Sermons

What is preaching? St. Paul writes in Romans: “Whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved. How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?” (Romans 10:14-15)

Therefore our Lutheran Confessions state: “It is also taught among us that one holy Christian church will be and remain forever. This is the assembly of all believers among whom the Gospel is preached in its purity and the holy sacraments are administered according to the Gospel.” (Augsburg Confession VII:1-3)

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The Feast of the Holy Trinity ’12

3. June 2012
The Festival of the Holy Trinity – Octave of Pentecost
Isaiah 6:1-17; Romans 11:33-36; John 3:1-15

Blessed be the Holy Trinity and the undivided Unity. Let us give glory to Him because He has shown His mercy to us. Amen. Today is the conclusion of the festival half of the church year. We have come from Advent, through Christmas, and Epiphany, into the Gesima Sundays, and Lent, finally to Holy Week, Easter and Pentecost. It is fitting then to reach the culmination of this journey with a festival dedicated to “the Father incomprehensible, the Son incomprehensible, the Spirit incomprehensible, the whole thing incomprehensible” (Dorothy Sayers).

This does not bode well for the sermon. All this talk of eternals, incomprehensibles, and uncreateds will make your head hurt. You might think its the kind of stuff for academic theologians, too heady for common folk. We pastors delight in this day even if you secretly hate it. For some of us, the Athanasian Creed is our favorite. We love the detail which the confessor of this creed refutes error and believes the truth of God revealed in Holy Scripture. The word games it plays delights our inner theologian. It is even fun to confess.

Not only that but every Christian pastor vows it is true. I said at my ordination “Yes, I believe and confess the three Ecumenical Creeds [Apostles’, Nicene, and Athanasian] because they are in accord with the Word of God. I also reject all the errors they condemn.” Our congregation, according to Article III of our constitution,  “acknowledges and accepts without reservation… all the confessional writings of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, contained in the Book of Concord of the year 1580, to be the true and genuine exposition of the doctrines of the Bible.” These “Confessional Writings” include the three Ecumenical Creeds.

Both the Lutheran church and your congregation believes, teaches, and confesses this creed. But maybe not for you? This creed so infrequently confessed is just something you suffer through each year, perhaps to fit your pastor’s fancy or because its just what-you-do-on-Trinity-Sunday. Maybe your agreement is just a token assent, a nudge-nudge-wink-wink acceptance. When have you taken the time to confess this creed? Do you even say the Apostles’ in your daily prayers?

For all their complexity, these creeds, especially the Athanasian, are not simply verbal exercises and wrote repetition. The many confessors died for the sake of what the Creed says. The swore to uphold this faith even unto death because they are true and genuine expositions of the doctrines of the Bible. In other words, to deny the creeds is to deny the faith. There is no middle ground, no wishy washy confession that is suitable for the Christian. Its the whole Trinity or nothing.

As a friend of mine wrote: “Confessing [the Athanasian Creed] is like jumping into the deep end of the pool for the first time as a child: at first you are somewhat timid, but once you jump in you can’t wait to do it again and again and again, exploring the depths, swimming in its sonorous life. A new world—indeed a new life—has been opened up to us, revealed for us in this name. For it is the life and Name of the very Triune God—who is love in Himself—that we come to know and worship whenever this creed it confessed.”

If this is true, then it is a pity we only confess it publicly once a year. For it presents to us in a comprehensive way what God himself has revealed in the Scriptures. For who could imagine a God like the God of the Scriptures and the God of the Creeds who would assume human flesh and blood in time and history, not by conversion of the divinity into the flesh but by the assumption of our humanity into God? No one. Everyone’s mind is blown. He’s not the God we want nor one we could ever dream of. He is the God who is real, merciful, loving and revealed to us.

The old appointed Gospel for the festival of the Holy Trinity was from St. Matthew chapter twenty-eight. And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen (Matthew 28:18).

This familiar Gospel is the locus classicus, the central quoted passage for the doctrine of the Trinity. Jesus shortly before He ascended to the right hand of the Father spoke for the first time the complete Name of God, that is, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The Trinity was revealed to us in Genesis (as the Spirit hovered over the face of the deep and the Father breathed Jesus/the Word calling all into being and life) and further throughout the Torah, the Psalms, and the Prophets. The full Trinity was revealed at the baptism of Jesus, when the Father spoke: “This is my beloved Son” and the Spirit descended as a dove. Yet, now the Name is given, not just to be heard but to be placed upon you.

