Here’s a brief sermon preached by Rev. Dan Torkelson this week past. Marvelous. MH

HOMILY SWD Pastors Conf.
Acts 2:14a,36-41 Appleton, WI
“Preach YOU The Word” May 11, 2011

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. AMEN.

Dear brothers in the ministry and those gathered here at this conference who love them,

I struggle. (pause)

Yes, brothers, I struggle. I struggle because I see what Peter is doing. I get it. I understand. Peter is “preaching you the Word” and what’s more is that he’s “planting it home.” He’s pushing the seeds of Law and Gospel deep into the soil of the hearts of those listening…and he’s punctuating it with the homiletical 2nd person plural. You. Or if Peter was from down south, Y’all.

But make no mistake about it, he’s preaching you the Word and he’s not letting you off the hook.

And this is why I struggle. He’s not letting me off the hook either. This One whom God has made both Lord and Christ, He’s the One YOU crucified.

I struggle to do the same thing, week in and week out. To preach to all the yous out there. But the inclination is to soften the blow. We crucified Him. Somehow, the mutualizing of the Law, we reckon, sounds better to the ears of those in the pew. After all, who are we to punctuate our sermons with yous? Aren’t we pastors sinners too? Isn’t it equally true that we all are guilty of the Son of God’s blood?

It’s almost as if the prophet Nathan had said to David: “We are the men!” Surely Nathan’s eyes had wandered. Surely he had sinned. But that wasn’t the point. Nathan was God’s man at that point and it wasn’t Nathan’s sins that were the main concern. Nathan’s 2nd person singular You was absolutely necessary. David had sinned and this dilly of a sin had called into question his own faith in the promise of a Messiah. Does the forebear of the Messiah behave like this? YOU, Nathan proclaimed at the risk of his own life. No mutualizing, no sympathizing, no reducing. YOU are the man. The one who sinned. The one who besmirched the family name of the Son of God Himself.

And so I struggle. Because I am tasked today to preach this Law to you.

Twice Peter told the crowd, “YOU crucified the Son of God.” What’s funny is that our text ends with 3000 people being baptized! In Waukesha county we have a growing number of non-denominational mega churches which I am quite sure are not preaching the way Peter preaches. They pull in big numbers, but with not quite the same message. And this is why I struggle. I don’t think they are preaching the accusing YOU to all the Yous in the pews. By all rights, I have no reason to think that if I preach like Peter I will have such success. I’m still looking for the sermon which leads me to baptize 3000. And surely I must be crazy to think I’m going to get it by preaching that all those yous had crucified Christ.

Brothers, you hold this same office. Christ has called you, sinners that you are, to broadcast His message, to publish the fact that all the yous to whom you preach are guilty, guilty of crucifying Christ.

The irony here is that you are just as guilty. You are guilty, brother. You are guilty, John. You are guilty, Matt. You are guilty, Dan. You crucified Him. Your sins nailed Him to His tree.

Whatever shall we do? What have we done? How can we go on? Should we struggle through and just preach it anyway, not paying attention to the tremendous credibility problem we have? Should we just live with the feeling at the bottom of our stomachs that we are hypocrites, preaching the damning YOU, knowing full well that we are guilty too?

No. YOU hold this same office and it should not be limited by YOU at all. Indeed, the accusing YOU may be true, but the forgiving YOU is also true. The promise is for YOU and your children. Did you hear that? It is for YOU. It’s a gift for y’all, because it’s marked off as FOR YOU.

We may fear the damning, accusing YOU. We may fail to hold this office firmly and preach it. But ask yourself, which sounds better to you? Christ forgives us? Or Christ forgives you? And which do you think makes a better impression on the YOUs of your congregations? The Law which accuses YOU makes the Gospel which saves YOU so much sweeter. Don’t confuse the 1st and 2nd persons. This isn’t about US or WE. It’s about YOU AND Y’ALL. The Gospel never sounded sweeter than when it’s preached to YOU, or shall I say, FOR YOU precisely because the Law was preached TO YOU. Indeed, AT YOU.

Brothers, you are guilty. Yet for the sake of Him who died, who received God’s accusing YOU, you are declared not guilty. God’s accusing YOU was spoken to Him and the blood required to repay was shed. That blood is FOR YOU. Though your sins be as scarlet, they are white as snow. Christ’s Baptism is FOR YOU. His Body and Blood are FOR YOU. God’s promise to save is FOR YOU, the same YOUs who crucified Him in YOUR sins. Brothers, repent and be saved, all of YOU. In repentance, YOU are made clean again by Christ. Repentance is all about YOU, YOU accused by God’s righteous Law; YOU saved by God’s amazing grace for sinners.

Peter might have looked on his life to that point, all the gaffes, the denials, the contradictions, and he never would have gotten to the YOUs of the Christian message. This message is all about YOU, condemned by the Law, and YOU, saved by the sweet, sweet Gospel.

Brothers, YOU hold this office, this shepherding, guiding office. And I would submit that you have not really preached to the sheep until you have preached to the YOUS. ☺

Brothers, the promise is for you and your children and all the YOUs to whom you preach. God strengthen you to preach to the YOUs as ones set free by the Gospel for YOU. AMEN.

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. AMEN.