The lutheransermons's Podcast

Preparing for Worship - June 8, 2025

This Sunday is Pentecost Sunday, as we think of the work and importance of God the Holy Spirit. The Old Testament lesson, Genesis 11:1-9, is the opposite of the Pentecost story and reminds us of how vitally important the coming of our Lord Jesus and of the Holy Spirit were. After the fall into sin, and even after the Great Flood, people were all wrapped up in themselves and their own sinful desires, instead of the Lord and His will. They still had a common language and were united and could be inventive, but for their own sinful purposes. They discovered how to make bricks and decided to build a great city and a tower that reached the heavens, in order to make a great name for themselves, instead of honoring God. Their city was named “Babel,” the “House of Bel,” a false God they worshiped instead of the true God. God finally “confused” (the Hebrew word is “balal”) their language and scattered them over the earth. They were to “fill” the earth (Genesis 9:1), but now it was in division and disarray because of sin.

Sin continued to be a great problem for people, as it still is today. The Psalm is Psalm 143, a psalm of David and one of the seven “penitential” psalms of the Old Testament. David pleads for God’s mercy because he knows that “no one living is righteous before Him.” Only the Lord is “faithful” and “righteous.” David has enemies, physical and spiritual, and he sits in darkness, and his own spirit faints and fails. He thirsts for the Lord and His steadfast love. In repentance, he “flees to the Lord for refuge” and trusts Him, that “His Good Spirit” can lead him and teach him and preserve him. He knows that he does not deserve this help, but that for His own Name’s sake, the Lord can bring His “servant” David out of trouble. (Isn’t this a good prayer for all of us, in times of trouble and weakness?)

The Gospel lesson is John 14:23-31, part of almost five chapters of teaching that Jesus provides for His disciples on Maundy Thursday, the night before His suffering and death and subsequent resurrection and ascension. He calls upon his disciples to love Him and “keep His Word” - the Word from Him and His Heavenly Father, that would sustain Him and the disciples from the attacks of Satan, “the ruler of this world,” and the many enemies of Him and His saving work. He knew how weak His disciples were and how much they still did not understand, but He continued to teach them, so that they would “believe” in Him in the days ahead and have “peace” and strength different from what the sinful world promises. Jesus also promised them the great gift of God the Holy Spirit, sent from Him and His Father, who would teach them and enable them to remember and share His Word of Life and Hope with the world. (Watch for a sermon I will send and post next week, which gives more detail on all this and the Epistle lesson.)

The Epistle lesson is from Acts 2:1-21. Many people had come to Jerusalem for “the Feast of Weeks,” one of the important Jewish festivals and a kind of Spring Harvest celebration. (See Leviticus 23:15-16.) The disciples of Jesus were also together, 10 days after Jesus’ ascension, awaiting the promised “Power from on high” (Luke 24:49). God the Holy Spirit did come, showing His appearance with Old Testament images of God’s presence, “rushing wind” and “fire.” The disciples were then able to speak in languages they had never known or learned, by the power of the Holy Spirit, so that people could hear of “the mighty acts of God.” Peter then spoke on behalf of his fellow disciples, and pointed to an Old Testament prophecy from Joel, predicting this day, when God’s Spirit would be poured out on many, who would speak God’s Word, with the result that “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” In the rest of Acts 2, Peter spoke of Jesus Christ and His death and resurrection and exaltation to the right hand of God, as Lord and Christ and Savior. And through this Word of God and “many other Words” and the outpouring work of the Holy Spirit, 3,000 people were brought to faith in Jesus and received the gift of baptism, through which the Holy Spirit also worked to bring forgiveness and new life in Christ Jesus. These believers then “devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers” - receiving the Word of God and the Sacraments. What blessings came, which are still available today, in and through the Lord of our churches, through the power of the Holy Spirit, who brings us to faith and keeps us in that faith.

Sermon from May 28, 2025

“The Way of Christ for All”

Text: Psalm 67

Psalm for 6th Sunday of Easter

Let us pray: Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen. (Psalm 19:14)

The text for our meditation for today is the psalm for this past Sunday, Psalm 67. You can follow along with this, as Psalm 67 is printed among the psalms in the front part of your hymnal.

Psalm 67 begins this way: “May God be gracious to us and bless us and make His face to shine upon us.” These words should sound familiar, as they are a summary of an Old Testament benediction, a blessing that we still use at the end of many of our worship services still today, from Numbers, Chapter Six: “The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make His face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up His countenance (His face) upon you and give you peace” (Numbers 6:22-27).

And v. 2 of the psalm tells us that God wants His blessed “Way” to be known among all nations on earth. And v.3 says that He wishes that not just the Jews but that all peoples would praise Him. He repeats this in v. 5, again: “Let the peoples praise You, O God; let all the peoples praise You.”

This had actually been the plan of God from the very beginning, when he had called Abram, in Genesis, the first book of the Bible, to be the father of the nation of Israel, the Jews. God also added, in Genesis 12:3, “In you (Abram), all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

God made this even clearer in Genesis, Chapter 17, when He changed Abram’s name to Abraham (which means “a father of a multitude”) and said, “I have made you the father of a multitude of nations… I will make you into nations, and kings shall come from you” (Genesis 17:14).     

And much later, God spoke through the prophet Isaiah of a Servant who would come from Israel. And the Lord predicted of Him, “It is too light a thing that You should be My Servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to bring back the preserved of Israel; I will send you as a Light for the nations, that My salvation may reach to the ends of the earth” (Isaiah 49:1,6).

For God cared and cares not only about Israel, but about all nations and peoples. As Psalm 67, verse 5 says, “Let the nations be glad and sing for joy, for You, O God, judge the peoples with equity (with fairness and uprightness), and guide the nations upon the earth.”

And God’s “saving way” and “power” spoken of in verse 2 of Psalm 67, finally came in the person of God’s own Son, our Lord Jesus. Just after Jesus’ birth, Joseph and Mary took Jesus to the temple in Jerusalem, and a man name Simeon was led by the Holy Spirit to come to the temple also and to recognize Who Jesus was and praise God saying, “My eyes have seen Your salvation that You have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a Light for revelation to the Gentiles (to the nations) and for the glory of Your people Israel” (Luke 2:25-32). And some years later, John the Baptist was fulfilling Old Testament prophecy in “preparing the Way” of the Lord Jesus, so that through Him (Jesus), “all flesh (all people) could see the salvation of God” through Him (Isaiah 40:3-5 and Luke 3:2-6).

And as we read on in the New Testament, we see that Jesus is that saving Way and Power for all peoples, all nations, as Psalm 67, v.2, says. Jesus Himself said, “I am the Way and the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6). And the apostle Peter proclaimed, “Jesus… has become the Cornerstone. And there is no other name under heaven, given among men, by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:11-12). And at least six more times, the early Christian believers in the Book of Acts are called “people of the Way” - the Way of Jesus Christ as Savior, through faith in Him alone. Saul was arresting any people “belonging to the Way” until he himself was brought to Jesus as the true Way of salvation (Acts 9:2 and 16:17). A Jewish man, Apollos, was “instructed in the Way of the Lord” and “spoke boldly… “showing by the Scriptures that the Christ (the promised Messiah, the Savior) was Jesus” Acts 18:25-28).

