Easter 5

John 16:5-15 - Cantate Sunday - May 3, 2015

The Threefold Work of the Holy Spirit

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Oh that I had a thousand voices
To praise my God with thousand tongues!
My heart, which in the Lord rejoices,
Would then proclaim in grateful songs
To all, wherever I might be,
What great things God hath done for me. Amen. 

Today is called Cantate Sunday.  Cantate (which is where we get the word chant) is the Latin word for sing.  It’s in the imperative mood, which means it’s a command to sing, as in, “Sing to the Lord a new song.”  What is a new song?  And why should we sing it?  Far from being a call to always be singing the latest and most up-to-date expressions of faith, this command to sing a new song tells us first to consider what is old and what is new.  This is a spiritual distinction, not a chronological one, and so it’s good that we learn it here. 

There is no command in Scripture to stop singing something simply because it is so-called outdated, or to start singing something simply because it is so-called contemporary, or up-to-date.  How old or how recent something is has absolutely no bearing on how relevant and useful it is.  After all, what the Bible calls a new song is actually a very old promise.  It is the ancient song that God first taught Adam and Eve to sing in the Garden.  It is the promise that the eternal God, who knows no age and has no shadow of turning.  He does not change, yet he would join his creation as a flesh and blood Man in order to redeem us from wrath and hell, and yes even death and old age.  It is the song that sings of the Seed of the woman who would bear our ⁽¹⁾ sin, fulfill all ⁽²⁾ righteousness, and crush the devil’s head in ⁽³⁾ judgment. 

And so this is what the Spirit sings.  The Spirit sings what convicts the world of these three thing: sin, righteousness, and judgment.  This is the true spiritual music that our every song must be measured against. 

In Colossians 3, St. Paul tells us how to sing as a congregation of saints.  He writes:

Let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in spiritual psalms, hymns, and songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. (3:15-16)

Now notice what compels us to sing as Christians.  It is the same thing that compels us to teach and admonish one another as brothers and sisters – as one body living under one Head.  It is the word of Christ our Lord.  Christ’s word should dwell richly in our hearts.  His word is the same thing as the peace of God to which we have been called, because it is Jesus’ forgiveness that gives us peace with God, and therefore peace with each other.  Therefore we should also sing his word together.  That’s why we sing in church.  That’s why we chant.  That’s why the church has always done so.  It’s a beautiful and godly medium for proclaiming what God has first made known to us. 

So we see here that what makes our songs and anthems and hymns and liturgy new has nothing to do with whatever might naturally flow from our hearts.  Rather, what makes our song new is Christ.  He makes all things new.  He reconciles sinners to their holy Creator.  He is the Lord God who has won the victory over sin, death, and hell.  And furthermore, he is the Lord God who makes known his salvation to us by pure grace and mercy through the preaching of the gospel.  Our Introit, from where we get the word Cantate, comes from Psalm 98:

Oh, sing to the Lord a new song!
For He has done marvelous things;
His right hand and His holy arm have gained Him the victory.
The Lord has made known His salvation;
His righteousness He has revealed in the sight of the nations.
(Psalm 98:1-2) 

And so this is the purpose and function of our singing.  It makes known, in the most beautiful way we can, what Christ has done to save us.  Our singing is not simply a response to God’s grace.  It is, but it is more.  It is a reiteration of God’s grace.  That is, just as Christ’s word should dwell richly in our hearts, so it should dwell richly in our music too, as Paul says in Ephesians that we should make melody in our hearts to the Lord.  Christian music, therefore, is not merely a subjective expression of gratitude where anything goes — because who’s going to judge what another person sincerely feels.  If we are to sing it together, it must be an objective proclamation of what Christ has done for us and the entire world, or else a common plea for him to do what he has promised to do. 

It is a perilous thing to learn from the world how to make music to God.  Obviously, we live in this world.  We can’t remove all influences.  We speak languages of this world.  We have talents and skills that we have developed in this world.  We use what we have available.  All things that God gives us can be used for the glory of God, and so we can’t legalistically insist, for instance, that this instrument must be used and that instrument may not, or that we must worship in one particular language.  Jesus tells us that all things are clean to us (Luke 11:41).  But this does not mean that none of these things matter.  They do.  Very much!  “All things are lawful for me,” Paul writes, “but all things are not helpful” (1 Corinthians 6:12).  We should be careful that we do not simply adopt the practices of the world – either in some effort either to be relevant to them, or else to feel more at home when we are here – since the world knows nothing about how to honor God.  Just as a true lover writes the best love songs (no monk ever wrote a love song), so a grasp of pure Christian doctrine produces the best (for lack of a better word)“style” of Christian praise.  We do not run from those who deny God’s word or corrupt God’s word to learn how to adorn God’s word. 

