Pentecost C
Loving God and Keeping His Word
St. John 14:23-31
19 May 2013 – Redeemer
John1423 Pentecost C 2013 Keeping Gods Word
They didn’t love God, therefore they did not listen to God’s Word. Therefore they didn’t keep His Word. God said, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.” They didn’t listen to God Word. They didn’t fill they earth. They all gathered in one place. “Let’s build a tower with its top to heaven.” They all thought it was a great idea. Not one of them disagreed. “Let us make a name for ourselves.” What could be better than having a name everyone recognizes and respects? They broke the first commandment because they loved themselves more than God. They broke the second commandment because they wanted to make a name for themselves instead of honoring the Lord’s name. They broke the third commandment because they refused God’s Word and thought that self-worship would get them to heaven. The Lord frustrated the plans of man in the plains of Shinar. “Let us go down and confuse their languages. They want to do their own thing. We’ll let them have their own way and their own tongues and then let them try to make for themselves a name. Let each man do his own thing and they will learn; man can do nothing without Me. Let them babble.”
We know what happens when each of us seeks to make a name for himself. We see the evidence everyday. When Bruce is the name I extol, my wife gets hurt, my children suffer, and my flock gets neglected. When you extol your name, President Obama or Governor Dayton gets slandered, your neighbor gets neglected, your boss gets cheated. You criticize those who sins you know, while avoiding confession of your own sin. You slander, betray, and lie to make a name for yourself.
The human race may be divided by language, but we are all united in trying to make a name for ourselves. We all try to justify our actions, our lives, our purposes. My gossiping is justified because it’s the truth. Your anger is justified because your dad spanked you when you were three or your parents fed you Cheerios instead of Captain Crunch. You only yelled at the kids because you had a long day at work. Your laziness is justified because the boss doesn’t pay you enough or everyone else is lazy. At the center of all this sin is your own name. None of it is your fault. You stand above the fray. You’ve built your own little tower to justify yourself. You’re making a name for yourself. Watch out. Your house of cards is going to fall. Count on it because the Lord loves you too much to let you stand on your own. Repent and hear the Word of the Lord.
Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.” Do you love God’s Word? Do you keep God’s Word? If you do then it is because the Holy Spirit has knocked down your house of cards and raised you to life in the forgiveness that comes in the name of Jesus.
On Pentecost Day the Holy Spirit came upon Peter and the Apostles in Jerusalem. The Spirit came for one reason – that repentance and the forgiveness of sins might be proclaimed in the name of Jesus. (Luke 24:47) When Peter preached, the Spirit was out knocking down all the little towers of Babel that the crowd had built. The earth shook and the people fell when Peter said, “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 2:36, ESV)
The miracle of Pentecost is not the rushing wind or the tongues of fire or the gift of tongues that Jesus gave to His apostolic band so the people could understand the sermon. The miracle is that God’s Word brought dead people to life. God’s Word justified those who cannot justify themselves. God by His Word convicted and converted people from loving themselves to loving Him and He did so by loving them in Jesus.
You would like Peter as a preacher. If St. Luke recorded his whole sermon it probably lasted less than 10 minutes, but it was all Jesus, for in Jesus God changes His heart toward us, by changing us. “Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and 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 that I may not be shaken;’” (Acts 2:22–25, ESV)
You killed Him, but God raised Him up. He fell for your sins. He was buried in the rubble that is your death. This God did that you might not fall, but be forgiven. You cannot justify your deeds or your life. There is no excuse. It’s sin and selfishness. But according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God He justified you. The injustice of the cross – the spotless Lamb of God being soiled with your sin and sacrificed for your selfishness that is God’s plan to justify the sinner. God raised this Jesus from the dead – and that means everything is right between you and your Father in heaven.
This is the miracle of Pentecost — the miracle of Good Friday, Easter, and the Ascension completed and proclaimed to you. Christ dies and you are forgiven. Christ is risen and you are right with God. Christ does all the work and the Holy Spirit reaches out His hands in God’s Word, in the waters of baptism, and in the body and blood of Christ and says, “Here, this is for you. It’s from your Father, bought by His Son. Your sins are forgiven. Your Father’s house is open to you – enter it anytime by prayer or confession. He will hear and answer.
And now you love God’s Word and you desire to keep it. Right? Well, yes and no. Yes, the child of God born in you in baptism he wants to keep it. He loves God and desires God’s Word. But in your flesh still resides the son of the Devil you were born as, that rebel child of Satan who loves sin, who hates conflict even when the truth is involved, who still tries to justify himself. That is why we need Pentecost every Sunday. We continue to need the word of forgiveness, the food of Christ’s body and blood, to forgive us, to drown that old Adam and strengthen the new man in Christ.
If anyone loves me, he will keep my Word. What exactly does that mean to keep God’s Word? Let me use the recent decision to throw away marriage in the state of Minnesota. How is a Christian to keep God’s Word when it comes to homosexuality and the redefining of marriage? Well, first we are to tell the truth. According to natural law, biology, and God’s own Word marriage, procreation, and the only solid building block for society is one man and one woman for a lifetime. As children of God we are not to lie, but tell the truth. Homosexuality is sinful. Second, we are to repent – to repent of how we as Lutherans have failed in our marriages. Our divorce rates are as high as the culture’s. We have succumbed to the lie that large families are bad stewardship. There are just as many men addicted to pornography inside Redeemer as there is outside. Men we love ourselves more than our brides and brides you don’t encourage us to man up and be the leaders of our homes. We also need to repent of our bigotry, gross humor, and disgust with those who struggle with homosexuality. Third loving God’s Word means you love our neighbor as God has loved you. That means loving your neighbor with truth and kindness, with honesty and compassion. God loves you. In that love He pursued you. He told you the truth about your sin. He also gave His Son to die for you so that in repentance you can receive the forgiveness of sins.
Pastor Matthew Harrison, president of our church body, said he read a book a while back entitled “Welcoming, but not affirming.” I think it would be great to have a sign outside Redeemer that said, “Sinners Welcome.” You see that calls us what we are sinners, but also states that there is something here for sinners. We welcome gossips, but do not affirm gossiping.” We welcome adulterers, but do not affirm adultery. We welcome people who exclaim “OMG” but we do not affirm every saying, “OMG.” We welcome you, but we do not affirm your sins. By God’s Word the Holy Spirit calls you to repent and to receive forgiveness in Jesus’ name. That is why we love Jesus and why we keep His Word in our ears, in our hearts, and with our lives. In the name of Jesus. Amen.
Pr. Bruce Timm
18 May 2013 anno Domini