4.7.24 Sunday Drive to Church

[00:00:00] Christ is risen. He is risen indeed. Hallelujah. Good morning. St. Paul Lutheran church saints on the way to church for today, April 7, the year of our Lord 2024, the second Sunday of Easter. Remember, Easter is not just a day, it's an entire season. And that season extends from. Well, actually, here's a question. [00:00:25] We know that Passover, excuse me, Pentecost happened 50 days after Passover. And so the feast of Pentecost was 50 days after the death of our Lord on the cross. And so, and ten days before that was the ascension. So we have two marks of the end of the season of Easter, and it depends on how you count it. Either Easter ends 40 days later on the ascension of our Lord Jesus, or 50 days later on the feast of Passover, one or the other. Some people count ascension to Pentecost as its own little ascension season, and some people say, no, Pentecost. That's the beginning of that new Pentecost Trinity summer season. Anyhow, the point is we're right in the middle of the Easter season, continuing to rejoice in the resurrection of our Lord Jesus. And, in fact, today it's really wonderful because we know about four or five of the appearances of our Lord Jesus on the first Easter Sunday. And then we have the major appearance of Jesus on the second Easter Sunday when he appears. [00:01:34] When Thomas was gone that first Sunday, he appears back in the room when Thomas is there. And that's the reading that we have. So this John, 2019 to 31, which is our gospel lesson today, happened on this day, one week after Easter. And it's an amazing, because now, today, you could just think back all the things that happened this last week, all the things that happened between, well, when you got together with your family or friends or with us at church on Sunday, on Easter, and all the things that have happened this week. Well, the disciples had that much of a week until Jesus appeared again in the upper room. And two things are very interesting to me. [00:02:14] Number one, to know that they hadn't gone to Galilee. The angel gave them the instructions to go to Galilee. Jesus gave them the explicit instructions to go to Galilee, and they were still in Jerusalem, still locked in the upper room. They hadn't left. They hadn't gone to Galilee. Why? We don't know. I have a guess. But my guess is because Thomas refused to go. He was so frustrated. Here's the other thing, though, that you got to imagine. This entire week, the disciples have been trying to convince Thomas that they saw Jesus raised from the dead, and he's had this long to get more and more frustrated until the Lord Jesus comes. We'll get to that in a little bit. We have three lessons I want to look at today. I'm traveling, by the way. [00:03:02] I'll be there when, Lord willing, when you show up at church, you'll see me there. But I'm in Indiana right now for a men's retreat, so I don't have the bulletin in front of me. But we'll look at the lessons, the first lesson. And here's a funny thing. It's not the Old Testament lesson. It's from acts. [00:03:17] It's a weird thing that the three year lectionary has done. It's not unheard of, but it's kind of interesting. And that is that instead of giving Old Testament texts as the first lesson during the season of Easter, you get readings from the Book of Acts. So it's kind of New Testament history during the Easter season. So we'll hear a lot of those. And it's an interesting thing to think about. Why did they do that? Why not put in acts as the epistle lesson? [00:03:45] I think it, I wouldn't want to make a dogmatic point out of it, but I think as an exercise, as a piece of piety, it's good, because the book of acts tells us the history of the New Testament Church, and it's really what happens to people when they believe in the resurrection of Jesus. Over and over, the resurrection of Jesus and the ascension of Jesus are preached in the book of Acts. In fact, I think you could find more preaching about the resurrection of Jesus than the crucifixion of Jesus. And I think you could probably find, in fact, more preaching of the ascension of Jesus than even the resurrection of Jesus. That's kind of a side point. We see the resurrection being preached all over the place. So the first lesson we have today is acts 432 25, and the church is all together. [00:04:40] They're holding everything in common. This is ecclesiastical communism, not political communism, but this voluntary kind of communal life that they're living in Jerusalem. [00:04:53] It's tough, and it seems like it only lasts until persecution scatters them. [00:04:58] But it says with great power, the apostles were giving their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. And so they had this, the chief preaching of the early church is this preaching of the resurrection. Beautiful. [00:05:15] What do we make, by the way, of the communism, of the kind of religious volunteer communism? We have to emphasize that it was religious and that it was volunteer. So it wasn't a political communism. In some ways, all of us are communists, at