4.26.26 Sunday Drive to Church

[00:00:00] Good morning, St. Paul Lutheran Church. Christ is risen. He is risen indeed. [00:00:07] Wait a minute. Do I lose track all the time? Nope. Nope. The fourth Sunday of Easter, April 26th, the year of our Lord 2026. And this is the Sunday Drive to Church podcast coming to you. Hot again, recording on Sunday morning. And you're listening on Sunday morning. We're all matched up. [00:00:28] This is out. You know, this might be better this way when I record early Sunday morning because, you know, then I don't have to worry about if I'm talking about today or tomorrow. It's just right now we could do it live. We can just call you while you're driving to church. [00:00:42] It's the. It's an interesting time in the church here. I'm recording on Sunday morning because yesterday I was in Canada, of all places, with dear people up there asked me to come and talk about what to do about people who have left the church. And I got to put some notes together and I'll. I'll go over some of this in Bible class in the next few weeks. It was a. It was a lot of fun. [00:01:04] Anyway, they said hi, but I was traveling back from Canada yesterday because we landed late on Friday and left early on Saturday. I ended up being in Canada for less than 24 hours, which is kind of wild. Anyway, no matter. Made it back last night, but didn't have a chance to record. So Sunday morning, here we go. So the collect, the collet is interesting because, remember, in the ancient church, Lent was a time when people were coming into the church or back into the church. In fact, Lent started as a time for confession for people who had been tempted away from confessing Christ during times of persecution. And they would go under these austerity measures for Lent and then be brought back into the church. Church at Easter time. And then that became a general catechetical practice. So the Easter vigil was the time when people would be baptized, when people would be confirmed. We had confirmation this year, so. Good. [00:02:01] And so this idea of being then restored to fellowship with the church is a big part of Easter and that Easter season. And that's reflected in the collect. So let's pray. [00:02:14] Almighty God, you show those in error the light of your truth so that they may return to the way of righteousness. [00:02:21] Grant faithfulness to all who are admitted into the fellowship of Christ Church, that they may avoid whatever is contrary to their confession and follow all such things as are pleasing to you through Jesus Christ, your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit. One God, now and forever. Amen. [00:02:40] We enter. I think it's a little bit strange. We enter a strange time in the church here because we are halfway through the season of Easter. [00:02:48] Remember, this is easy to forget because Lent is such an intense time. We have these seven weeks of Lent, and we're really paying attention. But we also have seven weeks of Easter between the Resurrection Sunday all the way to Pentecost. And so we have the seven weeks of feasting that follow our seven weeks of fasting. In fact, it's 40 days of Lent, plus Sundays. So 47 days, I guess. But we have 50 days of Easter, from Easter to Pentecost. But halfway through now, where we are just today, fourth Sunday and Easter, we enter into this. [00:03:27] That's a transitional phase where the readings start to move from thinking back to the Resurrection to looking forward to the Ascension. [00:03:37] Now, I'll have to tell you as a preacher, this is a difficult time in the church here, especially if you're the only one preaching, which I'm not. We'll hear other voices, including today, get to hear Pastor Smith. God be praised. But listen to these readings. So today we'll have John 16, verses 16 to 22, then next week, John 16, 5, 15, then on May 10, John 16, 23, 33, then May 17 after the Ascension, John 15:26 to 16, 4, and then Pentecost, John 14, 23, 31. [00:04:21] So we entered into this John 16 phase and John 15 thrown in there for 1, 2, 3, 4, for five weeks. [00:04:33] We're sitting there and thinking about what this means now. [00:04:36] It's beautiful. I mean, John 16 is a phenomenal passage, and it's worth the time to do it. But it's just very interesting to me that we're spending so much time there and moving from thinking back towards the Resurrection to thinking forward towards the Ascension. But it's. [00:04:59] I don't know. I probably shouldn't fuss about it because I think the Ascension is the most overlooked event in the Bible. It's the most significant event for us. Remember that when we confess the nine, eleven things that Jesus does in the Creed, nine of them are in the past, one of them is present, and one of them is future. So he's born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius, all that he ascended into heaven, that's all past, but he sits at the right hand of the Father. So the Ascension gets him to that, sitting at the Father. [00:05:36] And that is the thing that Jesus is doing now. [00:05:41] And the definitive act of the Creed for our day, unless the Lord comes back Today, then that becomes the