Our Lutheran fathers chose to retain the old eighth-day-of-Pentecost reading of Nicodemus and Jesus.  Perhaps you were wondering why a text about Holy Baptism was chosen for a Sunday celebrating the Holy Trinity? At the center of the old reading was not simply the Name of God but the verb of the name, baptizing. Its one thing to know God’s name, as mind-blowing as a God who is one, indivisible and yet three persons is. Its another thing and far beyond our wildest dreams to know what God does for us. God’s name is given so that God’s name does what the Name loves to do.

His Name loves to drown the sinner until he is dead, just like He drowned hard-hearted Pharaoh. His name loves to give new life, to be born of water and the Spirit. He loves to give entrance into the kingdom of God. His Name is placed on the forehead and heart to mark you as one of His redeemed. The Name is given so the Name does what the Name loves to do.

Even in the third century, St. Tertullian reports on how beloved the name of the Trinity was to the Christian. “In all our undertakings—when we enter a place or leave it; before we dress; before we bathe; when we take our meals; when we light the lamps in the evening; before we rise at night; when we sit down to read; before each new task—we trace the sign of the cross on our foreheads.”

Baptizing into the cross, baptizing into the Name is what our Tri-une God loves to do. Its not a one-off event but is a daily dying and rising into the life of the Holy Trinity. This is why the daily remembrance of Baptism is described in detail by Augustine and commended to us by Dr. Martin Luther, of blessed and holy memory. Each day, when we rise, when we receive our food, and when we go to sleep, Christians make the sign of the cross, the sign of our redemption, with three fingers for the Holy Trinity on their foreheads.” Later, it was added upon their hearts with the words “In the name of the Father and of the Son and the Holy Spirit.”

Our daily life is confessing our baptism and thus the Name, remembered as we make the sign of the cross. How is it that we born of this Spirit and thus have a new life in this Name? Jesus tells us: this is not an earthly birth, of our earthy mother. He is speaking of heavenly things and thus of a heavenly birth. This birth comes by water, Word, Spirit, just as the waters were collected by the Word of Jesus as the Spirit hovered at creation. So again, the Spirit of God hovers over the font, the Father speaks Jesus with the Word over the water, and new life is given where the Spirit wishes.

How can these things be? Nicodemus asked. We probably will ask ourselves the same thing as we witness Vincent receive this new birth next week in Holy Baptism. We don’t have to nor cane we understand our Triune God. We don’t have to solve Him. We can’t plumb His depths, not the riches, the wisdom, or the knowledge. How unsearchable are His judgments and how inscrutable His ways! No doubt, St. Paul. That does not mean that we ignore Him. He is the giver of every good. He is the author and perfecter of our faith. For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things.

We are given the Word of Jesus to speak, the Spirit to grant faith to believe, and adoption as Sons to call God Father. We only say what we have been given to say. We have been given the Holy Scriptures and confess the Athanasian Creed not because its easy or simple but because it is true. It is the testimony of Jesus and the Father and the Holy Spirit. Truly, truly, I say to you, we [the Holy Trinity] speak of what we know, and bear witness to what we have seen.

But don’t just take my word for it. Nor ought you believe it because the confessors including Athanasius, the councils at Nicea and Constantinople, or even the Apostles’ believed it. Even if you think the Bible is authentically an old book, you don’t believe it because it seems probable. No, belief does not come by seeing, or by mind, or by reason. Believing comes by the Name doing what the Name loves to do.

The Name loves baptizing. The Name loves giving new birth. The Name loves you. How do you know this is true? No one has ascended into heaven except Him who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him may have eternal life.

There’s proof positive Fact. “It is simple religions that are the made up ones… If Christianity was something we were making up, of course we could make it easier. But it is not. We cannot compete, in simplicity, with people who are inventing religions. How could we? We are dealing with Fact. Of course, anyone can be simple if he has no facts to bother about” (C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, Book Four, chapter 2.)

The Scriptures and by relation, the Creeds and Confessions, are far from easy to understand for they are Word given by the Holy Trinity. When Isaiah saw the Word incarnate in heaven, heaven barely could contain even the train of His robe. His Spirit fills the heaven and the Earth. These are heavenly things, incomprehensible, unbelievable apart from the Spirit. Thanks be to God He has come to us, just as He wishes and granted us the confession of the true faith by the power of the Divine Majesty, one God, now and forever. Amen.

