First Lutheran Church of Little Rock

A. In the Name of the Father…Amen.

B. The Gospel lesson serves as our sermon text for this morning.

C. Grace, mercy, and peace be yours from God our heavenly Father through
our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

D. Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, let us pray:
LSB 507:1 Holy, Holy, Holy

Holy, holy, holy! Lord God Almighty!
Early in the morning our song shall rise to Thee;
Holy, holy, holy, merciful and mighty!
God in three persons, blessèd Trinity!

Introduction

A. I draw your attention to the graphic in the bulletin that helps to
explain the Trinity:
1. “The Father is God”
2. “The Son is God”
3. “The Holy Spirit is God”
4. “God is the Father”
5. “God is the Son”
6. “God is the Holy Spirit”
7. “The Father is not the Son”
8. “The Father is not the Holy Spirit”
9. “The Son is not the Father”
10. “The Son is not the Holy Spirit”
11. “The Holy Spirit is not the Father”
12. “The Holy Spirit is not the Son”
From <en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shield_of_the_Trinity>
B. Three distinct persons.
1. One God.
2. And it’s right here in our text from Matthew 28.
3. Jesus says:
Matthew 28:18–19 (NASB95)
18And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been
given to Me in heaven and on earth.
19“Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in
the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit,
4. Got all that? Do you understand the Holy Trinity?
1. God is beyond us.
A. The Trinity is far beyond our comprehension.