definitive act. But for almost all of our lives, the main thing that Jesus is doing is sitting at the right hand of the Father. And we miss what that means when we don't lean in on the Ascension. [00:06:05] So maybe that's what's happening. [00:06:07] The church is kind of leaning in on that sending of the Holy Spirit, what it means to have the Holy Spirit. And I also think that we neglect the doctrine of the Holy Spirit to our own detriment. [00:06:20] So maybe it's just difficult to have one chapter coming up so many weeks in a row and preaching on it. It's also a little bit weird that you go later in the chapter and then you go forward in the chapter. You don't go in chronological order. Like today we have John 16:16, and then next week John 16:5, then next week John 16:23, and then the week after that, John 15:26 to 16, 4. So you're reading the whole chapter, but not in order. It's also a little strange anyway, so be ready for that. [00:06:55] This big dive into John 16, and you might want to take the whole section together, because remember, John 14, even starting in 13, 14, 15 and 16, is this long address and sermon from Jesus and prayer, especially in 17, this beautiful prayer. [00:07:14] And Jesus is explaining to the disciples what's about to happen. It's on Maundy Thursday. It's called the. Oh, I have to sneeze. [00:07:25] Oh, I tried to pause it and I couldn't get there. Sorry I sneezed all over your car. Dashboard said how that works. [00:07:35] Oh, the sneeze knocked the thought right out of my head. Oh, yeah, it's the high priestly prayer. It's on Maundy Thursday, where Jesus gives this long sermon. It's beautiful. And he says it's better for you that I go. If I didn't go, then the Holy Spirit wouldn't come. And it's better for you that the Holy Spirit comes. [00:07:59] And you're going to mourn for a little while. But then I'll be back. You'll rejoice, and no one's going to take your joy from you. It's in this place where Jesus tells us, in this world you will have tribulation. But be of good cheer. I've overcome the world. It's in this place, in this sermon that Jesus calls the Holy Spirit, the comforter, the Paraclete, the one who's going to be our advocate. [00:08:20] Beautiful. [00:08:21] I mean, it's an amazing text. And this is where Jesus says he prays for Us not. He says, I pray for these. I don't just pray for these. I pray for these disciples who are there. I pray for those who are going to believe on me, but through their word, be with them. [00:08:36] And then he talks about the unity that he has with the Father. I'm with you. Give them. Make them to be one, as you and I are one. Father, as you've sent me, I also send them. [00:08:48] Your word is truth. Sanctify them in the truth. Your word is truth. All these beautiful passages are from this section of preaching and praying from Jesus. Beautiful. So, but it's Monday, Thursday that it happens, and it's Monday, Thursday. Jesus talking about his crucifixion and his resurrection and his ascension and the sending of the Holy Spirit. [00:09:11] So in some ways, this text is Jesus prefatory remarks to the events about to occur. Okay, well, we'll see that in the weeks to come. The psalm is the first 11 verses of Psalm 47, which is beautiful. You're going to recognize a lot of the verses from this psalm. Praise the Lord. It's good to sing praises to our God. It's pleasant. Praise is beautiful. The Lord builds up Jerusalem. He gathers together the outcasts of Israel. He heals the brokenhearted. He counts the number of the stars, calls them by name. [00:09:50] Great is the Lord. The Lord lifts up the humble. He casts the wicked down to the ground. [00:09:57] Now that is a theme that runs all the way through the Scriptures. [00:10:05] We remember Mary singing about it in the Magnificat. We remember Hannah singing about it when she gets pregnant with Samuel. [00:10:12] All through the Psalms, all through the Proverbs, all through the prophets, and all through the history that the Lord is. [00:10:19] If we stand before him in pride, then here comes the Lord to cast us down. But when we're down there in humility, the Lord is the one lifting us up. And those are the two parts of repentance, contrition and faith. Remembering that contrition is converted pride. The Lord converts our pride by the preaching of the law to humble us, to make us contrite. [00:10:47] And then he. Then he converts our contrition to faith by the preaching of the Gospel. [00:10:53] So good he gives to the beast the food. The young raven that cry, he doesn't delight in the this I like this. He does not delight in the strength of the horse. He takes no pleasure in the legs of men. [00:11:05] Now here you're wondering about, like, why is it specifically talking about men's legs and if the Lord likes them or not? Well, it's helpful that it's paralleled with the strength of the horse. And here's the point. [00:11:17] It's talking about soldiers. Those who train, those who run, those who fight. [00:11:23] And if you got a bunch of horses and you got a bunch of men's legs, you got a bunch of soldiers. It's a pretty intimidating proposition. But not to the Lord. [00:11:32] He