Month: May 2025

I. About Prayer
“Whatever you ask the Father in My name He will give you.” Jesus said this to the disciples at the Last Supper. Up to now, they hadn’t had to ask for anything in the name of Jesus: Jesus had been right there with them, so they’d just ask Him. But things were about to change: in a few hours, He would leave them and go to the cross. After His Resurrection, He would leave them and ascend into heaven. In a little while, they would see Him no more.

So note two things that Jesus did for His disciples at the Last Supper. For one, He gave them the gift of Holy Communion. In that Sacrament, He gave them His body and blood for the forgiveness of sins. Although they would not be able to see Him face to face, He would still be with them to the end of the age, by His Word and in the Sacraments. As we speak of often, these means of grace are how Jesus is present with His people even today. This is how He gives us forgiveness, life and salvation.

But here, in our text today, He reinforces another gift: the gift of prayer: “Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in My name He will give it to you.” Until He returns in glory, this is how we speak to our Lord. Now, prayer is an oft-misunderstood gift among Christians, so we take some time this morning to learn of our Lord’s gift of prayer.

We begin with Jesus’ assurance: “Truly, truly, I say to you.” This is one of Jesus’ frequently used sayings: “truly, truly,” a double “amen.” “Yes, most assuredly”. Here you have Jesus’ promise to you that He hears your prayers. He doesn’t pick and choose which calls to return, nor does He send most of your petitions to the junk-mail file. He hears and honors each one, and promises to answer every prayer that is prayed in Jesus’ name.

“Whatever you ask the Father in My name He will give you.” That’s an astonishing promise—hard to believe, but it’s what Jesus promises “most assuredly.” The Father will give whatever you ask for in Jesus’ name. Jesus doesn’t give you three wishes. There are no limits. You can’t bother the Father in heaven in prayer enough. As our Lord says in our Gospel lesson, God the Father loves you just as God the Son loves you. He delights to hear and answer every prayer prayed in Jesus’ name.

“In Jesus’ name.” That’s the key phrase we keep coming back to. That is what the promise and gift of prayer rely on. We pray in Jesus’ name. We go before the Lord in prayer by saying, “We are terrible sinners, and we are not worthy of Your grace or mercy or help. Therefore, we do
not ask You to help us because we are deserving. No, we ask You to hear us and to help us because Jesus has died for our sins and risen again for our salvation. Do not help us because of our goodness: help us for Jesus’ sake. Help us because Your Son has shed His blood to make us Your children.” That is what it means to pray in Jesus’ name.

And as long as you pray in Jesus’ name, you can be absolutely sure that the Father will give you whatever you ask.

II. The Law and Gospel of Prayer
Therefore, the Law for us sinners is quite straightforward today: we sin whenever we fail to pray in Jesus’ name.

Now, let us be clear: I do not mean that every prayer is good as long as we attach the three words, “in Jesus’ name,” at the end before the amen. Nor do I mean that an otherwise good prayer goes unheard because we fail to end it with those three words. This is not some sort of
magic phrase. Again, to pray in Jesus’ name is to confess that God answers prayers for Jesus’ sake, not because we or anyone else has earned God’s help.

The classic example for Luther was, naturally, praying in the names of saints. In Luther’s time, the Roman Church declared that Jesus was quite the angry Son of God, and encouraged Christians to pray for God’s help in the name of one of the saints who had gone before—perhaps St. Peter or St. Paul or certainly St. Mary, Mother of Jesus.

But Jesus never commanded us to pray in the names of other sinners. One can imagine the Father saying, “Why should I hear a prayer prayed in the name of Peter? My Son had to shed His blood for Peter, too — apart from His grace, Peter is no more righteous than the one who is praying in Peter’s name.” Indeed, were the saints who have gone before us aware of such shenanigans, they would certainly not want us using their names when we can pray in the name of Jesus.

Another widespread error in our day is that God honors all prayers, even those prayed by unbelievers. But why should God hear such a prayer? The prayer of an unbeliever says, “Even though I don’t believe that Jesus died for me, and even though I give Him no thanks or honor for the cross, I still expect you to help me anyway.” Such a prayer is exactly against praying in the name of Jesus.

