+Points to ponder

1. Having one language for all seems to be such a good thing. But, of what does mankind’s actions in Genesis 11 bring to mind.
2. How is God building His church today and what is He doing with our congregation?
3. What do our confirmands’ verses – Romans 8:18 and John 8:12 – tell us about God’s work in building His church?

+Sermon Transcript

Grace, mercy, and peace be unto each of you from God our Father and our Lord and King, Jesus the Christ. Amen.

Let us pray: Almighty Father, God of wind and flame, send Your life-giving Spirit upon Your people: give fire to our words, strength to our witness and boldness to our proclamation of Your wondrous work in Christ, who, with You and the Spirit, lives and reigns now and forever Amen.

Bauhaus? That’s Walter Gropius. Prairie style? Frank Lloyd Wright. Undulating forms? Zaha Hadid. Did you recognize the movement or style associated with those architects?

But, Who, though, works primarily with clay? And what does that kind of building look like?

That builder is God, and on this Day of Pentecost, we see Him building much more than walls and roofs.

BY HIS SPIRIT, GOD BUILDS YOU AND THE NATIONS INTO THE CHURCH.

God built your first parents by his Spirit, as we hear in the first chapter of Genesis: “Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness…’ So, God created man in His own image … male and female He created them.”

Here we find that God made known His will. He spoke: “Let us make.” And in chapter two we hear: “then the LORD God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature… Then the LORD God said, ‘It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him… So, the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. And the rib that the LORD God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man.”

God fashioned the clay. He breathed life into it, and the man bore the image of God. He built woman, and the man and the woman had fellowship with God and with each other.

Unfortunately, the clay seems to crack and crumble as Man tries to build by himself, for himself, trespassing the boundaries that God, the builder of all, set into place. And the man’s errant and arrogant efforts brought calamity – the death of a son at the hand of a brother even as corruption abounded and grew in the next generations.

In our reading for this morning, we hear of mankind – being of one language coming together – not in a good way – but to express their confused and confounded will. “Then they said, ‘Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves ...’” Noah’s descendants were to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. Their intention to create a focal point that would keep them in one place was proof that they intended to break God’s command.

Man speaks: “Let us build and make.” He forms the clay, but he can give no breath of life to it. He wants the clay to bear his name, that is his image. And those that call upon the name of man are scattered – they are dispersed – and yet men babble on. We humans like the sound of our own voice so much that we drown out the “still small voice” of God in favor of our contemptuous and cluttered cacophony. And we don’t have to go far for it – a nightly newscast, a political press conference – and let’s not forget the ubiquitous and myriad social media opportunities that there are.

But beloved, God builds the Church by his Spirit. He came down to see our inability to build. God speaks in order to scatter because he then speaks to gather, “to unite all things in [Christ], things in heaven and things on earth.” Because Jesus is both God and man, humankind and God are reconciled in Him. And so, the Word became clay, and God used the clay of Christ Jesus to rebuild.

God sends down the Holy Spirit in the name of Christ. In Holy Baptism, He softens our clay with water and breathes life into it. Thus, the Church bears the true image of righteousness and holiness.

The Spirit ensures the preaching of the Gospel and the administration of Holy Baptism and Holy Communion. These then are the unfailing marks of the existence of the Church.

By his Spirit, God builds you into the Church. For you, Nate, whatever challenges you face – whatever challenges we face together, we anticipate ‘the glory that is to be revealed to us.’

And for you Breanna darkness may come but we are not alone as Jesus says, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness but will have the light of life.”

And so, I encourage you both to remain in His Word and regularly partake in the Sacrament of the Altar, where God speaks His will to you, that your sin is forgiven.

God has breathed his life into you, as St. Paul puts it: “… He saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to His own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by His grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.”

Every aspect of our salvation depends on God’s action; none of it depends on what we do. Even though Paul repeatedly urges Christians to prepare for and perform good works, these are the harvest of God’s grace in saving us from our sins and are not prepayments or repayments for His salvation.

And more, He has marked you with His name – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. He hasn’t stopped there either as He has gathered you into the Church, and He builds you on Christ, the Rock, the tested foundation.

It is by the same Spirit that God builds the nations into the Church. He speaks His will in every language. And more God uses you and me – He uses clay vessels to proclaim the gate of heaven, that is Jesus.

God calls and gathers from every nation, from all tribes and peoples, through Holy Baptism and the teaching of the Word. So that “Everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

Every house has a builder, and the builder of the Church is God. See! This is a building glorious to behold! Amen.

“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.”