Sermon in Minneapolis 11.05.2014

Mercy and peace from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We will begin our service this morning with opening prayer and thanksgiving.

Holy and righteous God, our Heavenly Father, we thank you for this beautiful Sunday, this special day when we remember our mothers. Those that have toiled and sacrificed so much in their lives for the well-being of their children and their families. On this day we want to give them special recognition.

Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you for those many gifts, mothers included, and all of those other temporal things that we can so abundantly enjoy. All of which come from your hand, from above, from the Father of Light. But above all, we thank you for the greatest of gifts, which is indestructible, which is undefiled, and is incorruptible, and it waits for those who are heirs of heaven. This we can own by faith, through the merits of your Son, Jesus Christ, and your love for us. And we thank you for the salvation of our souls.

So dear Heavenly Father, we ask that you would protect us and keep us in this faith. Lead us along the narrow way of life. And today comfort and console us and feed us with your everlasting gospel word, the bread of life, which is from heaven. So we ask all of this in the name of your dear Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

Today is the third Sunday after Easter. And as we heard in that opening song, which was so fittingly chosen for the theme of this day, it is longing for our homeland. I thought for today I would read today's epistle text, which is from Peter's First Epistle, chapter 1, verses 3 through 9. And we will hear these words as follows in Jesus' name.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy has begotten us again unto a lively or a living hope, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is incorruptible, undefiled, and fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time.

Wherein you greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, you are in heaviness through manifold temptations. Let the trial of your faith be much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise, and honor, and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ, whom having not seen you love; in whom though now you see him not, yet believing, you rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory, receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls. Amen.

I wonder if this morning there is anyone who has the name Pete or Peter. This is a biblical name. This is the name of the author of the epistle text that we read this morning. And as most names, this name also has meaning and significance. It comes from the Hebrew word Petros. And we know Peter also by his other name when Jesus was speaking to him on the Sea of Tiberias after the events of Easter. He asked, Simon, son of Jonas, do you love me? Simon was the Greek name for the Hebrew name Simeon. And Jesus was calling him by this other name, Simon, son of Jonas, or son of John, son of Jonathan.

So Peter or Petros, I think I said from the Hebrew language, it comes from the Greek language, has the Hebrew name or the Aramaic name which is Cathus. We know that when Paul writes about the testimony or the proof of the resurrection of Jesus from the grave, he said that he appeared first unto Cathus, which is the Hebrew word or the Aramaic word for Peter or Petros. And this word Peter or Petros means rock or more explicitly, rock or stone.

We know that there is one religion, especially in this world, who wants to exalt Peter to be the first pope and the vicar of Christ here on this earth. And they draw it from that discussion that Jesus had with Peter. When Jesus had asked the disciples that many people think that I am prophet Elijah or prophet Jeremiah, some people think that I am John the Baptist. So there are many opinions of who people think that I am. But you, my disciples, my followers, who do you think, who do you think that I really am? Amidst all of these varying opinions, Peter, who was often quick to respond, was first to answer the question. And he said that you are Christ. You are the son of the living God.

Jesus responded to Peter that you are correct, but your carnal reason and understanding didn't give you this response, but the spirit of my father which is in heaven. But then Jesus goes on to tell Peter that Peter upon this rock. Now it's interesting that the word Peter means rock. So Peter, upon this rock, I will build my church. And that's where one major religion in this world gets this idea that Jesus built his church upon Peter, whose name means rock.

But we don't have this understanding. We believe that Jesus was saying that Peter, that confession that you stated, which is of faith, upon that confession, I will build my church. And he had stated that you are Christ, the son of the living God. And so Paul in one of his letters writes in this way that there is no other foundation, no sure foundation, which is a foundation built of rock, can any man lay, and that foundation is Christ Jesus. So Jesus Christ is that true rock of salvation, that firm and unshakable foundation.

So if we go to the beginning of this letter that the Apostle Peter is here writing, he, as is the custom of that time, begins his letter by first stating who is the sender of the letter. And so he opens up his letter stating who is sending this letter. And he says, I, the sender, am Peter. So Peter, who is an apostle of Jesus Christ. So this word apostle means messenger. And it is one who is acting in full authority for another person.

