An Institution with Offices & Salvific Certainty

Welcome to the teaching ministry of Kungsvinger Lutheran Church. Kungsvinger is a beacon for the gospel of Jesus Christ and is located on the plains of northwestern Minnesota. We proclaim Christ and Him crucified for our sins and salvation by grace through faith alone.

And now here's a message.

From Pastor Chris Roseberg. The Holy Gospel according to St. John chapter 17 verses 11 through 19. They are still in the world and I'm coming to you. Holy Father protect them by the power of your name, the name that you gave me.

So that they may be one as we are one. While I was with them I protected them and kept them safe by the name that you gave me. None has been lost except for the one doomed to destruction so that the scripture would be fulfilled.

I am coming to you now but I say these things while I am still in the world so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them. I have given them your word and the world has hated them for they are not of the world anymore that I am of the world.

My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by the truth. Your word is truth. As you sent me into the world I have sent them into the world.

For them I sanctify myself that they too may be truly sanctified. In the name of Jesus. In our day and age we apparently live in a post-modern age and in post-modernity in the way of thinking in post-modernity institutions are bad.

Institutions are really awful. We got to get down with the institutions. In fact we got to show it to the man. That's what we got to do. We got to stick it right to him. Down with the institution. I'm a free spirit.

Stop slapping down your rules on me. This is how we think. Oh and by the way there's another part of this too. If you are overly confident, if you're absolutely certain that Jesus Christ is truly the only way of salvation, well then you are an arrogant nerd.

You need to repent and you need to get with the program. As they say there are many ways to climb Mount Fuji. This is how this goes. Well in our texts today these are the, how should I put it, the antidote to this post-modern nonsense.

And so we'll spend a little bit of time taking a look at this and we will make you thoroughly politically incorrect at the end of this sermon. So let's go back to our first reading from the book of Acts.

The Apostolic Office Replaces Judas

I'm partway through and it begins with in those days Peter stood up among the brothers. The company of the persons was in all about a hundred and twenty. So this is Jesus has been raised from the grave, bodily appeared to his disciples, he's ascended into heaven, and well Judas if you remember things did not go so well to the one who betrayed Jesus Christ.

He went and hung himself and then we find out what happens to his corpse. And the details are quite graphic. So Peter said brothers the scripture had to be fulfilled. Oh by the way that's a very important statement.

The scriptures had to be fulfilled. God never lies. Scripture will always be fulfilled. So the scripture had to be fulfilled which the Holy Spirit spoke beforehand by the mouth of David concerning Judas who became a guide to those who arrested Jesus for he was numbered among us and was allotted his share in this ministry now this man acquired a field with the reward of his wickedness.

You almost see the air quotes, the reward of his wickedness. Remember those 30 pieces of silver? He ended up being so grief stricken that he ended up throwing the silver back into the temple. Tried to be absolved of his sins and of course the high priest said what are we to you know this is between you and God.

We can't help you out here. So he threw the money back. They kept it but they knew they couldn't put it into the treasury because it was blood money. Yet they're the ones who paid him to yeah I see piety has a funny way of being hypocritical.

So this man acquired a field with the reward of his wickedness falling headlong. He burst open in the middle and all of his bowels gushed out and everybody said eww. Became known to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem so that the field was called in their own language Akedalma that is the field of blood.

Now watch what Peter does here. For it is written in the book of Psalms. Now how many when you read through the Psalms do you think the Psalms are just chock full of prophecy? Well they are. Here like a good Jewish man Peter knows his Psalms and knows under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit that there are prophecies in the Psalms regarding Judas of all people and here's the prophecy Psalm 69 verse 25 may his camp become desolate and let there be no one to dwell in it and Psalm 109 verse 8 let another take his office.

Office. We all know what an office is right? You know we here in the United States of America we have the office of the President of the United States of America and the current office holder some people like and some people don't like and after the election there'll be a new office holder and some people will like that office holder and some people won't like his office that office holder and everybody for the next well as long as the United States continues to endure will either rejoice or weep and gnash teeth depending on who's in the office right?

But everybody knows that the Constitution lays out particular authorities and duties of the office right? So the idea then is that the government of the United States is not a movement it's an institution right?

Well a lot of people today like to think that the church is a movement and I would say au contraire it is an institution and here we learn of one of the church's offices and it's the apostolic office and this office by the way is completely empty because Peter here lays out if you would the qualifications to be one of the people filling the office of Apostle and this is an important thing there are technically 12 office holders.

Judas vacated his office the son of destruction and now it's time to fill his office really a student to know your Bible you're gonna figure something out along the way here that in the end there's not 12 disciples there's 13 but we'll explain that in a minute.

So Peter then says so one of the men here are the qualifications for the office one of the men who have accompanied us during all the time that Jesus went in and out among us beginning from the baptism of John until the day that he was taken up from us.

One of these men must become with us a witness of his resurrection. Okay so it's got to be a dude a dude who's been with Jesus from the time of Jesus's baptism by John the Baptist as a witness of Jesus's death and resurrection.

Those are the qualifications. Anyone here meet those. I know there's some old people in here. Dean you remember. Yeah you had a pet t-rex. Right. Okay all right all right. So I know Don can tell us about Noah it's so but yeah.