does not delight in this kind of earthly strength. [00:11:37] He takes pleasure in those who fear him and those who hope in his mercy. [00:11:43] Boy, what a beautiful picture of repentance. To fear the Lord, contrition and to hope in his mercy. Faith, that's who delights him. [00:11:53] So the Lord is not after the strong. [00:11:56] The Lord is not after the mighty. [00:11:58] The Lord is not after those who've assembled great armies. That's not his. [00:12:04] That's not what he delights in. He delights in the humble, the lowly, those who know that they're sinners and cry out to him for mercy. [00:12:13] The Old Testament lesson. [00:12:15] This beautiful prophecy from Isaiah 40. Now we know the beginning of Isaiah 40. That's the advent text. Comfort, comfort, my people. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem. A voice crying in the wilderness. Prepare a way for the Lord. There's John the Baptist at the beginning, but then the whole section of Isaiah, probably 40, all the way to, like, mid-60s, right before the end. [00:12:38] The Lord is talking about how he alone is God. He alone saves. He alone is to be worshiped. [00:12:46] And it's a sermon against idolatry bound up to the Lord's mercy. [00:12:53] I remember this one because this is the first. If you'll let me tell a little personal story. [00:12:58] I probably shouldn't. I don't have a lot of time, but I remember this is the first Bible passage that I paid attention to. [00:13:05] And it was a T Bar M Sports Camp, which I don't exactly know where that is. It must be somewhere in the hills north of San Antonio. [00:13:14] And I must have been in elementary school. [00:13:17] And mom took me and my best buddy, Dixon, over to sports camp. And I remember doing the adventure track. [00:13:26] And they were. They were. This was a theme verse for the summer, and. And we had to memorize it, but I. I remember paying attention maybe for the first time in my whole life. Like, this is the first Bible passage that I remember remembering. [00:13:40] And it. Because it says at the end, even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted. But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength. [00:13:53] They shall mount up with wings like eagles. [00:13:56] They shall run and not be weary. They shall walk and not faint. [00:14:02] And I think I Remember thinking about these eagle's wings. Because that day, or maybe someone pointed it out, I don't know, but there was a connection to one of the buzzards. You know, the buzzards that just fly around and just wait for the dead armadillos on the side of the road to eat. I mean, growing up, me and my brothers would always try to play dead in the backyard. We'd take our shirts off and lay down in the backyard, see if the buzzards would circle over us and we could shoot them with our BB gun. All the buzzards were safe. Don't worry. No buzzards were harmed in my childhood. But you just watch them and they just. They find those little drafts and they circle and they don't flap their wings at all. They just. They could. They can float up into the clouds without one wing flap. [00:14:46] And I think that's the idea. They shall mount up on wings like eagles. [00:14:52] This is what it means to wait on the Lord. It's just a stretch out and he lifts us up. [00:14:58] And the contrast is they shall mount up on wings like chickens. [00:15:05] This is the difference between faith and works righteousness. It's the wings of a chicken. Can you imagine? You've seen a chicken, like, here's a chicken and it wants to get up on like that fence post and it backs up and it. Consider. And it gets a running start and it squawks and flaps and feathers are flying everywhere. It's it and it. And it takes off and it. [00:15:27] Just to get like two feet in the air, stand on the fence post. That's. That's the. That's the picture of works righteousness, but the picture of faith, the picture of hope, the picture of what Isaiah says here, waiting on the Lord is this eagle. [00:15:46] Run not grow weary. [00:15:48] Walk and not faint. [00:15:50] It's a beautiful picture. [00:15:52] Have you not known. Have you not heard verse 28? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He doesn't faint or grow weary. His understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint. [00:16:04] And to him who has no might, he in strength, he increases strength. [00:16:08] Now, this probably isn't for us, but you know, if we know anybody who gets tired or if we. If, you know, if you have a friend who has no might, then you might want to let them know about this verse. I mean, you and I, we never would get tired or faint or weary, but, you know, just maybe keep it in mind. If one day it happens and you get tired or weary, you can remember this verse. 