So Jesus had chosen his twelve disciples, and then later in the broader sense of the word, they used the word apostle, which is messenger. And especially at the time of the early church, an apostle was one who was an eyewitness of Jesus Christ, and especially the resurrected Jesus Christ. So they were considered the ones who had the highest authority regarding doctrine in the tradition of the early church.

But thinking of this word apostle or messenger, one who is acting in authority, authority on the basis of another. We are all apostles. If, for example, you are in a foreign country and you lost your passport and you need to find a replacement. If, for example, you are in Ecuador or happen to be in Finland, and we as Americans have lost our passport, we would go to the American embassy. And there, the ambassador, the representative of the United States, their embassy, would issue you or another American a new replacement passport.

So we are all Christ's ambassadors. As Paul writes to the Corinthians that we are the ambassadors of Christ. So in this sense we are all the apostles of Jesus Christ. We all, by faith, through the Holy Spirit, are fully authorized. We have full authority on behalf of God and His Son Jesus Christ to proclaim that everlasting gospel word.

For there you have given the keys of heaven. For whoever sins they forgive in heaven. Whosoever sins you forgive first of all here on earth they are also forgiven there in heaven.

So Peter is stating who he is and what his title is. My name, the one who is writing and sending this letter, I am Peter. I am an apostle of Jesus Christ. And then he is saying to whom he is addressing or sending this letter. I am sending this letter to the strangers who are scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bethunea.

So he is writing these letters to strangers. If you remember the song number that was just sung, the opening song before the sermon, it speaks to this theme very explicitly and in great detail. So this word stranger also means sojourner. And it comes from a biblical word in the original tongues which has the same meaning as parish.

If you go to Europe, for example, Finland is divided into many different parishes. Each parish has its own church. And the members of or the residents of a certain area belong to that parish, to the church which is in that parish. And so this word means sojourner. Or it means one who is like a stranger, but fixing their gaze toward God who is in heaven.

So we as believers, believers are here upon this earth. And we have no everlasting city. We are just like the writer of the Hebrews speaks of Abraham, that he lived in tents. He was a nomadic person. He had no permanent dwelling place. And he was like a foreigner or a stranger here in this world. But he was longing for, and he was looking forward to that everlasting home there in the glory of heaven, that he hoped to one day reach and attain by faith.

But also thinking of this word stranger, we are like strangers among the world in which we live. And we are believers. And to them, to those on the outside, we are strangers and unknown. They are not of faith. And who knows what kind of reactions, even though most of them, majority of them, almost all of them are very nice and friendly, but they do not recognize us in the eyes of faith. Like we know each other through faith and through the Holy Spirit.

But Paul writes to the Ephesians that we are no more strangers and foreigners. That we have been called from, chosen from the world. We are now members of God's kingdom. And now we are citizens of God's kingdom here upon this earth.

So Peter, the apostle of Jesus Christ, is writing this letter to those who he calls strangers. They may have been unknown to him by faith. Perhaps he had never met them. But they were known through the Spirit. But they were as strangers and unknown to him in a foreign land there in their place of dwelling.

As it says here further that they were scattered. So he is sending this letter to people who are living in many localities. And the word scattered means diaspora. We know that when the Jewish people were exiled from their homes, their homeland there in Israel, they are people who are considered living in diaspora. They were scattered throughout many parts of the world.

So this is the word that Peter is using to describe the recipients of this letter, that they are strangers in that locality where they are living. They are living in diaspora or in other words that they are scattered throughout many different places. They list many different localities, Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bethunia. And these localities all were part of Asia Minor or in other words present day Turkey.

But it's kind of interesting that when the Apostle Paul on his second mission trip was in Asia Minor, he wanted to go to Asia Minor. He went to one of these localities which was Bethunia and he was forbidden to go. And even though Paul was trying to go that direction, he was urged not to go. And then he realized that the doors then opened up to him to go into Europe where he met that woman named Lydia who was selling cloth that was dyed in European. Was it scarlet or purple?

But the reason or the question comes to mind that why was Paul forbidden to go to Bethunia? We don't know for sure, but the assumption is that apparently Peter, after he wrote this epistle, went and visited Bethunia. So it had already been visited by Peter. So then Paul had apparently at that time no need to go to Bethunia and was exhorted to go into Europe, into the city of Philippi.

So Peter now addresses who he is and to who he is sending this letter. And he says, I am sending this letter to who are, and it's a very deep word, the elect, or in other words, those who are chosen. Then he goes on to say, according to, then he says three statements, according to the foreknowledge of God, who is the Father. So he's going to mention the triune God.