least in our families, or, I don't know, maybe benevolent dictatorships, half communist, half dictators in our homes. [00:05:44] I think our main thing that we want to say about this is that the book of acts is not presenting to us a political plan. That's not the goal here. [00:05:55] It does, though. I mean, the thing that we can learn is that we, as a church, have the opportunity to support each other, and you should be, as a member of the church, you should be confident that you are supported. [00:06:16] Now, this is. I was thinking about this because especially back in Colorado, we had a. Once a month, we would host a meal, mostly for people who were living, didn't have homes, living on the street. And I would sit and talk to them about their homelessness. How did you become homeless? Because I was thinking to myself, I just can't. I can't see how I could get to a state of homelessness. I was just trying to imagine how you get there. So I was listening to the stories, and it's an amazing thing, because what the, especially the guys would tell me how they found themselves on the street was they were working and they got injured. They dropped something on their foot, they broke a toe, they got a chronic condition, they lost their job, and they couldn't support themselves. They were out on the street. [00:07:02] And I was saying, well, if I got sick, I don't think I would be out on the street, because I have a family that loves me and cares for me, and I have a church family that loves me and cares for me. [00:07:14] What had happened to these guys? Here's an interesting thing, is that normally before the injury, they had some kind of addiction, gambling or whatever. [00:07:26] And that addiction broke down all their relationships. It destroyed their relationships with their family. Their wives left them, their children hated them. Because one of the dangers of addiction is it turns all the people that we know into simply a source of feeding the addiction. We become just devourers. And so they devoured to such a degree that there was no connections left. [00:07:52] And then, so they were right on the edge because all those connections were broken down, and then the tragedy happened, and then there's nothing to catch them. [00:08:04] So that was. It's just an interesting pattern to see. Now, the point for us is we have to say, look, we're in the church. That means that we're surrounded by one another to support one another, to hold one another up, to make sure that we don't fall. [00:08:20] So that's probably the practical thing. The text is giving to us okay. The second lesson is the entire first chapter and the first two verses of first John, this epistle of John. Remember, John wrote five of the books of the New Testament, the Gospel of John, the first, second, and third epistles of John. And he received also the revelation of our Lord Jesus, that last book of the Bible. So five books. Here's his first letter, that which was from the beginning. He starts both the letter and the epistle, talking about the beginning, which we heard, which we've seen with our eyes, we've looked at and touched with our hands concerning the word of life. He talks about how he's a witness to the resurrected Jesus. It's beautiful. [00:09:04] And he talks about light and darkness. If we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus cleanses us from our sin. Beautiful. These verses that we've memorized are right here at the end of the chapter. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he's faithful and just to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we've not sinned, we made him a liar, and the word is not in us. And then chapter two, verse one and two, are also verses that we should try to carve into our hearts. [00:09:41] My little children, he says, I'm writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous one. [00:09:51] He is the propitiation for our sins, and not only for ours, but also for the sins of the whole world. [00:09:58] So three technical terms used for Jesus. If anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins. So first, he is the advocate. That's the greek word paraclete. It's the same word that Jesus uses when he says, I will send you another comforter, another helper, another paraclete, the Holy Spirit. So we have Jesus as our paraclete in heaven, and the Holy Spirit is our parakelet on earth. It's not parakeet, although look for the flock of parakeets in the neighborhood when you're driving to church. It's paraclete, which is like defense attorney. It's a technical term for the person that stands next to you when you're being accused and defends you. [00:10:41] So we have a one who stands next to us in our hearts, the Holy Spirit, in the conscience and we have one who's advocating for us in heaven, Jesus. [00:10:54] So he's there before the throne of God, pleading our case, pleading your case, pleading his blood, pleading his suffering on our behalf. On our behalf. That's the last word. He's the propitiation for our sins. The greek word there is hilastarion, which I think is actually