Now, if you’re a member here at Redeemer, I take it that you’re already a believer and already confess that it is incorrect to pray in the name of saints. However, you still face many temptations which would mislead you away from praying in Jesus’ name.

Perhaps the greatest temptation for you is to pray in your own name. It is so seductive to think that God hears your prayers when you’ve behaved better, when you’ve been trying harder.

But if that is how you approach prayer, you are saying, “Dear Lord, hear my prayer because of my works, because of my intentions, because I’ve been trying hard to be a little less sinful than I was before.” A “little less sinful” is still terribly sinful, and God makes no promise to hear such prayers. Do not pray in your own name. Repent; and instead rejoice in the certainty that God hears your prayers for the sake of Jesus, who died for you. That is why you pray in Jesus’ name.

Another error is the one made famous by televangelists: it is the error that God will give you whatever you ask, as long as you have enough faith in Jesus. As long as you believe in Jesus enough, then God will give you whatever you want. “Name it and claim it.” There are two problems with this. One is that this says that God answers prayer not because of Jesus’ work, but because of how hard you work at believing in Him. If your faith is strong, you can count on Him. If your faith is weak, then you can’t. How terrible is this? How terrible to tell someone who prays for healing that God won’t answer that prayer because his faith is too weak!

The other problem is this: it uses Jesus for personal gain. To pray “in Jesus’ name” does not mean that you can expect Him to give you whatever your little old sinful heart desires. Often, what you want to ask for is not what is righteous or best for you. To pray in Jesus’ name is to trust that He knows what is best for you. It is to pray “Thy will be done, not mine, O Lord.” Plagued by the devil, the world and our own sinful flesh, this is what makes prayer so terribly difficult. You will be tempted to pray for deliverance on your terms: “Heal me now!” “That job is perfect for me, so get it for me!” “Save this relationship!” “Save this life!” But God’s thoughts are higher than our thoughts. His will is always best, and He often works through hardship to do us good. If you fall into these errors, repent. And rejoice: the Lord doesn’t only hear you when your faith feels strong. He always hears you for Jesus’ sake. And while you may not see the benefits of His answers in the short-term, you have His promise that He hears your prayers, and answers them in the way that is eternally best for you.

Here is an error that we want to approach gently: it is the idea that, God hears prayers more when more people are praying them. Therefore, if many are praying for us, we’re more likely to get the Lord’s attention. Please don’t misunderstand: it is good and right and proper for us to pray for each other and ask others to pray for us; and it is immensely comforting for you and me to know that many people are praying for us. I don’t want to take anything away from that. At the same time, however, it is good for us to embrace this truth: whether the prayer is prayed by one or by many Christians, God promises to hear it. Why? Because it doesn’t depend on the one or the many. It depends on Jesus, who died for the one and the many. If you trust in many voices rather than Jesus, then repent. And rejoice: it is indeed a great comfort to know that, even if you are the only one to pray in Jesus’ name, God promises to hear you and answer you.

Here is one more: it is tempting to think that God will answer your prayer as long as you choose the right, eloquent words. As long as you articulate your need clearly, then God will answer. If that is true, then the prayer does not depend on Jesus; rather, it depends on you and your communication skills. But it is not true. In fact, the Bible declares that we do not know how to pray. However, the Holy Spirit intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words (Ro. 8:28).

If you place your trust in your eloquence in prayer, repent. And rejoice. Rejoice that even if the longest prayer you can string together is “Lord, have mercy,” that prayer in Jesus’ name is heard.

Likewise, rejoice in this: not only has the Son given you His name and prayer, and not only does the Father love you and delight to hear your prayers, but the Holy Spirit works to present your prayers in a proper manner to the Father. All the holy Trinity bids you to pray.

