3rd Sunday in Advent – B LSB #596 v. 2-4, 6
Text – Isaiah 61:10 I will greatly rejoice in the Lord; my soul shall exult in my God, for He has clothed me with the garments of salvation; He has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself like a priest with a beautiful headdress, & as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. CRUSHED BY THE UGLY STICK That phrase does not come up in polite, considerate or kind conversation. It’s used to make fun of people, sometimes in a good-natured way, though it certainly can be used in a cruel & vicious manner as well. Just as Murphy’s Law is used to explain bad luck, the Ugly Stick is used to explain how someone missed out on the supermodel occupation. The internet dictionary defines it as: A stick having the magical property of turning anyone touched by it – ugly. Now, I don’t mean to be cruel, but how many of you like to think of yourself as being ugly, & I mean crushed by the ugly stick? Not so much? That’s what I thought. Then, you need to realize that our heavenly Father is not looking for anyone who is beautiful. The God who created us, & sacrificed His Son to rescue us, is only looking for people who are ugly. From our conception in the womb our sinful nature made us ugly to the core. Satan had beaten us with the ugly stick & we were in desperate need of a makeover. That is not tolerant language, yet St. Paul pushes the intolerance even further when he states: “…I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. I want to do what is right, but I cannot.” (Romans 7:18 NLT) When someone is dying of a disease, the last thing they want in their doctor is tolerance of that disease. Intolerance is not always the great evil that our culture & media are portraying it as. My wife has cancer, & we do not want a doctor that is tolerant of the disease. Cancer kills people & we want the cancer eradicated if possible, but first it had to be diagnosed so we’d know what we’re fighting. Then it could be determined how to fight against it. Likewise, sin is killing each one of us, but in our nation today people have become increasingly tolerant of that disease. So many people, Christians included, are not interested in diagnosing the cause behind their symptoms, & they do not want to spend time & energy to fight against the disease. When a person is diagnosed with cancer, a common response is denial. It’s the kind of problem you don’t want, & the same is true with God’s diagnosis of our sin. We’d rather stick our head in the sand & hope the obvious symptoms just go away. If a doctor brings up the C word, it makes people afraid, but at least they don’t attack the doctor. The patient wants their doctor to be intolerant of the disease. If you approach someone & bring up the sin word, concerning their words or deeds, you are likely to have a fight on your hands, because that person will want you to be tolerant of their sin. Even with cancer, today there’s a fairly large chance that you won’t die of it anytime soon. So, although people are afraid of it, they eventually accept the diagnosis & do their best to fight against it. Cancer doesn’t bring with it the feelings of guilt like sin does, because cancer is a choice no one makes intentionally. Sin, is something that we willfully choose. And our sin is more frightening than cancer because it is an affront to a holy God. In fact, our heavenly Father’s holiness is what makes our sin so ugly. The contrast between us & our holy, righteous Lord is too great for you or me to comprehend. Every one of us has a chance in fighting cancer, but our sin destroys any chance we have of fighting against sin. Perfection & holiness, by definition, are the total absence of sin. A rotten apple cannot make itself un-rotten. When a person has been crushed by the ugly stick they cannot simply will themselves to be beautiful. True ugliness has nothing to do with physical appearance. It is a matter of the soul. That complicates things immensely for us because we cannot see, or examine or measure its properties. For that reason, people who rely on science to explain life propose that the soul doesn’t exist. For those who rely on non-Christian religions to explain life, there’s a tendency to place the soul in the position of god. It is only the Christian religion that explains life according to what is obvious, though uncomfortable – sin has broken everything. Now, it is true that Christianity has, by far, the most negative & deadly diagnosis for the problems of mankind. As St. Paul wrote: “I want to do what is right, but I cannot.” In no way, shape or form are we able to achieve even goodness, let alone perfection or holiness. In verse 4 of today’s reading from Isaiah, he wrote: “They shall build up the ancient ruins; they shall raise up the former devastations; they shall repair the ruined cities, the devastations of many generations…” Isaiah is preaching good news because the Lord of the universe is going to rebuild, raise up & repair. Yet underlying that entire verse is the total devastation from which it needs to be restored. To interpret this text, you need to realize that as Isaiah is speaking, he’s referring to more than one aspect of the future. First is the physical reality of the cities of Judah. Nebuchadnezzar would