very shortly, since he is praying this prayer on the night he was betrayed, and soon thereafter would come his death and resurrection and, forty days after that, his ascension into heaven. So Jesus is “going away,” in this sense. He’s been preparing his disciples for that, and now he is praying to his Father for all who would believe in him–people like us–living in this world during this “in-between” time, between his ascension and his coming again.

What Jesus prays for us, what he sees as essential to what we need, is that the Father would sanctify us in the truth, the truth of his word. Do you see that as a top priority for you? Being sanctified in the truth of God’s word? You should. This is what you really need.

What does it mean that God would “sanctify” us? It means that God would set us apart to belong to him alone. It means that God would make us a set-apart people, a holy people, that we would see our identity, and that we would live out our identity, as God’s own people. And this, in the midst of a world that does not know God. That’s what it means for us to be sanctified, “set apart as holy.”

How does it happen? By means of the truth of God’s word. It happens by God’s word having its way with us. The Holy Spirit makes us God’s holy people by means of the word. The Holy Spirit creates faith in our hearts through the gospel, and the Spirit then keeps us in that faith by those same gospel means, the Word and the Sacraments. This is the Spirit’s work of sanctification.

Why is this so important for you? Because if you are not set apart to belong to God, if you are not kept in the faith by means of the word, then you will inevitably drift away from God, you will be drawn away into the ways of the world, you will lose your faith, and lose your eternal salvation. A dreadful prospect, that. No, you need God’s word to be kept in the saving faith.

And this is faith in Christ and nothing else. Only faith in God’s Son, Jesus Christ, will save you. This is what God’s word declares. This is God’s testimony. Listen to what we read in today’s epistle, from 1 John: “And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.”

God gives us eternal life in his Son and only in him. For Jesus Christ is the one and only Savior sent from God. Otherwise, we would be doomed to eternal death and damnation. Our sins had separated us from God, and we came under the curse of death and futility and under God’s righteous judgment. Who could overcome this hopeless situation and undo the curse and spare us from the judgment to come?

Christ Jesus, the very Son of God. The eternal Son of God, come in the flesh to be our brother. Jesus of Nazareth, the man who came from God and taught the truth and brought the blessings of the kingdom of God in, ahead of time, in his public ministry. Things like healings and abundant provision and even raising the dead–these end-time blessings that Jesus would win for us by his death and resurrection, and which he will bring to pass in full when he comes again. This same Jesus, the Christ, the Son of God.

“And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.” God’s Son, Jesus Christ, kept the law we have not kept, loving God and neighbor the way it is supposed to be done. His righteousness is perfect. Yet, even though he is sinless, he died a sinner’s death, shamed as a criminal, hanging on a cross, forsaken by God himself. Jesus was experiencing the abandonment and desolation that sinners deserve, that we deserve for our sins. The sin and the death and the curse had to be dealt with, if we are going to be saved. Holy blood, the blood of God’s own Son, shed on our behalf–you can’t do any better than that. Mission accomplished, on the cross. Forgiveness won, righteousness imputed and imparted, death destroyed, the devil’s stranglehold on us broken and done away with forever.

Life, life is the outcome of what Christ has done for us. The result is resurrection, starting with Christ’s own resurrection at Easter, resurrection life now conveyed to us in Holy Baptism. Life guaranteed for us on the last day, when Christ will return and raise our dead bodies from the grave. Creation will be restored, more glorious than ever. Our bodies will be raised up new and whole, ready for eternity. No more sorrow or sin, no disease or death. This is the eternal life that comes in Christ, which faith takes hold of.

Faith, generated by that word of truth we’ve been talking about. How we need this gospel word to keep us in the faith!

This is the word of truth, this is God’s testimony: “Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.” If there is a more hated verse in the Bible, I don’t know what it is. For this testimony from God excludes all other supposed ways of salvation. Being a “good person” cannot save you. You are not good enough to earn your way out of hell and climb your way into heaven. You will never do enough. Other religions cannot save you. Mohammed and his made-up god “Allah” cannot save you. Joseph Smith and his made-up Mormonism cannot save you. Buddhism, Hinduism, rabbinic Judaism–forget about it. They won’t work. Dead end. Only the Son of God, Jesus Christ, the incarnate, crucified, risen, ascended, and returning Lord can save sinners like you and me and give us eternal life.

This is why Christ and his Christians are so hated. If you hold to the word of God, the world will hate you. Count on it. Jesus said as much ahead of time, didn’t he? He tells the Father: “I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.” Look at how Christians are mocked in the media. We are accused of being intolerant, inflexible, bigoted, holier-than-thou, hypocritical. And in other countries around the world, those who belong to Christ are even being killed, because of the world’s fury against God and his word. In Nigeria, for example, Christians are being killed by Islamic terrorists blowing up car-bombs in front of their churches.

We live in a sinful, hostile world. The world hates us, because we call men to repentance, we call sin for what it is, and we say there is only one way of salvation, and you’re not it. This is all very unpopular. But this is God’s testimony, this is his word. When we are sanctified in the truth, the truth of God’s word, not everything will be sweetness and light, a bed of roses.

But greater than the hardships, far greater are the blessings of being sanctified in the word of truth. For one thing, Jesus prays that God will guard us in this hostile world and keep us from the evil one. And we know that Jesus’ prayers are heard and answered. The world cannot harm us, the devil cannot hurt us. Oh, they may throw us in prison or persecute us, but they cannot rip us out of God’s hand or take away our salvation.

What’s more, God’s word, his beautiful word of promise in Jesus our Savior–this brings great joy to our heart. Like Jesus says in today’s Gospel, he speaks God’s word to people “that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves.” This is the joy of knowing that we do have life, eternal life, in knowing Christ.

“I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life.” You, you here today who are trusting in Christ Jesus as your Savior–know for certain that you do have eternal life in his name. This is what God’s word declares, and God does not lie. You are truly blessed, even if the circumstances of your life don’t tell you that, even if the world hates you and the devil tries to tell you that you don’t need God’s word and the church so much. But don’t listen to those lies. Instead, stay in God’s word.

“Sanctified in the Word of Truth.” That’s what Jesus is praying for you today. And that’s what you will be. God will sanctify you in the truth. His word is truth.

“What to Preach and Where to Reach” (Luke 24:44-53; Acts 1:1-11)

Today is Ascension Day, that glorious day when our Lord Jesus Christ ascended into heaven, where he now sits at the right hand of the Father and from where he will come again on the last day. Ascension Day, which occurred forty days after Easter and thus on a Thursday, which is why we always have service on this day of the week at this time of the year. The Ascension of Our Lord is a major festival in the church year, because it marks such a momentous event.

Forty days after Easter. During those forty days, the risen Christ appeared to his disciples a number of times, speaking, as it says, about the kingdom of God. Christ was preparing his apostles for what he would be sending them out to do after he ascended. He had a mission for them to carry out. This is the church’s mission still to this day. And Jesus gives us everything we need to carry out this mission. What Jesus did to prepare and empower the apostles he does now for us. So what we hear Jesus saying in our readings today from Luke and Acts–this applies to our churches in our day. Our Lord’s marching orders, and the power to carry them out, are still the same.

St. Luke is the one who tells us much about this, both in the ending of his gospel and at the beginning of his second book, the Acts of the Apostles. In Luke 24 and in Acts chapter 1, we hear Jesus telling the church two things: “What to Preach and Where to Reach.”

In these instructions that Jesus gives right before his ascension, he gives an outline of what to preach–that is, the content of the church’s preaching–as well as an outline of where to reach, the extent of the church’s mission. The preaching outline and the reaching outline–both are given here, so let’s give our attention to both.

First of all, what to preach. Jesus gives the apostles their preaching outline in Luke 24, where he says: “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations.” First he opens up our minds to understand the Scriptures, what its central content is, and then he tells us how to apply this content to people in the church’s preaching.

