Easter 7 – Exaudi May 29, 2022
John 15:26-16:4
Witness...to Whom?
v.26 But when the Paraclete comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, He will bear witness about Me.
For Alleluia! Christ the Lord is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia! Dear friends in Christ, today we celebrate Armed Forces Day in our country. A day which honours those who have the difficult vocation of soldier. Soldiers—both yesterday and today—each have a job to perform. Everyone in the unit is carefully instructed as to his or her assigned task, and they are to carry it out to the very best of their abilities. Well today, we are also going to hear of a very special job description—one given by Jesus Himself.
Once again, the context for this morning’s sermon are words spoken by Jesus to His disciples on the very night in which He would be betrayed and then led to suffer and die in agony for the sins of the world. Therefore, let us take careful notice of what He has to say. He speaks to His disciples of One who is to come—who is sent and proceeds both from Him (Jesus, the Son) as well as the Father. And He is sent with a very specific job to do—indeed, one particular thing that is of utmost importance—bearing witness of Jesus.
Why? Why send the Spirit with such a seemingly narrow and somewhat small job to do? Jesus speaks prophetically here as the all-knowing God. He knows what the disciples will face in the days, weeks, months, and years to come. He knows that it will not be easy. He knows, rather, that it will be extremely difficult—incredibly difficult—for them to stay faithful—to “not fall away.” For “They will put you out of the synagogues. Indeed, the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God.” Excommunication—being thrown out of the church—being hunted down like criminals—being tortured and put to death—these are the things that await the disciples of Jesus Christ. Both then...and now.
For we, too, daily face persecution for our faith. We, too, daily do battle against the devil and the world as they seek to tempt us away from the truth in Christ Jesus. Indeed, the life of the Christian is never mentioned as one that is going to be easy. Quite to the contrary! It will be difficult. It will be hard. There will be times when you will be tempted—oh, so sorely tempted—to just be done with it—wash your hands and give in to the pressures around you—to forsake the truth and the doctrine that you have been taught. It is easier to go with the crowd. It is easier to be silent—to not speak out against sin—it is easier to ignore sin and simply live and let live. “Oh, you want to go to heaven, but not believe in Jesus? You want to live your life devoted to money, sex, power, pleasure, etc.? Well, that’s OK. Different strokes for different folks, as they say.”
It is hard dear friends to stand and fight for what is right. To take a stand on clear Biblical teaching. To proclaim Jesus Christ alone as Lord and Saviour. To call a spade a spade and sin, sin. And it is made even more difficult when we are surrounded by an unbelieving world that bombards us and assaults us to give in to the idolatry of tolerance—to accept sin without judgement. It is made harder by the devil who constantly seeks to bring us down—to lead us to despair—for he accuses us of our own sin and lays before us the threats and just judgements of God against our sin.
No, indeed, we cannot stand and fight alone. We cannot wage war against the raging of the devil and the world and expect to bear up under such attacks, let alone win! We need someone on our side. We need someone to fight for us.
Therefore, Jesus says, “when the Paraclete comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, He will bear witness about Me.” The Paraclete—the Advocate—the Holy Spirit—pleads with God—intercedes with Him—for those miserable sinners like you and me who are guilty and afflicted with sin. What is more, He has a job to do...a very specific task. He constantly testifies to us of Jesus—who He is and what He has done in bearing our just punishment in His own innocent flesh upon the cross—dying our death—and granting us pardon and peace with God with a life that will never end.
As the Spirit of truth renews the Word of Christ in our hearts by bearing witness of Jesus, He gives us strength and courage to stay the course in the face of the rage of the world and the devil against us. If He were not with us we could not engage in this battle and survive.
For not only is the world against us, but the devil attacks us spiritually as he ever lays our guilt and our sin before us—reminding us of our many failures—our many rejections of God—our many sins against both God and man—and He lays out the penalty for such sin—eternal suffering and death in hell—in order to terrorize our consciences and lead us into despair. He constantly accuses us with what we have done/not done—and what we deserve.
But, thanks be to God, for the work of the Spirit. He who serves as our Advocate/Defender to counteract this demonic terror and grant us comfort and peace. How? Once again, it is by bearing witness about Jesus. He sings the glad news in our hearts through the Word of God’s Gospel and His sacraments that Jesus has borne the just punishment for our guilt and sin—and for His sake God forgives us all our sins and grants us salvation and eternal life.
The Spirit's great work is that He proclaims to you, in the face of the murderous threats of the world and the devil, that Christ is your righteousness—that Jesus is greater than all your sins and those of the whole world. His life and consolation are mightier than your death and hell. In spite of all the devil’s fierce tirades—in spite of all the world’s persecution and hardship and toil—the Spirit makes our hearts so filled with joy and gladness by pointing us to Christ Jesus alone as our Saviour from all sin, death, and hell—that we are made bold and confident and courageous to proclaim Christ no matter what assails us. We fear nothing because our greatest enemies must first conquer Christ before they can touch us and do us harm—and He as broken them!