Rejoice: God hears your prayers prayed in Jesus’ name. To pray in Jesus’ name is to trust that the prayer will be answered because Christ has died for you. And to pray in Jesus’ name is to trust that His will is best, rather than imposing your sinful desires on Him. Rejoice, too, in this: after Jesus spoke of prayer in John 16, He then went to the Garden of Gethsemane and prayed for His disciples—and prayed for you. Even now, He prays for you until He comes again.

Therefore, dear friends, rejoice: you can be sure that the Lord hears your prayers for Jesus’ sake…because you are forgiven for all of your sins. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

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Dear friends in Christ,

Let’s do a little survey this morning. You don’t have to raise your hand, but just answer the questions in your mind. I assume that you all got something new for Christmas. Can you think of three gifts you received this past Christmas? ……. Now go back to the Christmas before that. Can you think of two new gifts you received two years ago for Christmas?…… Now go back one more year. Can you remember one gift you received at Christmas three years ago? ……

Well how did you do? Could you think of three gifts you received this past Christmas? Maybe you only thought of one. Could you remember two things you got two years ago? How about three years ago? Could you remember just one thing that you received three years ago?

You might be wondering what the point of this little survey is. The point I want to make is that when we get something new it is very exciting for a while, but before long the excitement fades and I suspect that most of us, in time, forget about it altogether. What is new doesn’t seem to hold its attraction for very long. Before long our attention and desires are drawn to some other thing that we just have to have. The new clothes you got for Easter, if you got a new dress or shirt, don’t seem so new anymore. The birthday present you received at your last birthday isn’t so exciting anymore. We always want something new!

This recurring human desire for something new doesn’t only have to do with toys or material possessions. We are in a constant search for new solutions to our problems, for new hope and joy in our life, a new image perhaps, or a new purpose, a new dream to follow.

We search for something new to give our life meaning and purpose, to bring a sense of fulfillment or accomplishment — a new relationship, a new job, a new home in a new location — anything to lift us out of the ordinary, hum-drum routine of our daily existence.

We certainly do need that kind of a lift. We need joy and purpose and fulfillment in our lives. But when we depend do plan and work hard to achieve these things, we quickly discover that all the “new” things in the world soon grow old. New clothes fade, new toys break, new solutions only bring new problems. Our creative energies are sapped when we are separated from the Source of our energy and life. In a newspaper editorial, Ron Dreher, columnist for the Winnipeg Free Press, put it very well: “In a culture with an insatiable craving for sensation, boredom becomes the root of all evil.”

It hasn’t always been this way. Before the fall into sin every day was a new day for Adam and Eve — every day was a day of joy and wonder and fulfillment. There was no dullness, no drudgery. New things didn’t grow old, they just kept on being renewed in the innocence and wonder of that earthly paradise. That’s because there was a perfect harmony and Adam and Eve had a perfect relationship with God. He was with them daily and every day they looked forward to being with Him, walking with Him and talking to Him.

But Adam and Eve’s sinful rebellion ended that perfect relationship. And it also ended the joy and fulfillment in their lives. From now on, there would be, not only pain and hardship, but also estrangement and alienation from one another and from God. And there would be death, the ultimate destination for a meaningless existence. So now mankind’s search for joy and meaning and fulfillment began. It was ultimately a search for God — for the restoration of that perfect relationship with God that once was, but now was lost. But we looked for it in all the wrong places. For Adam and Eve’s firstborn, Cain, personal fulfillment could only come from being acknowledged as # 1, and when his offering wasn’t # 1, he rose up in anger and killed his brother Abel. For the people of Sodom and Gomorrah it was finding personal fulfillment in sexual perversion so great that God destroyed both cities. For King Ahab, it was Nabboth’s vineyard. If only he could have that vineyard for his own he would be happy. But that search for fulfillment ultimately lead only to Nabboth’s death and God’s judgment on Ahab and his evil wife Jezebel.

Their search for paradise isn’t much different from ours, is it? We keep looking but never finding. We keep searching, but often in the wrong places, thinking that perhaps something new will bring us peace and happiness — whether it be a new toy, a new relationship, or a new attitude. But as long as we rely on our own efforts and as long as our desires and efforts are away from God’s plan for us, we will fail. We will find no lasting peace.