B. Oh, we can say the words.
C. We can picture it.

D. We can confess it.
E. But on this side of heaven, we can’t fully grasp the mystery of three in
one.

F. We can’t get our heads around the essence and relationships involved in
our God as the Trinity.
G. But that doesn’t mean we won’t try.
1. One illustration is water.
A) Water can be a liquid.
B) It can be frozen as ice.
C) It can be heated to become steam.
2. Yet in each state, it is still H2O, it is still water.
A) Three in one.
B) However, the analogy, helpful in some ways, fails in one crucial way.
C) You can’t have ice, steam, and liquid all at the same time.
D) You have either steam or ice or liquid.
3. But the Father is always God;
A) never is there a time he is not God.
4. The Son is always God;
A) never a time he was not.
5. The Holy Spirit is always God;
A) never a time he was not.
6. All three persons are always and fully God at the same time.
H. Another illustration: an apple.
1. You have:
A) the outer peel,
B) the inner core,
C) and the meaty center.
2. One apple and three parts.
3. Again, comparing the Trinity to an apple is helpful in some ways but
fails in one crucial way.
A) The peel is only part of the apple.
B) The core is only part of the apple.
C) Same for the tasty part inside.
I. But the Father is completely God all the time,
1. not just part of God,
2. not just a third of God.
J. The Son is completely God all the time.
K. The Holy Spirit is completely God all the time.
L. Are you beginning to see how even our best attempts to grasp the mystery
of the Trinity fall far short?
1. That’s only the start of it.
2. Go back to the Old Testament Reading for today.
3. It’s the account of God creating everything.
4. Did you catch the possible reference to the Trinity in verse 26?
Genesis 1:26 (NASB95)
26Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness;
and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky
and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing
that creeps on the earth.”
5. “Let us make man in Our image.”
A) Now consider how impossible it is to comprehend our God in all his power
and immensity and majesty.
M. A third illustration: to better understand the universe we live in,
astronomers have programmed the Hubble telescope to send back pictures of
the universe beyond our planet that boggle the mind.
1. We can see far distant galaxies, and now astronomers estimate the
observable universe contains two trillion galaxies.
2. Remember from science class that light travels 186,000 miles per second
or about six trillion miles in a year.
3. It would take over 158,000 light-years to reach even one of the closest
galaxies.
4. The universe is about 96 billion light-years in diameter, and expanding
even farther and farther every minute we’re in church (“How Many Galaxies
Are There in the Universe?” The Nine Planets,
nineplanets.org/questions/how-many-galaxies-are-there-in-the-universe/
).
N. Very simply, our triune God is so far beyond us that we’ve just barely
scratched the surface of who he is and what he can do.
1. But he has revealed himself to us as the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
2. Three in One.
3. The Trinity.
4. We believe this.
5. We confess this.
6. Even if he is far beyond our comprehension.
7. And that’s okay!
2. God is with us.
A. But, thankfully, our triune God is not only beyond us. He is also with
us.
B. The very last promise Jesus gives us in Matthew, the last words of our
text:
Matthew 28:20 (NASB95)
teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you
always, even to the end of the age.”
C. With that promise, everything changes.
1. He is no longer merely the distant, too-big-to-know God.
2. We know him as the God who comes to us, is with us, and always will be
with us.
D. Let’s go back to the beginning of Matthew’s Gospel, to chapter 1.
1. An angel appears to Joseph in a dream to tell him he must not divorce
Mary, even though she is with child.
2. Rather, Joseph is to give the baby a special name, Jesus, for this child
will grow up to save his people from their sins.
3. Then the angel reveals to Joseph that with Jesus a prophecy will be
fulfilled:
Matthew 1:23 (NASB95)
“BEHOLD, THE VIRGIN SHALL BE WITH CHILD AND SHALL BEAR A SON, AND THEY
SHALL CALL HIS NAME IMMANUEL,” which translated means, “GOD WITH US.”
4. God in all power and immensity and majesty becomes one of us, fully
human.
5. The Father sends his Son, conceived by the Holy Spirit, and the small
child in Mary’s arms is now God with us in fulfillment of that prophecy.
E. Now jump ahead thirty years.
1. Jesus appears at the Jordan River.
2. John is baptizing the people who have come to him in repentance.
3. He looks up and sees Jesus wading into the water.
4. He resists baptizing Jesus:
Matthew 3:14 (NASB95)
But John tried to prevent Him, saying, “I have need to be baptized by You,
and do You come to me?”
5. But Jesus insists.
6. He says he needs to fulfill all righteousness.
7. So John scoops up the water, and the Father’s voice booms from heaven:
Matthew 3:17 (NASB95)
and behold, a voice out of the heavens said, “This is My beloved Son, in
whom I am well-pleased.”
8. The Holy Spirit lands on Jesus in the form of a dove.
9. See the Trinity there? Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
F. Yet what is Jesus doing in the water?
1. Why is he baptized?
2. He does not need to be.
3. He does so because He is taking his stand with us.
4. He will not be separate from us but is already standing alongside us.
5. His righteousness, his sinless life and the purity of his mission to
save us, will be accomplished as he begins his public ministry to live up
to his name.
6. Jesus, right from the start, is saving his people from their sins.
G. Now it’s three years later still, and Jesus hangs on a cross.
1. He is taking on himself anything and everything that would keep us at a
distance from our God.
2. He takes our punishment:
A) the agony of our sins,
B) the sorrows of death,
C) and even the horrors of hell, which is the complete separation from God.
3. In a mystery beyond our understanding, Jesus, the Son of God, goes
through that hellish abandonment when he cries out:
Matthew 27:46 (NASB95)
About the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “ELI, ELI,
LAMA SABACHTHANI?” that is, “MY GOD, MY GOD, WHY HAVE YOU FORSAKEN ME?”
A) What we deserve, Jesus serves, and we are promised an eternal life that
is always with our triune God.
H. What happens next once again boggles the mind.
1. Jesus rises from the dead on Easter morning.
2. He is victorious over death.
3. He has conquered the sin that leads to the grave.
4. He has crushed all the powers of hell.
5. Never again will those evil forces make any claim on him.
6. He is given all authority.
7. So He will never leave or forsake us.
8. He will always be close to us.
9. As the apostle Peter says in his sermon from the reading in Acts:
Acts 2:32–33 (NASB95)
32“This Jesus God raised up again, to which we are all witnesses.
33“Therefore having been exalted to the right hand of God, and having
received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He has poured
forth this which you both see and hear.
I. This we believe because we have been baptized into the name of the
Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, just as Jesus told the apostles to
do in our text.
1. When the water was scooped up and poured over me, over you, when those
precious words were spoken along with our name, we were brought into the
eternal presence of the triune God. Sin forgiven.
2. Jesus living up to his name as we are saved from our sins.
3. The prophecy fulfilled once again in our own lives, for Jesus, our
Immanuel, is with us.
4. The God who is beyond us is now the God who is with us always:
A) forgiving our sins,
B) saving us from death and the devil,
C) raising us up to life eternal.
J. The apostle Paul says it this way:
Romans 6:3–4 (NASB95)
3Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus
have been baptized into His death?
4Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that
as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we
too might walk in newness of life.
3. God is in us.
A. Beyond us:
1. yes.
B. With us:
1. definitely.
C. In us too.
1. Thanks be to God!
D. Jesus speaks about making disciples by baptizing and by teaching all
that he has commanded:
Matthew 28:19–20 (NASB95)
19“Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in
the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit,
20teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you
always, even to the end of the age.”
1. So, just as we turned baptizing in his name into being baptized into his
name, so here we turn the teaching into learning all that he has commanded.
E. How does that happen?
1. By the power of the Holy Spirit working through God’s Word.
2. Whether in a Bible class or sermon or devotion or conversation or
podcast or radio message or wherever else God’s Word is purely taught, the
Holy Spirit works in us to teach us what Jesus has said and done.
F. For example, in Psalm 8, King David looks at the heavens, the moon, the
stars and asks:
Psalm 8:4 (NASB95)
What is man that You take thought of him, And the son of man that You care
for him?
1. David sees the enormity of God.
2. He knows the majesty of God.
3. Yet he believes that God is mindful of him.
4. He trusts that God will care for him.
5. And so he praises this God of creation who is with him.
G. Like David, we are able to praise God:
1. The beauty of His creation.
2. The gift of life.
3. Family and friends that surround us
4. The purpose of work to which we have been called.
5. All the other “daily bread” with which the Lord has blessed us.
6. In a way, we hallow the Lord’s name, the name into which we have been
baptized.
7. Who brings this all to my mind, to my lips, from within me?
A) The Holy Spirit does this as He works in us to:
1) teach us,
2) shape us,
3) form us,
4) nurture us,
5) transform us into disciples who have learned what Jesus has spoken to
his disciples.
H. The creation that once was so immense and beyond us has now become a
moment of praise:
1. for the Father who creates such a world of beauty,
2. for the Son, who is with us always,
3. and for the Holy Spirit, who teaches us what Jesus has said and done for
us.
Conclusion