The Spirit makes us certain and convinced of this truth—pointing us to Jesus and all He has done. This is the work of the Spirit. Indeed, this is rightly spoken of as the Spirit’s sermon—the bearing witness of—the testifying of—Jesus. He does not speak of Himself. He speaks only of Jesus—Jesus’ perfect life lived without sin in our place—Jesus’ vicarious death that He suffered on the cross for our sins—and Jesus’ glorious resurrection from the dead in victory over your sin and death to give you life. That is the Spirit’s joy—that is the Spirit’s primary task—to point sinners like you and me to Jesus. To show us His blood and righteousness that has bought us salvation.
So, dear friends, it is also the Spirit who, as He shows you Jesus, will make you bold proclaimers and confessors who will tell and testify of Jesus and all that He has done. Just as the Spirit does not speak of Himself, but of Christ—so we too, do not speak of our own deeds or life as the Gospel—we do not point people to ourselves—but only to Christ Jesus. His blood. His righteousness. His mercy and salvation that has earned us forgiveness and eternity in heaven.
Indeed, when we speak of witnessing—we always mean it in reference to the Gospel of Jesus—what He has done. Indeed, the Apostle John in his writings, whenever he uses this term, uses it in reference to the person of Jesus as the eternal Son of God, the incarnate Word, who is Truth. Therefore, to give witness to the truth is to witness to Jesus. Witness in John is synonymous with confession. Those who bear witness of Jesus, confess Jesus—both as God and Lord and as Saviour from all sin and death. In His bloody cross He has bought you and redeemed you. So that now, whatever may trouble you, whatever may cause you harm—it is all taken care of, and finds its answer in—Jesus. He who is your Light and your Life. He who sacrificed Himself for your sake. He who is your everything.
The Spirit grows the church of Christ by pointing people to Jesus. The Spirit saves by witnessing to Jesus, in Word and Sacrament giving us—pouring into us—the very lifeblood and forgiveness and mercy of Christ. He even goes so far as to use sinful human beings like you and me to witness to Christ and what He has done as is revealed to us in Holy Scripture. Made bold by the Spirit—we too bear witness to Jesus amidst all sorts of trying circumstances—be it illness, hardship, persecution, danger, etc.—we confess Christ and Him crucified as our salvation and life. Let’s talk about Him, now and always. For Alleluia! Christ the Lord is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia! Thanks be to God in Christ Jesus. Amen.
John 15:26-16:4
Witness...to Whom?
v.26 But when the Paraclete comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, He will bear witness about Me.
For Alleluia! Christ the Lord is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia! Dear friends in Christ, today we celebrate Armed Forces Day in our country. A day which honours those who have the difficult vocation of soldier. Soldiers—both yesterday and today—each have a job to perform. Everyone in the unit is carefully instructed as to his or her assigned task, and they are to carry it out to the very best of their abilities. Well today, we are also going to hear of a very special job description—one given by Jesus Himself.
Once again, the context for this morning’s sermon are words spoken by Jesus to His disciples on the very night in which He would be betrayed and then led to suffer and die in agony for the sins of the world. Therefore, let us take careful notice of what He has to say. He speaks to His disciples of One who is to come—who is sent and proceeds both from Him (Jesus, the Son) as well as the Father. And He is sent with a very specific job to do—indeed, one particular thing that is of utmost importance—bearing witness of Jesus.
Why? Why send the Spirit with such a seemingly narrow and somewhat small job to do? Jesus speaks prophetically here as the all-knowing God. He knows what the disciples will face in the days, weeks, months, and years to come. He knows that it will not be easy. He knows, rather, that it will be extremely difficult—incredibly difficult—for them to stay faithful—to “not fall away.” For “They will put you out of the synagogues. Indeed, the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God.” Excommunication—being thrown out of the church—being hunted down like criminals—being tortured and put to death—these are the things that await the disciples of Jesus Christ. Both then...and now.
For we, too, daily face persecution for our faith. We, too, daily do battle against the devil and the world as they seek to tempt us away from the truth in Christ Jesus. Indeed, the life of the Christian is never mentioned as one that is going to be easy. Quite to the contrary! It will be difficult. It will be hard. There will be times when you will be tempted—oh, so sorely tempted—to just be done with it—wash your hands and give in to the pressures around you—to forsake the truth and the doctrine that you have been taught. It is easier to go with the crowd. It is easier to be silent—to not speak out against sin—it is easier to ignore sin and simply live and let live. “Oh, you want to go to heaven, but not believe in Jesus? You want to live your life devoted to money, sex, power, pleasure, etc.? Well, that’s OK. Different strokes for different folks, as they say.”
