Savior of the Nations, Come! A sermon for the first Sunday in Advent

First Sunday in Advent
November 28^th, Year of Our + Lord 2021
Our Savior’ and Our Redeemer Lutheran Churches
Hill City and Custer, South Dakota
Savior of the Nations, Come!

 1. Savior of the nations, come, Virgin’s Son, make here Your home!

      Marvel now, O heav’n and earth, That the Lord chose such a birth.

   Humility is Divine.  Humble service is Godly.   We begin the Story once again,
retelling to young and old the way of salvation, the path of Jesus, coming to save us. 

   And this story is of a great king riding into His royal city, riding on a donkey, wearing no armor, wielding no visible weapon, filled with gentleness, quietly riding into suffering and sacrifice.  A crucial nugget to learn from this first Sunday in Advent is that humility, humble service without thought for oneself, this is a divine attribute.  It is of the nature and character of God Most High to serve, and not to be served.  God is almighty, the source of all power and justice, the avenger of wrongs, the Holy, Holy, Holy One.  And so we sinners expect God to come with wrath, anger at the world, and also towards us.  We hear that the Lord is coming, and we expect an angry God, come to punish and correct.  And this is true. 

   And yet He also comes with gentleness.  In the mystery of the God who is love, at the same time, just and almighty God is humble, gentle, coming to lift up the lowly sinner.  Humility belongs to the character of God.  The humble service needed to save us is also natural to the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  Loving humility is the best of God, and so also loving humility is the best of man, the Man, Jesus, the son of Mary, the Son of God, come down from heaven to save her, and all of us.  Savior of the nations, come!  Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!

2. Not by human flesh and blood, By the Spirit of our God,

    Was the Word of God made flesh - Woman’s offspring, pure and fresh.

 

3. Here a maid was found with child, Yet remained a virgin mild.

    In her womb this truth was shown: God was there upon His throne.

 

    Mother Mary, most blessed amongst all women.  What’s that all about? 

   Ever since the serpent successfully divided the woman and the man from God, and from each other, we children of Adam and Eve have struggled with human sexuality.  Separated from God by our sinfulness, we always struggle to rightly use the gifts of being man and woman, husband and wife, parents and children.  Satan has succeeded in making us think that sex and marriage and having babies is about me and my pleasure.  It is a gift from God that these things can be pleasurable, joyful, full of meaning.  Indeed, they are designed by God to be wonderful.  But the pleasures of marriage and family and parenthood are added benefits, which come alongside their primary purpose, which is the increase of love and the expansion of God’s family.  But because of Satan and sin, our love and our ability to grow God’s eternal family were ruined.    

   In God’s timing and within God’s plan, Man is made to love and serve Woman, and Woman is made to love and serve Man, each according to their unique roles, mutually and uniquely supporting one another, as created by God.  And chief among these unique ways of serving is that Man was created to be father, and Woman was created to be Mother.  And so, in God’s original plan, Adam and Eve were to be fruitful and fill the earth with children, precious to God and showered with all His blessings. 

   But because of Satan and sin, our love and our ability to grow God’s eternal family were ruined.   And so it should not surprise us that the story of the virgin birth and the person of Mary, Jesus’ mother, should confuse us.  Does the virgin birth teach us that virginity is a higher calling than marriage and parenthood?  No.  Neither is marriage a higher calling than being single.  We are all called to chastity, to sexual purity, regardless of our situation of life.  If we are not married, then we are called to not exercise our sexuality, until we are married.  If we are married, our calling is to love, honor, serve and be faithful to our spouse alone, loving them selflessly, not using them selfishly.  Either calling, as a single person or a married person, can be the highest calling for you, because it is the calling you have received from God today.  If and when He changes your calling, either calling the single to marriage, or returning the married to being single, then your new calling is highest, for you.  Because this calling comes to you from God. 

