Cantate, The Fourth Sunday after Easter, 2014
Pastor Gregory L. Jackson
Bethany Lutheran Church, 10 AM Central Time
The Hymn #458 Our Father – Luther 4:50
The Confession of Sins
The Absolution
The Introit p. 16
The Gloria Patri
The Kyrie p. 17
The Gloria in Excelsis
The Salutation and Collect p. 19
The Epistle and Gradual
The Gospel
Glory be to Thee, O Lord!
Praise be to Thee, O Christ!
The Nicene Creed p. 22
The Sermon Hymn #462 I Love Thy Kingom 4:21
This Foundational Sin - Unbelief
The Communion Hymn #305 Soul Adorn Thyself 4:23
The Preface p. 24
The Sanctus p. 26
The Lord's Prayer p. 27
The Words of Institution
The Agnus Dei p. 28
The Nunc Dimittis p. 29
The Benediction p. 31
The Hymn #657 Beautiful Savior 4:24
Fourth Sunday After Easter
Lord God, heavenly Father, who didst through Thy Son promise us Thy Holy Spirit, that He should convince the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment: We beseech Thee, enlighten our hearts, that we may confess our sins, through faith in Christ obtain everlasting righteousness, and in all our trials and temptations retain this consolation, that Christ is Lord over the devil and death, and all things, and that He will graciously deliver us out of all our afflictions, and make us forever partakers of eternal salvation, through the same, Thy Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, one true God, world without end. Amen.
KJV James 1:16 Do not err, my beloved brethren. 17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. 18 Of his own will begat he us with the Word of Truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures. 19 Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath: 20 For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God. 21 Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted Word, which is able to save your souls.
KJV John 16:5 But now I go my way to him that sent me; and none of you asketh me, Whither goest thou? 6 But because I have said these things unto you, sorrow hath filled your heart.
7 Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.
8 And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: 9 Of sin, because they believe not on me; 10 Of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more; 11 Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged. 12 I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. 13 Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come. 14 He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you. 15 All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall shew it unto you.
The Foundational Sin - Unbelief
This lesson emphasizes the work of the Holy Spirit, which is the same as saying - This is how the Church will apply the Word, since the Spirit and Word are always together and never apart.
The Epistle and Gospel lessons teach the same efficacy of the Word, or to put it another way, the same power of the Spirit in the Word. We are born (converted, forgiven, renewed) by the Word of the Gospel. Jesus chose to do this through the spoken Word, and He taught His disciples to do the same.
Receive with meekness the engrafted Word, which is able to save your souls. In the New Testament, receive and believe are parallel words. The Bible avoids "making a decision for," which emphasizes human will and reason. Believing on and trust in are parallel to receiving with meekness. The Gospel is so powerful that people find their hearts suddenly converted, but some rebel against this. They are too proud, too righteous in their own deeds to need forgiveness. They are not meek. They do not receive the unwelcome message, even if they experience the joy of forgiveness for a moment.
They are like the people who tolerate guests but do not welcome them. The guests feel uncomfortable and leave early. Nothing obvious is said or done, but the message comes through. I see that happen in the culture of shunning.
Although James has a bad reputation (because the epistle is seldom read or studied) people forget that two of the most powerful Gospel passages are found there.
The engrafted Word is even more vivid - at least to rose growers, and apple orchard owners. Grafting is quite remarkable. God has created plants so they can be merged together while retaining two different characteristics. Orchard owners graft stock onto sturdy plants to give them the apples they want. They can even grow different types of apples on the same tree.
Almost all roses are grafted. The unkillable wild rose is the base of the plant. The hybrid tea or other variety is grafted onto the wild rose base. The base does better in the soil. It survives drought and cold better, but its blooms are sparse. The hybrid tea has beautiful flowers but a weaker base.
The graft union is easy to see. There are theories about where to place it, according to climate. My theory is - plenty of roses, plenty of water, plenty of earthworms, plenty of humus or mulch or compost or manure.
The Gospel Word is grafted onto us. We are the same base person, but the graft blooms with Gospel power and produces the fruits of the Spirit (Gal. 5) - love, joy, peace, gentleness, faithfulness, self-control, etc.
KJV John 16:5 But now I go my way to him that sent me; and none of you asketh me, Whither goest thou? 6 But because I have said these things unto you, sorrow hath filled your heart.
7 Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.
The divine plan was for Jesus to ascend so that mission would become global rather than local. The start was local, but the Christian Church soon reached from England to Lebanon, down to North Africa.