A. We will not grasp the mystery of the Trinity on this side of heaven,
even though we confess it with whatever creed we use in our worship.
1. We will not comprehend just how majestic and immense our God is, but we
are to believe He is always with us as the living Lord of all.
2. We will not understand how He is three persons yet only one God, but we
learn what He has done for us and praise Him for it all.
B. While the Mystery of the Trinity Is beyond Us, Our Creator God Is Always
Present with Us through the Exaltation of His Son and in Us by the
Sanctifying Gift of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

C. Let us pray:
LSB 507:4 Holy, Holy, Holy
Holy, holy, holy! Lord God Almighty!
All Thy works shall praise Thy name in earth and sky and sea.
Holy, holy, holy, merciful and mighty!
God in three persons, blessèd Trinity!
Text: Public domain
D. The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, guard your hearts
and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
E. In the Name of the Father…Amen.

A. In the Name of the Father…Amen.
B. The First Reading serves as our sermon text for this morning.
C. Grace, mercy, and peace be yours from God our heavenly Father through
our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
D. Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, let us pray:

LSB 652:1 Father, We Thank Thee
Father, we thank Thee who hast planted
Thy holy name within our hearts.
Knowledge and faith and life immortal
Jesus, Thy Son, to us imparts.
Thou, Lord, didst make all for Thy pleasure,
Didst give us food for all our days,
Giving in Christ the Bread eternal;
Thine is the pow’r, be Thine the praise.

