Sermons 2025

Text: Hebrews 1:1-12
Theme: Supremacy of the Son

Outline
1.    Greater than the Prophets
2.    Greater than the Angels
3.    All for you!

Sermon
Intro: 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 this morning is the Epistle of Hebrews chapter one verses one through twelve.
Boys and girls, I pray that you are doing well today. Do you know what this math symbol is? It means greater than. You can think of it as a crocodile or an alligator, it always wants to eat the greater number for food. For example, if we have a seven and an eight, which is greater? The eight. What about one and five? The five. Today in our text, we hear about Someone greater than prophet or angels. Who is that? Ponder that question as you hear the rest of the sermon.

1.    Greater than the Prophets

“Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world  “
Long ago, God revealed Himself and His will to the world through the mouths of the prophets. God reveals His attitude towards sin and sinners. Sin stains, sin condemns. Every single one of us is sin stained because of our human nature. We sin in thought, word, and deed. We cannot save ourselves. We are dead in our sin and trespasses. We are weak, we are powerless. That is what God reveals through His prophets as they proclaim His Law to a sinful and rebellious people.

Yet, God also reveals His mercy and grace toward sinners in and through the Messiah. All was not revealed to each one prophet; but one received one portion of revelation, and another prophet another portion of revelation. To Noah the quarter of the world to which Messiah should belong was revealed; to Abraham, the nation; to Jacob, the tribe; to David and Isaiah, the family; to Micah, the town of nativity; to Daniel, the exact time; to Malachi, the coming of His forerunner, and His second advent; through Jonah, His burial and resurrection; through Isaiah and Hosea, His resurrection. Each only knew in part; but when that which was perfect came in Messiah, that which was in part was done away (1 Co 13:12).  

2.    Greater than angels

Not even angels compare to this one that the Prophets proclaimed. As awesome, powerful, and awe-inspiring as angels are, Jesus is more. Just see how Paul makes use of the Old Testament to prove his point, in this chapter alone, there are seven Old Testament references. Psalm 2, 2 Samuel 7:14, Psalm 104:4, Psalm 45:6-7, Deuteronomy 32:43, Psalm 102:25-27, Psalm 110:1. Note the doubling of the words. It is not enough to call Jesus “Son”; he also calls God “Father.” Never was such divine sonship claimed for the angels. Do we need more proof that Jesus is superior to the angels? Then look ahead to that great day of judgment when God again “brings his firstborn into the world.” On that day Christ will surely stand out as “firstborn,” first in rank and position, as all the angels—not just some here and some there, but all the angels—bow down before him in worship. In Revelation 5:11, 12 John gives us a preview of the scene: “Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels, numbering thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand.… In a loud voice they sang: ‘Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!’ 

3.    All for you

Worthy is the Lamb. Worthy is Jesus the Son, the Messiah whom the prophets proclaimed because of what He has done for you and your salvation. The very One who made everything, entered His fallen creation to save and redeem it from sin, death, and the power of the devil. Born of the Virgin Mary, laid in a manger that the wood of the manger foreshadows the wood of the cross. Wrapped in swaddling clothes, that he might be wrapped in grave clothes, born to live a perfect life in your place, to die upon the cross and rise from the dead that you may have life with Him forever. As great as the prophets were, here is One greater than all of them combined. As powerful as angels are, here is one more powerful. 

Con: Here is the only One who could purify sin’s stain, and only once would he need do it. At Calvary’s cross the Creator and Sustainer became the Sin-bearer. Here is his most amazing glory! What a staggering thought—the almighty sovereign Lord becomes the incarnate sacrificial Lamb all for your behalf!

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

The Song of the Angels
Luke 2:1–20

Sermon Outline
There’s Beauty to Be Found Considering the Noise of Christmas.
    I.    Like many on that first Christmas night, tonight we are singing the song of sorrow.
    II.    But the angel of the Lord has come armed with a new song for you to sing, a heavenly song of joy.