But so the idea here is is that unless you're you have these qualifications you don't get to be an apostle. Now in the wide church today there are people running around claiming to be apostles and you know this you know I'll know that it's an office that these are the qualifications.

So if anyone comes up to you and says hi I'm Apostle so-and-so you can say back to them goodbye. I know you're a heretic. Yeah it's just it just be polite that way. I mean it's you know the you know that this is somebody who's not speaking to you the truth.

All right. So here's what they did. They put forward two men Joseph called Barsabbas who was also called justice and Matthias and they prayed you Lord. You who know the hearts of all show which one of these two you have chosen to take the place in this ministry.

So Jesus gets to do the picking and the Apostleship from which Judas is turned aside to go into his own place. And then they took some dice rolled him up threw him. Matthias came up winner winner. Chicken dinner.

That's how it was chosen. No joke. All right. So that doesn't sound very holy. Does it. They prayed through dice and Matthias came up winner. And then we never hear from Matthias again. We never hear from him again.

Now we hear from him in church history just a little bit. But so you kind of get the idea now this is all important. What is the role and the responsibility of one who is an Apostle. They are eyewitnesses of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

And they are to go and proclaim to the world that Christ was crucified for our sins. Call people to repent and to be forgiven. And they are the eyewitnesses. In fact in our day and age if you've ever watched like the history channel or CNN or any of those channels during like Christmas and Easter they always have these documentaries.

Can we find the real historical Jesus. And so when somebody starts talking like that and you know they they have a documentary. You know what. Let's get to the heart of who this who was Jesus. Really.

Right. Well the reason why they're doing it is because of course we live in a postmodern age and everybody knows that people don't have the ability to you know like raise the dead you know give sight to the blind and you know heal the sick and stuff like that miraculously.

So that can't possibly be the real Jesus. Right. So we have to get to the historical Jesus. And the historical Jesus is pretty much a Galilean Boy Scout who'd like to help little old ladies across the Sea of Galilee.

That's pretty much what they're looking for. But see the thing is is that how many books did Jesus write. He didn't write any. Not one. Hmm. That's kind of weird. So how is it that we know all this about Jesus through the Apostles.

And see Jesus in Luke 10 16 says this about the Apostles. The one who hears you you Apostles hears me. The one who rejects you you Apostles they will. They end up rejecting me. And the one who sent me.

The only way we know anything about Jesus is through the eyewitnesses. Jesus wrote nothing. We do know that he wrote something in the sand with that whole ordeal with the woman caught in the act of adultery.

But that's a different story altogether that didn't seem to survive. It's not extant anymore. Now let's talk about this. So we have 12 disciples of 12 Apostles. Now right. The 12. Well if you all sit there and do your math.

You all familiar with the fact that the Apostle Paul he was an Apostle. Everybody refers to him as you know the Apostle Paul. How can this be. That equals 13. Now let me give you a historical side note.

Any of you know you good Old Testament history. How many tribes were there. 12 tribes. There were 12 tribes of Israel. Yet if you were to count them up the number would come to what 13. Why is that. Well one of the tribes was comprised of two half tribes.

The half tribe of Manasseh and the half tribe of Ephraim. These were the sons of Joseph. So there were 12 tribes and one tribe was two half tribes. Which comes to the number 13. And remember the Old Testament is type and shadow of the fulfillment.

And the fulfillment is in the New Testament. So it's not a coincidence that there were 12 tribes of Israel and 12 Apostles that numbered 13. It's not a coincidence at all. And here's the outlier. It's the Apostle Paul.

Paul as an Abnormally Born Apostle

1st Corinthians chapter 15. I'll start. In verse 1 Paul explains how he came to be an apostle. Because he's kind of the odd man out. If you would Paul says this now I would remind you brothers of the gospel that I preached to you gospel is fantastically great news which you received in which you stand by which you are being saved.

Oh I this has got my attention. I need good news. I need to hear from God that I'm being saved. He says if you hold fast to the word I preached to you unless you believed in vain. And then he says this.

For I delivered as a first importance what I also received. And he received this from Jesus himself. And here's what he received that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures. That word from the Psalms comes to mind here.

Say la let that sink in Christ died for our sins. Oh let me not go too fast over this. Every single one of your transgressions. Every time you have not loved the Lord your God with all your heart soul mind and strength.

Every time you have failed to love your neighbor as yourself in thought word and deed by the things you did by the things you didn't do. Every time you came up short and you know you didn't measure up.

Christ died for our sins. They're all accounted for every single one of them. So it says Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures. He was buried. He was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures.

And then he appeared to Cephas and then the 12 see what it says there. Then he appeared to more than 500 brothers at one time. And oh yes the early Christian Church kept track of all of the eyewitnesses of the resurrection he says most of them are still alive though some have fallen asleep.

Then he appeared to James and to all the apostles. And watch this last of all is to one untimely born the ESV translated I think the Greek is better translated as abnormally born. He has an abnormal birth as an apostle.

