Sermon Tone Analysis

[39] The power of the keys administers and offers the gospel through absolution, which is the true voice of the gospel.

Thus, we also include absolution when we talk about faith, because “faith comes from what is heard,” as Paul says [Rom. 10:17*].

For when the gospel is heard, when absolution is heard, the conscience is uplifted and receives consolation.

[40] Because God truly makes alive through the Word, the keys truly forgive sins before God according to [Luke 10:16*], “Whoever listens to you listens to me.” Therefore we must believe the voice of the one absolving no less than we would believe a voice from heaven.

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.

Amen.

Surrounded by the failures of politics, education, and economics to bring us to a utopian state of mind and community, our neighbors look at the Church as the only entity within our community that claims that God still cares and acts on behalf of humanity, especially when people pray and seek His face.

Therefore, rather than castigating each other for what we don’t have or haven’t accomplished, we should ask Him to supply us with more workers to help, as our Lord directed in this text.

To do that, of course, you have to believe what God’s Word says about prayer:

It’s easy to talk about what’s wrong; so much harder to do what’s right.

It’s the sin within that makes it that way.

If you are a descendant of Adam, you carry within you the effects of the Fall.

Adam sinned, by not believing God’s Word in the face of temptation, and His children have done no better, “for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God” (Rom 3:23).

In our Gospel text, Jesus is a man on a mission.

According to our reading from last Sunday, He is setting His face to go to Jerusalem, “the city of the Great King” (Matt 5:35).

He is going to accomplish His “exodus.”

He is going to fulfill the prophetic Word spoken in the Garden, and born witness to by the generations of those who presented the blood of bulls and goats, sheep and pigeons, that were offered under the Law.

He is going to fulfill what John the Baptist declared concerning Him: “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (Jn 1:29).

Now is not the time for people who only “talk about it.”

He doesn’t need people who will theorize and philosophize about the Kingdom of God.

He isn’t looking for “volunteers,” but for messengers - messengers who will represent Him without doubt, without question.

So He turns away those who offer themselves, why say that they “will follow,” regardless of their profession of loyalty, and sends those who hear His Word and do follow.

The important thing for these 72 messengers is the message.

They are not to be concerned with longevity - as the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said in a famous sermon, “longevity has its place,” - but this is neither the time nor the place to be worried about longevity.

They won’t need travel gear or a big sack of money or spare sandals because they are there for representation, not recreation.

To the people to whom Jesus is sending these messengers, they are the advance elements of the King.

They come to prepare the people for His presence.

They confirm it with tokens of His authority:

They are there to show that the Kingdom of God has come near - not “shall,” but “has.”

They come in peace, not to profit.

They come to serve, not to plunder.

They come in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.

They do not come in their own authority, or by their own power.

Their reputations are not on the line.

They bear the marks of the Lord Jesus.

So what happens to these messengers?

Joy is a fruit of the Spirit, along with love, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, and self-control (Gal 5:22-23).

Joy is also a feeling, an affection, a motivation that, like the others, is the evidence that God is working in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.

The fruit of the Spirit is the outworking of His presence in your life.

It exists in contrast to the works of the flesh, because unlike them, it cannot be produced by you in your own strength.

It can only come to you as a gift from God.

They came with joy because they recognized that what happened with them was not due to them, but to Jesus.

“In Your name,” they confessed, not in their wisdom or skill, but “in Your name” they saw spiritual gifts displayed, they saw the authority of Hell broken, they saw the presence of the Kingdom.

For Jesus, their experience was good, but even more important for them was their knowing of their relationship with Him.

They would not always cast out demons, they would not always heal the sick, but they would always be His.

Whether the ministry is pulsing with activity, or seemingly passive, waiting for the Spirit to lead into the next ministry opportunity, they are His people.

Today, people think that they can organize, publicize, and politicize the coming of the Kingdom, just like those who were not Jesus’ disciples thought then.

Just as the works of the flesh will not produce the fruit of the Spirit, so the ways of the world will not bring about the Kingdom of God.

God’s Kingdom comes God’s way, announced with God’s Word, and confirmed by God’s presence, whether in the person of His Dear Son, or in the Body of Christ, the Bride that says, with the Spirit, “Come.”

Christ came to us, so that we could have fellowship with Him.

He died for us, and rose again, so that we could live in Him, die to sin, and walk in newness of life through the Holy Spirit.

Now, through the Holy Spirit, He pours out His power and promise through His Church, to a world that needs it more than they can ever know.

There is no alternative to God’s plan.

Jesus did not stutter:

As the Mission of God continues, until He returns, the Confessional Evangelical Church of Jesus Christ will be here, in the power of the Holy Spirit, to bear witness to the Gospel of Jesus Christ, to the praise of His glorious grace.

So let the peace of God, that passes all understanding, guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.