1. Corinthians 14,1-3.20-25. 2. Sunday after Trinity

✠ One Message: Christ crucified and risen for you ✠ 1. Corinthians 14,1-3.20-25 3512 2. Sonntag nach Trinitatis 047 Mamuold, Abbot at Regensburg, † 1001 17. June 2012 1. O Heavenly Father, You are a consuming fire, punishing to the third and fourth generations of those who hate You. Many times we forget that You are a jealous God who brokers no rivals. And yet we live in a fallen world that does nothing but raise up other gods above You. We also in our sinful hearts strive to place ourselves above You. The results of such pride have had devastating results in our world and in our lives. Thankfully You also tell us that You are a gracious God who shows loving kindness to the thousandth generation of those who believe in You (Exodus 20,5-6). You have shown Your mercy to us through Christ Jesus, our Lord and Savior, and in Him we freely receive eternal life and salvation. Amen. 2. Pursue love, and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy. For one who speaks in a language speaks not to men but to God; for no one understands him, but he utters mysteries in the Spirit. On the other hand, the one who prophesies speaks to people for their upbuilding and encouragement and consolation. Brothers and sisters, do not be children in your thinking. Be infants in evil, but in your thinking be mature. In the Law it is written: „By people of strange languages and by the lips of foreigners will I speak to this people, and even then they will not listen to Me, says the Lord“ [Isaiah 28,11]. Thus languages are a sign not for believers but for unbelievers, while prophecy is a sign not for unbelievers but for believers. If, therefore, the whole Church comes together and all speak in languages, and outsiders or unbelievers enter, will they not say that you are out of your minds? But if all prophesy, and an unbeliever or outsider enters, he is convicted by all, he is called to account by all, the secrets of his heart are disclosed, and so, falling on his face, he will worship God and declare that God is really among you. 3. The Apostle Paul specifically lists two spiritual gifts: prophesy (προφητεύητε) and languages (γλώσσῃ). Paul says that prophecy is a chief gift of the Holy Spirit. When we hear the word „prophesy“, our first thought is „to predict the future“. There are numerous prophets in the world, and some are renowned, like Nostradamus and Edgar Cayce. We have fortune tellers, horoscopes, astrology and a host of other prophetic means to learn our future. It is true that the prophets of Yahweh did predict future events, but we do not want to just lump Yahweh in with all the other worldly fortune tellers. Yahweh is not merely one among many fortune tellers with whom we can obtain information about our future. 4. Biblical prophecy is less about foretelling future events and more about proclaiming a specific action of Yahweh. The 66 books of Holy Scripture all focus on the incarnation of Yahweh in the God-man Jesus the Christ. Furthermore, Scripture clearly proclaims that Jesus’ ministry is saving fallen mankind. So when the prophets actually predict a future event, this foretelling is to serve the proclamation and the promise of the Christ who is to arrive. 5. When we hear the word „tongues“, our first thought is „ecstatic babbling“. What many English Biblical translations translate as „tongues“ is more properly translated as „foreign languages and dialects“. In Paul’s day, the Corinthian Christians would have spoken Latin, as they had been annexed as a Roman colony five decades earlier. There would probably be some Greek- and Aramaic-speaking Christians, too. 6. The situation at Corinth was that the the various pastors were all speaking in different languages when they prayed or spoke. Some could understand, but others were clueless as to what had been said. Worse still, the pastors were not inclined to interpret, or they were unable to interpret, what they had just said. Nevertheless, the Corinthians were proud of their diversity. See, we have six distinct language groups in our churches: God has blessed us! Except the one speaking in Latin was unable to translate what he had just said into Aramaic, and the one who had just prayed in Aramaic could not translate his prayer into Greek. Not everyone was being edified, and Paul found that abhorrent. 7. Paul acknowledged that yes, the Corinthians’ diversity in languages was a gift of the Holy Spirit. They should be proud of this gift, but Paul tempers that enthusiasm by telling them: You Corinthians are not that special in this regard. There are many churches throughout the Mediterranean who speak in diverse languages, and I, Paul, can speak in more languages than all you Corinthians! Furthermore, I can actually interpret from one language to the next so that all in my presence will be edified by what I say. 8. Paul then continues: knowing other languages is good, but preaching the Word of God is even better. Paul said that he would rather preach using 5 words than giving a 10,000 word soliloquy. Paul would rather preach in a language understood by all: „God forgives you through Jesus.“ than babble on in a lengthy prayer or sing in a language that no one understood. 9. Paul put his finger on the temptation and sin common among mankind: we like to boast. I have two doctorates. I am fluent in five languages. My church has beautiful architecture. Paul responds: So what? The lady down the street has four doctorates. The man in the neighboring borough can speak seven different languages. The church in the next county has older and more impressive architecture. The problem with boasting is that there are always other people who are better than you, are more educated than you and are more cultured than you. Christ gives some people more gifts and others less. 10. If we are going to boast, then let us boast in Yahweh. Let us boast in Christ and emphasize what He has done for us. Let us boldly proclaim that we are damnable sinners, and proudly boast that Christ is our Savior who gives us the gift of forgiveness. The Psalmist declares: »O Lord, with You is the fountain of life; in Your light do we see light« (Psalm 36,9). Yahweh’s gifts, such as languages and preaching, are great gifts in and of themselves, and they are even greater gifts because through them our Lord desires to showcase His love and forgiveness that He freely bestows upon us through His Church. 11. Because they are gifts, however, they are rejectable (Nagel 163). Thus in Jesus’ parable recorded in Luke 14, many of the invited guests spurned their lord’s generous banquet invitation. Paul urges the Corinthians not to despise the gift preaching. Do not reject Christ’s grace. Do not despise His gifts. Gladly receive all He gives, both the lesser gifts as well as the greater. He gives them to His Church so that you may be blessed and blessed abundantly and diversely. 12. Let us pray. O Lord, You are our strength, our Rock, our Fortress and our Deliverer. Help us to gratefully receive Your gifts so that our faith is strengthened and our good works flourish. Amen. To God alone be the Glory  ✠ All Scriptural quotations are translations done by The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind using the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, 4th Edition © 1990 by the Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart, and the Novum Testamentum Graece, Nestle-Aland 27th Edition © 1993 by Deutsch Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart. ELKB. Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche in Bayern. www.bayern-evangelisch.de/www/index.php. Copyright © Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche in Bayern. Löhe, Wilhelm. Liturgy for Christian Congregations of the Lutheran Faith. Copyright © 1902 Frank Carroll Longaker. Nagel, Norman. Selected Sermons of Norman Nagel: From Valparaiso to St. Louis. Frederick W. Baue, Ed. Copyright © 2004 Concordia Publishing House.