“Thus it is written”: In other words, here’s what the Bible is all about, boys. And it’s all about Jesus. “Everything written about me,” Jesus says, “in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” What the whole Old Testament was driving at, and what the whole history of Israel was leading up to, now has come to pass in the coming of the Christ, this same Jesus of Nazareth. He is the Messiah, the Anointed One, the great King, the divine deliverer whom God had promised centuries earlier.

And those messianic prophecies now stand fulfilled. Jesus has accomplished the mission he set out to do, the mission he was sent from heaven to do, namely, to rescue mankind. The human race was in a heap of trouble and could not extricate itself. Mankind had rebelled against God, fallen into sin, and come under the curse of death and conflict. Hopeless was our situation on our own. Stuck in the mire, that’s where we were. But Messiah came, Christ came, to undo the mess, to rescue us from the death-trap we had gotten ourselves into.

How would he do it? In a surprising way. The Christ would go to the cross. He would have to do this, if the rescue mission was to be successful. Why? Because justice had to be served. Man must die for man’s sin, the law must be kept. And the wages of sin is death, death under God’s judgment. But to save us, Christ took that judgment on himself. Even though Jesus was totally innocent–he kept God’s law perfectly–he loved us so much that he took our place as our stand-in. Jesus takes the punishment we deserve. His suffering and death is enough to cover everyone in the world, because he is the holy Son of God. His righteousness gets credited to our account, and thus we are free, forgiven, debt paid off in full, and then some. This was God’s rescue plan all along, even if people didn’t recognize it at the time. But Jesus did, of course. That is why he says, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer.” He suffered death in our place so that we would not die eternally.

But that is not the end of the story. Jesus continues: “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead.” The resurrection–this too is what is written and what the church should preach. Christ rose from the dead; this is his Easter victory. By his death Christ destroyed the power of death, that dangling sword of Damocles hanging over our head. Christ disarmed death, took the sting out of it. Because he shares his resurrection life with us, we who trust in him for our salvation, we have life in his name.

So the death and resurrection of the Christ–this is the heart and core of the Bible’s content, according to Christ himself. These historic events are the bedrock, the foundation, and the central focus of the church’s message. The death and resurrection of Christ–these are the most important events that have ever happened in the world, they really are. The whole future of humanity and of every individual person in this world depends on these monumental events–the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ for the rescue of us doomed sinners. This then is what gives substance to the church’s preaching.

The application–the life-saving, life-giving application of what Christ has done, applying it to the lives of human beings, for that is what happens in the preaching of God’s word–this is where Jesus goes next in his preaching outline: “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name.” Repentance and the forgiveness of sins–this is where the rubber meets the road in applying what Jesus has done historically to you and me personally. Repentance–calling sinners to give up on themselves as their own gods, as their own saviors. You can’t do that job, you will fail miserably. Only God can save you–and yes, you need saving. So repent. Recognize your deadness. Turn to God for life. He will give it to you. This then is the preaching of forgiveness. What Christ won for you on the cross is delivered to you free of charge, with your name on it. And this forgiveness is received by faith, as the Holy Spirit works faith and trust in your heart, as you hear the gospel.

Do you want to know what is the most important thing that is going on in the world today? It is not the build-up of arms in Iran. It is not the Islamic jihad. It is not the U.S. economy or the presidential campaign. No, the most important thing that is happening in the world today is the preaching of the gospel done by the church. It is the church preaching the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, in fulfillment of Scripture, and calling sinners to repentance and faith in Christ for the forgiveness of sins. This may look like nothing in the world’s eyes, but this is what God is doing now through the church. It’s why the world is still around, frankly, and that is, to give the church the opportunity to spread the gospel around the world and so to save millions of sinners before the return of Christ.

So Jesus has told the church what to preach. Now the second thing he says in our readings tonight is where to reach. The outreach outline–that’s the other part of Jesus’ ascension instructions. Luke gives it to us in brief in Luke 24, where Jesus says that this message “should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things.” And then we get it again in more detail in Acts 1, where Christ tells the apostles the expanding extent of the church’s mission: “And you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

Jerusalem. Judea and Samaria. The end of the earth. If you could see these places on a map, you would see concentric circles moving outward. And this is what the church did, as we read about it in the Book of Acts. First in Jerusalem itself, and only among Jews. Then moving outward, out into the country of Judea, and then crossing an ethnic and religious border by venturing into Samaria. Then, even more daringly, going to the Gentiles throughout the Mediterranean world. And the going and the preaching and the bearing witness hasn’t stopped since. The mission moved out to northern Europe, where many of our ancestors received the good news, and we today are the beneficiaries of that mission.

And so now we are the church that continues to take the gospel to the ends of the earth. To Africa and to Asia, for example, places where the church is really growing right now. As you know, in March I went to Indonesia to teach at a pastors’ conference there, to help the church in Indonesia carry out its mission in a very hostile environment. Indonesia is the fourth largest nation in the world, with the largest Muslim population. It is exciting to see what the Lord is doing there, bringing thousands of people to faith in Christ. This is but just one example of how the worldwide Christian mission that Jesus started when he ascended into heaven has reached to the end of the earth.

Before Jesus ascended, he gave the church instructions on two things–what to preach and where to reach. What to preach? We preach Christ crucified, crucified and now risen from the dead for your salvation and the salvation of every other person in the world. Where to reach? To the end of the earth–to Indonesia and to Iran and Pakistan and all those far distant places around the globe. But also right here, close to home. In our “Jerusalems”–Bonne Terre, Potosi, De Soto, Park Hills. To your neighbor next door, to your adult children, to your co-worker or friend from the club. Wherever there are sinners in need of a Savior, there is where we bring the gospel. And yes, including here tonight, for you.

“A Place for Jim” (John 14:1-6)

When someone we love leaves us, it can be very painful for us. Our heart aches. That person we know and love is no longer with us, and we miss him. That’s what we’re experiencing now with our brother Jim. We miss him now, and we will continue to miss him. Husband, father, friend, fellow church member–Jim Stewart was someone we got to know, and we liked him, and now he won’t be around anymore to share our company. That hurts, and understandably so. Even when we had months to get ready for this week–we knew Jim’s cancer was terminal–even so, it doesn’t take away the loss we feel at this time.

Death stinks. Death and disease, the dying process, the whole miserable lot we experience in this life–and lurking around in the back of our mind is that what happened to Jim will happen to us, too, in one form or another. Life here is only temporary. There will be other mourners in the future, except they’ll be attending our funeral. It’s on days like this that the reality of this whole sorry mess jumps out at us. And it is disturbing.

But maybe that’s why it is a comforting coincidence, in a way, that Jim’s funeral should occur on this particular day. “What, May 17,” you say, “what’s so special about that?” Well, nothing, really. But today happens to be forty days after Easter, which means that it’s Ascension Day. And the reality of Christ’s resurrection and his ascension into heaven and what will happen when he comes back to take us home–it is all this that gives us comfort in the face of death, Jim’s and our own. For on this Ascension Day, we’re reminded of why our Lord Jesus Christ died and rose and ascended and is coming again, and that is, as Jesus says, “I go to prepare a place for you.” This is the promise that will sustain us through all the difficulties and loss we experience in life. And so it is when we consider the sadness we feel right now. We take comfort in knowing that Jesus was going to prepare “A Place for Jim.”

“Let not your hearts be troubled,” Jesus tells his disciples. “Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.”

“I am going to prepare a place for Jim. I am going to prepare a place for you.” This is what Jesus is saying to us today, and it gives us great comfort in the face of loss.

Jesus’ disciples were feeling a sense of loss. Their hearts were troubled. Jesus had just told them that he was about to leave them, that he was going away. This was deeply troubling. Their beloved master, with whom they had traveled for the past several years–he tells them that he is leaving them. Jesus, from whom they had learned so much–about God, about themselves, about him–Jesus says he’s about to go away, and they can’t come with him. No wonder their hearts were troubled.

But Jesus reassures them, in the midst of their sorrow–just as he reassures us now. “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me.” Jesus calls us to faith, to trust in God’s goodness and to trust in the one whom God has sent, namely, Jesus the Christ.