And of course, we also read in the Book of Acts that there were big “disturbances concerning the Way” of Jesus, made by enemies, believers in false gods and goddesses (Acts 19:23-28) and by Jewish leaders in synagogues who “remained in unbelief, speaking evil of the Way” and opposing the Gospel of Christ (Acts 17:13, 18:12, 19:8-9). And there was the Roman Governor, Felix, who had “a rather accurate knowledge of the Way,” because his wife was Jewish, but kept rejecting “faith in Jesus Christ” and hoped that Paul would give him money (probably as a bribe), in order to be set free (Acts 24:22-26). Paul just kept speaking the Truth about Jesus and was finally sent to Rome and kept under house arrest for two years, witnessing to fellow Jews, many of whom “disbelieved” - did not believe in Jesus. And Paul finally said, at the end of the Book of Acts, “Therefore, let it be known to you that this salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles (the non-Jews); they will listen” (Acts 28:23-31). And many did, and Christianity spread.

Paul, in his letters in the Scriptures, also ties us all in, whether Jews or non-Jews, with the promises of God given to Abraham and received simply by faith in the grace and mercy of God. Abraham was “counted righteous” in God’s eyes, by faith in Him, and we are, too, by faith in God’s Son, Jesus, “who was delivered up” to death “for our trespasses, ”to pay the penalty for all of our sins,” and “raised from the dead for our justification” that we might be declared “not guilty” and forgiven by God. Abraham is in this way the father of people from all nations, Jews or non-Jews, who trust in God’s saving plan in Jesus (Romans 4:13-25).

Again, Paul writes, “The Scriptures, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, presented the Gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, ‘In you shall all the nations be blessed.’” So then, those who are of faith (in Jesus) are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith” (Galatians 3:6-9).

This is all fulfillment of the last verse of our text, Psalm 67:7: “God shall bless us; let all the ends of the earth fear Him.” And this does not mean to be in terror of God, but as Luther says in his Small Catechism, to fear (especially to honor and respect) God and love and trust in Him above all other things, and especially to be centered on Christ our Savior and His Word.

And the way of Christ is really for all nations still today. I think that many of you know that I was a campus pastor at Purdue University for about 25 years, and the great majority of our students were U.S. students. But we also had a surprising number of international students coming, too, because the world was coming to Purdue.

While preparing this sermon, I took a quick look back and could identify more than 50 internationals and family members who were baptized or confirmed, not counting U.S. students reached in that way, during that time. They came from about 20 different countries. And there were other internationals who came fairly often to worship or Bible study, from another 10 or more countries, off and on, through those years.

Of course, it is the Holy Spirit, working through the Word of God and the Good News of Christ, who brings people to faith and baptism and confirmation. But He works through people and their witness, and St. James has been important for that, too. For quite a number of years, St. James has sponsored a Thanksgiving Dinner for internationals, and that helped open up opportunities to share about Jesus. Some international children have come to St. James for daycare or pre-school and have heard the Good News of Christ that way. People from St. James have helped with English conversation classes. I remember one member here who is fluent in speaking and reading a foreign language spoken by many at Purdue, who was helpful with that outreach. And another member still has weekly Bible studies with some internationals.

And long before we were hearing much about Ukraine and Russia and Belarus and that part of the world, students were coming from those countries and many others and hearing the Good News of Christ in our church at Purdue.

In short, the prayer that is in Psalm 67 is being answered in Christ our Savior and even in our own community, as we keep praying and witnessing and sharing our Lord and His Word. As we close, we pray, as the prayer of Psalm 67 says: “May God be gracious to us and bless us and make His face to shine upon us, that His Way in Christ may be known to more and more people on earth and His saving power among all nations. Let all the peoples praise You, O God. Let all the peoples praise You." Amen.

Preparing for Worship - June 1, 2025

The Psalm, Psalm 133, expresses one of the key themes of our Scripture readings this week. “How good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell together in unity.” This seems obscure to us, who do not know the Old Testament very welI. In Old Testament terms, though, that meant bringing people together in Jerusalem, in the mountains of Zion, the place where King David established the capital of the Kingdom of Israel. Earlier, that place was where the tabernacle was and where Aaron was anointed generously with oil and as a priest to be able to do the animal sacrifices and other offerings required. Later, the temple in Jerusalem was the place for that priesthood and those sacrifices.  Other priests followed, but were sprinkled with oil and then carried on their duties. (See how this is described in Exodus 29:7, 30:30-33, and Leviticus 21:10, and how no one but the priests were to be anointed in this way for their special work.) Another Old Testament image was of the importance of dew falling from Mount Hermon and watering Jerusalem and other areas. Such water was very important in this drier climate. (See Hosea 14:5 and Zechariah 8:12 as examples of such dew and how it represented God’s blessings for His people.) For from Jerusalem, “the Lord had commanded blessings” and would finally bring “life forevermore” in the gift and work of His own Son, our Lord Jesus. Sadly, David’s kingdom was split, and many of God’s people worshiped falsely in other places, and there was disunity and rejection of Jesus by many when he came, and finally, the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple. Unity will now only come through Jesus and His work and Word, revealed in the New Testament.

Jesus prays for that unity in Him in the Gospel lesson, John 17:20-26, for all those who would believe in Him through the Word of God. As Jesus and His heavenly Father were unified (together with the Holy Spirit, as the One True Triune God), before the foundation of the world, so Jesus prays that believers would be united in Him and in His and the Father’s love for the world. Believers “may become perfectly one” only when they are with Jesus, where He will be in glory, in heaven, in eternal life forevermore. In the meantime, believers must live in this imperfect world so that they can share the Word of God and faith in Christ with others. They live in a world where, as Paul says, “we see in a mirror dimly,” and not always perfectly. Only in heaven shall we “know fully” what God wants us to know (1 Corinthians 13:12). Yet in God’s eyes, there is already one true body of all believers in the Holy Christian Church, which God alone can see. Paul writes, “For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body - Jews or Greeks, slaves or free - all were made to drink of one Spirit” (1 Corinthians 12:12-13). But only our Lord can create and see that body of believers perfectly, with His love and forgiveness. Jesus then prays for growing unity in His love and Word for His believers. They would soon scatter when He was arrested, suffered, and died. But they would be united with Him again in His resurrection. The Father’s love would be in them, and the risen Lord Jesus would be in them (along with the Holy Spirit, as we will hear next week, as we celebrate on Pentecost).

The reading from Acts 1:12-26 tells us that the believing disciples, about 120 people, did what Jesus asked them to do and stayed in Jerusalem, awaiting the coming of “power from on high,” in the Person of the Holy Spirit, at Pentecost (Luke 24:49). “With one accord, they devoted themselves to prayer.” This group included the chosen disciples (other than Judas), Jesus’ brothers, other women, including Mary, the mother of Jesus, and others. This is the last time Mary is mentioned in the New Testament, other than when Paul says that Jesus was “born of a woman,” obviously Mary (Galatians 4:4). Peter then showed that there was now need, based on Scripture, for Judas to be replaced, since he had betrayed Jesus and then in regret, had taken his life. (See Matthew 27:1-10 and related passages, predicting this: John 13:18, Psalm 41:9, Psalm 55:12-14, Psalm 69:25, Psalm 109:8, John 15:25, Psalm 35:19. A note from the CPH ESV Bible, p. 1812, explains also that Judas “bought the field indirectly because the Council did this with the money Judas returned… The rope Judas hanged himself with likely broke, over time, causing his already decaying corpse to fall and rupture.”) Peter also explained that the believers should now choose a replacement among men (clearly males, in the Greek) who had been followers of Jesus from the time of the baptism of John to Jesus’ ascension into heaven. Two men were chosen as candidates, and the believers cast lots, and the lot fell to Matthias to be numbered with the 11 apostles. The job of all of them was now to be a witness to Christ and His resurrection, sharing the Word of God with others. (There were decisions made by casting lots in the Old Testament, but this is the last time in the New Testament. From Acts 6:1-7 and afterward, when a need arose, the gathering of believers prayed and then chose their leaders, in this case, Stephen and others as leaders, and blessed them in their ministries.)

