Fifth Sunday of Easter - Cantate

St. John 16:5–15

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

Dear Christians, one and all rejoice,

With exultation springing,

And with united heart and voice

And holy rapture singing,

Sing to the Lord a new song, Alleluia, For He has revealed His righteousness in the sight of the nations. Alleluia (Introit, Psalm 98). The Holy Spirit sings God’s Word to the Church, and He bids us join in this new song of God’s new work.

Proclaim the wonders God has done,

How His right arm the vict’ry won.

What price our ransom cost Him! (LSB 556:1).

Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth; break forth into joyous song and sing praises! (Introit). Christians sing. Not just because it’s fun. Not just because we like the tune or it makes us feel good.

Christians sing because God has done wonders. His right hand and His holy arm have worked salvation for Him (Introit). He Himself paid the ransom price for sin, He gave His dearest treasure (LSB 556:4). He gave His only Son into bitter death, so that He could save all of sinful mankind. This is why Christians sing.

But we cannot truly sing unless we know that God has done His wonders for us, for me, for you. This means we cannot rightly, fully sing except from the standpoint of faith—from a heart and mind and mouth that knows that the love and mercy of God is for me. In order to learn the new song about God’s new salvation, you have to have a new heart. The most expert and enthusiastic singer can make the most amazing music and yet, without faith in Jesus for their only hope, they will not be making a joyful noise to the Lord—He will tune that racket out. But on the other hand, the most tone-deaf, stuttering Christian who knows the true joy of trusting in Christ for full atonement for all sins, even their song (no matter how flat or screechy it might be) their song will be the new song of springing exultation and holy rapture that delights the heavenly Father’s heart, and glorifies the Son’s sacrifice and victory, and blends perfectly with the singing of the Holy Spirit.

Christians sing with faith. Christians sing with conviction. And since we are by nature sinful enemies of God, we can only gain this faith and conviction by the Holy Spirit giving it to us. On that last Thursday evening with His disciples, Jesus delivered His final sermon. John 14, 15, & 16 are beautifully summarized by Luther in the last four stanzas of his hymn that we sang, Dear Christians, One and All, Rejoice. Those words capture the warnings, commands, promises, and blessings that Jesus spoke that night to His disciples, and that He still speaks to us in these Scriptures.

            The central promise of this sermon was Jesus’ promise to send to them, and to us, the Comforter, the Holy Spirit. And He told them, and us, what the Spirit would do: when He comes, He will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment. Now the Spirit has come—we have Him in our Baptism and in His Word. And we have the conviction that the Spirit gives. So, we can sing with this conviction, this confident trust and hope. And that means we also sing with the Spirit about sin and righteousness and judgment.

When the Spirit comes, He will convict the world… concerning sin, because they do not believe in Christ. You see, the worst sin of all is not pride or murder, cheating on your taxes or robbing a bank, homosexuality or abortion. The worst sin of all is not believing in Jesus—that is rejecting the only way to be saved from all the other sins.This doesn’t mean that the other sins don’t matter—they do. In fact, they go hand in hand with the worst sin.When we commit any sin, we are not believing in Jesus. When we commit any sin, we are determining for ourselves what is good, what we should have, what we should be able to do. When we sin, we are not believing in Jesus and that what God tells us and gives us is good. Sin and faith are not completely separate things. And willful, deliberate sin, without repentance, drives away the Holy Spirit and it will kill faith.

Daily deeper still I fell; 

My life became a living hell, 

So firmly sin possessed me (556:2).

Those who go to hell in the end already put themselves in hell during this life. By following their own desires, they rejected their God and Savior.

Christians, convicted by the Spirit, recognize this awful reality. And by the power of the Spirit, we confess it, even in our song. Music is good for the soul, sure. What’s really good for our soul is to sing the truth about our sin, our desperate need for God’s mercy, our inability to save ourselves.

My own good works all came to naught, 

No grace or merit gaining; 

Free will against God’s judgment fought, 

Dead to all good remaining (556:3).

From sin our flesh could not abstain, 

Sin held its sway unceasing; 

The task was useless and in vain, 

Our guilt was e’er increasing (555:4).

