1879, 1891, 1905.

            “Do you know how it feels to be lonesome/ When there’s just no one left that really cares? Did you ever try to smile at some people/ And all they ever seem to do is stare? And you remember how it feels to be cold again/ When the happiness of love has gone away? And you never want to go out on the street again/ And you only seem to live from day to day?”

These are the lyrics to a song written by Gram Parsons. The song is secular, but a Christian is able to sympathize with these words because they speak about his condition. There is nothing lonelier, yet also far from lonely, as being a Christian. This condition is magnified in view of Jesus’ ascension to the Father. You would expect the Ascension of our Lord to be a sad occasion, marking the end of His dealing with mankind. Not so. Jesus promises the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, to help His disciples, and you, with

COMFORT IN PERSECUTION

I. Jesus warns of persecution.

II. Jesus sends the Comforter to bear witness of Him.

III. Comfort in persecution keeps you from falling away.

            There’s not a lot of comfort in Christ’s words from the Holy Gospel. They will put you out of the synagogues. Indeed, the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God. When you read the book of Acts, you see that our blessed Lord’s words come true. Jewish and Roman authorities henpeck the apostles wherever they go. Saint Paul has a group of rabble-rousers following him from place to place. Late in Paul’s life, he tells his protégé Timothy, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.

The tricky part about persecution is to remain faithful to God when everyone stands against you. The pressure of culture pushes hard. The pressure of breaking family ties also push hard, especially when family members fall away from the Christian faith and capitulate to worldly ways. You very well may have to stand alone, clinging to Christ all the more while others turn their back or perhaps threaten your way of life. No wonder that Christians cave in and go along with the broad way of tolerance. No one wants to stand alone while remaining faithful to God’s holy Word.

You shouldn’t be surprised that Jesus says these things to His disciples as well as to you. He has to say it in order that when their hour comes you may remember that I told them to you. You cannot make the excuse that you didn’t know what you were getting into when you were baptized or confirmed. You will suffer persecution for standing with Jesus. You will know how it feels to be lonesome. You will feel the knives that come out of other people’s eyes when they stare right through you, angry with you for not turning away from Christ and His Word. You will learn what it means to live day to day, just as the song lyrics quoted earlier say.

Learning how to live day to day is not a bad thing. It shows you Whom you trust when other helpers fail and comforts flee. You might believe you are alone, but in Christ you are never alone. He sends the Helper from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father. The Helper will bear witness about Me, Jesus says. You will also bear witness, because you have been with Me from the beginning.

You heard the witness the Helper bears about Christ two weeks ago. The Helper’s witness convicts the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. Jesus says it again today, they will do these things because they have not known the Father, nor Me. Those who persecute Christ’s witnesses, even if they do so in the Name of the Triune God, stand with the prince of this world and his lies. Consider God’s Words through the prophet Ezekiel: I will vindicate the holiness of My great Name, which has been profaned among the nations, and which you have profaned among them. And the nations will know that I am the LORD, declares the Lord GOD, when through you I vindicate my holiness before their eyes.

The Comforter proclaims both judgment as well as vindication. You are vindicated through the innocent suffering and death of Jesus Christ. The devil’s seeming triumph is actually Christ’s glorious triumph for the sin of the world. Children of darkness think they perform the highest service in squelching the Gospel for the sake of a false gospel of the world’s comfort. The world brings no comfort. The world brings death. The world’s vindication is eternal separation from God. Your vindication is in Christ alone. The Helper draws you closer to Christ in the Means of Grace, the preached Word and administered Sacraments. There alone you find shelter from persecution.

Clinging to Christ through the Helper also keeps you from falling away from the true faith. Jesus must warn about persecution to keep you with Him lest you fall into the snare of satisfaction with the world. It is this fear of being mocked and despised because of believing in Jesus Christ as the Victor from sin and death that keeps people from being a devoted Christian. You hear people all the time talk about their “faith.” In what do they put their trust? They might say, “God,” but what god? When you talk about the joy you have in believing, those who cannot stand the scandal of believing in a particular God will hurl their venom at you.

Jesus says it will happen. Believe that you will suffer for the Truth. The time may not be right now, but perhaps soon Christians in our country will have to endure persecution. The Church will become the still small voice crying out in the wilderness that no one wants to hear. Those who hear the Voice of the Shepherd will be saved. Those who hear what they want to hear will be condemned. This is a hard saying that few are able to believe.

Because you believe that Jesus Christ covers you with His blood as the perfect ransom from hell, you are vindicated from persecution. Because you are wet with baptismal water and witness Divine Truth with your mouth and your life, you are vindicated from all harm that will happen. This also is a hard saying that few will believe. Blessed are you as you believe and endure the little while before Christ’s return in judgment. Hearing the Gospel, trusting in your Baptism, and eating and drinking the Lord’s Supper for the forgiveness of sins, you have comfort in persecution. You are no longer lonesome, for the Father sends His Helper to bear witness to Christ. You have joy that no one can take from you. You have Jesus.

