7th Sunday of Easter 6/5/11 John 17:1-11
Seventh Sunday of Easter
6/5/11
John 17:1-11
Title: For You
My dear brothers and sisters in Christ we are between two significant events, the Ascension of Jesus which we celebrated last Thursday and the giving of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost which we will celebrate next Sunday. In these two events we see the birth of the Christian Church
Jesus the God-man has physically left the world. He has returned to his heavenly Father. So while this Gospel reading for today which is part of Jesus’ “high priestly prayer” takes place just before Jesus achieves his glory on the cross. It is still an appropriate a prayer for, as we read in verse 11 “I am no longer in the world, but yet they are in the world.
It would help to better understand the Gospel reading for today, if you knew what Jesus had said before he says what we are reading today. The prayer is long and for the sake of time I am going to read only the last two verses. “The hour is coming, indeed it has come, when you will be scattered, each one to his home, and you will leave me alone. Yet I am not alone because the Father is with me. I have said this to you, so that in me you may have peace. In the world you face persecution. But take courage; I have conquered the world!"
“Take courage, for I have conquered the world!” What wonderful words of comfort for us today as we live in a world that at times appears to becoming more and more dangerous.
We, like the disciples that day are those who are left in the world. Being in the world is very problematic for us, for we have learned that to live in this world we need to take control of our lives or someone else will do it for us. We certainly don’t want to have someone else be in control of our lives; even if that person is God in the person of Jesus.
To turn over one’s life to God, even when we know it is the right thing to do, is asking too much. It can be downright scary. What if God does not do right by us or give us what we believe we deserve? Or leads we somewhere we don’t want to go. Nope, it is better to be in control of ourselves and everything else around us.
Thinking that we are in control of our lives is one of the bigger lies Satan tells us, as he leverages that lie off of our pride. Think about it. How many of you are in control of your life and surroundings right now? There might be a few of you that think you are, but it will not last long. It just does not happen. We can’t even control our own behavior all the time much less our environment, our friends, and loved ones. I don’t know why we think we control everything else.
Most of us, if not all of us, in some fashion or other are such control freaks that even when God comes to us, in the person of Jesus we quite often will not give up control. If we don’t like where Jesus is leading us we go ahead and jump ship at the first sign of trouble like taking a stand for Jesus.
We are certainly not alone in thinking this way, for the disciples did not know the ways of God either and so they scattered before Jesus’ crucifixion. We scatter too when we are asked to share the Word of God with those who are lost, who are hurting. Just bring up the subject of outreach and the room grows quiet, palms get sweaty, and the pews empty.
Why is that? It really is quite simple. We just don’t know God’s Word well enough to trust in him, the God-man who conquered the world in his death and resurrection, to let him take control of our lives.
To do what God tells us we are to do because we are his might embarrass or inconvenience us, or heaven forbid cause us to give up control of our lives. That just does not work for us. How much is Jesus going to ask me to do? And this turning over our entire life to him; it is too much. Secretly in our little black hearts we think Jesus ought to be thankful that we come to worship him for an hour or so on Sunday morning, for after all most of the world does not do that. Come on Jesus give us a break here.
That unfortunately is what most Christians do and think. To go out of our way or to give sacrificially is too much to ask and so when we are asked to do what God has given his Christian Church to do we scatter like the disciples did that evening when Jesus was arrested and condemned to die.
We scatter and therein lies the problem, for as verse 3 of our Gospel lesson tells us this morning, “And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent."
To know God and Jesus is to have eternal life, thus to not know God and Jesus is not to have eternal life. That is a tough way to live, for the world is, as some of you are well aware of a tough place to live on your own much less apart from God.
My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, Jesus has conquered the world! He has been given the authority to control our lives, for in his suffering and death he has reconnected us to God, restoring our relationship with God. We are in good hands, hands which are marked with the scars of the spikes driven through his flesh.
Early I had said that after the Ascension of Jesus you could say that he has physically left the world, but as Lutheran Christians we know that he has not left us alone. He has left us with the Holy Spirit and his very body and blood in his Supper.
We know Jesus, the Truth, the Life, and the Way because Jesus gave us the words, “This is my body given for you. This is my blood shed for you.” This is not some symbolic giving of his body and blood, but an actual giving that we cannot fully understand but true never the less because Jesus said them.
These gifts of Jesus are not for some future world, but for us in this world who truly believe that he does give of himself in the Supper, for our forgiveness, salvation, and eternal life.
As I am drawing near the end of my sermon it is appropriate that we look at the end of this section of God’s High Priestly prayer where we hear Jesus speak "Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one."
That verse reminds me of a song by John Lennon titled Imagine. In that song even though John Lennon was not a Christian he says, he is dreaming of a time where everyone is living as one. Sounds great doesn’t it? We would like living as one wouldn’t we? Of course we would. Who wouldn’t?
While it is impossible for us who are living in an upside down world riddled with sin and evil to ever be one it is not impossible for those living in the right side up world of Christ to become one because through his life, death, and resurrection Jesus made it happen.
God through the work of the Holy Spirit enables us to live as one, as God the Father and Jesus are one. When we trust God and know that we are his, (our baptism reminds us of that) we live as one with God and with one another.
That means we can have peace, for those threats from the world are not more powerful than the Conqueror of this world who guarantees our protection and thus we no longer have to be in control.
It is okay to let God take over our lives, for he has conquered sin, death, and the devil. Let us join together in this community we call Saint John, living our lives in God’s love and grace. Amen.
