SCOTTSDALE, ARIZONA
SERMONS - DECEMBER 2021
SCOTTSDALE, ARIZONA
SERMONS - DECEMBER 2021
5 December 2021 - Advent 2 - Luke 3:1-20
“You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?”
With these words we are introduced today to the extraordinary preaching ministry of John the Baptist. John was a real person, who really did and said the things that are reported about him in the Gospels.
The Christian faith as a whole is not a fairy tale, about things that supposedly happened “once upon a time.” It is, rather, rooted in actual history. Hence we are told in today’s text from St. Luke that
“In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene, during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the wilderness.”
John’s ministry was extraordinary in more than one way. He had a very unique preaching style. Few if any modern homiletics professors would tell their seminary students that calling the congregation a “brood of vipers” is the best way to begin a sermon.
But John also had a very unique mission, namely to prepare the people of Israel for the impending appearance of their Messiah. His ministry, as the last of the prophets of the Old Testament dispensation, had been predicted several centuries earlier. St. Luke tells us that
“He went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, ‘The voice of one crying in the wilderness: Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall become straight, and the rough places shall become level ways, and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.’”
To the Jews of this era, baptism in general was not an unknown ritual. Gentiles who converted to Judaism were received into the chosen nation of God by means of “proselyte baptism.”
The way it worked, was that all the members of a converting gentile family - including infants - were baptized, after which the males in the family were then also circumcised. This baptism ritual was said by the rabbis to be bringing about a “new birth” for those to whom it was administered.
Their first birth had been as gentiles. Now they were being “born again” as Jews. The parallels between this ritual and how it was described, and the sacrament of Christian Baptism as Jesus instituted it, are obvious. And these parallels are not coincidental.
But the Great Commission that Jesus gave to his church, involving the administration of Christian Baptism to people from all nations, was not yet in effect. The focus of John’s ministry, and the intended recipients of John’s Baptism, were the nation of Israel.
And this was seen by many as odd, because what John was saying, in effect, is that Jews must now see themselves as if they were gentiles, in need of a new beginning with God. This explains John’s comment, which anticipated objections to the idea of a baptism that was necessary for those who were already Jews:
“And do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham.”
This was not easy for many of the Jews to accept, because they thought that their standing with God was already secure, in view of the fact that they were Jews and not gentiles. But now John is telling them that they, too, need to be baptized.
And this new and different kind of baptism, to which God was now calling them, was “a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.” It was a baptism that reached into the heart; that demanded changes in the heart; and that worked the changes it demanded.
The Greek word translated into English as “repentance” is “metanoia,” which means a change of mind, or a reorientation of one’s whole way of thinking. It is not referring only to a change in outward behavior.
National pride before the rest of the world, must be replaced by individual humility before the judgment of God. An attitude of self-congratulation for obeying the letter of the law, must be replaced by an honest admission of failure in obeying the spirit of the law.
John’s preaching, as Isaiah’s prophecy about his ministry described it, concerned the need for each person to have a pathway for God into his life. Sin blocks God.
The sin must be removed, and a straight, clear, and level road for God must be laid out and put in place, so that God can and will travel on that pathway to its internal destination; and bring true spiritual life where there was only death, true hope where there was only despair, and true faith and confidence in God where there was only presumption, fear, and uncertainty.
“Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall become straight, and the rough places shall become level ways, and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.”
Repentance - as the Spirit of God works it in mind and heart through the preaching of the law - lays out and clears this pathway.
Repentance is not an act of religious self-mortification, which earns God’s favor. Repentance is not an internal spiritual effort that we put ourselves through, to purify ourselves and make ourselves worthy of divine attention.
It is, rather, an emptying, and an opening. It is not a religious reach toward God, as much as it is a surrender to God, and to his just judgments against our transgressions and shortcomings.
Repentance for sin prepares the mind and heart for the forgiveness of sin, which is the first and chief gift that God bestows when he does come.
Divine forgiveness repairs the breach between God and man that man’s rebellion against God creates. God’s gracious removal of the guilt and stain of sin restores the spiritual connection between God and humanity that humanity’s defiance against God breaks.
Those who responded to John’s preaching, and who received the baptism that he administered, were forgiven all their sins in view of the coming Messiah, and the salvation that he would bring. They may not have understood all the details of how the life, death, and resurrection of Christ would play out, or what the timing of everything would be.
John himself seems not to have had a full knowledge of exactly how all of this would take place. And he didn’t know who the Messiah was, until Jesus later came to him, to receive baptism for himself from John’s hand.
But what God had made known to John, John believed and proclaimed. And those who received his message, and who themselves also believed what he proclaimed, thereby implicitly put their trust in Jesus on the basis of the promises of God concerning Jesus, even before they knew explicitly that the Messiah would turn out to be Jesus.
