Sinner and Saint

The Word is our Comfort

Christmas Day, 2019

“The Word is our Comfort”

Isaiah 52:7-10 & John 1:1-14

 

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

 

            God’s people were split. The nation of Israel divided. North and South. Israel and Judah. Their kings became more wicked. Idols were brought in. God would punish the people. Israel would be destroyed. North and South destroyed. Jerusalem would be plundered. The temple destroyed. Walls, gates, homes toppled. Many were killed. More were exiled. Could you imagine? We wouldn’t want to. Loved ones killed or enslaved. Homes destroyed. Valuables taken. The city was left as rubble.

          Maybe some of these things aren’t hard to imagine for some of us. We have loved ones that lived through nightmares like this in the Second World War. Some of us have loved ones that live through this in other nations of this world today. Even within our own nation we see murder and chaos, terrorism, rape, and torture; communities, neighborhoods, and families destroyed. People living without homes or food or clothing. All for nothing. All because of sin in the world.

          This sadness. This horrible image. This is the backdrop of Isaiah’s words of comfort to Israel and to us. This is the context of God’s comfort to a world suffering from sin. This Christmas text gives us and the world the true reason to rejoice.

          “Break forth together into singing, you waste places of Jerusalem, for the Lord has comforted his people; he has redeemed Jerusalem.” (Isaiah 52:9)

          Here is the news that brings singing; a joyous celebration. These are words that describe the defiant hope of exiles that will not succumb to the despair of the sinful world that surrounds them. This is news for all ages; for all people…for believers surrounded by the wickedness of this sinful world and life. Here is news that causes the very ruins and rubble of God’s people to sing out in the face of misery and despair. “The Lord has comforted his people; he has redeemed Jerusalem.” (Isaiah 52:9b)

          These words of hope can be said in another way…in a song that we are more familiar with at this time of year: “God rest ye merry gentlemen. Let nothing you dismay. Remember Christ our Savior. Was born on Christmas Day. To save us all from Satan's pow'r. When we were gone astray. Oh tidings of comfort and joy. Comfort and joy. Oh tidings of comfort and joy.”

          Lost in the change of language through the years…. God make you MIGHTY gentleman. Let nothing dishearten you; nothing surprise or alarm you; nothing perturb you! Why? For Christ our Savior was born on Christmas Day in order to save us from Satan’s power while we had gone astray. This. This is the message of comfort and joy! This is how God redeemed Jerusalem, His people, His creation and world.

          God’s Word is our comfort and hope and joy. And this Word isn’t just any old word. It’s not a secret word for only a few. It’s not just a word that can be written down or translated or copied. This Word is “the [very] Word [that] became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” (John 1:14)

          Jesus, the baby wrapped in swaddling clothes, the babe placed in a manger, the babe from Bethlehem, is our comfort; our hope; our joy.

          Our comfort this Christmas isn’t found in the food that we eat. It isn’t found on the Hallmark Channel. It’s not sold in a mall or even on Amazon. Our comfort is found in Jesus. For through His birth, life, death, and resurrection we have life. Through Jesus our warfare with sin, death, and the devil is over.  Our sins are paid for and covered. We are made perfect through His blood. We are made children of the Heavenly Father and heirs of His kingdom.

          Our hope this Christmas is far beyond getting that dream present. Our hope shouldn’t be in any earthly gift or found in a sinful person. Our hope…even for peace and love is only found in Christ.  Our hope is found in Him who rose for us. Our hope is in the resurrection and the life.

          And our joy; our happiness, our delight, our gladness…is found in Him who loves us. Our joy springs forth out of faith to share the love we have in Christ Jesus with those we love.

          Today is all about _________? You. ??? Because today is all about Christ: His birth; His coming to live and die and rise for you… its all about you. For Christ was born for YOU. Christ lived and died for YOU. Christ rose for YOU! “For God so loved the world [each one of you] that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)

          God make you mighty people. Let nothing in this sinful world dismay you. Remember Christ our Savior. Was born on Christmas Day. To save us all from Satan's pow'r. When we were gone astray! Share those tidings of comfort and joy this Holy Day and every day. Merry Christmas. Amen.

 

Now may the peace of God which passes all human understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord and Savior. Amen.

He shall be called Immanuel

Advent 4, 2019

Isaiah 7:10-17

“He shall be called Immanuel” 

 

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

  

 

          “Again the LORD spoke to Ahaz, "Ask the LORD your God for a sign, whether in the deepest depths or in the highest heights." But Ahaz said, "I will not ask; I will not put the LORD to the test." Then Isaiah said, "Hear now, you house of David! Is it not enough to try the patience of men? Will you try the patience of my God also?” (Isaiah 7:10-13)

          It sounds like Ahaz is being righteous while Isaiah is overreacting. A little knowledge of Ahaz will help with this confusion.