The last reading is from Revelation 22:1-6, 12-20. Here we see the perfection of heaven. The water of life and the tree of life are available to all, with no limitations for anyone. There is nothing accursed - only believers who see the face of God and the Lamb and worship Him. There is no night or darkness, and the Lord God is their Light, and they will reign with Him forever and ever. There is only Light and truth for all. Then we hear that the final day for Earth is coming, with the judgment of God, as He returns. All those who have washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb, by faith in Jesus, will be in heaven, the city of God (Revelation 7:14). All unbelievers will be excluded. Before the end comes, though, there is still time for more people to come to faith through the free gift, without price, of the water of life in Christ. Jesus is the Root of Jesse, from the line of King David (Isaiah 11:1). He is the Bright Morning Star (Isaiah 9:2 and Luke 1:77-79) through whom people can have forgiveness and salvation and the Light, the Way of eternal life. The Truth is in the Word of God, including the Book of Revelation, and no one should add to or take away from that Word, centered in Jesus. We are prepared and ready for eternal life in the holy city, by the grace of God with us, through Jesus. He is coming soon, and we say “Amen!” This is most certainly true! And we say, by that same grace of God, “Come, Lord Jesus!”

Preparing for Worship - May 25, 2025

Our Easter celebration continues this week, with many of the readings emphasizing that the Good News of God’s saving plan in Jesus is for all peoples and nations. Even the Old Testament clearly says that, as our Psalm for this day, Psalm 67, indicates. The psalm begins with a summary of an important benediction given by the Lord to His people in Numbers 6:22-27. Psalm 67:2 tells the people that they are blessed, so that the Way of the Lord and His saving power would be known to all nations. This idea is expressed again and again as the psalm goes on. All people are to praise God. The nations are also to have gladness and joy in the Lord, and the Lord will judge and guide them in a fair way. God will bless Israel so that eventually, all the ends of the earth might fear and trust in Him. (This had been God’s plan from the beginning. When God called Abram to be the father of a new nation (Genesis 12:1-3), note that all families on earth would be blessed through his descendant, referring to our Lord Jesus, who came from the Jews. Abram’s name was changed to Abraham (Genesis 17:3-6) by the Lord because he would be the father of a multitude of nations. See how Paul explains this in Romans 4:16-25. Even we are offspring of Abraham through faith in the Lord Jesus and His sacrifice and resurrection for our justification, no matter what race or nation we come from.)

That the Gospel is for all is evident also in Acts 16:9-15. The plans of Paul (and Luke - see the “we” in verse 10ff) were changed by the Holy Spirit so that they went to Macedonia in northern Greece and brought the Good News of Christ to Lydia. Note that Lydia was called “a worshiper of God” in v.14. That means that she was already a convert to Judaism. She was probably of Greek or Roman background. Now the Lord opened her heart to pay attention to the Word of God brought by Paul, and she and her whole household came to faith in Jesus through the Word and baptism. This Good News in Christ is meant for all people. (See how Jesus Himself, on Easter, opened the minds of some believers to the Scriptures about Jesus Christ and how this Word of God was to be brought in Christ’s Name to all nations (Luke 24:44-47).)

The same message is seen in the Epistle lesson, a continuation of the reading from last week, from Revelation 21. In Revelation 21:9-14, the plagues and wrath of God are completed (v.8) as all unbelievers are cast into the lake of fire, the second death. Now there is only the joy of believers, in eternal life in the New Jerusalem, with believers from the Old Testament times and the apostles and believers from the New Testament times, centered in the Lamb, Jesus. There is no need for the sun or moon, for the Heavenly Father, along with God the Son, the victorious Lamb, and the Holy Spirit, will be present always and provide all that is needed. The glory and the honor of believers from the nations and kings, all who walk by the Light of Christ. will be there, too, - all whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life. (See Ephesians 2:1-9, a description of how we were rescued from being children under God’s wrath to being the children of God, purely by God’s grace through the gift of faith in Christ Jesus.)

There are two possible Gospel readings this week. In John 5:1-9, Jesus helps a man who had been an invalid (blind, lame, or paralyzed) for 38 years. Jesus tells him to take up his bed and walk, and at once the man is healed. Following this text, in John 5:10-18, the man gets in trouble for carrying his bed (doing work) on the Sabbath, though he does not even know who healed him. Jesus meets him later in the temple (into which the man had probably been forbidden to enter, because of his disability, for a long time). Jesus encourages him to continue in the faith, seeking to do what is right. Jesus has gotten Himself into more trouble, too, for doing a work of healing on the Sabbath, and calling God His Father, making Himself equal with God. In this miracle, though, Jesus was showing that His saving work was for all people, including those who were cut off from God’s people by the Jews, even those with certain disabilities and physical imperfections. They, too, could be God’s people by faith in Jesus. Jesus came and died and rose again for all! (See the promises of 1 Timothy 2:3-6 of “God our Savior, Who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and there is one Mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus, Who gave Himself as a ransom for all.”)

The other possible Gospel reading is John 16:23-33, a continuation of one of last week’s Gospel lessons. Jesus has told His disciples that they will not see Him for a little while, and then they will see Him again, referring to His death and resurrection. In this reading, Jesus tells His disciples that He will also return to His Father in heaven. From that time forward, the disciples should pray to the Father, asking in the Name of Jesus their Savior. The Father will answer their prayers as He knows best because he loves them. The disciples reaffirm that they believe Jesus came from God, but Jesus knows their weak faith and warns that they will scatter and leave Jesus alone. He will not be alone, though, for the Father will be with Him, in His suffering to come. The disciples will also have tribulations, but in Christ they will have peace, for Christ will overcome the evil world and bring ultimate victory for them. When Jesus rose from the dead, He said again and again to them, “Peace be with you,” for He would pay the price for all their sins and forgive them and one day take them to eternal life in heaven, too. The same is true for all of us, in faith in Christ. We are far from perfect and struggle with tribulations, but we have peace in Christ ourselves, for this life and for eternal life to come.

Preparing for Worship - May 18, 2025

Our Easter celebration continues this week, as we hear more of the promises that come to us through our Risen, Living Lord Jesus. The Psalm is Psalm 148. We had this psalm on the 2nd Sunday of Easter, April 27; so you might look back at the words shared at that time about this psalm, too. The Psalm calls upon all of creation to praise the Lord, including everyone and everything here on earth. That includes all kings and rulers and peoples on earth, young and old. The Name of the Lord alone is to be exalted because He has raised up “a Horn for His people.” A horn represents God’s power and strength for His people. See Psalm 18:2, where David says, “The Lord is my Rock and my Fortress and My Deliverer, my God, my Rock, in whom I take refuge, my Shield, and the Horn of my Salvation, my Stronghold.” Zechariah prophesied by the Holy Spirit in the New Testament that Jesus would be that “Horn of Salvation,” the Redeemer, and that
Zechariah’s son, John the Baptist, would prepare the way for Him, the Lord Jesus. (See Luke 1:67-79, and especially verses 68-70 and 76-79.)

