Sermon for the Ascension of Our Lord: "Still with Us" (Acts 1:1-11)

LISTEN

Alleluia! Christ is ascended! He is ascended, indeed! Alleluia!

Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! Amen! Dear brothers and sisters in Christ:

 

“And when [Jesus] had said these things, as they were looking on, He was lifted up, and a cloud took Him out of their sight. And while there were gazing into heaven as He went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, and said, ‘Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw Him go into heaven” (Acts 1:9-11).

 

Just imagine the sight. The apostles and disciples staring off into the sky – gazing up into heaven. They gaze after Jesus until they can no longer see Him.

 

Just imagine what they were thinking. We have some ideas. They just asked Jesus, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” (Acts 1:6) So, is the Ascension the way Jesus will bring back the old days of King David and King Solomon, when the Kingdom of Israel was the greatest? Is this the way Israel would become free from Roman domination and become a world power? You see, this was the hope of many in Israel.

 

To that question, prior to His Ascension, Jesus says to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by His own authority” (Acts 1:7).

 

So, it was not for them – or us – to know when God would bring His great plan to completion. However, it is enough to know that He has a plan for His kingdom and that His will is gracious and good. God has marked the calendar, and He has marked the day and made a note of the hour. Until that day, no one on this side of heaven knows the day and the hour of Christ’s second coming, the date of Judgment Day.

 

But there is something to note from this exchange. Before His Resurrection, when Jesus was in His state of humiliation, He did not exercise His divine knowledge to the fullest. He had said then that He did not know the day of God’s judgment. He said, “No one knows about the day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father” (Mark 13:32). But here, Jesus does not say that. Here, Jesus says, “It is not for you to know” (Acts 1:7). In other words, “I know.”

 

From His Word, we know that Jesus’ kingdom is not political, but spiritual. We know that Jesus’ kingdom is not limited to the Jewish people, but includes all who trust in Christ, which is the spiritual Israel. 

 

Again, they are looking intently up into the sky. They stare even as the last clouds fold Him in. What’s next? Has Jesus left them? Has Jesus left us? They gaze after Him, but He is gone. Jesus has vanished.

 

Do you ever have times when you wish that Jesus wasn’t so far away? Do you ever ponder the idea: “Why Jesus, why do you permit all this evil to happen?” Our human understanding of the Ascension can lead us to think that Jesus is far, far away. But is that really the case? Has Jesus really abandoned us?

 

The Ascension was visible for the sake of the apostles. The very moment the clouds hid Jesus from their sight, He was transferred timelessly into the heavenly glory. Jesus is now visible in heaven with the same body, including His scars of triumph over the cross and grave.

 

Suddenly, two angels stood by them and said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw Him go into heaven” (Acts 1:11).

 

You see, Christ departed visibly, so He shall return visibly. He ascended into heaven, so He shall descend from heaven. He ascended bodily, so He shall descend bodily.

 

In this in-between time, what does Christ’s Ascension mean to us? St. Paul gives us the answer in tonight’s epistle: Jesus is now seated at the right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named. He has put all things under His feet and is head over the Church (Ephesians 1:20-22).

 

Now, does this mean that Jesus is away from us as He rules in heaven? No! This means that He rules in heaven and on earth. Through His Ascension, Jesus is reigning His death and resurrection over us, which means that He has the power to be everywhere and anywhere. He is no longer bound to a bodily, visible, tangible, and worldly way of life, to time, place, space, or the like. Through His Ascension, Jesus is now present and rules through His power everywhere, in all places and at all times, when and where we need Him. Jesus says, “Behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20).

You see, Christ’s Ascension is all about bringing us His Means of Grace. He ascended so that He can distribute His sacrificial gifts to His people everywhere and anywhere. Again, Jesus Ascended so that He would no longer be bound spatially. He Ascended, so that He can truly be with us always to the end of the age in, with, and under His Word and Sacraments.

 

Because Jesus is Ascended into heaven and has all power and all authority, His Means of Grace are no mere symbols or simple remembrances of what He has accomplished on our behalf. No! They are the Means by which Christ gives Himself through His Word and Sacraments. His Means of Grace have both authority and power, right and might to accomplish that for which God has purposed them.

 

What is this purpose? Forgiveness of sins, which begets life and salvation! The Means of Grace created your faith in the Sacrament of Holy Baptism and strengthens your faith through Absolution, the Word, and the Sacrament of the Altar.

