The Savior Who Prays for You

[Below you'll find livestream video of this past Sunday's two worship services from Living Water Lutheran Church, Centerville, Ohio, as well as the message shared during the services.]

John 17:1-11

There are many remarkable things about today’s gospel lesson.

But maybe the most remarkable is that, just before He knew He would be betrayed and crucified, then suffer and die, Jesus prays for us…for you.

As Jesus faces the cross, He prays for you.

Now, there’s no debate to be had as to why Jesus went to the cross.

He did it because you and I are sinners who stand condemned for our sinful nature and our sinful acts and thoughts from the moment we are conceived.

If you and I are going to be saved from the condemnation and death that sin brings, our salvation will not and cannot come from us. It can only come from God.

And because God loves us, Jesus, God the Son, was sent by God the Father, to save us for all eternity.

But because God is just and good and His Word is unchangeable, a price still had to be paid for our sin.

Jesus doesn’t save us by sweeping our sin under a rug and telling us, “It’s OK.” Sin is not OK. And the only appropriate price for our sin, all the ways we fail to love God or love others, is death.

“The one who sins is the one who will die,” God’s Word tells us. (Ezekiel 18:4)

“The wages of sin is death,” it says elsewhere. (Romans 6:23)

For God to be consistent and trustworthy then, death must be exacted from sinful humanity.

This is where Jesus, true God and true man, comes in. He offers His sinless life for us, taking the condemnation, death, and separation from God that we deserve so that we can have the life free of sin and death that only God can give.

In today’s lesson, by praying to be glorified, Jesus prays that He will faithfully bear the cross, then be raised from the dead, first of all, so that those who hear His Words and believe them–not “obeyed” them, as our translation wrongly puts it–will be one with God.

Now, you and I may have reasons to doubt that God hears our prayers. I have had more than one person say to me over the years, in one way or another, “I feel like every time I pray, my prayers bounce off the ceiling back down to the floor.”

Although we may be baptized believers in Jesus, we who are saints by God’s grace are also sinners by birth and inclination. There’s nothing more intrinsic to our human nature than to doubt that God has made us His own in Holy Baptism. Or to doubt that His Word gives us the capacity to confess Jesus as Lord. Or to doubt that we receive His body and blood when we receive the bread and wine of Holy Communion. Or to doubt that God will hear and answer our prayers offered in Jesus’ name. All these free gifts from God, graciously given, seem too good to be true.

But, as Pastor Brian Wolfmueller asked in a sermon on this gospel lesson six years ago, can any of us doubt that God the Father hears the prayers of His Son, Jesus?

Jesus, after all, is the One of Whom the Father said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” (Matthew 3:17)

So, if Jesus prays, as He does in today’s Gospel lesson, that we would be and remain connected with Him even after He has physically left this world, can we doubt that God the Father will answer that prayer?

Can we doubt that even death itself will be unable to separate us from our unity with God and His people?

God the Father and God the Holy Spirit will always glorify God the Son Jesus just the way Jesus has glorified the Father and the Son–and saved us–through His death, resurrection, and ascension.

So, of course, God will answer Jesus’ prayers that we will remain one through God in this life where we still sin, struggle, suffer, doubt, die. And we will be one with Him also in the perfect life to come where all who believe in Jesus with repentant faith will see Him face to face.

There’s still more good news than that for us though.

God’s Word tells us that Jesus hasn’t stopped praying for us. Jesus, the book of Hebrews tells us, “always lives to intercede for” those who turn to Him in faith. (Hebrews 7:25) That’s Jesus’ mission. He is risen and ascended to intercede for us!

Jesus, the One Who already died and rose for you, is praying constantly on your behalf that the Father will protect you from temptation, sin, and other dangers to your oneness with God.

And, as we’ll celebrate next Sunday, Jesus has also sent the Holy Spirit, not only to make it possible for us to believe in Jesus, but also take the mishmash of thoughts, emotions, and mixed motives that often go into our prayers in Jesus’ name into something that God can do for our good and the good of all for whom we pray.

When my father was dying, I knew he was at a point of no return. COVID was going to kill him. And I have to tell you, I offered up the most confused mishmash of praying you can imagine. “I want him here, Lord. I want him to see his great-granddaughter,”--born just the day before he died. “I want him to be OK and not to have to suffer, with every breath he breathes right now a struggle. I…what? What?” That was my prayer in the end: “What? In Jesus’ name. Amen.”

