- Jul 6
- 5 min read
[Luke 10:1-6] After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them on ahead of Him, two by two, into every town and place where He Himself was about to go. And He said to them… “Whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace be to this house!’ And if a son of peace is there, your peace will rest upon him. But if not, it will return to you.”
Publishers of Peace
I’ve been traveling with a lot of baggage lately. In the past two and half weeks, four thousand miles, house to house. At each house and hotel I’ve entered, the baggage has come in, and out, with me. Lugging baggage in and out is exhausting. It’s a relief to finally put it down. Peace.
Every Sunday, you come into to God’s house with baggage. Lord willing, you leave without it. This is the place to come in with baggage and to be freed from it.
Come in with the baggage of sin. Past and present. Come in, filled with the baggage of the news and politics. Heavy and frustrating to carry around in you. Come in with the baggage of mistreatment and hurtful words, heavy scars and wounds to carry inside.
Come in with the baggage of worry. About your money and finances. Come in with the baggage of fear or confusion about what happens in the world.
Come in with the baggage of guilt. Your mismanagement. The weight of what you have failed to do, what you’ve left undone. And what you’ve done.
The week gone by accumulates baggage each day. Here is the place to bring it in and put it down in God’s home. To have peace because of the good news.
“How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news, who publish peace and bring good news of salvation.” [Romans 10:15; Isaiah 52:7]
The Divine Service, the Sunday worship service, is a publishing of divine peace. We remember that on Easter evening, when Jesus first greeted His disciples after His resurrection, He showed them His pierced hands and side and said, “Peace be with you” [John 20:19-22].
The Divine Service – which is the Lord’s service for us – is Jesus’ continued Easter proclamation of “Peace be with you”, spoken to you by the Lord through His sent minister. The worship service is a service of declaring, of publishing to the world, God’s peace with guilty sinners and those in need of healing.
“Glory be to God on high, and on earth peace, good will toward men” [Gloria in Excelsis]. “Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” [spoken right before the sermon]. “The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus” [spoken directly after the sermon].
“The peace of the Lord be with you always” [directly after the consecration of the Lord’s Supper]. “O Christ, Thou Lamb of God, that takest away the sin of the world, grant us Thy peace” [Agnus Dei, as we come up for Communion]. “…depart in peace” [the blessing after Communion].
“Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace according to Thy word” [Nunc Dimittis]. And the final benediction, “The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make His face shine upon you and be gracious unto you. The Lord lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace.”
Those are just the direct references to peace. The whole rest of the service is geared toward peace, from Confession and Absolution, through the readings and the sermon, and every part of the Liturgy.
The service is geared toward peace because the whole service is the communication of the good news that Jesus, the Lamb of God, has died and risen for you. The whole service says, “God has forgiven your sins, your baggage, in the blood of Jesus. Sins of this week. Sins farther back.”
And to the hurting and burdened, the whole service says, “In His wounds you are healed” [Isaiah 53:5]. “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest… for your soul” [Matthew 11:28ff]. Jesus has carried all your baggage in Himself on the cross. “It is finished” [John 19:30]. You can lay it down.
Without Jesus, you still carry your own baggage and have God’s anger against your sins. With Jesus, He has carried your baggage and God’s anger is put away. You have peace because God, your Creator, is now at peace with you because of Jesus’ self-offering on your behalf:
“In Christ God was reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them” [2 Corinthians 5:19]. “…through Him to reconcile to Himself all things… making peace by the blood of His cross” [Colossians 1:20].
In this morning’s Gospel, Jesus sent seventy-two disciples, two-by-two, to proclaim this peace to every town He was about to visit. If those in a town or a house believed it, the peace of God would remain with them. If they did not believe the forgiveness and healing of the good news of Jesus, peace would not remain but flee from them.
When you enter this house, know the purpose God intends. Don’t be like a patient who loves their sickness more than the doctor’s cure and therefore spits out the medicine.
Don’t leave here carrying the baggage you came with. It belongs to Jesus now. And don’t give each other new baggage on Sunday morning. You are here for peace.