                        All our knowledge, sense, and sight 

                        Lie in deepest darkness shrouded

                        Till Your Spirit breaks our night 

                        With the beams of truth unclouded.

                        You alone to God can win us; 

                        You must work all good within us (904:2)

Only when we sing the conviction of our sin, can we truly sing about our Savior. Chief of sinners though I be, Jesus shed His blood for me (611:1).

That brings us to the next conviction. When the Spiritcomes, He will convict the world… concerning righteousness, because Jesus went to the Father, and we see Him no longer. This is what all Christian songs are truly about—the cross of Jesus, His holy blood and death that cleanses us of all sin, His glorious resurrection that has opened the way to everlasting life. Jesus told His disciples, It is to your advantage that I go away. He died for us, in our place and for our benefit. It’s as if He said, 

Though he will shed My precious blood,

Me of My life bereaving, 

All this I suffer for your good;

Be steadfast and believing. 

Life will from death the vict’ry win; 

My innocence shall bear your sin, 

And you are blest forever (556:8).

The Holy Spirit convicts us of Christ’s righteousness. By His Word, He gives us faith in Jesus, and God counts our faith as righteousness. We do not become righteous and good and holy in our own right, but we have the righteousness, goodness, and holiness of Jesus. We are still sinners, and yet by faith in Christ we are perfect.

This is the new work of salvation that God has done for us. This is the greatest wonder, His most marvelous deed. How then can we Christians not sing about this?

God loved the world so that He gave 

His only Son the lost to save, 

That all who would in Him believe 

Should everlasting life receive (571:1).

By grace! This ground of faith is certain; 

As long as God is true, it stands. 

What saints have penned by inspiration, 

What in His Word our God commands, 

Our faith in what our God has done 

Depends on grace—grace through His Son (566:4).

                                    Jesus, Thy blood and righteousness

                                    My beauty are, my glorious dress;

                        Midst flaming worlds, in these arrayed,

                                    With joy shall I lift up my head (563:1).

The righteousness of Jesus covers all our sin and makes it possible for us to come and live in God’s presence. His death is the source of our life, our joy, and all our singing:

            Thou hast suffered great affliction

And hast borne it patiently,

Even death by crucifixion,

Fully to atone for me;

Thou didst choose to be tormented

That my doom should be prevented.

Thousand, thousand thanks shall be,

Dearest Jesus, unto Thee (420:6).

Lastly, Jesus said that when the Spirit comes, He will convict the world… concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged. That means the devil is done. When Jesus died, the devil lost, and when Jesus rose again, all of the devil’s power was taken away from him. The devil can no longer accuse us of sin, because all our sin has been paid for. He cannot control us if we belong to God. He cannot harm us or rob us of the salvation Jesus won for us. Jesus says to His Christians:

I am yours and you are Mine,

And where I am you may remain;

            The foe shall not divide us (556:7).

This also means that none of our other enemies can win either, no matter how much they rage and rail against us. Sin doesn’t get the final word. The world cannot destroy us. Death is not our end. Because Jesus is on our side.

This conviction, this boldness is the source of many magnificent Christian hymns. These are the songs of defiance. The songs of a people who know they are victorious even now, even while they wait for this victory to be revealed on the Last Day. When the devil throws our sins in our face, we can throw them right back at him:

Satan, hear this proclamation: 
I am baptized into Christ!

            Drop your ugly accusation, 
            I am not so soon enticed.

Now that to the font I’ve traveled,

All your might has come unraveled, 

And, against your tyranny,

God, my Lord, unites with me! (594:3).

When the evil world tempts us and attacks us, we can dismiss it because Jesus is our priceless treasure:

Hence, all earthly treasure!

Jesus is my pleasure, 

Jesus is my choice.

Hence, all empty glory!

Naught to me thy story 

Told with tempting voice.

Pain or loss,

Or shame or cross,

Shall not from my Savior move me

Since He deigns to love me (743:4).

And when a Christian dies, still we gather around their casket and sing, I know that my Redeemer lives! What comfort this sweet sentence gives! (461:1). And we confidently proclaim:

I fear no foe with Thee at hand to bless;

Ills have no weight and tears no bitterness.