There is again a reading from the history of the early church, from Acts 11:1-18, instead of an Old Testament reading. Peter is being criticized by the “circumcision party” for going to uncircumcised Gentiles and eating with them, as they were “unclean” people. Peter explains that he had a vision three times of a huge sheet with all kinds of animals on it, clean and unclean. The Lord told him to “kill and eat” foods that were formerly unclean, because under the New Covenant in Christ, God was “declaring all foods clean,” even as Jesus had done in Mark 7:14-23. That very moment, three men came from Caesarea and the Holy Spirit told Peter to go with them, though they were Gentiles. Six others went with them, as witnesses. This was the first time Peter had ever been in a Gentile home, but Peter knew it was OK because an angel had arranged all this. As soon as Peter began to speak God’s Word about being saved through Christ, the Holy Spirit came upon these Gentiles, also, and God granted to them also repentance and saving faith and new life in Jesus. Peter now knew that he could not stand in God’s way, and that everyone needed to share the Good News of Jesus as Savior for Gentiles, as well as Jews. The Good News in Christ is for all people.

There are two possible Gospel readings. Both are Words of Jesus. In John 13:31-35, Judas has just left to prepare to betray Jesus into the hands of the Jewish authorities. Jesus knows that His coming suffering and death would glorify God,  and that He Himself would be glorified, when He rose from the dead and returned to His Father in heaven, a place where His disciples could not yet go. In the meantime, the disciples are to love one another, as Jesus first and foremost loved them. This is what disciples of Jesus are now to do - to have love for one another and others, especially in sharing the hope and salvation that are in Jesus.

The other Gospel reading is John 16:12-22. Jesus has much more to teach His disciples, but they cannot handle it now. The Holy Spirit would later guide them into all truth. That is what we have recorded for us in the Scriptures. The Spirit would glorify Jesus as the Savior of the world. But first, Jesus would need to leave the disciples for “a little while,” and then they would see Him again. The disciples do not understand. Jesus uses the example of a woman expecting a child. There is great agony when her time has come, but then there is great joy, and the birth pains are forgotten, with a child coming into the world. So, there would be great sorrow at the death of Jesus, but there would be great joy when He would appear again to them as their Risen Lord, eventually bringing eternal joy that cannot be taken away from them.

In the Epistle reading, from Revelation 21:1-7, the Lord gives John a vision of that eternal life and joy to come. When Christ returns on the last day, the first heaven and earth, troubled by sin, will pass away, and God will dwell with us in a whole new existence, a new heaven and earth and a new Jerusalem, with no tears or pain or death. There will be no sea to threaten and no need for sun or moon or temple, etc., since the Father, the Son the Lamb, and the Holy Spirit will be with us always and provide us with all we need (Revelation 21:1-7, 22-23). We cannot comprehend what all this means or what all the picture images here mean, but we know that no one can take our joy from us, in Christ (John 16:22).

We have confidence in Christ now, but still have the tribulations of this sinful world. As Jesus said in John 16:33, “I have said these things to you that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” We seek now to live in love with one another and share Christ’s sacrificial love with others until Christ chooses, in His wisdom, to take us to eternal joy in heaven at our death (Psalm 31:14-16): “I trust You, O Lord; I say, “You are my God.” My times are in Your hand; rescue me from the hand of my enemies and from my persecutors! Make Your face shine on Your servant; save me in Your steadfast love.”

Sermon from May 4, 2025

Third Sunday after Easter    

John 21:1-19

“Follow Me and Tend My Sheep”

Let us pray: Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen (Psalm 19:14).

The text for our meditation is the Gospel lesson for today, from John 21:1-19. Scholars who are critical of the Bible and its reliability have often questioned whether Chapter 21 belongs to John’s Gospel. And some say that some other author, not John, must have added it later on. They have one big problem. Every single one of the ancient Greek manuscripts of the Bible has all 21 chapters, and early translations into other languages have the same 21 chapters preserved for us by our Lord, in His wisdom and guidance for Biblical writers.

And there’s good reason that Chapter 21 was included by John, inspired by God. It is a strong encouragement to the disciples to carry out the ministry to which they had been called by Jesus, when He said, Easter evening, “As the Father has sent Me, even so I am sending you” (John 20:21).

The disciples did go back to Galilee as Jesus had told them (Matthew 28:10), but they don’t seem to be preparing for their mission. Instead, led by Peter, along with James and John, seven of them are out fishing, all night, as they used to do. And even as expert fishermen, their night’s fishing was a failure. No fish! One Lutheran commentator (Dr. V.C. Pfitzner) wonders if they were forgetting already what their mission now was to be - to be fishers of men. Matthew tells us that some of the disciples, probably not these seven, but others, were still doubting about all this with Jesus (Matthew 28:17). And later on, even at the Ascension of Jesus into heaven, Luke tells us that at least some of the disciples were still asking: “Lord, will You at this time restore the Kingdom to Israel? - as if the goal of all this was really to set up an earthly kingdom with Israel as the top nation, instead of taking the Gospel of Christ Jesus and His love and forgiveness to all nations and peoples in the world.

The Pentecost event and the special coming of the Holy Spirit with power helped greatly in affirming the right focus for ministry (Acts 2), but as you read on in the Book of Acts, you discover that it’s not until Acts 8, when believers in Jerusalem were being persecuted by fellow Jews, that the believers began to scatter to other places to tell of Jesus. And Peter himself had never set foot in a non-Jewish home until Acts 10.

So, these early events of John 21, while Jesus was still appearing to His disciples on earth, visibly, were very important. The disciples were still in their boat, with no fish, on the Sea of Galilee, when Jesus called to them from the shore. They did not recognize Him at first, but put the net where He said and caught a huge number of fish.

Early in His ministry, in Luke 5, Jesus helped Peter catch many fish in the same way. Peter’s reaction was to fall at the knees of Jesus and say, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” And Jesus said to him, “Do not be afraid; from now on, you will be catching men” (Luke 5:1-10).

This time, in our text, in very similar circumstances, when John said, “It is the Lord” calling to us, Peter quickly jumped out of the boat and headed toward land. He wanted to be in the presence of his Living and forgiving Lord.

When he and the others reached the shore, they found a charcoal fire and a breakfast prepared for them by Jesus, with bread and fish. Jesus asked them to bring some of the fish just caught, and Peter went and found and counted 153 large fish in the net, a tremendous catch! And yet the net was not torn or broken, as it had been in the earlier great catch of fish.

Clearly, Jesus was doing miraculous things again for the seven chosen disciples in our text. He was providing a net full of fish for these supposedly expert fishermen, who could catch nothing. He was providing a wonderful breakfast meal of bread and fish (like the feeding of the 5,000 earlier in His ministry, Mark 6:30-44), provided in love and mercy and forgiveness for these disciples who had been so weak and fearful just recently and couldn’t seem to understand Jesus’ clear words about suffering and dying and rising again. And in this way, Jesus was reminding His disciples once again that their primary mission now was not be to fishermen for fish, but fishermen for people, telling people the Good News described in Revelation, Chapter 5, our Epistle lesson, of Jesus, the Lamb, who was slain and by His blood (and His resurrection) ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation (Revelation 5:9). And through their Word and proclamation of Jesus, the Holy Spirit could work and bring more people to forgiveness and faith and baptism and salvation through Christ Jesus.