   So, is the virgin birth about Mary?  Well, it’s not “not” about Mary.  This young Jewish woman did receive the highest honor, the calling to be the Mother of God.  We honor Mary and give thanks to God for her service and example, because she has been called to a unique role to which no other human being has ever or will ever again be called.  Marvel now, heaven and earth: Mary was called to conceive, bear, give birth to and be mother of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. 

   Which was wonderfully good for Mary, and also terribly painful.  But for all the attention and honor we give to Mary, the effects of the virgin birth on Mary are secondary.  The virgin birth is not primarily about Mary, but rather it is about God expanding love and growing His family.  As I have mentioned, because of Satan and sin, our love and our ability to grow God’s eternal family were ruined.  So God had to come to reverse the Fall, to restore the “very goodness” of men and women, through the life, death and resurrection of Mary’s Son, Jesus.  The main point of the virgin birth is that Joseph is not the father of Jesus; God the Father is.  Jesus is God in the flesh, the Almighty, entering into the human story, in order to rescue us.  No mere man could achieve our salvation, only God.  So God became man.  Jesus is the point of the Virgin Birth, that God was on His throne in Mary’s womb, the Word made flesh, come to save. 

   The Church’s frequent confusion with what to make of Mother Mary is in great part due to our struggle to rightly understand and live out our callings as men and women, living sexually pure lives.  Whatever your current calling is in regard to your existence as a man or a woman, whether as a young or not so young unmarried person, a widow or widower, a husband or wife, father, mother or child, in whatever role we find ourselves, all of us struggle and mess up this part of our lives with great frequency.  Confusion about sexuality and ongoing sexual sin are amongst the greatest struggles we Christians face.  To say nothing of the sexual madness that is tearing our culture apart.  There is great earthly blessing in exercising our sexuality according to God’s design, and yet we struggle so much to do this.  But do not despair.  Jesus, Mary’s Son, is God in the flesh, for you, come to forgive you for all your sins, and restore you to the life He wants for you.   

4. Then stepped forth the Lord of all, From His pure and kingly hall;

    God of God, yet fully man, His heroic course began.

 

5. God the Father was His source, Back to God He ran His course.

    Into hell His road went down, Back then to His throne and crown.

    What would Jesus do?  This was for a time a very popular Christian slogan.  And it’s not wrong to look to Jesus as an example for how we should live.  But that only gets us so far.  What would Jesus do?  Live 100% for others, for His Father, and for us sinners.  Serve, serve, serve, teach, teach, teach, pray, pray, pray.  Never wavering, never faltering.  How is your imitation of Jesus going? 

     And Jesus isn’t done when He has served, taught and prayed.  In addition to showing us how to love God and our neighbors, He also came to heal the sick, and raise the dead.  Miraculously feed thousands.  Oh, and also to suffer and die on a Cross under the wrath of God for the sins of all people.  Can you imitate these works? 

    Better question: What has Jesus done?  He has done all of this.  He has run His heroic course, to earth, to the Cross, through Hell and back.  He has run His course for joy, the joy of having you for His very own. 

6. For You are the Father’s Son, Who in flesh the vic’try won.

    By Your mighty pow’r make whole, All our ills of flesh and soul.

   How are we Christians to deal with suffering, illness and death? 

   With confidence in our Coming King, who came, and who will come again, and who still comes to us, daily, through His life-giving Word and His sin-forgiving and soul-restoring mysteries.  Jesus is God’s best Word, and His final Word, a Word of forgiveness, love and acceptance, delivered in and through Him.  So it’s not surprising that the eternal Word would work through words, even words spoken through the lips of sinners.  It is not surprising that the Word made flesh would work through earthly materials, plain water, the fruit of the vine, common bread.  For He comes to serve and to save.  This is the story He would have us retell, again and again, until He comes again, Amen. 

7. From the manger newborn light Shines in glory through the night.

    Darkness there no more resides; In this light faith now abides.

 

8. Glory to the Father sing, Glory to the Son, our king,

    Glory to the Spirit be, Now and through eternity.

Stay Awake, Watch and Pray!