But what are we to believe about Christ and about his going away, that this should give us any comfort? What does this have to do with our losing Jim and missing him and the prospect of even more deaths to come, including our own? What does this have to do with us? Answer: Everything!

“I go to prepare a place for you,” Christ says. Without that, there is no hope for us, for you or me or for our brother Jim. With this promise, though, there is everything to hope for. We have every confidence in the world to face death, precisely because Jesus did “go away” as he said he would.

Follow me on this. Jesus is saying these words just hours before he will be betrayed and arrested and dragged off to an unjust trial in the middle of the night. Jesus was being taken from his disciples before their very eyes, and it shook them to the core. Then the next day their master would be condemned to death, nailed to a cross, suffer and die and be buried. It looked like all was lost. The disciples could not have felt any lower. Jesus had indeed gone away, he had been taken from them, and it hurt like a knife in their soul. All their hopes were crushed.

But in truth this was all part of God’s plan, it was all part of Jesus going away to prepare a place for us–to prepare a place for Jim and you and me. There was no other way for this to happen. We needed Jesus to go this way, the way of the cross, if we were to have any place in God’s kingdom. It’s the only way. As Jesus says, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

Why is this? Because it is only through Jesus going the way of the cross that our sins are forgiven, and only thus are we able to enter into God’s holy presence. We need Christ’s cleansing, which he accomplished by shedding his holy blood for us on that cross, as our substitute, taking the punishment we deserve because of our sins. It’s the only way. You and I are not good enough to overcome our sins against God, and neither was Jim. We need the Son of God to do this for us, which he has done.

And now is Christ arisen. Death could not hold him. Christ rose bodily from the grave on Easter Day, in victory over death. And over the next forty days he met a number of times with his disciples, telling them about the kingdom of God, before he ascended into heaven on this day, Ascension Day. He goes, as he says, to prepare a place for us.

“And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.” This is our hope, isn’t it, our sure hope, as certain as Christ’s own word. Jim trusted in this promise. It is the faith by which he lived and in which he died, namely, that Christ will come again and take us to himself, that we will be with him forever. It is the promise of the bodily resurrection from the dead at Christ’s return. It is the promise of everlasting life in God’s presence.

This is the place that Jesus has prepared for us. We get a glimpse of it in the Book of Revelation. A new heaven and a new earth. The holy city, the new Jerusalem. What a place this will be! The big thing about it is that God will be there, and we will be with God. “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.” Perfect communion with our Creator, so much better than now, when we are still plagued by our sins. But then, on that day and for all the days thereafter, our relationship with God will be made fully right.

And this place that Jesus is preparing for us–it will be so wonderful, in another way of looking at it, because of what will not be there. “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” No more tears, like the tears of separation we shed when we lose a loved one. None of that. No more death, that ugly intruder that always is hanging around now and snatching people away from us. No more pain, no more suffering from the ravages of a disease like cancer.

Friends, this is the place, the wonderful place, that Jesus went away to prepare for us, by way of his death, resurrection, and ascension. We will experience this place in full when Christ our Savior returns.

Having left this vale of tears, Jim Stewart now is in the presence of the Lord. Jim’s suffering is over. He rests from his labors. His soul is with the Lord. He and we still await the resurrection of the body and the restoration of all creation, which is the church’s great hope, and which will come to pass on the day when Christ returns. But for now, Jim is at peace. His place in God’s presence is secure. Take comfort in that. Rejoice that Jim has made it, that the Holy Spirit kept him in the faith, even through the ordeal of cancer, by means of the church’s ministry of Word and Sacrament. And take hold of that same hope for yourself. Do like Jim did, and heed the Spirit calling you to stay close to Christ. Christ Jesus is the only source of comfort and strength that will carry you through all the travails of this life and on into the life to come. The only way. He is the way.

“Let not your hearts be troubled.” Jim has gone away, but you will see him again. And that’s because Christ has gone away, via the cross and the empty tomb and his ascension into heaven, but with the assurance that he will come again to take us home to himself. “I go to prepare a place for you,” Jesus is telling us today. “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.” And therefore: “Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.”

“All You Need Is Love” (1 John 5:1-8; John 15:9-17)

“All you need is love. Love is all you need.” No, I’m not quoting John the Beatle. I’m quoting John the Apostle, or at least I’m paraphrasing him. Yes, John–that John, St. John–talked about love a lot. And he’s doing it again today, both in the Epistle reading from 1 John and in the Gospel of John. Basically, John is saying today, “All You Need Is Love.”

Listen first to John’s first epistle: “Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him. By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments.”

And here John is just repeating what he had heard Jesus say years earlier, as recorded in John’s gospel, where Jesus tells his disciples: “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. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full. This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.”

So it sounds like, if you’ll pardon the expression, love is all you need. If you want to keep God’s commandments and be pleasing to him, all you need is love. If you want to abide in Christ and stay connected to him, all you need is love. If you want to have fullness of joy–and who doesn’t?–all you need is love. Well, in that case, how are you doing on your love? Do you have what it takes? Do you have what you need? I mean, if you don’t, then you won’t be able to keep God’s commandments, you won’t abide in Christ–you will be cut off–and your joy will be running on empty. It would seem, then, that there’s a lot riding on how much love you have and how you’re putting it into practice. Let’s check this out today.

Love is the all-comprehensive commandment of God. All of God’s commandments can be summed up in this one word, love. Love God. Love your neighbor. Do those simple things, and you will be keeping all the other commandments in the process. If you love God, you will not let other things take his place in your heart. If you love God, you will treat his name, which he placed on you in your baptism–you will treat the Lord’s name as your most precious possession. If you truly love God, you will be in the Lord’s house every Sunday, because you hold God’s word sacred and gladly hear and learn it.

Likewise, with love for your neighbor. If you love God, you will also love the neighbor God has placed in your life. You will honor the authorities God has placed over you. You will not hurt or harm your neighbor in his body. You will respect your neighbor’s marriage. If you love your neighbor, you will not steal from him, you will protect his reputation, and you will not covet his stuff or his relationships. Love God. Love your neighbor. These are God’s commandments. Do these things, and you will live. Love is all you need.

But now perhaps the most amazing thing John writes in our lessons today is this: “And his commandments are not burdensome.” Huh? Come again, John? “You heard me,” John says. “His commandments are not burdensome.”

Whoa! How can you say such a thing, John? I mean, look, have you ever tried to keep these commandments and been honest with yourself on how you’re doing? Well, I tell you, I have, and it’s not pretty. In fact, I’d say God’s commandments can be a mighty heavy burden.

It sounds so easy, doesn’t it? Love. Who can’t do that? Rustle up some nice mushy feelings in your heart from time to time, hold hands, sing Kumbaya, and there, you’ve done it. Well, not quite. It may work when you’re with people you like and everything is copasetic and the sun is setting gently in the west, but what about those other times? You know, when you’re in a bad mood. Or when someone crosses you, or is being disagreeable. Not so easy then, is it? You lose your temper. You get angry. You say mean things, words you regret. You know you’ve sinned. Love has not had its way with you. And that’s just with people. But what about with God? That can be even worse. How much, really, do I love God? With my whole heart, soul, mind, and strength? Not hardly. Pretty cold in there it is, in my heart sometimes. Quite often, in fact. What is wrong with me? Am I even a Christian? Am I going to hell? “His commandments are not burdensome”? Are you kidding me?

So what gives? God does. God gives. He gives us the love we need, the resources we need, the forgiveness and the new life we need, to keep these very commandments.

All you need is love. Well, yeah, only it’s not the love you are able to muster up from inside of you. Instead, it’s the love that first comes from outside of us: God’s love, freely given, God’s love in Christ Jesus your Savior. He loves you, yeah, yeah, yeah. But God’s love in Christ is a lot more than just a line in a song. It is the living reality of a crucified Savior, shedding his blood for you to redeem you from all your sins of lovelessness. It is the reality of our risen Lord, conquering death and hell for us, so we have nothing to fear and everything to hope for. He loves you, amen, amen, and amen!

