12-11-2022

Good Morning All,

           John 16:13; “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.” 

   This is a small section of what Jesus is telling his disciples right before he is arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane.  He was giving the disciples comfort by telling them that He would not leave them alone.  The Holy Spirit was going to come and take care of them.  In this section of John (chapters 14-16), Jesus explains a lot about what the Spirit will do for us.  One of those jobs is to” guide us into all the truth.”

    In the explanation to the Third article, we speak of the Holy Spirit calling us by the Gospel; that he leads us into faith in Jesus and keeps us there. That is how we look at it in the Small Catechism.  But in the Large Catechism, Luther uses far more colorful and descriptive language to explain it.  Here he writes “he (The Holy Spirit) first leads us into his holy community, placing us in the church’s lap, where he preaches to us and brings us to Christ.  We are placed in the church’s lap; that is the lap of the Body of Christ.

    Isn’t that a wonderful image!!  We are God’s adopted children; he chose us to be in his family.  Just like small children are placed into the lap of their parents or grandparents to listen and to learn so do we.  I always enjoy watching small children when you talk to them.  They listen with their eyes.  Our little grandson Blake is beginning to do that.  When you talk to him, his eyes get big and sparkly.  As these little ones get older and they begin to understand the words; they listen intently with their wide eyes and hushed tones.  They listen this way because they feel safe in the arms of someone who loves them and protects them and gives them words of peace and comfort and truth.

    We should be that same way.  We can listen to God by reading His Word and seeing what it says to us.  The Bible is God revealing himself to us, showing us who He is.  What we find is a God of love who loves you and protects you and keeps you safe from all the harm the devil will send.  We can trust God’s words of peace, hope and comfort.

    The sad thing is that too often we are like the child who wants to “do it myself.”  We leave that lap and go our own way only to find that the path we chose causes us pain and suffering.  Yet the Spirit gently brings us back to the lap where we can sit and speak to God and have the Sprit teach us the truth of our loving Savior.  We can rest safely and securely in that lap.  The troubles of this world will still come, the bills will still pile up, the rain will be spotty, family and friends will cause us pain, but we can count on God to keep us in His lap of grace and to keep us safe until we enter into his heavenly kingdom.

Gracious Lord, your mercies are new every day.  You guard us and guide us in this world’s path leading us home to you.  Forgive us when we leave your lap to go our own direction.  Bring us back with your loving kindness and defend us from all that the devil throws.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret