Exaudi—Family, Failure, and Forgiveness
Transcribed by TurboScribe.
(0:00) In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. (0:04) These things I have spoken to you that you not be made to stumble. (0:10) These things I have said publicly to you all in order that you should not be scandalized, (0:17) that you should not be shocked through word or action, or led to unbelief, despair, (0:23) or other great shame and vice on account of your experience in this evil world.(0:30) That's why Jesus speaks these words in the gospel this morning to his disciples. (0:34) That's why he speaks them to us beforehand, so that we will not be shocked when these (0:39) things happen to us. Several weeks ago in Family Catechesis, we spent some time (0:45) talking about what it means to gather fraternally around Christ's means of grace.(0:51) That's a part of our mission statement at St. Thomas, and the mission of St. Thomas Evangelical (0:57) Lutheran Church of the Unaltered Augsburg Confession is to faithfully proclaim the Holy (1:02) Gospel, gather fraternally around Christ's means of grace, and live in his light. (1:08) So when we talked about gathering fraternally in Christ's means of grace, we discussed what (1:14) it means to gather fraternally. We talked about that in detail.We talked about how a congregation (1:21) is like a family. Throughout the Bible, the Christian church and local congregation are (1:27) compared to a household, a family. Even in Luther's large catechism on the fourth commandment, (1:34) honor your father and mother, he says there are three fathers, and he is showing this in the (1:39) scriptures as well.There's three fathers. There's the father of the government, the civil government. (1:43) There's the father in the household, so dads or the head, whoever the head might be in that (1:49) household, but usually the father.And then the father in the church, the pastor. And so the (1:56) household of faith, the household of God, that's how St. Paul talks about the church. And we know (2:05) this tracks with scripture because all who believe and are baptized in the triune God's name (2:12) are brothers, since in Galatians 3 it says, you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.(2:18) Indeed, as many of you as were baptized into Christ have been clothed with Christ. (2:24) There is not Jew or Greek, slave or free, male or female, for you are all one in the same in Christ (2:32) Jesus. And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's descendants and heirs according to (2:38) promise.In the righteousness before man, where you have bosses and employees and you've got (2:45) various differences in authority, there is race, there is ethnicity, there are differences amongst (2:53) cultures, there are customs that are different in one place and another. But by baptism in the church, (3:02) by faith, people from all these different ethnicities, all these different cultures, (3:08) are made one body in Christ, one family, so that there is no Jew or Greek in the church (3:16) considering faith, righteousness before God. No Jew or Greek, no slave or free, no male or female.(3:23) We are all one in the body of Jesus because we have been made to partake in one spirit, (3:31) one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and father of all. The household of faith, (3:38) descendants of Abraham, heirs according to the promise. When a person believes and is baptized, (3:46) as our Lord puts it in the Old Testament reading for this morning, we are taken out of the (3:51) unbelieving nations, our own countries to which we belonged, and we're placed in our own land, (3:59) the kingdom of God.It's why in the early church when people were baptized, usually on Easter (4:05) I've said this to y'all before, maybe y'all haven't heard this yet. Before they would receive (4:09) the Lord's Supper for the first time, the newly baptized will be brought in and in the same chalice (4:13) that they would eventually have the blood of Christ poured into their mouths, they'd first (4:17) drink milk and honey because this is the promised land, because Jesus is the true temple. From him (4:23) comes life-giving water.He is our true manna from heaven. He is our true water from the rock. (4:29) And so he's brought us into our own land, we who have believed and are baptized, who believe and (4:36) are baptized, brought into our own land, placed into the kingdom of God, made the household of (4:42) faith.We are given a heart of flesh to replace that heart of stone which we had by our first (4:48) parents, Adam and Eve, in that fall in the garden. He gives us a new heart. We who are by nature (4:55) children of wrath, dead in our trespasses and sins, he has given us his spirit to cause us to (5:01) walk in his law and to begin to fulfill it, even in this life.And this is the family into which (5:09) our Lord has placed us, all who call upon the name of the Lord Jesus, all who trust in him as the one (5:16) who takes away the sins of the whole world, all who have been sealed with the seal of the living God, (5:23) who have the name of the living God on our foreheads, all in one family. For by one spirit, (5:31) we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and have all (5:37) been made to drink into one spirit. As sure, certain, and comforting as this promise is, (5:46) and it's the great and wonderful side of gathering fraternally to receive Christ's means of grace, (5:52) as much as this ought to bring us great joy, we know that living in a family in this world, (6:00) even the church family, that while it can bring joy and comfort in a mutual conversation and (6:08) consolation of fellow believers, it can also bring us grief, heartbreak, anger, and betrayal, (6:16) just like our earthly families can do that to us from time to time.(6:20) This is because while baptism truly washes away our sins and gives us the Holy Spirit, (6:27) who causes us to begin to fulfill the law of God, to work in us both the will and to do, (6:33) our sinful flesh still remains until death. We only begin to fulfill the law in this life, (6:41) and we will need the forgiveness of sins every day of our life in this world, which is why (6:47) the prayer that Jesus gives us has forgive us our trespasses in it every time you pray it. (6:55) We will not be without sin until we die completely to this world and are raised up with a glorified (7:03) body that has no sin anymore.That's why even the great Saint Paul says these words after being (7:12) converted to Christianity, after being baptized and receiving the Holy Spirit when he was baptized (7:17) by Ananias, he says these words. And I didn't do it on purpose, but the question when it says, (7:24) pinch yourself and see if you still have flesh and blood and then remember what the Bible says (7:29) about it in Galatians 5 and 7, those are Saint Paul's words after his conversion on the Damascus (7:35) Road. I'll read them to you now.Indeed, I know that good does not live in me, that is in my (7:41) sinful flesh. The desire to do good is present with me, but I am not able to carry it out. (7:46) So I fail to do the good I want to do.Instead, the evil I do not want to do, that is what I keep (7:53) doing. Now, if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who am doing it, but it is sin living (7:59) in me. So I find this law at work.When I want to do good, evil is present with me. I certainly (8:06) delight in God's law according to my inner self, the new man, but I see a different law at work in (8:13) my members, the old Adam, waging war against the law of my mind and taking me captive to the law of (8:20) sin, which is present in my members. That's Romans 7 and then Galatians 5, for the sinful flesh (8:26) desires what is contrary to the spirit and the spirit what is contrary to the sinful flesh.In (8:32) fact, these two continually oppose one another so that you do not continue to do these things you (8:38) want to do. It's also why St. John, speaking to baptized believers whom he calls children in his (8:46) letter, members of God's family, the church, he says this, if we say we have no sin, we deceive (8:53) ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us (8:59) our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.If we say we have not sin, we make him out to be (9:07) a liar and his word is not in us. And St. Augustine puts it this way when it comes to baptism in (9:15) particular, the law which is in the members has been overturned by spiritual regeneration and (9:23) remains in the mortal flesh. It has been overturned because the guilt has been forgiven in the (9:29) sacrament of holy baptism by which believers are born again, but it remains because it produces (9:37) desires against which believers struggle.Another way to say it is that baptism removes the guilt (9:44) of original sin and our actual sins that we have committed, but it does not remove the effects. (9:51) The evil desires still continue in our sinful flesh in this life until we die. (9:58) While the guilt is certainly removed in holy baptism.We know this, don't we? We know it. (10:07) This is boilerplate stuff, right? That even in the church, people are still sinners. (10:12) That just like our earthly family that loves us, even sometimes when they have a funny way of (10:18) showing it, loves us, can sometimes harm us in the deepest ways.Oftentimes it's those closest to us (10:27) that hurt us the worst. We know that. Jesus told it to us beforehand so that we would not be (10:36) shocked by it or tempted to sin, to despair, to fall away, to be scandalized when those with whom (10:42) we once gathered so fraternally around Christ's means of grace are holding the end of the dagger (10:49) that's pierced deep down in our back.He told us beforehand so that we wouldn't be shocked when it (10:56) does happen. We joined the church and were greeted by all the prominent members and families with (11:03) open arms. They treated us so nicely at first, handed us a bulletin and a hymnal.Maybe they (11:09) had us over for dinner, shook our hand, seemed to take a sincere interest in us. But once we joined (11:16) and were on the hook, that all stopped. Everyone had their own cliques, their own parties, and I (11:24) wasn't invited.They tricked us. We thought this would be the one congregation that didn't have (11:30) any sinners, absent of hypocrisy and backbiting. We thought this would really be how church family (11:38) was supposed to be.People would be there for you when you needed them, made you feel like you belong, (11:45) never talked about you behind your back to others, never rubbed you the wrong way. (11:51) And we could say that about earthly family things, too. When you get married, after a few months or (11:58) a few years, you might start thinking, hmm, they don't act as good as they did when we were engaged.