“Walls Come Tumbling Down,” Acts 10.34-48, Easter 6B, May ‘18

1.                   Please pray with me.  May the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be pleasing in Your sight, O Lord, our Rock, and our Redeemer.  Amen.  The message from God’s Word this 6^th Sunday of Easter is taken from Acts 10:34-48 and is entitled, “Walls Come Tumbling Down,” dear brothers and sisters in Christ.

2.                   Humanity struggles to break down walls, only to find others being built. But, the resurrection of Jesus, has forever changed this world. Jesus’ cross holds out the victory that pulls down one wall after another.  The Book of Acts shows a wall between Jew and Gentile that was far more than a cultural clash.  It was also a religious clash, in that Jews and Gentiles didn’t worship the same God.  They also didn’t eat the same foods.  There were many barriers between the Jews and Gentiles in the ancient world. In our text from Acts 10, Peter confessed at the house of Cornelius, “You yourselves know how unlawful it is for a Jew to associate with or to visit anyone of another nation, but . . .” Peter then goes on to say, “God has shown me that I should not call any person common or unclean” (v 28). There was no hiding behind walls, even with the Law. Everything centered on Jesus Christ, who calls all to repent and believe in him. In place of walls, then, God Loves to Bind Our Lives Together by the Word of Christ.

3.                   The Father loves to bind all people together in his Word of our one salvation (vv 34–36).  Peter reveals the love the heavenly Father has for Cornelius and all those in his house.  He does this by opening his mouth out of love for those unloved by the Jews.  The Apostle Peter says in Acts 10: “Truly I understand that God shows no partiality” (v 34).  God does this by showing that the Word given to Israel is God’s love for the Gentiles: “Good news of peace through Jesus Christ (he is Lord of all)” (v 36).  We reveal that the love the Father has for all people is without exception.  He opens our mouths with love to those outside the walls built in life. For example, the fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989 was quite a spectacle. People on both sides of the wall were picking and pulling off chunks of concrete. What had since 1961 separated East and West was finally gone.  As much as the present age wants to tear down every wall for the sake of freedom, we still erect all kinds of walls, trying to protect ourselves from things we fear. We live lives segregated from others by where we live, what we eat, or what we do. We tear down walls only to build up others. We are guilty of not really loving every neighbor as ourselves, certainly not as God does.

4.                   But, God the Father sending his Son broke down the barriers built by sinful men. The Gospel is a freedom for all to repent and believe in Jesus. The Word that God gives for sinners draws all to his death and resurrection (Acts 10:34–43). This exceeds culture wars and a need to be defensive. Only Christ can forgive the loveless. Only he defends us with his sacrifice. Love prevails in Christ and is a promise alive among the baptized.

5.                   He shows that the Word of God’s love for the Church means peace, binding all people to his one-for-all salvation: “Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him” (1 Jn 5:1).

6.                   The Son loves to bind all people to the Word of what he did for our forgiveness (vv 37–43).  Peter declared this love from Jesus to Gentiles.  Jesus’ life as the Word made flesh was a perfect expression of love. He was always “doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil” (v 38).  Then Jesus’ death was the ultimate act of love to save sinners. His enemies “put him to death by hanging him on a tree, but God raised him on the third day” (vv 39–40). Christ saw the cross to be the cure binding all to him.  Now Jesus is to be the “judge of the living and the dead” (v 42), but for all who believe in him, the judgment will be forgiveness of sins (v 43).

7.                   Jesus loves us to speak this Word of his love so that everyone may be bound to it.  Jesus’ love is the gift he gives for the world. He told his disciples, “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love” (Jn 15:9).  Jesus’ death is the cure of life, covering a multitude of sins. This love means forgiveness for every sin of the whole world.  As judge, Jesus demands that all believe in his Word of forgiveness, for it does bind all people to him for eternity. “This is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith” (1 Jn 5:4).

8.                   The Spirit loves to bind all people together by the Word in Baptism (vv 44–48).  The Holy Spirit showed Peter the love he was to have for the Gentiles.  The Spirit made clear the love he has for all people. It goes beyond the walls built by man, for “the Holy Spirit fell on all who heard the word” (v 44); they began to speak in tongues.  Love meant Peter was not to get in the way of God’s work by the Gospel. The miracle of his hearers speaking in tongues confirmed the greater miracle. “Can anyone withhold water for baptizing these people, who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?” (v 47). 

