Pentecost

John14:23-31 - Pentecost — Confirmation - May 24, 2015
The Spirit of truth

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“If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:31-32). 

Keidyne, this is your confirmation verse.  I chose it for you because I have taught you the truth from God’s word; because you have learned the truth as it is laid out in Luther’s Small Catechism; and because this morning you will confess that you believe this truth to be the only thing that saves you and gives you eternal salvation.  It is a beautiful passage of Scripture.  And the word truth itself is also a beautiful word that should ring sweet in our ears.  In Greek, the word even has a beautiful sound to it: ἀλήθεια.  In your confirmation verse, Jesus uses this word ἀλήθεια three times.  You wouldn’t notice it right away because of how it’s translated into English.  But we could also say it like this: “If you abide in My word, you are truly My disciples, and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”  

Pentecost

John 14:23-31 - Pentecost - May 19, 2013 

The Holy Spirit Clears Confusion by Giving Peace with the Father through Jesus Christ

After God had rescued Noah and his family from the destruction of the flood, God told Noah and his children to spread out and fill the whole earth.  They didn’t.  Admittedly, they couldn’t have done so right away — and God didn’t expect them to.  It would take a few generations for three women to have enough children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren to begin filling the earth.  They’d have to wait for God to bless them.  Well, their numbers grew.  They had big families.  God told them to be fruitful and multiply.  And they did, because God blessed them.  But instead of looking at their increase as a blessing come down from God, they looked at their increase as something to raise up to God, to show Him what they had become.  They got it all backwards.  They were proud.  And in their pride, instead of spreading out, like God told them to, they settled in the valley of Shinar and sought to make a name for themselves. 

The reason God gave them children was in order that He might bless their children. 

Pentecost

John 14:23-31 - Pentecost - May 27, 2012 

Keeping Jesus’ Words

When you can’t understand another person’s language, there is very little from that person that you can learn.  Once you understand the language, the learning can begin.  But what do you learn?  A few years ago, Monica and I and our son James spent ten months in Germany.  I was there as a student of theology, but I spent most of my time trying to learn as much of the language as I could.  Although I was still very far from mastering the language, I do remember the first day in Germany that I was able to completely understand a long, compound German sentence.  For weeks I had been listening in the classroom, and concentrating so hard, trying to catch as many words as possible.  When I finally understood, I was so proud and excited at my progress, that with a big smile on my face, and sitting high in my chair, I could hardly contain my delight.  It was one of the most beautiful things I had ever heard, for no other reason than that I could finally understand it – I had figured it out! 

Here’s an English translation of what my professor said that made me so happy: “In my personal opinion, there’s nothing wrong with ordaining women as pastors.”  He continued, “Those passages in Scripture, where the Apostle Paul said that women cannot be pastors no longer apply to us today because Paul wasn’t aware of our contemporary situation.”  My professor was wrong.  What he said was contrary to the word of God.  And yet it made me happy simply to understand what he said.   Now, although there is satisfaction in figuring things out, there’s not much benefit to understanding something, if what you learn by it is not true.  But that’s life. Typically, we have to figure things out and come to understand them before we are able to determine whether or not they are reliable.