They are elect or chosen by God, the Father. They are also chosen or elect by the sanctification, the Spirit was the third person of the Godhead. And then they are chosen or elect by the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ. So he is here mentioning the three persons of the Godhead.

So, first of all, they are elect or they are chosen by God. We know that the nation of Israel was known as the chosen nation of Israel. God's promised nation. As Moses writes in his book of Deuteronomy, he says in this way that you are a people who are holy to the Lord your God. And the Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for his own possession out of all of the peoples that are on the face of the earth.

So for some reason, we don't know why God is omniscient. He's the one who knows everything. He is omnipotent. He is all powerful. God is sovereign. And for some reason or another, which goes beyond our pale, over our carnal reason and understanding, God, for some reason or another, chose this people, this nation, to be his chosen nation.

But unfortunately, this chosen nation of Israel lost that right or opportunity or lost that possession. And Jesus, just before he was captured during his passion week, he said, when he was being interrogated or he gave that farewell speech to the scribes, the elders and the chief priests there in the city of Jerusalem, he said, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you, the Jewish people, and will now be given unto the Gentiles.

So we today, as Gentiles, non-Jews, by faith, are believers, are God's chosen people. And this is a very deep and very profound and a very difficult topic. And that Luther even says of it that there is another portion of scripture which speaks of this election or this topic that he just has to raise his hat and walk by. He doesn't have full understanding of what it really means or what God intends by it.

But this we know that, as Luther writes in his explanation to the third article, that the horse was found by the church will carry the cross on his tricycle. I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ my Lord or come to him. But the Holy Spirit has called me through the gospel, enlightened me with his gifts, sanctified and kept me in the true faith.

So we are like the chosen stones there in the foundation or in the building, the living temple of God. And it is built upon that sure foundation, which is the chief cornerstone. And that chief cornerstone, the builders or the self-righteous leaders had rejected. They had rejected Jesus Christ, who was the chief cornerstone.

So it is God's will that all people would be saved. He doesn't wish that anyone would go on to condemnation and hell. But he has the will to do it. And so we are like the chosen stones there in the foundation. He has ordained those to eternal life who believe.

So we, by faith, through the merits of Christ Jesus, are believers. And by faith, we are then ordained to eternal life, chosen and elect of God. And so this is what it is. And so this is what Peter is here writing, that we are elect according to the foreknowledge of God, the Father, the first person in the Godhead, and then through the sanctification of the Spirit.

And this word sanctification means one who has been separated or called from another group into a special group. And we have been as if marked by God. One old preacher brother in Finland whose favorite pastime was herding reindeer. In Finland, in the northern part of the country, there's many people with large herds of reindeer. And this was his favorite pastime.

So many of his illustrations were often taken from that hobby. And he said that every spring there was a time for reindeer separation. For in the springtime, new calves were born and they weren't branded, so they needed to be marked. And they called this process the sanctification of the reindeer.

So he'd go out there in the herds and find the calves. And he'd go out there and find the calves who belonged to his herd. And then they would mark them by clipping a little chunk out of the ear. That was their way of marking them or branding them. They wouldn't brand those that didn't belong to him.

And so this is kind of an illustration from natural life, telling or illustrating how we are sanctified. We are separated. We have been made holy. We have been called from the world into God's kingdom. And we have been branded. We have been marked. We are known by God to be one of his own. A lamb in the sheepfold of the good shepherd.

So this is what he is saying here. That we are elect according to God the Father. And then we are sanctified. We have been called from the darkness of the world into the kingdom of God's dear Son. How? We have been sanctified through the Spirit. Through the Holy Spirit of God.

And then the third person or the actually the third number three in the Godhead, which is actually two in order, is then we are elect according to the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ.

We know how the offering of sacrifices was a very common occurrence during the Old Testament time. They were sacrificing offering sacrifices for many different reasons. For example, if there was a leper who was cleansed, after that leper was cleansed, then they were sprinkled with blood.

So sacrifices were offered in connection with cleansing or the cleansing of lepers. And then, for example, when Aaron was the first priest, the first high priest in the Old Testament time, and he was called into that office, he was set apart. He was, we could say he was sanctified into that office. It happened also with sprinkling of the blood of a sacrifice.