Repentance, and the faith that arises after repentance, are matters of the heart. And a repenting and believing heart is a divinely-transformed heart.
Priorities are re-categorized. Values are realigned. Commitments are re-calibrated. And the way you live and treat other people changes.
These changes are not superficially patched onto the repentance and faith of the heart. They organically arise from repentance, and naturally flow out from faith, like fruit grows on a living, healthy tree.
In particular, the way in which a regenerated person lives and acts within his vocation, will be different from how an unregenerated person lives and acts. Those who truly know God, and who know that it is God who has called them to serve others in the positions of responsibility and power into which they have been placed, will behave differently than those who think that the positions they hold are opportunities for the self-serving exploitation of others.
And John the Baptist spells out some specific examples of this difference, with respect to the ordinary relationships that people in a community have with one another, and also with respect to those who have jobs in which the temptation to misuse authority would have been great in first-century Palestine. John says:
“‘Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.’ And the crowds asked him, ‘What then shall we do?’ And he answered them, ‘Whoever has two tunics is to share with him who has none, and whoever has food is to do likewise.’”
“Tax collectors also came to be baptized and said to him, ‘Teacher, what shall we do?’ And he said to them, ‘Collect no more than you are authorized to do.’ Soldiers also asked him, ‘And we, what shall we do?’ And he said to them, ‘Do not extort money from anyone by threats or by false accusation, and be content with your wages.’”
These vocational directives apply also to us, as they guide us to discern how our Christian priorities, our Christian values, and our Christian commitments shape the way in which we serve others, from within the callings we have received from God.
With hearts that have been transformed by God, we, too, bear the fruit of the repentance and faith that God has worked in us - in how we think about other people, and in how we treat other people. Indeed, everything in today’s text applies to us in one way or another.
To be sure, the baptism that Jesus instituted - and that we have received - is different in some ways from the baptism that John administered. But one way in which it is not different, is that we, too, have received “a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.” St. Peter preached on the Day of Pentecost:
“Repent and be baptized every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you, and for your children, and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.”
Indeed, as evangelical and sacramental Christians, we live within this baptism every day. Our repentance toward God, and God’s forgiveness toward us, are not one-time occurrences of the past, but they constitute the ongoing reality of our daily walk with God, by faith.
We listen to John’s preaching today, and today we admit that we, too, need to hear it - because we overstep the boundaries that God has set for us, and fall short of the standards that God has set for us. A superficial adherence to the religion in which we were raised, if that religion has not penetrated to the mind and heart, is not enough.
Being in church on Sunday is not enough. The church - together with everything that the church of Jesus Christ represents for us and gives to us - needs to be in us, every day.
Jesus Christ himself - the head and bridegroom of his church - needs to be in us, as his sacramental gifts of forgiveness, life, and salvation abide with us, and cause us to become new creatures in him.
When the events reported in today’s text took place in history, Jesus had not yet been manifested as the promised Messiah. But we have heard John’s later declaration that Jesus of Nazareth is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. We hear this still - and sing this still with our own lips - whenever we are preparing to receive Christ in his Holy Supper.
And we know exactly how all of this played out - with a perfect life, followed by a sacrificial death, followed by a victorious resurrection, followed by a glorious ascension.
We have an inner joy, and know an inner peace, that come from the reconciliation with God that Jesus’ saving work has accomplished for us. God, in Christ, has traveled that pathway also into our lives, and God lives within us.
But at the same time, we are sobered and subdued when we think of Jesus’ future visible reappearance on this earth, and ponder what is yet to come - for us and for the world - on the day appointed for the judgment of all men. John reminds us:
“His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”
And so we resolve today - with the Lord’s help - to get ready for this personally, and to stay ready for this personally, with a conscience that remains clear before God, because it continually exhales repentance and continually inhales forgiveness.
And we resolve today - with the Lord’s help - to do our part in helping to get the world ready for this, and in helping the world to stay ready for this, through the fulfillment of the Great Commission that Jesus has given to his church - a commission that will remain in effect for us until the end of the age:
“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.”
As we repent, and as we believe, we are comforted today to hear once again the voice of John the Baptist. As we hope, and as we work, we are challenged today to hear once again
“The voice of one crying in the wilderness: Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall become straight, and the rough places shall become level ways, and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.” Amen.
12 December 2021 - Advent 3 - Philippians 4:4-7
In his Epistle to the Philippians, from which we read a few minutes ago, St. Paul makes it clear that he wants Christians who are living in this world to rejoice. He repeats this exhortation, just in case it didn’t fully sink in the first time:
“Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice.”
The opposite of rejoicing is, of course, being sad, or worried, or scared, or discouraged, or anxious. And so Paul reiterates his point about rejoicing, by then also saying: “Do not be anxious about anything.”
