Necessary Roughness

I was supposed to teach today, but I was informed nobody was going to class today. I caught the 8:00am service again at Lutheran Church and School of Messiah in Grand Junction.
A skip through the radio dial at 7:30 caught the Lutheran Hour with a men’s choir singing “Salvation Unto Has Come.” Not a bad start to the day.

There was interesting news during the prayers: Pastor Roger Sterle, whom I had seen preach in Vernal, UT, had accepted a call to a dual parish in Iowa. Maybe there’s a call for a recent M.Div. grad there.

Divine Service I without Holy Communion was offered, with Pastor Buss as the liturgist and Pastor Storck delivering the sermon. The hymns were:

• Opening: 779, “Come My Soul, With Every Care”
• Sermon: 556, “Dear Christians, One and All, Rejoice” (all ten verses )
• Closing: 578, “Thy Strong Word”

During the later service, there would be six children confirmed in the faith. Pastor Storck delivered the following sermon, on John 14:15-21, transcribed:

The instruction was almost complete. They had been together nearly three years as a group: some of them called earlier and others shortly thereafter. Yet they listened all the same. Sometimes not paying attention like they should, but they heard the words of the Shepherd. They heard him call them to himself.

The instruction was almost complete, for those instructions got more difficult to understand towards the end. The words spoken by the teacher by this time were the most difficult to comprehend: The world is going to hate you for Whom you belong to. Outside of the Vine you are not going to produce any good fruit, regardless of what the world tells you. There will be some who believe that whenever they kill you, they think they will be offering a service to God. Sounds like some religious bodies in the world today, doesn’t it? The world will rejoice when you suffer.

Last week’s Gospel text places that in the upper room with Jesus and his disciples, and there we are again, today. Last week we heard those comforting words to Thomas when Jesus said, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes through the Father except through me.” Only through Christ are we saved.

Our Lord’s last hours with his disciples were ones that left them in fear, for they knew that the Lord was going to leave them. They weren’t going to follow the Lord where he was going, regardless of the insistence of Peter. Yet they weren’t going to be abandoned in these difficult times, when the Lord was not going to be with them, either during those three days where he lay in the tomb, or for the longer time, since he has ascended into heaven, and we still await his coming.

Here again, the gospel text for us today. And know that he will never abandon you.

“If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.

“I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.”

Thus far the word of our Lord.

It was fairly easy for the disciples to think that they had been abandoned, because Jesus had completely disappeared from their sight after his body was laid in the tomb. It’s fairly easy for us to believe that we also have been abandoned. It surrounds our very selves, everywhere we turn, and look, we see abandonment in the world: parents abandoning children, either at orphanages or even before they are born. Husbands and wives, abandoning one another, divorcing and moving on. Even churches abandoning the true teachings of the Word of God, straying off to follow after itching ears, to be true to other teachings. Parents may even use abandonment for discipline reasons and control over their children. Have you ever heard, and I believe I’ve heard it too: “I’ll leave you behind if you don’t behave yourself!”

But Jesus never used that tactic with his disciples. He never told them that he would abandon them if they didn’t do something for him. He didn’t attach any strings to his word. Hear again, part of our gospel text: “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.” No strings attached. He promises that he will come back to them. They won’t be left on their own.

We sometimes find ourselves in difficult situations. We conclude that God must have abandoned us, and maybe even our families, as my friends back in Fort Wayne, Peter and Kristen (sp?), as their daughter Vivian (sp?) clings to life in the NICU at the hospital there. The world would say to them: God’s abandoned you. He’s not taking care of your daughter any more.

We’re good at living in despair and feeling like God has abandoned us, as though we didn’t have anything any more. As though we weren’t baptized in the font. As though we didn’t have Christ, or the Father, or even the Holy Spirit. We live our lives as if we didn’t have Jesus’s own words, and the only person that we can blame is ourselves. But we’re good at blaming God for abandoning us. We find ourselves living the world lives. 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, just as they are spiritually deserted.

Though we’ve been given the Holy Spirit in the waters of Holy Baptism, how often do we ignore the things that God has given to us? He doesn’t abandon us; we often abandon Him. We can’t believe that the mere Word connected with the holy waters of Baptism can do such great things. Or the Word, connected with mere bread and wine, can bring us Christ’s body and blood. We can’t believe that peace can come through God’s Word.

Job’s three friends wanted him to turn his back on God and abandon Him, because to them it seemed like God could abandon Job. Curse God and die, they tell him. Yet Job knew that even when it looked like God had turned his back on him, he would never curse God, because he knew He was there for him.

We often abandon God by neglecting and misusing the gifts that he has given to us. We all do something such as skipping church on Sunday morning, knowing we have something else better to do that day. We turn our backs by developing a bad attitude about Bible class and Sunday School, that we have little use for the Divine Service on Sunday morning. Where will those temptations lead us? I don’t know where those temptations will lead each one of you or myself. Pastor Buss and myself don’t know where any of those temptations would lead you, if you fall into them. Even your own parents don’t know where those things will lead you. Neither can any of the other parishioners sitting among you today. Only God knows where those temptations will lead you. But God knows that He will remain with you. He will not be the one to depart from you.