 

Through the Means of Grace, we are joined to the very same crucifixion and resurrection in the waters of Holy Baptism. It is a Baptism in which the Holy Spirit gives us faith as we live as God’s holy people.

 

Through the Means of Grace, the cross is placed upon us in Holy Absolution, wherein repentant hearts receive forgiveness of sins.

 

Through the Means of Grace, Christ feeds us His very Body and Blood under the bread and wine, given to us Christians to eat and to drink for the forgiveness of our sins in the Sacrament of the Altar.

 

Being forgiven through the Means of Grace, we mutually forgive one other.

 

So, the Ascension of Our Lord is not a time of mourning. Jesus has not left us. He did not retire when He ascended. He has not deserted us. He continues to be involved and be in charge. His Ascension is all about our comfort, peace, joy, and confidence.

 

While Jesus ascended from His apostles’ and disciples’ sight, being carried up into heaven, He raised His hands in blessing (Luke 24:50). His hands remain lifted to bless us, to bless our witness and our worship.

 

Imagine the awe and delight of the angels and archangels as the Son of God returned as also the Son of Man with all power and all authority in heaven and on earth, where He rules with grace and mercy, where repentance for the forgiveness of sins is preached.

 

Jesus is not absent. He is still with us in His Means of Grace – His Word and Sacraments – where He promises to be until He bodily returns on the Last Day. Alleluia! Christ is ascended! He is ascended, indeed! Alleluia! Amen.

 

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Amen.  

+ SOLI DEO GLORIA +

Sermon for Easter 6: "Life in the Vine" (John 15:9-17)

LISTEN

Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen, indeed! Alleluia!

Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! Amen! Dear brothers and sisters in Christ:

 

Jesus said: “As the Father has loved Me, so have I loved you. Abide in My love. If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love” (John 15:9-10).

 

These are the words of Jesus on Maundy Thursday, which are known as His farewell discourse to which we began last week. It is remarkable that in just a matter of hours, Jesus will experience betrayal, abandonment, unlawful arrest, cruel abuse, and execution. Despite knowing what would soon take place, Jesus speaks of both His and His Father’s love for His apostles and disciples. Today, on this Sixth Sunday of Easter, Jesus continues to speak about our relationship to Him.

 

And what is this relationship? Jesus is the true Vine, we are the branches, and God the Father is the Vinedresser. This is a relationship of life in the Vine. A relationship where we, the branches, never chose to be in the Vine, but the Vine chose us out of His love as His branches. For Christ says, “You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide” (John 15:16).

 

Jesus never picked us because we were wiser, stronger, wealthier, or smarter than others. He chose you because He loves you. That love has its origin in Jesus being loved by God the Father. And this love’s intention is that we, whom Jesus loves, will also love others.

 

From eternity, Jesus has been loved by the Father. This love is the foundation of all things. Love is the essence of the Holy Trinity. Before there were any created beings to love, the Father was always loving the Son. Love was the basis for creation. God who is love created precious creatures to love, especially the crown of His creation: humanity.

 

This God the Father loving God the Son relationship continued throughout Jesus’ earthly mission. At both Jesus’ Baptism to fulfill all righteousness and at His Transfiguration atop the mountain, God the Father called Jesus His beloved Son. 

In this love, Jesus chose you and me, for He says, “As the Father loved Me, so I have loved you” (John 15:9). Remember, we never chose Jesus. As sinners, we do not have the will or ability to ever choose Jesus because our fallen nature only wants to flee from Him and all that He desires to accomplish with us.

 

Despite our sinful nature, Jesus loves you and me the same way the Father loves Him. So, just as the Father has loved Jesus, Jesus eternally loves us. He displayed this love when He “[laid] down His life for His friends” (John 15:13). Through His death, He won for His friends salvation on that cross! There, He took our dirty, wretched sin onto Himself, forgave that sin, and destroyed sin’s power over His friends. There, on that cross, Jesus chose us who were by nature His enemies and declared us to be His friends – and at the cost of His own life.

 

Jesus has chosen us, who were His enemies, to abide in His love! He says: “As the Father has loved Me, so have I loved you. Abide in My love” (John 15:9). Now, what does abiding in Christ’s love look like? Well, it means that we abide in keeping His commandments.

 

Unlike the Father’s love for Jesus and Jesus’ love for us, our love for God and our neighbor often falls short.