Jeremiah 23,16-29. 1st Sunday after Trinity

✠ One Message: Christ crucified and risen for you ✠ 

Jeremiah 23,16-29     3412

1. Sonntag nach Trinitatis  046

Primus and Felicianus, Martyrs at Rome, 286   

9. June 2012

1.  O God, the Strength of all who put their trust in You, because of the weakness of our mortal nature we can do no good thing: we do not love You with all our heart, soul nor might; we do not meditate upon Your Word in our heart; we fail to teach our children the Holy Scriptures; we do not consider Your doctrine and teaching to be of utmost importance in our lives. We find ourselves in the same lot of all humanity: lost and adrift from You as our lives are caught in the current that leads to hell and unquenchable fire. Send the Holy Spirit to us through the Word and Sacraments, so that we may freely receive Your grace on account of Christ Jesus and be assured of our forgiveness and salvation, and from this blessed assurance of faith in Christ help us to follow Your Word and live Your law.  Amen. 

2. Thus says the Lord of hosts: „Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you, filling you with vain hopes. They speak visions of their own minds, not from the mouth of the Lord. They say continually to those who despise the word of the Lord: „It shall be well with you“; and to everyone who stubbornly follows his own heart, they say: „No disaster will come upon you.““ For who among them has stood in the council of the Lord to see and to hear His Word, or who has paid attention to His Word and listened? Behold, the storm of the Lord! Wrath has gone forth, a whirling tempest; it will burst upon the head of the wicked. The anger of the Lord will not turn back until He has executed and accomplished the intents of His heart. In the latter days you will understand it clearly. „I did not send the prophets, yet they ran; I did not speak to them, yet they prophesied. But if they had stood in My council, then they would have proclaimed My words to My people, and they would have turned them from their evil way, and from the evil of their deeds.“ „Am I a God at hand, declares the Lord, and not a God far away? Can a man hide himself in secret places so that I cannot see him? declares the Lord. Do I not fill heaven and earth? declares the Lord. I have heard what the prophets have said who prophesy lies in My Name, saying: „I have dreamed, I have dreamed!“ How long shall there be lies in the heart of the prophets who prophesy lies, and who prophesy the deceit of their own heart, who think to make My people forget My Name by their dreams that they tell one another, even as their fathers forgot My Name for Baal? Let the prophet who has a dream tell the dream, but let him who has My Word speak My Word faithfully. What has straw in common with wheat? declares the Lord. Is not My Word like fire, declares the Lord, and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?“ 