(12:07) They're a lot nastier. They're a lot more rude. They're not as romantic.I did give a lot more (12:14) flowers and notes to Peyton before we got married, and we might think we got tricked. (12:20) By our spouse. That we didn't know what we were signing up for.Same as with church family, you know, (12:27) or a parent. You have your kid, you think, you know, everybody makes it out to be like, (12:32) this is going to be so great, and then your kid starts talking. And you think you got tricked.(12:39) You're shocked. When the Helper comes, whom shall I send, who I shall send to you from the Father, (12:47) the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father. He will testify of me and you also will bear (12:52) witness because you have been with me from the beginning.These things I have spoken to you (12:57) that you should not be made to stumble, not be shocked. They will put you out of the synagogues. (13:03) Yes, the time is coming that whoever kills you will think that he offers God's service.(13:08) These things they will do to you because they have not known the Father nor me. But these things I (13:14) have told you that when the time comes, you may remember that I told you of them. Understand that (13:21) this is the visible church.Nowadays, when we hear synagogue, we think modern day Jews that don't (13:27) believe Jesus is the Messiah, separate religion that might use the same terminology as us, but (13:32) no different than the Mormons, really, in the grand scheme of things. That's not how the word's (13:37) getting used in here. This is the gathering of the visible church.Jesus was in the synagogue, (13:43) reading the Bible to the people and preaching to them. So understand that when he's talking here, (13:48) he is talking about the visible church, the visible household of God that will put the disciples out (13:55) of the synagogue, out of their home church. They went to preach in the synagogues because that is (14:01) where the believers were gathered, Israelites according to the flesh and Gentile believers of (14:05) God and believers of what God said through the law and Moses and the prophets.Jesus is telling (14:12) them beforehand so that they will not be made to stumble by the family betrayal they will face. (14:21) Paul and the other apostles had to regularly deal with, and you can hear him talk about it (14:26) in 2 Corinthians, St. Paul, deal with perils from their own countrymen, perils of the Gentiles, (14:32) perils in the city, perils in the wilderness, perils in the sea, perils among false brethren. (14:39) He told them, Jesus did beforehand, so that they would not be shocked or despair or fall away when (14:45) these family betrayals took place over and over again.Chances are that when you were a child, (14:55) you heard these words from the Bible quite a few times. They're usually read during Easter season, (15:02) almost every year, but they must not have synced in. How often have we been shocked by the sins of (15:09) our fellow family members in Christ? How often have we sinned grievously against others in (15:15) retribution over perceived wrongs and real wrongs against ourselves and our allies? How often have (15:23) we been tempted to disconnect from church or even have fallen away for a time because we refused to (15:29) take Jesus' warning to heart, made to stumble when we see terrible things said online, at least as we (15:38) account them by outward Christians, made to stumble when we see the older Christian leadership of our (15:47) own churches and church body, who we think we're supposed to be able to go to for wisdom, looking (15:52) as though they're giving over to the world, giving over to the culture, so that we still can have a (15:59) prominent name in the world.Whatever it might be, you've got your own thing and you're shocked. (16:05) You've got the righteous indignation. For some reason, even though you have stood by these people (16:10) every Sunday and heard them say, I, a poor, miserable sinner, you're shocked when it actually turns out (16:15) they really are poor, miserable sinners.In the household of faith, there will be people (16:22) who, at least for a time, will cast faith and the Holy Spirit aside, refusing to know Christ or the (16:30) Father. They will put you out of the gathering, this synagogue. They will think they are offering (16:37) service to God when they harm your reputation, livelihood, body, or even kill you.Not just (16:45) outright unbelievers, not just militant atheists, not just unbelieving Jews or Buddhists or Muslims, (16:53) people who gather to hear God's Word with you, people who are convinced that they rightly believe (17:01) in God and desire to offer Him service. These are the people Jesus is talking about. I've warned you (17:09) beforehand so that you would not be shocked.And lest you fall, you may very well have been, in (17:16) times past, one of those who have cast out others, reviled them, excluded them, thinking you are (17:24) offering a service to God, thinking that you are on the right side of things, destroying their (17:29) reputation, threatening their livelihood, casting them out of the synagogue, thinking that you're (17:38) offering a sweet-smelling aroma to God the Father when you really were offering up incense to the (17:44) Lord. And I warn you beforehand so that you will not be made to stumble. Because it can cut both ways.