 

Remember, Jesus is speaking these words on Maundy Thursday. Again, He was fully aware of what would soon happen. Christ foresaw how Satan would sow discord, anger, impatience, hatred, and envy among His followers. And unfortunately, Satan has never let up, as this discord, anger, impatience, hatred, and envy still remains. As branches connected to the true Vine, we must constantly be pruned and purged by God’s Law and Gospel, because we are simultaneously saints and sinners. 

 

As branches, we face many daily frailties and shortcomings. Bumps and trials never cease, especially when we are living in this fallen world, which is led by the Father of Lies, Satan. Our flesh is weak. We get caught up in the devil’s poison and suspicion enters our hearts because of a single word or a single glance which stirs up mutual animosity. Satan is the master of this art. He employs his craftiness before anyone is really even aware of it. This is what the devil did in the case of St. Paul and Barnabas, who had a sharp dissention and parted ways (Acts 15:2). Trifles can lead to quarreling and enmity that only results in great harm. The blood begins to boil, then the devil shoots his venomous darts into the heart by means of evil tongues, and finally no one says or thinks anything good about the other. The devil keeps on fanning the flames and is eager to set people against each other and spread misery.

As branches of the true Vine, we must be on guard against Satan’s craft and cunning. We must repel any suspicion and hostility that may be stirred up in us and remind ourselves not to let love depart and die out for this reason but to hold onto love with a strong hand. And if aversion and discord have arisen anywhere, we must restore and improve the love and friendship through forgiveness and reconciliation.

 

Love, on its own is rather easy. Love doesn’t require any great skill, but remaining in love takes realskill and virtue.

 

In marriage, the husband and wife are initially filled with affection and passion, but later, they could become bitter foes. The same happens with fellow brothers and sisters in Christ as they are branches of the Vine. A trivial cause may separate those who should be really bound with the firmest ties, but that trivial cause turns them into the worst and bitterest enemies. This, of course, is to Satan’s delight and joy. You see, Satan strives for nothing else than to destroy love among Christians and to create utter hatred and envy. For Satan knows that Christianity is built and preserved by love.

 

Therefore, Christ admonishes us to solemnly and earnestly hold firm to love as His branches. Again, He places both Himself and His Father before our eyes as the most perfect examples: “As the Father has loved Me, so I have loved you” (John 15:9). Jesus suffered and died for you, so that you would abide in His love.

 

Love is not doing whatever you want. Love is sacrificial. Love is caring. Love is disciplining.

 

As branches of the true Vine, we now abide in Him, lest we be misled by false doctrine and thus be cut off from Jesus. For wherever love and unity are destroyed and schism and discord take root, there pure doctrine disappears, and defection from Christ ensues. The branch cuts itself off from the true Vine.

 

So, we must all examine ourselves. For Christ says, “If you are truly My branches, it will surely become evident that you are My disciples by your fruit. If you refuse to bear fruit, I will not acknowledge you and accept you as My disciples.” So, how do we show ourselves to bear fruit? Well, right along with the Fruits of the Spirit in Galatians 5 are the Ten Commandments: 

§  First, you shall have no other gods.

a.    Do you trust God for your financial security, physical safety, and emotional support?

b.    Do you fear God’s wrath in avoiding every sin?

§  Second, you shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God.

a.    Do you keep all the vows you have made in the Lord’s name, such as confirmation, marriage and legal vows?

b.    Do you carelessly speak or misuse God’s Name?

§  Third, remember the Sabbath Day by keeping it holy.

a.    Do you attend the Divine Service faithfully, or would you rather prefer to be elsewhere? 

b.    Do you pray for and encourage your pastor?

c.    Do you support the church financially?

§  Fourth, honor your father and your mother.

a.    Do you honor all authorities as gifts that God has put over you?

§  Fifth, you shall not murder.

a.    Have you unjustly taken the life of anyone, born or unborn?

b.    Do you hate anyone, or are angry with anyone?

c.    Do you hold grudges or harbor resentment?

§  Sixth, you shall not commit adultery.

a.    Do you look at others lustfully?

§  Seventh, you shall not steal.

a.    Are you selfish, stingy, and greedy with your time and money?

§  Eighth, you shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.

a.    Do you gossip, listen to rumors, or take pleasure in talking about the faults or mistakes of anyone?

b.    Do you speak truth in love, trying at all times to explain everything in the kindest way?

§  Lastly, you shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.

a.    Do you resent or envy those who have what you do not?

b.    Do you encourage disharmony?

c.    Are you manipulative or controlling?

 

To be good branches of the true Vine, we keep Christ’s commandments. However, all too often, we fail to keep Jesus’ commandment to love.

