Sermon Tone Analysis

Regeneration

Many unregenerate men consider themselves to be God’s children, or “sons of God.”

But being a product of God’s handiwork does not qualify one for a sonship relationship.

A cabinetmaker constructs a cabinet.

But this does not make the cabinet a “child” of the cabinetmaker.

A birth process would be necessary for this.

The unregenerate man who claims sonship with God “because he made me” is basing his claim merely on the fact that he is a product of God’s handiwork.

Like the cabinet, he lacks the new birth necessary for a sonship relationship.

[5] The Third Article: On Being Made Holy56

I believe in the Holy Spirit, one holy Christian church, the community of the saints, forgiveness of sins, resurrection of the flesh, and eternal life.

Amen.

[6] What is this?

Answer:

I believe that by my own understanding or strength I cannot believe in Jesus Christ my LORD or come to him, but instead the Holy Spirit has called me through the gospel, enlightened me with his gifts, made me holy and kept me in the true faith, just as he calls, gathers, enlightens, and makes holy the whole Christian church on earth and keeps it with Jesus Christ in the one common, true faith.

Daily in this Christian church the Holy Spirit abundantly forgives all sins—mine and those of all believers.

On the Last Day the Holy Spirit will raise me and all the dead and will give to me and all believers in Christ eternal life.

This is most certainly true.

Blessed Lord, You have caused all Holy Scriptures to be written for our learning.

Grant that we may so hear them, read, mark, learn, and take them to heart that, by the patience and comfort of Your holy Word, we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life.

… through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.

Today’s Gospel text has a combination of things that are familiar and alien.

On the one hand, we puzzle over what does it mean to “ascend into heaven?”

How does the next moment after THE MOMENT look and feel?

On the other hand, is so familiar that even many of us who don’t have the foggiest idea what to do in a church setting know the words of like it is our life verse - and for some of you, maybe it is.

In a world where “love” means everything and not much of anything, what does it mean to say that “God so loved the world?”

I want to know what love is in a world where people can be lonely in a crowded setting.

We live in a time when you can sit at a table with someone and be totally oblivious to their presence while simultaneously having an intense conversation with someone whom you have never met.

Willa Banks, on this earth, was a baptized and confirmed Christian who worshipped with her Christian brothers and sisters here at St. John’s.

She raised her children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.

She regularly assembled with her fellow believers to confess her sin and hear the gracious forgiveness of the Lord with her own ears.

She knew that Christ died for her, and taught her daughters to know that truth as well.

Now, she receives the eternal life that was promised to her by Christ in today’s Gospel text.

Today, Willa Banks rests without fear or torment.

Today, Willa Banks is safe in His arms.

These words, spoken prophetically to the nation of Israel by Isaiah, were fulfilled in and by Jesus Christ.

Jesus, the Word of God, the expression of God, took flesh, became man, the second Adam, and the true Israel.

What the nation was by declaration but failed to fulfill, the Word of God became and fulfilled.

The Son of God became the Servant of the Lord who did not fear death, anymore than He feared the rejection of the powerful, the elite, or even those whom He loved, in order that He could accomplish the task to which He had been assigned by the Father.

God revealed to us in the Holy Scriptures that this same Jesus whom “the builders rejected,” by His suffering and death on the cross, and His resurrection from the dead, had become the head of the corner, the chief cornerstone.

God revealed it to us so that we could receive it by faith, not only the fact of the act, but the reality of the promise.

In this world Willa Banks trusted in that promise, and now she rests in it.

This also is revealed to us in God’s Holy Word.

Willa’s sins were atoned for by Christ’s death, as were yours, for God declared in His word in ,

That Christ’s act of atonement takes precedence over our decision to receive it or rejected is clear, for as it is written in Romans 5:10,

Neither God the Father nor God the Son asked your permission or sought your approval before He reconciled you to Himself.

This is what Lutherans mean by the words, “Objective Atonement.”

the act of atonement by God took place with you as its object, in the fullness of time, and was presented to you by the preaching of the Gospel.

Some people wish to say that this is not true, that it is not possible.

Some of you here today might be in that group, which is much to be pitied.

What is even worse, is the fact that the eternal life that Christ purchased for you by His death, that you could receive in Holy Baptism and know by faith, can also be lost by you, with no one but yourself to blame.

God has not left you ignorant of His exceeding great and precious promise.

You knew that Willa trusted in it, she told you of it, and she lived in the light of it before you.

She wasn’t perfect in all of her ways, but she knew that she was forgiven, and she lived as a forgiven child of God.

In so doing, she did nothing that you cannot do, for the same God who was rich in mercy to Willa is rich in mercy towards you.

If you were united to Christ by baptism into His death, but over time turned away form His gracious promise that was made to you on the day of your baptism, today, know that, if you will receive it, you are forgiven so that you can go in peace, to love and serve the Lord, thanks be to God.

If you do not know the peace that God gives to His children in Word and Sacrament, if God’s Word of promise was never joined to you in Holy Baptism, you have been shown mercy by God so that today, having heard this Word, you could also receive its promise.

The waters of baptism are as powerful for you today as they were for Willa, and I am as ready to join you to God’s promise as did my predecessor who did it for Willa so long ago.

But know this - if you turn away today, I cannot promise you that there will be grace available to you tomorrow, for while eternal life is promised to all who believe, tomorrow is not promised to anyone, for, as it is written,

27 And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, 28 so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.

There is no escape from the certainty of the pangs of death, except through the Cross of Jesus Christ.

When you are united to Christ by His baptism, God gives to you what Christ gained for you:

Don’t spend another moment in the grip of condemnation, another moment living in fear, dwelling with doubt, trapped by the sin of unbelief into a future of separation from God for eternity, when God’s hand is open to you today.

As Joshua said the Israel, I set before you today, life and death, blessing and cursing.

Therefore, choose life, that you may live.

Choose the promise of the Gospel, that you may, through baptism, be united to Christ’s death that God may raise you up to newness of life by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Repent of your unbelief, and embrace God’s gracious promise, as Willa has, and let the peace of God, which passes all understanding, guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.