Grace Evangelical-Lutheran: John 14,23-31. Pentecost

✠ One Message: Christ crucified and risen for you ✠

The Word of the Lord Endures Forever

Verbum Domini Manet in Aeternum

John 14,23-31 3419

Pfingstsonntag 043

Primus and Felicianus, Martyrs at Rome, 286

9. Juni 2019

1. O God, Holy Spirit, Comforter of the sorrowful, lead us into all truth, sanctify us in body and soul and comfort us in every time of need, so that we may be united more closely to You, the Father and the Son. Amen. (Löhe 490-92)

2. »Jesus answered Judas (not Iscariot): „If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word, and My Father will love him, and We will go to him and make Our home with him. ²⁴Whoever does not love Me does not keep My words. And the word that you hear is not Mine but the Father’s who sent Me. ²⁵These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. ²⁶But the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My Name, He will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. ²⁷Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. ²⁸You heard Me say to you: „I am going away, and I will return to you.“ If you loved Me, then you would have rejoiced, because I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than Me. ²⁹And now I have told you before it takes place, so that when it does take place you may believe. ³⁰I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is arriving. He has no claim on Me, ³¹but I do as the Father has commanded Me, so that the world may know that I love the Father. Rise, let us go from here.“«

3. Jesus promised His apostles that He would send them the Holy Spirit 50 days after His ascension. Jesus fulfilled this promise at the feast of Pentecost (Greek 50th). In older English we call it Whitsunday (White Sunday). It’s the Greek name for the Hebrew feast of weeks, Shavuot (Tobit; 2. Maccabees). Pentecost is the Jewish feast of weeks, a harvest festival that is celebrated 50 days after the first Sabbath of Passover (Deuteronomy 16,9). After ad 70, the focus shifted from agriculture to the giving of the law on Sinai and celebrating in the local synagogue with the reading of Exodus 19-20 and Ruth.

4. Jesus said the Holy Spirit will do 3 things when He arrives:

1. He will comfort the disciples;

2. He will teach them and help them remember everything Jesus has taught; and

3. He will bring them peace.

5. Luther explains the importance of the Holy Spirit in his Small Catechism: „I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to Him; but the Holy Spirit has called me by the gospel, enlightened me with His gifts, sanctified and kept me in the true faith. In the same way He calls, gathers, enlightens and sanctifies the whole Christian Church on earth, and keeps her with Jesus Christ in the one true faith. In this Christian Church He daily and richly forgives all my sins and the sins of all believers. On the last day He will raise me and all the dead, and give eternal life to me and all believers in Christ.“ All this is the Holy Spirit providing comfort and peace to the Church and Christians.

6. The Holy Spirit’s role in teaching and calling to remembrance all Jesus said begins immediately as He descends upon the apostles. Peter preached a powerful, Biblical sermon to the Jews gathered in Jerusalem for Pentecost. »„Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works, wonders and signs that God did through Him in your midst, as you yourselves know – this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. God raised Him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for Him to be held by it. For David says concerning him: I saw the Lord always before me, for He is at my right hand so that I may not be shaken; therefore my heart was glad, and my tongue rejoiced; my flesh also will dwell in hope. For you will not abandon my soul to Hades, or let your Holy One see corruption. You have made known to me the paths of life; you will make me full of gladness with Your presence [Psalm 16,8-11]. Brothers, I may say to you with confidence about the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. Being therefore a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that he would set one of his descendants on his throne, he foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that He was not abandoned to Hades, nor did His flesh see corruption. This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses. Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing. For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he himself says: The Lord said to my Lord: Sit at My right hand, until I make Your enemies Your footstool [Psalm 110,1]. Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.“« (Acts 2,22-36).

7. The first apostolic sermon is grounded upon the Holy Scriptures, particularly the Psalms (16,8-11; 89,3; 110,1), and emphasizes 6 key points:

1. Jesus performed Divine deeds in their midst;

2. you, Jews, delivered Him to be crucified by the Romans;

3. God raised Him up from the grave (Hades);

4. Jesus is now exalted at the right hand of God;

5. the outpouring of the Holy Spirit this day is proof of Jesus’ exultation; and

6. Jesus is both Lord and Christ.

8. This apostolic sermon is both Christian and credal, for it establishes the basic confession we profess each week in our Creeds. It convicts the Jews of their sin through the law and proclaims their forgiveness through the gospel; it is a very Lutheran sermon.

9. St. Luke points out in his Gospel: »Pilate called together the chief priests and the rulers of the people, and said to them: You brought me this man, Jesus, as one who was misleading the people. And after examining him before you, behold, I did not find this man guilty of any of your charges against him. Neither did Herod. I will therefore punish and release him. But they cried out together: Away with this man, and release to us Barabbas! Crucify, crucify Jesus! So Pilate decided that their demand should be granted (Luke 23,13-18.21-24). This was the chief sin of the Jews addressed by the Apostle Peter. Is our sin the same, 2000 years later? A: Yes, because our sinfulness is no different then the sin of the Romans and Jews of the first century ad. The very nature of our sinful state cries out that Jesus be crucified; our selfish sinfulness would gladly allow an innocent person be killed if it spares our own selves. Such is the depravity of our sinful nature. The first apostolic sermon cuts deep into our heart and conscience: we delivered Jesus over to be crucified. Like the 1. century Jews, we are cut to the heart and cry out: what shall we do?« (Acts 2,37).

10. Hear Jesus’ response from the cross to our guilty association: Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do (Luke 23,34). And that is what the apostles proclaim to the Jews on Pentecost: repent, and be baptized everyone of you in the Name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will be filled with the Holy Spirit (Acts 238). Paul explains this to the Romans, saying the righteousness of God has been manifested … through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe (Romans 3,21-22).

11. Jesus is our Lord and Christ; this is the gospel proclamation throughout the world. He is both God and man who redeemed us from our sinful state through His sacrifice on the cross. We are justified by His grace as a gift (Romans 3,24). The apostles began preaching the gospel, this gift, first to the Jews and then also to the Gentiles. The Holy Spirit worked through their preaching and writings to create faith in Christ. The Holy Spirit continues to create such faith this day here and around the world. The Holy Spirit brings us the peace of Christ. He comforts us with the gospel, assures us that God loves us and declares that our sin is forgiven. This is the peace the Holy Spirit brings us, and He brings it through Christ and His righteous merit that is ours by faith. Amen.

12. Let us pray. O God the Father, Your testimonies are righteous forever; give us an understanding of Your Word and trust in Your gospel, so that we may live forever with You, Christ and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

To God alone be the Glory

Soli Deo Gloria

✠

All Scriptural quotations are translations done by The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind using the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, 4. Edition © 1990 by the Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart, and the Novum Testamentum Graece, Nestle-Aland 28. Revised Edition © 2012 by Deutsch Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart.

Löhe, Wilhelm. Seed-Grains of Prayer: A Manual for Evangelical Christians. Wartburg Publishing House, Chicago circa 1912. Concordia Publishing House; Concordia on Demand.

Grace Evangelical-Lutheran

Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church

Thursday, June 13, 2019

John 14,23-31. Pentecost

No comments:

Post a Comment