We will find no lasting peace until we realize that the very thing we long for — a restored relationship with God — is, in fact, God’s gift to us in Jesus Christ. St. John tells us that the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, made his home among us. Jesus didn’t remove the pain and sorrow and frustration and fear and death from us, but He made these things his own. He makes our tears His tears, our crying His crying, our mourning His mourning, our pain His pain, our death his death. Crushed and killed by the very things that crush us, he redeems us and restores us. Death has been conquered and now becomes the portal to life, and WE become a new creation.

In the midst of our reality, God dwells with us today, in Jesus! That word “dwells” really means “to tabernacle”, “to tent”. It’s a concept that goes back to the days when the Children of Israel were camped at the foot of Mt. Sinai. God gave the people instructions to build a Tabernacle — a place where God would be a present reality in the midst of the people as they traveled through the wilderness. When the tabernacle was ready, God moved into this great tent. Listen to this description from Exodus 40: “Then the cloud covered the Tent of Meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. Moses could not enter the Tent of Meeting because the cloud had settled upon it, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. In all the travels of the Israelites, whenever the cloud lifted from above the tabernacle, they would set out to travel; but if the cloud did not lift, they did not set out — until the day it lifted. So the cloud of the Lord was over the tabernacle by day, and fire was in the cloud by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel during all their travels.”

My friends, God tabernacles with us, in our life’s journey. He comes to us in His Word of forgiveness and life. Jesus doesn’t just “make new things” for us, but he “makes all things new.” In Holy Baptism, water embraced by the Word is “new” water, a life-giving water. One of our former students is a young woman from Korea. Her name is Serena and while she lived with us she was catechized and on a very special day, I baptized her. When she left our home, Serena wrote about the significance of her baptism. This is what she said: “The most important thing in the church was the baptism. That day was another birthday for me. I can’t forget that in all my life. I thank you for receiving me as a member of your church…” In Baptism Serena experienced what is true for all baptized people — “another birthday” — a brand new life given by God!

Bread and wine embraced by the Word of God are the very body and blood of Christ, providing new sustenance for God’s new creation. We, ourselves, become that “new creation” transformed by His own death and resurrection. Old, broken-down relationships can be made new by His power. Old, broken-down marriages can be renewed. Old, broken-down people have hope and new life.

Everything is made new in the suffering, death, and resurrection of Jesus. We rejoice because he creates a new heart within us and restores to us the joy of His salvation. We celebrate because he renews a right spirit within us and “tabernacles” with us on our life’s journey, sustaining and upholding us by His presence in Word and Sacrament. And as we continue our journey, we look forward to that time when all things are consummated, when we see with our eyes the “new Jerusalem” where God will dwell among his people for all eternity!

“Behold, I am making all things new!”, Jesus says in our text. That was His word to 1st century Christians who were facing persecution and even death at the hands of the enemies of Christ. That Word breathed new life into them. That Word breathes new life into us. We can rejoice as we are turned from looking inside ourselves and from thinking that we can somehow do something that will last forever.

That has been done already in Jesus! He makes all things new! As you receive His Word and blessing through your ears and in your mouths, you are made over, restored, redeemed — not just for a few months or years, but for all eternity. Everything is being made new, and everything will be new when Jesus comes to end all suffering and sadness! Until He comes, the message to you is the same as it was to the 1st century believers: keep your eyes fixed on Jesus, where true joys are found. Keep your eyes fixed on Jesus whenever your old Adam or old Eve, tempts you to find a different source of joy, excitement or fulfillment. Living your life in Him is the only thing that will keep all things new. In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

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Dear Friends in Christ,

Today is the Fourth Sunday of Easter, also known as “Good Shepherd Sunday”. It is good to have this Sunday every year, because with all that is happening in this world, it’s important to listen to the voice of the Shepherd. That’s what Jesus talks about in our Gospel lesson for today.