Our Savior’s and Our Redeemer Lutheran Churches
Hill City and Custer, South Dakota
Last Sunday of the Church Year                
November 21, A+D 2021
Stay Awake, Watch, and Pray.     Mark 13:24-37

    Stay awake!  Watch, and pray. We have reached the end of the liturgical year, and we concentrate on
the ends: the end of the world, the end of this age, the Last Day. The End, when Jesus is going to come again, visibly, coming for the last time, riding the clouds as if on a mighty steed, the King of Heaven, coming to judge the whole world and visibly inaugurate the Kingdom of God.  Are you eager for Jesus to return?  Or does the thought frighten you?  Maybe it seems unreal to you, like a dream.  No matter how we perceive His return, when He comes, we need to be ready. If we are not, we will not have time to prepare. It will be too late.                

     We were not ready for the pandemic.  There were warnings: Avian Flu, Ebola, the first SARS scare.  The ease and speed of international travel make the spread of a deadly novel disease more than possible, a disease against which our bodies are unprepared to fight.  COVID19 caught us unaware, unprepared.  Like we have been again and again for the scores of Islamic terrorist attacks that have killed many, and made us nervous around anyone whom we think looks somewhat Middle Eastern.

     Neither COVID19 nor any terror atrocity are the end of the world.  That will be when the whole world at once sees a bright light and the Lord Jesus returns in glory, riding on the clouds.  We don’t know when.  But the pandemic and terrorist violence, along with car accidents and cancer and heart disease, are reminders that every person faces a personal end, for which we also must be ready. We try to not think about death too much, and that’s fine.  But we shouldn’t ignore it, either.  The instructions of Jesus to be prepared for His return offer each one of us instructions to prepare for our own end:  Stay awake.  Watch.  In Greek, “gregoreite,” from which we get the English name Gregory.  Stay alert.  Watch.  And pray. This advice fits every kind of end, from plagues to terror attacks, to heart disease, cancer, or the return of Christ. We need to be vigilant, because we don't know when unexpected events are coming. 

     I used to work in security, bearing the responsibility to guard and protect military installations overseas.  And I can tell you that keeping watch is very difficult. When the threat is clear and imminent, everyone wants to do what it takes to be prepared. But after a short time, if the threat doesn’t materialize, and life goes on as normal, well then the willingness of everyone fades, of both the guards and the people under their protection.  Whether we are talking about pandemics or terrorists, cyber attacks against our energy grid or our own personal health, I pray that our citizens and our leaders will have the resolve and tenacity required to maintain proper vigilance.  Not living in fear, but dealing with reality.  And when something bad happens, we all suddenly become vigilant. But for how long?   

     COVID19, terrorism and your health are serious issues. But not nearly as serious as the Return of Christ. An evil man or a novel virus can hurt you, or even kill you, which is bad.  But these evils do not touch eternity. Spiritually, and with eternity in view, we live in a time of risk, and also in a time of opportunity. Today sin and evil have a lot of control in the world. But there remains the opportunity for sinful men and women to repent and gain access to the kingdom of God through the forgiveness of sins. There is still time. When Jesus returns, there will be no more time. All sinners without proper protection on that Day will face the justice of God, who will stop all evil, forever. For this reason, what Jesus says to the Apostles, He also says to all of us, Watch. Be alert. And pray. 

     What does this look like?                    

       Well, I think we understand how to pray, somewhat. If not, we will practice in a few moments. But what does the Lord mean when he says: "Watch, stay awake, stay alert”?  What does this look like in our daily life?       

      When our Lord ascended into heaven, as we read in the book of Acts, chapter 1, the Apostles remained on the Mount of Olives, staring at the sky where a cloud had received Jesus and hid Him from their eyes. But, while the disciples were looking at the sky, two men in white robes appeared and asked them: Men of Galilee, why are you gazing into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come in the same way, just as you have seen him go into heaven. Then the Apostles returned to Jerusalem. 

      You could say the sky-gazing Apostles were watching, as Jesus instructed them. But the two messengers from heaven correct them, sending them to Jerusalem, and to their task in the world. From Luke chapter 24, we know that, just before his Ascension, Jesus had already told them to return to Jerusalem to await the gift of the Holy Spirit, which would be their signal to begin the evangelization of the world. The messengers in white robes reminded them: Jesus does not want Christians to spend their days literally staring up at heaven, watching to see His return. 

    It’s natural for believers to be curious about His return and the coming of the New Kingdom. Indeed, between the Resurrection and the Ascension, the Apostles asked Jesus about this. "Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?”  Do you remember what He said to them? “It is not for you to know the times and seasons that the Father has set with His own authority.  But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”             

      Watching, being alert, has to do with God’s Mission, which is to bring sinners into His Kingdom.  And what will we be doing there?  In the New Kingdom that is to be revealed, we will live in full communion with God, in the face-to-face presence of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, with every blessing and perfect joy.  And with this eternity in mind, as we watch and pray, we also remember that Jesus made another promise: to be with His Church, not visibly, but truly present, until He returns.  Being prepared, being alert, will also have something to do with experiencing His communion, His presence with us, today. 

     How do we experience Jesus, today? It’s very common that people refer to emotions as proof of God's presence.  “I can feel the Spirit ... or “I can feel Jesus in my heart.”  We also tend to assume that large, impressive gatherings of religious people have more of God’s presence than small ones.  Are these ideas correct?               

      It is true that Jesus dwells in the hearts of believers, and clearly there are many emotions in the Christian life.  And of course we all want to see the Church grow. But God in His Word doesn’t point us to our emotions or to outward appearances as proof of His presence.  There are many promises in the Bible, but they do not point us inside ourselves to find God.  Nor to what we can see with our eyes.  Rather, the Holy Spirit calls us to look outside ourselves, and past what we can see.  We are called to see with our ears, by receiving the Word of God.  As Saint Paul says, “We walk by faith, not by sight.” 

   Or as Jesus said to the doubting disciple on the eighth day of the Resurrection: “Thomas, have you seen me, and believed?  Blessed are those who do not see and yet believe.”  And of course in Romans 10 we hear: “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing, by the Word of Christ.”       

      A few times in history, God communicated with His people directly, face to face.  It usually didn’t go well.  On the Last Day, everyone will see God face to face. But normally, since our Fall into sin until today, God communicates with us, and is truly present with us, through his Word.  God chose Prophets, Apostles, and pastors to proclaim his Word publicly.  God caused His Word to be recorded, written down in the book we call the Bible.  And God is putting his Word in the ears of more and more people every day through the confession of the members of his Church, believers speaking of Christ in their daily lives.  When we are in and about the Word, when we are meditating and praying and sharing the Word, then we are awake, properly watching for the Return of Christ.  Because the only thing that prepares anyone for the End is a living faith in Christ, our crucified and risen Savior. Faith comes from hearing the Word of Christ, the Good News that He has taken away all the sin of the world, shedding His precious blood to earn forgiveness and salvation for all people. 

     But wait, there’s more! When we habitually listen and meditate on the Word, God helps us with the doubts and fears that bother us when we think about the End, or about the dangers and evils of life.  The message of the Bible sets us free from fear.  How?  Through the promises, and by the power of the Holy Spirit. We can face the dangers and threats in today's world, not because we are so strong or so brave, but because we are so forgiven, and so blessed, with an eternally bright future.             

     I don't mean to say that Christians will never be afraid.  No, sadly for now we do struggle with fear.  But when we live in and with the Word of God, He is going to remind us that no one can snatch us out of His hands. Because God's hands are Christ's hands, and His hands are still scarred. The hands of God’s Son forever bear the nail marks, proclaiming that Christ has redeemed and chosen you, forever.   

      Because of the Word, which shows us Jesus’ loving scars, we can live in freedom.  The freedom of eternity, which is ours, right now, in Jesus. We can live in love, sharing with and loving our neighbors as ourselves, because through the Word we receive again and again the love which never runs out, the love of Almighty God.  Although death and violence and disease and the End still scare us, we can look beyond all these with hope and confidence.     