“This is my commandment,” Jesus says, “that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.” Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. This is how we know love. This is how we are able to love others. It’s because of the great “as I have loved you” love of Jesus.

Because you know God’s love in Christ and have received it and experience it, and because God’s love is so powerful it covers all your failures to love and provides you with new resources to love–this is how John can say, “His commandments are not burdensome.” It’s like when Jesus himself says, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly of heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

Friends, Christ bore the burden of the cross for us, lifting that load of the law’s condemnation off our shoulder and putting it on his own. Now we live in the new life of the Spirit, we are new people in Christ, and that not only takes the sting out of death, it also takes the crushing burden out of God’s commandments. We have forgiveness for our sins and new power to do what God commands us.

So, since you are a new person in Christ, and since you know what love is now and you are able to love–if that is true, and it is–how then will we love one another this week? Do you know anyone with needs? Someone with sickness, or mourning a loss, or sitting in loneliness, or otherwise beat down by life? There is your opportunity to love. How are things going in your family? Any friction there? Any room for forgiveness? That’s your opening to put love into action. I’m sure today everybody will be telling their mother that they love her, and they’ll probably do something to show their love. But how about the other 364 days of the year? And what about all the people other than your mother? Those folks need love, too. God’s commandment is to love them, too, in both word and deed.

Yes, it’s time to love. It’s always time. Don’t wait for someone else to act first. You take the initiative and do love. This is how Christ loved us, isn’t it? He went ahead and loved us and acted, even when we weren’t looking for it, even when we didn’t deserve it. So you now can follow suit. “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.”

God’s commandments for us Christians are summed up in the one word, love. Love God. Love your neighbor. And especially, within the fellowship of the church, love one another. “And his commandments are not burdensome.” All you need is love: God’s love in Christ, which saves you and forgives you and fills you with the love you need to keep his commandments. Abide in Christ’s love, and you will have the love you need to love God and to love one another. Abide in Christ’s love, and he will fill you with joy, in spite of all the pain and frustration and failure we experience in this life. All you need is love. God’s love in Christ–this love, his love, is all you need.

“Abiding in the Vine” (John 15:1-8)

In the Gospel reading for today from John 15, Jesus tells us, “I am the vine; you are the branches. Abide in me, and you will bear much fruit. Do not abide in me, and you will not bear fruit. Then you will be like a dead branch that is thrown into the fire and burned.” Obviously, then, it becomes vitally important that we give our attention to this matter of “Abiding in the Vine.” So let’s do that now.

Abiding in the vine. It’s the vital Jesus connection. And as we look at our text, we will see that it involves three things: becoming a branch; abiding in the vine; and bearing fruit.

First, becoming a branch. Now on the surface of the thing, this sounds ridiculous. How do you “become” a branch? Either you are or you aren’t. And that’s the point. You can’t make yourself into a branch. By our fallen sinful nature, we are not branches. There is no living connection to the vine. We cut ourselves off from God by our sin, and we can’t glue ourselves back on. No living connection.

I’m not an expert on horticulture, but as I understand it, if you try to graft a branch onto a vine or tree, there has to be some sort of match, like to like, a genetic similarity. Some diversity is possible, yes, but there needs to be a certain amount of relatedness, and of course you need to have a living branch to graft. Otherwise, it will not “take.” Likewise with an organ transplant. If there isn’t a relatedness of like to like, the body will reject the tissue.

So this is the problem for us. How can we sinners–dead sinners, to boot–get ourselves connected to a holy God? We can’t do it. The graft wouldn’t take. The Lord would reject us outright, and rightfully so.

No, to become a branch, a living branch, God himself must do the connecting. He has to do a miracle to make us compatible. Here’s how he does it. First of all, Christ has to cleanse us to make us compatible. Our sins have to be dealt with, so that we are not rejected. This Christ accomplished just a few hours after he spoke the words of our text. It was on the night he was betrayed that Jesus spoke these vine-and-branches words to his disciples. Then they went out to the garden of Gethsemane, where Jesus was betrayed, arrested, and brought to trial. That next day, Good Friday, Jesus paid for all of your sins, and the sins of the whole world, by being nailed to the cross and dying there in our place. Jesus, the holy Son of God, was taking the due punishment for sinners, shedding his holy blood to cleanse us from our sins. His perfect righteousness is accounted to us, and that is what makes us compatible, clean, acceptable to God, and not rejected. It is because of Christ. The gospel of Christ declares it, and we believe it. “Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you,” Jesus tells his disciples. Christ’s gospel word is powerful to do what it says, and that is, to cleanse us and to make us alive.

And in Holy Baptism, God has connected us to Christ. We have been joined to Jesus in his death and resurrection. Now we are living branches, connected to the vine, Jesus Christ, by God’s gracious action. It’s the Jesus connection, a vital vine-and-branches connection, by which we have become living branches.

Now that we are branches, the main thing for branches is simply to remain connected to the vine. The branches draw their life from the vine, so it is vital, absolutely vital, that they abide in the vine. “Abide in me,” Christ says, “and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.”

There is no life or fruitfulness in us unless we remain connected to Christ. Apart from him, we can do nothing. If we do not abide in him, if we let ourselves get disconnected, our life is forfeit, and we are doomed to hell. That’s what Jesus says: “If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned.”

How do people get disconnected from Christ? Well, you’ve got the devil, the world, and your own sinful flesh tugging at you, trying to cut you off from your Jesus connection. Damage your faith, chop away at that connection, and pretty soon you’re in danger of coming detached. When people distance themselves from church, when they stop coming to church regularly, they are in grave danger, serious danger, of the faith connection being weakened. When people let the devil whisper in their ear, saying you don’t need God, you can be your own God–well, that’s how our first parents got into trouble, wasn’t it. When we let the world around us tempt us away from God, away from Christ and his church, we can lose our faith. The branch loses its connection to the vine, it stops bearing fruit, and it dies. All that is left for the dead branches is to be tossed into the fire of hell, a dreadful prospect.

No, God does not want that for you, my friend. That is why Jesus is speaking these words to you today. Abide in him. Abide in the vine. This is God’s good and gracious will for you.

How do we abide in the vine? By staying connected. Be where the life source is, and that is wherever the Word of God is preached in its truth and purity and the Sacraments are administered according to Christ’s institution. This is how you draw your life from the vine. Christ feeds and nourishes you, supplies you with the life-giving vitality you need to sustain your faith and make you productive. He does this through–he does this only through–his gospel means, the means of grace. Sermons, Bible classes, preaching and teaching, the Sacrament of Christ’s Body and Blood–here in these means, Christ the vine is supplying us the branches with the grace we need to keep going and growing and being fruitful.

Which leads us to our third point, bearing fruit. First was becoming branches. Second was abiding in the vine. Third now is bearing fruit.

“Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit,” our Lord tells us. “By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.” How does a branch on a fruit tree bear fruit? Does it do so by trying real hard and resolving to really do a better job of producing fruit from now on? No. All the branch needs to do is to stay connected to the vine, and it will naturally produce fruit.

Now to be sure, from time to time the vinedresser will come around and prune the branch, so that the deadness is trimmed away, so as not to interfere, and the branch thus becomes even more fruitful. This is describing how God works repentance in our life, which may be painful at the time, but it does keep the deadness from setting in and taking over.

Now the thing about a branch bearing fruit is that it doesn’t have to do anything strange or extra in order to bear fruit. It just comes naturally when the branch is drawing its life and its fruitfulness from the vine. There’s that Jesus connection again, which is the key to our being fruitful. Abide in the vine, and you will bear fruit.

What kind of fruit are we talking about? The big thing Jesus has been emphasizing in this discourse with his disciples is that they love one another. This is the kind of fruit Jesus’ disciples will produce, that they love one another. This is talking about you and me and our congregation, that we love one another. How we speak to one another, how we care for one another, how we look out for the brother or sister who is hurting, physically or emotionally, how we reach out to the one who is missing from our fellowship, or who is weighed down with sin or guilt or depression or distress–this is how love moves into action. Where is the brother or sister who is in need? What are his or her needs? How can I help? How can we help? This is what it means to love one another.