No image of the Lord, and his relationship with His people, strikes closer to our heart than the image we see in today’s lessons: the picture of the Lord as our Shepherd and us as his sheep. We read it in this morning’s first lesson where St. Paul charges the pastors with the responsibility of “paying careful attention to all the flock in which the Lord has made you overseers”. We heard it in the second lesson: “The Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd.” And in today’s Gospel lesson Jesus tells us, “My sheep listen to my voice and I know them and they follow me.” We even teach our children to sing “I Am Jesus’ Little Lamb.”

Why do you think this image has such power for us? Perhaps it’s because in a world as troubled as ours, we link sheep and shepherds together with peace and quiet. Psalm 23 says, “He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters”. And when the day has been long and hard, some of us get to sleep by counting sheep. Peaceful and quiet.

Or maybe we like this image so much because of how we think of sheep. My dad used to have a sheepskin on the seat of his old Oliver tractor. The seat was hard metal, but the wool was soft. Wool has the amazing quality of being warm in the winter and cool in the summer. Surely the animal that gave it must be like that: soft and gentle, clean and fresh, without fierce teeth or sharp claws. Jesus, the Lord, is our Shepherd, and we are his sheep.

On our trip to Australia, we saw field after field of sheep. Usually they were just peacefully grazing in a green pasture. Such a tranquil, soothing scene. If only more of us knew how sheep really are, we might have some second thoughts about what it means to be the Lord’s sheep. Laura Ingalls Wilder has an interesting illustration in the book Farmer Boy. The chapter called “Sheep Shearing” describes the process of taking the wool from the sheep. The first thing done is to give each sheep a thorough washing.

You see, all that thick, soft wool picks up a lot of dirt and burrs as the sheep lives from day to day. What comes to us as clean and soft starts out as filthy and muddy. When the sheep have been scrubbed, they must be sheared immediately, because if they aren’t, they’ll get dirty all over again.

Those who have tended sheep know that they have other unpleasant characteristics. Sheep are prone to wander from the flock. The sight of some greener grass catches their attention, and they wander until they find themselves far away. Sheep can also be stubborn, headstrong, willful creatures.

The Bible tells us that we are God’s sheep, God’s flock. And just like sheep in the field, we Christians have an amazing ability to pick up dirt from our surroundings. How often we find our thoughts and words reflecting those of our non-Christian culture! We may not be able to help passing through the valley of the shadow of death, but when we begin to walk like those who are spiritually dead, that’s a peril of our own making — and we should be very much afraid.

When we look at ourselves in the light of God’s Law, we are soon dismayed by the sight of the filth and mess in our life! Instead of luxuriating in the oil the Lord pours over our head — and whatever good things he pours into our cup — we covet the luxuries of this world, never content, always wanting greener pastures, bigger lawns, coveting houses better appointed than the Lord’s own house; or treasuring the boss’s praise and our friends’ envy well above the Lord’s own goodness and mercy. Instead of trusting God to vindicate us in the presence of our enemies, we fear them, smear them, speak all kinds of evil against them, and secretly gloat when we see them stumble. Isn’t it true? And isn’t it also true that every time we gather for worship in the Divine Service, as soon as the name of God is placed on us, we find we must confess our sins.

God’s sheep have a tendency to wander too. Perhaps something hurtful is said to us, maybe by one of God’s people here at church. Or we experience some horrible, shocking event — a sudden death we can’t possibly explain in our understanding of a loving God, a rejection by a loved one that doesn’t make sense when we’ve been committed and faithful. Or maybe we catch sight of greener grass just over the next ridge — those worldly goods that draw us away, a catchier sounding philosophy or an emotionally exciting religion. We wander away from God’s house — become angry with him, lose faith in him, lose confidence that his simple Word and Sacrament are the richest table anyone could ever spread before us. The next thing we know, months or even years have gone by, and we find ourselves alone, without him, maybe without the dear ones he’s given us.

Isaiah said it well: “We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way”. And stubborn? Us? Sadly, yes. When things don’t go our way, we sometimes respond by digging in our heels and forcing others to drag us along. Instead of praying, “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven,” we pray, “My will be done in heaven and on earth.”