If we neglect, reject, or lose sight of the purpose God intends – our peace – we may even leave worse than how we came. Our peace flees. Don’t do that.
Instead, let us each come with baggage. Give it to Jesus. And go in peace. That is God’s purpose in the weekly service. To apply to your week what Jesus has done on the cross for your life.
This morning’s Scripture readings and verses in the Divine Service are full of peace. “Behold, I will extend peace to her like a river… As one whom his mother comforts, so I will comfort you…” [Isaiah 66:12-13]. “How beautiful are the feet of those who publish peace” [Isaiah 52:7].
And geared toward peace, “Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness” [Galatians 6:1]. “Say, ‘Peace be to this house!’” [Luke 10:5]. And we prayed in today’s Collect, “Continue to send Your messengers to preserve Your people in true peace.”
The seventy-two had their unique calling, as did the twelve apostles, as do pastors and other servants of Christ. And each one of you, as His baptized children, in your various vocations – in your various callings – at home and in the world, you are called to be publishers of His peace, to “Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give a reason for the hope that is in you” [1 Peter 3:15].
Each of us are called to receive the peace of Christ and then to have the courage, and the love, to let others know where our peace comes from. My peace comes from knowing Jesus. His peace is for you too.
Every week, brothers and sisters, come into God’s house with your baggage, leave it at the feet of Jesus’ cross, receive His forgiveness, healing, and peace in the words of this Divine Service. Leave unburdened and tell others the reason for the peace within you. Amen.
- Jun 18
- 6 min read
Your Salvation, the Holy Trinity’s Work
I. We believe in one, unique God.
· The word “God” – G_O_D – can mean a lot of things to a lot of people.
· Some organizations/events purposely use “G_O_D” in a broad, vague way – so each person can fill in their own meaning.
· Such things, I believe, are well meaning – but misguided.
· In reality, God can only be who God really is.
· Beliefs about God that contradict each other can’t both be true.
· We should endeavor seriously to know who the true God is.
- Who do we mean, uniquely and specifically, when we say “God”?
II. The doctrine of the Trinity
· We confess that God is specifically the Triune God – Trinity – Three in One.
· Father, Son, Holy Spirit – 3 distinct persons; 1 undivided God.
- The Father is not the Son or the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit and the Son are not the Father or each other. 3 distinct persons.
- Yet, there are not three Gods / Lords / Almighties / Eternals – but only 1.
· CoEternal: Never a time when there weren’t all three – from before the beginning.
· Distinct in how they relate to each other:
- Father begets Son. Holy Spirit proceeds from both.
· Distinct in their roles:
- Father, Creator – Son, Redeemer – Holy Spirit, Sanctifier/Comforter/Encourager.
· Distinct, but never divided.
- They share one, undivided divine substance – that of the Father.
· They never work alone, but all three are involved in each of their distinct roles.
- Father creates through the Son.
- Son was sent by Father to be Redeemer.
- Holy Spirit applies and points to the saving work of Christ’s cross.
- 3 persons, 1 God. And 2 natures in Christ.
III. The doctrine of the Incarnation. (Jesus)
· God the Son, the second person of the Trinity, is both fully God and fully man.
- He is God from all eternity from the Father’s divine substance.
- He is man since His conception and birth from the substance of His mother, Mary, a virgin.
· Jesus, the Son of God, God the Son, is 1 person with 2 natures (divine and human).
· Not two people in one body. One person with two distinct but never separated natures.
IV. We believe this from Scripture alone.
· Scripture is clear that there is one One God.
- “The Lord our God the Lord is one” [Deuteronomy 6:4]
- “You shall have no other gods beside Me” [Exodus 20:3]
· Yet, in many passages, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are all spoken of as God.
- Divine attributes. Divine names. Are worshiped. Are called God. (See attached)
- Does it matter? Yes.
