5 June 2022 - Pentecost - Acts 2:1-21

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

Before his ascension, Jesus told his disciples that, before long, he would pour out upon them the special gift of his Spirit.

The Holy Spirit was, of course, already present and active among the disciples, even as he had always been present and active among God’s people. Remember King David’s prayer from Psalm 51 - which we repeat every Sunday - “Take not Your Holy Spirit from me.”

But the Holy Spirit would fall upon the disciples on the day of Pentecost in a unique way - in a way that would supernaturally empower them. Jesus had said that they would receive “power” when the Holy Spirit came upon them.

That no doubt sounded appealing to them, even as it sounds appealing to us. We want to be empowered, so that we can accomplish the things we want to do.

In our desire to be in control of our circumstances, and to make things go the way we want them to go, we yearn for power over those circumstances, and also over the people who are connected to those circumstances.

We want power over those things that threaten to hurt us or to diminish us: economic uncertainty, poor health, insecurity in relationships. We want the confidence that comes with power: physical, emotional, and mental power; economic and political power; personal and professional power.

It’s easy to imagine, therefore, that the power that Jesus promises to his disciples, and presumably to us as well, could fit in nicely with such desires and perceived needs.

It is true, of course, that Jesus promised that his disciples would indeed receive power when a special outpouring of the Holy Spirit would come upon them in Jerusalem. And they certainly needed that power.

They were frightened and timid. Their faith was still weak. And Jesus was now gone - or at least he was gone from their sight.

He had told them to wait for the gift he had promised them, and he had told them that they would receive power when this gift was received. But exactly what kind of power would this be? They didn’t have to wait for long, to find out.

“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, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting.”

That’s how St. Luke begins his account of what happened on the day of Pentecost, in the Book of Acts. St. Luke also tells us what Peter the apostle told the crowd, concerning the events that had transpired that day, and concerning the nature and purpose of the power that he and the other disciples had just received. Let’s listen:

“This is what was uttered through the prophet Joel: ‘And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams; even on my male servants and female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit, and they shall prophesy.”

“And I will show wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below, blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke; the sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood, before the day of the Lord comes, the great and magnificent day. And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.’”

Peter knew that the words of the prophet Joel held the key to interpreting what was going on around him. The words of Joel also held the key to a proper understanding of exactly what kind of power the Christian church had received, when the Holy Spirit was poured out upon it.

There are two things in this quotation from Joel to which I would like to draw your attention. First, notice all the references to prophesying.

To “prophesy” means to speak forth with authority. In Biblical usage it usually refers to those who speak forth on the basis of a direct revelation from God, although the word doesn’t have to mean that.

But notice that the power of Pentecost was manifested chiefly in this kind of speaking forth. Sons and daughters, male servants and female servants - basically everyone in the Christian church - is now empowered by God, supernaturally, to speak his Word.

God’s power did not come to these early Christians so that they could harness that power for the solution of their personal problems. God’s power came and, in effect, harnessed them: to put them to work for God, in proclaiming the gospel to all people.

On Pentecost God gave to his church the power to speak. He gave the Lord’s disciples the courage to tell others the saving message of Christ, even when this speaking and telling might result in persecution at the hands of those who don’t want to hear this message.

But the apostles spoke that message anyway. They prophesied, and declared aloud the truth of Jesus.

In their human frailty they previously didn’t have the power to do this. They were weak and timid. They were afraid. But all this changed on Pentecost, when they were empowered by God.

And this Pentecostal empowerment continues, for you, today. The Christian church still exists on earth. It’s mission has not yet been completed.

There are still many people in this world who do not know their Savior. They have not heard or believed the message of Christ.

And you, dear friends, are appointed by God to be his instruments in telling them. To be sure, this is a task especially for pastors and public preachers, for ministers and missionaries. But not only for them.

As the prophet Joel would remind us, it is also a task for all the sons and daughters of men, who have been filled with the Holy Spirit and with faith. All of the Lord’s male servants and female servants have been empowered by God, so that they too can speak of these matters to others.

You don’t have to be afraid now to say something to your friend or neighbor about Jesus, and about the salvation that Jesus offers to all. God’s Spirit has come to you too, in your baptism, and in the gospel that you have believed, to empower you, and to embolden you, in speaking of these things.

God will guide you and encourage you. And God will bless the words you speak, for the saving benefit of those who hear those words. This is the kind of power that God offers to you and to all his saints.