 

If you have failed to keep Christ’s commandment to love, Christ gives us another fruit of faith. This fruit is repentance. You see, whenever we fail to abide in His commandments, in love Christ calls us to repent. When we repent, it is by God enabling us. He warns us by His Law, but then He makes His loving purpose immediately evident as well. 

True repentance is nothing else than to have contrition and sorrow, or terror, on account of sin, and yet at the same time to believe the Gospel and absolution, that that sin has been forgiven and grace has been obtained through Christ, and this faith will comfort the heart and again set it at rest. So now we are able again to bear fruit and abide by His commandments again.

 

Fellow branches, who are forgiven and saved, the love of Christ is transformational. The evidence of our faith – our fruits of faith – is seen in the changes that take place in our lives. God uses words like “born again,” “rebirth,” and “regeneration” to describe what Christ’s love does to us. Each time we repent, we are indeed “born again” in Christ to live out our lives as good branches that bear fruit.

 

In order to strengthen and increase our faith, love, and obedience, God gives us the Means of Grace – His Word and Sacraments. The Word of God together with the Body and Blood of Jesus under the bread and wine nourish us in love as the Holy Spirit transforms us in the Divine Service. We are transformed into desiring to keep Christ’s commandments, to obedience as evidence of our fruits of faith. “For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome” (1 John 5:3). This is our life in the Vine. It’s a life of obedience and repentance, as we rejoice in God’s love for us! Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen, indeed! Alleluia! Amen.

 

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Amen.  

+ SOLI DEO GLORIA +

Sermon for Easter 5: "Staying Connected to the Vine" (John 15:1-8)

LISTEN

Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen, indeed! Alleluia!

Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! Amen! Dear brothers and sisters in Christ:

 

Jesus said: “I am the Vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in Me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing” (John 15:5).

 

It’s officially spring! I don’t know about what you’ve been up to, but in my free time, I have been preparing my lawn to be mowed. And it sure has been blustery lately. So, I have been raking those leaves that blew over from our neighbor’s yards. But I haven’t been only raking, as I have been playing the age-old game “pick-up sticks.” 

 

For each stick that I picked up, I am reminded that they are good for very little, except for maybe being added to a burn pile, since they are no longer connected to the tree. And even if I buried that stick in the ground, it could never become a tree again. It’s dead.

 

Today, on this Fifth Sunday of Easter, Jesus focuses us on Himself as the true and living vine, as He says, “Whoever abides in Me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit” (John 15:5a).

 

Last Sunday, Jesus referred to Himself as the Good Shepherd and to us as His sheep. Today, we hear Him calling Himself the Vine and us “the branches.” Jesus uses imagery, such as this, to build us up and to announce how dearly He loves us. Terms such as sheep and branches show our purpose in life, as His beloved people.

 

Jesus calls us “branches.” As a branch, this shows us a sense of connectedness, a unity that now exists when we are living our lives as part of Christ rather than apart from Him. Apart from being connected to the Vine, a branch can do nothing.

 

Just as a branch that is removed from the vine or tree soon withers and dies, so we have no life apart from Jesus, the true Vine. Surely, we can claim to be Christians and tout our church membership or show our confirmation certificate, but apart from the life-giving nourishment of God’s grace in Jesus Christ – the true Vine, we cannot live or bear any fruit.

If we neglect our fertilization through Word and Sacrament, we become much like our lawns and gardens that without fertilization, they dry up, go limp, lose color, and eventually wither and die. So, those who continue to live apart from the Vine, who do not gladly hear, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest His Word and receive His Sacraments, are like withered branches that are of no use other than to be picked up and thrown into the fire.

 

Like plants, we too, need nourishment! And as I said last week, sheep need a shepherd to lead them to food, since they cannot feed themselves. In a like way, our Good Shepherd, the true Vine, provides nourishment for us through His Means of Grace – His Word and Sacraments. We become “in Christ,” through our Baptism into Christ. In Baptism, the triune God washes away all of our sins. There, we are crucified with Christ and rise again with Him to newness of life. It is through regular attendance in the Divine Service that the Holy Spirit feeds us forgiveness, life, and salvation.

 

For those who separate themselves from the Means of Grace, we, who are in the Vine, ought to pray for them and reach out to them, since apart from the true Vine, we only wither and die.

 

But connected to the Vine, the branches live! You see, the sap that flows from the Vine nourishes the branches. Our very lives sprout from God, who created us, but so often we cut ourselves off from the source of life. Yet, by His grace through the spilled blood of His Son, shed on the cross for the sins of the world, we have been reconciled to God the Father. 