Sermon
When we think of the night Christ was born, we tend to think of it as being very serene and quiet, a night where no noise polluted the air. But we don’t think this because the Bible tells us it was abnormally noiseless that night of Christ’s birth. The Bible says no such thing about the decibel levels of Bethlehem or the surrounding area. Rather, we think this because that’s what we’re told by hymns like “O Little Town of Bethlehem” and, of course, “Silent Night.” Now, in fairness to those hymns, I don’t think the authors were trying to add to the Word of God or asserting that this silence was a historical fact. I think they use silence as a poetic way of depicting the tranquility of Christ’s birth, a way of showing how every other care and concern and sorrow and fear faded away in the moment that God’s only-begotten Son first breathed the air he was going to fill with salvation.
On the one hand, it’s a beautiful thing to consider that kind of metaphorical silence on the night of Christ’s birth. But on the other hand, too,

There’s Beauty to Be Found
Considering the Noise of Christmas,

to consider the songs of sorrow that were ringing through the air across the world on the night of Christ’s birth and how they can now be transformed into songs of joy.

I.
While it may have been rather quiet in that little town of Bethlehem, there was most certainly wailing somewhere. That night, just a few miles away in Jerusalem, King Herod perhaps cried out in his sleep, having nightmares over the blood he’d shed, how he’d taken the lives of his own family members, his wife, his own sons, to protect his throne, a throne that didn’t really belong to him. Perhaps that night Israel’s false king sang a song of sorrow, crying out for peace he couldn’t achieve, no matter how much blood he shed.

Certainly throughout the world, various emperors and kings and chiefs sang that same song the night of Christ’s birth, furious that all their strength, all their wisdom, all their wrath could not conquer their enemies, secure their glory, or bring peace to their people.

Throughout the world that night, wives sang the song of sorrow in empty beds, weeping over husbands that never came home from war. Husbands sang it as their wives died in childbirth. Mothers sang the song of sorrow as they watched their children swallowed up by diseases they couldn’t drive away. Fathers sang with them as their children wailed with empty stomachs. They sang the song of sorrow because they were unable to make the rain fall on the earth or force the barren ground to yield its fruit.

Throughout the world that night, sinners lost in darkness sang the song of sorrow, unable to see the light of God. They bloodied their hands crafting idols who wouldn’t answer their prayers. They sacrificed the flesh of animals, the flesh of men even, to bring themselves nearer God. But they couldn’t find him—couldn’t find his mercy, his forgiveness, his salvation, his arms. All they found was condemnation and confusion.

And across space and time, tonight, we are singing that song of sorrow. We look out at this world of darkness, a world filled with war and bloodshed, hatred and cruelty. Our versions of kings and emperors rise up against other nations and pour out violence to puff up their own glory, glory that will be forgotten in a generation. Anger and bitterness poison our world. Neighbors who are supposed to look out for one another look for reasons to hate one another. People who were supposed to be loyal to us cast us aside, betray us, lie about us, walk away from us. So we look out on a world teeming with the sins outside us, and we sing the song of sorrow.

We sing that song again when we see the world teeming with our own sins. Just as we were betrayed, we’ve betrayed. Just as we were hurt, we hurt. We’ve worshiped ourselves, made idols of our own pride, our greed, our selfishness. We tried to build a world of light and glory and comfort for ourselves by trusting in our own strength, our own goodness. And what was the result? More darkness, more cold, more loneliness, more sorrow, more sin. So tonight on the night of Christ’s birth, here we are, far from silent. Here we are singing the song of sorrow.

II.
But fear not, because now the angel of the Lord has burst into the night sky in Bethlehem, and he has come armed with a new song for you to sing. He has appeared in that silent night sky with the glory of the Lord shining around him, armed with words of peace that silence every song of sorrow and give you the right to join the heavenly song of joy.

“For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger” (vv 11–12). This the angel declares, and then the song grows in voices and majesty, with the heavenly host proclaiming, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is well pleased!” (v 14).

And what do the words of this song say to you, to us, to all of mankind? Those words proclaimed to Herod and every other king that the hour has come for them to turn from their violence, to see that peace had now arrived, because flowing within the veins of that little child in Bethlehem was the only blood that could give man peace with God. That little child would grow into the man who would carry his cross to Calvary, shed his blood, and win salvation, win peace, win eternal life for all who believe.

