Sermons 2025

Video

Text: Psalm 80:1-7
Theme: Face Shine on us

Outline
1.    God’s face is turned towards us
a.    In wrath over sin
2.    In beaming joy because of Christ

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

My dear beloved flock, the text for our meditation today is the Introit, Psalm eighty verses one through seven.
Boys and girls, I pray that you are doing well today. Have you ever made a silly face? We might make a silly face with our tongue sticking out, or changing our eye shape. Some of them can look very silly. Did you know that the same is true of God? In our text for today the Psalmist prays that God make a face toward us, not of anger but of joy. How does God turn His face toward us? How does He rejoice over us? Ponder those questions as you hear the rest of the sermon. You may go back to your seats and those who love you.

1.    God’s face is turned towards us

We are getting closer and closer to Christmas, only two short days left until Christmas Eve, three until the Nativity of our Lord. How does this Psalm fit in with Advent and Christmas? It has the constant refrain that God’s face would shine that we may be saved. That God would turn His face toward us.  When God turns toward us, what does His face look like?

a.    In wrath over sin

If you were to ask someone how God looks at them, they would often say that God looks at them in wrath and judgement. They have the picture of God as a stern judge and father, someone just waiting to punish over a wrongdoing. The Psalmist states, “O Lord God of hosts, how long will you be angry with your people's prayers? 5 You have fed them with the bread of tears and given them tears to drink in full measure.” God is so upset with his people that He is angry even with the prayers they pray. They cry out because of His harshness. Their tears are going in their mouth constantly so they taste nothing but their own sorrow and sadness. God is holy. God hates sin. He promises that sinners will be destroyed and sin dealt with harshly. Indeed, God punishes sin. He destroyed the world in the days of Noah with the flood. He destroys the army of Pharoh. He punishes the people of Israel with exile in Babylon and Assyria because of their falling away into idolatry. When God looks at us, His face should be mean and angry with us because of our sins. We should taste nothing but our own tears constantly. We break the commands of God in our thoughts, words, and deeds. We lie to ourselves that we are good people. We disrespect those God has placed in authority over us. We tear down others, thinking that by doing so, we can build up ourselves. Indeed, God should look at us with nothing but pure wrath and hatred. 

1.    In beaming joy because of Christ
Yet, the Psalmist prays a constant refrain that the Lord would “Restore us, O God of hosts; let your face shine, that we may be saved!” This brings to mind words that we hear every single Sunday. The words of the Aaronic benediction from Numbers chapter 6, “The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you. The Lord look upon you with favor, and give you peace.” Shine upon us means that the Lord turns and looks at us, not in wrath and anger, but in beaming joy. Beaming joy, the same as an expectant mother has at the joyful birth of her child, or when a couple gets married. Joy that never ends or fades away.
Joy that never fades because God’s face shines on us, and on all the world, when He gave His only Son.  Scripture tells us that it is God’s Son, Jesus, who makes God known to us; who reveals God’s face to us. Jesus says, “He who has seen Me has seen the Father.” In Jesus, God’s face truly shines on us.

But think, too, of this: That when God chose to shine his face on us, he did it first through the face of His infant Son. Can you think of a less scary image than the face of a baby? (OK, when they’re crying, they might be a little scary, but you get the idea I hope!) God chose to show us His face first in a way that does not create fear, but trust and love. The word became flesh and lived among us, God’s Word tells us, and we have seen his glory, the glory of a Father’s only son, full of grace and truth. Or, as Paul puts it so beautifully in Second Corinthians: 

For it is the God who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ .2 Corinthians 4

Yes, God has answered the prayer of Psalm 80 – He let His face shine on us. And he did it through Jesus. 

You remember that Blessing recorded in the Book of Numbers? Well, think of how Jesus himself fulfills that blessing: In Jesus, the Lord blesses us and keeps us. In Jesus, the Lord makes his face shine on and is gracious to us. In Jesus, the Lord looks upon us with favor because all of our sins are forgiven by the shedding of His holy and precious blood upon the cross. In Jesus, the Lord gives us everlasting peace.

Jesus is the very way that God answers prayer, and Jesus is the very way that God blesses us. Jesus is the way that God shines his face upon us.

On Christmas Eve, we will gather here again, and we will sing a beloved Christmas Carol which seems inspired by the words of this Psalm. As we lift our candles, we will sing “Silent Night”. And verse 3 is a beautiful expression of how God shines his face on us through his son, Jesus.

Silent night, holy night! Son of God, love’s pure light, radiant beams from your holy face, with the dawn of redeeming grace, Jesus, Lord, at your birth. Jesus, Lord, at your birth. 
Jesus is love’s pure light. He is the radiant beam from God’s holy face. No wonder his birth is such a holy event. It is the night that God truly let his face shine upon us, and all the world. Thanks be to God that His face beams not with wrath and anger over our sins, but with pure joy and light in Jesus Christ.

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, guard and keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.