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen (2 Cor 13:14).

Rev. Christopher R. Gillespie
Grace Lutheran Church
Dyer, Indiana

Holy Pentecost (Whitsunday) ’12 – Acts 2:1-13

27. May 2012
Holy Pentecost (Whitsunday)
Acts 2:1-13

Today is the festival of the Holy Spirit, celebrating the gift of the Word,  when He established the church, and revealed to Himself to the world for courage, boldness, and joy. Pentecost has two preachers—Moses & Holy Spirit: 1) Moses. Mt. Sinai. Dismay and Terror. People begged Moses to stop speaking with God. They could not bear it. Moses is their go-between. Thunder & Lightning. Mountain smoking. God gave law for state and law for moral (10 Commands). This same Law holds today and still results in dismay, despair, eternal death. We need it for we are hardheaded, crude, insolent. We need the rod, fire, sword, gallows.

Pentecost—HOLY SPIRIT CHURCH. This is a kingdom of joy, courage, and certainty. It is a totally different message and voice. It does not cause fear as Sinai. It does not kill. it gives joy and boldness. It gave the disciples not terror but courage. Every disciple, filled with the Spirit, boldly takes on the world. They are no longer timid, weak—hearts with joy, eager to speak.

There are two preachers and two words. The proclamation of Moses terrified a whole nation. The proclamation of the Spirit emboldens Peter. Peter who was scared of Caiphas’ servant and denied the Lord. Peter who huddled terrified for fear of the Jews. Now Peter preaches against high priests and whole council of Jerusalem, and even speaks against Roman emperor. And all the Apostles do the same, like Peter.

There are two messages: the law of God and the gracious favor of God. Pentecost brings about a huge change. They have no fear, neither in heaven nor hell. There is a miraclous, divine transformation. They are courageous, bold, defiant, speaking against secular and spiritual alike. So also the whole host of apostles and disciples, 120 brave soldiers of the cross.

All the Apostles and disciples, filled with the Holy Spirit, began to preach. Not only that, they began speaking Greek to Greeks, Latin to Romans, Persian to Persians, Egyptian to Egyptians. Now the Gospel is given to all the earth in their native tongue.

The miracle is bigger than that. The content! Listen! New and wondrous message! Easter, Jesus of Nazareth, crucified as criminal, villain, traitor? mocked, spit upon, scorned, cursed, and killed? Who is He? The Lord of heaven and earth! The Son of God! WOW! Jesus of Nazareth, dragged out of the city seven weeks earlier, legally condemned, publicly executed, is now proclaimed Lord and God who rules the whole world.

This is the foundation of the church: poor and ignorant fisherman and offensive preaching of crucified Jesus. A horrible injustice was perpetrated against him. Those who crucified Him are enemies are enemies of God. Wrath and fury upon sinners. No previous precedent.

Imagine: defend person accused and condemned to death, left to rot in the grave seven weeks, and then condemn the whole government, spiritual and political, declare the man innocent, damn the judge rulers, and everyone else. the betrayers, criminals are not innocent before God and world, but are traitors against God, denied the Lord and God and crucified HIm! Daring and audacity!

“The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, the God of our fathers, glorified his servant Jesus, whom you delivered over and denied in the presence of Pilate, when he had decided to release him. 14 But you denied the Holy and Righteous One, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, 15 and you killed the Author of life, whom God raised from the dead. To this we are witnesses” (Acts 3:13-15).

All the disciples preached with the strength of a great army, later spreading this offensive and foolish preaching to the world. The crucified Jesus of Nazareth is the Lord of heaven and of earth.

Why didn’t chief priest, Pontius Pilate kill them right then? The New Testament and Kingdom of God, while seeming to have little power, has in fact almighty power that no one can resist.

The message: Proclaim Jesus of Nazareth, condemned and executed, is the LORD, of whom the prophets foretold. Whoever wishes to be rid of sins and to have eternal life, let him repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins. Insignificant, unimportant message and incompetent messengers.

So Christianity begins with nothing but powerless foolishness: For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, 23 but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, 24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God (1 Corinthians 1:22-24).