3. No one admits to being a false prophet or a heretical pastor. Everyone claims to be speaking the truth. Everyone boasts in proclaiming the Word of Yahweh. In Jeremiah’s day a number of prophets stood up and told Judah: Fear not, all will be well. This was a response to the encroaching super-power of the 6. century, King Nebuchadnezzar’s Babylonian Empire. Babylon and Egypt were vying for supremacy in the Middle East. And Judah was the lynchpin in the struggle. Whoever controlled the strip of land in Palestine could effectively control all the trade throughout the Middle East and establish domain in the region. 

4. Judah feared conquest by the overwhelming armies of Babylon. To calm the fears of the people, prophets stood up and said: All is well. Yahweh is with us. He will not let us fall. Such words sounded good, especially to the Jews who firmly trusted in Yahweh to deliver them from all their enemies. The problem was: these prophets were not speaking the word of Yahweh, but rather they spoke their own opinions as to how they thought Yahweh would naturally act toward His chosen people. 

5. Jeremiah was a true prophet of the Yahweh. He knew what God’s word was. Yahweh’s word was not a word of comfort but a word of judgment. Judah would fall to Babylon. Many would be taken captive and sent into exile. For you see, Babylon was Yahweh’s instrument in all this. It was Yahweh’s will to chastise Judah. 

6. Judah, you see, was not the pious, God-fearing nation they claimed to be. Idols defiled the land, from the hovels of the poor to the mansions of the king. There were even idols in the holy temple itself. Yahweh was honored on the Sabbath, but the rest of the week the local gods were also worshipped. Baal was on the lips of the people more often than was Yahweh. God was not pleased. 

7. Yahweh sent His people Jeremiah. He was told to tell them the harsh truth. Unless Judah repented of her idolatry, Yahweh Himself would sweep aside the kingdom. The people had become accustomed to having many gods alongside Yahweh. They did not want to change the status quo. Jeremiah was castigated as a traitor to the king and a disturber of the peace. The words of the soft-speaking prophets with their proclamation that all is well had won the hearts and minds of the people. 

8. Jeremiah’s pericope concludes with Yahweh declaring: »Is not My Word like fire and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?« The law of Yahweh’s word desired to break the sinful hearts of Judah, to call them away from their idolatry, to bring them to repentance and the right path of the Yahweh. When this failed, Yahweh’s word burned like fire and smashed like a hammer. Judah was conquered, the wealthy exiled and the poor made vassals of Nebuchadnezzar’s Babylon. The ark of the covenant was lost. The temple was destroyed. Yahweh’s people lamented for heeding the soothing words of the false prophets. 

9. Nothing has changed among God’s people. We don’t want to hear the law accusing us of sin and wickedness. We would rather hear the sweet words that all is well. The first step in restoring your health is to heed the doctor’s diagnosis. You are sick and dying. Acknowledging our condition is the first step in getting well. We are sinners. We are wicked rebels who slander both God’s Name and our neighbor’s. We are robbers, cheaters, fornicators and murderers. Just look at the Ten Commandments. We break every one them all the time. We are not going to change. We are not going to get better. We were born sinners, and we will die sinners. We enjoy our sins and revel in doing whatever we want to do, irregardless of what God thinks. We have to admit and confess that we are poor, miserable sinners. 

10. »Is not My Word like fire and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?« God’s law will most assuredly strike each of us down. There is no escape. We will all be burned and crushed by the law. It can be no other way, for we are sinners. Thus far our diagnosis. But what of the cure?

11. The ancient Greek philosopher Socrates called his fellow Athenians to a higher moral standard. He was a gadfly to the citizens. He taught ethics as the way to serve one’s neighbors. Socrates disturbed the status quo. He was charged with impiety and corrupting the youth. He was sentenced to death. 

12. Four hundred years later another teacher called His fellow citizens to a higher standard. Jesus brought Israel the pure word of Yahweh. He was a gadfly to the scribes and Pharisees. He corrupted the youth with such concepts as: the Son of Man has come to redeem all people from the curse and burden of the law. He forgave people of their sin. He healed the sick. He even raised the dead. Jesus disturbed the status quo, going so far as to wreck havoc in the ordered structure of the temple by overturning tables and scattering the animals set aside for sacrifice. He brought new wine in new wineskins. The established religious leaders would have none of this. They plotted Jesus’ death, and they awaited their moment. When the time was ripe, they struck quickly and viscously. They hauled Jesus before Pilate, accused Him of crimes against the Roman State and successfully secured His execution as a traitor and a rebel. 