29. He gives power to the faint. [00:16:33] To him who has no might, he increases strength. We're working, remember, with the energy of God. That's the Ephesians promise that the Lord is the one working in us. He fills us with his spirit. That's the. That's where our strength comes, not in ourselves. [00:16:47] Okay, the epistle is First Peter 2. [00:16:50] First Peter is. Well, it's. Remember, Peter writes this to the churches over there in asia and Cappadocia, etc. All the churches that Paul's written to. And probably because Paul and Peter were hanging out in prison in Rome. [00:17:07] And then Peter goes over to Spain and cruises around for a little bit. So Peter goes west and all the churches are back east. And so in some ways, when Paul. [00:17:20] Am I mixing it up? Okay, Peter and Paul in prison in Rome, Paul goes west to Spain. So all those churches to the east are in some ways left by Paul, not abandoned, but he's going the other way. So Peter writes a letter and sends it east to those churches to comfort them. In fact, first Peter in some ways is a follow up to all the epistles of Paul, to the Galatians and Ephesians and so forth. And he starts this section in chapter two. Beautifully beloved. I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh which wage war against your soul. [00:18:01] So there's this war happening inside of us, and it's just good for us to know that it's there. And who's on what side, the flesh and the spirit or the soul here. [00:18:11] And they're battling it out. The old man and the new man, the old Adam and the man created after the image of God that's being renewed in us. This battle, this flesh, spirit battle is happening in every Christian now. It doesn't happen to the unbeliever. It's just. The unbeliever is just flesh. But when the Spirit is added, that new man, when the Spirit is brought back to life by the gift of baptism, then that battle starts. And so we're fighting to live according to the Spirit, not according to the flesh. Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation. And what does that look like? [00:18:52] What does that God honoring life look like? The word is going to be to be subject or to be under the order, or to be submissive. [00:19:01] It's going to come up over and over in Peter Hupotasso I believe, is, oh, I better look that up. I said it, and then I got nervous that I'm wrong. Hupo Tasso. [00:19:11] That's it. Hupotasso. Got it. It means hupo under Tasso is order. [00:19:17] So under order. [00:19:18] And so we're living under the. [00:19:21] Under the order of those who are placed over us to govern. And Peter's going to talk about that. Chapter two, I think chapter three, chapter five. It comes up over and over, and we're always under order. [00:19:36] The only time it's used the other way is that Christ is ruling over the demons. They are subject to Him. [00:19:45] It's a no. We don't have enough time. This is a really important part of our Christian life, is that we recognize that the Lord has arranged everything. [00:19:57] Every institution that's put there by God has the shape of a head and a body. [00:20:03] And the head governs and the body is governed. [00:20:07] And so we are part of. In every vocation, we're either part of the head or the body of that particular thing. And the way that the head is to govern is through love. And the way that the body is to be governed is hupotazo, to be under the order, under the governance, to be subject or to be submissive, to receive from the head the governance of love. [00:20:32] And. And this has to do with the government. So you have those who rule govern the head, and then you have the citizen, the body. It has to do with the family. The parents are the head of the household and the children are governed. It has to do with work. So here it'll say servants, it's workers. So you have the boss and the workers. [00:20:54] It has to do with marriage. [00:20:56] Husband is head and the wife is the body. [00:20:59] So this is when Paul talks about this too. It's that ordering of love and submission, or love and subjection, or subordination under the order of. [00:21:10] And being subject in those places, just like love looks different depending on where you are, what head you're part of, or what institution. [00:21:21] So being subject looks different depending on the institution. [00:21:26] And what's interesting is that all of us are part of various different bodies. [00:21:32] So our lives are governed by this being subject. [00:21:36] So he'll say, peter, here be subject for the Lord's sake to every human institution, whether to the emperor as supreme or governors as sent by him to punish those who are evil and to praise those who are doing good. This is the will of God that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. [00:21:53] Live as people who are free, but not Using your freedom as a cover up for evil, but living as servants of God. Honor everyone, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the emperor. Then this servants, be subject to your masters with all respect. [00:22:07] Not only do the good and gentle, but also the unjust. This is a gracious thing. When mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly. What credit is it when you sin and you're beaten for it, you endure. But if when you do good and suffer for it, you endure. That's a gracious thing in the sight of God. So that we're all subject in one way or another. We're all submissive. [00:22:26] And it's good for us to think about this for