Again, as always, it is the Jesus connection that is key. We are connected to the vine, and the vine is Jesus. His love flows into us, and then flows out through us to others. “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. . . . In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. . . . Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.”

Yes, this is the fruit that living branches, connected to Christ the vine, will bear. We are those living branches, you and I are, and our fruitfulness comes from abiding in the vine. It’s the vital Jesus connection, begun in your baptism, nurtured in God’s Word and the Sacraments, blossoming in love, producing much good fruit, and giving all glory to God.

“In the Green Pastures of the Twenty-third Psalm” (Psalm 23)

Today is what is known in the church as “Good Shepherd Sunday.” Every year on this Sunday during the Easter season, the Gospel Reading comes from John 10, where several times Jesus calls himself the “good shepherd” of the sheep. And, every year, the psalm appointed for this day is Psalm 23, perhaps the most famous and well-loved of all the psalms, the one that begins, “The LORD is my shepherd.”

The danger with such a familiar and well-loved passage is that it can become for us just so much “white noise.” We hear the sound, and we turn off our minds. We don’t think about what we’re hearing. And that would be a shame. Because there is not only soothing sound here, there is real substance as well, strong assurance that gives true comfort and confidence to troubled souls. So just because Psalm 23 is familiar, don’t take it for granted. Instead, let’s consider more closely what we’ve heard all our life, as today we, the Shepherd’s sheep, graze “In the Green Pastures of the Twenty-third Psalm.”

Please turn in the front of your hymnal to Psalm 23, and let’s read this psalm together. . . . “The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD forever.”

“In the Green Pastures of the Twenty-third Psalm.” This morning I think we’ll do our grazing in three parts, following the flow of the psalm itself: 1) Our Shepherd leads and feeds us. 2) Our Shepherd guards and guides us. And 3) Our Shepherd is good and gracious to us forever.

First, our Shepherd leads and feeds us. And the place to start here is by establishing who this Shepherd is. The psalm begins, “The LORD is my shepherd.” Wherever the Old Testament has the word LORD in capital letters, the Hebrew behind it is the divine name Yahweh, the name of God. The LORD, Yahweh–this is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God who made a covenant of promise with the patriarchs. The LORD, Yahweh–this is the God who revealed himself to Moses and then acted in history to bring his people out of bondage into the Promised Land. The LORD, Yahweh–this is the God who chose David to be the king of Israel, the same David who is writing this psalm. The LORD, whom David here is confessing as his shepherd–this is the triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, who is our shepherd also. The twenty-third psalm is our psalm as much as it is David’s, for we have the same God taking care of us.

David himself had been a shepherd, so he knew all that was involved in shepherding a flock, if one was to be a good shepherd, that is. And so he writes from the perspective of a sheep that has such a shepherd. Right at the outset of this psalm, he marks the theme: “The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.” That is to say, “I shall not be in want. I shall lack nothing, because I have the best possible shepherd taking care of me.”

David then explains why he shall not want for anything: “The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.” Green pastures to graze in, so the sheep are well nourished. Still waters to drink from, so the sheep can drink in safety. Rest and refreshment when they become weary. Being led on the right paths, right where they need to go. What more could the sheep need?

Now to be sure, this is about more than sheep. It’s about how our God takes care of us. Besides feeding us physically, with our daily bread, God leads us into the green pastures of his Word, where we are nourished spiritually. Our spiritual thirst is quenched, as our Lord Jesus gives us the living water, the spring that wells up to eternal life. He restores our soul, Jesus does, as he invites us, “Come to me, all you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” Christ himself is our path of righteousness, for he says, “I am the way and the truth and the life.” Yes, our Shepherd leads and feeds us.

Second, our Shepherd guards and guides us. This comes out in the next verse of the psalm, where David says: “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.”

David knew that when a flock of sheep passes through a dark valley, there could be danger lurking in the bushes: bandits who would steal the sheep away, wolves who would devour them. The sheep need a strong and brave shepherd to be there for them and with them, to guard them from these threats and to guide them safely through the place of danger. The shepherd’s rod was the club he would use to beat off the enemies. The shepherd’s staff would keep the sheep close on the safe path and could pull them out of danger.

David himself faced danger many times in his life: when confronting Goliath, when pursued by Saul, when facing armies in battle. But the LORD was his shield and defender, protecting him all along.

Do we have enemies threatening our safety? You bet we do. Satan would steal us away from the fold and destroy our faith. False teachers are like wolves that would devour us for their own gain. The world is a hostile environment for Christians: on the one hand, alluring us with temptations that would take us off the right path, and, on the other hand, persecuting the church, so as to crush our spirit. Our whole pilgrimage in this life is like passing through a deep dark valley, shadows all around, with death ready to leap out at us at any moment. How we need our Shepherd with us to guard and guide us! We would be lost without him.

But Jesus Christ is the Good Shepherd who goes with us to protect us, present all the way. With him beside us, we fear no foe. His cross and his empty tomb, they comfort us. For this is the Jesus who says, “I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, and I lay down my life for the sheep.” This is what Christ has done for you, dear one. He laid down his life for you, being lifted up on the cross of Calvary. He did this for you so that you would not die. Otherwise, your sins would have condemned you, and you would be facing eternal death, an eternity in hell. But Christ, your Good Shepherd, laid down his life for you, to save you from all your foes: from sin, death, and the devil. All these enemies were beaten back and defeated by the valiant one, Christ Jesus our Good Shepherd.

And now he is risen from the dead and promises to be with us, to be with his church forever. The Good Shepherd has gone through that valley of the shadow of death and has come out safe on the other side. He will guide us now through our valley and deliver us from every evil–yes, even death itself. This is the comfort and the confidence that is yours in Christ.

Our Shepherd leads and feeds us. Our Shepherd guards and guides us. And third, our Shepherd is good and gracious to us forever. In the psalm, David now switches the imagery and takes us from the flock in the field to the guest in the banqueting hall. He writes: “You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD forever.”

The Lord has prepared a table before us in the presence of our enemies. Today he invites us to come to his table, the Lord’s Table, where he will give you his body and his blood to eat and to drink, a foretaste of the feast to come in heaven. Even in the presence of your enemies–the devil, the world, and your own sinful flesh–this table that the Lord has prepared will strengthen you for whatever they will throw your way. Your cup, the cup of salvation that the Lord gives you in this feast–this cup overflows with forgiveness for all your sins. And like a Middle Eastern host welcoming a weary traveler into his home, the Lord today is anointing your head with oil, the oil of the Holy Spirit, to refresh your soul and give you joy once again.

“Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD forever.” This is eternal life, my friend. This is the sure hope that David had, and the sure hope that every believer has in Christ. Our Shepherd is good and gracious to us forever. He is with us every day of this life, gracious and generous toward us in his abundant goodness and mercy. And he will welcome us into our heavenly home, where we will be with him forever.

Our Shepherd leads and feeds us. Our Shepherd guards and guides us. Our Shepherd is good and gracious to us forever. On this Good Shepherd Sunday, we have been grazing in the green pastures of the twenty-third psalm. This psalm is far more than a soothing sound. It provides real comfort for us and fills us with real confidence, because we know the one who is the fulfillment of this psalm. It is our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, the Good Shepherd who lays down his life for the sheep and then takes it up again, in Easter victory over all our foes. With our Good Shepherd beside us, we have no evil to fear and every good to look forward to.

“Thus It Is Written, Fulfilled, and Proclaimed” (Luke 24:36-49)

Do you want to know what the Bible is all about? Do you want to know what Jesus came to do? Do you want to know what the church’s preaching should emphasize? If so, then I’ve got good news for you. The answers to all three of these questions are given in today’s Gospel reading from Luke 24, specifically, in these verses: “Then Jesus said to them, ‘These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.’ Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and said to them, ‘Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things.’”