13. The Word of God became flesh and dwelt among us (John 1,14). The Word suffered the word of God’s fire and hammer. The temple was again torn down and destroyed. Jesus took the sinners’ place before God the Father. Jesus suffered for the sinners. His body was stricken and afflicted. He bore the curse and penalties of the law. He died in our place. The cure is Jesus. He is the medicine that heals you of all your sin. 

14. The false prophet and the false pastor will point you to something other than Jesus. The false prophets preach their own words and their own ideas. Here’s ten tips for achieving financial success. Here’s four steps to being a better you. Don’t worry about those sins that bother you. God will overlook them because He is a loving God. These are sugar-coated words that hide the truth. 

15. The true prophet and the true pastor will point you only and always to Jesus. The true prophets preach God’s word; they proclaim only Christ and Him crucified. You’ve got a problem. It’s called sin. You won’t overcome it. You won’t merit a better you before God. You’re going to die one day, and so will everyone you love. That is the harsh truth. But there is good news! Jesus paid for all your sin. You are forgiven. But there’s still that nasty death lurking around to deprive us of all we hold dear. Death scares you? Death? You already died in the waters of Holy Baptism and were raised up in Christ as a new creation. Jesus overcame the grave. Death is not the end. Death is now the means to enter everlasting life in the fellowship of God. Yahweh is a loving God on account of Christ Jesus. By His merit you are delivered and saved. 

16. Listen to the words of the true prophets. We will never lead you astray. We won’t always be eloquent. We will probably be predictably boring most times. We won’t be styling and profiling the good life. We will suffer ridicule for the gospel, but we will always give you Jesus, even, and especially, when you want something else, because Jesus is the cure. He is the Savior. You are redeemed. Heaven is yours. Christ guarantees it. Jesus was burned and broken so you wouldn’t be. He has sealed this promise with His own death and resurrection.  Go in peace, for you are at peace with God.  Amen. 

17. Let us pray. O Lord Jesus Christ, Your testimonies are righteous forever; give us the pure gospel so that we may live eternally.  Amen. 

To God alone be the Glory 

✠

All Scriptural quotations are translations done by The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind using the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, 4^th Edition © 1990 by the Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart, and the Novum Testamentum Graece, Nestle-Aland 27^th Edition © 1993 by Deutsch Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart. 

Book of Common Prayer, The. Copyright © 1549 Cambridge University Press. 

   ELKB. Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche in Bayern. www.bayern-evangelisch.de/www/index.php. Copyright © Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche in Bayern. 

Nagel, Norman. Selected Sermons of Norman Nagel: From Valparaiso to St. Louis. Frederick W. Baue, Ed. Copyright © 2004 Concordia Publishing House. 

Ephesians 1,3-14. Holy Trinity Sunday

✠ One Message: Christ crucified and risen for you ✠

Ephesians 1,3-14    3312

Tag der heiligen Dreifaltigkeit (Trinitatis) weiß  045  

Caecilius, Bishop of Carthage 311 

Franz August Otto Pieper, Pastor and Theologian. † 1931  

03. June 2012

1. O Merciful, Blessed God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Holy and Exalted Trinity, grant us Your grace to truly believe, righteously to live and happily to die, so that after this wearisome life we may enter the joyous fellowship of the holy angels and Your elect, see You face to face, and love, praise and serve You forever and ever. (Löhe 148).  Amen. 

2. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of His will, to the praise of His glorious grace, with which He has blessed us in the Beloved. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace, which He lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of His will, according to His purpose, which He set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in Him, things in heaven and things on earth. In Him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of His glory. In Him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in Him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of His glory.  

3. Although we confess the Triune God every Sunday, on Trinity Sunday we especially emphasize that there are 3 Persons in 1 God. Was ist das? (what is this?) A: The 3 Persons of Father, Son and Holy Spirit comprise 1 God. This confession separates Christianity from all other religions. We are not polytheists with long- or short-list of gods and goddesses like the Ancient Greek or German pantheons. This confession also separates Christianity from the world’s other monotheistic religions. Both Judaism and Islam hold a strict belief that there is only 1 Person who comprises 1 God. 