“The Spirit helps us in our weakness,” the apostle Paul tells us. “We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.” (Romans 8:26-27)

So, when you don’t know what to pray for, know that as you turn to God in Jesus’ name, Jesus and the Holy Spirit are praying with you in accordance with God’s will. They will bring order out of the chaos of your prayers.

“And we know,” as Paul also says in that passage from Romans, “that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28)

Friends, whatever this life brings to you, Jesus, your great high priest, Who died and rose to set you eternally free from sin and death so that you can live with God forever, is still praying for you and your eternal good, still keeping you one in your fellowship with God.

Jesus Christ, God the Son, is your prayer partner. Amen

God's Law and Gospel, May 21, 2023

Sorry for the reversed image.

The Old Testament Book of Ezekiel, Part 23

The Old Testament Book of Ezekiel, Part 22

When We Love

[Below you'll find the message shared during worship with the people and friends of Living Water Lutheran Church, Centerville, Ohio, earlier today, as well as video of both worship services.] 

John 14:15-21

Do Jesus’ words at the beginning of today’s Gospel lesson make you uncomfortable? He says “If you love me, keep my commands.” (John 14:15) 

Does Jesus seem to be contradicting Himself and the rest of the Bible?

Elsewhere, He famously says, for example, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)

And also: “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.” (John 6:29)

The apostle Paul summarizes all this teaching from Jesus by saying, “For we maintain that a person is justified [that is, declared innocent of their sins] by faith [in Christ] apart from the works of the law.” (Romans 3:28)

The distillation of these passages of Scripture and many more is that we who are born sinners cannot and are not saved from death, the condemnation for our sin, by anything we do; we are saved solely by Christ Who died and rose for all sinners through the faith in Christ we receive through the Gospel Word about Jesus.

So, what is up with Jesus’ words at the beginning of today’s Gospel lesson: “If you love me, keep my commands”? It sounds as if Jesus is saying that our relationship with Him and our eternal salvation from Him depend on how much we love Him and on our obedience to His commands.

There are schools of thought within Christianity that teach this is exactly what Jesus is saying here. They think their salvation depends on what they do and the depths of their love for Jesus. People taught this way are constantly turned in on themselves, trying to police themselves of doubt or sin.

But, friends, this kind of thinking can only lead us to one of two endpoints: Either false pride when we think that we really are obeying and loving Jesus perfectly or despair, even unbelief, at the realization that we cannot obey or love Jesus perfectly.

Jesus and the whole Bible are clear though that we won’t find life with God by diving more deeply into our personal sewers of sin and self-obsession.

Freedom from sin and death only come from outside ourselves through Jesus Christ!

So, what is Jesus telling us in the first verse of our Gospel lesson? There are two words in the verse that say much more than we might realize and will help us understand what Jesus is saying.

The first word is if, “If you love Me,” Jesus says.

The word in the Greek in which John wrote his gospel is ἐάν, a conjunction that usually means if. But there is an irregular use of the word and almost every time it appears in John’s writings, this irregular use is meant. Let me give you a few examples of this use.

In John 12:32, Jesus says, “And I, when [that’s our word, ean] I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.”

Another example, 1 John 2:28 : “And now, dear children, continue in him, so that when [there’s our word again] he appears we may be confident and unashamed before him at his coming.” (1 John 2:28)

One more, 1 John 3:2: “...we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.”

So, Jesus isn’t telling us, “If you get yourself convinced that you love Me.” He’s saying, “When, by the power of my Word, given in Scripture, preaching, teaching, and the Sacraments, that all your sins are forgiven and that you have been justified by grace through faith in Me…”

Jesus is assuring you: “When you have been told, ‘I therefore declare to you the entire forgiveness of all your sins, in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,’ you will love Jesus.”

That’s the power of His forgiving, loving Word; it incites love for Him within us.

“This is love,” the apostle John writes elsewhere, “not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.” (1 John 4:10)

We love Jesus when His Gospel Word allows us to experience the love He has given to us from the cross. It was this very love that the disciples who betrayed Jesus would experience after His resurrection: forgiveness and love despite their sin.