The Bible’s meaning, Jesus’ mission, and the church’s message–all summarized right here in one text. Thus our theme for today: “Thus It Is Written, Fulfilled, and Proclaimed.”

First, “Thus it is written,” that is, here is the Bible’s meaning, what it’s all about. Jesus himself tells us what he sees as the subject of the Scriptures. And it is . . . himself. Yes, Jesus makes the audacious claim that he is the central theme running through Holy Scripture. Listen to what he says. He reminds the disciples that he had spoken to them concerning “everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms.” Then he opens their minds to understand the Scriptures, and says, “Thus it is written, that the Christ,” and so on. In other words, Jesus is saying that he is the Christ, the Messiah, the one prophesied throughout the Hebrew Scriptures. Jesus is saying, essentially, “The Bible is about me.” This is not bragging; it’s the truth, and it’s for our benefit.

“Everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms.” This is a way of referring to the three main divisions of the Hebrew Bible: the Law of Moses, the Torah, the first five books of the Bible; then the Prophets, which consisted of Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and the Twelve Minor Prophets; and finally the Psalms, which stood at the head of the section called the Writings. Jesus here is talking about what we call the Old Testament, and he is saying that the whole thing is about him.

How so? How does that thread run through the Old Testament? Well, track it along with me. Think of the first promise of a deliverer, given by God right after the fall into sin: the seed of the woman who would strike the serpent in the head, even the serpent strikes his heel. Or think of the promise to Abraham, that in his seed all the families of the earth would be blessed. The seed of the woman, the seed of Abraham–that’s Jesus. Then there are the types of Jesus found in Israel’s history, those who prefigured his ministry: Moses, who led the children of Israel out of bondage. Joshua, Moses’ successor, who led them into the Promised Land. Aaron, the High Priest, who offered up sacrifices by which the people’s sins were forgiven. David, the King, to whom it was promised that one of his sons would be the great King, the Messiah, who would have an everlasting kingdom. The Scriptures of the Old Testament are replete with promises, prophecies, types–persons, institutions, and events–that all pointed ahead to what would finally be embodied in the person of Jesus Christ.

It was all there in the Scriptures that the disciples had, it was right there under their nose, but still the disciples didn’t get it, they didn’t put it all together. Until after the resurrection, when Jesus here meets with them and opens their minds to understand the Scriptures. And that’s why Jesus gives his “Thus it is written” statement, as a short summary of what it all boils down to if anyone is going to understand the Bible aright. He sums it up as follows: “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.” Jesus is saying this is what the Bible is about, what it’s aiming at. If you don’t understand the Bible this way, you don’t understand it.

Three things here in Jesus’ summary of the contents of the Bible: that the Christ should suffer, that he should rise on the third day, and that repentance and forgiveness should be preached in his name. That the Christ should suffer? Where is that in the Old Testament? Certainly the Suffering Servant prophecy of Isaiah 53, the Servant of the Lord who would be “wounded for our transgressions” and “with whose stripes we are healed”–this is the outstanding example of what Jesus says is written concerning the Christ’s suffering. The resurrection? Psalm 16, a prime example: “For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your holy one see corruption.” The preaching to the nations? “The word of the Lord shall go out from Jerusalem,” and “nations shall come to your light.” The suffering and death of the Christ, his bodily resurrection to life, and the preaching that will go out in his name–Jesus says this is what is written in the Scriptures, this is what you need to understand.

And so, if this is what is written, this is what Jesus came to fulfill. Thus it is written, thus it is fulfilled. Jesus came as the Christ to suffer and to rise for our salvation, so that there would be forgiveness of sins for the church to proclaim. This he did, the eternal Son of God coming in the flesh to suffer and die and rise again on our behalf. Ever wonder why the Apostles’ Creed skips ahead from “conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary,” zooming fast-forward over about 33 years to “suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried”? Why? Because that’s where the four gospels and where Jesus himself put the emphasis. After establishing his person, who Jesus is, namely, the Christ, God’s Son in the flesh, the focus is on Christ’s sacrificial suffering and death. Because that’s where the salvation is. Jesus came to be the one who delivers all of sinful mankind from the bondage of sin and the curse of death–to deliver you and me by means of his atoning death on the cross. Only that would get the job done, to free us from the impossible death-trap we had gotten ourselves into. So that’s where the emphasis lies, in the gospels, in the Creed, and in accord with the summary that Jesus gives right here, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer.”

“And on the third day rise from the dead.” Jesus came to fulfill that, too. The resurrection from the dead. That is the proof that what Jesus suffered was sufficient to take the sting out of death and give us life, eternal life, in its place. This is what we are celebrating during this Easter season–Christ’s resurrection. For it’s the guarantee of life not only for him but for us as well. Christ shares his resurrection life with us, all who trust in him and are baptized in his name. This too is what is written in Scripture and fulfilled in Christ.

Thus it is written. Thus it is fulfilled. Thus it is proclaimed. The preaching, the church’s preaching, what it should be about–this is what so naturally follows. “And that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations.” Repentance–the realization that you are stuck in your sins apart from God’s grace, that you have no hope in yourself, that you are damned and doomed and rightfully so. Repentance is when the weight of your sins comes crashing down on you and you cry out to God, “Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner.” The Law has to do its work on your heart if you are to see your need. But then the preaching doesn’t stop there. Then comes the Gospel, the forgiveness of sins. This is what Jesus has won for you, and he wants you to have it, to know it, to receive it. And it is through the foolishness of preaching that the gifts get delivered to your door. The Word of God is alive and active, and as the forgiveness is proclaimed in Jesus’ name, that same Word is effective to deliver the goods and to give you what it says.

That’s what Peter does, isn’t it, as we read it in the lesson from the Book of Acts. Peter follows Jesus’ preaching outline very closely. He preaches the death and resurrection of the Christ, and he preaches repentance and forgiveness in his name: “You delivered Jesus into death–you killed the Author of life, that’s how badly you missed it–but God raised him from the dead. We are witnesses of his resurrection. What God foretold by his prophets, that the Christ would suffer, this he fulfilled. Now listen. You need to repent, turn from your sins, and your sins will be blotted out, forgiven, wiped from the record. There is life in this Jesus that I am telling you about. Believe in him and be saved.”

That’s a summary of the preaching Jesus would have his church do. And so I proclaim to you, to you here today: Jesus Christ died for you. It was your sins he was bearing on that cross. You have no hope in yourself; your sins would condemn you. Death and God’s judgment is all you would face. But Christ died for you. He took your sins and carried them away, paid for them in full. God is merciful, and he forgives you your sins for Jesus’ sake. Your Savior now is risen–Hallelujah!–and you will rise with him. New life now, and an even better, eternal life after that–glorified bodies, restored creation, no more sin, perfect fellowship with God and with all his people–this is what is in store for you, you who trust in him. And I preach this now to you in Jesus’ name. You can take it to the bank. This is the sure hope you have in Christ.

Thus it is written. Thus it is fulfilled. Thus it is proclaimed. Thus it is believed. God is quickening this faith in your heart right now. Give him thanks that you know your Redeemer lives. And because he lives, you shall live also. Thus it is, and thus it will be. Amen.

“Fellowship through the Word of Life” (1 John 1:1 – 2:2)

As of this past Sunday, the Three-Year Lectionary is featuring six straight weeks of Epistle readings from First John. This is quite appropriate for Easter, since First John is all about a crucified-and-risen, real flesh-and-blood Savior for real flesh-and-blood sinners. John in his epistle is telling us that this is the only way we have fellowship with God and thus with one another: It is through Christ the eternal Son of God coming in the flesh, shedding his blood for us, and rising from the dead, bodily, to give us eternal life. And so right here in the beginning of John’s letter, he announces his theme, “Fellowship through the Word of Life”: We have fellowship with God and with one another only through the enfleshed and proclaimed Word of Life.

