Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our
Savior. (Titus 1:4)
Who speaks to you today, from His Gospel heard in His
Service, saying:
“When the Spirit
of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on
his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to
you the things that are to come.”
In this verse from the Gospel today, Jesus is making sure we
know exactly what and how the Holy Spirit is going to be doing, first so that
we can be sure where to stand with Him, instead of against Him, and second in
order that we not be led astray by those who think the Holy Spirit just flits
and floats, doing this or that, whatever.
As you can tell by verses 13, 14, and 15 of our Gospel
reading, the Holy Spirit is coming to speak, to declare, to preach. St. James
agrees with St. John. For in our Epistle reading, he speaks of receiving the
implanted word. Of course, you can only receive something that's given to you,
otherwise that called stealing, so the Holy Spirit will be declaring that you
have the gift of “what is Christ’s”.
So St. James warns us to put away all filthiness and rampant
wickedness. What this reminds us of is our Baptismal rite. St. James actually
says “renounce”, as in:
The Pastor addresses the baptismal candidate and asks the
following questions
P do you renounce the devil?
R Yes, I renounce him.
P Do you renounce all his works?
R Yes, I renounce them.
P Do you renounce all his ways?
R Yes, I renounce them.
What our Rite of Baptism is getting at is what we pray for
the candidate during it. That through this saving flood all sin in him, which
has been inherited from Adam and which he himself has committed since, would be
drowned and die. Even in infancy, we have sins we need to be got rid of, or
renounced.
Yet, without faith it is impossible to renounce, to please
God, so faith is a part of being baptized. As in, the Holy Spirit had declared
to you the things that were from Jesus, that you may believe. As in, the Word
is implanted by the preaching of the Gospel. St. James describes renouncing as both
putting away and receiving.
This is the advantage Jesus is talking about, in the Gospel.
When He ascends in order to send His Spirit to us, that Spirit will be the one
to preach the power of God for salvation. And in that authority, the authority
of the Son of God Crucified and Resurrected, He plants the Word in you.
Repent. Baptism has been under fire since the Reformation.
There, every reformed revolutionary wanted to remove God’s promises from Holy
Scripture and replace them with these works of “putting away” as they hear St.
James speak.
There is a half truth to that. In this Baptismal life we
have been given, we do have apparent choices in front of us: to sin or not to
sin. But that is a struggle the Christian will have his whole life, not just
before his baptism. Even afterwards, which some churches based on a long-gone
holy empire, will say sticks with you and makes your debt towards God valid
again.
Renouncing does have “putting away” as a continuous work we
must engage in, however for St. James, renouncing is only half the battle and
only after the war is won. Meaning, the real part of renouncing is receiving,
as he says, the Implanted Word.
Receive the implanted Word which is able to save your souls?
No. Receive the inplanted Word WHO is able to save your souls: Jesus Christ the
Word made Flesh.
Here is our Apostolic agreement. Here we get to the
trustworthiness of God’s Word. St. James basically makes St. John’s point
again, that when the Holy Spirit speaks, He gives. When He gives, we receive
and are saved. When Jesus sends His Spirit. Its all about Jesus, folks.
When does Jesus send His Spirit? Well, now we get into some
gray area, because Jesus is God and He is outside time. The real answer is: He
always sends His Spirit. Right away, at the beginning, Genesis 1, the Spirit
was sent. He was there at the creation of all things, hovering over the waters.
Fun fact: an action the Church has continued to relate to baptism!
I know its not Pentecost yet, but we’re going to keep going.
In Numbers, the Spirit was sent upon the 70 elders of Israel
and then upon Joshua, to take over for Moses (Num 11:25, 27:18). The Spirit of
the Lord rushed upon all of the Judges, even clothing Gideon which is another
term for baptism (Jud 6:34).
The Spirit rushed upon David (1 Sam 16:13), stirred the
Babylonian Exiles to rebuild the Temple (Ezr 1:5), and came upon all the
prophets.
All well and good, but that doesn’t happen anymore in the
same way and even if it did, how would we be able to tell if someone was lying
or not? Therefore, the key giving of the Spirit which activates all other
givings of the Spirit is this:
“When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is
finished,” and he bowed his head and handed over His Spirit” (Jn 19:30).