He doesn’t say, merely, “Don’t sweat the small stuff.” He says, in effect, “Don’t sweat any stuff, big or small!” Don’t be frightened of any threat. Don’t be alarmed by any perceived danger. Instead, Rejoice always.
Now, the Christian rejoicing of which Paul speaks is not flamboyant or showy; not over-the-top in exuberance, or with uncontrolled emotions.
It is instead a sustained, calm, and peaceful rejoicing of the heart, which manifests itself outwardly in a demeanor of gentleness, mildness, patience, fairness, and moderation. The Greek word that Paul uses, and that our translation renders as “reasonableness,” can mean all those other things, too.
The inner joy that resides within a Christian can keep him balanced and unflustered as he navigates through the many challenges and trials of life. And it can and should be noticed by others, that a Christian is in fact balanced and unflustered, at times when others may be losing their composure and their clearheadedness.
Paul writes: “Let your reasonableness be known to everyone.”
But how is this done? Where does this persistent joy come from? Are we to apply self-help techniques to ourselves, in the way of “the power of positive thinking,” in order to create this rejoicing inside of our minds and hearts by our own psychological self-manipulations?
Or are we to sing our way into joyfulness through an externalized kind of wishful thinking? Politicians through the decades have known how to get people to do that. The Democratic Party in the time of Franklin Roosevelt wanted everyone to sing this:
So long sad times, Go long bad times, We are rid of you at last.
Howdy gay times, Cloudy gray times, You are now a thing of the past.
Happy days are here again, The skies above are clear again,
So let's sing a song of cheer again, Happy days are here again.Not to be outdone, the Republican Party, in the era of George Bush Senior, unofficially adopted this as a theme song:
In every life we have some trouble,
But when you worry you make it double. Don't worry, be happy.
Ain't got no place to lay your head,
Somebody came and took your bed. Don't worry, be happy.
The landlord says your rent is late,
He may have to litigate. Don't worry, be happy.
Ain't got no cash, ain't got no style,
Ain't got no gal to make you smile. Don't worry, be happy.So, is that all it takes? A catchy, uplifting song, to whip up enthusiasm, and to make people feel good - at least in that moment? Is St. Paul suggesting such a thing when he says, “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice”?
Well, no. That’s not what he means. He is talking about something much deeper, and much more objectively solid and enduringly stable. Note especially that Paul does not simply say, “Rejoice always.” He says, “Rejoice in the Lord always.”
Rejoicing “in the Lord” is rejoicing because you are in the Lord. As recorded in the Gospel according to St. John, Jesus says to his disciples:
“you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me, and I in you. ... Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. ... If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.”
And rejoicing “in the Lord” is rejoicing because the Lord is in you. St. John writes in his First Epistle:
“He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. ... In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. ... By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world.”
Our rejoicing in the Lord is, therefore, anchored to something - to someone - of infinite strength and durability, namely Christ himself: the Son of God, and our Savior from sin, death, and the fear of death. So, even if the darkness of death hangs over us, we will rejoice still: because of Jesus, and because of what he has done and promised.
“For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens” - to quote from St. Paul’s Second Epistle to the Corinthians.
The deep joy of your salvation comes, and stays, only when you are connected to Christ, and stay connected to him. And the rejoicing of your heart that Paul encourages, is not based on a pretense that there are no unsettling and alarming things surrounding you that could easily tempt you to be anxious, and not to be joyful.
Your joy in the Lord, and the certainty and comfort of your faith, are always under threat from the real devilish forces of sin and death that surround you in this life. And so, that’s why Paul also encourages and guides you with these words:
“The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.”
A lot can be unpacked from that small phrase, “the Lord is at hand.” It can mean that Jesus’ second, visible coming is imminent, and that he will deliver his people from all that is distressing to them when he does come.
So, they can rejoice even now, because very shortly, they will no longer be contending with the troubles of this world, but will be in the heavenly peace and sinless purity of the next world. This aspect of what it means to believe that the Lord is at hand is reflected in the refrain:
“Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.”
But the encouraging thought that “the Lord is at hand” can also refer to Jesus’ invisible presence with his people at the present time - in the midst of the troubles of this world.
In faith and hope, we do await his visible return to judge the living and the dead, and to vindicate his saints, at the end of the age. But as we wait, we also recall what Jesus promised his disciples before his ascension:
“Behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
The Lord is at hand - right here, as close as he can be - to forgive us in our guilt and remorse, to comfort us in our sorrows, to teach us in our ignorance, to enlighten us in our darkness, to calm us in our confusion, and in our fears, to renew to us his love and his peace.
Jesus is at hand to do these things for us always - so that we can rejoice in him always - because his Word and Sacraments are at hand always.