V. Trinity and Incarnation matter because they’re about our salvation.
· Our eternal salvation is by the coordinated work of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
- “For God [the Father] so loved the world, that He gave [Incarnation: Conceived by the Holy Spirit; Cross, Son given for us] His only Son [Jesus], that whoever believes [Faith is work of Holy Spirit] in Him should not perish but have eternal life.” – John 3:16
- “No one can say ‘Jesus is Lord’ except by the Holy Spirit” – 1 Corinthians 12:3
· Our eternal salvation depends on the two natures of Christ
- Had to be human to live and die in our place.
- Had to be God for His self-offering on the cross to have infinite value.
- The Athanasian Creed is all about what we believe in order to be saved.
VI. To do good or to do evil is to believe or disbelieve.
“Whoever desires to be saved must, above all, hold the catholic faith (belief).”
“Those who have done good will enter into eternal life, and those who have done evil into eternal fire."
· Biblically, to do good or evil is to believe or disbelieve. (Roots of two different trees)
- “Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.” [John 3:18]
- “Whoever believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself. Whoever does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has borne concerning His Son.” [1 John 5:10]
- “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears My word and believes Him who sent Me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.” [John 5:24]
· “Just as Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness” [Romans 4:3; Galatians 3:6; Genesis 15:16]
· “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast” — “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” [Ephesians 2:8-10]
· What is born in you from faith in Christ is what lives on into eternity.
- “In Christ” you are “a new creation.” “The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” [2 Corinthians 5:17]
- Does it matter? Yes.
Which God is the true God matters. The God who really is God is the God who saves. He is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.
_____________________________________________________
Some Verses of Scripture Showing the Trinity
· In the Bible, each person (Father, Son, & Holy Spirit) is called by divine names (“Lord”, “God”, “Spirit of God”, etc…), each does divine things (things only God can do), and each are worshipped (only God is to be worshiped).
John 20:28 - “Thomas answered him, ‘My Lord and my God!’” (Said to Jesus)
Titus 2:13 - “the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ”
John 1:1,14 - “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God… And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.”
1 Corinthians 12:4-6 - “Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone.”
Romans 8:9 - “You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.”
John 15:26 - “But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me.”
Matthew 14:33 - “And those in the boat worshiped him, saying, ‘Truly you are the Son of God.’”
Matthew 28:9 - “And behold, Jesus met them and said, “Greetings!” And they came up and took hold of his feet and worshiped him.”
Matthew 4:10 - “You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.”
1 Corinthians 6:11 - “you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.”
Philippians 3:3 - “who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus…”
1 Corinthians 12:3 - “no one can say ‘Jesus is Lord’ except in the Holy Spirit.”
Luke 1:35 - And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God.”
Deuteronomy 6:4 - “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.”
· The three persons of the Trinity share ONE saving name. (“name”, not “names”)
Matthew 28:19 - “God therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”
Acts 4:12 - “There is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”
- Jun 8
- 6 min read
[Ephesians 4:1-6] “…walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.”
The Unity of the Spirit in the Bond of Peace
Be “eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” [Ephesians 4:3]
Unity can require following the directions of the one who knows better. A box of disconnected boards, screws, parts, and pieces can become one whole tv stand, bookshelf, or cabinet when we keep to the directions of the designer. But when we follow our own reason or intuition instead, that unity of the whole may be disrupted.
So it is as a creature of God. We didn’t come from nowhere, but our lives, ourselves, our bodies, our relationships – these have been created and designed by a Designer. In faith and trust, we keep to the commandments and promises, the Word, of the One who designed us and our human life – as we enjoy the various kinds of unity created for our life. The unity of a family. The unity of a husband and wife. The unity of a church. The unity of a community.
But when we follow our own human reason or way of thinking instead – individually or as a society – the good things God created for us are disrupted or stripped away. This is because the good things of life – including these important unities we need and enjoy – are not human achievements made by our design but are gifts of God given by His grace and received and enjoyed according to His design.
In today’s Old Testament reading [Genesis 11:1-9], those men and women who built the city and tower of Babel were seeking their own kind of unity by human design, according to their reason, and, in doing so, achieved the very opposite of what they intended and lost the true blessing they already had.