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit

            How shall we sing the LORD’s song in a foreign land? You walk as strangers in a strange land when you walk behind the Good Shepherd. No one wants to hear about the forgiveness of sins when one can eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow they shall die. No one wants to put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted Word, which is able to save your souls. A dying world hears James’ exhortation in the Epistle and brings forth filthiness and rampant wickedness against it.

Jesus is about to ascend to His Father and our Father, yet He says 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. It would be good to have both Jesus and His Helper by your side. Protection from the enemy at two for the price of one is a bargain. Jesus in front and the Helper riding in back means the enemy cannot reach you.

Where are you going? You can’t leave now, Lord. The enemy will certainly attack without you by my side! How can I sing the new song Your Word declares if You aren’t there to hold my hand and teach me how to sing this new song? You promise a Helper, but what help is He when You are not there?

Sorrow is supposed to fill your heart as Jesus prepares you, and His disciples, for His ascension. Sorrow is supposed to be cast away in His death and resurrection. Forgiveness of sins and eternal life is yours! Yet you pine for Jesus to linger a bit longer, at least until there is no sign of the devil. Yes, Satan is conquered. Yes, no one can take your joy from you. However, some physical, tangible evidence of this Truth from time to time would do you good.

The evidence is in the Word Jesus speaks on the night when He was betrayed. The Comforter is coming to convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment. A conviction of the world does not sound like a good reason to sing to the Lord a new song. To convict someone of something is to pronounce a declaration that is proved true with evidence. The conviction is three-fold, 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.

The world is guilty on all three charges. No one wants to hear about habitually transgressing God’s standard of holiness. No one wants to hear they are not born perfect and holy. You don’t want to hear the proclamation of sin either. The call to repentance remains. Some hear this call and are contrite. Others hear this call and mock it as hypocritical piety from a God who is all about “love” and nothing about “contrition.”

No one wants to hear about the righteousness that comes from above in Jesus Christ. The world already considers itself righteous because of its mere existence. You join in this self-righteousness. When you continue to walk as if you are sinless and righteous on your own merits, the conviction of standing against Christ falls on you.

No one wants to hear about judgment unless the judgment is against the enemy and for themselves. God is a convenient enemy because He allows bad things to happen. He won’t justify what common sense thinks is correct. God is bent and shaped in every direction to cover a multitude of unrepentant sins. Consider how these words of Jesus can be twisted around to make you look like God and God look like your servant: He will glorify me, for He will take what is mine and declare it to you. Idolatry becomes reality with a switch of the subject and the object.

How shall we sing the LORD’s song in a foreign land? How shall you bear the Lord’s burden of being faithful to His promise of conviction when you are the one convicted every day for being His precious child? You bear this burden believing that Jesus first bore it for you. Jesus was convicted of sin because the leaders of the Jews did not believe in Him. The carpenter’s son from Nazareth was a blasphemer and a threat to their way of life. They cast Him away on a cross and stuck Him in a tomb believing their righteousness prevailed over His blasphemy and over what they saw as His demonic power to perform miracles. They judged Him guilty, though He was innocent. They released a murderer to crucify the King of the Jews.

It is this false conviction of Christ that delivers you comfort. All of this horrible suffering was in your place in order to let you go free. Christ dies for your sin. Christ’s righteousness covers you. Christ’s judgment is for you to live with Him for all eternity. The Holy Spirit comes after Christ’s ascension to proclaim this Truth to the world that put Christ to death only to see Him rise from the dead. When Jesus returns to judge the living and the dead, this three-fold conviction will be pronounced once again. In that day you will rejoice and the world will groan with sorrow. That is why Jesus says, He will glorify Me, for He will take what is Mine and declare it to you.

Today the Spirit working in the Word of Christ declares to you that you have been judged worthy of everlasting life. You are washed and sanctified in baptismal waters. You are fed with the life-giving eternal Word that proclaims Jesus Christ as triumphant victor over sin and death. You are not guilty before God’s tribunal because Jesus was judged guilty in your place. You are free. The world and those who despise the Lord Christ will be destroyed. You will be spared all this torment. Behold, God is my salvation, says Isaiah, I will trust, and will not be afraid; for the LORD GOD is my strength and my song, and He has become my salvation.

How shall we sing the LORD’s song in a foreign land? O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth shall declare your praise. The Holy Spirit puts the Word in your mouth to declare His praise. The Word of Christ dwells in you richly when you hear Him, eat Him, drink Him, sing His praises, and rest in His abiding love for you. Though you are a sinner, your sin is forgiven in His blood and righteousness. You can’t help but sing a new song to the Lord, for He has revealed His righteousness to you in the sight of the nations. All the ends of the earth will gnash their teeth, but you keep singing because Christ being raised from the dead will never die again; death no longer has dominion over Him.

