The Risen Christ Protects His Disciples

Sermon on John 17:11b-19 for the 7th Sunday of Easter, May 13, 2018

In the name of our risen and ascended Lord Jesus, dear friends,

To say that the world and society we live in is dangerous would be an understatement.  As a matter of fact, every day is stacked with danger; things go wrong … in our cars, with our bodies.  Right here in Beaver Dam there has been plenty of danger the last few months, with the fires, etc we’ve seen around us, explosions from bomb-making.  And now, Spring time, we’re coming up on tornado season.  With that in mind, I sometimes think about what might be the safest place in our country to live.  And I’m convinced there is no place on earth that is physically safe –  Florida and the South? Hurricanes and tropical storms.   California?  Been there, done that.  Earthquakes; wild fires when it’s dry.   Midwest?  Tornadoes.  Maybe Hawaii?  That’s kind of a paradise. Oh, that’s right; big volcano erupting right now.  These are dangers to our physical lives.  To escape them we’d have to get out of this world.

What should be of greater concern for the child of God are the dangers that threaten our ETERNAL welfare.

That was Jesus’ concern for his disciples.  Jesus, the night before he faced incredible dangers to BODY AND TO SOUL, prayed for the protection, especially for the eternal well-being, of his disciples.  He prayed for their protection from “the evil one”.  This prayer of Jesus is called his “high priestly prayer” since he acts as a priest – prayer for others, INTERCEDING, serving as the priest who is the go-between between sinners and the just and holy God.  Jesus was about to offer the perfect sacrifice to make peace between God and such sinners.

In a world of danger to both body and, above all, to soul, it is uplifting to hear Jesus’ prayer and to know that

THE RISEN CHRIST PROTECTS HIS DISCIPLES

                                                                        BY HIS NAME

                                                                        BY HIS WORD

That Jesus’ asks the Father in heaven to protect the disciple “by his name” doesn’t sound too powerful, does it?  What is a name?  Just a word; a few letters of a language.  That won’t do much to protect anyone or anything!  But when you get down to it, a name is more than a word; it is in reality what or who the word

identifies.  The POLICE protect us.  It’s not the word “Police” written on the squad care or on the uniform the protects, but the people the word identifies.  And when we hear the word “police” our minds are flooded with what we know about them – that they are trained to serve and protect, that they are armed and trained to defend the town’s citizens, that they can take down and lock up the evil doer.  There is the “power” in the name or title.

It’s the same with God’s name.   Yes, it is a word or words.  But behind the word is ALL that he tells us about himself.  The power of the name is really in the ONE whom the name identifies!   Jesus prays that the Father would protect his disciples by the NAME the Father had given HIM – JESUS.  What’s wrapped up in that name?!  The name “Jesus” is the Greek and Latin form brought into English of the Hebrew name “Joshua”.

JOSHUA means in Hebrew, “the LORD saves”.  And here is made known the protection.  Remember what the angel told Joseph in his dream when he was considering ending his planned marriage to Mary:  “Do not be afraid to take Mary to be your wife, for what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit…She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name ‘Jesus’ because he will save his people from their sins.”  He protects and saves from the ultimate danger, our sins that lead to eternal death.

So, what else is he called?  The Prophet Isaiah had all sorts of names and titles.  “Wonderful Counselor”, “Mighty God”, “Everlasting Father”, “Prince of Peace” (Is. 9:6), “Immanuel” = God with us (Is. 7:14).

In chapter 53 Isaiah called him the “Suffering Servant” by whose wounds we are healed.  Job titled him “MY Redeemer” who lives and who will stand at the last day (Job 19:25)!  When this name is applied to you, when you are connected to it, you are protected for eternity from what sin deserves, and also from that “evil one”!!  That name was applied to you at your baptism – you were baptized into the NAME of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit!!!  The ONE who is identified by that name has made you, made the sacrifice to have you with him forever.  He has caused you to trust this!  By this “name” you are protected.

So, what danger threatens you today that “the evil one” might take advantage of to try to pull you from Jesus?

Despair?  Things not going as you hoped, and you think maybe God doesn’t know what’s going on in your life?  Wrapped up in the name of Jesus is what Peter confessed about him:  “Lord, you know all things” (John 21:17).  Maybe sadness?   Satan uses that to work at eroding trust in God’s goodness?  King David said about this God whose name covers you, “My heart is glad and my tongue rejoices… because you will not abandon your holy one to the grave…” (Psalm 16:9, 10).  Do certain sins tempt you?  Greed?  Immoral acts?  Hate?  Unjust anger?  The One who fought and overcame every one of those temptations, whose name has been placed on you, says, “Come to me, you who are weary and burdened”.  All this is wrapped up in the One who has been given the name of Jesus, the LORD saves.

