Encore Post: Frederick III grew up in the noble German household of Ernest, Elector of Saxony. His father gave him a fine classical education in the Humanist tradition. Frederick grew up to be a patron of German renaissance painters, especially Albrecht Dürer, Lucas Cranach the Elder and Lucas Cranach the Younger. He founded the University of Wittenberg and systematically built it up to become prominent. He was a pious and faithful Christian, a collector of relics, a supporter of the Augustinian observant movement in Saxony.
A skillful diplomat, he negotiated major reforms in the structure of the Holy Roman Empire, increasing the power and freedom of its electors, nobles and free cities. In 1518, he was the Imperial Vicar, second only to Emperor Maximilian I, who was approaching death. When the Emperor died in January of 1519, he was regent of the Empire. The Pope, the electors, princes and cities of the Empire preferred that Frederick be crowned the next emperor rather than young Charles V of the Hapsburg dynasty. Charles was already king of Spain, Austria, and Hungary, ruler of territories in the Netherlands, France and Italy. Becoming Emperor would make him the most powerful monarch in Europe.
Yet Frederick did not want to be Emperor. He negotiated with Charles to have the Empire repay its debts to Saxony and a number of other concessions in exchange for his vote and support. After Charles was elected Emperor, Frederick used his considerable political skills and influence to protect Luther and advance the Reformation. When he died in 1525, he was succeeded by his brother John, who was an ardent supporter of the reformation.
Dear saints, we continue this morning in the Upper Room the night that Jesus is arrested. Our Lord spends chapter 16 preparing His disciples for His arrest and crucifixion. Last week, He told them of the sorrow that they will feel, but also how that sorrow will soon be replaced with joy. This morning reveals the reason sorrow will be replaced with joy.
“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.” When the disciples see their Teacher arrested and flee in fear, they will be sorrowful. The sorrow will continue to increase as they see His trial, conviction, and crucifixion. Sorrow and fear continue to grow on the Sabbath as they fear the Jews may come after them next. But even when presented with the testimony and witness of the Resurrection, that fear and sorrow remain. This is evident as they are huddled in a locked room on the evening of the Resurrection.
But then our Lord is suddenly among them. Their fear and sorrow are quickly turned to joy with the phrase, “Peace be to you.” It was certainly for their advantage that Jesus went away. It was imperative that He did. For if He does not go that away, that is, if He does not die, then the disciples and every other man, woman, and child remain under the burden of their sin.
For the next forty days, Jesus continues to teach, encourage, and prepare His apostles for their ministry. Part of that preparation is for His Ascension. He must leave them again. But this time that leaving will be only a physical leaving. He will remain with them in spirit and, even more, send the Helper to them. He will send the Holy Spirit. And as you know, the Holy Spirit is manifested at Pentecost in Acts 2.
Equipped with all that Jesus teaches them and with the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, the apostles go out and preach the Gospel in joy. And they retain their joy even when they are thrown out of the synagogues, arrested and beaten for their preaching, and martyred for being a Christian.
The reason they can do all this is that Jesus keeps His word. He goes to the Father and sends the Holy Spirit. And the Spirit guides them in all truth. He speaks what He hears Jesus speak. He declares to them what shall come. And He will glorify our Lord by declaring what is Jesus’ and declaring it to them.
As the Spirit comes, He begins to convict the world. He begins to reprove and rebuke the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment. The work of the Holy Spirit is to expose us to ourselves. God already knows us better than we do. He knows our faults, even the ones we don’t know we have. And so, the Spirit comes to enlighten us.
But notice that this convicting is of the world. We are indeed convicted of our own sin as the Spirit shows us where we have failed to keep God’s Law. And because he keeps us in the true faith, we are led to repentance. We realize we have no righteousness of our own and look to Christ for our righteousness. We rejoice and sing because we have been judged righteous because of the blood of Christ shed for us. We, by the grace of God, have faith and salvation.
But the world does not. The world believes it can dictate what is and is not sin. The world believes it is righteous based on what it does or doesn’t do, think, or say. The world thinks it is clear of any judgment because of its own righteousness. It is a ‘righteousness’ that changes with the cultural tides. This is what the Holy Spirit comes to reprove and rebuke. He comes to show the world that this is not the case.
