Sermon May 18th 2008
Jared Rakness
Sermon May 18th 2008
First Reading Acts 2:1-21
Second Reading 1st Corinthians 12:3b-13
Gospel John 20:19-23
“Forgiveness”
Dear hearers of the Word of God, Grace and peace to you from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.
Let us pray: Not to us Lord, not to us but to you be the glory forever and ever. Almighty God, maker of all the world, you have come to us, ripping open the heavens and claiming us as your own, claiming us in the waters of baptism through your work, in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. By this work you create faith in us, faith that bears all things and suffers all things. Make us to suffer for this faith, suffering not for you, but for the sake of our neighbor, the one who needs our works, the one who needs our care, for we pray in the name of Christ our Lord, amen.
Today we celebrate Holy Trinity Sunday, a Sunday where we specifically remember the three in one, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. This of course is not unfamiliar to you, in fact every Sunday we gather we have a little tradition of confession this same faith together through the words of either the Apostle Creed of the Nicene Creed.
In these creed’s we confess our belief in the trinity as a fundamental doctrine of the church. Now to better understand it let us turn to Luther’s small catechism and read what this now means for us.
The first article of the creed states: “I believe in God the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth.” What does this mean? “I believe that God has created me and all that exists. He has given me and still preserves my body and soul with all their powers. He provides me with food and clothing, home and family, daily work, and all I need from day to day.
God also protects me in time of danger and guards me from every evil. All this he does out of fatherly and divine goodness and mercy, though I do not deserve it. Therefore I surely ought to thank and praise, serve and obey him. This is most certainly true.”
The second article of the creed states: “And in Jesus Christ his only Son, our Lord; who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary; suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried; he descended into hell; the third day he rose again from the dead; he ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father almighty; from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.
What does this mean? I believe that Jesus Christ—true God, Son of the Father from eternity, and true man, born of the Virgin Mary—is my Lord. At great cost he has saved and redeemed me, a lost and condemned person. He has freed me from sin, death, and the power of the devil—not with silver or gold, but with his holy and precious blood and his innocent suffering and death.
All this he has done that I may be his own, live under him in his kingdom, and serve him in everlasting righteousness, innocence, and blessedness, just as he is risen from the dead and lives and rules eternally. This is most certainly true.”
The third article states: “I believe in the Holy Ghost; the holy Christian church, the communion of saints; the forgiveness of sins; the resurrection of the body; and the life everlasting, amen.
What does this mean? I believe that I cannot by my own understanding or effort believe in Jesus Christ my Lord, or come to him. But the Holy Spirit has called me through the Gospel, enlightened me with his gifts, and sanctified and kept me in true faith. In the same way he calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies the whole Christian church on earth, and keeps it united with Jesus Christ in the one true faith. In this Christian church day after day he fully forgives my sins and the sins of all believers. On the last day he will raise me and all the dead and give me and all believers in Christ eternal life, this is most certainly true.”
Today we confess that God has created all things, including humans, that is why we read the creation story from Genesis, so that we are reminded who God is and who we are. God is the creator and we are the creation.
Of course we also confess that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, that he is divine and that he is human, that he was born of the virgin, that he suffered and died at our hands and was raised from the dead by the Father. All this he has done to claim you, so that you might be his own.
And lastly we confess the work of the Holy Spirit, the work that goes forth into the world creating faith in those who hear the Word, the Gospel of the Lord Christ, and it is the Holy Spirit that calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies the whole church.
What you may notice through all of these confessions of faith is that you are nowhere to be found as an actor, that is you are no where active in this, it is all being done unto you. You are created, your sins are forgiven through the work of Christ, faith is created in you through the Holy Spirit who has called you and gather you under his church, and it is the Holy Spirit who now sanctifies you as well.
So what of this command of Christ to go and make disciples baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit? You see brothers and sisters in Christ, your work is this, to go out and suffer for your faith. You are to pick up your cross and follow Jesus, for the true work of the disciple is to suffer and be brought to death through the work of your faith.
Not only are you to suffer, but I tell you this, the suffering of faith is not even yours, but this suffering is from God himself, and it is good, that of course is why we call the Friday of the crucifixion Good. This suffering is not just physical, but it is spiritual as well, the pangs of suffering in your conscience, the terrors of temptation, which are always more agonizing and serious than any physical suffering or pain.
Or to put it another way, we are to die to our selves, so that we might live in Christ. For if we are to glory in anything we are to glory in the Cross of Jesus Christ, to glory in anything else is to do one thing, it is to try and escape the cross.
This is now what it is to live the life of faith, it is to suffer, to be a disciple of Jesus Christ is to suffer, after all weren’t all of the first disciples tortured and killed for their faith? The life of a disciple is a life that is no longer turned in upon yourself, for you have been crucified with Christ, yourself has ended in the cross, so that now your life begins as it is turned out to your neighbor.
So what does it mean to be a disciple and to make disciples, first it means knowing your own sinfulness and hearing the forgiveness of sins in Christ, which in turn brings you down, humbles you to the point where you no longer see any glory outside of the cross.
In this, through faith, your eyes have now been opened wide to see the plight of your neighbor, so you forgive any debts, you do not judge, you do not shun or feel superior to anyone, you get on your knees and wash their feet.
The life of discipleship is not a life of privilege, it is not a life of glory, but it is a life of service, where you receive no glory, but in fact suffer because of it. So if you want something to do, if you want to live your faith, then go out, and suffer, not of your own doing, not for God, but for your neighbor.
And in the end when death draws near there shall be nothing left of you, you will be all used up so that there is nothing left in you to boast in but the Lord, Jesus Christ. So you will confess the only thing you can, this is true, we are all beggars, amen.
http://ilcep.org/ilcblog/public_html/article.php?story=20080602113513867