totally wipe them out. However, Judah’s worship of false gods had also, already utterly destroyed the moral & spiritual character of Yahweh’s people. The Lord disciplines those He loves, so He brought devastation upon His people in order to turn them back to the Truth, the Way & the Life. The diagnosis was death & only radical changes would create a new opportunity for life. It is from exactly that situation which Yahweh loves to rescue, restore & bring life. Our Savior does not pursue his bride because she is lovely; He seeks the one who is unlovely in order to make her beautiful, to bestow upon her a perfect righteousness. The nation of Judah had been crushed by the ugly stick & only God’s Messiah could reverse the curse. Our heavenly Father is not looking for anyone who is already beautiful. They don’t need to be rescued. The Good Shepherd is looking for those who are mourning over sickness & death in order that He might give them reasons for joyous celebration. It’s as if people are dressed for a funeral, wearing ashes & weeping over the loss of a loved one. Then Yahweh comes to restore life & funeral clothes are swapped out for wedding garments! The mourner, with ashes on his head & wrapped in sackcloth, crushed in spirit with despair, becomes the party-goer with a beautiful headdress & wearing a garment of praise.[1] Isaiah describes this joyous occasion in verse 10: “I will greatly rejoice in the Lord; my soul shall exult in my God, for He has clothed me with the garments of salvation; He has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself like a priest with a beautiful headdress, & as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.” Those who had been crushed by the ugly stick now take a radical turn for the better. Our Father in heaven counters the beating of the ugly stick through placing upon us a robe of holy righteousness. He replaces the weary spirit with one of gladness, like a person experiences when finally reaching the finish line of a long distance race. It’s in light of returning from exile, it’s that moment when the discipline ends & the reconciliation truly begins, it’s with that vision of the 12 pearly gates in the background, that Christians diagnose sin for what it is. Sin is death, & should never in any way be held up as life. Sin will always corrupt & destroy no matter how good it looks at the time of temptation. Yes, Christianity has, by far, the most negative & deadly diagnosis for the problems of mankind. It also has, by far, the only workable, healthy & positive solution for the problems of that you & I face in this sorely broken world. If you read the chapters surrounding today’s OT reading, you find that God is at work to divide the goats & the sheep, the unbelievers from those who do believe. Yet chapter 61 is entirely about the coming, eternal victory celebration to which only the sheep of Jesus’ fold are invited. Once they were crushed by the ugly stick, but in their despair they trusted their Lord’s diagnosis & followed His voice. That is the way to fight the disease of sin – follow Jesus. Wherever He leads there will be life to the full. However, that life to the full, which we experience here by faith, is still only temporary. In heaven we won’t need faith to experience it. We will fully grasp that joy with every one of our senses for all of forever. So while we follow Jesus here on earth, rejoicing in the blessings He gives, we also pray daily, “…Thy kingdom come…” Though Christ is with us, here on earth we still face the regular beating of the ugly stick, as Satan tempts us to despair. Thus in the Lord’s Prayer we plead for heaven to come. We plead for it to live within my heart & yours, during our remaining time of exile here on earth. Martin Luther explained that petition by writing: “The kingdom of God certainly comes by itself without our prayer, but we pray in this petition that God’s kingdom may come to us.” That is our Lord’s sure & certain promise, guaranteed by His resurrection from the dead. He has conquered death & paved the way to heaven for us. Yet His kingdom lives within us even now. Therefore we are a light shining into the darkness of a world that refuses to acknowledge the intolerance of sin. Sin always kills. It never tolerates life. Satan laughs as he roams about the world crushing people with the ugly stick of sin. In response to Satan, Jesus inspired Isaiah the prophet to write: “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, & the opening of the prison to those who are bound; …I will greatly rejoice in the Lord; my soul shall exult in my God, for He has clothed me with the garments of salvation; He has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself like a priest with a beautiful headdress, & as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.” In the end, Satan is forever crushed by his own ugly stick in the depths of hell. Amen. You were before your day of birth, indeed, from your conception, condemned & lost with all the earth, none good, without exception. For like your parents’ flesh & blood, turned inward from the highest good, you constantly denied Him. But all of that was washed away – immersed & drowned forever. The water of your Baptism day restored again whatever Old Adam & his sin destroyed & all our sinful selves employed according to our nature. In Baptism we now put on Christ – our shame is fully covered with all that He once sacrificed & freely for us suffered. For here the flood of His own blood now makes us holy, right & good before our heavenly Father. So use it well! You are made new – in Christ a new creation! As faithful Christians, live & do within your own vocation, until that day when you possess His glorious robe of righteousness bestowed on you forever! Amen. [1] Lessing, R., Isaiah 56-66, Concordia Publishing House, Saint Louis, p. 273. 2nd Sunday in Advent – B LSB #933
