Keep My Word
John 14:23-31
Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior
Jesus Christ. Amen.
The Visible Church on earth, especially in our day, has done a lot of
strange things in the name of "love". To prove to the world that the Church
acts out of love, many within the Church have abandoned the idea that there
is a hell, a place where the unrepentant and unfaithful will dwell in
torment for all of eternity. To demonstrate the love the Church is capable
of, many within the Church say that Jesus acted and taught the way He did
because He lived in primitive times. If Jesus was active today, they say,
He would have had female disciples and female pastors; after all, it was
only because he lived in a woman-hating society that Jesus only had male
disciples. If Jesus was preaching today, they say, He would have known that
homosexuality is a genetic happenstance, not a product of sin; after all,
Jesus lived in the midst of a patriarchal society that valued rugged
manhood, and the world is different today. If Jesus was teaching today,
they say, He would not condemn abortion; after all, Jesus was all about love
and warm fuzzies, and He wouldn't want any woman to suffer the emotional
distress of an unwanted pregnancy. Some even go so far as to say that the
Jesus portrayed in Scripture is really the product of those patriarchal,
woman-hating apostles and evangelists and their disgraceful agenda. In the
name of love, surely Jesus would be permissive; and the Church must be the
same way, striving to include everyone, if we want to prove how loving we
are. In reality, this so-called love which many in the Church teach today
will actually love people to their death and eternal damnation.
In truth, Jesus is all about love. But Jesus had something else in mind
when He taught about love. He said, "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My
word." And then He said, "He who does not love Me does not keep My words."
Instead of concentrating on the love of the world, Jesus pointed the church
to the love, the holy desire for His Word: His teachings and practice,
everything He had given them from His Father. Jesus made the connection for
the Church between love and doctrine. But this isn't the only place where
He stressed that connection. On the mountain with the apostles, about to
ascend, Jesus told them to make disciples by baptizing in the name of the
Triune God and "teaching them to observe all things I have commanded you."
The Church does not love the world with Christ's love by coddling it, by
confirming it in sinfulness and error. Instead, the Church demonstrates the
love of Christ by speaking the truth of the Word of God lovingly to a world
that does not know Christ or His love. The Church loves the world by not
turning a blind eye toward premarital relations or abortion or homosexuality
or any other sin, but by speaking the truth that these things are sin, and
sin has eternal consequences for those who do not repent before God. It is
not an easy message to deliver, and it's certainly not going to be a popular
message. But in I Corinthians 13, his famous "love chapter", the Apostle
Paul wrote that love "does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the
truth."
How could the disciples presume to deliver such a message? How could they
even begin the task of delivering the counsel of God to the world? What if
they were to forget something? This is where the Holy Spirit enters the
picture. The Father sends the Holy Spirit in the name of Jesus, and the
Spirit gives understanding of what Jesus has taught. And more than that, as
you heard from the Acts of the Apostles today, the Spirit gave the disciples
the ability to speak-giving boldness even to Peter, who had denied Jesus
less than two months earlier. On that first Pentecost, Peter confessed
Christ boldly, saying, "God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both
Lord and Christ." And when his hearers asked him what they should do, Peter
replied, "Repent, and let every one of you be baptized." Peter received the
teachings and gifts of Jesus; and by the Holy Spirit, Peter and the Apostles
were made bold to confess what they had received. The Spirit inspired these
men and others to record the teachings they had received from Jesus
faithfully and without error. And the Spirit sustained Peter and the
Apostles in those teachings and the gifts of Christ, even to martyr's
deaths.
So it is today. In Holy Baptism, where you received the Holy Spirit, you
too have given the gift of faith so that you may have understanding
concerning the teachings of Jesus, teachings which have been handed down to
you by the Apostles through the work of that same Spirit. By the Holy
Spirit, you are given the faith which clings to the promises of Jesus that
whoever believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life. By the
Spirit you are made bold to confess that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the
living God, the One who was crucified carrying the burden of your sins, the
One who rose again, bringing you to life again with Him. By the faith that
is yours from the Holy Spirit, you receive this day in your mouth the very
body and blood of Jesus Christ-a gift in which you receive the forgiveness
of your sins and the strengthening of your faith.
There is a beautiful prayer in your hymnal-page 308 if you want to read it
yourself later-which our old hymnal called the Collect for the Word.
"Blessed Lord, You have caused all Holy Scriptures to be written for our
learning. Grant that we may so hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly
digest them that, by patience and comfort of Your holy Word, we may embrace
and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life; through Jesus
Christ, our Lord." It is a prayer which pleases God, for in it you ask Him
for what He would already so graciously give you. By the Holy Spirit, God
has caused all of Holy Scripture to be written. And because He loves you,
He wants you to hear that Word, to learn it, and to take it to heart, so
that you can embrace and hold fast to the sure and certain hope of
everlasting life. He grants you His Holy Spirit, by which you cling to
everything you have received from Jesus. By that Holy Spirit, you receive
boldness to confess to the world around you concerning all Jesus has said
and done for you. And by that Holy Spirit, you receive the gift of the
peace of Christ, a peace the world does not have and cannot give, a peace
that will sustain you, even should you be called upon to die the death of a
martyr for the sake of Christ. "Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of the
faithful, and kindle them in the fire of your love. Alleluia!" In the name
of the Father and of the Son (?) and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
The peace of God which passes all understanding will keep your hearts and
minds in Christ Jesus always. Amen.
--
Rev. Alan Kornacki, Jr.
Pastor, St. Peter Lutheran Church, Campbell Hill, IL
[email protected]
http://pastoralkorn.blogspot.com
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