Yet we can narrow the work of the Spirit even further regarding the conviction of the world toward sin. The specific conviction the Spirit brings against sin is that the world does not believe in Jesus. Of all the sins possible, this is the worst. It is the chief sin and trumps all others. No matter how heinous a life someone lives, no matter what evil they have done, it is unbelief that tops it off. Remember what our Lord says to Nicodemus in the night: “He who believes in him (in Jesus) is not judged. He who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.”
The purpose John has in writing his gospel account is so people would read it, hear it, and believe in Jesus as their Savior. When you or anyone else hears the Word of God, it is the Spirit who works through it. When someone believes and is convicted, it is the work of the Spirit ensuring that the Word does not return to the Lord without accomplishing what it set out to do. So also, when the Word is rejected and unbelief tragically continues, it is the Spirit who judges that unbelief and unrighteousness.
Jesus is risen and He is ascended. His righteousness is laid upon all who call upon him and trust in him as Lord and Savior. Here the world is convicted concerning righteousness because it is only Christ who is righteous. The world, persisting in sin and unbelief, is unable to possess any true righteousness, no matter what good deeds they do in the eyes of men.
Finally, the Spirit convicts the world concerning judgment because the ruler of this world is judged. Satan is defeated. It is not that he was truly the ruler, but that he had acted as if he was, representing himself as the world’s ruler. That much of the world is under his influence shows the power he has despite his defeat. But this is the work of one already defeated and condemned. He knows he’s lost, so he’s trying to take as many as he can with him.
But you, dear Christian, are not of the world. It is why the world hates you. You are different. You are not under a judgment of condemnation but have been judged and declared righteous. You are not under sin and the penalty of unbelief but have been given the greatest gift possible: faith and life in Jesus Christ.
Know today that the Spirit of truth has come and is still here. He continues to guide us into all truth, which includes correcting us when we sin and lose our way, bringing us again to the Lord in repentance. And he does this for you because Jesus went away for a little while. After all, Jesus was crucified for you. He does this because our Lord ascended to the right hand of the Father where he rules and reigns. So, let us sing to the Lord, for he has revealed his righteousness in the sight of the nations. Amen.
Rev. Brent Keller Peace Lutheran Church Alcester, SD
IXOYE is a misspelled attempt replicate the Greek word, ichthus. IXOYE and ichthus are effectively the same thing. Ichthus simply means fish. The significance of the fish in Christian iconographic vocabulary of the fish is both biblically sensible imagery and traditional storytelling.
We’ll often see it on the back of a car: the chrome two lined fish icon, a fish and a cross, or a fish with letters shoved inside. Here are a few examples. These have also been used for jewelry themes, key chains, Bible covers, in the like. These gained popularity in American Christianity beginning in the 1970s as part of a broader attempt to reach back to ancient Christianity.
Christian tradition holds that the simple two line ichthus was used by ancient Christians during persecution. And there are even Children’s Games based upon that. But, that line of traditional storytelling has very little basis in history.
Clement of Alexandria (150-215 AD) said specifically that Christians should engrave their seals with a fish. Glyphs in Christian sites throughout the ancient Roman world seemed to indicate that Christians were aware of the fish and it’s use as a Christian symbol long before that.
All of that is well and good, but the question remains: what does it mean anyway? For the most part the use of the fish and the letters of ichthus as we understand them come to us in the form of an ancient acronym. The phrase “Jesus Christ God’s Son, savior” (Ἰησοῦς Χριστὸς Θεοῦ Υἱὸς Σωτήρ) spells out fish in Greek (ΙΧΘΥΣ). The capital letter forms of the letters in the word fish, iota, chi, theta, upsilon, and sigma, look a little bit like the English letters: IXOYE.
That was a very long way to get to the simple answer. It means Jesus. And as Christians we put the name of Jesus on us and our children at his command in our baptism, which washes away sin gives faith. We also put the name of Jesus our clothing, on the walls of our homes, on the walls of our sanctuaries, and before our eyes throughout life. From the forms of art we use lambs come across is, fish, and a host of other symbols to accomplish this effect in our lives.
Blessèd be the Son of God, Jesus, our savior.
Rev. Jason M. Kaspar Mt. Calvary Lutheran Church & Preschool La Grange, TX