We are sheep: dirty, lost, and stubborn. And so serious is our problem that God has taken a radical step to solve it. The Lord Himself, the Shepherd of Israel, took on flesh and became the Lamb. Did you hear the words of John in his Revelation: “The Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd.” Jesus is the Lamb of God. He took away the filth and grime of our sin by washing us in his own pure blood. And when we were lost, without hope and without God in the world, he wandered far from his heavenly home in search of us. His search took him to a lowly virgin in Nazareth, to a humble cave in Bethlehem, and, finally, on a dark and lonely Friday afternoon, to an accursed tree. He conquered our willfulness by yielding his own will to that of the Father — even unto death. Freely, willingly, lovingly he offered himself up for us through the Spirit to the Father.

There is one thing that sheep have going for them: they can recognize their shepherd’s voice. They may have nothing in the way of defensive capabilities and little in the way of brains, but they know enough to hear the shepherd’s voice and follow him. Otherwise, they’re not much good for anything but getting fleeced and sacrificed.

The Shepherd became a lamb. But then, with his resurrection on the third day, the Lamb has become our Shepherd. Good sheep will listen to the voice of their shepherd. And now our Good Shepherd calls us to listen to the promises He has given us in His Word. In fact, He feeds us in the pasture of his Word. He leads us beside the still, deep waters of Baptism: springs of living water, because through this water he gives us life. He satisfies our hunger by giving us the heavenly bread and the cup of life, his own body and blood. Our cup overflows with eternal blessing because we drink of the cup he pours out for us.

He knows each of us as well as any good shepherd knows his own sheep. And the amazing thing is that he still loves us, still feeds us, still leads and guides us through all the perilous ways of this life.

The Shepherd became a Lamb to save us dirty, wandering sheep. Little by little, as we feed on his love and stay with his flock, he breaks the old willfulness and stubbornness. He makes us his servants, who learn to give not only our wool but also, if necessary, our own skin for the needs of others.

When we come together each Lord’s Day, we come together as his flock. He is here, now, as our Shepherd. He speaks, and we listen. He leads, and we follow. And we have his word that he will keep on leading us until that day when we sing his praise in heaven’s glory and he wipes away every tear from our eyes. Praise the Lord for His loving care! Christ our faithful Shepherd is Risen! In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

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I. Saul’s Missionary Journey
No one questions the zeal of Saul, few will question his motives, and no one wants to get in his way.

This is a man who earnestly believes in the mission he is on. He’s no reckless vigilante, but one who has gotten the approval and documentation from his superiors. There’s little doubt that much of the population agrees with him; he’s on solid ground, there. But Saul isn’t really worried about public approval; first and foremost, he is operating on the utter conviction that what he is doing is God’s will. If God is for him, who will be against him?

So Saul departs on his first, and last, missionary journey as a Pharisee. His mission is to find anyone who calls on the name of Jesus Christ; and when he finds them, he is to arrest them and haul them back to the chief priests for a trial. If they have to die, so be it, because they’re destructive to religion.
Saul’s a great admirer of Moses and the law, and he’s based his whole existence on keeping the rules.
God spoke to Moses directly on Mt. Sinai from His cloud of glory-what could be better? How good to be Moses, or at least to follow those same rules. But these followers of the Way, as they’re called, have got a different, destructive message. They teach faith in Jesus Christ, who was crucified and supposedly raised from the dead. Rather than insist on perfect obedience, they declare that Christ forgives them for their sin. Saul will not tolerate this, for it threatens the rules he lives by; and Saul fervently believes that his way is God’s way. In the name of the one true God, then, he’s going to destroy Christianity.

He’ll make disciples out of these Christians, or kill them. How arrogant and narrow of them to call themselves the Way.