Here, in these angelic words, the wife and mother who mourns her lifeless kin can know comfort, knowing that the one who will conquer the grave has arrived. Here, the father and husband who failed to drive away starvation and disease can rest as the infant Christ rests in his mother’s arms, knowing that nothing will stop the Son of God from crushing Satan, destroying sin, conquering death in his bloody cross and empty tomb. Here, those wandering in darkness dashing themselves to pieces on worthless idols can hear the song of the angels, rush to Bethlehem, look upon the countenance of the infant Christ, and see the face of God.

Tonight, you can do likewise. Tonight, you can join those of every tribe and nation and generation who weep the tears of sorrow. You can join those who share your song of sorrow over this sinful, fallen world. You can go to Bethlehem and join the angel’s song of joy because the Son of God is born. There before you is the one who will crush every sorrow, shatter every grave, dry every tear, and clothe you in the eternal comfort of his Father.
Tonight, the kings of the earth can sing with joy as they lay their heavy crowns at the infant feet of Christ, knowing that he will do what only the King of kings can do—give mankind peace with God and peace with one another. And in the same way, you can bring him what weighs you down, all your sins, your iniquities, your festering, clawing guilt that won’t leave you alone.

Leave those at the foot of the manger, because this is the Son of God born to carry them to the cross. And there at Calvary, your Lord finished the journey that begins in Bethlehem tonight. He destroyed your every iniquity, buried your every sin in a grave that will never be opened. With his nail-pierced hands, he ripped the devil’s claws off of you, killed the beast, and gave you the right to live with him in his kingdom forever.
So right now, rejoice in this holy night that is not silent. Rejoice in this holy night that is filled with singing saints of every nation, with angels and archangels, with all the host of heaven proclaiming the song of Christ’s love and victory, the song we never need to stop singing because Jesus Christ our Lord will never stop singing it to us. 

In Jesus' name. Amen.

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.
 

ADVENT MIDWEEK 3
The Song of Mary
Luke 1:46–56

Sermon Outline
Why Would Mary Choose to Sing Her Song from the Song of Hannah?
    I.    Hannah’s song of praise is deeply personal, arising from the very feelings Mary and you and I often feel—feeling poor or worthless or sinful.
    II.    So Mary sings her version of Hannah’s song so that you can expect God to come near to save you personally through the child he put in her womb.

Sermon
The unborn John the Baptist has confirmed that the Christ Child is growing in her womb, Mary sings her song of praise, but she doesn’t sing a completely original song. Her words, a song we call the Magnificat, are largely derived from a song sung about a thousand years earlier, a song proclaimed by Hannah, the mother of Samuel.

Now, this is a rather interesting choice. As the words of the Magnificat show, Mary clearly wanted to focus on the justice of the Christ, how her Son will give to those who have nothing and take away everything from the wicked and exploitative. Because of this, there were plenty of other songs from the Old Testament she could have adapted for her own song of praise. She could have sung a variation on the Song of Moses, the boasting, jubilant words the Israelites sang after watching the Lord drown the armies of Pharaoh. She could have sung a variation on one of the psalms or a section of the Prophets as they proclaimed the wonders of the Lord who was going to tear down the mighty and lift up the lowly. So then,

Why Would Mary Choose to Sing Her Song  from the Song of Hannah?

I.
One reason, of course, is that Hannah was a barren woman singing her song in response to the Lord opening her womb. In both cases you have women responding with joy to a miraculous pregnancy.
But perhaps more important, Hannah’s song of praise is deeply personal. For years, her husband’s other wife Peninnah has mocked and ridiculed Hannah for her barrenness, so when Hannah sings about God impoverishing the rich and enriching the poor, when she sings about the full going hungry and the hungry being filled, she’s not just speaking vaguely here. Listen to what Hannah sang: “My heart exults in the Lord; my horn is exalted in the Lord . . . because I rejoice in your salvation. . . . Those who were full have hired themselves out for bread, but those who were hungry have ceased to hunger. The barren has borne seven, but she who has many children is forlorn. . . . The Lord makes poor and makes rich; he brings low and he exalts. He raises up the poor from the dust . . . to make them sit with princes and inherit a seat of honor” (1 Sam 2:1b, 5, 7–8).

