Sunday, June 9, 2019

The Feast of Pentecost, 2019



The Feast of Pentecost, 2019

Pastor Gregory L. Jackson




The melodies are linked in the hymn name. 
The lyrics are linked in the hymn number.

The Hymn # 387:1-5    Dear Christians All 
The Confession of Sins
The Absolution
The Introit p. 16
The Gloria Patri
The Kyrie p. 17
The Gloria in Excelsis
The Salutation and Collect p. 19
The Epistle and Gradual 
The Gospel 
Glory be to Thee, O Lord!
Praise be to Thee, O Christ!
The Nicene Creed p. 22
The Sermon Hymn #387:6-10                      Dear Christians One and All  

We Need Our Advocate, at Work in the Word

The Communion Hymn # 234       Holy Ghost with Light Divine 
The Preface p. 24
The Sanctus p. 26
The Lord's Prayer p. 27
The Words of Institution
The Agnus Dei p. 28
The Nunc Dimittis p. 29
The Benediction p. 31
The Hymn #657    Beautiful Savior

KJV Acts 2:1 And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. 2 And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. 3 And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. 4 And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. 5 And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven. 6 Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and were confounded, because that every man heard them speak in his own language. 7 And they were all amazed and marvelled, saying one to another, Behold, are not all these which speak Galilaeans? 8 And how hear we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born? 9 Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites, and the dwellers in Mesopotamia, and in Judaea, and Cappadocia, in Pontus, and Asia, 10 Phrygia, and Pamphylia, in Egypt, and in the parts of Libya about Cyrene, and strangers of Rome, Jews and proselytes, 11 Cretes and Arabians, we do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God. 12 And they were all amazed, and were in doubt, saying one to another, What meaneth this? 13 Others mocking said, These men are full of new wine.

 From Norma A. Boeckler


KJV John 14:23 Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. 24 He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father's which sent me. 25 These things have I spoken unto you, being yet present with you. 26 But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you. 27 Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. 28 Ye have heard how I said unto you, I go away, and come again unto you. If ye loved me, ye would rejoice, because I said, I go unto the Father: for my Father is greater than I. 29 And now I have told you before it come to pass, that, when it is come to pass, ye might believe. 30 Hereafter I will not talk much with you: for the prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me. 31 But that the world may know that I love the Father; and as the Father gave me commandment, even so I do. Arise, let us go hence.

Pentecost Monday Text
KJV John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. 18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 19 And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20 For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. 21 But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.

Background for the Sermon
Various people have expressed surprise that the Trinity always existed and was taught throughout the Old Testament. One reason is that Christian leaders have discussed the Son to the point where people know little else and what little they know is from the sterile, rationalistic viewpoint of Rationalism.

How this develops is easy to see. Once an idea is established, however false it may be, there are enough authorities to argue for it and reject anything else. An example in today's news is "Serious allegations have been made." The number who say this increases and more authorities are piled up. Then, someone can say, "All these sources (impressive list) have discussed the seriousness of the allegations." Left unsaid is whether an allegation is truthful and whether any facts support the allegations."

On a small scale, this is done with malicious gossip. One person can change many attitudes with the right falsehoods. 

So we have many examples in the present, degraded state of the Christian Faith as taught. The most dangerous aspect of this state is keeping people spiritually starved, without spiritual food. Then the agenda is changed. Christianity is no longer about the Faith that teaches forgiveness through trust in the Savior. Instead, Christianity relies on the congregation growing (!), or the denomination thriving (?), and the correct political attitudes being repeated, enforced, and made a litmus test of the new orthodoxy. 

In various ways, leaders cleverly play on the emotions of people, which is the clearest test of falsehood reigning supreme. Emotions are tricky, deceptive, misleading, and volatile. Emotional motivations then take everyone away from trust in the Word. Thus Satan is the Father of Lies and a Slanderer, perhaps better as The Slanderer. 

The Feast of Pentecost corrects this by showing us God's intentions with the Holy Spirit.


 From Norma A. Boeckler

We Need Our Advocate, at Work in the Word

John 14:16 And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;


17 Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.

I prefer the word Advocate to Comforter, but both words convey what Jesus elaborates upon. Luther argued we should include these verses with the Promises given about the Day of Pentecost.

What was true of the disciples then is still true for us. The Spirit works upon us through the Word and the Spirit is in us. That means we have a supernatural guidance that lets us see God's truth instead of the falsehood of unbelievers.

This is very important for us to consider when our emotions are being battered, when we are filled with dread, anxieties, anger, confusion, and so forth. Emotions are misleading, volatile, and easily affected by what we have experienced in the past, by what we think we know at the moment.