But we use the means available in creation to praise God, because they are good gifts.  As one stanza of the hymn I prayed earlier puts it:

Ye forest leaves so green and tender,
That dance for joy in summer air;
Ye meadow grasses, bright and slender;
Ye flowers so wondrous sweet and fair;
Ye live to show His praise alone,
With me now make His glory known.

What a beautiful poem. 

As God’s elect, restored by grace as the crown of his creation, we are free to use God’s creation as we see fit.  But didn’t God tell Adam and Eve to subdue creation even before the Fall and till the Garden?  And so that is what we do when we use what we have to praise God. 

What we find in nature must be worked upon.  By nature, we are not able to honor God.  We are sinners.  But the Holy Spirit gives new birth to our natural hearts so that they serve to glorify God.  So also, nothing in nature is sufficient.  Creation is cursed.  And so all things our hearts employ to praise God must be molded and refined by the same Spirit of God through our knowledge of the gospel.  And so we take what this world offers and make it distinct from the world for God’s holy use.  That’s what holy means.  We subdue it and render it fit for the purpose we aim to use it.  All things are made holy by the word of God and prayer (1 Timothy 4:5).  So we make things holy.  We make them better. 

We should not be ashamed of these peculiarities of ours.  The reason we stand out – as Christians – as Lutherans – not only in our holy behavior and humility toward God, but also in our way of worshiping – is because we really are different.  St. Peter says that we are

a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that [we] may proclaim the praises of Him who called [us] out of darkness into His marvelous light. (1 Peter 2:9) 

That word for belonging to God, the King James translates peculiar.  And so we are.  We are different from the world.  And so we should be in many regards.  The world does not know how to worship God.  Only the Holy Spirit can teach us that.  And how?  How does the Holy Spirit teach us how to worship?  Well, clearly, he teaches us the gospel.  He teaches us what Christ has done to free us from the sin we commit by nature.  He teaches us what Christ has done to give you a peaceful conscience toward God who sees your desires and sees what you do not want others to know.  But this Holy Spirit does not speak on his own.  He is not a rogue god who comes to condemn you.  Rather he is the gracious God whom you have come to know.  He speaks what he hears.  He speaks what you hear.  He speaks and persuaded and convinces you through the words that he has inspired.  And this is how he leads us into all truth.  He leads us to Jesus.  He takes what belongs to Jesus and declares it to us.  This is what Jesus promised.  And so it is this which the Holy Spirit declares that we also declare in all we do.  These are the praises of God.  No greater praise is there than faith.  So no greater song can there be than the song that confesses what Christ has done, and that serves also to strengthen our reliance together on the forgiveness and life which he has won. 

We want our praises to be spiritual.  We want our preaching and our teaching and all our encouragement between brethren to be spiritual, right?  Of course we do!  In our Gospel lesson, Jesus teaches us what is spiritual.  The world knows nothing about spirituality.  Jesus teaches us what the Spirit does – there is spirituality.  Jesus teaches how the Spirit interacts with the world that does not by nature know God.  And because the world does not by nature know God, there are three things that summarize what they need to be convicted of: ⁽¹⁾ sin, ⁽²⁾ righteousness, and ⁽³⁾ judgment. 

To convict is really the same word as to convince.  The Holy Spirit convinces the world that it is wrong about certain things, and that he is right. 

First, the world is wrong about sin.  But God is right.  The world sees sin merely as the naughty things that people do.  Murder, adultery, theft – these things are sins.  Even the natural man can figure this out.  But the Holy Spirit convicts the world of sin not by exposing its inability to know the basic distinction between right from wrong.  No, he convicts them of sin, as Jesus says, because they don’t believe in Jesus.  Unbelief is the root of all sin.  So when we rest secure and are satisfied with our lives because no sin can be seen in us, this is nothing more than a manifestation of unbelief.  Why does the world sing about fornication as a good thing?  Why does the world make exceptions for murder when political interests are at stake, or because babies and handicapped people are so inconvenient?  It is because they do not understand the true depths of their wickedness.  Yet, dear Christians we have been taught, because Jesus knows.  He bore it in his body and soul.  The world, although knowing the outward appearance of sin, does not accept him who bore theirs.  Unless they see in Jesus the need for their own salvation and mercy from God, they won’t know the first thing about sin.  The Holy Spirit convicts them, saying, “I am right and you are wrong.”   

