External Spirituality
St. John 15:26-27; 16:4b-15
May 20, 2018 – Redeemer
About a hundred years ago, Dr. Francis Pieper, a Lutheran pastor and professor asserted that there are only two different religions in the world. It seems a ridiculous assertion – there’s more religions than that on single blocks even in small towns. But Dr. Pieper’s assertion is true – you can put every faith into one of two religions – the religion of the Law, where you try to please God by being good, and the religion of the Gospel, where you despair of your own goodness and trust the life and death of Jesus Christ for God’s love and favor.
On this Pentecost Sunday I want to modify Dr. Pieper’s statement to assert there are only two spiritualities in the world – an inward spirituality and an outward spirituality.
Let’s talk about something spiritual – sin. If you saw a man severely beating a child, would you consider that sinful? What makes that a sin? Against what higher power is that offensive? How do you know? Where does your spirituality come from? By what do you determine sin, right and wrong and make your judgments? There are only two sources: within or without. Subjective – I’ll make the call or objective – I’ll rely on something unchanging outside myself.
If your spirituality is from within – get ready for a roller coaster of chaos and confusion. Fifty years ago if a woman was pregnant outside of marriage she was sent to her aunt in rural Nebraska and her baby was quietly adopted, perhaps even by family. Or her father told the young man that had sex with his daughter that since he was playing grown up it was time to grow up and get married. Today, about a million children are aborted yearly in the United States with men like our current Governor Mark Dayton supporting it. Many of the most celebrated male athletes of our time have multiple children with multiple women. Boxer Evander Holyfield has 11 children with 8 different women. Our former favorite Viking Adrian Peterson has eight children, with multiple women, and didn’t even know one of his sons until the time of the boy’s death. At one time there was humility and repentance over sin, now it is celebrated and revered.
It is easy to judge someone else – but what do you do with your own sin? Do you spiritualize it away? Do you make an internal judgment in your favor? Well, at least in my lusting I didn’t have children with multiple women? Abortion is a horrible sin, but what about not teaching your children the faith at home? Aren’t the reasons behind both sins our own convenience and pleasure? We judge ourselves favorably because we all love me. Who would you rather have judge you? Yourself or someone else? An internal judgment or a judgment outside of you?
God in His mercy does not leave you to yourself – your judgment might feel good, but nothing is worse for you than an internal spirituality.
The Spirituality of Jesus isn’t internal. It is external. It is not something that begins inside of you, but has its entire reality outside of you. Biblical spirituality begins with God the Father, who in love, decided not to condemn His rebellious children, but to send His Son to save you from your sin. The only begotten Son of God came from heaven, not from your heart. Mary conceived not by her own will or with the help of man, but by the Holy Spirit. Jesus of Nazareth lived, taught, healed, performed miracles over creation, battled with the Devil and his demons, and then laid down His life for the sin of the world. Your sins are not taken care of by redefining sin or imagining God doesn’t care what you do. God Himself took your sin away, when His Son hung in the flesh on a cross outside Jerusalem.
In the text Jesus promises His men that after He is risen and returns to heaven the Helper, the Holy Spirit would come. Once again the gift of the Spirit was not something within them, but something outside of them. On Pentecost Day the Holy Spirit came upon the 12 with the mighty rushing wind and flames of fire. The Spirit filled the men, not for their own internal benefit, but rather for the benefit of the world.
Whoever was in Jerusalem that day heard the Good News – the preached, external, outside of themselves Word of Jesus. The apostles spoke to the Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and every other nationality that was there. God’s Spirit used that external word to convict them of Jesus’ death. You put Jesus to death. Your sin killed Him. The convicted multitude cried out, “What shall we do?” Once again the answer came from outside themselves. “You can do nothing. Repent of your sin and be baptized in the name of Jesus for the forgiveness of sins.” External Word, the Outward sign of Water, the Spirit from heaven – outward spirituality.
When all of those who believed went home the Holy Spirit went with them. To be sure the Spirit affected them internally, creating new hearts within them, dwelling in them with Christ, giving them faith which trusted in Jesus and His forgiveness. But when they confessed what they believed it wasn’t “this is what I think” or “I feel forgiven” or “this is truth for me.” It was the externals to which they pointed – Jesus of Nazareth, God’s only begotten Son, died on a cross to destroy your spiritual enemies. Three days later He rose again and appeared to about 500 people. 12 men out of those witnesses He appointed as apostles and they received a special measure of the Holy Spirit. How do I know? They could speak in languages they never learned. They were given perfect recall of all Jesus said and did. They healed people and raised the dead. There were external, visible, physical signs that the Holy Spirit was with them.
What does this mean for you? Don’t look inside yourself for God. He hasn’t chosen to reveal Himself to your spleen or pancreas. He has revealed Himself in His Word. If you want to know what is sin don’t look inside yourself. Your heart will not convict you. You’ve been taught by the world that sin is not sin and that virtue is vice and vice-versa. Look to the commandments – the Spirit will convict you of sin and show you its danger. When He convicts you don’t try self-justification. It’s the most common method of trying to save ourselves. Internally justifying our words and deeds, but it won’t work before God. Look outside of yourself once again to externals – to God’s Christ bearing your sin and covering it with His blood, paying for it with the sacrifice of His flesh. Look to the Risen Lord and hear the external witness of those 500 who saw Him alive. Those witnesses verify God’s verdict upon you in Christ, “Not guilty.” or as we Lutherans like to say, “Justified.” And that finally is God’s judgment for you. The Devil is damned and death is doomed because you are not guilty. All of that is not something in you. It is outside of you. It is not in you, but for you. In the name of Jesus. Amen.
Pr. Bruce Timm
May 19, 2018 anno Domini