I have seen many people go through the agonies of the workplace, and I have the same experiences. The loss of prosperity can be sudden, long and drawn out, and filled with many disappointments. It is difficult to resist the temptation of thinking, "I took the wrong path years ago." But the fact remains, few workplaces value their employees, who are changed as often as the lines and treated like footrags. One woman was expected to work all summer without pay, because "we do not get any tuition income in the summer." But the "we" in this case were living like royalty all summer.

The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of truth, so we have just one standard of truth - the Scriptures, and the Spirit dwells within us to help us in seeing this truth and trusting in the truth of God's Promises. The anxieties and fears of the disciples are portrayed so vividly for us because this is God's way of saying, "They were no different in the human side of things, but I gave them many proofs to encourage them and let their lives be joyful."

KJV John 14:23 Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. 

First of all, the Spirit is the divine Advocate who teaches us the truth when the unbelieving world is lying to us and possibly slandering us for fun and games, and to denigrate anything we teach or represent.

Added to that Promise is this one - that those who love Jesus will be loved by the Father. That is so encouraging, because the loveless world likes to heap scorn and derision on believers, and that often comes from those who are nominal (in name only) Christians. As one active church-goer and supporter of charity said to me, "God really must hate you." He thought that was funny - and laughed.

So this means not only God the Father loving us by the Savior and the Father dwelling in us. Not the Holy Spirit? That is also expressed in many ways, but the Spirit's work is the glorify the Father and Son. And, since God is not divided, the entire godhead is always involved when such things are said. 

This is where the non-believers chuckle. They reject the Trinity because they do not understand it. They say it is contradictory because the mysteries of God are revealed only by the Holy Spirit, and are folly to them. They may pick on one thing or another, but there is always an excuse, an explanation, a truckload of worldly wisdom and philosophy to back them up.

Knapp, one of the early pioneers of universal forgiveness without faith, rejected the Trinity to some extend, perhaps because he had a better idea about that, too. A later, famous professor of Halle, Tholuck, who was conserved compared to (note, compared to) the rest of the faculty, declared himself a Universalist, simply another variation on what Knapp taught earlier - and both were revered - and in all the right academic books.

God's dwelling in us is therefore like a gyroscope, which always astonishes children. The toy is spun up and therefore resists any change in direction. Our grandson loved experiencing that, and it is always fun to experience. Likewise, when we are stunned by bad news, timid from repeated reverses, discouraged and depressed, 
the divine guidance system points us in the right direction and fills us with the wisdom of God's love, mercy, and forgiveness.

That also matters so much when people are plagued by guilt, which can bear down on people so much that they feel they are in Hell, as Luther often experienced. He based his hymns upon this torture. That comes from two forms of inflicted pain - one is the condemnation of the Law without any Gospel forgiveness. The other is an unending list of obligations supposedly offered to help the person make up for past and present sins.

That is the genius of Roman Catholicism, to say  (as they still do) that sins are forgiven but not paid for. The individual must pay for sins through good works. There are never enough, which is why Purgatory is such a threat and false promise. That is a quasi-Hell for the semi-saved. They can take comfort (and they mean this) in thousands of years of pain and suffering in Purgatory. That is why the Papacy (not merely a given pope, though this one is doosy) is the very Antichrist. Pretending to be Christian, it is anti-Gospel and willing to tell any falsehood to advance the institution.

24 He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father's which sent me.

Those who rage against me for describing false doctrine need to pay attention to Jesus' consistent repudiation of any teaching against His clear doctrine. He ended the Sermon on the Mount warning against false teachers, as He does here.

Doctor means teacher. Doctrine means teaching. Rabbi means teacher. And "master" is another translation for the word teacher in the New Testament. The disciples were those being taught by the Teacher.

"Not many should be teachers" because the greater judgment falls on them. James 3:1

Those who live in opposition to the teaching of Jesus do NOT love Jesus, though they speak the words. Some children who grew up in a parochial school realized how much their teachers damaged them, because two nuns stole at least $500,000 from tuition funds while telling the children how to behave, often denouncing them for being bad. "These teachers stole the money our parents gave for our school." To be fair, the same thing happened at a WELS prep school, MLS, with the staffmember taking at least $20,000 before the secrecy lid was locked shut on the scandal.

26 But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.

There seems to be so much to know, and there is, yet Jesus promised that the Spirit would teach and bring things to remembrance. If someone has a basic knowledge of the Gospel, those sayings are embedded and revived by the Spirit, especially when there is constant renewal by the Word and Sacraments.