His gentle voice is heard in the words of his Holy Absolution. His gentle touch is felt in the reception of his Holy Supper. His wisdom and his righteousness are put into us, and draped over us, in the reading and proclamation of his Holy Scriptures.
And Jesus is at hand - intimately at hand - through his mystical union with us, as he fills us with his grace, and draws us into his life, by his indwelling presence. This aspect of what it means to believe that the Lord is at hand is reflected in this hymn verse:
His kingdom cannot fail, He rules over earth and heaven;
The keys of death and hell Are to our Jesus given:
Lift up your heart, Lift up your voice! Rejoice, again I say, rejoice!In all of these ways, Jesus - as God in human flesh; and as the Savior and companion of humanity - truly is “our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth gives way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its swelling.”
And when you know that Jesus is at hand - right there with you - you thank him with rejoicing, and with rejoicing you talk with him. By prayer and supplication, in Jesus’ name, you let your requests be made known to God.
And in the faith that Jesus gives you and renews to you always, you rejoice always, to know that he is always listening to your prayers, always caring about you and your true needs, and always caring about those whom you care about, and about their needs.
So, that is the context for St. Paul’s exhortation: “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice.” Our rejoicing in the Lord comes from the Lord.
It does not depend on the absence of stress and trouble, because stress and trouble are not absent. But it does depend on the presence of Christ.
This daily rejoicing is not manufactured through a daily stirring up of emotions, but it arises naturally from a daily resting in the grace of Christ.
This continual rejoicing is sustained in the continual rhythm of trusting in the ever-present Lord, with a certainty that he forgives and saves; and of calling on the ever-present Lord in prayer and supplication.
St. Paul writes:
“Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.”
Please rise.
“And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Amen.
24 December 2021 - Christmas Eve
A few minutes ago, we sang a familiar and much-loved Christmas carol, written by Phillips Brooks, with this as the first stanza:
O little town of Bethlehem, How still we see thee lie;
Above thy deep and dreamless sleep The silent stars go by;
Yet in thy dark streets shineth The everlasting Light;
The hopes and fears of all the years Are met in thee tonight.It is easy for us to understand why the hymnist would describe the birth of Jesus as a fulfillment of the hopes of all the years. During the Old Testament era, the faithful Hebrews had always looked forward with eagerness to the coming of the Messiah.
They knew that someday a virgin would conceive and bear a son, and that this Son would be Immanuel - God with us. The Messianic hope of the nation of Israel was reflected also in these words from the Prophet Isaiah, which anticipate what things would be like when the Messiah came:
“The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone. You have multiplied the nation; you have increased its joy; they rejoice before you as with joy at the harvest...”
“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore.”
The coming of the Messiah of Israel would be of benefit also beyond the nation of Israel. The Gentiles, to whom the oracles of God were not entrusted, certainly had a much less clear understanding of what their spiritual needs were.
But they knew they needed something. And so, in the Book of Haggai, the Lord of Hosts says:
“Once more...I will shake heaven and earth, the sea and dry land; and I will shake all nations, and they shall come to the Desire of All Nations.”
But the carol, “O Little Town of Bethlehem,” does not refer only to the hopes of Jews and Gentiles being fulfilled in the birth of Jesus. Rather, with reference to Bethlehem, where Jesus was born on that solemn night, it says:
“The hopes and fears of all the years Are met in thee tonight.”
Who feared the coming of God’s Son to this world? Satan, the usurping prince of this world, feared it.
He knew the ancient prophecy, declared to him directly by the Lord in the Garden of Eden, that the Seed of the woman would crush his head. And there is also this statement in the Book of Revelation:
“Rejoice, O heavens, and you who dwell in them! But woe to you, O earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in great wrath, because he knows that his time is short!”
His time is short, because Jesus has won a great victory over him. St. Paul writes in his Epistle to the Colossians that Jesus, in his resurrection, “disarmed principalities and powers,” and “made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.”
This is why the devil tried, more than once, to kill Jesus, before he could accomplish his saving purpose in the world. Satan inspired King Herod to try to have Jesus murdered, not long after his birth. But an angel warned Joseph in a dream, so that he was able to escape to Egypt with his family before the innocents of Bethlehem were slain at Herod’s command.
The devil also tried to trick Jesus into killing himself, by tempting him to throw himself off the pinnacle of the temple in Jerusalem, with the feigned assurance that the angels would certainly not let him be injured. Jesus responded on that occasion that we must not tempt the Lord our God.
When Jesus visited his home town Nazareth, and inaugurated his public ministry there, the townspeople were so enraged that they unsuccessfully tried to throw Jesus off a cliff. It was certainly the devil who had inspired such irrationality and anger among them, too.
For many years and centuries, Satan had feared what was someday going to happened in Bethlehem. He knew that it would be the beginning of the end for him, as the deceiver and slavemaster of a fallen and blind humanity.