It’s on the road to Damascus that Saul gets to be like Moses: The glorious Lord speaks to him from the midst of a bright light. But it’s no comfort at all: The Lord identifies Himself as “Jesus, whom you are persecuting”-the very one he’s set out to destroy. When Jesus leaves Saul along the road, Saul is blind and in despair. When he left Jerusalem, he thought he was God’s instrument, doing the Lord’s will. Before he gets to Damascus, he finds out that he is God’s enemy and persecutor. As Saul is led to Damascus, his entire life and creed has crumbled to dust.

Three days later, the Lord speaks to a man named Ananias and sends him to Saul. Ananias is less than enthused to visit a man who has planned his death, but the Lord is insistent: He tells Ananias to go and make a disciple, baptizing and teaching him what the Lord has said. So the reluctant Pastor Ananias, called by God, goes to Saul. He lays his hands on him, speaks God’s Word, and Saul can see. He baptizes Saul, and Saul is forgiven.

From there, behold the grace of God at work in Saul. The former persecutor is not one to crawl into a hole, run away from the situation. Rather, by God’s grace, he goes to the synagogues and preaches that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. Once, he used Moses and the laws as his reason to stamp out Christianity. From now on, time and time again during his life, he will show how Moses pointed to Christ.

And he will go on more missionary journeys as Paul, the Lord’s foremost missionary to the Gentiles, to kings, and to the Jews. He will preach to Jews in the synagogue wherever his travels take him. He will spar with the intellectuals of Athens about their many gods, and he’ll work with the free- wheeling, promiscuous Corinthians, too. He’ll testify before rulers like Felix, Festus, Agrippa, even Caesar himself. He’ll even set his sights on the far reaches of Spain. He will proclaim Christ to different races and different social classes. And throughout his preaching and his epistles, the message is the same. He proclaims Christ crucified and risen. He emphasizes the importance of pure doctrine and Holy Baptism. He writes about the Lord’s Supper and insists that it be kept according to God’s Word.

He knows the importance of pure doctrine; when his biblical teaching was impure, he used it to kill Christians, but the pure Word of grace saved him. He knows the importance of the Lord’s Gospel and means of grace, because that’s where God delivers salvation. Before the road to Damascus, he knew God’s commands inside and out-and there was no salvation there. Outside of Damascus on the road, the Lord was with him-a terrifying ordeal without grace. But when the Lord came to Saul by His Word of Absolution and Baptism, then Saul was forgiven for all of his sins.

That’s what Saul would be all about: Keep the Lord’s Word pure with the focus on Christ and His means of grace; and get that message out to the ends of the earth.

II. Lessons from Saul
Turning to our present time, we note several important lessons from Saul. Several of them have to do with knowing God’s will; for if you do not know God’s will, how can you proclaim it?

First, the approval of rulers and leaders is no proof that something is God’s will. Saul had signed letters from the chief priests that authorized him to persecute Christians, but it was still wicked before the Lord. Whether one has authorization from a leader or supervisor, the more important question is this: What do the Scriptures say?

Second, popular opinion is no measure of God’s will, either. This should be obvious enough: If the majority of people advocate immorality, this does not make immorality right. If a song gets a lot of playing time on the radio, it does not make the content correct. Whether or not Saul had the blessing of a lot of people, his mission was still an evil one. Popular opinion will be the opinion of the sinful populace, and will sway with each spirit that blows through town. The question once again is this:
What do the Scriptures say?

Third, inner conviction is no proof of God’s will. When Saul left for Damascus, he was utterly convicted that he was on a mission from God-that God wanted him to persecute and execute Christians. Be warned: The claim that “God told me to do this” is not proof of the Lord’s blessing; in fact, it’s a good reason to be suspicious of the speaker. Do not let anyone persuade you that some
teaching is right because they’re personally convinced that it is; and do not try to interpret God’s will by what you feel inside. Sometimes, false teaching will seem very sensible; sometimes, God’s Word will feel totally alien. Do not rely on convictions that you’ve constructed inside yourself. What do the Scriptures say?