Hannah is speaking about her own personal enemy in her little town, the one who’s been tormenting her over a conflict that most people will never know. Hannah is proclaiming that, yes, her God is the one who pours out mercy on entire nations, but he’s also the God who gives salvation and victory to individuals, to the unknown and insignificant.

The more you feel like that kind of person, the more you sing the song of despair, the lament of the worthless. You look at your life, and the people who are supposed to love you lose interest in you. They don’t understand your troubles, and they absolutely don’t want to be burdened with them. They keep their distance from you and make you feel invisible.

You want to leave a legacy behind you in your life, but your work doesn’t seem to matter. Your accomplishments don’t seem to matter. You worry that the world is going to forget you not long after you’re gone.
Then you look at your sins and can’t imagine how things could be any different with God. You sing the song of despair. “Why would God love me? Why would he notice me? Why would he keep room in his mind and heart for someone who keeps going back to the same transgressions over and over again? Why would God remember me when I can’t remember my promise to follow him for more than five minutes? I give in to anger and bitterness all the time. I keep returning to laziness, to greed, to lust, and to jealousy. I’ve accomplished nothing and thrown away everything. Sure, God is the God of nations. He’s the God of kings and prophets and apostles. But why should I expect him to come near me?”

II.
You should expect it because the mother of your Lord told you he would. She promised you this when she sang her own version of Hannah’s song of praise: “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant. . . . For he who is mighty has done great things for me. . . . His mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation. He has shown strength with his arm. . . . He has brought down the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of humble estate; he has filled the hungry with good  things” (vv 46–53).

Your God is not just the God of big broad groups or world-famous figures. He’s the God of weeping women with barren wombs, the God of unknown maidens from hick towns, the God who sent his Son to find you personally, to forgive you personally, and to save you personally.

At the cross, this is precisely what Jesus did, in fulfillment of everything his mother sang about him. There at Calvary, the Mighty One did great things for you by surrendering his might, by being betrayed and crucified, by allowing men to take the blood he would use to forgive your sins and make you worthy of eternal life. At the cross, he showed his strength by placing his foot on the devil’s head until he heard that serpent’s skull crack into pieces, setting you free from the condemnation he pumped into your veins. There, as Christ thirsted, he filled your hungry soul with good things. He fed you with the bread of life, with the salvation that he promised Abraham would come to all those who believed his Word.

This is what God gave to Mary through the child he put in her womb. This is what God gives to you through that same child named Jesus. There at Calvary, your Lord was not merely the Savior of nations, of big groups, of seas of people. He wasn’t just the Savior of people whose names will never be forgotten. He was the Savior of the forgotten. He was the Savior of the never-known. He was your Savior, the one who ripped you out of the hands of the devil and placed you into the arms of the God who will always love you, always cherish you, always call you by your name.

With his song of forgiveness, with his song of victory over the grave, Jesus Christ silences your song of despair. And he has given you the right to join the song of joy that Hannah and his mother sang, the song proclaiming the mercy of the God who has filled the hungry with good things, cast the mighty from their thrones, and welcomed you into his kingdom. 

In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

Video

Text: Luke 7:18-35
Theme: Advent Joy because Christ is Come
Outline
3. John as always points to JC, John’s disciples come to Jesus, Are you the One?
2. JC does wonderous acts, Yes I am.
1. JC gives us reason to rejoice no matter our circumstances because He is come, defeated all of our woes

Sermon

Intro: 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 Holy Gospel according to Saint Luke, the seventh chapter verses eighteen through thirty-five.
Boys and girls, I pray that you are doing well today. What are these? *Point to eyes* Right they are your eyes. What do we use our eyes for? We use them to see. We interact with the world through our eyes. Our eyes tell us a lot about the world that we live in and the people within.  Without our eyes, we could not see colors. We could not see where things are in the world around us. We would be constantly bumping into couches, railings, and doors. In our text for today, both John and Jesus tell us what to do with our eyes. What should our eyes see? Who should our eyes be focused on? Ponder those questions as you hear the rest of the sermon. You may go back to your seats and those who love you.