We pray is Psalm 19: “Who can understand his errors?  Cleanse me from secret faults.”  And so he does.  He does by teaching us who has borne all sin and who now sits in the secret place of God’s right hand – even the sin that we in our weakness cannot understand. 

Second, the world is wrong about righteousness.  Like with sin, the world sees righteousness as an outward expression of good.  And the world produces its fair amount of good deeds.  Not all charities are Christian.  Even non-Christians condemn acts of genocide and religious persecution and offer assistance to those who are suffering.  Even the natural man is able to make a vow and keep it.  But the natural man thinks that this is the righteousness that avails before God.  Because they do not see the true nature of their sin, they do not see the true righteousness that God requires. 

The Spirit of God convicts the world of righteousness because Jesus goes to the Father and we see him no more.  This means that true righteousness is hidden from sight.  It isn’t in the good that we see.  It isn’t in the virtues that poets write songs about.  It is revealed only in the word of Christ who teaches us where our righteousness is found – repeatedly he teaches us and he doesn’t want us to stop singing about it.  Our righteousness is always outside of us.  It is in Christ who stands before the Father pleading for us – not because the Father is reluctant and needs persuading.  No, but because he is pleased with us on account of what Christ has fulfilled. 

Look at what you cannot see.  Look at what God sees.  See the perfect life of Jesus lived out on earth as your Substitute.  This is why Jesus was born.  This is why he willingly humbled himself under the law that condemned you.  His aim from eternity was to give to you what you could not give yourself.  So do not look for what you need inside or in your outward works.  Don’t try to persuade yourself; rather, present your righteous deeds as a sacrifice of gratitude to God who in mercy covers your sin and clothes you in the perfect obedience of his Son.  The world is content with what they see.  We’re not.  They are wrong.  The Holy Spirit is right.  He has convinced us. 

Finally, the world is wrong about judgment.  This is why they judge us.  This is why we are persecuted and hated.  We claim the righteousness of Christ when we stand before the judgment of the law of God which every man has some inkling of.  We point to Christ who bore our sin which every sinner has some inkling of.  We scoff at the devil whose lies have been rebuked by the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, which lies the world is completely consumed by.  We sing of what God has done in Christ to reconcile us to himself and we boast of God’s divine approval.  Who do we think we are?  And so we are judged.  We are judged by those who trust in their own righteousness and who resent our confidence and our joyful singing – not because it sounds so pretty, but because we speak what God has given us to speak and we encourage one another as sinners with the mercy that the world does not believe it needs.  We are judged by those who trust in themselves, and by those near you who may be able to poke holes in your righteousness and point out that you are sinners no less than they.  But they do the devil’s work – the ruler of this world. 

What they need to know, and what we have been convinced of is that the devil is judged.  And we are not.  That’s why we sing it as openly as we sing about everything else God has taught us! 

This world’s prince may still
Scowl fierce as he will. 
He can harm us none. 
He’s judged; the deed is done. 
One little word can fell him. 

And so this little word remains our refuge; this little word remains the content of our every sermon, our every word of encouragement to a brother who is struggling with a sin, our every song.  We sing it.  We sing of Christ who has borne our sin.  We sing of Christ who now sits at the right hand of the Father showing the righteousness that is already ours in Baptism.  And we sing of the judgment of the devil since in his judgment we have freedom while we live on earth, and eternal salvation and honor when we rest in our graves and are finally raised to Christ when he calls us forth to life.  This is the song that cannot get old.  It is new.  It is eternally new, dear Christians.  And God tells us to sing it because he loves us.  Therefore we pray:

Lord, I will sing, while I am living,
Thy goodness forth with every breath
And greet each morning with thanksgiving
Until my heart is still in death;
Yea, when at last my lips grow cold,
Thy praise shall in my sighs be told.  Amen.