Where is death’s sting? Where, grave thy victory?

I triumph still if Thou abide with me! (878:5)

As I mentioned earlier, those last four stanzas of Dear Christians, One and All, Rejoice, are a summary of Jesus’ final sermon. And the hymn seems to end a bit abruptly with Jesus saying, This final word I leave you. But this is where we find ourselves, in history and in life. We no longer see Jesus with physical eyes, but instead we listen to His Word. We are left with this warning from Jesus:

But watch lest foes with base alloy

The heav’nly treasure should destroy;

This final word I leave you (556:10).

But we are also left with Jesus’ promises and with His Spirit. The Spirit of truth gives us conviction, so that we can be absolutely sure of our salvation. The Spirit glorifies Christ, because He takes what is Christ’s and declares it to you. All that the Father has is Christ’s; therefore Jesus said that the Spirit will take what is His and declare it to you. By His Word, by His conviction, the Spirit delivers the gifts of the Father and the Son. He gives us the wonders that God has done for us, and He provides us with the new song to sing. This is why Christians sing. This is why we say Alleluia—a word that literally means Praise the Lord!

Alleluia! Christ is risen!

            He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

In the Holy + Name of Jesus. Amen.

All hymns are from Lutheran Service Book, CPH.

Fourth Sunday of Easter - Jubilate

1 Peter 2:11–20

St. John 16:16–22

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

More and more I am being disappointed by the options this world has to offer. Far too often, choosing political parties and choosing candidates within those parties seems to devolve into picking the “lesser of two evils.” They seldom take stands where I want them to and when they do they don’t satisfy me in following through. Here’s just one example, but it’s a telling one: apparently, when the Republicans promised to do things like decrease the unmanageable size of the federal government and cut back on spending and defend human life in the womb, what they actually meant was they would give $500 million of the federal budget to Planned Parenthood. Why should I put any faith in political officials?

Or consider our society’s current and fairly open hostility to Christianity. The decline of Christianity and its influence in America has been happening for a long time, but now the opponents have become vocal because the ground work has been laid. Activities like sports and pancake breakfasts slowly crept in on Sundays, so now it’s just one other day—or worse, it is a special day where time has been carved out of the work week so that we can do just about anything except go to church. And while that’s a tragedy, an equally devastating view is that you can worship how you like, but you can’t practice your faith in public. So, Christian businesses and schools are attacked by the social justice warriors and the people who only value a person because of what “minority group” they belong to.

I find that very few of the voices heard in the public square today are truly Christian. And when a Christian voice is heard, whether its objecting to an overreaching government or to the immorality that is destroying the family, that voice is quickly shouted down. And that leads many Christians to either give up entirely, or to make compromises with the louder parties out there and be submerged and lose their unique Christian contribution to society.

In the face of this opposition, I find that more and more I want to just reply: We are the Church. We don’t need any other labels or any other groups to give us validity or to support our cause. We are the Church. We’ve seen empires come and go, movements and revolutions rise and fall. We were here before you, and we will still be here long after you’re gone. Do whatever you may, you cannot destroy us. This attitude is not new for the Church. It was the answer of the early Christian martyrs: “Burn my body, but I will live. My King and His kingdom are eternal. I am a Christian.”

This is an attitude we must learn and practice. It doesn’t come naturally to our earth-bound sinful minds. While our hearts are still drawn and swayed by the things of this broken life, the Christian must learn to listen to the Word of God and so think with a new mind and heart. Know who you are and do what you do. Know that you are a holy, redeemed creature of God. Live and think in a way that matches up with that identity. Don’t be swept along by the current of the world. You are different. You are a Christian. Don’t let them talk you into claiming another name or following another way of life. The Collect of the Day is our prayer for all members of the Church still here on this earth, that we would actually be the Church: Almighty God, You show those in error the light of Your truth so that they may return to the way of righteousness. Grant faithfulness to all who are admitted into the fellowship of Christ’s Church that they may avoid whatever is contrary to their confession and follow all such things as are pleasing to You (LSB Altar Book, p.895)

We are a holy people, which means we belong to God (1 Peter 2:9–10). We are different from all other people, not because of moral superiority or ethnicity, political party or good deeds. The Church comes from all nations and tribes, all walks of life, and we are all sinners purchased, won, and forgiven by the blood and death of Jesus. But as Christians, we are holy because God has made us His people.