(17:48) In all of this, we must remember that the Lord tells us beforehand so that we will not be made (17:55) to stumble. And the next time you or your loved ones are wronged by the brethren or you seek to (18:01) execute vengeance over what you perceive as a deep wrong, call to mind the words of the Lord Jesus. (18:08) These things I have told you that when the time comes you may remember that I told them to you.(18:13) Remember that baptism removes the guilt of original sin and all your actual sins, but remember that (18:20) it doesn't do away completely with the effects of sin in this life. The law which is in the members (18:26) has been overturned by spiritual regeneration and remains in the mortal flesh. It has been (18:32) overturned because the guilt has been forgiven in the sacrament of baptism by which believers are (18:37) born again, but it remains because it produces desires against which believers struggle.You will (18:45) struggle. The people sitting around you in this place will struggle. The pastors and the people (18:56) you have gathered with as church family in times past that you have gathered with have struggled (19:03) in serious ways.It is for good reason that the Holy Spirit has left us words in the Psalms to say, (19:11) to pray, and to speak such as these from Psalm 55. For it is not an enemy who taunts me, then I could (19:18) bear it. It is not an adversary who deals insolently with me, then I could hide from him.But it is you, (19:26) a man, my equal, my companion, my familiar friend. We used to take sweet counsel together within God's (19:34) house. We walked in the throng.We used to go to church together. We used to go to Bible class (19:40) together. We used to sit in men's Bible study, drinking coffee together.When these things take (19:51) place, do not stumble. Do not be shocked and put on airs of righteous indignation as if it were some (20:00) strange thing that someone who says every single Sunday, I, a poor miserable sinner, actually ends (20:06) up being just that. Do not despair in that.Do not act out in fear or desire for retribution. Do not (20:14) make that an excuse to stay away from the church, keeping a record of wrongs as if you're going to (20:21) be able to stand before Jesus and point to other people. That's not how judgment works.You'll be (20:25) standing there on your own, no one to point out. On Ascension, I spoke of the martyrdom of St. (20:34) Stephen this past Thursday and what he saw as he breathed his last and went to be with Jesus. (20:41) But I didn't tell the people that were there how that all started, how St. Stephen got to this (20:47) point where he was stoned to death, not with rocks thrown at him, which is hard.It hurts enough (20:52) because I've been hit in the head with a rock by friends growing up. We're talking about rocks (20:57) that are so big you got to take off your shirt and to pick it up and throw it. Before he faced that, (21:06) this is what was happening.St. Stephen had been disputing with prominent men from the synagogue (21:11) of the freedmen concerning Jesus. They secretly convinced men to accuse Stephen of speaking (21:16) blasphemous words against Moses and God. They stirred up the people, the elders and the scribes, (21:22) and they came upon him, seized him and brought him to the council.They also set up false (21:27) witnesses who said, this man does not cease to speak blasphemous words against the temple and (21:33) the law. For we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and change the (21:40) customs which Moses delivered to us. And all who sat in the council, looking steadfastly at him, (21:45) saw his face as the face of an angel.Then the high priest said, are these things so? And Stephen said, (21:54) brethren and fathers, listen. That's how he starts his sermon that leads to his death. (22:01) Brethren and fathers, listen.These men who he preached to were his brethren and fathers, (22:10) the pastors and lay people from his home church. That's who these people were. (22:18) He preached a sermon to them concerning the promises that God made to Abraham and his (22:24) descendants, these promises that were fulfilled in Jesus Christ, the Messiah.He ended that sermon (22:30) speaking to his church family. You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in hearts and ears. You always (22:37) resist the Holy Spirit as your fathers did.So do you. Which of the prophets did our fathers not (22:42) persecute? Our fathers. And they killed those who foretold the coming of the just one, of whom you (22:48) now have become the betrayers and murderers who have received the law by their direction of angels (22:53) and have not kept it.When they heard these things, they were cut to the heart and they gnashed at him (23:00) with their teeth. But he, being full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God (23:07) and Jesus standing at the right hand of God and said, look, I see the heavens opened and the son (23:14) of man standing at the right hand of God. That's what he got to see.Then they cried out with a (23:22) loud voice, stopped their ears and ran at him with one accord. And they cast him out of the city and (23:28) stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul, (23:33) and they stoned Stephen as he was calling on God and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.Then he (23:40) knelt down and cried out with a loud voice, Lord, do not charge them with this sin. And when he had (23:46) said this, he fell asleep. You may not think that you can suffer patiently as Saint Stephen did.