The Festival of Pentecost – Pr. Anderson sermon
St. John 14:23-31 “Peace I Leave with You, My Peace I Give You”
May 19, 2024 | Christ Lutheran Church
In Nomine Iesu
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The Exordium
The festival half of the church year is coming to an end. It feels like it wasn’t that long ago, when we gathered under candlelight to worship and praise our Lord for coming into the world. We praised God for His plan of Salvation, salvation that we do not deserve, and we looked on with our penitent hearts as we saw Jesus raised on the cross. Knowing this great plan of Salvation, it was with joy once more we gathered and worshipped our resurrected Savior! Sin, the devil, and death itself are conquered! And here we gather again, Jesus is ascended to the right hand of the Father and His peace now comes to us.
The world looks on, wondering how can we have peace when it looks like our Savior is nowhere to be found? As the idols of the world tempt us to worship them and at times we love our sinful hearts of stone, it looks like maybe the world is right. Maybe we have no one and we will only have despair. That is not what our Savior tells us to do. We have gathered once more because we do have peace. Where we fail, our Savior has success! With His ascension, He gives us His joy. Joy we can have only through the work of the Holy Spirit. God says, “I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules (Ezekiel 36:25-27). In peace we rise and sing stanza one of hymn # 27. O Holy Spirit, Enter In.
O Holy Spirit, enter in and in our hearts Thy work begin,
Thy temple deign to make us.
Sun of the soul, Thou Light divine, around and in us brightly shine,
to joy and gladness wake us.
That we to Thee Truly living, to Thee giving Prayer unceasing,
Still may be in love increasing.
The sermon text for today is taken from the 14th chapter of the Gospel according to St. John. We read some verses once more in Jesus’ name:
“These things I have spoken to you while being present with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you. Peace I leave with you, My peace I give you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”
We Pray: Lord Jesus Christ, almighty Son of God: We beseech You, send Your Holy Spirit into our hearts, through Your Word, that He may rule and govern us according to Your will, comfort us in every temptation and misfortune, and defend us by Your truth against every error, so that we may continue steadfast in the faith, increase in love and good works, and firmly trusting in Your grace, which You purchased for us by Your death, obtain eternal salvation; for You reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one true God, now and forever. Amen. (Evangelical Lutheran Hymnary, by Veit Dietrich, p. 157)
Our Gospel text takes place before the disciples would go through temptation and misfortune. We continue to analyze the disciple’s thoughts and our Savior’s message of comfort. Comfort that we need as well. Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.” Jesus knows that His disciples love Him. They have been faithful where many have now left. The chants of the crowd on Sunday will soon turn to shouts and jeers. Here are the faithful. They are not faithful to death yet, as they do not understand many things they have been taught. Jesus knowing what will happen, He continues to care for them. He points them to their love of Him, that in that love, He is with them.
In preparing them for what will come immediately after this night, He also is preparing them for His return to the right hand of the Father. So, while He does bring comfort, we still see how serious our Savior is. This is a message of importance. We must believe His Word and want to obey it, showing our love. When we don’t follow His Word, then we don’t show Jesus’ love. Jesus continued, “He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine but the Father’s who sent Me.” Everything that Jesus teaches and explains is nothing new. He points out so many times how the Old Testament was pointing to His coming. It is in this text that we also see the pain of the disciples later in the evening. They ran for the hills and Peter denied Him. In their weakness, they reveal the importance of what happens today. Today is the day of understanding and clarity. Today they received hearts of flesh that cared for the people as their Savior cared for them.
Of course, Jesus cares for us now just like He cared for His closest followers. As we come together with joy, we must acknowledge that we are here with our faults. The Holy Spirit comes from Jesus with the work to convict hearts and we stand convicted. Last week we acknowledged that we aren’t accepted for following the way of our Savior. The world and its ruler Satan would love it if we denied Him. It sure looks easy to make fun of someone who shares this message. The disciples were instantly ridiculed after they received the blessing of the Holy Spirit upon them. But others mocking said, “They are filled with new wine” (Acts 2:13). Maybe we aren’t mocked, and we aren’t mocking those who share the Gospel, but it is easy to keep our hearts of stone. To listen to Jesus’ Word means we are listening to God’s law. The world will actively try to remove the Law from the lips of Jesus. If we are to get with the times, following dusty laws are not it. The understanding and clarity we lack is freely given to us through the Holy Spirit. As He brings us peace, there are many times we would rather push His peace aside and with His peace, there goes our love.
While we at times try to push the Holy Spirit away, there He is continuing to convict. With the conviction of sin, behind it comes the Gospel message of peace. A peace only He can bring from the perfect work of Christ. “But that the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father gave Me commandment, so I do. Arise, let us go from here.” The end of our text is the beginning of our peace. The disciples followed Jesus and they would see what this great commandment would entail. Here you gather and continue to gather like the disciples would do after the great Holy Week. The week where God completed His plan of salvation. Where Jesus died on the cross for the sins of all mankind. Today is the day that the disciples were given great courage. The Helper reveals the love of Christ who brings peace.
It is with this peace that the disciples were able to preach and share the Gospel with such joy. They now understand with the Holy Spirit in them, how the Old Testament pointed to Jesus and the love of Christ through the following of His Word. The disciples shared the Gospel miraculously with people who spoke different languages. The Holy Spirit changed many hearts of stone into believing hearts of flesh. The disciples know they have the peace Christ won for them on the Cross. They head out on their missionary journeys with peace and love, no longer afraid of what will come their way.
That is what you hear in Jesus’ Words as well. “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you. Peace I leave with you, My peace I give you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” You are being taught by God right now. The Holy Spirit convicts, pointing out your sins, and with your confession, He helps you. He teaches you how you love Christ when you keep His Word. And when you have failed, He points you to the perfect work of your Savior who left the upper room and went to the cross for your sins. It is through His death and resurrection that you have peace, peace with God. It’s not a worldly peace that will never exist. It is a peace that lasts forever. With this peace your heart of flesh doesn’t need to be troubled or afraid of what is to come.
But in the active fight against the work of the Holy Spirit, you will become troubled and afraid at times. You might be thinking that even now, how can we do it? It feels like we have no peace. The world and the devil want you to follow others into thinking the peace that the Holy Spirit brings is the same as world peace, that peace which doesn’t exist. They will put out idols for temptation. They will try to convince you the pain will be too great on your heart of flesh; that you should keep that heart of stone. The Holy Spirit points you back to the work of your Savior. He took on your worries and concerns. He paid for your sins with His blood, not giving in to the temptations hurled against Him to give up. He did it all for you. In the wood stained cross you have peace. A peace that is yours forever.
If you are to have this peace forever, that means your Savior will come back for you. “You have heard Me say to you: ‘I am going away and coming back to you.’ If you loved Me, you would rejoice because I said ‘I am going to the Father,’ for My Father is greater than I. And now I have told you before it comes, that when it does come to pass, you may believe.” This message is what today is all about. We rejoice because as Christ went to the Father, they dwell within you as you hear and keep the Word. And as the Word brings you peace, it is a peace for all. As you tell others about the peace you have, The Holy Spirit continues to convict just like that first Pentecost Day. Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do? And Peter said to them, “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, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself” (Acts 2:37-39). You are here today because of Pentecost. You are the New Testament Church, and it is this church that brings a beautiful message to all. You are called by the Holy Spirit through the Gospel. Jesus says, “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” Amen.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, forevermore. Amen.
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