There are many ways falsehoods are planted in our minds, and no one is safe from them. I grew up with evolution assumed in all things and portrayed in all forms of media, from cartoons to books to the National Geographic. What utterly convinced me was renewing the concept of the efficacy of the Word in the entire Bible, in Luther's works, and in the Confessions - the Book of Concord. Clearly, the denial of the Six Day Creation was a denial of the Word of God, its power, its even greater ability to absolve us of our sins through faith.

Some falsehoods are vanquished through study. When I got very interested in the comparison of Greek manuscripts... (I know, but it happens), I began to study their "rules." The rules were absolutely absurd and self-serving.  And I found that some good guys fell for the nonsense I saw as completely contradictory. For example, "The shorter version of the same story is earlier." I realized that the word-count could be longer or shorter with the same story. Some people elaborate and give all the details, even if it takes 20 minutes more. Others shorten a story to a few sentences. How can one be better than the other?

The Spirit solves those problems by showing us the complete harmony of the Scriptures and the scandalon (death-trap) of human logic. 

27 Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. 

This is a great promise, because the world's peace (temporary) is not going to last long with the believer. There are moments of calm and often long periods of agitation, especially from bearing the cross.

To desire the world's peace is folly. Rev. Popoff's miracle water promises money (he was exposed before for another big scam). That does not even answer common sense, since money only solves money problems. Some of the most tortured people are those with trust funds and big family portraits - they lack purpose and have no reason to work for a salary. Our niece, when working for Calvin Klein, had NYC trust fund ladies say, "You work for the money?" They were working for the glamor of the fashion industry, not for money - didn't need it.

The New Testament word  "peace" is always connected with forgiveness of sin and eternal life, not with money, security, and being Grand Marshall in the Kiwanis' parade. One reason people will not stand up for the truth is that any mis-step will keep them from the path of honors, advancement, and pay. Clergy become increasingly devious trying to achieve something without owning up to anything. Community leaders get drawn into the same mindset. I embarrassed some who did not like a pro-life, anti-abortion stance made public. When I organized a newspaper ad, and many joined in that, the retaliation was considerable and underhanded. 

Many break-throughs have happened and then crushed with great malice and stealth. But that is the pattern. Real peace comes from distinguishing between God's truth and man's logic.

28 Ye have heard how I said unto you, I go away, and come again unto you. If ye loved me, ye would rejoice, because I said, I go unto the Father: for my Father is greater than I. 

This is a great paradox. Jesus is filling the disciples' hearts with dread, dismay, and sorrow, but He says - Rejoice. This saying is for the future. They could not feel it. Sometimes we hear that from Christian friends, who say something like this, "It looks bad for the moment, but it cannot be except God wills it for your good in the long run." I have had many friends pushed out of the ministry, so I encourage them by saying, "Better men than you have been kicked out, so do not be down-hearted." They have to laugh because they are in that state of saying, "What did I do to deserve this when others are getting away with philandering and peculating?"

My Father is greater than I...
This puzzles people because it goes against our way of thinking. Chemnitz answered it well when he commented that the Son was different from the Father in that He could die and did die on the cross for our sins. Jesus took on our frailty in taking on our human frailties, emotions, etc. That gave Him a unique role, because He was capable of sin but did not sin due to His divine nature. I knew a pastor who wigged out on this, but denying Jesus' ability to experience temptation is the same as denying His human nature and many passages of Scripture. So Jesus also has the greater glory in denying Himself and suffering on the cross, which He did in obedience to the Father.

29 And now I have told you before it come to pass, that, when it is come to pass, ye might believe. 30 Hereafter I will not talk much with you: for the prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me. 31 But that the world may know that I love the Father; and as the Father gave me commandment, even so I do. Arise, let us go hence.

I have often felt completely crushed and defeated by events, and I had trouble thinking I had done anything right. I looked around and saw evil, incompetent, and ignorant bullies doing very well for themselves.

Probably the worst is having so-called friends who would flip to the other side to advance their careers or to be rewarded by the lupine, bovine, and ovine buddies. But they were the instruments of God's wisdom, denying me slavery in their synodical dungeons, preventing me from being a parrot of their plagiarisms. I used to look at the employment website of my employer and think, "How can I l move to where my grandchildren are?" And the worst of the world helped make that happen, whether in one sphere of life or another. 

The warnings are all there in the Scriptures. The end is approaching, whether it take 10 minutes or centuries more. This is not time to crab-walk back into compromise, rationalism, and agreement with falsehood to achieve a temporary peace. The good news is that the young men of this era, unlike the Boomer clergy, have a clear vision of Biblical truth. 

The Holy Spirit will guide us through the truth of the Scriptures and faithful witness from the past.


From Norma A. Boeckler