Sinner and Saint

Good Fruit

Presentation of the Augsburg Confession 2006

“Good Fruit”

Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

          In 1530 the Lutheran Princes of Germany met before Emperor Charles V to discuss war against Turkey, support of the Empire financially and with military, and most importantly the life of the Christian church. This is what the Lutheran princes had to say to Charles V.

                “Most Invincible Emperor, Caesar Augustus, Most Clement Lord: Inasmuch as Your Imperial Majesty has summoned a Diet of the Empire here at Augsburg to deliberate concerning measures against the Turk, that most atrocious, hereditary, and ancient enemy of the Christian name and religion, in what way, namely, effectually to withstand his furor and assaults by strong and lasting military provision; and then also concerning dissensions in the matter of our holy religion and Christian faith, that in this matter of religion the opinions and judgments of the parties might be heard in each other’s presence; and considered and weighed among ourselves in mutual charity, leniency, and kindness, in order that, after the removal and correction of such things as have been treated and understood in a different manner in the writings on either side, these matters may be settled and brought back to one simple truth and Christian concord, that for the future one pure and true religion may be embraced and maintained by us, that as we all are under one Christ and do battle under Him, so we may be able also to live in unity and concord in the one Christian Church.”

At this time Charles V was at war with Turkey.  Turkey here describes more than just a country; it describes Islam as the enemy of Christianity. Rome, with the rest of Christianity at that time, agreed that Islam was an enemy of Christianity and must be destroyed. We can see today how large this religion has become.The Lutheran princes also met with Charles V to discuss another serious matter. This matter was the Church. The Lutherans did not want to break away from Rome, on the contrary they tried to reform Rome and remain one united Christian church. The Lutherans also used this Confession to show Charles that they were not a heretical group with outrageous beliefs but were in agreement with the catholic faith against all heresy.

“I am the true vine and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he trims clean so that it will be even more fruitful. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.” (John 15:1-4)

            Jesus is the Vine and God the Father is the one that trims off branches that do not produce fruit. These are not just dead branches, but branches that appear to be healthy and ready to burst forth with fruit but do not. This is a warning for every one gathered here this morning. Jesus warns us that there are those that claim to be Christian, look like they are Christian but are really not Christian. Those that just pretend to be Christians will be cut from the vine and thrown into a pile and burned. We all can look around and point fingers at each other and say that they aren’t producing, but we must first look at ourselves.

Billy Graham was once quoted as saying “The LCMS is a sleeping Giant”. This is a strong statement in which we as a Synod are being seen as a Christian Church that has fallen asleep at the wheel. We are a church that is seen as being in danger of what Jesus is talking about here. Good works are not necessary for faith or salvation, but good works or as our text says fruit show that we truly are Christians and in the Church. They show that we are faithful Christians and not pretenders of the faith.

            We are not only in danger of being pretenders of the faith; we are also allowing other pretenders outside of the church to have free reign in our society.  We have allowed people such as Oprah Winfrey and the deceased Yassir Arafat among others to claim that we are all believers in the same god but know him by different names. This in effect is a statement that says all people are saved as long as they believe in something. And this we allow in our society without question! All pretenders of the faith have the same judgment. In verse 6 Jesus says “if anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned”. Not only are non-believers judged but also pretenders of the faith that have been acting as Christians.

            We must not accept false religions. We do love non-believers but we hate their sin of unbelief. It is like the old saying “love the sinner, hate the sin”. As true believers and branches of the vine that produce fruit, we must stand up like Luther, Melanchthon and other reformers of the faith to the powers and influences of this world and proclaim what our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ did and continues to do in this world. We must proclaim the Gospel. Psalm 119:46 says, “I will speak of your statutes before Kings, O Lord and will not be put to shame.”

            The problem is that today we have and continue to put God to shame by shutting up the Gospel so that we do not offend people of other religions. We offend God by allowing other religions to proclaim loudly that they are equal to Christianity. Paul says in 1 Cor. 9:16b “Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel”. We continue to put God to shame by keeping the Gospel hidden from the world instead of witnessing to the world. We become defensive and say that Christians know better than to be influenced by false religions. I wish this were true. If it were Islam and Mormonism would not be two of the fastest growing religions in the world today. We must also be aware that if we allow non-believers to think that everyone is saved then they will not have a need for Christ or Salvation. Instead of being ashamed or scared we should be glad to proclaim the Gospel. “I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile.” (Romans 1:16)

            Christ is the one and only true Vine. Christians are the true branches that produce good fruit. Not only were St. Paul, St. Peter, Martin Luther, and Philip Melanchthon true branches but you being true Christians that produce fruit are also true branches. There are many religions today that claim to be branches of the vine but are not! These include Mormons, Christian Science, the Lodge and Jehovah’s Witnesses. There are also those that have always claimed that Christianity is false such as Judaism and Islam. All of these groups along with the pretenders of the Christian faith are judged and found guilty by God; for they have rejected Jesus as their Lord and Savior.