When Christ came - to redeem, to enlighten, and to liberate - he knew that it was only a matter of time before his tottering kingdom would completely collapse.
And who else feared the coming of God’s Son to this world? All human tyrants - people like Herod, for example - had also feared the day when the true and rightful king over God’s creation would emerge, who “must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet,” as St. Paul writes in his First Epistle to the Corinthians.
An authoritarian ruler, and a totalitarian state, cannot tolerate any loyalty that is higher and stronger than loyalty and subservience to the government. They dread and fear anything and anyone who can inspire such loyalty. They dread and fear the coming of Jesus into this world.
But being afraid of Christ, and of what Christ claims and stands for, is not limited to the hearts and minds of devils and tyrants. All human beings, according to their sinful flesh - before and since the birth of Jesus - resist and defy his divine authority over them.
Jesus is a threat to human autonomy, human control, and human independence - or at least he is a threat to people’s perception that they have these things without God. Jesus challenges the assumption that we are the masters of our own destiny, and that we can decide for ourselves what is right or wrong for us, true or false for us.
There is no doubt a part of you - the old Adam that lingers within you - that is likewise fearful of what the coming of Christ - into the world, and into your life - might mean.
Are there some changes in how you live that you don’t want to make, but that you are pretty sure Jesus would want you to make? Are there some stands that he wants you to take, and some convictions that he wants you to hold to, that give you pause, because of what the consequences will or may be, for your relationships and status in this world?
Because of the pride that accompanies our old nature, we likely bristle at Jesus’ claims on us. But St. Paul writes to the Corinthians, and to us:
“Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.”
The carol, “O Little Town of Bethlehem,” speaks of the hopes and fears of all the years, which met and converged in the birth of Jesus. But, the hopes are more powerful than the fears. The hopes overcome the fears.
As a child of God - regenerated, forgiven, and justified in Christ - your hopes are more powerful than your fears this evening. Your hopes, by the sustaining grace of God’s Spirit, will overcome your fears this evening.
St. John writes in his First Epistle that
“We have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. ... There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear.”
We read in St. Paul’s Epistle to the Romans that
“Since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. ...and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts, through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.”
St. Paul writes to the Colossians:
“You, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with [Christ], having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.”
St. Paul also writes to the Romans:
“For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.”
“You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. ... If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.
And St. Peter writes in his First Epistle:
“Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.”
Whenever there is a clash or a contradiction between God’s wise and loving will for us, and our proud will for ourselves, God’s will is always best. “We know that the law is good,” as St. Paul writes. And the gospel, which is “the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes,” is good beyond words.
In our weakness, confusion, and sinful pride, the coming of Christ into the world can seem to be a fearful thing. It can be seen as a threat which will diminish us, and take away our independence and freedom: especially if we let Jesus get too close, and have too much influence.
But there is nothing to fear in the coming of Christ - into the world, and into your life. He who created you has now redeemed you, and opened for you a path back to God.
Humanity’s feeling of independence and freedom from God, and from his rightful authority, is actually an illusion. But, when you allow yourself to depend on God’s grace, and to trust in his loving promises of forgiveness, life, and salvation in Jesus, you then become truly free from the slavery to Satan that is fallen humanity’s natural state.
On this Christmas Eve, you can, once again, become truly free in the love and grace of the Christchild. Your hope in Christ can find its joyful fulfillment once again. Your unfounded fear of Christ can be set aside, and dismissed from your heart and mind, once again.
O little town of Bethlehem, How still we see thee lie;
Above thy deep and dreamless sleep The silent stars go by;
Yet in thy dark streets shineth The everlasting Light;
The hopes and fears of all the years Are met in thee tonight. Amen.
25 December 2021 - Christmas - Revelation 21:3-7
Please listen with me to these words from the 21st chapter of the Revelation to St. John, beginning at the 3rd verse.
St. John writes: And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” And he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment. The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my son.”
So far the text.
We might say that the birth of a baby gives everyone in that baby’s family a feeling that a new beginning has come - not just for the baby, but for the whole family.
A new joy, and a new optimism about the future, accompanies the arrival of a new baby. The whole family is, in a sense, rejuvenated, on the occasion of the arrival of a new member of the family.
In the family of God, something like that happens, whenever we have an opportunity to witness a baptism. When we see a new Christian beginning his or her life of discipleship, and when we hear the baptismal words spoken over that person, this gives our faith a boost.
Our faith is refreshed and renewed, when the faith of another is in such a way inaugurated and brought to life in our presence. And, according to the rhythm and discipline of the church year, something like that can also happen for us - and in us - every year at Christmas.
During the past year, our faith has been battered and attacked, bruised and beaten, from the inside as well as from the outside: by the onslaughts of the sinful flesh, the fallen world, and the devil and his minions. Through all of this, we have, to one degree or another, become tired in our souls, and spiritually discouraged.