9.                   We see the same love of the Holy Spirit shared around Word and Sacraments.  It comes to us as a work of God able to give faith in Jesus. “For there are three that testify: the Spirit [Word] and the water [Baptism] and the blood [Lord’s Supper]; and these three agree” (1 Jn 5:7–8).  Love means a good confession of Jesus arises among the baptized. Right behavior by the standards of men still builds walls, but a right belief in Jesus entrusts us to his Commandments, his forgiveness, and his faithfulness for everyone.

10.               Today our Confirmands here at Christ Lutheran confirm the Christian faith they received by the power of the Holy Spirit in their baptisms. Through your baptism, Jesus certainly knows you today and you know Him as well. You may feel a closer-than-usual relationship with Jesus today, but he’ll know you just as intimately every day from now on too. Jesus knows each of you so well that he knows right now how he will shape your life in beautiful ways—what you’ll do after you finish school, whom or if you’ll marry, whether you’ll have children of your own to bring to confirmation, all the opportunities you’ll serve him until he takes you to heaven someday. He knows you a lot better than you know yourself, doesn’t he! And he knows everything you’ll need at each step of that way, so he’ll surely be there to provide it.  And he has bound you together through His Holy Word.  The same Word of God that you have learned from Him through Luther’s Small Catechism…

11.               So then, because Jesus has been that faithful to you, I want you to promise that you’ll follow him all your life. You realize, of course, that that’s exactly what you’re doing today in your Rite of Confirmation. It’s an oath you’re taking, you know, just like the oath, the vow, you’ll take if you get married someday, except that this oath you’re making first, and that means you keep it ahead of any you’ll make later. Nothing—not what your parents do, not whom God gives you to love someday, not what seems cool or fun somewhere down the line—is to get in the way of your keeping this vow. Remember what you’re going to promise? “Do you hold all the canonical books of the Bible to be the inspired Word of God, and the doctrine of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, drawn from the Bible, as you have learned to know it from Luther’s Small Catechism, to be the true and correct one? Do you also, as a member of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, intend to continue steadfast in the confession of this church, and suffer all, even death, rather than fall away from it?” I do so intend, with the help of God. That’s quite a promise, isn’t it? But you’re declaring today, once and for all, that you are going to follow Jesus all your life, and that this is what it means to follow him.

12.               Long before our confirmands ever came for confirmation class, they knew Jesus gives them eternal life? And you know that’s not just for today! That’s forever. But for the years to come, I want to remind each of you how sure that will always be. No matter what happens in the future, no matter what anybody—including the devil—will do to you, nobody can snatch you away from Jesus. I have a feeling your parents like hearing this part, because they know the sorts of stuff that can happen. Jesus and his Father both promise that they will protect you from all of it, and they’re strong enough to do that!  God loves to bind our lives together by the Word of Christ. The risen Christ breaks down all the walls we put up and replaces them with salvation for every soul—salvation unbroken by sin, death, and the devil. May we daily live in repentance to him, for his love unites the baptized in the most magnificent way. Amen.

“Our Good Shepherd,” Acts 4.1-12, Easter 4B, April ‘18

1.                   Please pray with me.  May the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be pleasing in Your sight, O Lord, our Rock, and our Redeemer.  Amen.  The message from God’s Word tod ay comes from Acts 4:1-12 and is entitled, “Our Good Shepherd,” dear brothers and sisters in Christ.

2.                   Among the high and mighty of the earth there has always been a sort of way into which any  issue, any stubborn thorn in some powerful side, can conveniently be dissolved. I’m speaking about death—the power by which Satan holds the whole world captive, as Hebrews 2 reminds us (v 14). Offing an opponent has frequently proven a tempting option for someone with a lot of power and (at least momentarily) not much conscience.

3.                   Biblically, we can’t help but think of King Saul, whose power was matched only by his jealousy of David, the son of Jesse. David was popular, too popular. Time and time again, Saul tried and failed to apply the age-old political remedy of death to his David problem. But time and time again, David was delivered.

4.                   Sadly, King David himself would later sinfully wield death for political and personal ends. (The Scriptures are not known for hiding the sins of our biblical heroes.) In what would prove the low point of his life, King David had fathered a child by a married woman who wasn’t his wife. Public scandal was sure to follow when news got out. Public repentance was apparently not on David’s agenda. And so it naturally occurred to him that he could fix it all . . . if he would only kill Uriah, whose wife David had effectively stolen. And so David did. It’s noteworthy that the man who wrote Psalm 23 is the same man who also, finally, wrote Psalm 51: “Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions” (v 1). He speaks here of Bathsheba and Uriah.  Of course, these weren’t the first times it had dawned on someone powerful that death could be put to convenient use, nor would it be the last.

