The Ruler of this World

​Pentecost – B                                                                                                 LSB #’s 497, 656, 500
Text – John 16:7-8 & 11
 
Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: 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.  And when He comes, He will convict the world concerning sin & righteousness & judgment: …concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.
 
THE RULER OF THIS WORLD 
 
In last Sunday’s Gospel lesson, Jesus gave us insight  on what the world thinks of us.   In case you weren’t here,  the world hates  the followers of Jesus  because those followers are not of the world.   The world hates Jesus  because He is not of this world.   Jesus & His followers have a different character than Satan & his followers.  In this world,  Christians do not “fit in.” 
Sadly for us,  we still have a sinful nature.  Our character may be different,  but from the outside,  we often look pretty much the same as the world.   The Christian divorce rate is the same.   Our sinful nature is cowardly & afraid to stand out,  to be odd,  or to be square,  as they used to say.   In how they dress  & how they style their hair,  people intentionally try to “fit in.” 
In other ways,  even unintentionally,  people tend to blend in  with their environment.   I spent nine weeks at Navy boot camp & the majority of my company was from down south.  When I got home,  the people of Frankentrost noticed  that I had picked up  a southern accent.  Satan works hard at getting the children of God  to “fit in” with the world. 
“Fitting in” is what Adam & Eve were doing  when they followed the devil’s guidance to eat of the forbidden tree.  They didn’t want to be left out,  as the only suckers  who didn’t know good & evil.  That’s what Satan implied,  & they fell for it,  hook,  line  & sinker. 
“Fitting in” is what we do  when we give in to the world’s demands not to speak of our faith in Jesus Christ.  A National Football League player recently gave a commencement address in which he stated, “our own nation is led by a man who publicly & proudly proclaims his Catholic faith  but at the same time is delusional enough  to make the sign of the cross during a pro-abortion rally.”  Statements like that do not  “fit in”  with the character of our world,   & the world let that football player know it,  for that remark  & others like it.   Nothing  about his speech “fit in” with the tolerance mindset of our culture. 
It seems that the most important thing the world wants to tolerate  is sin.    It has little tolerance for Jesus & His followers.   In a world that hates them,  it takes real courage to  stand out,  & stand up  for Jesus.  God’s Son chose His Apostles,  & trained them,  in order that they would found,  what today  we call,  the Christian Church. 
As the 16th chapter of John begins,  Jesus warns His followers of persecution to come.  In today’s Gospel reading, with V. 5ff,  Jesus begins to explain the resources that will be available to His followers  as they encounter that persecution.   Those same resources are there for us  as we witness to what Messiah has done  for our salvation. 
“Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: 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.  And when He comes, He will convict the world concerning sin & righteousness & judgment: …concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.”  (John 16:7-8 & 11 ESV) 
As you were listening to that,  did you notice the resources that Jesus was mentioning?  Maybe you were listening  for a whole list of them,  but Jesus mentions only one – the Helper, with a capital “H.”  As Martin Luther would have said, “Es ist  der Heilige Geist.”  The Helper is the Holy Ghost,  or in modern parlance, the Holy Spirit.   He is God.   What more do we need? 
And the Holy Spirit will be doing some very specific things,  things that do not “fit in;”  things that make sinners  very  uncomfortable.   Der Heilige Geist will convict the world concerning sin  & righteousness  & judgment.  Do you see now  why the world hates us?  Even if you & I  are not personally  calling out the world for its sin,  the world knows  that God  is calling it out.   The very presence of God’s children  brings to mind  the Holy Spirit’s conviction of sin,  & that drives the world crazy. 
Remember, it seems that the most important thing the world wants to tolerate  is sin.   In our culture,  it’s no longer enough to just tolerate sin.  Now,  you must celebrate sin,  or you will never “fit in.”     Have you caught yourself – trying to “fit in?”   We do it  in thousands of little ways  that are invisible.   A good way to counter that  is to pray before a meal in a restaurant. 
Yeah,  that is likely to feel uncomfortable.   It’s normal for sinners to feel  uncomfortable when resisting sin.  Praying in a restaurant will feel awkward.  You may blush & turn red.   I’m joking when I say,  turning red is simply the blood of Satan boiling inside of you.  Yet,  you can be certain that turning your heart to God before you eat  is the last thing Satan wants you to do. 
As a dead skunk  always smells worse than a living one,  the ruler of this world is judged, broken & defeated,  but he is also  still  deadly.   We should never mistake his ‘nice talk’ for anything less than the poison that it is.  Tolerating sin  never saves sinners  anymore than tolerating cancer  saves cancer patients.  God does not tolerate sin,  nor should we.