4. The Apostle Paul lists and affirms the 3 Divine Persons in his Epistle to the Ephesians.  There is the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit; each one of these Persons is God, and together they are 1 God. In the 21. century, Christians readily affirm that both the Father and Son are Divine Persons. The waters become muddy when it comes to the Holy Spirit. While Christendom confesses the Holy Spirit to be a Divine Person, the way some churches speak about, or treat, the Holy Spirit is to neuter Him of both His Divinity and Personhood. 

5. Those who grew up with George Lucas and his Star Wars movies are comfortable  thinking of the Holy Spirit as a force or the force. This implies that He is something that can be manipulated and used in one’s life. As such, He would be both good and evil, for some would utilize Him to do good things, but others would use Him to do evil things. This furthermore implies that He is not really a Person, but an impersonal and neutral power or energy that can be tapped into. Our 21. culture is quite comfortable with thinking thus about the Holy Spirit, and is quick to depersonalize Him into a mere force. 

6. The Apostle Paul describes the Holy Spirit quite differently. He tells the Ephesians: »In Christ you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in Him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of His glory«. There is no talk of the Spirit as a force or a power which operates at the whim of men and women. The apostle rather speaks of the Holy Spirit as a Divine Person who is the guarantee of your inheritance of eternal life. The Holy Spirit has a will, an intelligence and a personality complete with emotions and Divine characteristics. 

7. One of the apostolic teachings in the New Testament is that all 3 Persons of God are involved in mankind’s salvation. God the Father chose Jesus, His Son, to be our Savior. God the Son redeemed us through His blood and forgave us of our trespasses. God the Holy Spirit is the seal and guarantee of life everlasting in Christ Jesus. In this Holy Trinity, we have our Providence in the One, True God. The Apostle Paul summarizes it this way: »For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be glory forever.  Amen« (Romans 11,36). „The Scriptures teach us that all creation is the work of One God, or the whole Godhead; and yet, inasmuch as they make a distinction between the 3 Persons of the One Godhead, we may properly say that everything, had its origin, everything exists and continues, in the Father as the 1. Person; through the Son, who is of the Father; and in the Holy Spirit, who proceeds from both the Father and the Son; which 3, nevertheless, are comprehended in the One Undivided Essence“ (Luther 24 §41). 

8. As pertains to our salvation, and indeed in all things, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are in unison and agreement. We do not uncover this in Creation or by natural revelation. Nature does not teach us that God is comprised of 3 Persons, nor does nature teach salvation for sinners. The doctrine of the Holy Trinity and salvation through Jesus Christ come by God’s revealed revelation which is His written Word of Holy Scripture. 

9. While it is true that the Triune God is indeed omnipresent, He is not pantheistic, namely that nature and God are identical, such that the Divine is found in every rock, tree and blade of grass. Pantheism is the groundwork of Mother Nature and Gaia religions popular among some Americans today. „A god who is everywhere is as useless as a god who is nowhere. What we need is a God who is somewhere“ (Nagel). The Triune God is an immanent God, not a transcendent one. „He has chosen to be available to us through things of our human world, through words, water, bread, and wine. Within the means of grace, God makes Himself known to us, He imparts Himself and His salvation to us. There He would be found. It is folly to look elsewhere. We cannot tell God who He is. God tells us. He comes to us, all the way. He is made known to us in reading and hearing His Word and in the Holy Sacraments. He shows us what He is like and bestows on us what Christ achieved“ (Nagel 157). 

10. The Triune God manifested His Divinity to us through the 2. Person of the Deity, Jesus Christ the Son of God. In Christ, God took up human nature with a real flesh and body. Christ entered His creation in a new way, He entered our time and space as both God and man. He did so to redeem us from sin and the curse. If you would see God and know His glory and will, then look to Jesus who is the Word and Wisdom of the Triune God. Christ brings you God’s mercy, forgiveness and eternal life. It is the will of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit to redeem fallen mankind, and in Christ Jesus the Triune God has indeed redeemed you and the entire world.  Amen. 

11. Let us pray. O Triune God, Your deeds are mighty and Your glory great, keep us steadfast in our confession of You so that we may glorify Your Holy Name.  Amen. 

To God alone be the Glory 

✠

All Scriptural quotations are translations done by The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind using the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, 4^th Edition © 1990 by the Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart, and the Novum Testamentum Graece, Nestle-Aland 27^th Edition © 1993 by Deutsch Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart. 

ELKB. Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche in Bayern. www.bayern-evangelisch.de/www/index.php. Copyright © Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche in Bayern. 