Shortly before today’s reading in the book of Genesis, after the destruction of the Flood, God had renewed to mankind the blessing first given in Paradise, saying twice, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.” [Genesis 9:1,7]
“Fill the earth” – spread abroad across the face of the earth, fill it. But the whole of mankind sought to do the opposite, as they saw fit: “They said to one another… ‘Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth” (meaning, “so that we’re not dispersed…”). [Genesis 11:4]
Man’s own way. His way to heaven – “a tower with its top in the heavens.” Trust in man’s name instead of faith in God’s name – “let us make a name for ourselves.” And unity, by man’s design – “lest we be dispersed…” Banding together in one place, in defiance of, or thinking they knew better than, God’s blessing, “fill the earth.”
Knowing this would only be the beginning of what they would do, God says, “‘Come, let us go down and there confuse their language, so that they may not understand one another’s speech.’ So the Lord dispersed them from there over the face of all the earth.” [Genesis 11:7-8]
The God-given unity of “one language and the same words” man had originally enjoyed would now be lost. And their defiance of His blessing would fail – man would still be dispersed across the earth as commanded, but now as God’s judgment instead of as a blessing enjoyed.
Sin did then what it does now. Disregarding the Designer divides us apart from each other as well, disrupting those true forms of unity. Just as sin has done from the beginning – dividing Adam and Eve so they felt shame in each other’s presence – and dividing them from God and paradise [Genesis 3].
In the days of Babel, man was divided by languages and nations. But now, in these last days, the Holy Spirit has been poured out upon us. Today we celebrate Pentecost. In today’s second Scripture reading, in Acts 2:1-21, we see the consequence of Babel reversed when the Holy Spirit is outpoured. Men and women of many languages, from many nations are united in the hearing of one Gospel:
When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. 2And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. 3And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. 4And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. 5Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven. 6And at this sound the multitude came together, and they were bewildered, because each one was hearing them speak in his own language… “We hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God.” [Acts 2:1-11]
They heard the good news of Jesus, all in their own native tongue, though they spoke many languages. Pentecost reversed the disunifying effect of sin because the Holy Spirit delivers and applies the message and the forgiveness of Jesus’ saving work.
The Holy Spirit does not do His own thing. The Holy Spirit takes what God the Father has done in Jesus His Son and preaches and applies it to you. What has God done in Jesus?
“In Christ God was reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them” [2 Corinthians 5:19]. “We have been sanctified – made holy – through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all” [Hebrews 10:10].
The Holy Spirit is called the Holy Spirit because the Holy Spirit makes you holy by applying to you the forgiveness of sins won for you in the cross of Christ. Because your sin is forgiven in the blood of Jesus, you are holy to God.
And because your neighbor’s sin is forgiven – in the blood of Jesus – and because your husband’s sin is forgiven – and because your wife’s sin is forgiven – and your children’s – and your parent’s – and your sibling’s – and your brother or sister in Christ – because the Holy Spirit makes them holy in the forgiveness of their sins, they are holy to you.
You who have all been made holy to God and holy to each other. That is the “unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” which we are “eager to maintain” – “There is one body and one Spirit… one Lord, one faith, one baptism…”
This is the unity that you have by God’s grace through faith in Christ, the work of the Holy Spirit poured out on you, as His baptized people here. Something that no human reason could achieve, but which is the gift of Pentecost —
— poured out in our day in Holy Baptism, as Peter said on Pentecost, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off…” [Acts 2:38-39]
The Holy Spirit’s work of the forgiveness of your sins makes you holy to God and to one another right now. It’s always the basis of your unity together.
The Holy Spirit’s work of sanctification – of shaping and changing you – causes you to grow in that holiness toward each other and toward God, more and more, as you also make an effort to follow God’s direction and God’s design. This increases and strengthens your unity together, in all those important relationships.
Just as the Holy Spirit reversed the effects of Babel on the day of Pentecost, uniting those divided by language, the Holy Spirit just as certainly reverses the dividing effects of sin in our life today. So, “be eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” And be confident that the Holy Spirit will accomplish His work in you. Amen.