The work of the Spirit was to be felt in the preaching of the Resurrection witnesses, who were taught by the risen Lord. Then it would be experienced in the writing of the New Testament, preserving the work of the Evangelists.
8 And when He is come, He will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: 9 Of sin, because they believe not on Me; 10 Of righteousness, because I go to My Father, and ye see Me no more; 11 Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged.
This is the most important part of the New Testament, to understand the meaning of sin and forgiveness in Jesus' own words.
When the Holy Spirit is come, He will convict the world of sin...
This means that Jesus will explain in His own words what sin is. In other words, this is the touchstone of the entire New Testament. There are many places where something similar can be read, but this is the most basic, the central point that connects everything else.
For starters, let's define sin by current standards. Sin is:
- Disagreeing with the current dogma of the synod.
- Showing intolerance toward others, that is, having an opinion.
- Either taking illegal drugs or being against illegal drugs.
- Homosexuality or being against homosexuality.
- Hanging with the wrong people - like dissenters or known sinners.
- Not working hard enough at something.
- Not having enough self-esteem.
All those definitions are based upon doing or not doing, sometimes on thought itself. And people are constantly confused because the sides often switch. The very people who said they were against abortion are now promoters of the same, condemning anyone who holds their own former position.
9 Of sin, because they believe not on Me;
Here is the definition of sin - not believing on Jesus. The Holy Spirit will convict the world of that foundational sin - not believing on Jesus.
These verses are so plain that we see them without seeing. Why? We are used to sin as doing and thinking. I am not denying sin in either one, but they are not the foundational sins.
Jesus' most ferocious admonition was - You of little faith.
I used to resist the phrase "believing on," but the construction is far more common now in various contexts. When people do nothing but hate, it is called "hating on." When I was petting someone's little dog, the owner described it as "loving on my dawg." She said, "He doesn't mind you lovin' on him." The same woman said, "I spent the whole weekend lovin' on my niece."
To use other words - placing all our trust in Jesus, instead of dividing between trusting in ourselves and trusting in Him. The Gospel message constantly shows us that sin is not trusting completely in Him to:
- Walk on water.
- Still the storm.
- Heal the sick.
- Raise the dead.
- Rise from death.
- Ascend into heaven.
We have examples from Scripture where someone believed with utter trust that He could do one of those things. And the Bible says - He could do all of those things and more. And He can do that much for you, and more. Ephesians 3 - more than we can hope or even imagine.
Why are churches so weak today? They no longer teach or exemplify faith in Christ. Ministers avoid those areas where they have doubts. And those doubts and fears accumulate. "Studies show..." We need unbelievers to teach us about the Gospel and its growth? Jesus touched upon it more than once.
If our concept of sin is bad, making the foundation what we did, then our concept of forgiveness will be just as bad.
10 Of righteousness, because I go to My Father, and ye see Me no more...
This is easy to get wrong when the first part is missed. The Holy Spirit will convict the world of righteousness (forgiveness ) because Jesus in ascending to heaven proved His divine nature while retaining His human nature.
How can we brag of our own righteousness when Jesus has ascended to heaven? Clearly He is our righteousness. For that reason we have the righteousness of faith (to quote the Formula of Concord).
The Gospel - in teaching our complete, free, gracious forgiveness in Christ, through trust in Him - moves us to carry out God's will.
That is the Gospel graft at work. The Word grafted in us powers God-pleasing thoughts and deeds.
The Prince of this World is powerful. He teaches us to judge and condemn all the time. Human misery is called by constant getting even.
In contrast, Gospel grafting reminds us of our forgiveness and blessings, our many reasons to be thankful. In thankfulness we respond to others.
A believing, forgiven Christian is like a newly engaged young woman. Everything is changed. Someone loves her and wants to spend his life with her. It is not coincidence that Jesus calls the believing Church His bride. It is the same way. Through the Gospel we learn and re-learn that Jesus loves us and wants to spend eternity with us.
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As Staff Minister of Worship at St. Andrew Church, Kristen is responsible for planning and implementing all worship opportunities. She also oversees the large corps of worship volunteers who serve in many and varied capacities each week. Music is the largest part of the worship ministry at St. Andrew, but the worship ministry also includes lay readers, dramatic and visual arts, hospitality ministries and audio/visual tech support. Kristen works with Pastor Hunter to study biblical worship principles and practices, evaluate current worship practices at St. Andrew, and define future directions for St. Andrew's worship ministry.