(23:55) You may not think that you would be able to say, Lord, do not charge them with this sin (24:01) as your last gasp, as you're being murdered by your church family. And you can't. But Jesus (24:14) promises you this, as certainly as he promised the apostles, when the helper comes, whom I shall send (24:21) to you from the father, the spirit of truth who proceeds from the father, he will testify of me (24:26) and you also will bear witness.You have been baptized and believe on the Lord Jesus for your (24:34) salvation. Know for certain that you have the helper, the spirit of truth, the Holy Spirit (24:40) dwelling in you. And the father will give you the spirit over and over again, as long as you ask.(24:47) So keep asking. When your brethren and fathers deliver you up, throw you under the bus, (24:57) know that the Lord Jesus is seated at the right hand of God. The Lord Christ has ascended above (25:05) the stars, above the choirs of angels, above the highest heaven of heavens, and has taken you up (25:12) with him as his body.He led as the head of the church, and his body is soon to follow. Remember (25:19) that, and that he stands there, that he is in control, not us, not the powers of this world, (25:27) not even this world's prince. God is gone up with the shout of triumph, with a merry noise, (25:34) the Lord with the sound of the trumpet.The Lord Jesus is in Sinai, in the holy place. He is (25:40) ascended on high. He has led captivity captive.He has given gifts to men through which the Holy (25:46) Spirit works mightily. Remember that vision. Be filled with the Holy Spirit.When you are tempted (25:54) to wrath, or vengeance, or to fall away over real or perceived injustice, give the proper place to (26:04) wrath. Give a proper place to all this. Leave it to God to take vengeance.Instead, you be content (26:13) in all situations with whatever the Lord lays on you, no matter what it is. For he himself says, (26:19) I will never leave you nor forsake you. So we may boldly say, the Lord is my helper.I will not fear. (26:26) What can man do to me? The Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? (26:33) The Lord Jesus strengthened St. Stephen with the certain knowledge that he stands at the right hand (26:40) of God the Father for his good and the good of all the elect.That's how St. Stephen (26:47) was able to say those words as he died. In time of trouble, let the ascension of Christ cause you (26:54) also to soar aloft where the glory of our head, Jesus Christ, has entered. There the hope of the (27:01) body is called to follow.That's us. Christ's body is sure to follow. Let us exult with unending (27:09) rejoicing, dearly beloved, and let us gladly and devoutly give thanks, even amid trials and (27:15) tribulations and betrayal.For today, not only are we made sure possessors of eternal life, but we (27:23) have also in Christ entered into heavenly places. We have gained far more in Christ's ascension (27:31) than we lost in the fall. We have gained far more in Christ's ascension and being joined as a member (27:41) of his body, following him to those heavenly places, gained far more than we ever lost by our (27:49) sin and by Adam and Eve's sin.We have gained far more in Christ's ascension and the glorifying of (27:57) his true human flesh and blood than we lost through the temptations of the devil and the transgression (28:03) of our first parents, Adam and Eve. The same humanity that was cast down by the work of that (28:09) ancient dragon out of their first dwelling place, that same humanity, our humanity, has the Son of (28:16) God made to be one body with him, and he has set them, us, our humanity, at the right hand of the Father, (28:25) with whom he lives and reigns in the unity of the Holy Spirit, ever one God, world without end. (28:31) Pray for the Holy Spirit to cause you to walk and speak in the way that our Lord did when he (28:39) prayed to the Father for those who mocked and tortured him and nailed him to the tree.Father, (28:44) forgive them for they know not what they do. He was hurt and betrayed over and over again (28:50) by his blood relatives and his creatures, and that is what he said. Or Saint Stephen, (28:58) who spent his last few agonizing breaths, and remember, he said, Lord, I give you my spirit.(29:06) Those weren't the last words he said. The last words, as he's piled with rocks as big as his head, (29:14) thrown at him until all that's left is a pile of rocks under which he is crushed. His last words (29:21) were, Father, do not charge this sin against them.Ask for the Holy Spirit to give you that, (29:30) give you that strength, that consolation, that grace, and let that vision of Christ's ascension (29:39) and exaltation and your being carried along with him as his body be a consolation to you, (29:44) and may it strengthen you as it did Saint Stephen when you are called upon to be a witness to the (29:50) everlasting love and boundless grace and mercy of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. (29:56) We are called to be that kind of witness, not one who
Transcribed by TurboScribe.
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