Sermon
Text: Luke 10:1-12; 16-20
Title: “They Go Hand in Hand…”
I. Rejection
of the Jesus is rejection of the Father.
II. Listening
to Jesus is listening to the Father.TO HAVE JESUS IS TO HAVE THE FATHER AND TO HAVE THE FATHER IS TO HAVE ETERNAL LIFE.
Grace,
mercy, and peace from God our Father, and from our LORD and Savior Jesus
Christ. Amen.
The one
who hears you hears me, and the one who rejects you rejects me, and the one who
rejects me rejects him who sent me.
When it comes to certain things you
can’t have one without another. When it
comes to fire what always accompanies it?
Heat. Light. And as the saying goes, “where there is smoke
there is fire.” When it comes to ice
there is always cold. When it comes to
rain there is always wet. And when it
comes to Jesus there is always the Father and the Holy Spirit.
In our text today Jesus says…
Pretty
simple stuff wouldn’t you say? To hear a
disciple speak of Jesus means to hear Jesus.
To reject a disciple of Jesus means to reject Jesus. And to reject Jesus means to reject the
Father. Pretty straight forward
stuff.
Then there are the words of today’s
text. Jesus says…
“The one
who hears you hears me, and the one who rejects you rejects me, and the one who
rejects me rejects him who sent me.”
Isn’t Jesus
here in the text being exclusive? Isn’t
Jesus being politically incorrect? Isn’t
Jesus stepping on others toes?
What about this text when Jesus says
to Thomas and the other disciples…
Isn’t Jesus
here too being contrary to what the world wants today? If you or I say that Jesus is the only way to
heaven in and to certain groups aren’t we accused of being a religious bigot? Aren’t we accused of being intolerant,
prejudiced and narrow-minded? And yet,
isn’t that exactly what Jesus is saying?
Isn’t Jesus saying that He and the Father are one and to reject Him is
to reject the Father and that you cannot access the Father without going
through Him? Isn’t that exactly what
Jesus is saying?
Jesus and the Father are One. Jesus says in John 10...
““I told
you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name bear
witness about me, 26 but you do not believe because you are not part of
my flock. 27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow
me. 28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one
will snatch them out of my hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to me,
is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s
hand. 30 I and the Father are one.”
So Jesus
and the Father are One and therefore to have One you must have the Other,
meaning to have the Father you must have Jesus too. But that isn’t what some believe. Some say that there are ways to heaven beyond
Jesus. That He is not a part of the
equation. That Jesus is not necessary. That you can have the Father without the
Son. But if we are to believe Holy
Scripture then that cannot be. Jesus and
the Father are One and come together
as a packaged deal – They go hand and hand.
You may as well try and have the fire without the heat, the ice without
the cold, and the rain without the wet! Impossible!
II.
So what does that have to do with
us? We believe that Jesus and the Father
are One. We believe that you can’t have
One without the Other and that also includes the Holy Spirit. So what does that have to do with us? Simply this – we have the Good News of the
Gospel. We have the precious truth that
Jesus is the Savior of the world. We
know that Jesus came into a sinful, dying world not to condemn it but to save
it. Filled with this great news of our
salvation and that salvation of all who believe it, what do we do? Do we shout it from the mountain tops? Often times no we don’t. Often times we come to church, we go home and
spend the week keeping this great news to ourselves. We baulk at missions when we are asked to
give a little more. We don’t support
missionaries as we should. We are
selfish with our money that could help others know that Jesus is their Savior
too. We have such wonderful news for a dark
and dying world and because we are too embarrassed to share the Gospel of the
LORD, because it may cause us to go outside of our comfort zone in the sharing,
we hide the light and life of Jesus and His cross and keep it to ourselves.
The Good News for us? Jesus died for these sins too. We confess ours sins of what we have done and
what we have left undone. This is one of
those undone sins – not sharing the Gospel as we should. But those sins are forgiven too. Jesus was nailed to His cross for all sins to
include this sin of not sharing His love and light and life. The Father knew that we would hesitate in the
sharing of the news about His Son. He
knew we would be shy, embarrassed, weak – and Jesus went the road of the cross
for these sins too. We are forgiven for
these. And it is in this forgiveness
that we find ourselves in that gives us the strength to do the good works set
before us. They are not a part of our
salvation, that was Christ’s work alone.
But now, as a response to the love the Father has shown us – His dear
children – we are given a great opportunity.
Through the power of the Holy Spirit given us through the Word and the
Sacraments we can share with others that same love of the Father. We can share it through our faith in Jesus
Christ. We can tell them about this love
and forgiveness and through Jesus bring them to the Father too. For the Father and the Son and the Holy
Spirit are One, They go hand and hand, and you can’t have One without the others. Amen.
The peace
of the LORD, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, which surpasses all understanding,
will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
+Sola Deo Gloria+
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