Löhe, Wilhelm. Liturgy for Christian Congregations of the Lutheran Faith. Copyright © 1902 Frank Carroll Longaker.  

Nagel, Norman. Selected Sermons of Norman Nagel: From Valparaiso to St. Louis. Frederick W. Baue, Ed. Copyright © 2004 Concordia Publishing House. 

1. Corinthians 2,12-16. Pentecost Sunday

✠ One Message: Christ crucified and risen for you ✠ 

1. Corinthians 2,12-16  3212

Pfingstsonntag  043  

The Venerable Bede, Pastor, May 26, 735  

27. May 2012

1.  O God, who upon this day has taught the hearts of Your faithful people, by sending to them the light of Your Holy Spirit; grant us by the same Spirit to have a right judgement in all things, and evermore to rejoice in His holy comfort; through the merits of Christ Jesus our Savior (The Book of Common Prayer 147).  Amen. 

2. Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we might understand the things freely given us by God. And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual. The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. „For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?“ But we have the mind of Christ.  

3. The Apostle Peter preached to the Jews: »in those days I will pour out My Spirit, and they will prophesy« (Acts 2,18). The apostle proclaimed this on the Feast of Pentecost, AD 33, ten days after Jesus had ascended to heaven. The Apostle Peter was not speaking his own words. He was quoting the Prophet Joel. The prophet, likewise, was not prophesying his own words, but was in fact speaking the very words of Yahweh: »in those days I will pour out My Spirit, and they will prophesy«. 

4. To prophesy is the proclaim, and to proclaim is to preach. Such words are not the individual’s, for these words belong to Yahweh. The words are inspired, God-breathed the Apostle Paul declares (2. Timothy 3,16), by the Holy Spirit who proceeds from the Father and the Son. 

5. Not every word that is claimed to be from Yahweh is from Yahweh. Many religions claim to speak for God, but only Christianity truly does speak for God. Many false teachers and heretics exist in the Church, and only those churches whose words are faithful to Holy Scripture can truthfully claim to speak for God. Human wisdom and natural reason often masquerade themselves as Divine words, and the orthodox pastor and theologian exposes such human words for what they are. Sometimes God’s words are thought to be the foolish words of man. Such was the case in Acts 2 on Pentecost. Some Jews mocked the words of the apostles: these men are drunk (Acts 2,13)! The Apostle Paul thus exhorts us to judge the words and test them against the Bible. 

6. The words of God are spiritually discerned, and they are only understood by those who have the Holy Spirit, namely, Christians. How is one Spirit-born? How do you know if the Holy Spirit dwells within you? Some argue that the mark of the Spirit is if you can speak in an ecstatic tongue. Others argue that the mark of the Spirit is if you can perform signs and wonders. These claims are often made by televangelists and faith healers, but the discerning Christian sees through the false marks they present as proof of the Spirit’s presence. 

7. The true mark of the Holy Spirit is mundane and simple: have you had water poured upon you in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit? Have you been baptized? By this Sacrament, the Holy Spirit enters in. Jesus spoke of it this way: »Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you« (Matthew 28,19-20). Thus the apostles were tasked to baptize and teach. They baptized, taught and then ordained pastors to continue this work in the Church until Christ’s return. 

8. The arrival of the Holy Spirit not only involves the Sacrament of Holy Baptism, but it also involves teaching, preaching and prophesying. By the Holy Spirit, the words of God are spoken. The chief word of God is: „ego te absolvo; ich spreche dich los (I absolve you)“. „The word of forgiveness is a word of prophecy and proclamation. God’s will announces itself not merely in general within His promise, but makes itself available within it; indeed, God defines Himself in the truest sense of the word in this promissio of the absolution. The promissio is in this sense a legally binding promise with an immediate effect; it is not merely a distant promise (Verheißung), nor merely declaratory, but effective“ (Martens § 6). 

9. The gospel is about forgiveness. The preached Word proclaims forgiveness. Holy Baptism immerses you in forgiveness. Holy Absolution looses your sins. You eat Christ’s body and drink His blood in the Lord’s Supper which was given and shed for you and the remission of your sin. On Pentecost, the Jews asked what must be done for them to be saved. The apostles point them to the Word and Sacraments. They need do nothing to merit salvation; they are told to receive what Christ had already accomplished for them. They repent, believe the gospel and are baptized. By the Word and the Sacraments 3000 Jews received the gift of the Holy Spirit and became Christians (Acts 2,38). 