5.                   Even so, innocent blood has a way of speaking out and even humbling those who spill it. That was true in the case of Uriah and David. It was true of Jesus and his persecutors too.  Our text in Acts opens with the Jewish leaders rushing to the temple courts, greatly annoyed to find that death had not solved their Jesus problem. Not long ago, they had all released a great sigh of relief as they watched Jesus of Nazareth breathe his last. The competition was disposed. All could go on as before. So they thought. Today, they discover Peter and John have healed a lame man in Jesus’ name. Worse, the apostles are publicly proclaiming Jesus with every breath in their lungs—proclaiming him alive and calling for repentance: “God, having raised up his servant, sent him to you first, to bless you by turning every one of you from your wickedness” (Acts 3:26). Thousands heard and believed.

6.                   At first, things proceed along the age-old pattern. Arrests are made. A solemn assembly gathers. A threat of death hangs over Peter and John. But things have changed. Peter and John are not afraid. Death is no longer an issue. When asked how the lame man standing before them had been healed, Peter boldly explains: “Let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead—by him this man is standing before you well” (v 10).

7.                   Not only had death not solved their Jesus problem, but Jesus also had created for them a problem with death. They now had a life problem. The threat of death wasn’t working. In Christ, death had backfired and unleashed forgiveness, restoration, and life. Here was blood speaking a better word than the blood of Abel, and here was an empty tomb making itself felt even in high, mighty hearts.

8.                   How do you control people who aren’t afraid to die? Even­tu­ally, the leaders feebly resort to charging Peter and John to be quiet about Jesus. Peter and John frankly refuse: “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge, for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard” (4:19–20).

9.                   How do you feel as you consider all of this? Initially, it’s natural to feel excited and encouraged. Upon further reflection, maybe also somewhat ashamed. It’s easy to feel ashamed at how sheepish we are when such ground for boldness is ours in Christ. The resurrected Good Shepherd is at my side, and I go through life as nervous and shifty eyed as a lone lamb in the woods, worrying away my days. The very conqueror of death has declared himself through Baptism to be, for me, my deliverer, yet the very mention of cancer or stroke can make me tremble.

10.               And then there’s the idea of persecution. I don’t imagine I’ll ever be dragged before rulers and authorities and threatened with death if I refuse to get quiet about Jesus, but such things do happen today. There continue to be men and women who stand up to worldly power and give witness with their lives to the one who is stronger than death. And here I am, sometimes lowering my voice to a whisper when leading a table prayer in public, nervous about letting the waiter hear me speak to Jesus. Maybe in your own way, you’ve felt the same. Christ, have mercy on your sheep!

11.               And then we remember: he has and he does. This is also what it means that he is the Good Shepherd—not only that he is infinite in power, unstoppable in death, and able to deliver, but also that this mighty, living Savior, who knew our sin before we were conceived, willingly laid down his life for such timid, sinful sheep as you and I are. “I am the good shepherd,” we heard him say today. “The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep” (Jn 10:11).

12.               Do we appreciate how profound that is? Do we remember who these sheep are of whom Christ speaks? He is talking about David, adulterer and murderer of humble Uriah. He is speaking of Peter, who thrice denied him, swearing, “I do not know the man.” He is speaking of John, who wanted a distinguished throne at Christ’s right hand until Good Friday, when the thrones turned out to be crosses. Then, in fear, John locked himself away with the others, despite the Lord’s word that death could not contain him. Some flock. But this is who Jesus is, the Good Shepherd who loves the sheep, who pursues the sheep, who lays down his life for his sheep—sheep like you and sheep like me.

13.               What wonderful Gospel! A shepherd infinite in power might strike fear in the now defenseless high and mighty but wouldn’t inspire anything like Psalm 23. It’s because David had tasted God’s mercy and had seen ahead to the one who wields the rod and staff that he found comfort in them and finally walked through the valley of the shadow of death without fear. It’s because Peter and John not only saw the resurrected Christ but also had received his restoration and word of peace that they were bold to testify powerfully in his name. And time will only tell how our encounters of the mighty and merciful Good Shepherd will embolden our own lives and witness. But we do know this:  In Christ, Our Good Shepherd, Our Sin Has a Forgive­ness Problem and Death a Life Problem, and we have a very Good Shepherd. Thanks be to God!  Amen.