            Today we celebrate a document that was good fruit produced by true branches. This fruit was produced to defend Christianity from the abuses that had corrupted the Church. This document continues to stand against abuses in the Church; many of these abuses continue to this day. This fruit was produced by true branches because they were part of the Vine. This fruit was given to us by God to be a tool in weeding out dead branches. “If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.” (7-8 of our text)

            God loves us and will grant us all of our needs. In verse 11 of our text Jesus says, “I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.” Jesus desires all of us to be fruitful branches that are tended by the Father. When we remain in the Vine we are fed and nourished. When we remain in the Vine we are saved! John 15:13, which occurs two verses after the end of our text says “Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.” Jesus, the Vine, gave up his life for all the branches. There is no greater love than what Jesus did for each and every one of you.

            Jesus indeed died for each one of you and you have been united with him in his death when you were baptized. In the same way you have been united with Christ in his glorious resurrection. Jesus defeated sin, death and the grave for you. Jesus took all of your sins upon himself; takes all of your sorrow, torment, and pain and in return gives life; gives peace and love…gives us himself in the Lord’s Supper. Jesus gives you everlasting life in paradise.

Let us be tools of the Holy Spirit and produce good fruit. Let us share the same joy of Christ that we have with all people that do not know Jesus as Lord and Savior. When we are scared or nervous in sharing the Gospel and standing firm in our faith let us remember that God is surely with us and that it is His word we are sharing. It is the Vine that produces branches. As Jaroslav Vajda, our synod’s poet laureate, wrote in his hymn titled “Go, My Children, with My Blessing, Never Alone”:

“Go my children with my blessing never alone. Waking sleeping I am with you, you are my own. In My love’s baptismal river I have made you mine forever. Go my Children with my blessing you are my own.” “Grow in love and love by serving, joyful and free. Go My Children I will keep you and give you peace!”

The peace of God, which passes all human understanding, keep your hearts

and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

Listen Up!

Feast of the Holy Trinity, 2006

Pentecost 1

Deuteronomy 6:4-9

“Listen Up!”

Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

            In olden days every town had its own “town crier” that would go up and down the streets with a message for the people. The town crier of course had to be loud enough that everyone could hear the message that was so important. I wonder how many Pastors with their loud voices had a second job as the town crier. And yes, I too would probably have made an excellent town crier. While we don’t have official town crier’s anymore…it seems that Pastor’s indeed have an important message for the people to hear. This is the case of our Old Testament Lesson. “Hear Ye Hear Ye!” “Listen Up!” “Pay Attention!” Here comes an important message from God!

            “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.” There you have it…the important message. A message important enough to be called the Great Command by the Israelites or in Hebrew as it was known as the “Great Shmah.”    

          Well…it is Scripture…it is God’s own word…but that is the great command…that’s the important message? It’s good … I’ll give you that…but aren’t there more important messages in Scripture. What’s so great about this verse. In fact, why does this verse fall on the Feast of the Holy Trinity?

            This verse as simple as it may seem in English points to the Blessed Trinity. Let me repeat these two verses with a slight change as they appear in Hebrew. “Hear O Israel: Yahweh our Gods, Yahweh is one. Love Yahweh your Gods with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.” Yahweh is the proper name of God in Hebrew. Yet our text really says Hear O Israel Yahweh our Gods (plural) Yahweh is one! Such a very minute yet important change in the wording. Yet it is fascinating and important to see the Holy Trinity in the Old Testament. This is not some new idea thought up with Christ and the disciples. It is not some idea that Christians thought up centuries later as the Jehovah’s Witnesses claim. Truly this is a message that was proclaimed loudly and needs to continue being proclaimed with authority.

          “These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of you houses and on your gates.”