3. John as always points to JC, John’s disciples come to Jesus, Are you the One?

John is sitting, languishing in prison. He has been thrown in there by Herod Antipas because Herod did not like the fact that John was calling Herod to repentance for marrying his brother’s wife.  While awaiting his eventual beheading, John, as always, points to Christ. He sends his disciples to Jesus to ask, ‘Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?’  Are you indeed the Messiah that John was proclaiming would come with Fire and a winnowing fork in hand to clear his threshing floor? The disciples ask this because it does not seem as though Jesus is doing the things that John said He would do. There is no fire. There is no sign that the wicked in the world are finally being dealt with. It appears they are still getting away with whatever they want, after all John’s locked up in prison facing death. Why is Jesus not recusing him? Why is Jesus not punishing wickedness here and now? Jesus is acting not in anger and judgment but in mercy, grace, and love.

2. JC does wonderous acts, Yes I am.

Our Lord’s response to John’s disciples is simple. Use your eyes. He “healed many people of diseases and plagues and evil spirits, and on many who were blind he bestowed sight. 22 And he answered them, “Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor have good news preached to them. 23 And blessed is the one who is not offended by me.”   Yes indeed, Jesus is the promised Messiah. He is God in the Flesh that John proclaimed. How do we know this? Look at everything that Jesus was doing for the good and blessing of the people. The deaf hear, the blind see, the dead are raised, lepers are cleansed, and much more. 

The Church Father Cyril of Alexandria captures the significance of these miracles of Jesus:
The wise Evangelist has told us, saying, “In that same hour He healed many of sicknesses and of scourges, and of evil spirits: and gave sight to many that were blind.” Having then been made spectators and eye-witnesses of His greatness, . . . they bring forward the question, and beg in John’s name to be informed, whether He is He Who cometh. Here see I pray the beautiful art of the Saviour’s management. For He does not simply say, I am; though had He so spoken it would have been true: but He rather leads them to the proof given by the works themselves, in order that having accepted faith in Him on good grounds, and being furnished with knowledge from what had been done, they might so return to him who sent them. “For go,” He says, “tell John the things that ye have seen and heard.” (Cyril, Saint, Patriarch of Alexandria, A Commentary upon the Gospel according to S. Luke, trans. R. Payne Smith [Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1859])

All of this is a fulfillment of what Isaiah says the Suffering Servant of Yahweh will do. Here Jesus shows that He is that Suffering Servant.  Even though He’s not come in the judgement that John proclaimed, wickedness will be ended by His death and resurrection. Wickedness will end as Jesus gives His life upon the cross for the forgiveness of your sins, mine, the sins of the whole world. A fact that people can see and witness with their very own eyes.

1.    JC gives us reason to rejoice no matter our circumstances because He is come, defeated all of our woes

As John’s disciples leave, Jesus calls on the people to use their eyes. “What did you go out into the wilderness to see?  Not someone who was tossed to and fro by public opinion. Not someone who was rich in fancy clothes. Rather a prophet, so great that among those born of women, none is greater.  Jesus is claiming to be God in the flesh for you. He praises John as the Forerunner, making ready His way. We see the reaction of the people. Many of them rejoice in John’s coming and work as a Prophet. Yet, many of the leaders reject both John and Jesus and the messages that they proclaim. They are like obsolete children who neither want to smile and dance or act all somber and serious. In their rejection, they applaud the killing of John while plotting, planning, and carrying out the death of our Lord upon the cross.

Using your own eyes, we can see and rejoice in Jesus’ great works for our salvation in our own lives. We see not only with our physical eyes but also, as Saint Paul writes in Ephesians 1:18, the eyes of our heart. With our eyes opened by faith we gather every week and see His great mercy given to us in Word and Sacrament. We can feel the water of Holy Baptism, taste the bread and wine of the Holy Eucharist, hear the words of Absolution. See the joy on members’ faces as they forgive each other for the wrongs that they have done and mutually support and encourage each other. All this to strengthen us in faith, to guard and protect us.  We can see, focused upon Jesus, the author and perfector of our faith, the great joy that we have as Christians secure in what He has done for us. That no matter our circumstances, no matter the pain, hardships, and trials of this life, we can have joy this Advent, and every Advent, as we look forward to His coming again.