What is the source of this great power and might? The Word and the Holy Spirit. Witness Peter and all the rest. Look at the words and tongues they were given, as if they had been with Jesus a lifetime. Simple fishermen used by God to prove and reveal great wisdom. God preserved them and the church to this day, despite the seeming foolishness and ignorance of proclaiming the lowly, despised Jesus of Nazareth as God and Lord. Tongues of fire and native tongues confirmed God’s power on Pentecost.

Pentecost should always be on our mind. It is of no less importance to you, dear Christian, than Christmas or Easter. We should always thank God that through the Apostles and the work of the Holy Spirit, we have know this sermon. We know what Peter preached. Holy Spirit preserved. Beautiful festival and comforting, joyful sermon preserved and given. Neither devil nor opponent can destroy it.

Why full of joy? Because by God’s grace it has been given to us, so that we too may know the distinction between the two preachers and the two messages. We must distinguish between the message of the Law and the message of grace, the Lord Christ’s proper message. So the old Jewish Pentecost, given by the Law, is overcome by the new Pentecost, when the Gospel is revealed by the Holy Spirit.

So we can now distinguish between sorrow and joy, death and life. Mt. Sinai is full of sorrow, terror, despair and death. Now, in Jesus Christ, we have a joyful and precious message which fills our heart with joy and courage.

This work of drawing you away from the message of the Law unto the New Testament begins today. HOLY SPIRIT carries out His office and work as paraclete (comforter) and Spirit of truth. He filled the apostles and disciples with a sure and certain comfort, joyful courage, bold attitude, and total confidence.

Witness: Stephen. We need the same. We need the Spirit to create in us this sort of faith to speak boldly and confidently in a world hostile to Jesus. We need the message of the Spirit to remain content and disregard their slander. We need a courageous heart, to disregard the slander, persevere in the midst of offense, to continue this proclamation of Christ crucified.

Make no mistake, the world hates this message. It is not a nice, sweet message, easy to proclaim. Nor does the public accept it. It offends both high and mighty, thus we need the Spirit. It accuses all as traitors and murderers. It also forgives in the death of the sinless one, without anyone deserving it one lick. Therein true joy is found, as freedom in forgiveness is given as a gift.  Thanks be to God.

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

Rev. Christopher R. Gillespie
Grace Lutheran Church
Dyer, Indiana

Based on Luther’s sermon preached at the parish church in 1534.

Pentecost Vigil ’12 – John 14:15-21

26. May 2012
Pentecost Vigil
Joel 3:1-5; Romans 8:12-17; John 14:15-21

When it comes to the Christian church today, many have been led into and continue in error. Error can take many forms. Different errors lead to different churches and disunity in the body of Christ.

Error can twist of the truth into a falsehood, e.g. teaching that Christians have retained a perfect image of God after the fall. Error can add leaven to the truth, e.g. saying that Jesus died for you and you can merit salvation by your works. Error can leave out a portion of the truth and thus nullify the whole, e.g. “Jesus died for you” and then never getting to the Holy Spirit Church part. Error can run in the way of idle speculation and let our minds trump the mind of God, e.g. teaching that Jesus give us His body and blood physically because He is in heaven with the Father. And finally the worst error of our age is the idea that there is no truth and everything is relative.

No wonder there are so many Christian denominations. We’re split up into factions based on our error(s) of choice: the twisting of Scripture, the addition to the Word where it is silent, the ignoring of the clear testimony of Jesus in part or as a whole, distortions to the Holy Word based on the thoughts and intentions of our heart, and those who frankly don’t give a damn.

One mark is common to all: ignorant and malicious sinners. Every one of us has the capacity for error. Not only that, but apart from Christ, we walk in one or more of these errors each day. All error is a despising of God’s Word.

Consider how we treat our neighbors. Hatred? Check, I’ve got enough of that to last me an eternity. Coveting another’s spouse or stuff? Yeah, and not only that, I resort find ways to steal and have adulterous thoughts (and maybe actions) without anyone seeing or knowing. Honor my own father and mother, nonetheless my grand and great-grandparents? Not really. I don’t care what they thought was right and wrong, I’m more enlightened. Never mind our fathers and mothers in the faith, who handed over to us a faithful tradition of liturgy, rich hymns, and pointed and sincere prayers. We know better now how to “do church.” We can stomp on their honor with the bold rejection of our heritage.

