Advent 3 Gaudete

Matthew 11:2-10 - Advent 3 - December 11, 2016
Refining and Purifying Christian Faith
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Last Sunday our sermon dealt with the crosses that Christ lays on his Christians.  Crosses are hard to bear – whether they be something bad that God adds to your life or something good that he takes away.  Generally, because of the pain and personal nature of whatever hurts, folks would rather talk to some sort of professional counselor than to their pastor.  But the highest arts of sociology and psychology fall infinitely short of providing what the Christian most dearly needs in time of deep sorrow.  Oh, a counselor can help.   Please don’t get me wrong.  They are often well trained and experienced and can give wonderful and wise advice.  Sometimes all that’s needed is to have a discreet listener who will let you spill out your heart.  That can be, as they say, cathartic. 

That word cathartic means purifying.  It’s where we get the name Catherine, which means pure – a beautiful name!  God makes things pure by purging them.  Pure and purge come from the word for pyre or fire.  To purge is to cleanse by fire, usually in relation to metals like gold and silver or iron.  The Medieval Church entertained the superstition of purgatory where God, through pain, would purify those who died without being pure enough for heaven.  Of course this isn’t true.  What a terrible attack on the comfort of the gospel!  The Bible teaches that our purity is found in Christ by faith, and that this purity will be perfected in us in the twinkling of an eye on the Last Day when Christ returns.  Our pain doesn’t earn our purity.  Christ’s pain already has! 

Advent 2 Populus Zion

Luke 21:25-36 - Advent 2 - December 4, 2016
Your Redemption Draws Near
Listen ♫

As darkest night must fade and die before the sun’s appearing,
So fades my grief away, when I think on these tidings cheering,
That God from all eternity hath loved the world, and hath on me
Bestowed His grace and favor; I’ll ne’er forget the angels’ strain:
Peace–peace on earth, good will to men, to you is born a Savior! Amen. 

In Jesus’ final beatitude, he said, “Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven” (Matthew 5:11-12).  Of all persecutions that we suffer as the children of God, I think about the most painful is when we hear people lie about Jesus – and then by extension when they revile us as well for believing and confessing the truth.  What can be worse than to hear evil spoken against us falsely because of Jesus?  What can be worse than to hear others twist our motives of love and concern as though we were judgmental and hateful bigots when really we just want what Jesus wants: for them to repent and believe the good news that their sins are freely forgiven for Christ’s sake?  What can be worse than when people fundamentally misrepresent this message of the gospel that saves them by adding in false human opinions that rob God our Savior of the glory that belongs to him alone — and then when others for whom the gospel is intended actually believe their lies to the eternal detriment of their souls?  What can be worse?  Yet Jesus says to us who must bear this sorrow, “Blessed are you.” 

Advent 1 Invocavit

Matthew21:1-9 - Advent 1 - November 27, 2016
The Christian’s Crown of Righteousness

In the days of Jeremiah the prophet, the kingdoms of Israel and Judah forsook God, lost their glory, and were destroyed and scattered by heathen armies.  God had punished them.  But in the midst of this punishment was a wonderful promise. 

Through the same prophet, Jeremiah, God said behold.  In the midst of all this calamity that your sins have brought upon you, look at this.  Look at what I will do.  The days are coming, says the Lord, that I will raise to David a Branch of righteousness – that is, I will send a son of David to bring you honor as you have never seen before.  For what will this Branch be?  He will be a king – like his father David was.  He shall reign and prosper.  That is, his reign will be successful.  It won’t crumble like an earthly kingdom – like the one that I gave you, which you stained with idolatry, and which I therefore now take away from you.  No, his kingdom will be spiritual, and it shall last forever.  He will execute judgment and righteousness.  That is, he will not neglect the poor and lowly or deny justice to the victims of crime.  No enemy will prevail against him with either bribe or threat.  His reign will be fair and good.  And in his day Judah will be saved and Israel will dwell safely.  This means that the salvation he promises will not be able to fail, but will guarantee security to all his subjects.  And his name, this King, this Branch of David, is the Lord, our Righteousness.  “Behold the days are coming,” says the Lord.  “The days are coming when I will demonstrate that I myself am your righteousness.” 

