Tuesday of Easter 5

Concerning Sin

John 16:5–15 (ESV) Jesus said, "But now I am going to him who sent me, and none of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: concerning sin, because they do not believe in me; concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer; concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged. I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you."

Jesus tells us that the Holy Spirit’s work will be to prove that the world is wrong about three things: sin, righteousness, judgment.

First, through the preaching of God’s Word, the Spirit will prove that the world is wrong and guilty “concerning sin, because they do not believe in” Jesus. The world thinks that sin is really about sins—that is, misdeeds, but Jesus shows that sin truly is about unbelief.

So the Spirit’s work is to prove that the world is wrong about sin. He shows what sin really all is about: it means not believing in Jesus. That is the chief sin, the only sin that can damn you. As Jesus said, “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him” (John 3:36). It is a very simple either-or. Faith in Christ, even if that faith is weak, leads to everlasting life; while rejection of Jesus and His Word leads to everlasting death under the wrath of God.

Jesus and the Holy Spirit come to rebuke the world because they do not want the world to reject the one true God, but instead they want to save the world. As John 3:16-17 say, “God loved the world this way: He gave His only-begotten Son so that whoever believes in Him will not perish but will have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.”

Look at how God has opened His arms wide toward the world, embracing it by turning aside His wrath against sin through Jesus. Look at what extreme lengths God took to reconcile Himself to the world, by taking all the sin of all of us in the world and placing it on the back of His beloved, only-begotten Son, who bore the lashes, the scorn, the smiting, the crown, the nails, all for sinners, to redeem us from sin, death, and hell. Jesus willingly took the punishment that all of our sins deserved in His own body, so that the world could be saved through faith in Him.

Of course, true faith in Jesus will lead to a life that repents of sins (misdeeds) and struggles against all the worldly sins that wage war against the soul. Believing in Jesus will lead to a life such as St. Paul describes in Romans chapter 7, a life in which we do not say, “I believe, so anything goes,” but instead, “I believe, but Lord, I need help. I really struggle with resisting the sins of my flesh and beg for Christ to help and forgive me!” And that sort of faith leads us to church regularly, to hear absolution for our sins and to be forgiven and strengthened by the body and blood of Jesus.

Prayer: Almighty and eternal God, according to Your strict judgment You condemned the unbelieving world through the flood, yet according to Your great mercy You preserved believing Noah and his family, eight souls in all. You drowned hard-hearted Pharaoh and all his host in the Red Sea, yet led Your people Israel through the water on dry ground, foreshadowing this washing of Your Holy Baptism. Through the Baptism in the Jordan of Your beloved Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, You sanctified and instituted all waters to be a blessed flood and a lavish washing away of sin.

We pray that You would behold us all according to Your boundless mercy and bless us with true faith by the Holy Spirit, that through this saving flood all sin in us, which has been inherited from Adam and which we ourselves have committed since, would be drowned and die. Grant that we be kept safe and secure in the holy ark of the Christian Church, being separated from the multitude of unbelievers and serving Your name at all times with a fervent spirit and a joyful hope, so that, with all believers in Your promise, we would be declared worthy of eternal life; through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen. (Luther's "Flood Prayer")

Prayer requests: for Bessie Mahaffey and Alma Gause, under hospice care; for our homebound members: Joe and Lynn Cottle, Carolyn Dube, Duane Gruetzner, Delma Roitsch, Willard and Ann Teinert, Joycelynn Harvey, Virginia Wilkins, Cheryl Kieschnick, Wilbur Gaskamp, Doris George, Alice Kovar, Helen Ray Gustafson, Uce Gruetzner, Ruth Wissen.