            “Hear ye, Hear ye, Listen up!” Now that you have heard the message from God start following it. Do something about it! God doesn’t want this to go in one ear and out the other. God wants us to know that in all we say and do he is present and at the center of it. The Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is at the center of your life! Don’t hide this fact but rejoice in it. As Christians the only way to do God’s will is to keep Christ in the Center of our lives, our thoughts, and our actions. And while this is center in our lives we must also teach this to be the center of our children’s lives. Far too often we let our youth find things out the hard way…or desire for them to make up their minds to themselves.

            A friend of mine thought it very unfair to influence a child’s mind by inculcating any opinion before it had come to the age of discretion to choose for itself. I showed him my garden and told him it was my botanical garden. “How so?” said he; “it is covered with weeds.” I replied, “That is only because it has not yet come to its age of discretion and choice. The weeds, you see, have taken the liberty to grow, and I thought it unfair of me to prejudice the soil towards roses and strawberries.” Imagine if our Farmers let the soil age to a period of discretion. What kind of harvest would we have?

            “Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.” Have daily devotions with your family; have prayers and bed time and in the morning. Speak about God while driving in the car. There are so many opportunities we have to share the love of Jesus with our very own children. The opportunity is there for you…to share the bond of Christ with each other. The Gospel is as important for children to hear as it is for adults; on that note it is a blessing to have Sunday School and VBS for our children as that is a wonderful blessing and teaching opportunity.

            There is a poem that speaks about the importance of our parents and adults knowing and keeping Scripture and God central in their lives for the sake of children. It goes like this:

            “’Twas a SHEEP, not a lamb, that strayed away In the parable Jesus told—A grown up sheep, that had gone astray from the ninety and nine in the fold. OUT ON THE HILLSIDE, out in the cold, ‘twas a SHEEP the Good Shepherd sought; And back in the flock safe in the fold, ‘Twas a SHEEP the Good Shepherd bought. AND WHY FOR THE SHEEP should we earnestly long, and earnestly hope and pray? Because there is danger if they go wrong—they may lead the lambs away; When the SHEEP go wrong, it will not be long till the lams are as wrong as they. AND SO WITH THE SHEEP we earnestly plead, for the sake of the lambs today; If the lambs are lost, what a terrible cost some SHEEP will have to pay.”

            “Tie them (the commandments) as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them down on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.” While the Orthodox Jews miss the message of God’s love and salvation through Christ there is something they do that we can learn from. To this day they continue to put this passage of Scripture within the doorframes of their homes and continue to bind a small box that contains this on their forehead. Now you don’t have to go and do these things in this matter…but do keep God’s commands and the wonderful news of His love in your hearts and show them in your word and action towards others.

            Hear Ye, Hear Ye; Listen Up! The Blessed Trinity is One! “Holy, holy, holy! Lord God Almighty! All thy works shall praise thy name in earth and sky and sea. Holy, holy, holy, merciful and mighty! God in three persons, blessed Trinity!” Jesus, raised by the Father lives and has sent his Spirit to be with each of you! The victory’s won! Amen.

Now may the peace of God which passes all human understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord and Savior. Amen.

Work Unseen

Pentecost 2006

John 16:5-16

“Work Unseen”

Grace Mercy and Peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen

     Today we celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit. In a day and age in which we celebrate much less important arrivals such as Santa Claus with “you better watch out, you better not cry, you better not pout I’m a telling you why” we seem to do so very little for the Holy Spirit. These past words of a familiar song are more suited for the coming of the Holy Spirit than for its original purpose. What makes today so special? Today marks the coming of the Third person of the Holy Trinity. The Holy Spirit is not some force or wind that blows from time to time. The Holy Spirit is a person. The Holy Spirit is God.

     In our text, Jesus tells us of the coming of the Holy Spirit and bids the disciples farewell. The disciples did not even ask Jesus where He was going because they were sad and thought they were losing their Lord. Even though the disciples believe that Jesus will send the Comforter to them they are still thinking selfishly in their wants of keeping the Lord with themselves.

Grief and sadness often fill the hearts of men as it did for the disciples in our text. The world is a valley of sorrows and tears. We act as if nothing is wrong and life is grand; even when life it seems cannot get worse. We question why things happen to us and dwell in self-pity and despair. We hide our emotions from the world and ask God daily to take everything away because it is beyond what we can handle. We so easily give way to sorrow, to sadness, and grief. And this is why Jesus sent the Holy Spirit.

     Even Martin Luther was known to have bouts with depression and despair. There is in fact a story about Luther when he was feeling down. “Luther was for a time in gloomy spirits. In vain did Katie, his beloved wife, try to cheer him up. At last she put on a widow’s garment and went around the house in deepest mourning. When Luther observed this, he asked, ‘Who is dead?’ ‘God,’ replied Katie. ‘Don’t talk so foolish!’ retorted the great Reformer. ‘Well, my dear Doctor,’ answered Katie, ‘you are so downhearted that I concluded God must be dead, and so I put on my mourning apparel.’ Luther understood the lesson his good wife wished to teach him, embraced her, and forgot his cares.”

     Mankind does not understand how God deals with our problems and prayers. Jesus said, “If I do not go away the Comforter will not come to you. But if I go I will send Him to you.” Jesus at this time was trying to explain to the disciples what was necessary for salvation. Now, it is easy for us to sit back today and criticize the disciples for their dullness, unhappiness, and grief. But are we not the same? The way we choose to act out our lives often gives the perception that God is dead, as Luther himself perceived. We must be aware of our sinful grief and only then shall the Gospel comfort us. The Holy Spirit is the great Comforter…of all our sadness and grief.

     The Holy Spirit also convicts the world of sin, mainly unbelief. The greatest sin is to reject Jesus as Lord. Mark 16 says, “He that believes and is baptized will be saved, but he who does not believe will be condemned.” All have sinned! But not all believe that Jesus died for their sins. It is through the Law that the Holy Spirit convicts all of their sin. Before the flood of Noah the majority were rejecting God in unbelief. They would not listen to the Holy Spirit! In Psalm 51:11 David said: “Do not take your Holy Spirit from me.” We continue to ask this of God today; as we sing this before partaking in the Body and Blood of Christ. The goodness of God constantly warns us of the danger of refusing to confess our sins and the danger of unbelief. On Pentecost Day, Peter’s audience was convicted of their sin. Yet many did not believe. People look for an alternate answers to life other than God.

     The Holy Spirit also convinces the world of righteousness because Jesus goes to the Father. This is exactly what happened to Peter’s audience at Acts: 2:28 “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” We too are baptized in this way! We too receive this same gift of the Spirit in baptism. But what is this gift of the Holy Spirit? It is the righteousness of Christ. Yes as Christians, we are forgiven sinners that are wrapped in the very righteousness of Christ. We continue to be assured of this forgiveness every time we hear the Gospel.

     The work of the Holy Spirit is remarkable. Through the Law He continually convicts and convinces us of our sin. Through the Gospel the Holy Spirit comforts us and all believers in our salvation. Christ attained our salvation by going to the Father, by suffering and dying on the cross. In Adam all men sinned and died. In Christ all men gain forgiveness and eternal life. Everything we need for salvation has been done for us. It only needs to be proclaimed to the whole world so that all may hear and be saved. The Holy Spirit also convinces us that the ruler of this world has been judged, defeated, and conquered. At John 12:31 Jesus said that through His suffering and death the ruler of this world is thrown out. Satan, the father of lies and murder is nothing because of what Christ did. THIS IS OUR COMFORT!

    You better watch out, you better not cry, you better not pout I’m a telling you why… The Holy Spirit indeed knows your thoughts and actions and continues daily to comfort us from all grief. Continues to strengthen our faith through the Word and Sacrament. The Holy Spirit takes care of our every Spiritual need.         

      Our lives are like that of plants. In the spring we water the new flowers and sprinkle our newly seeded lawns with little doubt that come June the flower beds will be filled with red petunias and the lawn will be a lush mat of green grass. When you have water and sunshine, things grow. It is the same for us in Pentecost. Pentecost concerns growing things-people-us to be exact. Pentecost is the coming of the Holy Spirit to grant us a new and fresh life. On Pentecost God poured out His Spirit like water to germinate a fresh life in His chosen disciples. Like dead seeds coming to life in the soil, many a dying faith rebounds to new life as the Spirit of God fills the heart.

     God pours His Spirit out upon us daily through His Word, His Body and Blood, and through Baptism. Through the gift of the Holy Spirit we need not cry or pout I’m a telling you why! Jesus has sent His Spirit to us…and the Comforter shall keep us steadfast in the one true faith until life everlasting. Amen

Now may the peace of God which passes all human understanding keep our hearts and mind is Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.