Con: Use your eyes! See the great joy of Jesus in our midst as He destroys your wickedness and the power of sin by His precious blood. He crushes the head of the serpent forever beneath his nailed scarred feet. He destroys the very power of death forever, all to give you life with Him forever.

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

ADVENT MIDWEEK 2

The Song of Elizabeth
Luke 1:39–45

Sermon Outline
    4.    Mary essentially walks into her cousin’s bridal shower, grabs the microphone, and sings that her baby is more important than Elizabeth’s.
    3.    But instead of being jealous, Elizabeth sings with Mary because she believes Mary’s baby is her glory too.
    2.    Unlike Elizabeth, we think glory is a zero-sum game in which others’ glory or Jesus’ glory costs us ours.
    1.    Instead, Christ made you a sinner no more and wrapped you in his glory.

Elizabeth Sings That You Have a God Who Has Given You His Glory.

Sermon

We often treat glory as a zero-sum game. The way we obtain glory, we often think, is to take it from someone else. The more glory our neighbor has, the less we have, or so we think. To use a musical analogy, we don’t believe in glory duets. If someone else is singing, the only way to make ourselves more glorious is to take the microphone and sing a song in praise of ourselves.
This is why, I suppose, our society has a bunch of unwritten rules trying to regulate this impulse. It’s why we warn people with a variety of phrases like “Don’t upstage him” or “Quit stealing her thunder.” This is why women other than the bride aren’t supposed to wear white at the wedding. It’s why you don’t start boasting of your own work-related accomplishments at a man’s retirement ceremony. It’s why a young woman shouldn’t announce her pregnancy at her friend’s baby shower.

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And yet, that last thing is essentially what the virgin Mary does when she greets her cousin Elizabeth. Elizabeth’s whole pregnancy is essentially a prolonged celebration, for a couple reasons. One, Elizabeth is old, far too old to be having children, especially when you consider that she’s been barren her entire life—something similar to Sarah’s conception of Isaac in the Old Testament. And on top of this, an angel told her husband that the child Elizabeth is going to bear is going to be a prophet, as I mentioned last week, this is something the Israelites haven’t seen in about three hundred years.

This is all pretty amazing. There’s a spotlight that’s glowing on Elizabeth in this moment. This is her moment to sing the song of glory, the song of the wonderful things God has done for her. But when Mary comes to visit, our Gospel text strongly implies that Mary immediately tells Elizabeth everything she’s just heard from the angel Gabriel. She tells Elizabeth that she’s going to give birth to the Christ Child, the Messiah, the Son of God, the Savior of the world. Mary essentially walks into her cousin’s bridal shower, grabs the microphone, and sings, “My pregnancy is even more miraculous than yours, and my baby is going to be even more important than your baby.”

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While many of us might be filled with sorrow, jealousy, or indignation in this moment, Elizabeth is filled with joy because, as a Christian, as a believer in the promise of salvation growing in Mary’s womb, Elizabeth doesn’t see glory as a zero-sum game. She doesn’t see it as a song she needs to sing instead of Mary. She sees it as a song she sings with Mary.

“When Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the baby leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit, and she exclaimed with a loud cry, ‘Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! And why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For behold, when the sound of your greeting came to my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy’ ” (vv 41–44).

Elizabeth knows that Mary’s baby is Elizabeth’s glory too. That’s why Elizabeth says what she says after feeling John the Baptist leap for joy in her womb as the mother of God comes into their presence. That’s why Elizabeth is filled with humility and asks the question, “Why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?” Elizabeth responds with humility and awe, she gladly shares the spotlight with Mary and even gives it to her, because she knows that the Man who is going to save her from her sins is now the little unborn child in Mary’s womb.