somehow connected to hilarious, but I don't know how. But hilastarion is the sacrifice to take away wrath, the anger quenching blood of Christ, which is poured out for us on the cross. [00:11:25] And he's also the righteous one. He's the one who kept the law perfectly by what he did and by what he suffered. So Jesus is the law keeper who offers himself as a sacrifice for our sins and the sins of the whole world. And now he's at the right hand of the Father to advocate for us. So these are the words we want to carve into our. We have an advocate, but the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous one, he's the propitiation for our sins, and not just for us, but for the sins of the whole world. Beautiful. What a text. Beautiful. Beautiful. And then the third lesson is the gospel from John 20. [00:12:01] This is one week later, the Sunday after Easter Sunday. Well, I guess first we have the first appearance when Thomas was not there. I'm so interested in the second one. So verses 19 to 25 give us the first appearance, where Jesus breathes on his disciples and says, receive the Holy Spirit. It's so interesting that Jesus on the cross breathes out his last. And now that breath is back in him, and he's breathing on his disciples. And we should see if you wanted to put it in parallel. On the one hand, we see the Father breathing his breath into Adam on creation day. And here we see Jesus breathing his breath onto the disciples on Resurrection day. And so we enter into this new creation, into this resurrected life. And what's the mark of that resurrected life? If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven. [00:12:54] And if you withhold forgiveness, it's withheld so that this new life, this peace that endures before God the Father, is now manifest in the gift of the holy Spirit. And then Jesus leaves, and Thomas comes back. Verse 24. And he wasn't with them when Jesus came. And the disciples say, we've seen the Lord. He said, unless I see his hands, the mark of his nails, place my finger to the mark of the nails. Place my hand into his side, I'll never believe. [00:13:22] And then verse 26, eight days later, they're still inside Thomas was with them this time. You know, you wonder how Thomas would have been so frustrated when he gets back to the room. [00:13:35] Jesus was here. Where did he go? [00:13:39] Why didn't he wait for me? What did he have to do so important that he couldn't wait around for me to get back? Five minutes. And then five, six, seven days, eight days later, still nothing. [00:13:52] They all. And the ten, because remember, Judas is dead now. So the ten are full of this joy in the resurrection. And there's the one who's, no, I will not believe unless I put my, thrust my hand into his side. [00:14:08] But then Jesus comes eight days later into the room and says to Thomas, and here's the amazing thing. [00:14:15] He says, put your finger here. See my hands? Put your hand, place them on my side. Don't disbelieve. Believe. [00:14:23] And Jesus uses the same words that Thomas used. [00:14:27] Can you imagine that? [00:14:30] He uses the same. In other words, Jesus is saying to Thomas, I was listening to what you said. [00:14:38] I was in the room. You just couldn't see me. [00:14:45] And Thomas gives us this confession. It's one of the clearest confessions of the divinity of Christ, my lord and my God. [00:15:00] So beautiful. [00:15:02] And then Jesus to Thomas, but most especially to us. I mean, Jesus says these words knowing that John would write them down. In fact, that's what we have. Jesus said, have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed. [00:15:18] And John is going to underline that for us with really the purpose of the gospel. Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples which aren't written in this book. But these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. [00:15:35] So we are those who have not seen the wounds of Jesus. We are those who have. He has not appeared to us in his resurrected body in glory for us to put our hands in his side, to put our fingers in the holes in his hands. But we are those who have this blessing of those who believe and have not seen, because we have the word. That's why it's written. The Bible is written so that we would believe, and believing we would have life in his name. [00:16:06] That's the goal. So that Easter is always connected to faith. The resurrection of Jesus is always connected to the preaching of Jesus, which is always connected to our forgiveness and believing in him. Absolutely tremendous. So we have these texts waiting for us today. [00:16:23] It's fantastic. And we'll sing Easter hymns. I don't have the bulletin. But I know we'll sing Easter hymns. And we'll rejoice that the Lord Jesus gives us his body and blood. Not to thrust our hand into his side. But to place his body in our mouth. And his blood there on our lips. For us to eat and drink. For the forgiveness of all of our sins. God be praised. Christ is risen. He has risen indeed. Alleluia. That's a Sunday drive to church from Indiana. We'll see you soon.