It’s not a power that you can use for the satisfaction of your earthly desires, and for the achievement of your earthly goals. It’s a heavenly and supernatural power - a loving and gentle power - that God can use, through you, for the satisfaction of his desire to bestow forgiveness on penitent sinners throughout the world.

You might be surprised to see what happens, when God gives you an opportunity to speak a word of warning to a friend who is callous or indifferent about his sin; and to speak a word of comfort and hope to a friend who is troubled by his sin, and who wants to know if God will help him.

You might be surprised to hear what comes out of your mouth at such times, with a level of confidence and conviction that you might not have thought possible. When those sorts of things do happen, they happen by the power of God: by the power of his Word and Spirit, working ever so calmly yet forcefully through you.

There’s nothing flashy or overbearing about this. But there is something very powerful about this. There is a hidden but real power at work, when sons and daughters prophesy; when male servants and female servants speak of the things that God’s Spirit has impressed upon them.

The second thing in Joel’s prophesy to which I’d like to draw your attention is this:

“The sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood, before the day of the Lord comes, the great and magnificent day. And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

Christians live in this world alongside everyone else. Christians experience the grief and turmoil of this world along with everyone else.

God does not give us a special kind of power, that allows us to avoid the sufferings and trials that are common to the human race - of which we are a part.

As the world hurls itself toward its final destruction, we will still be onboard, for the whole ride. When the world someday comes to an end - to a bitter and violent end - God’s people will still be around, enduring what others endure.

But there will be this difference: a difference that will have its origin in the unique power of God that is hidden within the lives of God’s believing people. “It shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

God’s power in your life - on the last day, or on any day between now and then - is not a power that enables you to skirt around the suffering of humanity, or to bypass the forces of destruction that continually threaten humanity.

But it is a power that will never abandon you, as you press forward in faith into the midst of suffering, and into the midst of destruction - even if it be the destruction of the world as we know it. It is a power that will enable you to call upon the name of the Lord, always and forever.

Because of the presence of God’s power in your life - a supernatural power that the Holy Spirit bestows upon you, and instills within you - no trial, no threat, no hardship of any kind will be able to separate you from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus your Lord. That, my friends, is real power.

It’s not a power that is intended to be a resource for you to draw on, when you seek to rise above the economic or medical challenges you may face.

Now, don’t get me wrong. God does not mind it if you pray to him for his help in these areas. After all, he counts the hairs of your head, and he is truly concerned about all the things that trouble you and upset you.

He takes care of you, and helps you through the problems you face in this life, whatever they may be. But his “power” - his Pentecostal power - reaches so far above these relatively temporary and relatively minor concerns.

The power of His Spirit doesn’t just get you ready to face tomorrow - although it does do that. It gets you ready to face eternity.

It gets you ready to face judgment day - and to face that day with a certainty that your sins are forgiven because of the sacrifice of Christ; with a confidence that you are completely acceptable to God because of the righteousness of Christ; and with a conviction that your soul is saved - forever - because of the grace of Christ.

It is God’s power in the gospel, and not human persuasion or human presumption, that works within you this certainty, this confidence, and this conviction. And it is God’s power - as the Holy Spirit is poured out upon you, and dwells within you - that sustains you always, and enables you to withstand and endure anything that the devil may throw at you: any grief, any sadness, any threat.

Whatever happens, you can always call upon the name of the Lord, with the utter confidence that he hears you. Your prayers can and will ascend to the throne of your Father in heaven, and be heard by him, even if they arise from inside the most frightening of storms.

And when you call upon the name of the Lord, in repentance and faith, you will be saved. The storms of life in this world, and the storms that rage within your own mind and conscience, cannot sink you, when you are anchored and tethered in this way to the solid rock, Jesus Christ.

In fact, the tumults that surround you, as you call upon him, will be used by God for your benefit. He can bring something good out of the worst of situations.

So, he will use those trials to keep your attention fixed on his Word and promises. He will use those trials to sharpen the focus of your faith, so that you will be reminded that God and his mercy are your only hope.

This power of God - for faith in Christ, and for the confession of Christ - is available to you, and to all of his people, as his Spirit comes to you again and again in his Word and Sacrament. And when God empowers you through the gospel, for the sake of the gospel, he is thereby empowering you for things that really matter.

He gives you boldness to proclaim the message of Christ to those you know - and sometimes maybe to those you don’t yet know - whether you are a son or a daughter, a male servant or a female servant.