He says it's last of all as to one abnormally born. He appeared also to me. For I am the least of the apostles unworthy to be called an apostle because I persecuted the Church of God. And yes he did. He held the cloaks of the men who stoned Stephen while Stephen proclaimed Christ basically giving a sense to his unjust murder.

He's the least of the apostles unworthy to be called an apostle because I persecuted the Church of God. But watch this. But the grace of God by the grace of God I am what I am. And his grace towards me was not in vain.

On the contrary I worked harder than any of them. That was not I but the grace of God that is in me whether then it was I or they. So we preach and so you believed. And see here's the thing. We're all like the Apostle Paul each and every one of us born dead and trespasses and sins and at war with God.

We sin against God. We sin against neighbor. We're a pernicious bunch. And yet because of the grace of God we are not called apostles. We are given the name of Christ. We are called Christians forgiven sinners all saved by the mercy and grace of God as a gift.

And we have all heard the preaching of the Apostles. And that's what they did. They preached and we believed. Remember Jesus told the disciples if you really want to be super technical about that great Commission in Matthew 28.

Go make disciples of all nations baptizing and teaching. Right in a very real way. Christ commissioned the Apostles to make disciples of all nations. And you think. Well how are they gonna do that. They don't even live in an age when there was you know 21st century internet technology.

They didn't have smartphones. They didn't have smart rocks. How are they gonna pull this off right. Well they did have parchment in pen and they wrote their message and eyewitness testimony and the good news down.

And it's now in our Bibles. And each and every one of us we are disciples today because they're preaching they are still discipling the nations. And the best part of it is that we get to participate in their discipling because when we take their words up into our mouths and we tell our neighbors about the good news of Jesus the disciples and God himself are speaking in our mouths.

We are partners with them in this great Commission. Let us never forget that we have good news to proclaim. And so the Apostles do their work now through us through the written word taken up in our mouths.

The Apostles' Testimony and Eternal Life

And so let me remind you of a couple of passages one from our gospel text and one from our epistle text. Our gospel text Jesus is this is as high priestly prayer on the night that he was betrayed. It says this.

I have given them your word. He's praying to the Father. The world has hated them because they are not of the world just as I am not of the world. That's right. Each and every one of us Christians we who believe in Christ we are no longer of this world.

We've overcome it because Christ has overcome it. And so he says I do not ask that you to take them out of the world but that you keep them from the evil one. And is this not what we pray in the Lord's prayer lead us not into temptation but deliver us from the evil one.

They are not of the world just as I am not of the world. So sanctify them in the truth. And your word is truth. God never lies. He speaks the truth. And so as you sent me into the world so I have sent them into the world.

Those Apostles of Jesus Peter James and John. Jesus sent them and he wants us to listen to them. To reject them is to reject him. Scripture says. And so our epistle text says this. If we receive the testimony of men the testimony of God is greater.

For this is the testimony of God that he has born concerning his son. Whoever believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself. Whoever does not believe God has made God a liar. And God never lies because he is but not because he has not believed in the testimony that God has born concerning his son.

And this is the testimony God gave us eternal life. Doesn't say God paid you for your good works. And all those times when you actually were really successful at living up to your New Year's resolutions for a week.

Alright four days. I'm sorry to right. God's not paying you for being good with eternal life. It says he gave gave it's a gift. It's Christmas. That kind of thing. God gave us an eternal life. And this life is in his son Jesus.

Whoever has the son has life. Whoever does not have the son does not have life. This is most certainly true. God never lies. And so he says I write these things to you. The Apostle John is writing these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God.

Do you believe in the name of the Son of God. Then he's writing this to you. And watch this. Here's the arrogant anti postmodern part so that you may know that you have eternal life. Oh that's arrogant.

Oh that's ridiculous. You can't possibly know that you have eternal life. Who do you think you are. I don't think I'm anybody. I think I'm a sinner. And I think the Apostle John who was sent by Jesus just said that God gave me a gift.

And I know I have it. You have it. Dear saints you have this gift. You don't have to earn eternal life. God has given it to you as a free gift. Believe this trust this word because Jesus sent this man and had him write this to you for you to hang on to and to believe.

And God never lies. You can take this to the bank when you die and your eyes close here and they open up in eternity. You're gonna see Jesus. And oh he's got some major things to show you. Because he loves you so much.

You think Renee's meeting with her daughter was amazing. That's a foretaste of what is coming. Because each and every one of you are children of God. And you have yet to see him. And he can't wait to see you.

And the joy that you will have for eternity is yours forever. It's a gift. And John wants you to know this with absolute certainty. Trust and believe you are saved. You have been given eternal life. You have a right standing with God.

And nobody can take this gift away from you. Nobody. Your father in heaven is mightier than all in the name of Jesus.

Amen. If you would like to support the teaching ministry of kungsvinger Lutheran Church you can do so by sending a tax-free donation to kungsvinger Lutheran Church 15950 470th Avenue Northwest Oslo Minnesota 56744 and again that address is kungsvinger Lutheran Church 15950 470th Avenue Northwest Oslo Minnesota 56744.

We thank you for your support. All of our teaching messages may be freely distributed as long as you do not edit or change the content of the message. And again thank you for listening.