But this leads us to the fourth lesson, and important one: It is not enough to have the Word-one must also rightly divide the Word of truth. In other words, one must properly distinguish between Law and Gospel. Saul had God’s Word. He knew the Old Testament backwards and forwards far better than you or I ever will. But for him, it was a closed book because he did not have faith. He clung to the laws, but he saw no Gospel until his conversion. He based his life upon the Scriptures; but because he did not properly interpret them, his understanding of the Scriptures led him to kill Christians. This teaches us that, like it or not, Christians must always be vigilant.

It is tragic that so many churches have simply dispensed with the Word of God completely. But even when a church still claims the Bible as its authority, it can still preach a wrong message if it does not rightly divide law and Gospel. If I fall from a plane, it’s good to have a parachute; but that does me no good if I have one but don’t know how to open it properly. Likewise, the Bible remains closed if we do not rightly interpret it.

We add here a related fifth lesson: Just because someone claims to do something in Jesus’ name doesn’t mean that the Lord approves. Throughout history, many atrocities have been justified and committed in Jesus’ name by those who call themselves Christian; this does not make those actions right or those responsible believers. Today, many abominations are still committed in Jesus’ name, as His name is often abused to justify false teaching.

The sixth lesson, far more comforting, is this: Faithfully, as promised, the Lord makes disciples and forgives sins by His means of grace. He might have knocked Saul over on the road with a bright light, but He forgave Saul’s sins by the Word and Holy Baptism. When you strip away the spectacular parts of the story, here it is: Saul was a violent sinner who was forgiven by Jesus, by means of Word and water. Until the end, people will claim that God is at work in all sorts of supernatural and paranormal ways; but if you want to be forgiven, be baptized. Hear His Word of Absolution. Receive His body and blood for the forgiveness of sins. Don’t look for God’s grace in bright lights or anything else: Go where God has promised to be for you.

The seventh lesson is this: Saul’s life would only get harder when he preached Christ crucified and pointed to the means of grace. As the Lord told Ananias, Saul would suffer much for the name of Jesus. This would not be some sort of payback to a persecutor: Jesus would not afflict Saul for earlier sins, because that would go against His promise of complete forgiveness. Rather, Saul would suffer because the world and the old sinful nature always scorn Christ and His means of grace.

This has proven true throughout history. In looking back at the need for the Reformation, the first Lutherans wrote, “Experience shows the kind of tyrants who rule the church. Under the pretext of religion they take up a worldly way of ruling, and, having cast aside any concern for religion and the teaching of the Gospel, they dominate, wage war like kings of the world, and institute new acts of worship in the church.” (Apology of the Augsburg Confession XXIV:41)

In other words, church leaders had replaced the Gospel and the means of grace with new, different acts of worship and enforced them-with violence when necessary. These leaders had done so in the name of Jesus, with their wrong interpretation of His Word. What was the result of the Reformation? The first Lutherans wrote that their pastors “…attend to the ministry of the Word. They teach the gospel about the blessings of Christ, and they show that the forgiveness of sins takes place on account of Christ. This teaching offers solid consolation to consciences. In addition, they teach about the good works that God commands, and they speak about the value and use of the sacraments.” (AP XXIV: 48. N.B.

In other words, the Reformation was a return to the proclamation of salvation in Christ alone, and the giving of that forgiveness through the means of grace.

This is the eighth and final lesson for today. Behold the great mercy of God that He would forgive the likes of Saul the Persecutor for his sins of false doctrine and violent practice. He extends the same mercy to you. You have the Lord’s favor because Christ has died in your place and risen again. You have the Lord’s favor because, just as He did for Saul, the Lord has made you His in Holy Baptism. You have the Lord’s favor because, as He did for Saul, the Lord continues to forgive your sins, continues to proclaim, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness.” You know the Lord is with you because the Lord comes to be with you: He gives you His very body and blood for the forgiveness of your sins.

Saul’s past and circumstances and life experiences might be far different from you and me, but the Lord treats him the same way He treats us. He calls us to repentance with His Law. Then He makes and keeps you His own for the sake of Jesus Christ. Yes, for the sake of God’s only Son, the Father says to you that you are forgiven for all of your sins in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

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