But even these chosen disciples needed to be reminded of their calling and the forgiveness of Jesus, who died and rose for them, too, as did so many followers of the Lord before and after them. In the psalm for today, Psalm 30, we hear that King David, as strong as he was, could also be very weak, at times. In the psalm, he knows that he has done wrong (and this is not the Bathsheba story, but another failure) and has to say, “To You, O Lord, I cry and plead for mercy; be merciful to me, O Lord; be my Helper.” And the Lord turned David’s mourning into gladness and thankfulness through His forgiveness for him.

And we heard of Saul, who was so strongly anti-Christian and a persecutor of Christians until the Risen Lord Jesus appeared to him and turned his life around and brought Him to faith and baptism and forgiveness and made him the Apostle Paul, who could proclaim, “The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.” But Paul still had to, the Scriptures say, “increase all the more in strength in the Lord to be able to proclaim that Jesus was the Christ” (Acts 9:1-22).

The Lord also had to work with the Christian, Ananias, who was supposed to go and witness to Saul, but was afraid for his own life and said, “Lord, I have heard… how much evil Saul has done to Your saints of Jerusalem.” The Lord finally just had to say to Ananias, “Go!” and he went, and the Holy Spirit brought Saul to faith.

Everyone needed encouragement in Christ, including Peter, in our text. He could be so strong, being the first disciple to say clearly of Jesus, “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.” But very quickly, he could think that he knew better than Jesus, and argue with Him, and tell Him never to talk about suffering and dying and rising again, though that was the central work of Jesus (Matthew 16:15-23).

Peter was trusting too much in himself and his wisdom and thinking and abilities. When Jesus predicted, “You will all fall away,” Peter emphatically said, “Even though they all fall away, I will not… If I must die with You, I will not deny you” (Mark 14:29,31). Again, Peter had said to Jesus, “I will lay down my life for you.” Jesus answered, “Will you?… Truly, truly I say to you, the rooster will not crow till you have denied me three times” (John 13:37-38). And that is exactly what Peter did. And then he went out and wept bitterly at his sin and failure. He was in sorrow and fear until the Risen Lord Jesus appeared to him and the others.

Now, at His third resurrection appearance to the disciples, Jesus talks particularly to Peter, to remind him of his weaknesses, but also to let him know that he was forgiven and still called to his ministry for Christ. The charcoal fire may have reminded Peter of where he had stood just a few weeks before, warming himself and then denying, three times, that he ever knew Jesus or had ever been His disciple. And three times, Jesus calls him Simon, and asks if he loves Him. Jesus had given him an extra name, Peter, a name which sounds like a word for a kind of rock. But Peter had not been the rock-man he thought he was. But he is realizing that and is truly repentant, and that comes out in some of the words that you can’t see in English, but in the original Greek.

Two times, Jesus asks, “Simon, do you love me?” And Jesus uses the special word, agape, which means the great, sacrificial love that Jesus had in giving up everything, and finally even His life, in order to pay for Peter’s sins, and ours, too. Peter responds two times, “Yes, Lord, You know that I love you.” But he uses a different word for love, which means more like brotherly, friendship love. Peter is realizing that his love will never measure up to Jesus’ perfect, sacrificial love, and that he needs to trust Jesus, His Savior, instead of his own wisdom and strength and abilities and imperfect love.

And the third time that Jesus asks, “Simon, do you love me?” He uses the same word for love that Peter has been using. Jesus knows that Peter’s love is weak and imperfect, compared with His perfect, sacrificial love, but He still loves and forgives Peter, and knows that He and the Holy Spirit can still work through Peter as a shepherd for sheep, with people of all ages and types, as we heard in the children’s sermon - all of whom Jesus loves. (Jesus had used several words for lambs and sheep of different ages in this text and called Peter to feed and tend to them all. Earlier, the disciples had tried to say that Jesus couldn’t be bothered with little children. Jesus corrects Peter and the others, as He had done before (Mark 10:13-16, Mark 9:33-36). How comforting it is that the Lord Jesus loves us all, no matter our age.

And as our text ends, Jesus says, in effect, to Peter, "Don’t follow yourself and your ideas and ways. Follow Me,” and My Word, and “tend to My sheep,” even if it means great sacrifice for you, as it eventually did for Peter.

We are not apostles, but we have a mission in our lives, too, where Christ has placed us, as baptized believers in Him. But we are shaky, too, and we have room to grow, too, in trust in our Savior, in confidence in him and His forgiveness, in spite of our own sins and weaknesses. We can be a blessing to our fellow sheep, as we hear Jesus say to us, too, “Follow Me and my Word, in your family and your church and with others God places around you, too.”

We pray, as the writer to the Hebrews says, “Now may the God of peace, who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the Great Shepherd of the sheep, equip you with everything good that you may do His will, working in us that which is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to Whom be glory forever and ever." Amen (Hebrews 13:20-21).

Sermon from April 30, 2025

Epistle - 2nd Sunday of Easter

Revelation 1:9-18

Let us pray: Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen (Psalm 19:14).

Our text for today is a part of the Epistle lesson from this past Sunday, April 27, 2025. We often tend to avoid the Book of Revelation because it is not an easy book, and it has challenging things to hear and understand. Yet it also has encouraging and comforting things to say to us as God’s people. I will read just a few verses at a time and then talk about them

Revelation 1:9-11: “I, John, your brother and partner in the tribulation and the Kingdom and the patient endurance that are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos on account of the Word of God and the testimony of Jesus. I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet saying, ‘Write what you see in a book and send it to the seven churches, to Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Pergamum and to Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea.’”

John says that he was “in the Spirit,” being led by God’s Holy Spirit, on the “Lord’s” day, a Sunday, because Christians were moving away from the old Jewish sabbath day, Saturday, and focusing on the day of Christ’s resurrection, a Sunday. In those days, trumpets were not so much musical instruments, but a way of making a loud noise to get people’s attention. The loud voice, like a trumpet, told John, “Write what you see in a book, and send it to the seven churches in the Roman province of Asia Minor (now modern-day Turkey), beginning with Ephesus. John had been the chief pastor and leader of these and other churches and Christian people for many years. But he does not put himself way above them, but says that he is their brother and partner in three ways.

They are all part of the Kingdom of God, first and foremost, by the grace of God and by the gift of faith in God’s Son, Jesus, as their Savior and King, with the promise of eternal life. At the same time, that did not exempt them from the second thing they had in common with John, tribulation in this life, in this very troubled, sinful world.