What an awesome prophecy!  It’s just as St. Paul wrote in Romans 3,

Advent 3

Matthew 11:2-10 - Advent 3 - December 13, 2015
Decreasing & Increasing

St. John was more than a prophet.  He was sent by God to prepare the way for his Son, Jesus Christ.  He prepared for the Lord in two very basic ways. First he taught repentance.  He exposed the sin of those to whom the Lord was coming, that is, the people of Israel.  He exposed their love of money, their arrogance, their drunkenness and debauchery, their disobedience to parents and others in authority, their disdain for the poor, and their shameful ignorance of God’s holy word, which was their heritage.  He exposed their self-righteousness – especially that of their leaders and teachers who no longer directed God’s people to the promised Christ, but directed them instead to their own good works of obedience.  They pointed people to themselves as examples of righteousness to imitate rather than to the mercy long promised in the coming Savior. 

And this brings us to the other way in which John the Baptist prepared the way of the Lord.  After he showed people their sin through the law with its curse, he directed them to Jesus, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.  He said, there is your blessing; there is the one who bears your curse.  Repent of your sin and look at what I am pointing to.  He is the very Lamb that Abraham told Isaac God would prepare for a sacrifice in his place.  He is the Lamb that was typified by the spotless lamb whose blood marked their doors when the angel of death passed over in Egypt.  He is the Lamb that all sacrifices that the priests ever offered in the temple always pointed to.  

Advent 4

John 1:19-28 - Advent 4 - December 21, 2014
A Voice of One Crying in the Wilderness

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What is greater, the sun or the sunshine?  What is greater, the instrument or the music?  What is greater, the messenger or the message?  It’s difficult to even make distinctions between these things since they are so closely associated.  That’s natural.  This is why those sent by the Pharisees were so annoyed by John the Baptist.  John insisted that the distinction must be made between who he was and what he was preaching.  His answers become shorter and shorter.  Did you notice this?  “Who are you?” —“I am not the Christ.”  “Are you Elijah?”—“I am not.”  Are you the Prophet?”—“No.”  John’s answers became shorter and shorter because he was getting tired of talking about himself.  He wasn’t sent to talk about himself.  That would be like a violin screeching out information about violins rather than filling the air with melody, or like a candle radiating factoids about wax and wicks rather than lighting a room.  No, a messenger’s job is not to bear witness of himself, but to bear witness of someone else.  That is what John did.  As the Evangelist writes a few verses earlier:

There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. This man came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all through him might believe. He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light. That was the true Light which gives light to every man coming into the world.  (John 1:6-9) 

When we speak a word with our voice, our voice forms the word and in a sense creates it.  But this is not so with God’s Word.  His Word is eternal.  God’s Word is God himself.  And through his Word, he created all that exists.  He also creates the voices he sends to speak his Word.  

Advent 2

Luke 21:25-28 - Advent 2 - December 7, 2014
Signs in the Sun and Moon and Stars

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen. 

The day is surely drawing near
When God’s Son, the Anointed,
Shall with great majesty appear
As Judge of all appointed.
All mirth and laughter then shall cease
When flames on flames will still increase,
As Scripture truly teacheth. 

Let us pray:

O Jesus, who my debt didst pay
And for my sin wast smitten,
Within the Book of Life, oh, may
My name be also written!
I will not doubt; I trust in Thee,
From Satan Thou hast made me free
And from all condemnation. Amen. 

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“But take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness, and cares of this life, and that Day come on you unexpectedly.”  So said our Lord, Jesus Christ.  His warning is earnest, because he loves us.  Let’s begin this morning by considering why we take heed, how we take heed, and what we take heed of. 

Advent 1

Romans 13:8-14 - Advent 1 - November 30, 2014
The Dignity of Man

Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law.  For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not bear false witness,” “You shall not covet,” and if there is any other commandment, are all summed up in this saying, namely, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”  Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law. 

And do this, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed.  The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Therefore let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light.  Let us walk properly, as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in lewdness and lust, not in strife and envy.  But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts.

_____________________

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.  

To have dignity is to have value.  These days there are all sorts of ethical issues that people talk about that deal with the question of human dignity – – ranging from abortion and euthanasia to homosexuality and so-called gender identity.  All of these debates seek to say something definitive about human dignity.   But with what authority can anyone really say anything?  What really is the value of man?  In order to answer this question, we need first to know something about God who created man.