      By faith in Christ, we watch for His Return with expectation and joy, because our most important Day has already happened, 2,000 years ago, on a cross outside of Jerusalem. By our Baptism we have already passed through the Last Day with Jesus, when He destroyed the power of evil, receiving in His own body all the punishment deserved by us.  In Christ, we already live in eternity, by the power of His resurrection.  When we receive the Sacrament, we receive His true Body and Blood, by which God forgives us again, and gives us strength to live, love, and confess His Name in our daily lives. Watch and pray, and do not be afraid, for the Lord is with you.     

      Because of Christ, His great work and His ongoing presence with us in Word, Water, Wheat and Wine, we know that He is coming to bless us, with a smile for all those who trust in Him.  For this we pray, with all the faithful of every time and place:  Amen!  Come Lord Jesus, Come, Amen! 

Do you call yourself a saint? Sermon for All Saints Day, Observed

All Saints Day, (Observed), November 7^th, Year of Our + Lord 2021
Our Savior’s and Our Redeemer Lutheran Churches
Hill City and Custer, SD
Do you call yourself a saint?  (Rev. 7:9-17, 1 John 3:1-3, Matthew 5:1-12)

     Do you call yourself a saint?  Is that a good idea?  A bad idea?  Is calling yourself holy presumptuous?  Or is it obvious? 

     All Saints’ Day is a comprehensive day of celebration.  It encompasses the entire scope of that great cloud of witnesses with which we are surrounded (Hebrews 12:1).  All Saints’ Day holds before the eyes of faith that great multitude which no one can number: all the saints of God in Christ – from every nation, race, culture, and language – who have come “out of the great tribulation ... who have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb” (Rev. 7:9, 14).  As such, it sets before us the full height and depth and breadth and length of our dear Lord’s gracious salvation (Eph. 3:17 – 19).  All Saints’ shares with Easter a celebration of the resurrection, since all those who have died with Christ Jesus in Baptism have also been raised with Him (Romans 6:3-8).  It shares with Pentecost a celebration of the watery ingathering of the entire Church catholic – in heaven and on earth, in all times and places – gathered into the one Body of Christ, in the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.  Just as we have all been called to the one hope that belongs to our call “one Lord, one faith, one Baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all” (Eph. 4:4-6).  And the Feast of all Saints shares with the final Sundays of the Church Year an end times focus on the life everlasting and a confident confession that “the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us” (Romans 8:18).  In all of this we see that the purpose of this feast is to fix our eyes upon Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, so that we do not grow weary or fainthearted (Hebr. 12:2-3). 

So, on this All Saints’ Day, do you call yourself a saint? 

   Saint means holy one.   And holy, while it does include being sinless, good, and righteous, holy first means to be chosen and set aside for a special purpose.  Three-and-one-half millennia ago the Ark of the Covenant was built, a box set aside, declared to be holy, made to hold the testimonies of the Lord, within the Most Holy Place, that small, exclusive space within the Tabernacle and Temple of Israel, the place where the Holy, Holy, Holy Lord God came to dwell with His chosen people. 

   Today our Chalice and other communion ware are set aside for delivering the body and blood of Christ to repentant sinners at the Lord’s table.  We do not use them for any other task, like a common drinking glass or a plate.  We have set them aside, made them holy for a specific holy task.  Neither the wood and gold from which the Ark of the Covenant was built, nor the silver of the chalice, none of these common materials called themselves to their new purpose.  They were chosen by the craftsmen to be put to noble use, made to be holy. 

   So in this sense, in the sense of the source and basis of holiness, no, you and I do not call ourselves saints.  Because the calling to be a holy one of God must come from outside of us.  God chooses.  God sets aside.  God makes sinners like you and me into His beloved, and into useful instruments for His purposes.  God through Holy Baptism called you to be His very own, to live under Him in righteous, innocence and blessedness, clothing you in the white robe of Christ’s perfect righteousness, giving you faith that receives new life, and a voice to sing the excellencies of Him who called you out of darkness and into the marvelous light of His forgiving grace. 