so many reasons. Oh man, I've too many things to say. [00:22:35] We, for whatever reason, are obsessed about when our vocation means that we're part of the head and not the body. We love to talk about this, what leadership and all this sort of stuff. And so our attention is mostly on what it means to govern or to rule or to love, to be in authority. [00:22:55] We hardly ever talk about what does it mean to be under authority. But that's mostly what the Bible talks about. [00:23:03] When Peter says, look, you're living in this life as a new believer, as a new creation, as a believer in Jesus, that means you're living under authority. And that takes a special gift, a really unique gift. In fact, this is the part of the thing of the fourth commandment that when the Lord addresses us as neighbor, he addresses us as children of our parents. Honor your father and your mother so that before we ever are loving and governing, we're honoring and being governed. And it looks different, just like love looks different from the head perspective. Like the way that the King loves is different than the way that the teacher loves. And that's different than the way that the a parent's love. It's all different shapes of love. Well, so the subjection or the submission also looks different. [00:23:51] So the way that children are subject to their parents is different than the way that citizens are subject to their rulers, which is different than the way that workers are subject to their boss. And it's different than the way that wives are subject to their husbands. That's a really unique submission. [00:24:04] Paul says, wives, submit to your husbands like unto the Lord, like the church submits to Christ. So it's a really unique shape of submission. So that we are, all of us are in various vocations and callings. [00:24:20] And some of us have vocations where we're in the headspace where we're governing. Some of you are parents, and that puts you in the headspace of the family. Some of you have governmental jobs. Some of you are bosses. That puts you in the headspace at work. [00:24:38] Some of you are husbands. That put you in the headspace in marriage. But all of us are in the body space. [00:24:44] All of us are children of parents, all of us are citizens. [00:24:48] All of us are Christians. That means hearers of the Lord's Word. [00:24:52] And so we have all these different shapes of submission that our lives take. And Peter really hones in on that. I mean, that's what. In some ways, what Peter's about, how we. How the new life is a life of submission or being subject. [00:25:08] Anyway, we got to spend a few hours on that. [00:25:13] It's so important. But we can't now because you're probably. If I spend hours on it, you're going to be at church and I'm going to be at home without taking a shower, recording the podcast, and you're going to miss it. I better get to it. Okay, so Gospel John 16:16. A little while you'll see me. This is the little while text. A little while you will see me. A little while you won't see me. A little while you will. You'll be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy. And Jesus gives the example. Verse 21. When a woman's giving birth, she has sorrow because her hour has come. But when she's delivered the baby, she no longer remembers the anguish, joy that a human being is born into the world. So you will sorrow now. You'll see me again. Your heart will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you. [00:25:54] I'm convinced that this is Jesus talking about the little while of his three days in the tomb. [00:25:58] So you're going to be. You're about to be. [00:26:02] Something's going to happen and it's going to make you sad and the world happy. And then something else is going to happen, and it's going to make you happy and the world sad. [00:26:12] And that's the death and the resurrection of Jesus. And this becomes the. In some ways, the. [00:26:18] The delineating point. [00:26:21] Does the death of Jesus make you sad? Does his resurrection make you happy? Or does his death make you happy like the demons and his resurrection make you sad? [00:26:30] That's what happened to the enemies of the church, so that we want to be on the. [00:26:35] On the Jesus side of joy, so that his resurrection is giving us joy. In fact, that's what the hymn with high delight, let us unite that we're rejoicing in his resurrection from the dead. [00:26:48] I don't know what Pastor Smith is going to preach about, but I'm going to leave it there for the, for the Gospel. Who knows? He'll probably end up preaching on, on the Epistle lesson that I spent so much time on. Make sure to take a look at the announcements today. There's a lot of stuff going on there, including some of the kind of longer range summer activities are starting to be announced. So, so keep an eye out for that. That's really wonderful. And don't miss Bible class. We're going to be working our way through the Sermon on the Mount, finishing Beatitudes and, and looking at the preaching of Jesus from Matthew Chapter five there. So hope to see you there as well. Drive safe. A Christ is risen. He is risen indeed. Alleluia.