Advent 2

Luke 17:20-30 - Advent 2 - December 8, 2013
The Kingdom of God is within You

Solomon says that there is nothing new under the sun.  From the first day that Adam and Eve disobeyed God and fell into sin until the end of the world, all things on earth remain essentially the same.  We are born; we die.  In between is a whole bunch of joy and a whole bunch of sorrow.  I suppose the race is on to make the former outnumber the latter.  But what a futile race, because ultimately it doesn’t really matter.  We are born; and then we die.  And for a thousand generations the same mundane thing takes place.  Our place, our thoughts, our accomplishments, and even our hopes and dreams are forgotten.  That’s what Solomon says, by inspiration of the Holy Spirit.  “Vanity of vanities,” says the Preacher; “Vanity of vanities, all is vanity”  (Ecclesiastes 1:2).  Kind of a depressing picture to paint, isn’t it?  But it’s true.  And I think everyone knows it. 

Many people respond to this unavoidable fact by living for the moment.  They try to experience as much pleasure as they can before it’s too late.  This is known as hedonism, or Epicureanism and has gone in times past by the motto: “Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die.”  A modern equivalent to this is what kids say these days: “YOLO – you only live once.”  Obviously such an outlook on life is incredibly selfish.  It encourages young people to measure the value of life by how much enjoyment they can pack into it rather than by how much good they can do for others.  This flies in the face of what St. Paul tells us in our Epistle lesson: that we should not aim to please ourselves, but to edify our neighbor.  It is true that we only live once.  But what life are we living?  Are we animals seeking carnal pleasure for some small window of time?  Or are we children of God who live forever seeking that which is above? 

Hedonism wares on you. 

Advent 1

Matthew 21:1-9 - Advent 1 - December 1, 2013

  Lauding the Lord's Lowliness

Today is the first Sunday of the Church Year and the beginning of the Season of Advent.  During Advent, we prepare for our celebration of Jesus’ birth at Christmas.  We do this first of all by remembering why He was born in the first place: to die on the cross and take away the sin of the world.  It’s fitting that we begin the Church Year with the Gospel lesson that we just heard, because it records Jesus’ final entrance into Jerusalem right before His long awaited crucifixion under Pontius Pilate.  We begin the Church Year with the same Gospel, which is appointed for Palm Sunday as well.  We do this because the entire Year, indeed, our entire lives revolve around that singular event that took place on Mt. Calvary 2000 years ago.  The reason we make the cross the focus of our Church year is because it is the focus of Scripture. 

Advent 4

John 1:19-28 - Advent IV - December 23, 2012
Rejoicing in the Power of Our Baptism

Last week our Introit began with those words from Philippians 4: “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice.”  And now today these same words serve as our Epistle Lesson: “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice.”  It’s the same theme.  That’s OK.  It’s fitting that two Sundays in a row address the theme of rejoicing, because both these Sundays’ Gospel lessons deal with the same theme of faithful Gospel proclamation.  Again and again the preacher preaches what needs to be heard.  Again and again you gather to hear the same thing.  You don’t fill your quota for the month or season.  No.  You gather regularly to hear the good news that brings you to heaven where true joy neither dims nor dies.  You come to receive Jesus – because in Him alone we rejoice.  And again, and again, we rejoice. 

John the Baptist was teaching who Jesus was, and what He came to do.  And his instruction can be summarized under three topics: 1) He preached repentance.  2) He baptized.  3) He pointed to Jesus.  Now all of these three, of course, go together. 

Advent 3

Matthew 11:2-11 - Advent 3 - December 16, 2012
What We Come to See and Hear

John was a preacher.  Faithful preaching can have various effects on people.  Some people love it.  Some people put up with it.  Some people hate it.  It’s not the fault of the preacher.  The preacher’s job is to preach.  They’re not his words – at least not if he’s doing his job.  They’re the words of God.  A faithful preacher preaches the message of another.  He is a steward.  A steward is one whose job it is to administer his master’s goods.  It is not the preacher’s job to avoid offense in his preaching.  It’s his job to preach clearly what God gave him to preach.   It’s not the preacher’s job to figure out what his hearers want to hear.  It’s his job to preach what God wants his hearers to hear.  It’s not required of a preacher that he be likeable, handsome, or good with the youth.  It’s not required of a preacher to smile when he preaches or to engage lazy minds with clever rhetoric or trite illustrations.  No.  Of course, God can and just may use any number of a preacher’s personal strengths in order to further His kingdom.  But they are God’s to use.  It is God’s kingdom. 

But what is required?  What does God require of His preachers?  He requires that they be servants of Christ.  He requires that they be stewards of the mysteries of God.  Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found trustworthy.  That's what God tells us.  It’s the job of the preacher to preach the kingdom of God and to do it faithfully. 