And he gives you a sure and certain faith: a faith that is preserved and strengthened in the midst of all adversities; a faith from which you can and do call upon the name of the Lord, and by which you are saved from your sins forever.

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

---

12 June 2022 - Holy Trinity

There is much mystery associated with God. Because God is so mysterious, God also seems to be far from us.

In humanity’s natural condition, people can know in their conscience that there is a God. But they don’t really know what God is like, or how he operates in general. Our inherited sinfulness blinds us to these truths.

For many, since the question of what God is like is a question that they cannot really answer, little if any time is spent thinking about this question. It is a question that ultimately doesn’t really matter.

If God is as mysterious as he seems to be, and if he is as distant from us as he seems to be, then what’s the point of thinking about him? That is the conclusion that an increasing number of people today are reaching.

There are, of course, a die-hard few who boldly assert that there is no God, and who think that they can prove it. But there are many more who just don’t care. To them, talk about God is simply irrelevant.

If God is so completely mysterious, then he doesn’t really have any impact on the practical decisions people have to make in life. If God is so distant, then he’s not really a part of what is going on in this world.

Now, as Christians, we do not share in this indifference. We do believe in God, and that belief is important to us.

But how important is it? And does that faith make a difference in our practical decisions, and in our perception of what is going on in the world?

We have already noted that to natural man, God seems to be both very mysterious and very distant. But does God seem, also to us, likewise to be so mysterious, and so distant, that we don’t really think about him either - except for that hour and a quarter each week when we are here, inside the walls of this building?

On Monday through Saturday, are our moral judgments informed by our faith in God? Are our actions governed by a sense of accountability to God?

Is our ongoing relationship with God a matter of ongoing concern and interest to us? Or - except for that hour and a quarter on Sunday mornings - do we think and live just like those for whom God is so mysterious, and so distant, that his existence simply doesn’t matter?

The Athanasian Creed, which we recited a few minutes ago, fulfills the necessary purpose of refuting false doctrines about God, and of summarizing the true Biblical doctrine of the Holy Trinity, in a very clear and tightly-organized way.

It is a useful teaching tool, but it’s a little hard to get through. That’s why we use it only once a year, on Trinity Sunday.

But our worship of the Triune God cannot be limited to Trinity Sunday. The Holy Trinity is the only God who actually exists!

You and I absolutely cannot dispense with our confession of God as Triune - as Father, Son, and Spirit - because it is only in the revelation of the Trinity that God ceases to be completely mysterious to those who truly believe in him; and ceases to be distant from those who trust in him, in their day-to-day experience.

In the revelation of the Trinity, God ceases to be a complete mystery to people, because he shows himself to be a God who does in fact come to human beings like us, and becomes a part of our human story.

When we embrace the Biblical revelation of God’s Triune existence, we know that God is not simply a solitary divine Person who is just “out there” somewhere, unknown and unreachable.

He is a God who is the eternal Father. He is a God who eternally begets his divine Son, who is of the same divine essence as the Father. And he is a God who, through his Son, eternally emits his divine Spirit, who is of the same divine essence as the Father and the Son.

The Triune God is a God of relationships. He is a God of eternal relationships within himself; and he is a God of relationships outside of himself: with us, his creatures.

God the Father, in his love for his creation, sends God the Son into human flesh: to redeem humanity from sin by the shedding of his blood, and to break the bonds of our captivity to death by his rising from the grave.

Through his Word and sacraments, God the Son then sends God the Holy Spirit to individual souls: to turn hearts and minds away from sin and unbelief, and toward Christ their Savior. God the Holy Spirit, living in the hearts and minds of the regenerate, recreates them in the image of the Son, and unites them by faith to the Son.

And God the Son, through the righteousness which he bestows upon his people, then restores for his people their fellowship with God the Father - a fellowship that human sin had severed.

St. John writes in his First Epistle: “By this we know that we abide in [God] and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world.”

There is, we might say, a very active “loop” or “circle” of God’s saving work, for us and in us. Everything begins with God and ends with God. And everything that happens - at every point on that loop or circle - happens as the result of the actions of God.

God is the one who sends, and God is the one who is sent. He is everywhere, doing everything.

The Triune God is still in many ways a great mystery. He is God, after all.

But for those who have been called to faith in the gospel, he is not a mystery in every way. He has made himself known to us: by what he has done for us, and by what he continues to do for us. The Triune God establishes and maintains a relationship with those who, in repentance, turn to him for pardon and peace.