We are filled with remorse: on account of our moral failings, our compromises in matters of conviction, and our half-heartedness in the love and service we have owed others.
We are filled with regret: over our many failures to speak and act when we should have spoken and acted; and over our many failures to be silent, and to defer to others, when we should have done that.
After another year of living in a sin-sick world - with an old sinful nature that still clings to us, and seems so often to drag us down - we may very well be feeling pretty old, and pretty worn out, at this point.
Perhaps we are troubled also by a frightening sense of distance between ourselves and God that may have settled in, due to our many human weaknesses. We can feel unaccepted and rejected by God, because we know that sin is in fact unacceptable to him. And we know that we are sinners.
But there is a message for us on Christmas that can and will lift us up from all of this, and cleanse us of all of this. There is a message for us on Christmas that will restore our hope, renew our joy, revitalize our faith, and give us - once again - a vivid awareness of God’s close, loving, and forgiving presence in our lives.
It’s the message that Joseph heard even before Christmas, when the angel told him: “Do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”
Jesus will save you from your sins. Jesus has saved you from your sins.
It’s the message that the shepherds heard while they watched their flocks on the night of Jesus’ birth: “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.”
This is good news for you. In the city of David, a Savior was born for you.
The story of the birth of Jesus, when we hear that story once again today, and believe that story once again today, gives us a new birth of hope, joy, and faith - once again, today.
When the Christmas Gospel enters into our minds and hearts, Jesus himself enters in, and does for us what he always does for his people when they embrace him, and when he embraces them. Today’s text from the Book of Revelation testifies to what Jesus will do for us, and for all his elect, on Christmas Day, on every other day, and ultimately on the last day:
“He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.”
And then, as Jesus himself speaks from the pages of that book, we hear him say:
“Behold, I am making all things new. ... I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end.”
On a cosmic scale, Jesus will make all things truly and fully new in the new heavens and the new earth, at the end of this world. But before then, Jesus already makes all things new wherever he goes, and wherever he pours out his life-giving Spirit.
He makes all things new for you.
Are you tired in your soul, and spiritually discouraged? The Son of God in human flesh - born of the virgin Mary, and your Lord and Redeemer - makes all things new.
Are you filled with remorse and regret, and do you feel old and worn out? Jesus Christ, who washes away all your sin, and justifies you with his righteousness, makes all things new.
The pure and fresh Babe of Bethlehem, vibrant and full of life, makes all things new for his people this day. But, not only on this day.
We understand the point that is often made, that every Sunday is like a little Easter. Every Sunday is a celebration of the resurrection, and of the resurrected Lord who is with his church, as its living Head, in his Word and Sacraments.
But every Sunday, and indeed every day, can also be for us a little Christmas, too. You don’t have to wait for December 25th to roll around each year, to regain the freshness and vitality of a renewed faith, through the celebration of the renewal of humanity that took place when God’s Son became a part of humanity.
Whenever Jesus is with you - at any time, and on any day - he is with you as the one who makes all things new.
His grace, when received, never leaves you alone and separated from God. His pardon, when believed, never leaves you ashamed before God. His reconciliation, when embraced, never leaves you afraid of God.
When he speaks, everything is new again. The slate is wiped clean. Discouragement is vanquished.
There is a saying - designed, I suppose, to oppose the commercialism of Christmas - that goes like this: “Keep Christ in Christmas.” That’s a good saying, and we should follow it.
But I once read another saying that I think also fits with what we have been talking about today: “Keep Christmas in Christ.”
At any time of the year, even in the most sober and somber seasons, you will never have an encounter with Christ that will not be an encounter with the newness and joy of his life - so vividly portrayed and made manifest to us in the Christmas Gospel. Every time you receive Christ, you receive him as the One who gives you a new beginning in your faith, and a new beginning in your relationship with God.
When he comes to you in the words of his absolution - today and every day - he comes to make all things new. When he comes to you in the words of his Sacred Supper - with the glorified body and blood that he received from Mary, and that he sacrificed for the forgiveness of your sins - he comes to make all things new.
And so we sing his praises on this Christmas Day. And with a renewed and refreshed faith, we confess him together before the world:
Hail, the heavenly Prince of Peace! Hail, the Sun of Righteousness!
Light and life to all He brings, Risen with healing in His wings.
Mild, He leaves His throne on high, Born, that man no more may die;
Born to raise the sons of earth; Born to give them second birth.
Hark! the herald angels sing, “Glory to the new-born King!” Amen.
26 December 2021 - Christmas 1 - Luke 2:22-40
I remember an occasion many years ago when I was watching a certain episode of the old Phil Donahue show. The episode I’m talking about was broadcast from New York City. It was on the subject of the evangelical Christian movement in America.
One of the guests was Cal Thomas, a well-known commentator and columnist who is himself an evangelical Christian. As he was talking about his faith in Christ as humanity’s Savior from sin, an angry person in the audience, who identified herself as Jewish, responded to his comments in a tone of shocked outrage.
She asked if he was really saying that she had to convert to his religion in order to go to heaven. Thomas responded that this was not something that was simply his opinion, but that the Bible itself teaches that Jesus is the only Savior, and that salvation is available only through faith in him.
As I listened to this exchange, I did not disagree with the essence of what Thomas was saying. But I thought about how I would have answered this woman’s question differently - in a way that perhaps would have provoked some deeper reflection on her part, and not just in a way that would have gotten her back up in even more anger and outrage.
When she asked, “Are you saying that I have to believe in your religion in order to be saved?,” I thought to myself that I would have said, “That’s what the Jewish apostles told my pagan ancestors, when they brought the message of Jesus to them, and when they told them that they needed to forsake their idolatry, and believe in the way of salvation that is provided by the only God who really exists: the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”
That kind of response to this woman’s misunderstanding and misperception of the Christian faith, would have been completely in accord with the words of Simeon the prophet - words that we heard in today’s Gospel from St. Luke, and that we actually sing for ourselves, in a slightly different translation, in our Communion Liturgy:
“Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace, according to your word; for my eyes have seen your salvation, that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to your people Israel.”
For those of us who are Gentile believers in Jesus Christ, every time we hear or sing these words, we are reminded of how much we owe, humanly speaking, to the people of Israel.
What would the world have been like, and what would it be like now, if God had not chosen this nation, many centuries ago, to be the repository of his Messianic promise? To be the custodian of the inspired Hebrew Scriptures? To be the nation into which humanity’s Savior would be born, and through which his salvation would go forth to the world?
The setting in which Simeon originally spoke or chanted these words is significant. Jesus, as the firstborn son of Mary his mother, had been brought to the temple to be formally presented to the Lord.
This was in keeping with God’s command as recorded in the Book of Exodus: “Consecrate to me all the firstborn. Whatever is the first to open the womb among the people of Israel, both of man and of beast, is mine.”
The firstborn from among the offspring of the livestock were to be consecrated to the Lord through sacrifice. But God made it clear that the human firstborn from among his people were absolutely not to be sacrificed, but were to be redeemed through the offering of an animal substitute.
Moses conveyed this divine command to the Israelites in preparation for their entrance into the land of Canaan. This was a land that was to become their land.
This was a land that was to be purged of the idolatry and wickedness of the Canaanites who were living there at the time. This was a land in which the Hebrew people were then to live to the glory of God, according to the moral code that he had made known to them in the Ten Commandments.
Now, the Canaanites actually had a religious idea that was in some ways similar to what God commanded to the people of Israel. They, too, believed that the firstborn was to be seen as belonging to their god, Molech.
But in regard to their own firstborn children, they did not make a substitution from the animal kingdom for the sacrifice. The firstborn sons and daughters of the Canaanites were themselves burned on the altars of Molech.
This practice was an abomination to the Lord. Most obviously, it resulted in the death of a child. But it also resulted in the destruction of the natural affections of parents for their children, and of children for their parents.
According to the way God created human beings, parents are supposed to love and take care of their children. They are not supposed to kill them.
When a perverse culture and a demonic religion attack this most basic human impulse in such a direct and systematic way, the people who live in such a society become hardened in their conscience, and lose touch with some fundamental aspects of what it means to be human. The devil, who inspires such an evil mockery of God’s ways, is thereby able to accomplish much harm and damage, at so many levels.
And the Canaanites were not the only pagan society that practiced child sacrifice, or other forms of human sacrifice, in the darkness and deception of their idolatry and error. Not by a longshot. It’s much easier to count the number of pagan societies that did not practice such abominations.
Almost all of them did: The Aztecs in Mexico. The Druids in Ireland. The Huns in Asia and Europe. The list could go on. And it would not be a short list.
Just about every one of you sitting here today, if you are not descended from the people of Israel, are likely descended from remote ancestors who participated in human sacrifice - or who believed in it, and falsely believed that they benefitted from it.
And along with the human sacrifices in these pagan societies, came a general lowering of the value of human life. It would have been very unpleasant to live among such people: shrouded in such darkness; spiritually deceived by such lies.
But all of that changed when Jesus came, as a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to God’s people Israel. As Simeon was able to see by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Jesus was, in his person, the fulfillment of all that Israel was and was intended to be.
In his person, he was, most decisively, the ultimate seed of Abraham, and the heir of the promise of Abraham. In his person, he was, most decisively, the ultimate heir of David’s royal throne, and the eternal king over God’s people.