In fact, as John wrote this Book of Revelation, the last book of Scripture written, in the 90s AD, persecution of Christians was increasing under the Roman Emperor, Domitian, who reigned from 81-96 AD. Domitian strongly pushed the idea that as Emperor, he should be worshiped  - and worshiped as Lord and God. Christians, however, would call no one Lord but the Risen Lord Jesus, to the glory of God the Father and in the power of God the Holy Spirit, as the one true Triune God. Refusal to call the Emperor “Lord and God” could put people under the penalty of death. John himself says that he had been exiled to the island of Patmos, a tiny island (10 miles by 6 miles) off the coast of Asia Minor, away from these seven churches. Close by was another island, Miletus, where many more “disturbers of the Roman peace” - enemies of Rome - were banished. John was on Patmos simply because he preached the Word of God and testified about Jesus alone as Lord to others. He says that he needed the “patient endurance” that is in Jesus and trust in Him as the true Savior and Lord, above all. The need for “patient endurance” is the third similarity to the churches to whom he writes.

We do not have such persecution in this country, but there is still much opposition and indifference to Christ and what the Scriptures teach. There are countries like Nigeria, where thousands of Christians have been killed and their lands stolen in recent years. And there are places where you could be imprisoned just for telling others about Jesus in your own home, still today. We have many joys as Christians, but we all face tribulations of other kinds, too - physical problems and illnesses, family and job troubles, the death of loved ones, worries of many kinds, and on and on. What was John to write to help fellow Christians, including us, to have patient endurance, in these times of difficulties?

As the Revelation passage goes on, John writes (Revelation 1:12-16): “Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me, and on turning, I saw seven golden lampstands, and in the midst of the lampstands, One like a Son of Man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around His chest. The hairs of His head were white like white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire, His feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a fire, and His voice was like the roar of many waters. In His right hand He held seven stars, from His mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and His face was like the sun shining in full strength.”

John is seeing and hearing the voice and presence of God the Son, Jesus, who is often called “The Son of Man,” as a true man here on earth, while still being God. We hear, week after week, of Jesus as the “Lamb of God,” who suffered and died on the cross to take away the sin of the world. But here is a picture of a Lamb who was slain, who has begun His reign again in glory and heavenly power, as our Risen Lord. We can’t talk about it all in one sermon, but if you have a Bible with cross references to other Scriptures, look them up, and you will discover these are Old Testament pictures and prophecies, especially from the Book of Daniel, of God the Father, called “the Ancient of Days,” who always existed, combined with pictures of God the Son, the Son of Man, doing His saving work and then returning to God the Father in glory, in what we now call His Resurrection and Ascension. It is the story of the Triune God at work for us and our good and salvation (Daniel 7:9-10, 13-14, 10:4-8, 18-19, etc.).

Let Scripture interpret Scripture. Jesus does not literally have a sharp, two-edged sword in His mouth, but His Word has great power and blessing for us, as both the Law that shows us our sins, but also the Gospel that shows us our Savior and His love and forgiveness for us. As Hebrews 4:12 says: “The Word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword” and works in our lives, still today, as we read and listen to it, through the Holy Spirit. And even in His public ministry, there were glimpses of Jesus and His glory, as His appearance dazzled like the sun on the Mount of Transfiguration (Matthew 17:1-3). This tells us to look for other “picture images” in Revelation. Not everything is to be taken literally, but guided by other Scriptures.

And the risen, glorious Lord pictured here said after His resurrection, “All power, all authority, in heaven and on earth has been given to Me,” and “I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:18-20). Here was the help John was to write about to the churches to give them strength and patient endurance in Christ in the troubles and tribulations that they and we have to face in our lives, at times.

John himself had recorded these words of Jesus earlier in his Gospel, “I have said these things to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” And Jesus had added these words, “I am not alone, for the Father is with Me” (John 16:32-33). Jesus, as true man, had His own troubles and tribulations in this world, many of them, and He had to trust His Heavenly Father’s presence and strength to help Him through, as we now trust the Triune God, including Jesus’ saving work.

John knew all this, but we read, as our text goes on (Revelation 1:17), “When I, John, saw Him, the glorified Jesus, I fell at His feet as though dead.” This often happened to people when they saw God in His glory. John, too, when he saw the glorious, victorious Jesus, was even more conscious of his own sins and weaknesses. He didn’t even deserve to stand before Jesus.

And when we’re honest, we know our own sins and weaknesses before the Lord, too, don’t we? We don’t deserve His mercy. And sometimes physical and emotional problems and the struggles of this life knock us down as well. The Christian churches in Asia Minor were experiencing such things, too.

How does Jesus respond to John, fallen down before Him? John writes (Revelation 1:17-18): “But Jesus laid His right hand (His hand of power and authority) on me, saying, ‘Fear not!’ How often did Jesus say these same words - to the frightened disciples on Easter evening, behind locked doors, to doubting Thomas, the next Sunday, and on and on, to us still today. Jesus said to John, “Fear not! I am the First and the Last (the living eternal God), and I am true man, the living One. I died (for your sins) and (I rose) and I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of death and Hades.” I am alive and can help you through this life, and even in death, to eternal life in heaven one day.

And right after our text, Jesus said to John, in effect, "Get busy now!": “Write therefore the things you have seen, those things that are and those that are to take place” (Revelation 1:19) Write down everything I tell you, for you and the churches in Asia Minor need this comforting message in hard times coming, and future churches will need this, too, (as we do, still today).

There are mysteries in the Book of Revelation, Jesus adds, and some things are hard to understand. (He shows that by explaining in Revelation 1:20 that the stars in His hand (v.16) represent angels (messengers) sent to the churches, and the lampstands represent the churches themselves. Watch for such picture images in Revelation.) But above all, hear that Christ is Risen indeed and is “alive forevermore” and can and does come to us personally through His Word and in the Lord’s Supper we soon receive, as He has come to us in our baptism. And He can and will help us through the days ahead and for eternal life to come. There is our hope and confidence. Amen.    

Preparing for Worship - Sunday, May 11, 2025

This 4th Sunday of the Easter season is known as Good Shepherd Sunday, with a focus on our Good Shepherd, the Lord Jesus. The psalm is Psalm 23, a psalm of David familiar to many. Even David, as King, was a sheep and needed a Shepherd to lead and guide him and provide for his physical and spiritual needs. That is what his Lord did, with green pastures and still waters, and care for his soul. The Lord was with him, seeking to lead him in righteous ways and helping him through dangerous times in the shadow of evil and death. Even in the presence of enemies and in the midst of his own sins and failures, at times, the Lord showed him goodness and mercy, with forgiveness, all his life, and pursued him and finally brought him to perfect peace and joy in the house of the Lord in eternal life forever.

Jesus, of course, was the ultimate Good Shepherd, the Heavenly Father’s Son, who came into this world as a true man to accomplish the saving work for David and for us all. The Gospel lesson is from John 10:22-30. Jesus was in Jerusalem at the temple during the Feast of Dedication, a winter Jewish festival (Hanukkah), remembering how the evil Greek leader, Antiochus Epiphanes, was stopped from desecrating the temple and overthrown, and Jews regained freedom in Israel for a period of time under the Maccabees. At this festival, Jews asked Jesus to tell them if He really was the promised Christ, the Messiah. Jesus said that He had already told them who He was, but they would not believe because they were not His sheep, following Him. Jesus calls people to be His sheep, through His Word and work, and He knows them and brings them to hear His voice and believe and follow Him. He is one with God the Father and gives His sheep the gift of eternal life, and no one can snatch such people from His hands. (People can resist and reject Him, though, refusing to be drawn into His hands and flock, as many Jews did, or can drift away from Jesus and His Word, and go on their own, to their sorrow. Jesus will not let this happen easily, though, for believers. He guards and protects His flock.)