Those who ignore God in this life, will also come to know - on judgment day - that the doctrine of the Trinity is true, and that the Triune God is real. It will then be too late for them to know the Triune God in a saving way.

But whether or not they expect it, it is the Triune God who will judge them on that day - and who will judge as many of us who may secretly share their indifference. Listen to the warning that we hear in the Epistle to the Hebrews:

“Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses. How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has spurned the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace? ... It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”

May God in his grace spare us this fate, and reveal himself to us now as a forgiving Savior, and not as a condemning judge. May our loving heavenly Father turn our hearts to the cross of his Son - by the working of his Spirit - and fill us with hope instead of dread.

In Holy Baptism, God connects himself to each of us most intimately. Jesus tells us in St. Matthew’s Gospel that Baptism is to be administered “in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”

These Trinitarian words are, however, much more than a verbal formula for the correct administration of this sacrament - although they are that. These words are a divine testimony to who it is who is at work in Baptism; and they bear witness to who it is who continues to work in the lives of those who abide in their baptism.

Listen - from within your own Trinitarian baptism - to what St. Peter says about the power of the gospel in Baptism, in the Book of Acts:

“Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and for your children, and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.”

God the Father calls us to himself through Baptism. The Baptism through which he calls us unites us to Christ, and places the saving name of Jesus upon us. And in that Baptism, our Savior Jesus Christ pours out upon us the gift of his Holy Spirit.

Listen, too - again, from within your own Trinitarian baptism - to what St. Paul says about the power of Baptism in a gospel-filled life, in his Epistle to Titus:

“But when the goodness and lovingkindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, ...according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, being justified by his grace, we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.”

God the Father is our Savior, who saves us by the renewal of the Holy Spirit. And it is through his Son - also our Savior - that he sends the Spirit to us.

Notice that we have at least two “Saviors” in this passage: the Father and the Son. But notice more deeply that we actually have only one Savior: for Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are one God.

Because the Triune God is not a complete mystery to us - but makes his loving deeds and his loving will known to us in his Word - our faith in God, and our recognition of his authority, do therefore make a different in how we think about things, and in the moral judgments we make.

St. John also writes that it is God’s commandment “that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us. Whoever keeps his commandments abides in him, and he in them. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit whom he has given us.”

And in Christ, our divine-human Lord, God had made it abundantly clear to his people that he is not distant from them. He is as close as he can be.

As recorded in John’s Gospel, Jesus says: “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.”

As the Triune God comes to us in the sacrament of Holy Baptism, so too does the Triune God draw us to the wondrous joy and peace of the Sacrament of the Altar. Jesus also said:

“No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. ... I am the bread of life. ... This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. ... It is the Spirit who gives life...”

Dear friends: as you have been renewed today in your baptism, by repenting of all your sins, and by hearing and receiving the Lord’s absolution; and as you now prepare to come once again to the Holy Supper of Christ’s body and blood: God, in Christ, is no longer an incomprehensible mystery to you.

And he is not distant from you. The Triune God - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit - is your Savior.

The Father’s voice calls you from death to life, and from hellish slavery to heavenly freedom. The Son justifies you, and makes you acceptable to his Father by his grace alone.

The Spirit converts you and sanctifies you, so that with the new heart and the new mind - the mind of Christ - that he also gives you, you can now honor and serve Christ throughout your days.

The Father transports you into his kingdom, and makes you a citizen of it. The Son redeems you from the power of sin and from the fear of death. The Spirit - the Spirit of adoption - causes you to cry out, “Abba, Father,” as a member of God’s own family.

The Triune God is your teacher and guide. The Triune God is your comforter and protector. The Triune God is your Lord and Master. And because of everything that God in his fulness is to you, you can say a prayer like this:

With Thee, Lord, I am now united; I live in Thee and Thou in me.
No sorrow fills my soul, delighted It finds its only joy in Thee.
My heart has now become Thy dwelling, O blessed Holy Trinity.
With angels, I - Thy praises telling - Shall live in joy, eternally. Amen.

---

19 June 2022 - Pentecost 2 - Luke 8:26-39

Christians throughout the centuries - in their yearning for a strong and resilient faith - have often felt that if they just could have been there when Jesus walked the earth, and if they could have seen his miracles with their own eyes, their faith would be stronger.

All of us occasionally wonder what it would have been like to have been with Jesus physically when these things happened. We want to believe in these things - and in him - with all our hearts.