 

As branches, through Christ’s atoning death and bodily resurrection, we have been grafted back into the true Vine. The life that flows from the side of the Crucified and Resurrected One now nourishes us with His life and forgiveness, so that by grace through faith in the true Vine, we might live in union with Him.

 

Unfortunately, not everyone connected to the true Vine wants to hear God’s unchanging Truth. As Christians, we are always simultaneously saint and sinner. And because our sinful nature remains, there is a constant battle between our sinful flesh and the new man that we became when we were grafted into Christ at your Baptism.

 

So, instead of receiving the teaching joyfully as good branches, some branches become lazy. Yes, they have God’s Word and His pure doctrine, but they refuse to live in conformity with it. They refuse Christ’s teaching and become wild branches. For these wild branches who claim to be Christians but refuse to live out the Christian faith, when they are pruned by God the Father, the Vinedresser, the pruning frightens them, since they don’t want to repent of their sins. They would rather just go through the motions of the Divine Service and then live their life no different than a heathen.

 

Now, God the Father could just cut off these wild branches immediately, but He doesn’t. He doesn’t because He is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. Like their fellow branches, these wild branches are baptized, they hear the Gospel, and they have the forgiveness of sins. The Vinedresser, God the Father, is always giving every branch – even hypocritical branches – a chance to repent and become good again, since He desires the salvation of every branch. But there will come a time when His steadfast love comes to an end. For those wild branches, this means being cut off and thrown into the fire. 

 

For good branches, this demands patience and perseverance in the faith. For the Vinedresser does not cut off the wild branches as soon as they emerge from the stalk. No, He permits them to grow until it is clear what they are. This is why Judas Iscariot was among the apostles. For this reason, heretics are among us today teaching us that salvation is your work, not God’s; teaching us that that the Sacrament of the Altar is not the Body and Blood of Jesus, but instead only a symbolic meal; teaching us that what really matters is your heart’s desire, so you be you in your self-centered pride.

 

Again, we must distinguish what is good, right, and salutary from all those loud and alluring voices of lies and deceit. Without Christ as the true Vine connecting us to Himself through His Word and Sacraments, we would all wither and die.

 

Elsewhere in Matthew 7, Christ, our true Vine, says, “You will recognize them by their fruits” (Matthew 7:16, 20). So, by the nourishment the true Vine provides, the branches bear fruit. Inspired by the Holy Spirit, St. Paul speaks of these fruits as the fruit of the Spirit: “Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, [and] self-control” (Galatians 5:22-23). These are all the characteristics of the true Vine, our Savior Jesus Christ in His relationship with us. He is perfectly loving of us; He rejoices over us; He is patient, kind and good to us.

 

However, the opposite is true of those branches that chose to fall off the true Vine, or even those wild branches that remain on the Vine. St. Paul writes, “Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealously, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God” (Galatians 5:19-21). This is a warning from love. Again, God desires all to be saved, but if one continues in such sins without repentance, you will not inherit the kingdom of God, but instead be like dead branches that are “gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned” (John 15:6).

 

As Christians, who are connected to the true Vine, we are to bear fruit. Again, “You will recognize them by their fruits” (Matthew 7:16, 20). So, by being loving, patient, and kind to us, Jesus the true Vine creates in us the same fruit of the Spirit. Connected to the true Vine, we become loving, joyful, peaceful, patient, kind, good, faithful, gentle, and self-controlled.

 

As we are pruned and watered by God’s Means of Grace, He produces good, sweet fruit not just for our benefit, but for the benefit of our neighbor. You see, Jesus makes us His branches through His Words, and we in turn reveal that we are His branches through our fruit – our attitudes, our words, our actions. So, knowing Jesus and living in Him affects how we talk about others, where we go, what we do with our time, how we spend our money. As branches connected to the true Vine, we live with purpose and in hope that is sure and certain. Those who are not connected to the true Vine will wonder why we are a little different from them. We can say that we are different because we are connected to the Savior Jesus Christ, who suffered, died and rose to forgive their sins, too!

 

Christ is the true Vine and we are His branches. He daily nourishes and strengthens us with the forgiveness of sins He earned for us on the Cross. He died, so that we would have life. He rose, so that we would flourish. As long as we are connected to Him, we have an abundant and never-ending source of life. Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen, indeed! Alleluia! Amen.

 

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Amen.  

+ SOLI DEO GLORIA +