Text – Isaiah 40:10 Behold, the Lord God comes with might, & His arm rules for Him; behold, His reward is with Him, & His recompense before Him. BEHOLD, THE LORD GOD The sermon hymn was titled, “My Soul Rejoices.” This morning, what is it that really makes you rejoice? You know the answer is supposed to have something to do with Jesus, but how do you go about getting that feeling? How do you find yourself in a place where your heart truly does rejoice in what Jesus has done for you? Now that the sermon hymn has been over for a few minutes, can you recall what the author’s main point was in the hymn? We sang variations of this line 8 different times in just two verses: “O sing the greatness of God the Lord!” It’s a joyful hymn. It sings praises to our Savior. It can lift our heart & soul, but it doesn’t always, automatically cause us to rejoice. You may have sung the words of the hymn without consciously being aware of any point the author was trying to make. And how often is that true as we go through the daily motions of living our lives? Is there some reason you’re not consciously paying attention? Every single day, the Author of your life, the Perfecter of your faith, is trying to make a point. It’s difficult to pay attention when life is easy. Because God’s original design in us was twisted & corrupted by sin, we can only survive abundance for so long. Then, we need discipline to turn us back to our Creator. Sadly, it is only in brokenness & weakness that we can truly feel, or experience, something approaching the depth of our heavenly Father’s love for us. Up until now, the book of Isaiah was prophesying that the Lord’s discipline is on its way. The people of God, the nation of Judah, had not survived the abundance of the Lord’s blessings to them. They’d taken the reign of king David & king Solomon for granted, as if it was their very right to be the world’s wealthiest & most powerful nation. Power & wealth had destroyed every last vestige of meekness & humility in their soul. As a nation, they no longer reflected the light of God’s goodness & mercy to the nations & people around them. Instead, the people of Israel, & their kings, had turned away from the true God like every other nation. During the time king Solomon was still faithful to the true God, he wrote the proverb that describes how the people should react to what was coming, “My child, don’t reject the Lord’s discipline, & don’t be upset when He corrects you.” (Proverbs 3:11 NLT) If we think our nation is headed down the wrong path, we should not expect to escape our Lord’s discipline. The temple at Jerusalem would be destroyed. The city itself would be ransacked & ruined. The people of Judah were to be carried off into an exile of slavery. Then, in chapter 40, Isaiah begins to speak of the time that’s coming after the discipline. When that time arrives, their heavenly Father’s love will return in the form of Christ’s advent, “Behold, the Lord God...” Our nation has had freedom far longer than any of us have been alive. If you were born & raised here, unless you were a prisoner of war, you have little clue what it’s like to be released from the oppression of a foreign government. For that reason, we have less than a complete view of what it’s like to finally meet the one who has rescued us. “Behold, the Lord God” just doesn’t have the impact for us that it should. How can we understand the point Isaiah was trying to make when he wrote it? Although for differing reasons, we do have that in common with the people who welcomed Jesus into Jerusalem in the Gospel reading from last Sunday. They did not understand Isaiah’s point, yet people shouted: “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David! Hosanna in the highest!” They thought Jesus was coming to be their earthly king, to overthrow the Roman oppressor, to re-establish, here on earth, the kingdom of their great forefather David. On the contrary, Jesus came in humility & weakness & sorrow. He wept for Jerusalem, because they would not turn to Him. Instead, another destruction was going to come upon that once great city. They had no idea that their real need was to be rescued from sin, death & the devil. The people shouting, “Hosanna in the highest” did not understand the point Isaiah was trying to make in the OT reading for today, even though Jesus fulfilled it before their very eyes. Likewise, there is a manner in which Jesus is fulfilling Isaiah’s prophecy right before our eyes today. At the same time we’re still waiting for Jesus’ final fulfillment of the prophecy. Jesus’ arrival on Christmas Day, & His entire life on earth, was His 1st Advent. As Jesus comes to us in His