In the face of the temptations and doubts that assail us in this secular and materialist world, we want to have a sure and certain conviction that these extraordinary miracles really did happen; and that the man who performed these miracles - and who thereby demonstrated his power over both natural and supernatural forces - really is the Son of God and our Savior.

Sometimes, with all of the skepticism and cynicism that surround us, it is difficult to continue in our faith. Our belief in the miracles of the Bible is not reenforced very often by comparable miracles taking place today.

Rationalists and unbelievers tell us that those miracles never happened. And maybe, sometimes - when we have been absent for too long from the Lord’s house, so that our faith has not been fed and reinforced - we might begin to wonder if they are right.

And so, especially at such times of weakness, when we know that we need to be bolstered in our faith, we would wish that we were there when Jesus healed the sick and the lame, when he fed thousands of people with a few loaves and fishes, or when he raised the dead.

We are quite sure that if it had been possible for us to be there, or even if it would be possible now to be transported in a time machine to the days when Jesus walked the earth - so that we could see and experience these extraordinary events with our physical senses - it would without a doubt help us to remain strong in our faith.

But, unfortunately, we are far, far removed in time from these events. And time machines have not yet been invented. It would seem, therefore, that we are at a great disadvantage, compared to the people who knew Jesus in the flesh, and who saw and heard the things that he did during his earthly ministry.

We envy them, and we envy the certainty of faith that we assume they had: since they personally experienced those faith-building events that we have not experienced, and cannot experience.

But should we be so sure that the people who were with Jesus during those days really did have a stronger faith than we do - due to their having been there to see and hear these things first-hand? Should we be so sure that if we had been there, to experience his miracles for ourselves, that our faith would necessarily be stronger than it is now?

Let’s take a few moments to consider the events described in today’s Gospel. St. Luke tells us the story of a man in the region of the Gerasenes who was possessed by several demons. He writes:

“Then they sailed to the country of the Gerasenes, which is opposite Galilee. When Jesus had stepped out on land, there met him a man from the city who had demons. For a long time he had worn no clothes, and he had not lived in a house but among the tombs. When he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell down before him and said with a loud voice, ‘What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, do not torment me.’ For he had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. ...”

“Jesus then asked him, ‘What is your name?’ And he said, ‘Legion,’ for many demons had entered him. And they begged him not to command them to depart into the abyss. Now a large herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside, and they begged him to let them enter these. So he gave them permission. Then the demons came out of the man and entered the pigs, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and were drowned.”

This was obviously not a Jewish area. There were not very many believers in the true God in this region. But the people there certainly did recognize the power of the devil and his minions. In particular, they saw the kind of misery that a host of demons was putting that man through on a daily basis.

But there was nothing they could do about it. If there were some shamans or pagan priests who had tried to get the demons to leave, they had failed. But they probably did not even try. These were supernatural forces - evil and dark supernatural forces - that no mortal man could withstand.

But when Jesus came to this place, the evil spirits in the possessed man knew immediately who he was. And they knew that they were in trouble. They did not want to be sent to the abyss, as they called it. And so Jesus gave them permission to enter into a herd of pigs.

The fact that there were pigs there demonstrates, by the way, that Jesus was definitely in pagan territory, and was not among his own countrymen. In an instant the demons had left the man whom they had possessed, and he was free of their torments.

Imagine what it would have been like, to be one of the people of that region who had witnessed these events. You would have seen with your own eyes a man of Israel - Jesus - who was filled with a heavenly power that was stronger that the hellish power of the demons.

You would have heard with your own ears the conversation that took place between this man, with his powerful yet kindly voice, and the evil spirits, with their gravelly and sinister voices.

Do you think that seeing and hearing these things would have caused you to believe in Jesus? Do you think that your faith in him and in his divine mission would have been strengthened considerably through these experiences? Think again! Luke continues:

“When the herdsmen saw what had happened, they fled and told it in the city and in the country. Then people went out to see what had happened, and they came to Jesus and found the man from whom the demons had gone, sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind, and they were afraid. And those who had seen it told them how the demon-possessed man had been healed. Then all the people of the surrounding country of the Gerasenes asked him to depart from them, for they were seized with great fear.”

For the people who did see and hear these things, they were not drawn to Jesus in faith, but they were repelled from Jesus in fear. They asked him to leave their region.

They did not want to put their trust in him or to learn God’s Word from him. They wanted him to go as far away from them as possible! Why is this?