          For 16 years Ahaz was the epitome of evil. Among his many misdeeds, Ahaz not only sacrificed to idols, he even sacrificed his own son to idols. As a result, Ahaz was handed over to the Syrians, and many of his subjects were taken captive to Damascus. Despite this, Ahaz refused to repent to God for his sins. As he continued to sin, his people (the Kingdom of Judah) continued to suffer. In one day, 120,000 of his soldiers were slaughtered by Pekah, king of Israel. Following the carnage, Pekah gathered 200,000 women and children from Judah and was intent on enslaving them before God sent a prophet to intervene. Because God intervened Pekah released these 200,000. In spite of this act of compassion by God, Ahaz still refused to repent and trust in the Lord.

          God’s love and patience for his people is very evident in the History of Israel. God brought them out of captivity from Egypt. God fed them with Manna and Quail in the wilderness for 40 years. God gave His people the 10 commandments, promised them a land of milk and honey, promised to watch over them, love them, protect them, make them a great nation, and send them a Savior. God gave them military victories over larger and greater armies and nations. God gave and His people ignored, rejected, and forgot. God promised Ahaz protection from his foes and offered to give Him a sign. The very sign Isaiah offers on behalf of God in our text. But Ahaz rejected. Ahaz didn’t want this sign or any sign…he didn’t want for there to be proof that the Lord was God, Ahaz didn’t want to be obligated to believe in the Lord. Because of Ahaz the entire nation of Judah suffered.

          All of us have days that are miserable. All of us suffer, have doubts, and wish for a sign from God to let us know everything will be ok. When thinking about the want for a sign I am often reminded of the movie “Bruce Almighty.” In the movie Bruce was fired from his job, had a huge fight with his girlfriend, and everything kept going wrong. He asks God for a sign while driving down the road. He passes all kinds of road signs, including a truck filled with them, that say “stop,” “wrong way,” “do not enter,” and “turn back”. But Bruce ignores and rejects those signs.

          It seems that while we all want signs from God…we look for signs of our own choosing. Very often we ignore God’s plans and try to put our own plans at work. Every once in a while we feel the effect of disaster in our world. It is at these times that we see the “signs” of this age in the wrath of hurricanes, fires, earthquakes, and terrorism. At times of great need…people try to find God. But when things don’t go the way we want them to we question God and His love for us.

          Like Ahaz, when we sin and keep on sinning we hurt not only ourselves but those around us. How often our own sinfulness leads to fights with our spouses, parents, and children. How often our sinfulness breaks hearts and causes others to lose hope. How often does our sinfulness cause others to lose faith and fall away from God? The truth is sin kills! But maybe if there were just a sign in our lives than we would know to stop, to help, to have hope…then things would be so different. But we don’t want a sign…we just want our own desires.

          In the face of sinfulness, rejection, and hopelessness God gave Ahaz and us a sign. This sign was to offer hope. This sign would be for all the people. “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.” (Luke 7:14) A virgin bearing a child. A miracle of miracles. But not just any child… this child would be called Immanuel. God with us.

          In the midst of a king and people that rejected the true God; at a time when people prayed or thought god was somewhere else not listening to their cries; to a people that thought God had abandoned them…God promises to send a Savior; Immanuel…God with us. God in the midst of His people. God contending for the people of this world with the people of this world. God here in our presence living and dying. God with us.

          This Christmas and every Christmas is a sign unto you! A Savior has been born and He is Christ the Lord. This Christ would go on to die for you. In fact “While we were still sinners [enemies of God], Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8)

          As we approach Christmas; look no further for God’s sign of His love for you. Hear the message of the Angels to the Shepherds and to us: “This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” (Luke 2:12) As we gather together this Christmas, as we share gifts with our loved ones, as we pray for those less fortunate remember that Christ was born. Share the greatest gift ever…share God’s love found in the wonderful news that in this baby wrapped in swaddling clothes we have forgiveness and life. Rejoice. Immanuel comes. God is with us now and forever. Amen.

Now may the peace of God which passes all human understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord and Savior. Amen.

Set free from all sorrow

Advent Midweek 2

“Set free from all sorrow”

Matthew 2:1-12

 

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

 

 

 

            Don’t you just love this time of year. It seems that every store you enter is playing Christmas music. You can close your eyes and recall Christmases past. The smell of coffee shops and confectioners brings sweet memories as well…maybe of grandma’s baking of Christmas cookies. And as you purchase that perfect gift for a loved one you imagine the beaming face that your loved one will have as they open their present. Advertisers use all of our senses… sights, sounds, smells…to promise that perfect Christmas we so desire.

          But for all the joy that advertisers promise and we desire…joy can be hard to come by. There are many far removed from joy. Mourning loved ones, anxious over strained finances, saddened by family strife or broken relationships…many aren’t looking forward to a joyous Christmas…but instead a blue Christmas.

          But true joy may still be found for all. Where? Right here. True joy comes not in shopping malls, not at Starbucks, not in our sinful brokenness…but here in God’s house where we celebrate once again the birth of our Savior. Tonight, as we seemingly jump ahead in the season, we rejoice with the Magi, for Christ is the answer to our brokenness and sorrow.

          In the midst of this fallen world and all of the problems that sin brings upon us we have reason for joy. Consider all the blessings God has bestowed upon you. God provides house and home, food and clothing, family and friends…and a Church family. But too often the wants of this world and the problems we face distract us from God’s blessings.

          Herod was distracted too. The Magi arrive in Jerusalem looking for the One who has been born King of the Jews. That doesn’t sit well with Herod the puppet king. Herod calls the scribes together asking where Jesus was to be born.  The answer is found in the prophet Micah. The promise of a Savior prophesied of old is fulfilled in Jesus. What generation upon generation of faithful believers had been longing for, what so many had spent their lives desiring, now stands fulfilled. That is reason for great joy!

          But it brought no joy to Herod. Herod was distracted by his own wants and desires. He wanted to rule and be king and have power…not just the power allowed him by Rome…but real power. This Child; this truly powerful King, the hope of the nations left Herod reeling. He could not and would not tolerate a rival. The hope Herod should have had in the Savior was not found, joy departed and sorrow made its home in Herod…along with jealousy and anger.

          We face those same problems. When joy is fleeting sorrow and jealousy and anger enter our hearts as well. Why can’t things go right in my life? Why didn’t I get the promotion? Where is my new car…house…or even T.V.? Why doesn’t my marriage or family look like that perfect marriage, family, and life I see on the Hallmark channel? Why do these things happen to me? And our sorrow brings with it jealousy for what we don’t have and anger over things we think we should have. Sorrow forgets about blessings.

          No matter what the cause of your sorrow is…Christ is the answer. Jesus wouldn’t be the King Herod wanted him to be…a king that would submit to Herod… he wouldn’t be the king many Israelites wanted… a king that would restore their nation to power…and he isn’t the king many in this world want…a king that grants anything and everything a person wants; nor would Jesus be a mere miracle worker. Jesus is the King and Savior we need. And He is far more than we could ever want.

          What kind of King is Jesus…one in whom the Magi fell down to worship with gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. A King in whom Mary Magdalene and the other Mary would fall down and worship outside of the empty tomb. A King in whom the Eleven would fall down and worship after Jesus appears to them after rising from the dead. You only fall down, prostrate yourself, before Almighty God. The Magi knew it, The Marys knew it, the Eleven knew it.

          And that worship reveals joy. The women at the tomb were overjoyed to see Jesus resurrected, and so were the disciples. This is the kind of God and King you have—the kind that chooses to humble Himself. Jesus wasn’t born in legendary Jerusalem but in lowly Bethlehem. Jesus didn’t live a carefree life with every luxury. He didn’t hang out with all the cool and important people. He didn’t use His divine power to do or get what He wanted. Instead He led a humble life, was found preaching to and healing the most needy and suffering of people, and gave up His life for a world that despised Him.

          Jesus was born in order to die…for you…that you would be forgiven, made a child of God, receive salvation, and the riches of heaven. The reason we Christians have such great joy… isn’t found at the mall… isn’t found in sinful desires…isn’t found in the riches of this world…but is found in the Christ child born of the virgin Mary and laid in the manger. Our joy is found in the forgiveness of our sins. Our joy is found in salvation. Our joy is found in Jesus “lying helpless in a manger, poor and bare and lowly, To set you free from all your sorrow wholly.” And this joy does not fail. This joy never ends. Amen.

 

Now may the peace of God which passes all human understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord and Savior. Amen.

The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand

Advent 2, 2019

“The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand”

Matthew 3:1-12

 

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

 

 

           The world gets ready for Christmas in a way that is very much different than Christians. The world gets ready by shopping. Lines upon lines of people waiting for Black Friday sales, rushing for small business Saturday sales, and clogging up bandwith on Cyber Monday. All to celebrate Christmas. Then when it’s over, it’s over. And all that’s left of Christmas on December 26 is a big pile of wrapping paper, Christmas trees on the side of the road, and trips to the store for after-Christmas sales and the return of unwanted, broken, or miss-sized gifts.