Advent 2

Luke 21:25-36 - Advent 2 - December 9, 2012
Our Redemption Draws Near

In the news lately, I’ve read, and maybe you’ve read also, that there’s been some roused concern over the end of the world (as we know it) supposedly predicted by the ancient Mayans.  Maybe you haven’t noticed the stories.  It’s not like it’s really big news.  After all, how many kooks rise up here and there claiming to know when the end of the world will be, even being so bold as to set dates and times?  We know it’s a hoax every time.  Doesn’t Jesus Himself tell us? “Of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.”   Now if not even Jesus, according to His humbled human nature, is privy to the knowledge of that exact day, certainly no other man will be either. 

This Mayan prediction, though, is a little different from that.  It’s no less ridiculous – don’t get me wrong.  But it doesn’t really predict the end of the world per se – it doesn’t say that judgment day is coming or that Jesus is returning.  It’s just that their calendar, prepared centuries ago, which spans 5,125 years from beginning to end suddenly, on December 21, 2012, just stops.  Why?  Why so precise?  Weird, huh?  It’s allure, I suppose, lies in the fact that so much is left to the imagination.  Could it be the end … of something?  Could it be a meteor?  Could it be economic collapse?  Could it be the fall of America?  Could it be the rise of another superpower?  Could it be some sort of catastrophe that the devil has been brewing up and saving for December 21 of this year for a really long time now?  Could it be?   It doesn’t matter.  And there’s a couple of reasons why it doesn’t matter. 

Advent 1

Jeremiah 23:5-8 - Advent 1 Midweek - December 5, 2012

  The Lord our Righteousness

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ gathered here this evening, grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.  Amen. 

We are gathered in Jesus name.  We are gathered in Jesus’ name because it is Jesus Himself who gathers us.  He is our Shepherd.  We hear His voice, and follow Him, and no one will snatch us out of His hand.  Scripture frequently compares Jesus to a shepherd tending his sheep.  Psalm 23 comes to mind.  So also, because our Lord leads us by speaking His word, Scripture also calls those men shepherds who speak God’s word on His behalf.  This is where we get the word pastor.  A shepherd’s job is to lead sheep away from danger and into safety – to make sure that they have what they need to live.  If trouble is near, the worst thing for shepherds to do is to pretend that all is safe. 

In the context surrounding our text this evening, God, through the prophet Jeremiah, chastised the shepherds/ pastors, of the day who led the sheep astray by preaching peace when there was no peace.  God said He would destroy these lying pastors.  And He did.  They now await the resurrection of all flesh when they will be judged by the stern pronouncement of Christ whose advent they failed to preach.  Think of that.  What made them unfaithful, what incited God’s wrath against them, was the fact that they did not preach Christ.  They preached about a peace with God apart from Him who reconciles God to sinners: Jesus.  Woe to the preacher who does not preach Jesus.   

Advent 1

Matthew 21:1-9 - Advent 1 - December 2, 2012

  Blessed is He who Comes in the Name of the Lord

Christmas is coming.  But it’s not Christmas yet.  The church here is decorated for Christmas.  Your homes are probably decorated for Christmas, and I’m sure ours will be looking pretty Christmassy soon as well.  Our favorite department stores have been decorated for Christmas since like October 20^th, I think.   Christmas is coming.  But it’s not Christmas yet.  It’s coming.  That’s what the word “Advent” means: “coming”. 

Today is the first day of Advent.  We shouldn’t forget about this season, because during this season of the Church year, we Christians prepare for the celebration of our Savior’s birth.  Preparation is a good thing.  It’s necessary in fact.  And so I’d like to say a few things this morning about the season of Advent, because in order to know what it means to prepare for Jesus to come to us, there are three comings or advents of Jesus that we first need to consider. 

Advent 4

Luke 1:39-56 - Advent IV - December 18, 2011
Mary’s Song Is the Church’s Hymn
On the occasion of the Baptism of Anne Elizabeth Preus
(From a sermon by David R. Preus)

Beholding the marvels of God by witnessing the birth of a child is about the most magnificent thing in the world.  And the advent of this little girl right here is beyond doubt for me the highlight of this winter season.  I can count on one hand the number of times that I have been even close to this happy.  Mary was pregnant too.  Great joy and happiness awaited her.  But she did not wait to rejoice.  She didn’t wait till Christmas.  It is Advent right now.  People call it the Christmas season.  And for everyone, it’s a time of cheer and joy in the midst of and despite short days and long cold nights.  People find all sorts of ways to fill this time of year with reasons to rejoice.  Whether it be babies, or the excitement of Christmas shopping, or time with family, there is an air of festivity in this Christmas season.  But seldom do we find in the predominant mood around us, the true joy of Christmas.  Seldom do people truly rejoice.  