One of Jesus’s jobs was to give His Spirit in order that all
be given faith to see their sins and to see their Savior. As He said, it is to
our advantage. And what an advantage! Salvation is offered in the preaching and
declaration of the Spirit, that is, the preaching and teaching of Christ
Crucified.
What does the Spirit say? He bears witness that we are
children of God, having received adoption as sons (Rom 8:15-16). He
testifies, “This is he who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ; not by the
water only but by the water and the blood. And the Spirit is the one who
testifies, because the Spirit is the truth. For there
are three that testify: the Spirit and the water and
the blood; and these three agree” (1 Jn 5:6-8).
They agree, because all three are found in Christ, all three
proceed from Christ, and all three are given to you in the Divine Service, such
that, “the Holy Spirit also bears witness to us… ’I will remember their sins
and their lawless deeds no more’. Where there is forgiveness of [sins], there
is no longer any offering for sin” (Heb 10:15-18).
God plants His Spirit in you by Word and Sacrament. In
Faith, you humble yourself before these means of the Spirit, because you only
receive God as He wants to be received, that is by ear, mouth, hand, nostril,
and eye. The things of Jesus are what He keeps His promises in. The Holy Spirit
locates Himself in Word and Sacrament for you.
So that when you go searching for Him, you find Him. When
you go looking for Him, you receive the in-planted Jesus Who is able to save
you. And when you wish to side with Him, you find yourself reciting Creed and
Commandment in renunciation of the devil and all his works and all his ways.
In Jesus handing over His Spirit to you, through His
suffering and dying on the cross, you are inplanted in His Body and Blood. It
is a saving event, a conversion event. Having been converted, you renounce, you
follow, and you confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.
Not only Lord of all things, but Lord of His Church and Lord
of how and when you receive His Word, that is by Spirit, water, and blood. And
these three agree, publicly. There is no secret or gatekeeping done in Church.
Anyone can walk up and receive Christ on his lips. But do you receive for
blessing or condemnation?
That is Faith’s job. To mark you as one redeemed and not one
who is to be cast out. You receive Jesus in your heart, in your hands, and
every other way physically and spiritually, so that there is no doubt who is
lying and who is telling the truth.
The Good Shepherd saves and redeems body and spirit for the
holy work of God. The false Shepherd forsakes the body in preference to the
spirit. The Good Shepherd sends His Spirit of Truth so that a man may love God
with his heart, soul, mind, AND physical strength. The False shepherd will
prioritize private devotion.
The True Shepherd will gather, publicly, those Who believe
and confess in their flesh. The False Shepherd wants all your filthiness and
rampant wickedness controlled and put away before you can even think about
being a first class Christian.
Your Pastor has spoken the Word over you. He has declared
the intent of the Spirit towards you in the words of your baptism saying,
“Therefore depart thou unclean spirit and make room for the Holy Spirit”,
invoking God’s Triune Name, and marking you with the sign of His cross.
The very cross on which your Savior suffered and handed over
His Spirit to you. You were not there then, so you must humbly receive Him as
He gives Himself to you today. You bow down at the speaking of His Word. You
bow down to His Baptism. You submit to all the gifts the glory of His cross
purchased and won by opening your mouth to receive all the fulness of God (Ps
81:10).
We should fear and love God so that we do not neglect
preaching and His Word, but hold it sacred and gladly hear and learn it.
There is no other testimony from the Man Who is Able to Save
your souls. There is no other reverence that is heard by our heavenly Father
Who is able to save from death (Heb 5:7). There is no other Law or Judge or
Word that is able to Save and hand over to you the Gospel; the free forgiveness
of sins for Christ’s sake.
What the Spirit takes from Jesus is the forgiveness of sins.
What the Spirit declares to you is the forgiveness of sins. What you receive in
His meekness, inplanted in you, is the forgiveness of sins and you renounce,
with every fiber of your new being in Christ, anything that gets in the way of
Him giving Himself to you, body and soul, Word and Sacrament.
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