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We don’t think like Elizabeth. Rather, we think like the world and follow its zero-sum game, its song-of-glory ways. When Christ and his Word come into our presence, we don’t want to yield the spotlight, even when that spotlight is illuminating things that are far less glorious than what Elizabeth had surrounding her. So the Word says, “Look, Jesus is here forgiving your sins. Jesus is here to heal your broken hearts and cast out your demons and to give you the gift of eternal life. So put away your pride. Let go of your sins. And come find rest in the arms of God.”

But we don’t. Instead of singing the praises of Mary’s Son, we sing our own praises. We worship our own pride, boasting of our own righteousness before the world. We sing the songs of anger toward those who have sinned against us, thinking that tearing them down will clothe us in more glory. We sing songs of despair as we look out at the world, thinking that lamenting the filth of our neighbors can somehow make us clean. In all of this, we think if we can rip the microphones out of other people’s hands, we can make their glory our own and become someone worthy of love and attention. In all of this, we hear Christ singing to us, calling us to turn from our sins, and we sing, “I don’t care how good your news is. I’m the important one right now. This is my day, my moment.”

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But it’s not your moment. In fact, the very existence of your life belongs to Jesus, the same Jesus who was born of the virgin Mary, and the same Jesus who came into this world not to take the spotlight away from you but to welcome you into his spotlight.

The child in Elizabeth’s womb grew up to be John the Baptist, the one who prepared the way for the Christ who would die for the sins of the world. And the child in Mary’s womb grew up to be that crucified and risen Savior.
With the spotlight firmly fixed on Christ, the nails were pierced into his hands and feet. And as he hung on that cross with those lights burning onto his head, Jesus shed his blood and took away your sins, took away your pride, your arrogance, took away your refusal to hear his Word. As his body was broken apart on that cross, Jesus took away all your self-worship and idolatry. And as he took his final breath, as he cried out, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit” (Lk 23:46), Jesus sang the song that made you a sinner no more, the song that wrapped you in his glory and made it your own possession.

Then after hanging—and three days of lying—lifeless with that spotlight shining on him, Jesus began to move again. He lifted up his head, picked his life back up, cleared his throat, and told you that the hour had come for you to sing with him forever, for you to join the song Elizabeth sang with and to his mother, the song of salvation for all who believe.

“Blessed is Mary among all women,” Elizabeth sang, “and blessed is the fruit of her womb.” Now we can sing that song too because the holy fruit, the Lamb of God, has made you blessed. He’s washed you clean, fed you with salvation, and shown you that you don’t have a God who competes with you for glory.

Elizabeth Sings That
You Have a God Who Has Given You His Glory.

So sing with him forever. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

Text: Philippians 1:2-11
Theme: Joyful Partnership
Outline
3. Obligation to each other, support, mutual encouragement.
2. SN me, mine first, bulk at rules 
1. JC comes to give you everlasting joy, gives you rules not as a burden but to grow and mature, str with HS

Sermon
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 Epistle lesson of the Letter of Saint Paul to the church in Philippi the first chapter verses two through eleven.
Boys and girls I pray that you are doing well this morning. Have you ever had to work together? Sometimes you might have to work together on a homework project. You worked together to get a Christmas tree and put the ornaments on. You help with the housework. You work together in a partnership. That is an example of the partnership of grace that Paul writes about today. How does Jesus help us in our partnerships with His love and mercy? Ponder that question as you hear the rest of the sermon. You may go back to your seats and those who love you.

3. Obligation to each other, support, mutual encouragement.

“3 eI thank my God fin all my remembrance of you, 4 always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, 5 gbecause of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. 6 And I am sure of this, that he who began ha good work in you iwill bring it to completion at jthe day of Jesus Christ.” It is easy to see the love and joy that Paul has for the church in Phillipi. Paul remembers them every single time he prays. He rejoices in their partnership together in the Gospel because the Philippians church has been the first, and many times only, church that provides Paul constant support both financially as well as in prayer. They have banded together with Paul for mutual support and encouragement in the Gospel. We do likewise still today with our support of missionaries, both locally and around the world, partnering with them in the spread of the Gospel.