Our attitude towards our Father is little different. Do we hold God’s Word sacred by gladly hearing and learning it? No, our prayers falter, attending to His Word in Bible study optional, and God’s own service to us with Sacrament disregarded for family vacation or the golf course. We mope about like Eeyore saying, “woe is me! There is no hope!” when we should call upon God’s own name for help. We don’t even give thanks to God for our everything we have, especially when others might be watching. And idolatry? We make our idols in spades. Gold cows are replaced by new idols we love and trust in more than our Father.

This is what St. Paul calls “to live according to the flesh.” To pursue the thoughts and intentions of your wicked heart is vanity. “For if you live according to the flesh you will die.” Any and every disregard for God’s own Word, for His precious things, [His] silver and [His] gold, results in death. Not just death to the body but death to God and eternal separation and damnation from Him.

Casting off truth for error is to reject the Holy Spirit. And nothing good comes of such retaliation against the Holy Trinity. Indeed, “swiftly and speedily I will return your retaliation upon your own head.” A life lived in error, in the truth mixed with error, or animosity to the truth will always result in God’s wrath and death. Error is not some plaything, to be toyed with, petted, and tolerated. Error is a beast, devouring truth and those who stand in its way.

The Father cannot abide by error. He does not want you twisting His Word to mean something different than He intended. He doesn’t want you making new laws and finding new hope apart from His own speech. He cannot abide by you ignoring his commands and gifts where they make you uncomfortable. He certainly will not tolerate you limiting Him and His work by your own reason or strength. Your Father wants you to know the truth and only the truth, so help you.

“Therefore, brethren, we are debtors.” The Father has given us a great gift in His Holy Spirit. For by the Spirit, we put to death the deeds of the body and live. Today, we recall again how the Spirit, promised by Jesus before and after His death and resurrection, now dwells in us. He has made our body His home. He has swept it clean of our idolatry. He has purged it of adultery and theft. The desires and intents of our heart are put to death again so that He who is holy once again has a holy habitation in us.

That is what is meant by “being led by the Spirit of God.” We are like the tabernacle in the wilderness, wherein God himself dwelt as the people of God made His home with him, a home that moved and journeyed unto it final mount of Jerusalem. We are being led by the Spirit out of death and into eternal dwellings not made with hands. And so, we are sons of God. Sons of truth and righteousness not error and iniquity.

Despite the filth of sin still clinging to our bones, despite our insistence on keeping and even believing in error, we have this adoption and this promise. We have received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.” We are children of God, and if children then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. 

Now, as heirs, we know the truth. We know what is good and right and it has exposed what is evil and wrong. Therefore we cannot abide with error any longer. In our hearing, receiving, and meditation on God’s Word, our sin is exposed and our error brought to the life. There again the Spirit crucifies all falsehood and doubt with suffering. Yes, suffering is the consequence for sin but is claimed by the Spirit as a purging fire.

Burning hot is the Spirit operating by the Word. Burning the chaff away and granting new life to the ashes left. He is the Helper, the Paraclete, who keeps us in Christ. Christ, who is the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but by Him. No one holding to error abides in Christ.

This is why the world cannot receive Jesus. This is why Christians go after falsehood and error. Our sinful nature cannot handle Jesus unless it is dead and buried and we are raised to be holy homes for the Spirit. Having  been buried with Christ by the Spirit and now raised to new life by Him, the Holy Spirit dwells with you and you know Him. He is the Spirit of life because He is the Spirit of Jesus.

The Holy Spirit does this great work of killing evil and raising us in the truth by the Word and blessed Sacraments. Baptism is the washing away of error and the new life of truth. Absolution is declaring that God has forgiven you and holds your sin against you no more. Despite what your heart and conscience may tell you, this is the truth. Preaching is the authoritative truth of God declared by the Spirit into your ears. The Holy Supper is truly Christ’s body and blood, given and shed for the forgiveness of your sins. By these great gifts the Holy Spirit takes up residence in you. He dwells in you and thus Jesus dwells in you. Not only that you know the Father and now call upon Him, “Abba.” Jesus loves you and has made Himself manifest to you by the Spirit. Receive and believe.

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

Rev. Christopher R. Gillespie
Grace Lutheran Church
Dyer, Indiana