In the Acts 20:17-35 reading, from the history of the New Testament church, Paul meets with the elders (pastoral leaders of the church at Ephesus) and reminds them of how he had faithfully sought to teach them the whole counsel of God, whatever was profitable for them, and especially the Gospel of the grace of God, bringing people to repentance for sins and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, through the Holy Spirit. The Spirit was revealing to Paul, though, that imprisonment and afflictions were coming for Him and that he might not see these leaders again. He calls these pastors to pay careful attention to themselves and their faith, and to the flock, the people bought by the blood of Christ, over whom they are shepherds. He warns, with tears, of fierce wolves, men speaking twisted things, and seeking to attack the flock and draw people away from the truth. Paul commends these leaders to God and to the Word of His grace, which is able to build them up and give to them and their believers, their flock, the eternal inheritance prepared for them. This means hard work in very challenging situations, not for personal gain, and Paul gives himself as an example of one who knew the Words of Jesus that “it is more blessed to give than to receive,” in helping the weak and struggling sheep entrusted to them.

The Lord Jesus, the Lamb who was sacrificed for His sheep and washed them clean by His blood, shed for them, will be the Key for His people, His sheep. In Revelation 7:9-17, John sees a vision of an innumerable multitude of believers from every tribe and nation, in heaven, crying out, “Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb” who deserves all glory and honor and praise and much more. Some may even die for the faith, in the tribulations of this life, but all believers will be with the Lord forever in His temple, His holy of holies, in His presence, praising and serving Him. There will be no more hunger or thirst or tears or scorching heat, but springs of living water, provided by their Lamb, their Living Lord and Good Shepherd.

What an amazing future is ahead for us in eternal life in heaven, in the whole new existence the Lord has for us. This gives us great hope and patient endurance in the tribulations we face in this life, along with the blessings and joys God already gives us here, in Christ and His Word and Sacraments, which sustain us.

Preparing for Worship - April 27, 2025

The Easter celebration goes on for seven weeks, as we rejoice in the resurrection of Jesus from the dead and what that means for us. The Psalm for this week is Psalm 148, a great song of praise to the Lord. Everyone and everything everywhere is called to join in this praise, beginning with the angels and all in heaven and the sun and moon and stars and all the clouds from which the rain comes, who are all created by the Lord. All on earth are to join in this praise, as well, on the land and the sea and all the creatures and living things who dwell here. All people, high and lowly, young and old, are to praise the Lord, too. Even the seasons, with their variety and storms and wind, fulfill the Word and will of God and show His power and control. He and His majesty alone are to be exalted, and most especially because He has raised up a “Horn” for His saints, His believing people near to Him. (Animals with horns and heads held high represented strength and victory for Old Testament people.)  How did this happen? It is referring to the coming of the Savior Jesus. See Luke 1:67-79, where Zechariah, through the Holy Spirit, prophesied of the Lord Himself visiting and redeeming His people by raising up “a Horn of Salvation” from the house of David. Zechariah’s son, John the Baptist, would prepare His way, and then Jesus would come, as the “Sunrise” and “Light for us sitting in the darkness of sin and death” and to bring us into “the way of peace.” Jesus would bring the knowledge of and accomplish salvation for His people, in the forgiveness of their sins.

The certainty of that forgiveness, life, and peace was proclaimed through the resurrection of Jesus, after He had completed His work of forgiving our sins on the cross. The Gospel lesson is John 20:19-31. The disciples had lost hope and were full of fear, when the Lord Jesus appeared to them on Easter evening and the next weekend and many other times. It was Jesus, with the marks of the nails and spear in Him, yet with a resurrected and glorified body, which could appear and disappear and go through locked doors, and yet be seen and touched. He gave his disciples of His Holy Spirit, that they might believe and began to prepare them to be sent out into the world, sharing the forgiveness of sins that Jesus had won for them and for the world. The disciple, Thomas, was not there and refused to believe until Jesus also appeared to him. Brought to faith, Thomas proclaimed the truth about Jesus: “My Lord and My God.” That’s who Jesus was! The apostle John, who wrote this Gospel, added the Words of Jesus for future generations, including us, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed“ through the eyewitness testimony of these early believers who saw the risen Lord alive. John says that he writes this Gospel for this very reason: “These things are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing in Him you may have life in His Name.” John proclaimed this same truth in Jesus in all His letters and other writings. (See the quotation from Jesus in John 5:24 and what John clearly says in 1 John 5:9-13, for example.)

Peter and the other disciples proclaimed the same truth and hope in Jesus in Acts 5:12-20 (21-32). After initial doubts and fears, they boldly proclaimed the Risen Lord Jesus as Savior. More people came to faith as the Holy Spirit worked through the Good News of Christ they proclaimed, and people were helped and healed by God’s power, in Christ. The Jewish religious leaders, and particularly the Sadducees, who denied that there ever would be resurrection and life after death (see Luke 20:27), were very upset and jealous and had these disciples arrested and thrown in prison. An angel of the Lord opened the prison doors for them, though, and sent them back to the temple to keep speaking “all these words of Life” in Jesus to the people. The religious leaders were very surprised and perplexed when Jesus’ disciples were not in prison, but in the temple again, and they had them brought again, without force this time, to them to be questioned. They reminded the disciples that they were “strictly charged not to teach in the name of Jesus.” Jesus was the real problem for them! Peter and the other apostles answered, “We must obey God and not men.” In Greek, the word for “obey” combines two words: to obey someone in authority. (See how the same word is used in Titus 3:1, where we are called to be submissive and obedient to rulers and authorities, and in Acts 27:21, where Paul says, “You should have listened to me" (as an authority on this subject). God is our ultimate authority, and in v. 31, Jesus is called not only our Savior but our Leader, our Authority, in giving us both repentance and forgiveness of our sins, by which we are saved. Peter also brings in the importance of the Holy Spirit, who works through the Word to bring us to faith and keeps us in faith. Peter says what Jesus says in John 15:26-27: “When the Counselor comes, whom I shall send you from the Father, even the Spirit of Truth, who proceeds from the Father, He will bear witness to Me; and you also are witnesses because you have been with Me from the beginning.” See also the emphasis on the Holy Spirit, together with the Father and our Lord Jesus, in John 7:39 and Acts 11:15-18. It is ultimately God who saves by His grace. We do not save ourselves by our decisions and efforts. To God be the praise and glory, as the psalm for today said!

We hear from the apostle John one more time in the reading from Revelation 1:4-18. John was exiled by the Romans to the island of Patmos in the Aegean Sea. He had worked with churches in the Roman province of Asia Minor (part of what is now modern-day Turkey). The Lord instructs John to write to seven specific churches there, representing all churches. John begins this message with a blessing of grace and peace from the Triune God: the eternal Father, “who is and was and is to come,” and God the Son, Jesus Christ, firstborn from the dead by His mighty resurrection and now living and reigning over all, and God the Holy Spirit, described here and in Isaiah 11:2 as the sevenfold Spirit at work in the seven churches to whom John writes. John focuses then on the saving work of Jesus, who “loved us enough to free us from our sins by His blood” and made all believers part of His kingdom and “priests” before Him. (See 1 Peter 2:9-10, for example.) To God be the glory for all this, now and when Jesus comes again with the clouds on the last day, and all will see Him, and some to their sorrow for rejecting Him. This one true God is the Beginning and the End, represented by the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet, “the Alpha and the Omega.” (The same is said of Jesus in v. 17-18, though as a true man, as well as God, He lived and died and rose again to life forevermore, with victory over death and the grave and hell.