The Greek word that we translate as partnership is koinonia which we often translate as partnership, i.e. (literally) participation, or (social) intercourse, or (pecuniary) benefaction:—(to) communicate(-ation), communion, (contri-)distribution, fellowship. Being in a partnership means that there are obligations to fulfill. For the church that meant praying for Paul and supporting him in the ministry. For Paul, it meant checking in, writing to, and making sure that the church was not falling away into false doctrine and error. That they were continuing steadfast in the faith. As partners, they mutually supported and encouraged one another in and through Jesus Christ.

2. SN me, mine first, bulk at rules

This may sound very strange to our ears, and especially to our sinful natures. “Pastor, what do you mean that because of the Gospel, I have an obligation?’ “That means that there is something that I have to do.’ ‘Why are you to tell me I have to do something?’ Yes, because Jesus Christ has taking upon Himself your flesh, suffered for you, bled upon the cross and rose from the dead for you, you have an obligation to those around you. There is something for you to be doing! Christianity is not merely about sitting in a pew stoically  while listening to the preaching of God’s word and singing hymns. It is an active part of life, lived out in love of God and service to our neighbor. It is nothing more than the Law of God at work as a guide, guiding you as a Christian, building you up that your love may abound more and more.

Our sinful nature abhors this. It sounds legalistic. It sounds like works righteousness. It sounds like I cannot be lazy, sitting around, twiddling my thumbs. Like Adam and Eve, we know God’s good and gracious will and yet we turn away, desiring to be like God rather than follow His rules and commands. We do not desire to follow God’s rules. We want to be the ones making the rules, forming them in such a way that my wants, my desires, my needs are met before anyone else’s. 

1.    JC comes to give you everlasting joy, gives you rules not as a burden but to grow and mature, str with HS

Yet, why has God given you the Law? He has given it for the very means of curbing, and destroying our sinful natures. Through Jesus, He shows you that you are not first. He is. Jesus comes in your flesh in the womb of the Blessed Virgin, is wrapped in swaddling cloths, laid in a manger, all in service to you. Jesus leaves His throne on high and comes in meekness to serve you. By His death and resurrection from the dead, He gives His very life that you might give yours in service to others. He gives you of His Holy Spirit that you may be encourage, and strengthened in your lives as He who has begun a good work in you will bring it to completion. 

As we state in the Confessions, “But when a person is born anew by the Spirit of God and is liberated from the law (that is, when he is free from this driver and is driven by the Spirit of Christ), he lives according to the immutable will of God as it is comprehended in the law and, in so far as he is born anew, he does everything from a free and merry spirit. These works are, strictly speaking, not works of the law but works and fruits of the Spirit, or, as St. Paul calls them, the law of the mind and the law of Christ. According to St. Paul, such people are no longer under law but under grace (Rom. 6:14; 8:2). Since, however, believers are not fully renewed in this life but the Old Adam clings to them down to the grave, the conflict between spirit and flesh continues in them. According to the inmost self they delight in the law of God; but the law in their members is at war against the law of their mind. Thus though they are never without the law, they are not under but in the law, they live and walk in the law. ”

Jesus gives rules and commands, not as a way to burden you, not as a way to cause you to despair, but that you may grow and mature in the faith and love that He has given to you. That you may have an opportunity in your very lives, to shine forth with love and joy to “approve what is excellent, sand so be pure and blameless tfor the day of Christ, 11 filled uwith the fruit of righteousness that comes vthrough Jesus Christ, wto the glory and praise of God.”
What does this look like? Approving what is excellent means that we focus upon what Jesus has done for us by His incarnation, death, and resurrection as we live out our lives. In love for our neighbor, we hold to the word of God, what it says about our sinful nature, as well as revealing God’s will to us. In love we condemn sin in ourselves, as well as others, not because we are better or more holy then they. Rather, because we know the great love that God has for us, and we desire that they repent of their sins before it’s too late, and join us with in the great praise of the redeemed. Hell is hot. I do not want my friends there, and I am sure that you do not as well. Thus why, through our thoughts, words, and deeds, we hold fast to the faith until the day when Jesus comes again in power and glory.

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