Well, for the simple reason that being an eyewitness to a miracle, in itself, does not create or strengthen a true, saving faith. God does not use miracles to cause people to believe in Jesus. Such faith comes only through the word of Christ.

The miracles of Jesus did get people’s attention. But what we actually see in the New Testament, is that those people who witnessed a miracle of Jesus, were more likely than not to misconstrue its meaning; or to project their own preconceived interpretations onto it; or to accuse Jesus of sorcery because of it; or, as with the Gerasenes, to become afraid of Jesus, so that they just didn’t want to deal with him at all.

St. Paul tells us in his Epistle to the Romans that “faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.” In today’s lesson from his Epistle to the Galatians, he points out that the promise of the gospel, with its power to save and to forgive, has also been placed by God in the sacrament of Holy Baptism. He writes:

“For in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.”

Quite simply, we should not think that the people who were around Jesus in the first century, and who saw and heard in person the things he did and said, had any advantage over us in regard to the strength or durability of their faith. The sinful human nature never wants to believe in God, regardless of how many physical miracles may take place.

These miracles can always be explained away, or ignored, by the unbelieving heart. St. Paul says in his Epistle to the Colossians that, in regard to the true God, unbelievers are by nature “alienated and hostile in mind.”

An outward miracle, even a spectacular one, will not change that. You might think it will, and the conventional religious wisdom might lead you to expect that it will. But it will not.

The inborn alienation and hostility with which we all come into this world can, however, be changed by the Word and Sacraments of Christ! The message of God’s grace in Christ has within it the power to convert and save those who hear it.

Christian Baptism, which is the washing of water with the word, is likewise a supernatural work of God, for the purpose of converting unbelievers, mystically uniting them to Christ, and bestowing on them the gift of faith - or renewing the faith of those who already believe.

When your faith is challenged by the distractions and deceptions of the twenty-first century world in which you live, you are not lacking in access to the means that God has always used to help and comfort his people in their struggles, and to renew and bolster their faith.

The people who lived during the time of Jesus’ earthly ministry did have access to his word. But so do you! The preaching of Jesus rings forth from the pages of Holy Scripture with just as much power as it had when it was first uttered by his lips.

He himself still speaks through his ministers, when they proclaim his gospel and administer his sacraments. We have everything we need for our salvation, and for the strengthening of our faith, in the ministry of Word and Sacrament that is carried out in our midst by the Lord’s command.

Were you there when Jesus healed the sick and the lame, when he fed thousands of people with a few loaves and fishes, or when he raised the dead? Were you there when Jesus cast a legion of demons out of the Gerasene man? No, you were not.

But as far as the certainty of your faith is concerned, it doesn’t matter that you were not there. Those who were there had no advantage over you.

The people of the first century who did believe in Jesus, and who faced life and death with the confidence of an unswerving faith, did not get that confidence from the extraordinary events that they saw. They got it from the preaching of the gospel and the administration of the sacraments.

And that’s where Jesus wants to give you the same confidence. That’s where he wants to work a hidden miracle for you, whenever you are afflicted by doubt or temptation; whenever your faith becomes weak and uncertain.

In the message of his forgiving grace, and in the promise of Baptism - which remains as an enduring power in your life - God takes care of you and preserves you. He assures you that Jesus is who he says he is: your Redeemer from sin and death, who came into this world to seek and to save the lost, the fearful, ad the hopeless.

Through the message of the gospel, God’s Spirit impresses upon you the certain truth that Jesus did die for your sins, and was raised again for your justification. In preaching, and in the Lord’s Holy Supper - where Jesus’ words exercise a unique and special sacramental power for your benefit - you are given an opportunity to cling here and now to the living Christ, so that you can and will be able to face even the deepest challenges of life and death with an unswerving confidence.

Sometimes it’s not easy to believe. Sometimes we stumble in our faith. Sometimes we might wonder if all that we have been taught in church is really true.

When such times come upon us, listen attentively to the Lord’s message. In humility remember your Baptism. In repentance receive his Holy Supper. Read and meditate on the Scriptures.

And as you do, you will know - by the grace of God - that you belong to Christ, in life and in death. God’s Spirit will bear witness with your spirit that you are his child. You will be sure that Jesus rose from the dead for you, and that you will live forever with him.

You may not be able to touch Jesus bodily with your hands, or hear Jesus audibly with your ears. But that doesn’t matter.