So the sprinkling of sacrificial blood was for cleansing. It was also for setting apart or sanctifying or placing into a certain office. And Aaron was being placed into the office of a high priest.

And then thirdly, sacrifices were done in connection with sealing the covenant agreement between God and his people. God had this covenant or this agreement between God and his people. And that covenant was cemented by the offering or the sprinkling of the blood of the sacrifice. And it required or it asked for obedience.

So the sprinkling of the blood to recap is for cleansing, for calling into an office, and also for the purpose of asking for obedience.

But we know that ultimately on one day of the year during the Old Testament time, the high priest would go into the most holy room on the day of atonement, and he would sprinkle blood on what we'd say is the throne of judgment there at the cover of the Ark of the covenant, which is in that little windowless room deep within the temple called the holy of holies.

So the high priest would sprinkle blood upon the cover of this Ark of the covenant which was known as the judgment seat or the seat, the location where God appeared and spoke to his people.

So Jesus Christ, who is the true high priest on that great day of atonement, he went into the holy of holies when he offered himself as a sacrifice and offered the sprinkling of his blood. And he went to that judgment seat and offered the sprinkling of his blood.

And what happened? That judgment seat now became a throne of grace or a mercy seat. And there was now access not only for the high priest once a year to go there, come to that location, but it is now open for access for all people at all times of the day, 365 days of the year.

And we have the judgment of the throne of grace, that mercy seat. We can come to a fellow believer in Jesus Christ in here that good speaking voice of the blood of Jesus can be a good cheer. You can believe your sins forgiven in Jesus' name and precious blood.

And therein we can experience the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ.

So we have the word of Jesus and the Spirit that we have the word of Jesus and the word of Jesus and the Spirit of God and the Holy Spirit of Christ for the Spirit of Jesus and the word of Jesus and the Spirit of Jesus that is the word of Jesus and the Spirit.

It is the bed and so on and so forth. So it is speaking to a person who is in a blessed condition. But this isn't the word that is being used here in this situation. This word blessed in this case is the word from which we get the word eulogy. And actually the true meaning of the word eulogy means praise unto God. God or Heavenly Father is the one who deserves the true praise, honor, and glory.

And so this is what he is saying. Now that blessed be who? Not another human being, not another person, but blessed be God the Father, our Lord Jesus Christ, who out of his abundant mercy has blessed us. He has begotten us or given us new birth.

And how did he give us new birth? How did he kindle our faith? It is according to his abundant mercy and he has begotten us again unto a living hope. Here it says lively hope. It's kind of difficult to understand what a lively hope actually means, living hope and how it is through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

This matter of resurrection is so important as we recalled Easter Sunday morning when Paul wrote his letter of resurrection to the Corinthians. He said that the Corinthians were disputing this matter of resurrection. He said if resurrection didn't happen, all of those Old Testament saints that are mentioned in the Bible would be dead.

And so he said, if resurrection didn't happen, all of those Old Testament saints that are mentioned in the Bible would have died in vain. And we today would still be in our sins and there would be no hope of ever attaining the glory in heaven.

So this is the foundation of our salvation. This is the cornerstone of our faith. And this is what he is saying. That blessed be God our Father and Jesus Christ who according to his, through his great mercy, has blessed us.

And he says, blessed be God, blessed be Jesus Christ God our Father who according to his, through his great mercy, has blessed us. And he says, blessed be God, begotten us, or given us new life in the Spirit. We have been born again, received the gift of everlasting faith.

How? Onto a living hope and it is all through the resurrection Christ from the dead. But then he has given us an inheritance. And for the Old Testament saints, their inheritance, especially during the wilderness journey, was to one day reach the promised land. That was their wish. That was their desire.

That's why they got up every day and continued traveling day after day after day, that one day they would make it from that journey in the wilderness to the land of Canaan, the promised land. That was their inheritance that they were waiting for, hoping for, and expecting.

But now when Peter is writing this letter to those who are scattered throughout Asia Minor, had it already happened that their inheritance was lost. Rome had captured Israel, destroyed the holy city of Jerusalem and the temple of Jerusalem. And I'm sure all their hopes had been dashed and they were in despair.

But now Peter is writing that there is another inheritance. It's not this earthly homeland. It's not that land of Palestine or the city of Jerusalem or that temple there in Jerusalem, which is now at that point a pile of rubble. But there is an inheritance which is incorruptible, which actually means something that is not a thing.