How shall we sing the LORD’s song in a foreign land? Ask Him to teach you in His Word. Watch what happens next when you do, for your lips will declare where true joys are found. Believe it for Jesus’ sake.

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit

            The time of the Church, the time of Her growth, is described by our blessed Lord as “a little while.” What does He mean by “a little while”? We do not know what He is talking about. First, Jesus is talking about the time following His ascension and the sending of the Holy Spirit until He returns to judge the living and dead. Believe it when Jesus says, you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice. We know from history that eleven of the twelve apostles were martyred, killed in the line of duty. They died horrible deaths because they preached the innocent suffering and death of Jesus Christ for the sins of the world.

Martyrdom still happens today, although not so much in our country. When we pray for persecuted Christians, we might think of those in far-off lands whose names we can barely pronounce. “They” are suffering for the faith. “They” have it so bad “over there.” “They” also happen to be our brethren in Christ. When they suffer, so do we. It’s difficult to comprehend this when we are wading in prosperity, peace, and pride. Saint Paul says in 1 Corinthians 12, if one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together. Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it. “They” are “us.” What is theirs is ours and what is ours is theirs. When they are hurt or killed, we suffer and die with them, even when we don’t “feel it” in the good ol’ U.S. of A.

Nevertheless, we do feel their suffering. The devil and the world continue to pinch the Church in our country. Perhaps the “good old days” of church going in our country is like a passing rain shower that falls here, then there. The shower seems to be moving below the Equator and eastward toward sub-Saharan Africa. We have allowed the Church to be a commodity rather than a hospice and banquet hall for dying sinners receiving life from their Father in heaven.

The Church is not a commodity that is bought, sold, or traded. The Church is the Body of Christ in constant birth pangs. She is sorrowful because the hour has come for her to suffer. The devil, the world, even our sinful nature, must pinch, poke, prod, and push up against her. We do feel the suffering of the Church. We are given manifold opportunities to compromise the exclusivity of the Triune God. Exclusivity is a bad word in a world that is dying. The hour has come to confess the faith passed down from Christ through His apostles and then through preachers and teachers of the Word. When that time of confession comes, the pinch is on. Say and do the right thing according to so-called wisdom, well and good. Say what doesn’t jibe with worldly wisdom, and wait for the labor pain of bearing the burden of Christ to fall on you.

In the midst of the world’s rejoicing over what seems to be its final victory over the Good News of Jesus Christ comes the word of the True Victor over the world. You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy…. So also you have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you. In that day you will ask nothing of me.

The coming of the Lord on Judgment Day brings abundant joy to those in Christ Jesus. All the sorrow, all the pelting rain of persecution and cruelty that is thrown on Christ’s beloved sheep, is turned into joy. Those who mocked the Way of the Lord have a place waiting for them in the burning lake of fire, where torment and agony know no end. Those who remain steadfast in the Word that can never die will be raised from the dead, changed into a perfect person, body and soul, and will live forever before the face of our heavenly Father. His only-begotten Son will be with us, and thus we shall always be with the Lord.

Judgment Day for a Christian is like a movie with an amazing, unbelievable plot twist. You might have a notion something is up for a character in the movie, but it hits you blindsided when it happens. It might leave you dumbfounded, maybe even in shock. You can’t move. You can’t speak. You can’t even think. BAM! WOW! That is a stunning development.

The second coming of Christ is a stunning development for those who scorn the Son of God. They will realize how foolish it was for them to live outside of the sheepfold. When He returns, it will be too late for them. Take care, then, that you do not find yourself outside the sheepfold and that day comes upon you unaware.

Watch! Repent! Believe that Jesus takes away your sin. Cling to His Word of reconciliation. Let Him pluck you from the jaws of death and place you into His green pastures. Washed clean in His blood and righteousness, no one can take your joy from you. Not Satan. Not the world. Not your own flesh. No one can take your joy from you.

Consider Saint Peter’s words in the Epistle. This is a gracious thing, when, mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly. For what credit is it if, when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God. You have to go through a lot of stuff in this life. Not all of it is good. Most of it stinks. Peter calls enduring sorrows a gracious thing when you are mindful of God. Remember who you are. You are His precious possession, bought with His blood. The mess that is life in this dying world has an end. You will die. Your body will be sown. When Jesus returns, you will be raised. You will live. You will see clearly the goodness of the Lord that you can only see in a mirror, dimly. You will ask nothing of the Lord in that day, for all will be clear at that time. Every question will be answered. Finally, for once and for all, everything will make sense. What seems silly, the fact that you will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy, sustains you in Jesus Christ until the day that you see it for yourself. Then the fullness of His grace that is seen in sermon, song, and Sacrament will be all you know, all you desire, and all in all.

Endure the little while. The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. “The LORD is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him.” The LORD is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him. Believe it for Jesus’ sake.

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit