Sermon for 12/24/24: Eve of the Nativity of Our Lord

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“Fear Not!”
Luke 2:1-20

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

          The command, “Fear not!” appears 170 times in the King James Version of the Bible. It seems as if man needs constant reassurance from the Lord. But that makes sense. After all, man was not created to be fearful. Adam and Eve were the crown of God’s creation. Into their hands God gave mastery over every plant and animal—indeed, He gave them mastery over all of creation—so Adam and Eve had nothing to fear from creatures or plants that would send us fleeing in terror. They knew nothing of serial killers or terrorists. They had no need to worry about the forces of nature. And they knew nothing of sin or death. It wasn’t until they disobeyed the Word of God—until they were goaded by the satanic serpent to doubt the Law of God and partake of the forbidden fruit—that they knew what fear was. They hid themselves in the Garden, sewing garments to cover the shame they had never felt before. They finally knew fear—and it was neither the beasts nor the plants that caused this fear. It was in their sin that they came to fear God. Adam said, “I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.”

In disobeying the Word of God, in partaking of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, humanity learned how to be afraid…and we’ve been afraid ever since. We’re afraid of snakes and mice and spiders and lions and tigers and bears. We’re afraid of ice storms, hurricanes, blizzards, tornadoes, too much rain and not enough rain. We’re afraid of the pains in our bodies and the ailments that afflict our minds. And, most of all, like Adam and Eve, we are terrified of the righteous wrath and justice of a holy, righteous, omnipotent God.

          It is to His fearful children that God sends His messengers. Angels appear to Mary and Joseph, to Zechariah, to shepherds, and to countless others in the Bible. But these are holy messengers of God who manifest His power and holiness, who reflect divine righteousness; and sinners cringe and fall on their faces before the holiness of God. So before they can share God’s Gospel message with them, the angels must tell their hearers, “Fear not!” Do not be afraid. I’m here with good news for you from God! To Zechariah the angel gives the joyful message that his son John, who would be born to him and his wife when they were beyond childbearing age, would prepare the way for the Savior promised to Adam and Eve. He would proclaim the salvation and peace God would bring to His people through the forgiveness of their sins. He would point to Jesus and proclaim, “Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” To Mary and Joseph, the angels gave the message that they would be the earthly parents of the promised Savior. And then, finally, the angels told the shepherds of the birth of their promised Savior, the one who would bring peace on earth and God’s good will to the fear-filled hearts of sinners by bearing the price of the sins of all mankind on the terrible, terrifying cross.

          Sending angels is no longer God’s preferred method of delivering the good news of Jesus and salvation to His people. But He hasn’t stopped sending messengers. Instead of sending angels who instill fear just by their appearance, He now sends humble, sinful men. Even so, their message is the same: “Do not be afraid!” You no longer have any reason to fear the righteous wrath of God, for your Savior, Jesus—who is Immanuel, God in the flesh—has come, and He has suffered and died for you, bearing that wrath in your place. He rose up in triumph, leaving your fear behind in the tomb, so you would be free to “serve Him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before Him all the days of [your] life.”

          Today, the angel’s song with the Christmas Gospel has made it into your ears, too. Repent of your sin. Come out of your gloom. Leave behind your despair. Give up your loneliness. Wipe away your tears. Part ways with your fears and doubts. The heavens once again declare to mankind the glory and majesty of the eternal Son of God! Emmanuel, God in flesh, rests in His manger throne. He has come to make His dwelling place among us. And He has come for everyone. He did not come merely for mighty Caesar. He did not come merely for the powerful King or Governor. He did not come merely for the rich and fanous. He has come for Mary and Joseph; He has come for Zechariah and Elizabeth; He has come for humble shepherds; He has come to you, poor and miserable sinner that you are, to save you from your sins. God and sinners are reconciled by the blood of this Christ Child. The song is for you: “Peace on earth, goodwill toward men!”

                 We face an uncertain future in our earthly walk with Christ. The Noble family is beginning a new adventure in the new year. With Pastor Noble’s departure, there will be a time of transition and change here at St. Paul’s—though I hope it won’t be too crazy. There will be illnesses and injuries; there will be changes at home and at work and school; loved ones will come and go and maybe even depart this life. In the midst of all this, the message of the angels remains the same: “Do not be afraid!” God in flesh is with you. He loves you. He will not leave you. He will not forsake you. Every trial, every temptation, every struggle: He is here to bear it with you. He is here to sustain you, to comfort you, to forgive you. He is here to give you peace.

My brothers and sisters in Christ, beloved children of God, it is my privilege and pleasure as a humble messenger of God to bring you good tidings of great joy, which are for you, for your neighbor, for all people. Born to you is your King, your Temple, your Refuge and Strength. Born to you is your Savior. He is Christ the Lord. Fear not! Do not be afraid! In the name of the Father and of the Son (+) and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

          The peace of God which passes all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus always. Amen.

Sermon for 12/18/24: Midweek of Advent 3 (Hymns of Advent series)

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O Come, O Come, Emmanuel

Matthew 1:18-25

 

Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Amen. 

 

The third and final hymn we will look at and consider this Advent season is O Come, O Come, Emmanuel. The hymn itself, from the 12^th Century, is based on what are known as the seven “O Antiphons,” which may date back to the 5^th Century. These prayers came to be special and well-loved of the Church, building up the hearts of the faithful as they moved toward the celebration of Christmas, teaching what the celebration of Christmas was all about. Each antiphon contains a title of Christ, a description of that title, and then a request, a prayer.

So what do we learn about Jesus from these antiphons? Consider the antiphon from which the hymn gets its title:

O Emmanuel, our king and our Lord,
           the anointed for the nations and their Savior:
           Come and save us, O Lord our God.

Emmanuel is a Hebrew word which means “God with us.” During the holidays we treasure having family and friends with us. But our Lord does even better: He make His dwelling place among us. God is with us—but not to condemn or destroy us as we deserve in our sinfulness. God is with us in flesh; He has come in flesh to save us. In mercy He has come to bring us back from our exile in sin, to bring us back into His family, to restore us to His kingdom by the forgiveness of our sins.

          Matthew the Evangelist doesn’t tell the beautiful story of our Lord’s birth the way Luke does; Matthew bypasses the story of the birth in the stable. He doesn’t tell it in beautiful picture language the way John does. Matthew just states it plainly, telling his readers that our Lord Jesus was born. But this birth was anything but ordinary! A virgin conceives and bears a Son, just as God prophesied through the prophet Isaiah. And this Son is Emmanuel, God with us, the Word made flesh to dwell among His people. He has come to be one of us, to release us from our bondage to sin and death. You know the truth about yourself and our human race: that “we are by  nature sinful and unclean,” that we are slaves of sin. There was nothing we could do to free ourselves. We needed to be saved, which means we needed someone to be our Savior. And this Child in the manger is that One. God comes in mercy and gentleness to save us in our great need. He is Emmanuel, the true God who makes His dwelling with us. Our Creator is our Savior; our King is our Brother.

          We also pray to Christ as the Wisdom of God, who teaches us to live prudently, according to God’s will and law. You may remember from Psalm 119: “Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.” This is the wise way in which our Lord would have us walk. He shows us the narrow way that leads to the gate of heaven itself. And this ties into the next verse, where we pray to Christ as Adonai, the Lord of might, who gives us that Word. He gave His righteous Law on Mount Sinai, and He continues to reveal Himself to us today in His Word.

          We pray to Christ as the Root of Jesse, before whom all peoples will bend the knee in worship, from the mightiest of rulers even to the lowest of the slaves who are not counted by the world as citizens of any kingdom. We pray to Christ as the Key of David, the one who gives the Church the authority to forgive sins, opening the gate of heaven to all believers. He releases us from the chains that bound us to our sin, and He binds Satan so that that wily serpent no longer has any power over us.

          We pray to Christ as the Dayspring, the Light of the world. As we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, He shines forth in holy light, guiding our way, dispelling our gloom. A shadow fades away when the light shines brightly; so it is as we cling to Christ, “the light of men.” As St. John tells us, “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” Because Christ shines His light upon us, and His light overcomes the darkness, darkness has no more power to destroy us!

          And finally, we pray to Christ as the King of the nations, the true heir of King David. Jesus is the King even David longed to see. Our hymn calls Jesus “our King of peace.” And how truly we confess Him as such, because He is the One by whom God and sinners are reconciled.

And that causes us rejoice. How can we not? And we also sing for Him to come again! We pray for Him to come and take us home, to where the rejoicing will never cease. For the day is coming when He will come, when He will wipe away every tear from our eyes. Our joy will be joined to the joy of the angels and archangels and all the company of heaven. That’s what Advent’s all about. And that’s what our Savior is all about. And so we pray:

O come, O come, Emmanuel,
          And ransom captive Israel,
          That mourns in lonely exile here
          Until the Son of God appear.

And we, His Church, look forward to His coming with great joy. We sing in acclamation: “Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel!” In the name of the Father and of the Son (†) and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

The peace of God which passes all understanding will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus always. Amen.

Sermon for 12/11/24: Midweek of Advent 2 (Hymns of Advent series)

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Comfort, Comfort Ye My People

Isaiah 40:1-8

 

Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Amen. 

 

The Advent hymn before us this evening presents us with the spiritual discomfort involved in receiving the Advent message of comfort. The hymn “Comfort, Comfort Ye My People” is the work of Johann Olearius, a German court preacher and chaplain to a duke. He originally wrote this hymn for the Festival of St. John the Baptist. In the third stanza of the hymn, the writer describes the season of Advent as “calling sinners to repentance.” In the same stanza the writer lifts his finger in admonition: “Oh, that warning cry obey!”

These phrases of the hymn present us with an unpleasant task. Despairing of our own power and our cleverly conceived plans about saving ourselves, we humbly wait for the true word of comfort our Lord speaks to us: “I forgive you all your sins. I have paid the price for you.” We have to admit that we are weak, even powerless. We need a healing within that we ourselves can never provide. It’s tough to admit, “I can’t do it myself.” Few things make prideful human beings feel more uncomfortable than such an admission. Advent sweeps away all our pride.

We need to hear a Word of comfort. And so God speaks to the prophet and sends him out with a message:

"Comfort, comfort ye My people,
Speak ye peace," thus saith our God;
"Comfort those who sit in darkness,
Mourning 'neath their sorrows' load.
Speak ye to Jerusalem
Of the peace that waits for them;
Tell her that her sins I cover
And her warfare now is over."

John the Baptist is sent to preach this message. The fulfillment of this promise is later delivered by the angels to the shepherds upon the birth of the Child with another word of comfort: “I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. …On earth peace, goodwill toward men.”

In Holy Baptism, we die to sin with Christ, and then rise with Him to new life. Our Lord has remade us: body, mind, and spirit. St. Paul the says that God in Christ has made each of us “a new creation.” The warfare waged by sinful man against his Creator is ended, the peace treaty written in the blood of the Lamb, Jesus Christ Himself.

Yea, her sins our God will pardon,
Blotting out each dark misdeed;
All that well deserved His anger
He no more will see or heed.
She hath suffered many a day,
Now her griefs have passed away;
God will change her pining sadness
Into ever-springing gladness.

This message of salvation during the season of Advent—and of Christmas, Lent, Easter, and the rest of the year—delivers sweet comfort to hearts that were bound by sin. Living in this comfort, we are moved to speak this comfort to our neighbors. Love generates love; faith yields fruit. Advent prophets like Isaiah and John the Baptist call us to be engaged constantly in the activity of comforting through human care.

In other places, Isaiah sings about the eyes of the blind being opened and the ears of the deaf being unstopped. He talks about the poor and thirsty and needy being satisfied. Our Savior does such things. For sinners who do not have the power to heal, our Lord leads us to use the gifts He gives us. He urges us to bring comfort to our neighbor. Sharing such a message can be hard work. It’s hard to speak this message to people who don’t want to hear it. It’s hard to speak this message even to people who are willing to hear it. Even pastors and missionaries, people who earn their livelihood by sharing the Gospel, often find the work of sharing the Gospel to be difficult. Speaking the Gospel to people who are comfortable in their sins; speaking the Gospel to people who think the pastor himself is a waste of time or money; going into the homes of the sick, the lonely, the depressed, the dying, and the mourning; traveling thousands of miles to bring the Word to people who have a history of murdering Christian missionaries—it can be uncomfortable, exhausting—even a dangerous task.

Speaking the comfort of the Gospel to hurting, broken people is rarely comfortable. Seldom is it convenient. Certainly it is not something done quickly or easily. But it is the work our Lord has called us to do: to deliver the comforting news of salvation in the cross of Jesus Christ—the same good news our Lord has delivered to you. The Holy Spirit strengthens you with the Word and with Christ’s body and blood to do the uncomfortable work of comforting, for our Father has made you a partner with Christ Himself as He carries out His ministry of love in the world. So…

Make ye straight what long was crooked;
Make the rougher places plain.
Let your hearts be true and humble,
As befits His holy reign.
For the glory of the Lord
Now o'er earth is shed abroad,
And all flesh shall see the token
That His Word is never broken.

God grant you a “true and humble” heart that is prepared to welcome your Lord as He comes to you, both now in His body and blood, and at the Last Day. In the name of the Father and of the Son (†) and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

The peace of God which passes all understanding will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus always. Amen.

 

Sermon for 12/4/24: Midweek of Advent 1 (Hymns of Advent series)

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Savior of the Nations, Come

Luke 1:26-38

 

Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Amen. 

 

 

We are right to consider and speak of the miracle of birth. The fact that a child can live in its mother’s womb for nine months and then emerge and breathe and live on its own is an astounding miracle. We are amazed at how tiny an infant’s fingers and toes can be. Infant eyes are so lovely and bright. Pudgy little arms and legs that make the child look like the Michelin Man can stretch and flex. Who can resist these tiny features? Every birth is miraculous in its own way. Just about every adult has had the pleasure of holding a newborn, and that wonder and joy is multiplied when the child is our own flesh and blood.

Birth and life are exquisite. Perhaps that’s why we feel so tremendously shaken by the untimely death of infants and children. The hardest thing I’ve ever had to do as a pastor is preside at the burial of an infant; the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do as a man is bury my own son. It seems we hear all too often about children who die as collateral damage in drive-by shootings. Abuse is epidemic. Attacks on schools seem to be a weekly occurrence. And, of course, we would be sinfully negligent to forget abortion. When we hear about such atrocities, we in the community of faith must do more than shake our heads and murmur our disappointment. We must affirm God’s sacred gift of life in the womb, life fresh from the womb, and life even to the moment of a natural death. Life matters. Life is a gift from God. The Light must shine in the darkness of our world and reveal this great truth to us, even when people don’t want to hear it. We must hear again the Word which tells us that God breathed the breath of life into Adam and Eve. Life is a sacred gift, and we must remember and honor that gift, teaching our children the value of all life from the womb to the grave.

Such thoughts remind us of the words of our hymn: “Marvel now, O heaven and earth, that the Lord chose such a birth.” The life God created matters so much to Him that our Lord chose to born as one of us. God became flesh to dwell among us. He was born, as St. John tells us in His Gospel, to be the Light who shines in our darkness. We just sang about that Light shining for us and within us:

 

From the manger newborn light

Shines in glory through the night.

Darkness there no more resides;

In this light faith now abides.

 

Despite the humble scene of our Lord’s birth, two important factors make our Lord’s birth a singular, unique event: Jesus was born of a virgin mother, and He was conceived of the Holy Spirit. The angel tells Mary, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God.” And so “the Word became flesh;” this child is both God and man, born to be Emmanuel: God with us in flesh to dwell among His people.

 

Not by human flesh or blood,

By the Spirit of our God,

Was the Word of God made flesh—

Woman’s offspring, pure and fresh.

 

This exquisite birth of our Lord serves as a marvelous sign for all time that God acts in a unique way in the coming of Jesus. In His unique conception and humble birth, and in all His life upon earth that follows, God works to bring His redeeming and saving power to His creation. God became one of us, but without sin, in order to redeem each of us. His birth pushes us onward to behold His ministry—His preaching, teaching, and wondrous miracles—and then to behold His death and resurrection. This Jesus comes as the Savior of mankind, and in His coming, God acts purposefully to save us from our sins.

This Advent season, let us marvel at this profound sign which God has displayed for us. The virgin birth proclaims that Christ has come as the Father’s greatest Word of love. In the virgin birth, in our Lord’s cross and His resurrection, God expresses His love completely. As we just sang:

 

For you are the Father’s Son

Who in flesh the vict’ry won.

By Your mighty pow’r make whole

All our ills of flesh and soul.

 

That is what He came for; that is what He does. He comes to us in flesh, and forgiveness is won; salvation is fulfilled; eternal life is given. Knowing that we are powerless to live as He commands, knowing we are powerless to earn His favor, God requires nothing more than what His Son came to earn and win for us.

That is good news—news that we need to share until all people know of it and believe it. We must move beyond simply observing God’s sign; we must tell our neighbors about it. Christ, the “Savior of the nations,” is coming to give us the gift of life, and we must sing for joy to all the world. Just as the shepherds do when they hear the angel’s song, let us make known abroad what God has revealed to us: Jesus is coming! And so we cry out:

 

Savior of the nations, come,
Virgin's Son, make here Your home!

 

In the name of the Father and of the Son (†) and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

 

The peace of God which passes all understanding will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus always.  Amen.