I forgot to post this last week. Sorry. Periodically I use a hymn to drive the direction of the sermon. This is one of those. Pr. Ron Rock Zion, Beecher, IL
"COME HOLY GHOST, GOD AND LORD - BUT WHY??" Festival of Pentecost, B Sun., May 27, 2012 Zion Lutheran Church, Beecher, IL Sermon Text - John 15:26-27; 16:4b-15 AND LSB #497 Come Holy Ghost, God and Lord OT Reading - Ezekiel 37:1-14 Epistle Reading - Acts 2:1-21 Gospel Reading - John 15:26-27; 16:4b-15 Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God, our Father, and from our blessed Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ! [Amen.] Our sermon on this Festival of Pentecost is based on our selected readings of the day as well as the well-known hymn, Come, Holy Ghost, God and Lord, which will serve to drive the direction of our sermon. May the Holy Spirit lead and guide us as we consider His Word of eternal life. Dear friends in Christ Jesus, Our Hymn of the Day began as an old Latin hymn that Martin Luther took as it was, revamped it a bit, and added two verses in the process. For the next few minutes, we'll look at it - stanza by stanza - and see how it's text, it's words, that is, we'll see how they speak to the Festival of Pentecost and what that means to us as God's people. If you wish, you may open your hymnal now to #497. [Note to those reading this... the hymn can be heard at this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SC7qnskdaPc Give it about 30 seconds to begin to play -- it IS worth the wait.] Stanza One begins: Come, Holy Ghost, God and Lord, With all Your graces now outpoured On each believer's mind and heart; Your fervent love to them impart. (Lutheran Service Book #497:1) The Small Catechism, summarizing God's Word, teaches that all mankind in its state since the Fall into sin is spiritually "blind, dead, and an enemy of God" (Q. 157). Because of that, man is helpless to recover on his own that lost ability to be with God that Adam and Eve once enjoyed. Furthermore, because of our waywardness, we can never know we can never be confident that God has a mind to help us any longer - let alone the possibility that He loves us. Am I wrong on that? If someone is living a lifestyle that they know is contrary to God's call for them to live very often those living that way simply quit coming to His church. They say that they "have other things to do " but, in reality, their shame over their actions makes them behave just as Adam and Eve did after eating of the forbidden fruit - they hid! Likewise, to this day, so also do those people hide from God who know that they're failing in His call for holiness! But, as we'll sing shortly, just as God sought out Adam and Eve when they hid from Him so also does He seek any and everyone else who's outside of His loving embrace. Our God is a seeking God, and He urgently wants us to know that His "fervent love" for us remains intact even in spite in spite of the shenanigans and wretched practices that we so often embrace! That's why Jesus said in today's Gospel reading that He would send the Holy Spirit to them, so that by the Spirit's work He would "guide [them] into all truth " (Jn. 16:13, ESV) the truth that God's love for them endures even in the face of the fact of their sin - and ours! We, who are like "old dry bones" (Ezek. 37:4, ESV) totally dead in sin, are made alive again by the Spirit! The second half of the first stanza reads: Lord, by the brightness of Your light In holy faith Your Church unite; From ev'ry land and ev'ry tongue This to Your praise, O Lord, our God, be sung: Alleluia, alleluia! (Lutheran Service Book #497:1) Next Sunday, God willing, a Lutheran pastor who serves in Kenya will be with us. His call from God is to bring the Gospel to another people in another culture on another continent. You see, the Gospel is for all people, everywhere. Other peoples might have simpler lives than what we have yet they're still intimately acquainted with sin they're still wondering if they'll be OK after they've drawn their last breath on this earth. The coming of the Holy Ghost in a more full way as He did on Pentecost gives all people peace and joy for by using Word and Sacrament, He calls people who are hiding in bushes or under bottles or within their own self-righteousness He calls them to see God's love for them revealed in Jesus lifted up on the Cross of Calvary! We sing Hymn #497, Stanza One. Stanza Two begins: Come, holy Light, guide divine, Now cause the Word of life to shine. Teach us to know our God aright And call Him Father with delight. (Lutheran Service Book #497:2) The coming of the Holy Spirit upon God's people isn't isn't like the coming of bubonic plague upon a city or nation - it's not bad but good! As Luke described that first Pentecost in our Epistle, it came with incredible power and was received with great amazement, joy, and