Introduction

A. Matthias was called to an office job.
1. By that I mean not that he had a job based in an office to carry out
clerical or administrative work for an organization.
2. Rather, his office job was a position of public authority and service.
B. The Oval Office.
1. The Resolute Desk.
2. They were around long before any President, whether good or bad,
occupied them, and they’re likely to be around long after.
3. The Office of President of the United States is much bigger than anyone
who holds it.
C. Still bigger, Matthias’s office was one of authority and service to
proclaim the name and Word of our crucified and risen Lord and Savior Jesus
Christ.
1. It was the office of apostle.
2. Apostles were “sent ones,” called and sent out by Jesus Christ to say
what he said, to do what He did, nothing more and nothing less.
3. The qualifications for being in the office of apostle included being an
eyewitness of Jesus’ death and resurrection.
4. In our text for this morning, we hear that two men were put forward to
take Judas’s place in the Office of Ministry and apostleship of Jesus
Christ: Barsabbas and Matthias.
5. After the assembly of believers prayed:
Acts 1:26 (NASB95)
And they drew lots for them, and the lot fell to Matthias; and he was added
to the eleven apostles.
D. Today, pastors are called into the apostolic ministry.
1. Pastors are obviously not eyewitnesses to Jesus’ death and resurrection,
but they, like the apostles themselves, are called and ordained to proclaim
a message:
1. to say and do what Jesus said and did, nothing more and nothing less,
2. to use the Lord’s words, not ours, that is, the words of eternal life.
3. That’s why we say Your Pastor Has an Office Job.
1. In this office job, your pastor works in the stead and by the command of
Jesus Christ.
A. Pastors are not in charge of the work being done, nor is it their words
or actions that get it done. Rather, it is God’s Word at work in and
through them.
1. The Brief Statement of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, adopted in
1932, states concerning the public ministry:
A) 31. By the public ministry we mean the office by which the Word of God
is preached and the Sacraments are administered by order and in the name of
a Christian congregation.
B) Concerning this office we teach that it is a divine ordinance; that is,
the Christians of a certain locality must apply the means of grace not only
privately and within the circle of their families nor merely in their
common intercourse with fellow-Christians, John 5:39; Ephesians 6:4;
Colossians 3:16, but they are also required, by the divine order, to make
provision that the Word of God be publicly preached in their midst, and the
Sacraments administered according to the institution of Christ, by persons
qualified for such work, whose qualifications and official functions are
exactly defined in Scripture, Titus 1:5; Acts 14:23; 20:28; 2 Timothy 2:2.
B. You’re not in charge either, and that’s why you don’t determine what the
pastor says in this office.
1. The Brief Statement of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod continues on
to say:
A) 32. Although the office of the ministry is a divine ordinance, it
possesses no other power than the power of the Word of God, 1 Peter 4:11;
that is to say, it is the duty of Christians to yield unconditional
obedience to the office of the ministry whenever, and as long as, the
minister proclaims to them the Word of God, Hebrews 13:17; Luke 10:16.
B) If, however, the minister, in his teachings and injunctions, were to go
beyond the Word of God, it would be the duty of Christians not to obey, but
to disobey him, so as to remain faithful to Christ, Matthew 23:8.
C) Accordingly, we reject the false doctrine ascribing to the office of the
ministry the right to demand obedience and submission in matters which
Christ has not commanded.
2. Both pastors and laypeople say and do things that fall short of the
glory of God.
A) We often speak and act according to our fallen human nature because it
comes so easily to us.
B) But that’s also what gets us into trouble.
1. Judas had to be replaced because he removed himself from office by
following his own greed and sinful agenda
Acts 1:15–19 (NASB95)
15At this time Peter stood up in the midst of the brethren (a gathering of
about one hundred and twenty persons was there together), and said,
16“Brethren, the Scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit
foretold by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who became a guide to
those who arrested Jesus.
17“For he was counted among us and received his share in this ministry.”
18(Now this man acquired a field with the price of his wickedness, and
falling headlong, he burst open in the middle and all his intestines gushed
out.
19And it became known to all who were living in Jerusalem; so that in their
own language that field was called Hakeldama, that is, Field of Blood.)
C) Our fallen human nature always misses the mark when it comes to God and
His Word.
C. Illustration
1. A child was taught by his dad to play golf.
2. Unfor­tun­ately, his dad’s swing was such that every time he hit the
ball, it sliced.
3. Like father, like son.
4. The child’s swing, passed on to him from his father, was such that every
time he hit the ball, he sliced it just like his dad.
5. Later in life, he took golf lessons and learned the proper swing.
6. It didn’t seem right and felt awkward and wrong, but when he swung the
club as he was taught by the pro, the ball went straight down the fairway.
7. Throughout his life, the golfer sought to swing as he was taught by the
pro, but he often regressed to his old natural swing, only to watch the
ball slice out of bounds.
8. He had to keep going back to that unnatural swing to get it right and
had to practice it throughout his life.
9. It made him a better golfer.
D. Likewise, we, including those in the Office of the Ministry (Acts
1:15–17), have a natural way of speaking and acting that’s corrupted by
original sin passed on from our parents.
1. It’s our “go to” way and results in the slice of actual sin.
2. “Swinging” the Lord’s way is not only unnatural for us—it’s impossible.
3. That’s why God gives us his Word and pastors to preach it.
4. Through it, God in Christ credits to us the perfect “swing.”
5. It comes from outside of us, so it’s something we practice by believing,
that is, receiving, throughout our lives.
2. Your pastor, like Matthias, was put into this office, the office of
Christ, to carry out Christ’s mission for you.
A. He is under orders to preach only God’s Word.
1. The stole he wears reminds him and you of the vow he made at ordination
to teach and preach the Word of God faithfully and administer the
Sacraments rightly in accordance with the Lord’s Word.
A) Illustration
1. As members of the Body of Christ, you have a responsibility to hold your
pastor to the Word of God.
2. You need the Lord’s words, not the pastor’s opinion.
3. Pastor Eugene Peterson, in his book The Contemplative Pastor, relates
how you, as laypeople, might communicate this to me, your pastor.
4. The importance of the pastoral office is what needs to be stressed, not
the pastor himself, and you are to say to him:
a) We need help in keeping our beliefs sharp and accurate and intact.
1) We don’t trust ourselves; our emotions seduce us into infidelities.
2) We know we are launched on a difficult and dangerous act of faith, and
there are strong influences intent on diluting or destroying it.
3) We want you to give us help.
4) Be our pastor. . . .
b) We are going to ordain you to this ministry, and we want your vow that
you will stick to it.
1) This is not a temporary job assignment but a way of life that we need
lived out in our community.
2) We know you are launched on the same difficult belief venture in the
same dangerous world as we are.
3) We know your emotions are as fickle as ours, your mind is as tricky as
ours.
4) That is why we are going to ordain you and why we are going to exact a
vow from you.
5) And we know there will be days and months, maybe even years, when we
won’t feel like believing anything and won’t want to hear it from you.
6) And we know there will be days and weeks and maybe even years when you
won’t feel like saying it.
7) It doesn’t matter.
8) Do it. . . .
c) You are not the minister:
1) of our changing desires,
2) or our time-conditioned understanding of our needs,
3) or our secularized hopes for something better.
4) With these vows of ordination we are lashing you fast to the mast of
Word and Sacrament so you will be unable to respond to the siren voices. .
. .
d) Your task is to keep telling the basic story:
1) representing the presence of the Spirit,
2) insisting on the priority of God,
3) speaking the biblical words of command and promise and invitation.
(Eugene H. Peterson, The Contemplative Pastor [Grand Rapids: Erdmans,
1989], 138–39
2. Even Peter could only say what God’s Word said:
Acts 1:20–22 (NASB95)
20“For it is written in the book of Psalms, ‘LET HIS HOMESTEAD BE MADE
DESOLATE, AND LET NO ONE DWELL IN IT’; and, ‘LET ANOTHER MAN TAKE HIS
OFFICE.’
21“Therefore it is necessary that of the men who have accompanied us all
the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us—
22beginning with the baptism of John until the day that He was taken up
from us—one of these must become a witness with us of His resurrection.”
A) Since he only carries out the office of Christ, your pastor’s ministry
is of eternal blessing to you!
1. Jesus says to those who speak his words:
a) Luke 10:16 (NASB95)
“The one who listens to you listens to Me, and the one who rejects you
rejects Me; and he who rejects Me rejects the One who sent Me.”
2. Jesus said in his prayer to our Father in heaven before He died:
a) John 17:3 (NASB95)
3“This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and
Jesus Christ whom You have sent.
b) Eternal life is knowing this Jesus, who won it for you by dying and
rising.
3. When you hear your pastor proclaim Jesus’ words:
a) words that forgive sins,
b) words that are spirit and life,
c) you know that you are forgiven,
d) that you are given eternal life.