The second word is keep. “If you love me,” Jesus says, “keep my commands.” The word here in the original Greek is τηρέω. It means to watch over, to guard, to observe. To keep the commands of Jesus, of God, is to acknowledge their authority over us. It doesn’t mean perfect obedience to God’s Law, which God’s Word tells us no sinful human being can muster.

Jesus, you’ll remember, used words from the Old Testament to summarize God’s commandments for the human race.

He summarized commandments one through three–that we have no other gods, that we not take His name in vain, that we hold His Word at the center of our lives–by telling us to “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” (Deuteronomy 6:5; Matthew 22:37).

He summarized commandments four through ten–that we honor our parents, not murder, not commit adultery, not steal, not bear false witness, and not covet–by commanding us, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” (Leviticus 19:18; Matthew 22:39)

Honesty compels each of us to acknowledge that we do not obey God’s law of love. We are worthy of condemnation.

But, friends, we keep these commands of Jesus every time we come to Him and acknowledge, formally or informally, together or on our own, “We have not loved you with our whole heart; we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves.” We keep His commands whenever we respond to His Word and take up our crosses daily and follow Him. (Luke 9:23)

We love Jesus and we keep His commands, acknowledging His grace and authority, whenever He comes to us with His Word assuring us that through Him, all our sins are forgiven. This is what Jesus explains to us in the rest of today’s gospel lesson. Jesus sends His Holy Spirit Who comes to us in the word of forgiveness and rebirth we receive at Holy Baptism, in the preaching of His Gospel Word, and in the forgiveness and power for living we receive in Holy Communion.

When Jesus tells us today, “If you love me, keep my commands,” Jesus isn’t turning us in on ourselves to engage in a morbid inventory of our sinful selves. He’s freeing us from both the sewers of self-congratulation and self-condemnation.

He calls us to look to Him, the One Who died and rose to set us free from sin and death.

It’s good and right for us to confess our sins to God. But when Jesus’ words of forgiveness come to us, our old sinful self is crucified and, with the words of absolution, we rise to newness of life!

Pastor David Schmitt talks about a friend who, as she puts on a coat to go outside, says with a smile of her deceased dad, “My father always told me to wear a coat.” These are the words of a woman who knew how deeply her earthly father loved her, that his “command” wasn’t arbitrary but came from love, and so, even now, out of his immediate presence–even when she forgets to put on her coat, she “keeps” her father’s “command.”

When the Holy Spirit–the Spirit of truth–turns our attention to Jesus and we know that He has already paid the price for our sin and already given eternal life to all who believe in Him, we are filled with the love of children who know they are deeply loved by God and, from love, reverence, and respect, will always gladly acknowledge His authority over us.

Receive the forgiving love of Jesus and you will love.

That is Jesus’ Word for us today.

Amen

The Old Testament Book of Ezekiel, Part 21

The Old Testament Book of Ezekiel, Part 20

Do Not Be Troubled

[Below, you'll find livestream video of both May 7 worship services from Living Water Lutheran Church in Centerville, Ohio, as well as the message presented during the services. Have a blessed week!]

John 14:1-14

Our Gospel lesson today takes us back to the room in which Jesus and the apostles observe the Passover on the night of His arrest, just before His suffering, death, and resurrection.

The disciples are troubled for several reasons.

One reason is that they’re in Jerusalem. Not long before, Jesus has raised Lazarus from the dead, and, alarmed by His power over death, the leaders of the Jews from Jerusalem had vowed to get Jesus killed by the Romans. In Jerusalem, Jesus is easier to seize.

Also troubling to the apostles is Jesus’ announcement that one of them would betray Him.

Peter is troubled because Jesus insists that Peter will deny knowing Jesus before the rooster announces the new day by crowing three times.

None of the apostles can imagine turning their backs on Jesus.

Or that they, faithful men of Israel, would be so disloyal and sinful toward the One they said was the Messiah.

You and I may be troubled by many things about our world today.

Abortion used as birth control.

Almost daily mass shootings.

The LGBTQ+ agenda being crammed down our throats.

Misogyny and violence against women.

The ideology that tells us one’s gender can be chosen.

Racial injustice.

These troubling things are all expressions of our fallen, sinful human nature that befoul the cosmos in which you and I live.

But, like the apostles, something else might trouble us.

Our sin.

Our disloyalty to God.

Our betrayal of Christ.

Our denial of Him.