He was the glory of God’s people Israel. Everything they were ever supposed to be, he was - and then some. Everything they were ever called to do, he did - and then some.
Simeon was no doubt very familiar with what the Lord had spoken through the Prophet Isaiah many generations earlier, in regard to his chosen people, and in regard to the chosen Messiah, who would arise among and from his people:
“I will make you as a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.”
Simeon knew that the baby he was holding in his arms on that day was the one who would bear our griefs and carry our sorrows; who would be esteemed as stricken, smitten by God and afflicted, because of our sins.
Simeon knew that this firstborn - unlike all the other firstborn of Israel throughout its history - would someday be sacrificed for the redemption of all other men; that he would be wounded for our transgressions, and crushed for our iniquities.
And Simeon knew that in the gospel and sacraments that would go forth from Israel, this child would sprinkle many nations: cleansing them from their sins.
Over the years and centuries that followed the coming of the Christ, his apostles, and their missionary successors, brought the message of Jesus to the world. In so doing, they brought the light of God to people who had been languishing in the deepest darkness.
In their preaching, filled with the saving power of God himself, they brought the life of God to people whose hearts had become completely disconnected from their creator, and who were trapped in a state of hopeless, spiritual death.
But as they believed in Christ, their souls were saved from sin and death. Their humanity was restored. The institution of the human family, and the love of parents and children within the family, became, in Christ, what it was always supposed to be.
As descendants of those in various lands who received the gospel from the apostles and other early missionaries, we are grateful beyond words for these ministers of the Lord, and for their faithfulness to the calling God had given them to preach the good news to all creatures.
And we are grateful to the pastors and teachers of our own time, who passed that gospel on to us personally, in our own baptism, and in the instruction in God’s Word that we have personally received.
We have the gospel, and the forgiveness of sins that has been proclaimed to us in Christ, because of God’s redeeming love for all nations. We would have no gospel, and no salvation, if the light of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had not been kindled for us across all national and ethnic boundaries, from Israel.
We would have no hope, and no eternal life, if Jesus - the Son of God in human flesh - had not been supernaturally revealed to us - and to our pagan forbears - through the preaching of his Jewish apostles.
It makes it all the more poignant, therefore, when we consider the sad fact that a majority of the Jewish people did not embrace their Messiah when he appeared among them 2,000 years ago. But we do know that God, in his love, wants all men to be saved from their sins, and to come to a knowledge of the truth.
We can therefore be certain that he wants those in our day, who trace their heritage to the Hebrew patriarchs, also to be saved from their sins, and to know in their own lives the fulfillment of the Messianic hope of their ancient ancestors.
And so, together with Cal Thomas, and all others who have been filled with the peace of God’s grace through faith in Christ, we do not refrain from telling our Jewish neighbors and friends of this peace. And the Christian Church is able to see, with great joy, that many from among the people of Israel - in every generation - do indeed turn their hearts to the God of their fathers, and believe in Jesus as Savior and Lord.
And yet, we are also saddened when we look around us, and see what amounts to the re-paganization of our country. This process began in Europe several decades ago. And now it is happening here.
Of course, it has never been the case historically, that everybody in a mostly-Christianized society actually believed in the Christian faith. There have always been hypocrites and heretics; those who were stubborn unbelievers, and those who were chronically indifferent.
But what’s happening now, is that the beliefs and values of the Christian faith are being explicitly repudiated to an ever increasing extent. And a new set of pagan-like beliefs and values is taking their place.
It is truly heart-breaking to ponder how many of the firstborn of our land are sacrificed on the altar of the new American “Molech” - the god of self-indulgence and convenience - in the abortuaries of our cities.
It is truly heart-breaking to ponder how the natural affections that people should have for each other in families, are now often betrayed and obliterated by all sorts of bodily and psychological abuse; by the physical and emotional abandonment of children, and by the despising and belittling of parents.
And we here - even here - are not unaffected by this. It’s all around us.
Through the revived paganism that surrounds us, and attacks us, the devil is attempting to draw us away from Christ, and away from the life-giving love of the God of Israel that has been made known to us in Christ.
Our society in general - and each of us individually - need a renewal of what Simeon was talking about in today’s text. We again need what the gospel of Jesus brings to people.
As the shadows of unbelief are hovering over us once again, we need the light of Christ, to break through the darkness. And in Christ, as we believe the promises of Christ, God will enlighten us.
As the new idolatries of our time are once again threatening our faith, we need the revelation of Christ, to break through the deception. And in Christ, as we believe the truth of Christ, God will transform our hearts and minds, and draw us back to himself.
The God who sent his Son into the world, and who sent the message of his Son to all nations of the world, will not abandon us. The God who has redeemed us, and who has claimed us as his own, will make good on that claim.
“Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace, according to your word; for my eyes have seen your salvation, that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to your people Israel.” Amen.