In his First Epistle, St. Peter wrote to the elect exiles of the dispersion, that is the Church scattered abroad. He calls them, and us, sojourners, strangers or resident aliens (1 Peter 2:11). We are people who are not at home here, not permanent citizens of this place and time, but people belonging to another land. This is not because our heavenly Father’s creation is bad, but because our sin and death have ruined this place and cause us suffering and sorrow. So, we do not put our hope in this life or in human achievements, but we look for a better life in the world that our Lord will make for us.

Most importantly, Peter encourages the Church on earth, including us, Live as people who are free (1 Peter 2:16). Itis the will of Godthat living asHis servants, we would do good works in this world and so silence the ignorance of foolish people (1 Peter 2:15–16).By living a Christian life in this world, a life different from the way the rest of the world lives, we show them God’s way of doing things.And when they slander us, hate us, call us backward or bigots, our good works of love for others prove them wrong, and show just how ignorant and foolish the “wisdom” of this present evil age is.

Live as people who are free. But not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil (1 Peter 2:16). Being a Christian doesn’t mean you can do whatever you want and God will turn a blind eye.It means you are free from sin and death, free from the sinful ways of this world, free from the sinful thinking of our natural minds.We are free to think and live the way God does—thinking the thoughts and living the life that God gives to us and teaches us.And living this way often means suffering.But that will be okay.There’s going to be suffering in this fallen world, whether you are doing good or doing evil.So, you might as well suffer while doing the good things your God has called you to do.For what credit is it if, when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God (1 Peter 2:20).

Jesus tells us that the world rejoices while we weep and lament (John 16:20). But despite our tears, we have a quiet, calm, and confident hope.Peter tells us that God has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead(1 Peter 1:3). After all, was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer and then enter into His glory? (Luke 24:26) For a little whilethe disciples could not see Him and they mourned His loss.But His death brought about salvation for them and for the world. His suffering was necessary.You were ransomed… you were saved not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ(1 Peter 1:18–19).

What’s more, Peter tells us, just as Jesus is our salvation, He is also our example, so that you might follow in his steps.He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to Godwho judges justly. He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed (1 Peter 2:21–23). So, isn’t it also necessary for us to suffer a little whileand then enter His glory? While living here as free people, exiles and strangers, we carry our crosses.We suffer as Christians in hope, knowing that eternal life is ours now, and it will be revealed in the end.

We are the Church in this world—outposts of the Kingdom and ambassadors for Christ in a strange land—and we have hope even now because Jesus lives. We do not compromise with the evil ways of the world. And while the weak achievements of fallen men may be the best we can get in this life, we do not let our hope settle there or let our minds become so deluded as to think that humans could make a heaven here on earth. But neither do we shut our eyes to the horror of this world, or bury our heads in the sand. Our eyes are wide open to the evil around us and they are full of love for the people around us still trapped by their sin. 

And our eyes are not franticly searching for escape for ourselves, but we calmly, steadfastly fix our eyes on the cross of the risen Lord who is coming again. And even if tears stream from these eyes, we still have joy that cannot be taken from us. Our joy is not in temporary pleasures or solutions, not even in the feelings of our own hearts, but our joy is safe in the nail-marked and living hands of our Lord.Peter wrote, you have an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you…In this you rejoice, though now for a little while… you have been grieved by various trials…And though you have not seen Christ, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls (1 Peter 1:4–9).

So, rejoice, O Church of Christ. Rejoice insofar as you share Christ's sufferings, sothat you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed (1 Peter 4:13).And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you (1 Peter 5:10–11).Jesus lives. And this little whileof sorrow will turn into joy, when we are raised to live with Him forever in the permanent home He has prepared for us.

Alleluia! Christ is risen!

He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

In the Holy + Name of Jesus. Amen.