Jesus continued in his prayer to ask that his disciples be protected by means of the “tool” by which the protecting NAME is revealed and applied to people.  Our risen and ascended Jesus protects us …  By his Word.

     The Word Jesus has given (and is! – John 1:1) reveals the God behind the Name!!!  The Word is God’s revelation about himself and about his activity for us.  The Word reveals the God who made us; how he made us; WHY he made us.  The Word reveals God’s will for us, how we who have been created by him are to live.

The Word is God’s own revelation of why and how he came to the rescue of disobedient creatures.  The Word reveals that our God has eternal plans for our good with him!!  The Word protects, because through it we are connected to the God it names!!!

So basically, Jesus was asking that his disciples might faithfully hold to and trust his Word, that word of promise and word of guidance.  By this he protects his people, he protects their very souls and eternal lives!  With that purpose for his word in our lives, think about the little pocket Bibles chaplains gave to soldiers in World War II.  Perhaps to keep them from getting beat up and falling apart these Bibles were covered front and back with metal.  They were designed to fit in the front breast pocket of the uniform, right over the heart.  In a way these Bibles also became somewhat of a protective shield over the soldier’s heart, his “source” of life.  Stories are apparently told of some soldiers’ lives actually being saved because shrapnel or a bullet hit the metal covered Bible and didn’t penetrate to the heart.  These Bibles have become known as “heart-shield” Bibles.

Your Bible, God’s Word, is your “heart-shield” – protects your “heart”, your soul, your eternal life!  What good would a soldier’s “heart-shield” Bible have done him had he left it in his duffle bag instead of tucking it in his breast pocket?  The same is true of God’s Word, our Bibles.  Our 2018 Confirmation Class receives Lord’s Supper for the first time today after their Confirmation last Sunday.  Some may have received nice new Bibles with their name engraved on the cover.  But what good is that nice Bible if it sits on a shelf?  To not listen to and read and apply that word to our lives each day is like the police officer who thinks it’s great to have bullet proof vests to wear when on duty, but they just leave it hanging in their locker at the police station.  Kind of foolish, isn’t it?   Isn’t it even more, and eternally foolish to not go back to that Word we have studied in our Confirmation classes?  Isn’t it foolish to not take the opportunities on Sunday mornings to get covered with that protective Word together with this platoon of God’s “army” named “St. Stephen’s”?  The Protection doesn’t cover if we just possess the equipment!!  Use it!!

And here’s where we have a Mother’s Day and Family application.  God-fearing parents put their children under the eternal protection of this saving God.  It starts at baptism, when God’s saving name is applied to our children.  This “Word-Protection” continues in our homes –  Christian parents can use that Word – to discipline, to build up, to protect that soul.  Christian moms and dads ought to be using God’s gift of prayer that we might make the same request Jesus was making in this lesson today – “protect them from the evil one”.

Christian moms and dads will make education in that Word a priority in their children’s lives – using the Lutheran Elementary School and / or Sunday School.  In teen years that Word protection can continue through Lakeside Lutheran or Luther Preparatory School, and through participation in the Lutheran Teens.

And, one other way in this digital / electronic day and age for Christian moms and dads to keep that eternal life-protecting Word in their children’s lives is to use the tools available.  This is the same point made several weeks ago:  do you use the tools you have to keep them protected?  Do you use that phone – texting – e-mail –  Facebook capability as a tool for good for your child?  Parents, you own those phones, don’t you?   It’s your plan, I imagine.  You’re paying the bill, right?   You have the right, the responsibility, and the privilege to put on those phones what will be spiritually good for your children!!!   Get a Bible app on those phones.  Get other apps and links on there that connect your kids to our Lutheran Teens Face Book page, to teen devotions at our Synod’s site www.wels.net.  And when it comes to social media, moms and dads, do you put things there that lift up your children to God?  … things that direct your child to God?  … things that set the example of godly words that are not of “the evil one”?

It’s about their eternal life!!!   It’s about our souls and the souls of our children!!!  Jesus prays for us, his disciples!  Isn’t it cool that Jesus prayed for us the night before he rescued us by his death?!  And then, he became the answer to that prayer as well.  He provides the eternal soul protection we need!  Ought we not pray the same for one another, for our families, and for our children?!   And ought we not use the protective equipment he himself gives?!  The protection is there!!   Moms, dads – , use it for your children’s sake!   That goes for all of us!  Amen.