Jesus comes to you in the means of grace in ways that are more potent and beneficial than the physical interactions he had with the Gerasenes, or with anyone else who knew him only in a physical way during his earthly ministry. Jesus comes to you in the means of grace to give to you, and to preserve within you, a real and enduring faith.

We conclude with these words from St. Paul’s Second Epistle to the Corinthians:

So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, for we walk by faith, not by sight. Yes, we are of good courage...” Amen.

---

26 June 2022 - Pentecost 3 - Galatians 5:1, 13-25

The history of America from 1619 to 1865 was marred and disfigured by the horrible institution of slavery. This institution, especially in its existence in America, came to be based on the presupposition that African people are inherently inferior, and that their normal state in life is to be subservient to white people.

It does not surprise us, though, that this opinion was not shared by those who were the victims of this dehumanizing institution. The slaves yearned for freedom. In the years before the Civil War they used every opportunity they had to gain it, through the “Underground Railroad” and other avenues of escape to the North.

Today we all enjoy and value the kind of freedom that the slaves of former times were denied. As we prepare to observe our nation’s Independence Day on July 4th, we are glad to be living in a country that has now become more faithful to its founding principles, where people are no longer denied their freedom in such a monstrous way.

But there is another kind of freedom - a freedom of much deeper significance - that should also be important to us. I’m talking about spiritual freedom in Christ. How highly do we value this freedom? Do we even have this freedom?

The spiritual freedom that Christ offers to us in the gospel is challenged and opposed from two directions, by two different enemies: the enemy of legalism, and the enemy of license. These two enemies of Christ and the church conspire to deprive people of the spiritual freedom that God wants them to have. They conspire to enslave us all.

St. Paul writes to the Galatians:

“For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.”

He is warning us here against the false teaching of legalism - that is, against the notion that people can make themselves acceptable to God by obedience to the law.

It is possible for reasonable people to come to a basic realization of their sinfulness, even without instruction from the Holy Scriptures. Thoughtful people who compare their actions to the testimony of their conscience are able to see that their lives fall short of the divine standard of right and wrong.

But when this realization comes to people who lack a knowledge of Christ, they almost always try to remedy their problem, and to make themselves acceptable to God, through good works. They almost always try to earn a place in heaven by obedience to the law, as they understand it.

This is legalism. But legalism will never work.

Whenever a legalist does something good, he will still know - deep down - that he could have done something better. Whenever a legalist is tempted and drawn away into something bad, he will still know - deep down - that he could have avoided it if he had tried harder, or if he had really wanted to.

So, the more people attempt to appease God by their own works, the more they realize that God is not appeased. The more people try to justify themselves and make themselves righteousness, the more unrighteous they know themselves to be.

The old saying goes: “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.” But as often as they try, and as hard as they try, they never fully succeed.

Even if legalists imagine that God has “lowered the bar,” as it were, and had softened the demands of his law so as to make it easier for them to become righteous by the law, their conscience still tells them they they’re not as good as they’re supposed to be.

This endless spiral of failure, discouragement, and fear of judgment is a form of spiritual slavery. There is no peace, no joy, and no true rest for the soul, in these efforts.

There is no assurance that God is satisfied, because there is always the knowledge that more can and should be done. There is no way to silence the demands of the law in the life and conscience of someone who is trying to work his way up to God, because those demands are never fully met.

But legalism is not the only threat to the spiritual freedom that God wants us to have. There is also another enemy: license. This enemy is probably the more pervasive threat to our generation, given the depravity of the society in which we live.

License is the false belief that people should not put any restraints on their behavior, but should just go ahead and do whatever they feel like doing. But this is a dangerous belief. It is dangerous especially because it enslaves us by giving us the illusion of freedom.

In today’s text from the Epistle to the Galatians, St. Paul speaks very plainly about this threat. He writes:

“For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another.”

The “flesh” of which Paul speaks is not referring to the physical body itself. It is a metaphorical description of the sinful corruption of humanity’s mind, heart, and will, with which we are all born, universally inherited from Adam our common father.

Because this corruption is universal, it seems to be natural. And because it seems to be natural, there are a lot of people who decide to live their lives according to the selfish impulses that arise from this corruption.

This means that other people are often thought of as objects that we can use for our gratification; or as obstacles to our ambitions that we need to overcome; or as competitors for power and prosperity whom we must defeat.

St. Paul gives us a detailed description of the works of the flesh, and a sober warning about the eternal destiny of those who have given themselves over to these works. He writes:

“Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.”