10. It is no different today, for the Holy Spirit works the same way as He did for the apostles. Whoever calls upon Christ will be saved. No doubts. No in-betweens. Just pure and complete salvation. The Word and Sacraments give this salvation in full. The Holy Spirit gives you the mind of Christ through these means of grace. The mind of Christ is that Jesus has purchased your salvation on the cross. You are freed by the Holy Spirit from your debt of sin through the preaching of the gospel, for Jesus proclaims: »Receive the Holy Spirit; whosoever’s sin you forgive, they are forgiven« (Gerhard 448 § 3). Through the preaching of the gospel, you are called back into the true motherland of the holy Church and unto everlasting life by the Holy Spirit (Gerhard 449 § 5). The inheritance of holiness, righteousness and salvation which Adam and Eve had shamefully lost through sin is put into place for you again by the Holy Spirit, because through Him you are born again and are children of our Heavenly Father (Gerhard 449 § 6). This is the mind of Christ, and the Holy Spirit delights in giving this gift to you.  Amen. 

11. Let us pray. O Holy Spirit, Creator of faith, fill the hearts of Your faithful and ignite in them the fire of Your Divine love so that we trust on Christ for our salvation.  Amen. 

To God alone be the Glory 

✠

All Scriptural quotations are translations done by The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind using the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, 4^th Edition © 1990 by the Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart, and the Novum Testamentum Graece, Nestle-Aland 27^th Edition © 1993 by Deutsch Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart. 

Book of Common Prayer, The. Copyright © 1549 Cambridge University Press. 

   ELKB. Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche in Bayern. www.bayern-evangelisch.de/www/index.php. Copyright © Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche in Bayern. 

Gerhard, Johann. Postilla. Vol. 1. Copyright © 2001 The Center for the Study of Lutheran Orthodoxy.

Martens, Gottfried. Certainty of Salvation. Copyright © 2000. 

Revelation 1,4-8. Christ's Ascension

✠ One Message: Christ crucified and risen for you ✠

Revelation 1,4-8 3112

Christi Himmelfahrt  041  weiß  

Ivo, Bishop of Chartres, France † 1115  

20. May 2012

1. Grant we beseech You, Almighty God, that like as we do believe Your only-begotten Son our Lord to have ascended into the heavens; so we may also in heart and mind there ascend, and with him continually dwell.  Amen. (The Book of Common Prayer).  Amen. 

2. John to the seven churches that are in Asia: Grace to you and peace from Him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before His throne, and from Jesus Christ the Faithful Witness, the Firstborn of the dead, and the Ruler of kings on earth. To Him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by His blood and made us a kingdom, priests to His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. Behold, He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of Him. Even so. Amen. „I am  the Alpha and the Omega,“ says the Lord God: „who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.“ 

3. „We have followed the life of Jesus this first half of the Church Year from the ... infant on the straw in the stable to the baby receiving the homage of the Wise Men. We have followed Him from the boy in the temple to the man to whom John the Baptizer pointed: „Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!“ (John 1,29). Then, baptized of John in the Jordan, the Spirit came down on Jesus and we heard the Father’s voice: „This is My Beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; listen to Him“ (Matthew 17,5). Tempted in the wilderness, Jesus held to God’s high-saving purpose: Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter. All this so that He might bless us“ (Nagel 143-44). 

4. Forty days after His Easter resurrection, Jesus ascended to heaven from Bethany. John the Apostle describes the ascended Jesus as one who has »glory and dominion forever and ever«. In the Creeds, we confess that Jesus ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of His Father. The 110. Psalm declares: »Yahweh says to my Lord: „Sit at My right hand until I make Your enemies Your footstool.“ Yahweh sends forth from Zion Your mighty scepter. Rule in the midst of Your enemies!« „Though it is not explicitly affirmed, the Ascension and the Session, as the words of the psalm indicate, meant much more than might seem apparent on the surface. The first- and second-century Christian who expressed his faith in them understood them as implying that Christ had beaten down the hostile powers opposed to Him, and consequently to His Church“ (Kelly 151). 

5. With His ascension, Jesus’ ministry has now transcended the confines of temporal life on earth. Jesus no longer confines Himself in His body to one location in time. When Jesus ascended to the right hand of His Father, He takes up again the full exercise of His omnipresence, Allgegenwart, now as both God and man, for the property of the Divine and human nature is preserved in one Person (The Chalcedonian Creed of 451). 