First, though, a little background on this epistle, to help us understand the purpose and nature of what we’re hearing. What we learn from church history is that the Apostle John, around the time that Jerusalem was destroyed by the Romans in A.D. 70–John left Jerusalem and moved to the city of Ephesus, in western Asia Minor, in what is now Turkey. Ephesus was one of the largest and most important cities in the Roman Empire. By this time Peter and Paul were dead, a number of the other apostles were dead, and before long John would be the last one left, the last living link to the Lord Jesus Christ. He who had been the youngest disciple was now the last apostle, and he developed a strong bond with those churches in Asia Minor. John was affectionately known as “the Elder,” “the Old Man,” and he in turn called the Christians in these churches “my children,” “my little children.”

This was now in the late first century, perhaps around the year 85 or 90, and John himself was probably in his 80s. He was still busy teaching the pure apostolic doctrine. But there arose around this time, in Ephesus and elsewhere, certain false doctrines and false teachers who challenged the right teaching about Christ, who drew off followers for themselves, and who withdrew from the fellowship of the church in order to form their own groups. These false teachers were influenced by philosophical ideas that said that physical matter was evil, that one had to ascend from the material to the spiritual, and that this secret “knowledge” is what made one “super-spiritual,” advanced and superior, and, really, without sin.

One of the false teachers who was popular in Ephesus at the time was a guy named Cerinthus. Cerinthus taught that the man Jesus was not really God, that he was just a man born the ordinary way, the son of Joseph and Mary, but a really good man, very wise. At his baptism the spirit of Christ came upon this man Jesus, and so was he was able to do miracles and teach about God and so on. But the Christ-spirit left Jesus before he suffered and died, since of course God cannot suffer and die. That’s what Cerinthus taught. Like most heretics, he couldn’t get God and man together in the one person of Christ. How could God become man? How could God come in the flesh? How could God suffer and die and rise from the dead, bodily? This did not make sense to Cerinthus, and so he tried to explain it away.

But John, the old apostle, who had been with Jesus, knew better. He knew that a flesh-and-blood, God-in-the-flesh Jesus, who is the Christ in himself, who is the eternal Son of God–that only this Jesus could be the Savior from sin. It isn’t by us ascending from the physical to the spiritual. It was by the spiritual–namely, the divine, heavenly Son of God–descending to us and taking on our physical flesh and suffering and dying and shedding his blood for us–that is how we are saved. It is not by us “super-spiritual” ones attaining to some higher level of secret knowledge. No, it is by the blood of Christ cleansing us from our sins.

History tells us that the old man John deeply opposed the dangerous heresies of the false teacher Cerinthus. One day, when John was going to the public bathhouse in Ephesus, and he heard that Cerinthus was in there, John ran out of the building, exclaiming, “Let us fly, lest even the bathhouse fall down, because Cerinthus, the enemy of the truth, is within.”

Well, that seems to be the backdrop for this epistle from John. He’s writing to the churches around Ephesus, warning them of the false teachings that were going around, explaining how they are harmful, divisive of fellowship with God and fellowship within the church, and how these wrong views about Christ cannot save you. On the positive side, John is teaching clearly the right doctrine of Christ and how this truth does bring about fellowship with God and cleanse from sin and produce love and fellowship within the church. That is the nature and purpose of this letter, and it has tremendous implications for us and our churches today.

John starts out: “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life–the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us–that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. And we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete.”

“Fellowship through the Word of Life”: We have fellowship with God and with one another only through the enfleshed and proclaimed Word of Life. John had been there on Easter evening–of course, he had been with Jesus throughout his ministry, and he had been there at the cross, too, when Jesus was suffering and bleeding and dying. But John had been there, with the disciples, on Easter evening, when he heard the risen Lord say, “Peace be with you.” He saw Christ’s hands and his side, where the nails had gone in and the spear had been thrust. This was a physical, resurrected, glorified, flesh-and-blood Savior. This was no phantom, no ghost, no hallucination of distraught disciples. No, Jesus had really risen from the dead, bodily–Jesus, the Christ, the same one John had heard and seen throughout his ministry. And John was there a week later, when Jesus came in their midst again, this time with Thomas present, and Jesus spoke his word of peace to them again, and he invited Thomas to touch and see his hands and side. And Thomas acknowledged and worshiped the risen Lord Jesus Christ, crying out, “My Lord and my God!”

John was there for all of that, all those years before. And now he is bearing witness to the truth about Jesus, contrary to what the false teachers were saying. He is saying that Jesus is indeed God come in the flesh, the eternal Son of God. Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. John starts out this epistle like he starts out his gospel, asserting the divinity of Christ. In his gospel John states: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.” Then he goes on to say: “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” Now in his epistle John says the same thing: “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life–the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it.” John emphasizes that the eternal Son of God, who was there in the beginning, really did come in the flesh: “We apostles were there, we saw it with our own eyes. We have even touched and handled his crucified and risen body.” The implication: Those who say otherwise to you, guys like Cerinthus–they are lying. And you will not find life or fellowship with God by listening to them.

Friends, we have life, eternal life, and fellowship with God only through the incarnate Word of Life, the Lord Jesus Christ. It takes a flesh-and-blood Savior, crucified and risen, to rescue sinners like you and me. You see, that is the problem with Cerinthus and all his modern counterparts: They downplay, or even deny, the person of Christ, his divine and human natures in one person. They downplay the work of Christ, his shedding his blood for our sins. These false teachers are robbing souls of the only life-giving gospel. For all the Cerinthuses of the world hate the idea that we cannot save ourselves by our own wisdom or knowledge, thus attaining to a higher level of spirituality. All the Cerinthuses, ancient and modern, hate the idea that it takes the death of God himself to save us from our sins, that our sins are that bad and we are in such bad shape. We all, by nature, want to think of ourselves as not that bad, not that lost, not that unable to pull ourselves up to God. We’re satisfied if we can compare ourselves to others who are not as advanced as we are. At heart, then, we all are like Cerinthus.

But God has a better idea, the only idea that works, and old man John is the faithful witness who tells us about it. He tells us it is this God in the flesh who gives us life. John tells us that, yes, we are sinners, that we are not so advanced that we can get to the place where we are without sin. But at the same time, God’s Son, Jesus Christ, shed his blood for us to cleanse us from our sin. “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

That’s what it takes to save a world of sinners like you and me. It takes a bloody Savior. It takes the eternal Son of God dying for us. “He is the propitiation for our sins,” meaning, he, Jesus, is the one who takes the wrath of God against sinners and suffers it in our place. He, Jesus Christ, satisfies God’s justice, and now, risen from the dead, he is our advocate in heaven, pleading our case, so that God declares us not guilty for Christ’s sake. That’s what Jesus has done and is doing for each one of you! “We have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.”

We have fellowship with God and fellowship with one another through the incarnate Word of Life, Jesus Christ the Son of God, our flesh-and-blood Savior. And we know and believe in the enfleshed Word of Life now through the proclaimed Word of Life. John and Thomas and those other eyewitnesses could actually see and hear and touch and handle Jesus “up close and personal.” But you and I, even though we have not seen and heard and touched like they did–we are at no disadvantage. Christ proclaimed is as good as Christ seen and heard. As Jesus himself said, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

Today the Word of Life is proclaimed in your hearing. Through this proclamation, you have fellowship with God and you have eternal life. And in this sacrament, we do touch and handle things unseen, for with the bread and the wine we are receiving the very body and blood of Christ by which our sins are forgiven.

It’s Easter, once again today! Yes, Jesus is here with us, right here in our midst, speaking his word of peace and life to us! Rejoice, fellow believers! We have fellowship with God and fellowship with one another through Christ, the Word of Life, enfleshed and proclaimed! And we are proclaiming these things to one and all so that our joy may be complete.

“Acts of Witness, Mercy, Life Together” (Acts 4:32-35)

As many of you may know, for the last couple of years our Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod has been organizing its work under the banner of “Witness, Mercy, Life Together.” You can see the symbol that is being used for this emphasis on your bulletin insert, encircled by those three terms. But this is more than a slogan in a marketing campaign. No, “Witness, Mercy, Life Together” really describes what the church does, whether on the national and international levels, as our synod operates, or on the local level, as, for instance, here at our own congregation.