In the way of the flesh, conversations come to be seen as arguments that must be won.

In the way of the flesh, interactions with someone of the opposite sex - and sometimes of the same sex - come to be seen as opportunities for a lustful conquest.

In the way of the flesh, setbacks that we might experience come to be seen as attacks from an enemy, for which there must be retaliation.

This kind of vicious and consuming lifestyle is a form of spiritual slavery. It continually makes the chains of our captivity to our baser instincts tighter and tighter, until they strangle us.

In the guise of freedom - freedom to fulfill our desires - we become enslaved by those very desires, and by the spiritual death and destruction that they bring to soul and body.

The genuine spiritual freedom that God wants us to have is opposed and threatened, both by legalism, and by license.

In some - with their sanctimoniousness or their hedonism - the enslaving work of legalism and license is carried out to the full degree and with no restraint. In others, the enslaving work of these enemies is carried out only to a limited degree, or only in hidden and subtle ways.

But these enemies of freedom - these opponents of your freedom in Christ - are always active. They are always trying to lure you into the traps they have set for you. They are always trying to enslave you.

But there is in God’s kingdom an “Underground Railroad” for those who have been victimized by these enemies. There is a way of deliverance from the spiritual slavery into which legalism and license would trap us.

There is a way of freedom - true and lasting spiritual freedom - that is accessible to us all. This way is the Lord Jesus Christ. St. Paul wrote to the Galatians that Jesus Christ

“gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father.”

He also said:

“we...have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.”

The works of the law cannot declare and show us to be righteous, because we fail to fulfill those works fully and perfectly. But Jesus did not fail. He was perfect under the law in everything he did, said, and thought. Therefore the law of God does not accuse him.

And in Christ the law does not accuse you either, as you humbly acknowledge your failures, and as you cling to your Savior by faith. In Christ your sins are forgiven. You are covered by the canopy of his righteousness. In his death and resurrection you are set free.

The gospel does not deny what our conscience tells us about the demands and expectations of God’s law. But the gospel reveals to us that in the person of his Son, God himself has satisfied his own demands for us, and in our place.

Therefore we are assured in faith that God is now satisfied with us, because we know that God is satisfied with his own Son. There is nothing more that needs to be done for our salvation. Christ has done it all.

In him we find rest for our weary and troubled souls. In him we face eternity without fear.

St. Paul also explains what happens on the inside of those who are in this way united to Jesus by faith, and who through Jesus are reconciled to God the Father. Elsewhere in his Epistle to the Galatians, he writes:

“I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”

In today’s text from Galatians, Paul goes on to explain what the Spirit of Christ does when he lives in us, and when he suppresses within us the works of the flesh:

“But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. ...the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.”

The first part of the gospel, or good news of Christ, is that we are reconciled to God and set free from the guilt of sin, by our Lord’s saving work. This is the gospel’s “entry point” into our consciences.

But the second part of the gospel - which comes into play right away - is that the Spirit of God also works within us, to set us free from the power of sin.

He gives us a new heart that is able to love God and our fellow man purely and without mixed motives. He gives us a new nature that bears the image of Christ. He gives us a new will that desires to serve God and our neighbor selflessly.

To be sure, the old sinful nature still remains, and continues to fight against all that is new and godly within us. We do still sin, and fall short of what we aspire to be in Christ.

But God does not fall short in offering and sealing to us his forgiveness, and in renewing to us the gift of his Spirit, through the ministry of Word and sacrament that he provides for us in the fellowship of his church.

In Christ God has liberated us, and still liberates us - again and again - whenever slip back into slavery. In Christ we are no longer enslaved by either legalism or license. In Christ the Holy Spirit has made us free, and keeps us free forever.

We close with these words from a Charles Wesley hymn that is not in our hymnal, but that well expresses what we have been considering together today:

He left His Father’s throne above, So free, so infinite His grace;
Emptied Himself of all but love, And bled for Adam’s helpless race;
‘Tis mercy all, immense and free; For, O my God, it found out me.

Long my imprisoned spirit lay Fast bound in sin and nature’s night;
Thine eye diffused a quickening ray, I woke, the dungeon flamed with light;
My chains fell off, my heart was free; I rose, went forth and followed Thee.

No condemnation now I dread; Jesus, and all in Him is mine!
Alive in Him, my living Head, And clothed in righteousness divine,
Bold I approach the-eternal throne, And claim the crown, through Christ my own.

Amen.