6. To be at the right hand of God does not limit or confine Jesus to a particular place in heaven. „The “right hand of God“ at which Christ sat down by His ascension is not a mere „seat of honor“ or a „seat of rest“, … but the heavenly throne of Christ’s exalted humanity“ (Pieper 325). The Apostle Peter’s Pentecost sermon proclaims that, by His ascension, Jesus did not enter into a „rest,“ or into an „inactive state or condition,“ but into an active Divine reign (Pieper 325). Thus Christ’s ascension to His Father’s right hand is glorious. 

7. The right hand of God is about rulership and authority rather than a literal place where Jesus abides from His ascension until His return on the last day. The right hand of God attributes the Divine, universal dominion of God the Father, which is now given to Jesus to exercise as His Son and our Savior. To be at God’s right hand, the place of honor and rule, implies that Jesus wields the unlimited power and omnipotence (Allmacht) that is His and this rule is exercised according to both His Divine and human natures (SD VIII.27). This right hand of God is no mere fixed location in heaven. 

8. Jesus’ dominion has specific benefits for us. Jesus ascended to prepare our eternal dwelling place (John 14,2-3). Jesus ascended to send the Holy Spirit to His Church and to send apostles, pastors and others to proclaim the gospel (John 16,6-8; Ephesians 4,10-12). Jesus now intercedes for us before His Father (Romans 8,34-35). Jesus now rules over His Church and all creation (Ephesians 1,20-23), which means that sin, death and the devil must be subject to Christ. All this says that the ascended Jesus is a Jesus who blesses. 

9. When last we saw Christ Jesus in the Gospel according to Luke, He was ascending to heaven with His hands raised in blessing (Luke 24,50-51). These are the hands that lovingly  held Mary’s hand. „These are the hands that ... learned to write the words of Scripture that Jesus knew so well by the time He was twelve years old. These hands worked with hammer and saw, sharing and blessing our work with us. These are the hands that touched the eyes of the blind and the tongue of the dumb, the hands that had taken hold of the pale cold hand of the little girl and given her back alive to her wondering father and mother. We read so often of these hands that Jesus stretched them out, touched or grasped with that personal, individual love and help that marks the healings of Jesus. He did not heal people by the dozens lumped together, but was there for each one that needed Him as His hands took hold of each one“ (Nagel 144). 

10.  „These are the hands that gathered the little children into His arms to hug them and bless them. These are the hands that gripped Peter when he looked away from Jesus and began to sink. These are the hands that broke the blessed bread and gave them His body to eat. These are the hands that Thomas held and conquered all his unbelief. All this the ascension hands of Jesus say, and we have not yet mentioned the biggest thing of all, for in those hands we see the print of the nails. That jagged scar tells us the full size of blessing and how it was won for us“ (Nagel 144). 

11. Jesus’ ascension does not mean that He has gone away. Before He ascended, Jesus promised His Christians: »Behold, I am with you, even unto the end of the age.« „The  difference is that after the ascension, Jesus does not show us Himself anymore, or at least not until the next time, which will be the end of the world or when we die, whichever comes first.... But because Jesus ascended, His people ... know that He is with them. He has promised it“ (Nagel 145). 

12. Jesus’ dominion is now manifested in his Church and in our midst. Where two or three are gathered in His Name, Jesus is among them (Matthew 18,20). Where Jesus’ body and blood is given and received in the Holy Sacrament, Jesus is really present with those who partake of His Supper. 

13, O Lord Jesus Christ, Your right hand exalts and does valiantly, pour out upon us the Holy Spirit so that in the days ahead when we struggle as Your Church militant we may be comforted with Your promise that we will inherit Your heavenly reign on account of Your righteous merit.  Amen. 

To God alone be the Glory 

✠

All Scriptural quotations are translations done by The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind using the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, 4^th Edition © 1990 by the Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart, and the Novum Testamentum Graece, Nestle-Aland 27^th Edition © 1993 by Deutsch Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart. 

Book of Common Prayer, The. Copyright © 1549 Cambridge University Press. 

ELKB. Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche in Bayern. www.bayern-evangelisch.de/www/index.php. Copyright © Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche in Bayern. 

Kelly, J. N. D. Early Christian Creeds. Copyright © 1972 Longman Group Limited. 

Luther, Martin. „All Christians, One and All, Rejoice“. Lutheran Service Book. Copyright © 2006 Concordia Publishing House. 

Nagel, Norman. Selected Sermons of Norman Nagel: From Valparaiso to St. Louis. Frederick W. Baue, Ed. Copyright © 2004 Concordia Publishing House.