Don’t just think that I am picking on you this morning. We all do it. We all abandon the gifts of God, and we do it in those familiar ways, developing that bad attitude, finding it easier to stay home and watch Sunday morning football, or even now, playoff basketball and playoff hockey, rather than looking to God’s gifts given to us in Holy Baptism and in His church. We try to seek peace elsewhere in the world.

We turn our backs on God and what He gives us. We feel that the Holy Spirit is not with us when we aren’t on an emotional high, during the Divine Service, when that sermon doesn’t really move you that morning. We struggle, and we wonder why we didn’t just have the correct words to speak when our friends ask us about our faith. We believe that God must not have been with me in that moment, because the words that I said sure didn’t make any sense to me. Notice how easy it is for us to feel abandoned by God, when there’s no emotional high, and that we can’t remember when Jesus comes to us, when somebody asks, when were YOU converted?

Out of fear, even the disciples locked the door, because they felt that the Lord was no longer watching over them, and the Jews were going to come in and take them.

Therefore, repent, my friends. Repent of that sin, when you have believed that God has abandoned you. Know he has already claimed you as His very own. Repent and know that Christ’s promise to be with us, to the very end of the age, is true, and that he will never turn his back on you. Repent, and hear the gospel. Know that your sins have been forgiven. You are not, and you never will be, alone, while you are in the true faith.

As Christ departed from his disciples and left them for those three days, at his death, and then again, at his ascension as He goes into heaven, He leaves them with the promise which we heard in the gospel lesson, “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.” Jesus is coming even now, The preparations are already being set in order for His return. He came first in the incarnation. He came again in the resurrection and at Pentecost, and he will come again on the last day.

The world believed that it would no longer have to seek Jesus, or deal with his teachings after his death, and for some after his ascension into heaven. You are spiritually alive because Jesus is alive in heaven. For Jesus is the god of the living, and not of the dead. He is the god of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. You are alive in faith only because Jesus is alive now. You are alive by faith because Christ has claimed you out of the depths of our original sin, and he has placed his name upon you.

In the Rite of Holy Baptism, the pastor marked each one of you with of the sign of the cross upon your forehead and upon your heart, to mark you as one redeemed by Christ the crucified. You have been redeemed, washed in the waters of Holy Baptism, when God’s name was placed upon you, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Hear again the words of verse 20: “In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.” On the day of Pentecost the disciples knew. We have that same intimate knowledge through God’s Word even now. There is an intimate unity between the Father and the Son, and this union is so close that we can’t fully explain it. Even ask the confirmands later today, “Explain to me the Trinity,” and see if they can do it.

The verse tells us about the Father and the Son, but it expresses a union between the Son and us. Our union with Christ is just as close as Christ’s union with his Father. We are as close to the Father as Jesus is to his Father. They won’t abandon you. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, their name has been placed upon you. God the Father forsook his own son on the cross so that he would never forsake you. Take heart.

In our second service today we will have our confirmation class stand and make their profession of faith. Twice they will hear these questions. The first is this: Do you attend to live according to the Word of God and in faith, word, and deed, to remain true to God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, even to death? These questions may be bringing back memories of your own confirmation. And again, Do you intend to continue steadfast in this confession and church, and to suffer all, even death, rather than fall away from it? You can answer both with a hearty, “I do by the grace of God,” because of the gifts that God has already given to you.

You don’t need to fear death at the hand of the world or at the hand of Satan. Your death has already been defeated by our Lord, as we sang in our sermon hymn today. No wonder the disciples and the apostles could stand in the face of death in the book of Acts. Paul could boldly stand in the front of the Aeropagus, as we heard this morning, and proclaim his faith to those priests, even as some doubted it, and they mocked him. Peter, from our epistle lesson, writes:

But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you;

Even in the face of losing your friends at school for not following along. Even in the face of losing your jobs or being ridiculed out in the world. And even in the face of death, you have nothing to fear. For Christ has given you his Holy Spirit, He has given you another Comforter to watch over you. He has not abandoned you.

And with the giving of the Comforter, he works through means, in his Word, when you read it or when you hear it, in the Lord’s Supper, in the Holy Ministry, in other Christians when they speak the Word to you, and in you as you speak that very same Word to others. The Spirit always comes to us through means. He always uses means. Preachers. Earthly stuff, like water and words. Bread. Wine. Pastors. People. Through these means the Spirit keeps you in the true faith, and he lays the Word of our Lord on our hearts and minds, so that we would trust him and receive his presence in our lives. Use them often, as you’ve promised to do in your confirmation vows, and as you’ve made your vows many years ago.

And when death’s final hour arrives, whether it be from old age or from someone holding a gun to your head, believe that God is with you, that He has not abandoned you. Even if you die, and we all shall die, know that as Christ’s body was raised from the dead, from the sleep of death, yours will be also.

Take heart, then, my friends. Hold fast. Know that Christ has died for you. He lives again, for you. You will never be alone. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.