Corruptible means something that has been ravaged by an army. So he's talking about inheritance that is incorruptible, that cannot be ravaged by an invading army. So it's something that's indestructible.

So it's inheritance that is incorruptible, and it's something that is undefiled. Corruptible means something that has been ravaged by an army. Something that cannot be stained by sin. Nothing that can be polluted by any sort of impurities.

In the Old Testament time, when the people of Israel erred to go worship false idols, they became polluted by this act that they did. So now he's talking about, Peter is talking about an inheritance that cannot be polluted, that cannot be stained by sin.

And then he goes on to say thirdly, that it's an inheritance which will not fade away. We're now at the prime of spring season and everything is green and lush, and the flowers, the lilacs will soon begin to bloom, and the tulips will soon begin to bloom, and it's a wonderful time of the year.

But in a few months from now, when the days get shorter and the temperatures cool off and fall comes upon us, again, nature will become dead and dormant. The flowers will fade, and the grass will wither and die.

So Peter is talking about an inheritance that will not fade away. There's an incident where there was a rich landowner and he bequeathed his beautiful house to those who were beneficiaries of his will. So the landowner passed away and soon after he passed away, a fire broke out and burned that beautiful house to ashes. Nothing was left of that inheritance.

Well, that's in contrast to that inheritance that we own and possess by faith. It's something that's indisputable. Something that is undefiled. Something that will never fade away. And we all own this by faith. And we are kept as owners of this wonderful inheritance, which is our goal of one day reaching that home there in heaven.

How? By the power of God through faith unto salvation which is ready to be revealed at the last day, the final day when we can close our eyes to this world then we can open our eyes by faith or faith has changed the scene we will there be on the shores of the glory of heaven.

So quickly we're running out of time so quickly summarize the last few verses here we're in greatly rejoice now for a short time or short season if need be because we are experiencing heaviness of many types of temptations and our faith is being tried to be much more precious than of gold, gold which will one day perish.

And though our faith be tried with fire it may be found under the praise and honor and glory at salvation, the appearing of Jesus Christ.

Then he goes on to say that whom you have not seen but however you love. This is kind of interesting talking about Jesus Christ whom we have not seen. The prophets speak of the Old Testament saints who were wishing and longing for at least one day to see their Redeemer. They were living by faith that the Messiah would one day come.

But then there were many who had that opportunity, the disciples of Christ and many of the Apostles were able to see Jesus Christ as a human being here upon this earth. But we don't have that opportunity as it was stated to Thomas who initially couldn't believe that Jesus Christ was the Messiah and that he was the Redeemer.

But we don't have that opportunity as it was stated to Thomas who initially couldn't believe that Jesus Christ was the Redeemer. Unless I can see him and touch him I won't believe.

So Jesus appeared especially unto Thomas and he said Thomas come and touch me put your hands and your fingers into the wounds in my body and don't be doubting but believe.

But then he said words for us, but Thomas since you have seen me have been able to touch me, you believe.

But then words to us, but blessed are you who have not seen, but yet believe.

Who of us have seen Christ in the flesh? I haven't. I haven't been able to see him or touch him. But by faith, he is in our midst, even now, at this moment, through the Holy Spirit.

But we are waiting for that moment when faith will be changed to sight, as John writes in his epistle, and we can see him as he is, face to face.

And so, whom you have not seen, we have not seen him, yet we love him, and whom, though now you see him not, yet we believe, and we rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory, so that one day we will receive the glory of Christ, the end of our faith, which is the salvation of our souls.

So be of good cheer. One day we can lay down our travel staff. Our cross will be exchanged for a crown. Then faith will be changed to sight. No longer will we have to battle the threefold enemy. No longer will we have to drag this corrupt portion into the ground.

We will have to carry the undying soul with us, this bag of worms, as Luther often says, wherein we have the fiercest battle. We have the battle against the devil, which is fierce, the world, which is enticing, but the greatest of battles is in our bosoms, that corrupt portion in which we carry that undying soul, washed with the blood of the Lamb. Amen.

Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

The gospel will lift us, carry us, and bring us to our heavenly home. In Jesus' name, amen.

The Lord bless us and keep us. The Lord make his face to shine upon us and be gracious unto us. The Lord lift up his countenance upon us and give us your peace. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, amen.