6/5/11
John 17:1-11
Title: For You
My dear brothers and sisters in Christ we are between two significant events, the Ascension of Jesus which we celebrated last Thursday and the giving of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost which we will celebrate next Sunday. In these two events we see the birth of the Christian Church
Jesus the God-man has physically left the world. He has returned to his heavenly Father. So while this Gospel reading for today which is part of Jesus’ “high priestly prayer” takes place just before Jesus achieves his glory on the cross. It is still an appropriate a prayer for, as we read in verse 11 “I am no longer in the world, but yet they are in the world.
It would help to better understand the Gospel reading for today, if you knew what Jesus had said before he says what we are reading today. The prayer is long and for the sake of time I am going to read only the last two verses. “The hour is coming, indeed it has come, when you will be scattered, each one to his home, and you will leave me alone. Yet I am not alone because the Father is with me. I have said this to you, so that in me you may have peace. In the world you face persecution. But take courage; I have conquered the world!"
“Take courage, for I have conquered the world!” What wonderful words of comfort for us today as we live in a world that at times appears to becoming more and more dangerous.
We, like the disciples that day are those who are left in the world. Being in the world is very problematic for us, for we have learned that to live in this world we need to take control of our lives or someone else will do it for us. We certainly don’t want to have someone else be in control of our lives; even if that person is God in the person of Jesus.
To turn over one’s life to God, even when we know it is the right thing to do, is asking too much. It can be downright scary. What if God does not do right by us or give us what we believe we deserve? Or leads we somewhere we don’t want to go. Nope, it is better to be in control of ourselves and everything else around us.
Thinking that we are in control of our lives is one of the bigger lies Satan tells us, as he leverages that lie off of our pride. Think about it. How many of you are in control of your life and surroundings right now? There might be a few of you that think you are, but it will not last long. It just does not happen. We can’t even control our own behavior all the time much less our environment, our friends, and loved ones. I don’t know why we think we control everything else.
Most of us, if not all of us, in some fashion or other are such control freaks that even when God comes to us, in the person of Jesus we quite often will not give up control. If we don’t like where Jesus is leading us we go ahead and jump ship at the first sign of trouble like taking a stand for Jesus.
We are certainly not alone in thinking this way, for the disciples did not know the ways of God either and so they scattered before Jesus’ crucifixion. We scatter too when we are asked to share the Word of God with those who are lost, who are hurting. Just bring up the subject of outreach and the room grows quiet, palms get sweaty, and the pews empty.
Why is that? It really is quite simple. We just don’t know God’s Word well enough to trust in him, the God-man who conquered the world in his death and resurrection, to let him take control of our lives.
To do what God tells us we are to do because we are his might embarrass or inconvenience us, or heaven forbid cause us to give up control of our lives. That just does not work for us. How much is Jesus going to ask me to do? And this turning over our entire life to him; it is too much. Secretly in our little black hearts we think Jesus ought to be thankful that we come to worship him for an hour or so on Sunday morning, for after all most of the world does not do that. Come on Jesus give us a break here.
That unfortunately is what most Christians do and think. To go out of our way or to give sacrificially is too much to ask and so when we are asked to do what God has given his Christian Church to do we scatter like the disciples did that evening when Jesus was arrested and condemned to die.
We scatter and therein lies the problem, for as verse 3 of our Gospel lesson tells us this morning, “And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent."
To know God and Jesus is to have eternal life, thus to not know God and Jesus is not to have eternal life. That is a tough way to live, for the world is, as some of you are well aware of a tough place to live on your own much less apart from God.
My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, Jesus has conquered the world! He has been given the authority to control our lives, for in his suffering and death he has reconnected us to God, restoring our relationship with God. We are in good hands, hands which are marked with the scars of the spikes driven through his flesh.
Early I had said that after the Ascension of Jesus you could say that he has physically left the world, but as Lutheran Christians we know that he has not left us alone. He has left us with the Holy Spirit and his very body and blood in his Supper.
We know Jesus, the Truth, the Life, and the Way because Jesus gave us the words, “This is my body given for you. This is my blood shed for you.” This is not some symbolic giving of his body and blood, but an actual giving that we cannot fully understand but true never the less because Jesus said them.
These gifts of Jesus are not for some future world, but for us in this world who truly believe that he does give of himself in the Supper, for our forgiveness, salvation, and eternal life.
As I am drawing near the end of my sermon it is appropriate that we look at the end of this section of God’s High Priestly prayer where we hear Jesus speak "Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one."
That verse reminds me of a song by John Lennon titled Imagine. In that song even though John Lennon was not a Christian he says, he is dreaming of a time where everyone is living as one. Sounds great doesn’t it? We would like living as one wouldn’t we? Of course we would. Who wouldn’t?
While it is impossible for us who are living in an upside down world riddled with sin and evil to ever be one it is not impossible for those living in the right side up world of Christ to become one because through his life, death, and resurrection Jesus made it happen.
God through the work of the Holy Spirit enables us to live as one, as God the Father and Jesus are one. When we trust God and know that we are his, (our baptism reminds us of that) we live as one with God and with one another.
That means we can have peace, for those threats from the world are not more powerful than the Conqueror of this world who guarantees our protection and thus we no longer have to be in control.
It is okay to let God take over our lives, for he has conquered sin, death, and the devil. Let us join together in this community we call Saint John, living our lives in God’s love and grace. Amen.
posted by Pastor Rhoads | 12:37 PM
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