However,  God does die  to make payment for sin  & we should accept God’s payment.  When we forgive a person’s sin,  we are accepting the payment  of Jesus Christ.  That’s the same thing the heavenly Father does,  when He forgives our sins.  He’s accepting the payment of His Holy Son.  It is the only form of payment that can bring healing to the evil that Satan brings. 
The basic sin,  of which the Holy Spirit convicts the world,  is that sinful beings put themselves at the center of everything.  That is the world’s characteristic sin & it received classic expression when God sent His Son into the world  & it refused to receive Him.  John wrote of that in the 1st chapter of his Gospel: “The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world.  He was in the world,  & the world was made through Him,  yet the world did not know Him.  He came to His own,  & His own people did not receive Him.”  (1:9-11 ESV)   My sinfulness wants to make everything about me – which only furthers the process of decay.   Salvation & holiness are possible  when everything is about the death & resurrection of Jesus. 
John continued in 1:12-13, “But to all who did receive Him,  who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God,  who were born, not of blood  nor of the will of the flesh  nor of the will of man,  but of God.”   What that tells us  is that children of God  are born solely of the will of God.  Only He creates holiness,  & in Christ we are God’s new creation. 
Yes, from the outside  we look pretty much the same as the world.   It’s not a flattering look.  What makes the difference is what’s living on the inside.  Is it the ruler of this world,  or is it the Ruler of heaven & earth?    For now, the Ruler of heaven & earth allows Himself to be hidden behind masks.  That’s how Martin Luther described it. 
He explained what he meant by that in this way.  Take a helpless baby, that is a mask behind which the almighty God exists.  Or, take a frail & helpless adult confined to a wheelchair.  That is a mask behind which the almighty God exists.  Take anyone of His children in all their sinful failures & weakness.  That is a mask behind which the almighty God exists. 
Right now, in your pastor,  & in the people sitting around you,  you see a mask  behind which the almighty God exists.  It’s not a flattering look.  You’d swear  that you’re actually seeing the ruler of this world staring back at you.  Each of us is guilty of trying to “fit in” to a world in which we do not belong.  By experience, this is the only world we know. 
By faith,  already today,  we can live in a world that is very, very different from ours.  It’s just that it’s hidden  behind the brokenness  & the disappointments  & the failures.   The new creation is hidden  behind the major frustrations of your life  & underneath all of your trivial successes.   The Holy Spirit  is hidden  like a hand in a glove – a ratty & torn glove.  Its color has been faded by the sun.  Its finish has been worn by years of abuse.  However, what matters is the hand that is inside that glove.  Sometimes that hand is visible to the naked eye, like the tongues of fire that appeared & rested upon the Apostles the day of Pentecost.   Most of the time  it’s not. 
Most of the time  God calls us to live by faith.  He calls us to believe even though we do not see,  & Jesus promises  that we are blessed in that.   Jesus promised His followers that, although sorrow had filled their hearts at the news that He’d be leaving,  He would send the Helper to “…convict the world concerning sin & righteousness & judgment.”  (John 16:8 ESV) 
“The Holy Spirit will convict the world …concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.”  (John 16:8 & 11 ESV)   What we see in our world does not line up well with that good news.  Wars & rumors of wars, sexual assault, murder, corruption & lawlessness, they all seem to running rampant. 
The glove is certainly ugly,  but Jesus promises that the Holy Spirit is inside of that glove,  moving it  according to the will & the purpose of God.  The ruler of this world is judged & that’s partly why so many people in this world hate God’s children.  We are God’s evidence that unbelief is not a foregone conclusion.  We are the evidence that unbelievers have no excuse. 
That’s why the world “screams” so loud that their cause is just & right.  They’re trying to drown out the voice of the conscience  that God placed within them.  Those who follow Jesus have a better voice speaking within.  It is the Holy Spirit declaring that Jesus has set us free from the ruler of this world; set us free from the chains of sin & rebellion.  Amen. 
A mighty fortress  is our God,  a trusty shield & weapon;  He helps us free from every need  that hath us now o’ertaken.   The old evil foe  now means deadly woe;  deep guile & great might  are his dread arms in fight;  on earth is not his equal.    Though devils all the world should fill,  all eager to devour us,   we tremble not,  we fear no ill;  they shall not overpower us.  This world’s prince may still  scowl fierce as he will,   he can harm us none.   He’s judged; the deed is done;  one little word can fell him.  Amen.  LSB 656:1, 3.