wonder. Empowered and emboldened by the Spirit, preachers were able to bring the "Light" of God's Word to "shine" in people's lives. And "everyone who" would receive that Word and not reject it those "who [would then] call upon the name of the Lord would [indeed] be saved!" (Acts 1:21, ESV) "With delight " people then and now can call God their "Heavenly Father " knowing that He loves them and that He wishes to nurture them and care for them every moment of every day. Rather than slink off and hide from Him, they now can run toward Him and be embraced in the Father's grip of love that lasts for eternity! The second half of Stanza Two reads: >From ev'ry error keep us free; Let none but Christ our master be That we in living faith abide, In Him, our Lord, with all our might confide. Alleluia, alleluia! (Lutheran Service Book #497:2) In these words of our hymn, we'll sing in a few minutes of that other portion of the Spirit's work. As we've already said, by the Holy Spirit we're called to believe that in Christ all our sins are forgiven through Jesus' death and resurrection three days later. But now in these words before us we consider the second half of the Spirit's work - that of preserving us in the One True Faith. You see, not only does the Spirit call us to faith but He also using the eternal Word and blessed Sacraments He "keeps us free" from "every error" including the error of false theology, which if followed could lead someone away from saving faith. He also "keeps us free" from the error of living an unholy life, which if followed could likewise lead someone away from saving faith and into the open pit of hell! In the last half of Stanza Two we sing of our desire to "abide in a living faith" in Christ all our days being fed and nurtured by God's Word of life all done for our eternal good! We sing Stanza Two. The entire Third Stanza our hymn is: Come, holy Fire, comfort true, Grant us the will Your work to do And in Your service to abide; Let trials turn us not aside. Lord, by Your pow'r prepare each heart, And to our weakness strength impart That bravely here we may contend, Through life and death to You, our Lord, ascend. Alleluia, alleluia! (Lutheran Service Book #497:3) There are two points that this stanza's words have for us to consider today. When we sing them, we're first asking the "holy Fire" to mold and shape us so that our heart's desire would be to do the "work" of God, Himself. The devil constantly tells us to live our lives selfishly - even abandoning our loved ones - if that's what we think it would take to fulfill ourselves. But for the Christian to serve God and those around him or her by the Spirit's leading, that's the hope and goal for our lives. Ask Delmer or Mary or Roy or Pearl or anyone else, for that matter, who's helped out in the past at chapel services at Beecher Manor care home. They'll be as quick as a cat to tell you that their service to others in the name of Christ provides more joy and more fulfillment than one can imagine. St. Augustine wrote of our human condition and how it's made whole in Christ Jesus. As if he were speaking to God, he wrote: "Thou hast made us for Thyself, and our hearts are restless until they rest in Thee." It's true! To find fulfillment, quit looking within yourself quit looking at earthly things and find it in Christ! The second point for us in this last stanza is that we pray that the "trials" of life the difficulties and heartache that are ever with us that they won't "turn us aside" from the path to eternal life and cause us to chase the "smoke and mirrors" of the "unholy trinity" - the world, the devil, and our own sinful flesh. For all of these ultimately give nothing but false hope and impossible promises. Such things end in hell and apart from the love of our heavenly Father shown in His one and only Son. The final portion of the hymn has us pray that the Holy Spirit would "impart strength" to us. With that request is an admission of the truth we're weak and we're in constant need of the power of God working in us and on our behalf so that we can "bravely" "contend" for the faith throughout life into death to then "ascend" to be by His side forever! Dear Christians, our Lord loves us and has saved us by His Son. Through the Holy Spirit He glorifies Jesus and declares it to you! (Jn. 16:13. ESV) Thanks be to God! [Amen.] Please stand to sing Stanza Three. The peace of God that passes all human understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus unto life everlasting. [Amen.] ` ____________________________________________________________ 5 Diet Pills that Work 2012's Top 5 Weight Loss Pills. Updated Consumer Ratings. Free Report. http://thirdpartyoffers.juno.com/TGL3141/4fcd05741e78f1b7149st03vuc _______________________________________________ Sermons mailing list [email protected] http://cat41.org/mailman/listinfo/sermons