It is hard dear friends to stand and fight for what is right. To take a stand on clear Biblical teaching. To proclaim Jesus Christ alone as Lord and Saviour. To call a spade a spade and sin, sin. And it is made even more difficult when we are surrounded by an unbelieving world that bombards us and assaults us to give in to the idolatry of tolerance—to accept sin without judgement. It is made harder by the devil who constantly seeks to bring us down—to lead us to despair—for he accuses us of our own sin and lays before us the threats and just judgements of God against our sin.
No, indeed, we cannot stand and fight alone. We cannot wage war against the raging of the devil and the world and expect to bear up under such attacks, let alone win! We need someone on our side. We need someone to fight for us.
Therefore, Jesus says, “when the Paraclete comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, He will bear witness about Me.” The Paraclete—the Advocate—the Holy Spirit—pleads with God—intercedes with Him—for those miserable sinners like you and me who are guilty and afflicted with sin. What is more, He has a job to do...a very specific task. He constantly testifies to us of Jesus—who He is and what He has done in bearing our just punishment in His own innocent flesh upon the cross—dying our death—and granting us pardon and peace with God with a life that will never end.
As the Spirit of truth renews the Word of Christ in our hearts by bearing witness of Jesus, He gives us strength and courage to stay the course in the face of the rage of the world and the devil against us. If He were not with us we could not engage in this battle and survive.
For not only is the world against us, but the devil attacks us spiritually as he ever lays our guilt and our sin before us—reminding us of our many failures—our many rejections of God—our many sins against both God and man—and He lays out the penalty for such sin—eternal suffering and death in hell—in order to terrorize our consciences and lead us into despair. He constantly accuses us with what we have done/not done—and what we deserve.
But, thanks be to God, for the work of the Spirit. He who serves as our Advocate/Defender to counteract this demonic terror and grant us comfort and peace. How? Once again, it is by bearing witness about Jesus. He sings the glad news in our hearts through the Word of God’s Gospel and His sacraments that Jesus has borne the just punishment for our guilt and sin—and for His sake God forgives us all our sins and grants us salvation and eternal life.
The Spirit's great work is that He proclaims to you, in the face of the murderous threats of the world and the devil, that Christ is your righteousness—that Jesus is greater than all your sins and those of the whole world. His life and consolation are mightier than your death and hell. In spite of all the devil’s fierce tirades—in spite of all the world’s persecution and hardship and toil—the Spirit makes our hearts so filled with joy and gladness by pointing us to Christ Jesus alone as our Saviour from all sin, death, and hell—that we are made bold and confident and courageous to proclaim Christ no matter what assails us. We fear nothing because our greatest enemies must first conquer Christ before they can touch us and do us harm—and He as broken them!
The Spirit makes us certain and convinced of this truth—pointing us to Jesus and all He has done. This is the work of the Spirit. Indeed, this is rightly spoken of as the Spirit’s sermon—the bearing witness of—the testifying of—Jesus. He does not speak of Himself. He speaks only of Jesus—Jesus’ perfect life lived without sin in our place—Jesus’ vicarious death that He suffered on the cross for our sins—and Jesus’ glorious resurrection from the dead in victory over your sin and death to give you life. That is the Spirit’s joy—that is the Spirit’s primary task—to point sinners like you and me to Jesus. To show us His blood and righteousness that has bought us salvation.
So, dear friends, it is also the Spirit who, as He shows you Jesus, will make you bold proclaimers and confessors who will tell and testify of Jesus and all that He has done. Just as the Spirit does not speak of Himself, but of Christ—so we too, do not speak of our own deeds or life as the Gospel—we do not point people to ourselves—but only to Christ Jesus. His blood. His righteousness. His mercy and salvation that has earned us forgiveness and eternity in heaven.
Indeed, when we speak of witnessing—we always mean it in reference to the Gospel of Jesus—what He has done. Indeed, the Apostle John in his writings, whenever he uses this term, uses it in reference to the person of Jesus as the eternal Son of God, the incarnate Word, who is Truth. Therefore, to give witness to the truth is to witness to Jesus. Witness in John is synonymous with confession. Those who bear witness of Jesus, confess Jesus—both as God and Lord and as Saviour from all sin and death. In His bloody cross He has bought you and redeemed you. So that now, whatever may trouble you, whatever may cause you harm—it is all taken care of, and finds its answer in—Jesus. He who is your Light and your Life. He who sacrificed Himself for your sake. He who is your everything.
The Spirit grows the church of Christ by pointing people to Jesus. The Spirit saves by witnessing to Jesus, in Word and Sacrament giving us—pouring into us—the very lifeblood and forgiveness and mercy of Christ. He even goes so far as to use sinful human beings like you and me to witness to Christ and what He has done as is revealed to us in Holy Scripture. Made bold by the Spirit—we too bear witness to Jesus amidst all sorts of trying circumstances—be it illness, hardship, persecution, danger, etc.—we confess Christ and Him crucified as our salvation and life. Let’s talk about Him, now and always. For Alleluia! Christ the Lord is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia! Thanks be to God in Christ Jesus. Amen.