Conclusion
A. So, if you don’t like what I have preached to you today, that’s fine;
just take it up with the Lord the next time you talk to Him.
1. I only “work” here.
2. To put it another way: I’m in sales, not management!
3. This is an office job that’s good for you and me, even if we don’t
always like what we hear, because it makes believers out of us.
4. Jesus said as he prayed to our Father in heaven the night before His
death:
A. John 17:8 (NASB95)
for the words which You gave Me I have given to them; and they received
them and truly understood that I came forth from You, and they believed
that You sent Me.
5. This office exists to proclaim the Word of God written for us so that,
as John refers to the writing of his Gospel as well as the whole Bible,
this may be said:
A. John 20:30–31 (NASB95)
30Therefore many other signs Jesus also performed in the presence of the
disciples, which are not written in this book;
31but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the
Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name.
6. Amen.
B. Let us pray:
LSB 652:2 Father, we thank Thee
Watch o’er Thy Church, O Lord, in mercy,
Save it from evil, guard it still,
Perfect it in Thy love, unite it,
Cleansed and conformed unto Thy will.
As grain, once scattered on the hillsides,
Was in this broken bread made one,
So from all lands Thy Church be gathered
Into Thy kingdom by Thy Son.
Text: © The Church Pension Fund. Used by permission: LSB Hymn License no.
110000247
C. The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, guard your hearts
and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
D. In the Name of the Father…Amen.