Most people have never learned how to rejoice.  And this is because most people have never learned to sing the song that Mary teaches us in our Gospel lesson this morning.  It is called the Magnificat.  In this song, Mary teaches the Church how to rejoice in God.  But her joy was not simply that a life was being brought into the world like Monica here.  No, it was the joy that through her Child, life would be restored to sinners.  In the Magnificat, Mary teaches us how to rejoice in Christmas by providing three lessons on what it means to rejoice.  First, rejoicing means recognizing God as our Savior from sin.  Second, rejoicing means finding joy in God’s regard for us.  And third, rejoicing means recounting the works of God through faith in His promises.  Let’s consider each of these lessons, and so discover how humble sinners find perfect and lasting joy in the forgiveness of sins through the promised Christ Child.

Advent 3

Matthew 11:2-11 - Advent 3 - December 11, 2011
Blessed is He who is not Offended by the Gospel

In the Old Testament, God sent prophets to His chosen nation Israel in order to preach the law against sin and to preach of the Christ who would come and take their sin away.  In the New Testament, Jesus sent out His Apostles commanding them to make disciples of all nations by preaching the law against sin, and by preaching the gospel that He Himself has taken all sin away on the cross.  There are no more prophets; John the Baptist was the last one.  But when Jesus sent out His Apostles, He instituted what we call the Office of the Ministry in order that we might believe in Him today.  A prophet’s job was to speak the word that God gave him to speak.  The pastor’s job today is much the same: to preach the word of God and to administer the sacraments. 

Advent 2

Luke 21:25-36 - Advent 2 - December 4, 2011
My Words Will Not Pass Away

“Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away. Blessed be the name of the LORD” ^{(Job 1:21)}.  Amen.  These familiar words from Job exhibit what it means to have unwavering faith in God in the face of loss.  God gives us good things.  When good things happen, we rejoice and thank Him.  But God also allows bad things to happen by permission of His fatherly care.  Everything, from war abroad to sickness at home, affects our lives in a negative way.  But when they do, we do not despair or become cast down as though God had abandoned us, because these are not signs of our destruction.  These are signs that our redemption is near.  So instead, we lift up our heads and focus our gaze on Christ whose return is imminent. That’s what He promised.   Job didn’t trust in the material things that God gave him; that’s why he didn’t despair when God took them away.  We don’t trust in the temporal blessings that God gives us either.  Instead, we hold fast to His word which will never pass away. 

The Bible was written to teach us.  St. Paul says in our Epistle lesson, “For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope” ^{(Romans 15:4)}.  The reason Scripture is able to bestow such great benefits is because it is the word of God Himself.  By holding onto what the Bible teaches us, we are able to persevere through all trials, because the word of God promises us much more in heaven than what we can possibly lose here on earth.  This is the certain hope that we have in Christ.  And by it, we are comforted. 

Advent 1

Matthew 21:1-9 - Advent 1 - November 27, 2011

  Blessed is He that Cometh in the Name of the Lord

Today is the first Sunday of the Church Year and the beginning of the Season of Advent.  During Advent, we prepare for our celebration of Jesus’ birth at Christmas.  We do this first of all by remembering why He was born in the first place: to die on the cross and take away the sin of the world.  It’s fitting, then, that we begin the Church Year with this account from St. Matthew’s Gospel that we just heard, because it records Jesus’ final entrance into Jerusalem right before His long awaited crucifixion under Pontius Pilate.  We begin the Church Year with the same Gospel, which is appointed for Palm Sunday as well.  We do this because the entire Year, indeed, our entire lives revolve around that singular event that took place on Mt. Calvary 2000 years ago.  The reason we make the cross the focus of our Church year is because it is the focus of Scripture.  

The Old Testament is full of prophesies concerning Christ’s death on the cross.  In Genesis 3, we have the very first promise of the Gospel, when God says to the serpent, “[The Seed of the woman] shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel.”  This means that the incarnate Son of God would save mankind from the tyranny of the devil, but in the process, He would give His own life.  Isaiah describes the events of Jesus’ crucifixion with striking accuracy: “He was wounded for our transgressions; He was bruised for our iniquities…”  Psalm 22 likewise, “My God, my God, why have You forsaken me? … they pierced My hands and My feet …” And still there are many more places in the Old Testament that speak clearly of how the promised Savior and King of Israel would sacrifice His own life in order to save sinners from hell.