This is evidenced in our thoughts, words, or deeds daily.

The apostles thought they were righteous because they were Jews who did the right thing. We tend to have the same self-righteousness.

But Jesus and all of God’s Word tell us that if we think God is going to judge us righteous because we think we’ve led pretty good lives, we are deluding ourselves.

God’s judgment of us for our sin is clear.

Ecclesiastes 7:20 tells us, for example, “Indeed, there is no one on earth who is righteous…”

And Paul, the apostle of grace, puts things even more pointedly: “...do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men[ nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.” (1 Corinthians 6:9-10) If we’re honest, that list pretty much takes in the whole human race in one way or another, including you and me.

But to us who are troubled by the ills of the world and might be troubled by the horrors of our own sin that separate us from God and mark us as unrighteous from our births and worthy of condemnation, Jesus tells us, as He told the apostles on Maundy Thursday: “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.” (John 14:1-3)

Now, I’ve always known that these three verses from John 14 presented a Gospel Word, a Word of promise from our Savior. But I used to think that the promise was that after He died, rose, and ascended to heaven, Jesus would get a house in heaven ready for us to occupy after we die and rise. I pictured Jesus remodeling heaven to accommodate us.

But, it isn’t heaven or the kingdom of God that need to be changed though. It isn’t God that needs changing, it’s us! We need to be made righteous, because in our inborn state of unrighteousness, we’re not fit for life with God, now or ever.

So, this is how Jesus prepares a place for you, how you can live with untroubled hearts: Jesus goes to the cross for us, the righteous God of all creation taking on human flesh, offers His sinless life to take the damnation and death we deserve so that all who trust in Him have the very same life God the Father restored to Jesus on the first Easter Sunday!

When did Jesus go? When He went to the cross!

When did He come back? When He rose!

And when we’re able to trust in Jesus, we know there’s already a place for us in God’s vast and gracious kingdom!

This is God’s Gospel Word for you and me, a Word that the Bible speaks to us repeatedly.

“At just the right time, when we were still powerless,” Romans tells us, “Christ died for the ungodly.” (Romans 5:6)

And Peter reminds us: “Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God.” (1 Peter 3:18)

And in Ephesians, we’re told, “In [Jesus] we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us.” (Ephesians 1:7-8)

Of course, one day, this creation’s last day, Christ will raise those who have died while believing in Him and welcome them into His new heavens and new earth. All our grief, tears, and troubles will be behind us. But already, all who have been baptized into Christ and who have, by the power of His Word. come to believe in Him, live in His kingdom, live in the certainty that through Christ, all our sins are already and eternally forgiven.

By His death and His resurrection, Jesus has already prepared a place and given us a place with Him. Right now!

This is what the Bible means when it says, “If anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” (2 Corinthians 5:17)

People say, “How can I know I’m saved? How can I be sure?” Do you believe in Jesus Christ? Yes. That’s how you know. If your heart, in response to the Holy Scriptures and the witness of the Holy Spirit can believe and if your mouth can declare that Jesus is your Lord, then you know you are saved!

So the next time someone asks you, “Are you born again?” you can say, “Yes! I was born of water and the Spirit according to the Word and will of Jesus as expressed in John 3, at my baptism. And, by the power of the Holy Spirit Who has been unleashed in my life since then, I know that Jesus Christ is my Lord. Now, get behind me, Satan.”

When Luther was taunted by the devil and temptation, he would declare, “But I am baptized!” It doesn’t matter how I feel, my salvation comes down to what God has done for me. Jesus has prepared a place for you. It’s already furnished.

Through His Word and His Sacraments, the crucified and risen Jesus comes to you today and promises that wherever He is, in heaven or on earth, there He is, triumphant over sin, death, darkness, weeping, and sorrow, with you!

Sin no longer condemns you, friends.

Jesus has destroyed its power over you, Don’t let the devil try to convince you otherwise because the devil has been a liar from the beginning. This is how He has prepared your place in God’s Kingdom.

Because He has, you can be assured that He is with you now and as His Holy Spirit empowers you to trust in Him, you are His now and forever.

Jesus has freed us to believe in God and in the Son He sent to spare you an eternity in hell. You need not be troubled.

By grace through faith in Christ, you belong to God, now and eternally. Amen.

The Old Testament Book of Ezekiel, Part 18