   And so you are saints.  All who believe and are baptized have been chosen by God and declared to be holy, washed clean, perfectly righteous in God the Father’s eyes, because of Jesus, who has covered over all your sins.  “All the saints” includes all believers in Christ, those now living in glory and those still living on earth. 

   In Christ, you are a saint.  And yet you hesitate to call yourself holy.  You hesitate to call yourself a saint, even though in Jesus, by faith and union with Him, you are one. You hesitate because you know yourself.  The sin that so easily entangles and stains your perfect white robes is all the more obvious to you precisely because of those white robes.  Grey or black robes would show less dirt.  But Christ’s righteousness is blazing white, and so you can’t miss your sins.  You know your failures and trespasses far better the longer and more fervently you try to live as a baptized child of God should live.  And Jesus today calls us to a life of self-denial and suffering for righteousness’ sake that neither appeals to our old nature, nor seems possible for us to accomplish, even in our best moments.

   Are you ready for the kind of blessedness Jesus extols?  "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.  "Blessed are those who mourn, ...   Blessed are the meek, ... Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, ... Blessed are the merciful, ... Blessed are the pure in heart, and the peacemakers, ... Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

   We don’t need to hear Jesus describe this strange blessedness in order to recognize and feel dirty because of our sin.  But the “Beatitudes,” as Jesus’ list of blessings is called, really drive home our sense of not being saints, of not being holy, even though we’ve been called to be. 

   We should not deny, neither with our actions nor with our words, the divinely ordained fact that in our Baptisms, God has chosen and called us His holy ones.  But we feel like it can’t be so, because we do not measure up.  Which goes to show that we very quickly forget how being holy works.  God did not wait for you to get right before He chose you.  No, He chose you in order to form and shape you into what He wants you to be.  And God does this through Jesus.

   The Beatitudes, Jesus’ list of strange blessedness, is first and foremost about Jesus.  It is an intense description of the Law of God He came to fulfill.  The Son of God, who ruled over heaven in perfect splendor and glory, gave that up and made Himself poor, poor in spirit and poor economically, because He mourned over the sad future our sins held for us.  Mourning over us, the Son came meekly, hungering and thirsting for righteousness, for us. 

Jesus came down from heaven and showed mercy, from a pure heart, making peace between God and man, through His persecution, persecution unto death, on the Cross, patient suffering endured for the sake of righteousness.  Unjust suffering accepted, in order to open the Kingdom of Heaven to you.    

   So, because of Jesus, you are holy.  And to help you with your identity struggle, the Father went one better than simply calling you holy.  He calls you son, daughter, beloved child. And so you are, because God says so.  This is the kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God.  Now this is language that attracts.  We are beloved, needy children, who call upon our Father boldly.  Because we know we have been made children of God through Jesus, we also know the Father rejoices to hear and answer us. 

   So rejoice, not because you have conquered sin, but because the Holy One of God has conquered sin for you.  The eternal Son has won the Father’s favor for you.  Christ’s holiness, His real, essential holiness, and His promise to share it with you and all believers, this is your sure and certain hope.  Today you are holy by faith, and someday soon, face to face holiness, for eternity. 

   The saints who have gone before, who are the focus of our celebration today, rejoice because they are finally free from sin, free from guilt, resting in the presence of Jesus.  And you too can rest in the peace of Jesus, today, right now.  In Christ, you are free from sin.  Not fully, not visibly, not without the struggle of living as a sinner in a fallen world.  But truly, God’s peace is yours now, by faith in the forgiving love of Jesus, poured out for you. 

   One day soon, you will enjoy God’s peace fully.  In the meantime, you should neither accept your sin and sinfulness, nor should you despair because of them.  Rather, remember that Jesus is your holiness.  He is your source; you are a saint in Him.  So draw near to Jesus, to receive His gifts.  Your sins are forgiven.  His Body and Blood are for you, to wash your robes, and strengthen you for the blessed life.  Get close to Jesus, today, and every chance you can, and He will bring you to Himself.  

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