“Witness, Mercy, Life Together”: I guess first we should define what we mean by these terms and how they’re being used. “Witness” means the testimony that is given, specifically, telling the good news about Jesus–bearing witness to Christ and the salvation that is found in him. “Mercy” is the term used to cover works of Christian love and service that benefit persons in need in a very practical way. And “Life Together” refers to the church’s common life as brothers and sisters in Christ, our unity as God’s family in the life that we share.

Now turn again to your bulletin insert, to the other side, and you’ll see a symbol for each one of these three terms, along with a corresponding Greek term from the New Testament. For “Witness” you see the Greek word “Martyria,” because “Witness” or “Testimony” is how that word is always translated. Next you see the word “Diakonia,” which is generally translated not as “Mercy” but as “Service.” However, “Diakonia” still is a good word to associate with the church’s works of mercy, since “diaconal” ministry is practical service done for the neighbor in need. Finally, you see the word “Koinonia,” “Fellowship,” the “Common Life,” the “Life Together” that the church shares. “Witness, Mercy, Life Together”: “Martyria, Diakonia, Koinonia.” Whichever way you say it, these words describe what we do and how we live as Christ’s church.

But then this is nothing new. In the Book of Acts, we see a church that can be characterized by those very same words. You know, we refer to that particular book of the New Testament as “The Book of Acts” or “The Acts of the Apostles.” But what kind of “Acts” were they? As we look at our text today, I think we will see that these “Acts” are “Acts of Witness, Mercy, Life Together.”

“Witness, Mercy, Life Together”: The church has operated in these three ways, going all the way back to the earliest days of Christianity. In our reading today from Acts 4, we encounter a brief description of the first church in Jerusalem, which goes as follows:

“Now the full number of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one said that any of the things that belonged to him was his own, but they had everything in common. And with great power the apostles were giving their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. There was not a needy person among them, for as many as were owners of lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold and laid it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need.”

“Witness, Mercy, Life Together”: It’s all there, here in this one brief text. Let’s take these three terms, one at a time, and see how that works. As we do, we can also reflect on and realize how these three aspects of the church’s life apply to our own situation, as synod and as congregation today.

First, “Witness,” “Martyria.” We find this emphasis in verse 33 of our text: “And with great power the apostles were giving their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all.” The apostles were giving their “testimony.” That’s how the “martyria” word is translated in this verse, as “testimony.” The apostles were giving their “testimony” or “witness” . . . concerning what? “The apostles were giving their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus.” That’s why this text has been selected for use during this Easter season, because it shows the apostles bearing witness to the resurrection. You will see this in just about all the readings from Acts that are used in the Easter season–they all have to do with the church’s testimony to the resurrection of Jesus.

The resurrection of the Lord Jesus is the heart of the Christian message. That Jesus died and rose again and what that means for us–this is the gospel itself. This gospel is what makes Christians. It’s what forms and gives life to and expands the church–the witness or testimony to the resurrection of Christ. You would not be a Christian and saved and going to heaven if it were not for this preaching of the Lord’s resurrection. There would be no church, no congregation or synod of congregations, if it were not for the apostolic witness to the resurrection.

Why? Because Jesus had to die for you if you were going to live. It is Jesus Christ, dying on the cross for you, as your substitute . . . it is the holy Son of God, dying for all the sins and all the sinners of the world, in our place, taking the punishment we deserve, the righteous for the unrighteous . . . it is this sacrificial death of Christ that is the only way any of us has redemption from the fallen sinful nature we share, forgiveness for the countless sins we commit, and righteousness to enter into God’s heaven. “He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.”

The resurrection of the Lord Jesus by definition means that Jesus rose from the dead. He died, and the reason he died was this: to save us from our sins and eternal death. The message of Christ’s resurrection is tied to the meaning of his death. But now has Christ arisen, and we rise with him! We rise to newness of life, and when that happens to a whole bunch of us, there is the church! “Witness,” then, “Martyria,” is essential to the formation and the expansion of the church.

Now this word “Witness” literally has to do with eyewitnesses, people giving testimony to things they themselves have seen and heard. Notice, it is the apostles who are giving their witness, because those men had literally seen the Lord Jesus risen from the dead. Thomas and the rest of the apostles actually saw and heard Jesus in person standing there in their midst. The apostle John starts his letter by speaking of that “which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands”–John is talking about Jesus himself, in the flesh–“we have seen it, and testify to it, and proclaim to you the eternal life.” The apostles were literal eyewitnesses to the resurrection of Christ.

But we are not. We have not seen Jesus in the flesh, standing in our midst, as those guys did. So does that mean the church now has no witness to give? By no means! We have the apostles’ own testimony in the pages of the New Testament. And we have seen and heard, too, in a sense. We see Christ with the eyes of faith that the Holy Spirit has given us. We hear the saving message that is still proclaimed to this day. Remember what Jesus said: “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” So, yes, the church today still gives witness, testimony, “martyria,” to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus.

And this witness is what fuels these other two aspects of the church’s life and work, namely, “Mercy” and “Life Together.” Let’s go next to “Mercy.” “Diakonia” is the word used, “Service,” but in the sense of diaconal service, that is, works of mercy. It’s right here in our text. Verses 34 and 35: “There was not a needy person among them, for as many as were owners of lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold and laid it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need.”

Now what’s the first thing you think of when you hear these verses? Be honest. That the early Christians were Communists? And that this was some sort of “failed experiment” that didn’t last? Wrong on both counts. The Christians were not Communists, or even Socialists. The difference is this: Communism or Socialism or forced governmental redistribution of wealth, taking people’s money away from them, against their will, and giving it to others: that is wrong, that is immoral, that is a form of stealing–it’s a form of involuntary servitude, really. But that is not what was going on here. No, the Christians’ helping of those in need was entirely voluntary. It was done out of love, the mercy engendered in Christians’ hearts by the mercy God has showered upon us. So this type of “redistribution of wealth” is very good, it is highly commendable, and it is true to the church’s character.

And no, this was not some “failed experiment” that didn’t last. This is how the church has always responded to human needs, with acts of Christian charity and love. We still do this today. Where there are people in need, the church will respond. For instance, when there was that terrible tornado in Joplin last year, our church responded big-time with the love of Jesus in the form of real physical and material help. When there are people in need here in our own community, especially in our own congregation, we help them out in whatever ways we can. Look around you. Do you see people with needs? Whom can you help? How can you help? Look also at the people who are not here this morning. What are their needs? Illness, loneliness, financial need? These are your opportunities, this week, this month–these are our opportunities as church–for putting into action acts of mercy done in Christ’s name.

“Witness.” “Mercy.” Finally, “Life Together.” “Koinonia” is the Greek term. It means “having things in common.” And that’s what we see in the Book of Acts. Verse 32: “Now the full number of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one said that any of the things that belonged to him was his own, but they had everything in common.”

Now we’ve already said that the church “had everything in common,” in the sense of their willingness to give to those who were in need. But their Life Together, their Koinonia, was more than just shared wealth. The things that those Christians had in common, the things that we have in common, start with the things of God. “One Lord, one faith, one baptism.” This is what we have in common. One bread, one cup, the body and blood of Christ–this Holy Communion, this Koinonia, is what makes us the communion of saints. These are the things we have in common–God’s gifts, the things of the gospel–that form us into a united community. And then the love and the mercy and the life together flow from that. “Those who believed were of one heart and soul.” That’s us, because our heart and soul are being knit together with cords of love, the love of God we all have received and believe.

“Witness, Mercy, Life Together”: It’s not just a slogan. It’s the banner under which we live and move and have our being. “Witness, Mercy, Life Together”: “Martyria, Diakonia, Koinonia.” Whichever way you say it, these are the “Acts” the church does, willingly and joyfully, in Christ, for the church and for the world.