Sixth Sunday after Pentecost

Text: 3rd Article and it’s meaning
I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Christian church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.
What does this mean? 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 by the Gospel, enlightened me with His gifts, sanctified and kept me in the true faith. In the same way He calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies the whole Christian church on earth, and keeps it with Jesus Christ in the one true faith. In this Christian church He daily and richly forgives all my sins and the sins of all believers. On the Last Day He will raise me and all the dead, and give eternal life to me and all believers in Christ.
This is most certainly true.
Outline:
1. We are dead in sin
2. Holy Spirit through Word and Sacraments makes us alive again
3. With Holy Spirit in us, we can lead sanctified lives
Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
My dear beloved flock, the text for our meditation today is the Third Article and its meaning.
Boys and girls, I pray that you are doing well today. If I were dead, could I do anything? No, I could do nothing but lay on the ground. Nothing you could do would make me alive, it would take an act of God. Today we get a chance to discuss how God makes us alive through the Third Person of the Trinty, the Holy Spirit. How can we believe in what Jesus has done for us? How does God make us alive? Ponder those questions as you hear the rest of the sermon. You may go back to your seats and those who love you.
1. Dead in Sin
So what does the Holy Spirit do? In Lutheran circles we do not talk about the Holy Spirit as much or as glamorous as the Pentecostals or Reformed churches. If you go to one of their churches, it seems as though the Holy Spirit is doing great things, speaking in tongues, prophesying. Here? It does not seem like the Holy Spirit is active, at least not in the same extreme ways. So what does He do? Is He active?
Indeed, the Holy Spirit is active, always though the Word as He has promised to be and do. He has not promised to be in prophecies or tongues. Thus why we do not look for Him there. Rather, we look for Him where He has promised to be where the Word is proclaimed.
So what does the Holy Spirit do? The first thing He does is call. He calls us through the Gospel because we cannot believe by our own reason or strength. Holy Scripture often refers to original sin as being dead in sin. What can dead people do? Nothing, they can lie on the ground. That is all! That is us because of original sin inherited from Adam and Eve at the Fall. We are dead. We can do nothing good. In fact, we choose evil time and time again. Just look at the continued struggle that you have against the Devil, fallen world, and your sinful flesh. You sin greatly and daily in thought, word, and deed. You do not always honor the Word of God. You lie, cheat, steal. How often have you thought badly about those placed in authority over us? You do all of this because you are dead in your sins. There is nothing that you can to save yourself. You could sooner believe that the sky was neon green than you could believe the truth of the Gospel without the Spirit first calling you to faith.
2. Holy Spirit through Word and Sacraments makes us alive again
How are the dead ones to be made living? It is entirely the work of the Holy Spirit. We do not focus much upon the Holy Spirit because He never focuses on Himself. He always points you to Jesus Christ. He points you to what Jesus did for you on the cross for the forgiveness of your sins and salvation of your soul. He calls you through the Gospel and creates saving faith in you. “To this he called you through our gospel,” Paul writes, “so that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Thess. 2:14; see also 1 Cor. 6:11; Eph. 4:4; Rev. 22:17). When the Holy Spirit calls, He does so through the Word. God always works through means. In the Word, read, preached, and physically applied in water, bread, and wine, the Holy Spirit creates and sustains faith. He takes your dead bodies and makes them alive by connecting them to Jesus’ death and resurrection from the dead. Even better, He does not leave us alone as individuals. Rather, He gathers us together into the Holy Church, the Body of Christ, that we might support, encourage, and mutually edify each other as we go throughout our earthly lives.
3. With Holy Spirit in us, we can lead sanctified lives
It is within the community of the church that the Holy Spirit acts in the lives of believers. Because He has justified us in Christ, He also sanctifies you. He makes you holy that you can do the good things that God has called you to do. As James writes, “Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world” (James 1:27) God doesn’t just demand that you love and show compassion; instead, God creates a heart that loves and shows compassion. God helps you to mature into people who strive to do good in the world. Like a beautiful piece of art designed to bring joy, God turns His people into a masterpiece created to do good in the world (Ephesians 2:10). With the Holy Spirit living within you, you are empowered to do His will. As we state in the Formula of Concord (Th. D., II, para. 66, Triglot, p. 907) “This is to be understood in no other way than that the converted man does good to such an extent and so long as God by His Holy Spirit rules, guides, and leads him, and that as soon as God would withdraw His gracious hand from him, he could not for a moment persevere in obedience to God. But if this were understood thus, that the converted man cooperates with the Holy Ghost in the manner as when two horses together draw a wagon, this could in no way be conceded without prejudice to the divine truth.”
This working of God plays itself out in our everyday lives. We do not grumble over the actions of those in authority over us. Rather we graciously submit to them as to God, calling them to repentance when they err. We forgive when people sin against us, graciously forgiven as we have been forgiven. When others admonish us, we admit our faults and gladly seek to amend them. We put the best construction on everything that we hear concerning others always speaking well of them and putting everything in the best possible light.
Let us rejoice, that God has justified us by the working of His Son, Jesus Christ. He has given us of His Holy Spirit to sanctify us, and graciously keep us in the true faith, until life everlasting.
The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, guard, and keep, your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.