In Revelation 1:9, John reminds the churches to whom he writes that he is with them in living in tribulation because of believing in and sharing the Word of God and the Good News of Jesus. Yet he is still part of Christ’s kingdom, and was called to write to the seven churches identified in v.11. He was called to write by Jesus Himself, now in glory in heaven and pictured in an amazing way, which combines pictures of God the Father, the “Ancient of Days,” and God the Son, “the Son of Man,” described in Daniel 7:9-14 and 10:5-19, etc. (This is a highly symbolic picture, which indicates from the start that much of Revelation uses such symbolic images. If you look at Revelation 1:12, 16, and then look at v.20, you’ll see that the stars and lamp stands represent angels and the seven churches. Jesus does not literally have a two-edged sword in His mouth, but His Word has great power, as pictured in Hebrews 4:12.)

All this is to say that Jesus instructed John to write the letters to the churches and the entire Book of Revelation to give them the Law, warning about sin, but above all, the Gospel, in Jesus and His saving work and victory for them, in a time of tribulation and difficulty. Much more could be said, obviously, but this could be summarized in the Words of Jesus, recorded also by John, in passages like John 16:20-22 and 16:33: “I have said these things to you that in Me you may have peace. In the world, you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” We are called, still today, to hear the Words of Revelation 1:17, when we sometimes feel like John and fall down as though dead, overwhelmed by the troubles and difficulties of this life. “Fear not,” says Jesus, as He points us to His Words and promises and His love and His victory already won for us for life and hope now and in eternal life to come in heaven.

Preparing for Worship - May 20, 2025

The Psalm for Easter Sunday is Psalm 16. David prays that the Lord would preserve him, as He has blessed him so richly in the past, even in very difficult times. David knows that all “good” comes from the Lord for him and for all “the saints,” the believers, in his land. (See John 3:27 and James 1:17, too.) David calls the Lord his “Chosen portion,” his “Cup,” his ‘lot’ in life, and “a beautiful inheritance” for his future. The Lord continues to give him “counsel” and “instruction” through His Word and “is at his right hand,” giving him stability in this life and the promise of joy and blessings in His “presence forevermore” in heaven. (See 1 Thessalonians 5:9-11 and 23-24, and 2 Timothy 1:9-10 for these same promises for us in Christ our Savior.) Some of what David says, though, is really prophetic of and happened only with Christ Jesus Himself. Only Jesus was the truly “Holy One" who was without sin and died for our sins. When He died, His body did not see corruption, but He was raised from the dead on the third day and provided “the path of life,” eternal life, through the gift of faith in Him. (This psalm is quoted by both Peter in Acts 2:23-32 and Paul in Acts 13:34-39.) David died, and his body saw corruption, but Jesus’ body did not. Christ’s death and resurrection for us ensure that we will have eternal life, too, through Him. Therefore, with David, “our heart is glad, and our whole being rejoices” in the Lord.

The Old Testament lesson is from Isaiah 65:17-25. God Himself tells, through Isaiah, that He will one day “create new heavens and a new earth.” A whole new existence in which we can rejoice forever in our Lord in “gladness and joy.” It is the opposite of the time of curses and judgment for nations and people because of sin and rebellion against the Lord and His will and rejection of Him. (See the warnings to Syria and Babylon, for example, in Jeremiah 49:16 and 51:53 and even to the Israelites in Deuteronomy 28:15ff. and 25ff.) In that new existence, there will be no more weeping and distress. Strong picture images are given of the wolf and the lamb and the lion being together and not hurting or destroying and of people no longer “laboring in vain.” With the coming of Christ and the New Testament, we will hear of “death itself being swallowed up in the victory of Christ” in His resurrection and all other evil banished in eternal life with our Lord.

That victory is seen in the Gospel lesson in Luke 24:1-12 when women who had followed Jesus (see Luke 8:1-3 and 23:55-56 and John 19:25) came to the tomb to anoint the body of Jesus and found the stone rolled away and Jesus’ body gone. Angels appear to them “in dazzling apparel” and tell them that Jesus had risen from the dead, just as he had earlier predicted both His death and resurrection that had to happen to complete His saving work for the world. The women then remember these Words of Jesus but don’t immediately understand. They tell Peter and the other apostles what they have seen and heard, but these words sound like “an idle tale, and they did not believe them.” Peter himself does go to the tomb to check things out and finds the tomb empty and finds the linen cloths that Jesus was wrapped in, by themselves. He marvels at all this but does not understand. Dealing with so much sin and evil and death in this life, and knowing that Jesus had been crucified and died, none could easily believe until the risen Lord Jesus began to appear directly to them. (The angels were correct in telling the women that Jesus had predicted all of this. See Luke 9:22,24 and Matthew 16:21 and 17:22-24 and Mark 8:31 and 9:30-31.)

In the Epistle, in the great Resurrection Chapter of 1 Corinthians 15, Paul strongly affirms and defends the reality of the resurrection because the risen Lord Jesus had appeared to him and many others. He knew it was true (1 Cor. 15:1-11). Some churches may use 15:19-26, which affirms “the fact” of the resurrection, but we heard these words earlier during Epiphany, on February 23. You can read comments about those verses there in my podcast. We’ll look at the alternate reading, 1 Cor. 15:50-57. Paul begins by saying that “flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God” - the human, natural flesh and blood we all have and are born with. When Jesus was raised on Easter, the third day, His body and not just His spirit was raised, but it was changed and glorified. He could appear and disappear and go through walls, etc. His perishable body could not inherit what is imperishable in eternal life. When we die, our soul will go to be with Christ in eternal life in heaven. (See passages like Romans 6:23, Acts 7:59, Philippians 1:23, Luke 23:42-43 and 46, Ecclesiastes 12:6-7, Philippians 3:19-21, 2 Corinthians 5:1-8, etc.) When Christ returns on the last day, the dead shall be raised at the last trumpet (v.52 and Matthew 24:31 and 1 Thessalonians 4:16). The bodies of all believers will be raised and changed and glorified and become imperishable and immortal, even as Jesus’ body became when He rose. Paul refers to Old Testament passages, Isaiah 25:8 and Hosea 13:14, when writing of this. We thank God, together with Paul, for giving us eternal life, which he says is an “inheritance,” a gift of God by His grace through the gift of faith when we die, and we thank Him for the gift of our changed, glorious resurrection body coming on the last day. (See 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 and 5:9-12 for another discussion of the same and our always living with Christ.)

One last comment. Paul ends this resurrection discussion by reminding us to be steadfast in faith and abounding in the work of the Lord, for “in the Lord our labor is not in vain.” That was one of the promises for the time of the new heavens and new earth to come (Isaiah 65:58). With Christ and the Holy Spirit in and with us, even in this life, our labor in the Lord is not in vain. Whether we see results or not, God is working for good for us and for one another, too, as we seek to follow Him and His Word. Paul reminds us that we “shine as lights” in a “crooked and twisted generation” when we “hold fast to the Word of Life.” In that way, through the Word Paul shared with us, his own labor and ours are not in vain (Philippians 2:15-16)!