          Not so in the Church. For us, when Christmas comes, it stays. It lingers on through Epiphany all the way through till Lent. We continue to ponder the great glad news that God has become man to redeem all humankind out from under the iron grip of death and hell. And we will sing our Christmas praises well into January and beyond. We make Christmas last.

         But Christmas hasn’t yet begun; we’re still in Advent. We’re still getting ready. Yet our readiness is much more than just sending cards and decorating our homes and going to parties. It is a readiness of the heart that God desires at his coming. That’s why John proclaimed: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” (Matthew 3:2) That’s also why in our Collect this day we pray: “Stir up our hearts, O Lord, to make ready the way of Your only-begotten Son.”

          In our text, God gives us exactly that: a ready heart, through the prophet of Advent, John. He is the very prophet whom the Lord appointed to clear the way for his coming. And believe me, he cleared the way. John the Baptist didn’t mince words…he told it as it was. He marched right in where angels feared to tread and laid it on the line to all who heard him: He called the Pharisees a brood of vipers! He tells us, “Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees.”  All the dead wood was to be cut out of the Lord’s forest. “Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire” (Matthew 3:10).

          That’s a little unsettling, and it should be. The sad truth is that more often than not, you and I don’t produce good fruit. We simply don’t love God with all our heart and soul and strength, much less love our neighbor as ourselves. Despite our best efforts, there are those we have hurt and those we have failed to help. Our thoughts and desires are soiled with sin. There is nothing good within our sinful nature.

          That’s how preparing the way for the Lord’s coming begins, when you and I are laid low by the hammer blows of God’s Law, so that we might be lifted up and comforted by the Gospel of God’s grace in Christ Jesus, his Son. We cannot taste how sweet the Gospel is until after we have tasted the bitterness of God’s Law. The way of the Lord is the way of repentance. It calls for change…a change of mind and heart, which only God can work within us.

          That’s what we need this Advent season: a change so that we can straighten up our hearts and lives, clean out our hearts so cluttered with sin, and clear out our lives, littered with shame and death, so that they might be filled with Jesus.

          Not that such a change comes easy, mind you. It means the death of the habits of the sinful heart. And such habits always die hard. It’s always easier to love and serve ourselves than it is to love and serve God and our neighbor. It always comes naturally to the sinful heart to lash out with anger when we’re hurt, to return evil for evil, to repay injury with injury. It is much easier to cut down other people than to love them and build them up. It’s easier for the sinful heart to curse and swear, to lie and deceive by God’s name, than to pray, praise, and give him thanks. That’s why the way of the Lord leads first to the cross before it leads to joy. That’s why the Christian life is a life of constant repentance. First we confess our sins, then God “is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). First the cross and then the crown. Such is the way, the road, we walk.

          And that road often takes some unexpected twists and turns. It might take us through some rocky terrain and rugged territory, places we would rather not go. The road of faith may lead us out even into desert lands, where it seems we walk alone.

          But we are not alone even there. The very God who washed away our sins and gave us life will not abandon us in those desert times. He who gave up his life for us on his cross and shed his blood to wash our robes will never let us go. “My sheep know me,” says Jesus, “and I know them. And they follow me. And I will give them eternal life. And no man will ever snatch them out of my hand” (John 10:14, 27-28).

          The path you walk might seem rugged at times and very steep, the pathway long and hard, but it is the path of the Lord’s own coming. The voice of John, the Lord’s prophet, cries out to one and all: “Then cleansed be ev’ry life from sin; Make straight the way for God within, And let us all our hearts prepare For Christ to come and enter there” (LSB 344:2).

          So let’s stir up our hearts this Advent season. It’s time for a change. Let’s lift up the valleys of our deep despair, bring down the mountain peaks of our lofty pride, and straighten out our crooked ways. How is this done? What does this mean?

         For tax collectors, the way of the Lord meant to be honest; for soldiers, it meant to be content and not steal. It means generosity and mercy, giving food and clothing to those who have none, for Jesus’ sake. But how is this done? By the grace of God.

          The Son of God, who came down from heaven and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the Virgin Mary, will change your hearts and make them new. The Lord Jesus will sweep the cobwebs out of your hearts and make them fit for his coming. He will straighten up the crooked paths by which we have wandered far away from our Father’s house and bring us home again. He will tear down our stubborn pride and melt our hardened hearts to enfold us in his love. He will lift us up out of the pits of our despair and grief to comfort us with the presence of his Holy Spirit and restore to us the joy of his salvation.

          So get ready. Get ready for Christmas. Prepare your hearts for the coming of Christ. Let this holy Advent season prepare you for Christ’s comfort and your joy as deep within takes root the reality that Christ has actually come in the flesh. Jesus was born for you! He was born to make you new and whole and free. He was born to save you. Amen.

 

Now may the peace of God which passes all human understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord and Savior. Amen.