Word & Sacraments, you & I encounter His 2nd Advent. When the Last Day of time arrives, that will be Jesus’ 3rd Advent. In each of those circumstances it is appropriate for Isaiah to announce: “Behold, the Lord God comes with might, & His arm rules for Him; behold, His reward is with Him, & His recompense before Him.” The people of Isaiah’s day had rejected the will of Yahweh & thus His glory would leave the temple before the fall of Jerusalem in 587 BC. As discipline, their heavenly Father would send them into slavery as exiles in Babylon. Yet, God would also send Cyrus, the king of Persia, in the fullness of time, to deliver God’s people from that slavery, for their return to Jerusalem. So in Isaiah 40:10 the prophet is reintroducing Yahweh to His people, “Behold, the Lord God…” Their Creator would meet His people in the wilderness of their exile & invite them to join Him as His people once again. As they enter the Promised Land, from exile in Babylon, they are foreshadowing Christ’s first advent as He enters the Promised Land in Bethlehem, & His final advent at the end of time, which consummates the prophetic Word of Scripture for all eternity. Their Lord will act with might & His arm will rule for Him as Yahweh moves kings & kingdoms, even all of history, in order to foreshadow the return of the true Israel, His only-begotten Son, to the Promised Land. The first Israel failed in its mission because idolatry had blinded the people. The next Servant, the 2nd person of the Trinity, takes up the mission articulated in today’s OT reading. He returns Israel to Yahweh & is a light for the Gentiles. His work allows Israel to be reinstated as Yahweh’s servants, but now it is Jew & Gentile. So today we behold the Lord God that comes with strength & power & might, yet all of that hidden behind the mask of weakness, suffering & death. That’s what tripped up the people of Isaiah’s day. It tripped up the people of Jesus’ day & it is still a stumbling block to people of our day. The incarnate Savior came to manifest God’s glory in human flesh on the cursed cross. That makes it difficult to lean upon Him, yet if He dealt with us now, in His holiness & power, we’d all be damned. Are you tired of brokenness, squabbling, dissension, selfishness, greed… sin? Then hear the words of Isaiah, “Behold, the Lord God…” Isaiah is calling us to see with the eyes of faith, to put into practice the ability Jesus gives us to trust in Him. The greatness of the Lord is that He comes to rescue sinners & He does so in gentleness, with mercy & forgiveness. He takes the initiative to deliver us even while we were still sinners, lost & wandering far from home. The Church has this as its testimony, “I was blind, but now I see. I was lost, but now I am found. I was dead, but now I am alive – forevermore!” “Behold, the Lord God comes with might, & His arm rules for Him; behold, His reward is with Him, & His recompense before Him.” That reward with Him, & His recompense before Him, is you, Yahweh’s dear children – His people, His nation. The recompense, or reward, the heavenly Father will receive is His own people that He will rescue once again from darkness & death, “…to be His own & live under Him in His kingdom & serve Him in everlasting righteousness, innocence & blessedness...” Those words are from Martin Luther’s explanation to the 2nd article of the Apostles’ Creed. If you’re not familiar with it, the 2nd article confesses what the Bible teaches regarding Jesus Christ. He is Mighty Warrior & the Good Shepherd, all wrapped up in One. He commands His heavenly council to comfort, comfort & His Word does not return empty. It accomplishes that for which He sends it. Therefore, if in my life, or yours, God’s will is not accomplished, if we aren’t feeling comforted, it’s because we ourselves have rejected our Lord’s Word & will. Jesus truly did die on the cross to right, not just your wrongs & mine, but ALL the wrongs of this entire world, for all of its history. This lesson from Isaiah summarizes the entire season of Advent, even the entire message of the Bible & of the Christian church. You & I are sinful beings, & still our Lord & Creator would introduce Himself to us as our Savior. For now He deals in mercy & forgiveness. Beware of the Day He comes in unmistakable power. There will be no time to repent on that Day. Now, the reign of God is at hand. Now is the time to repent & believe the Good News. Our warfare is ended. Our iniquity is pardoned. Yahweh is restoring His people. Come & receive His blessing. That is the point of today’s reading from the prophet Isaiah. Amen. My soul rejoices, my spirit voices – sing the greatness of the Lord! For God my Savior has shown me favor – sing the greatness of the Lord! With praise & blessing, join in confessing God, who is solely mighty & holy – O sing the greatness of God the Lord! His mercy surely shall rest securely on all who fear Him, love & revere Him – O sing the greatness of God the Lord! His arm now baring, His strength declaring – sing the greatness of the Lord! The proud He scatters, their rule He shatters – sing the greatness of the Lord! Oppression halted; the meek exalted. Full are the hungry; empty, the wealthy – O sing the greatness of God the Lord! Here is the token all that was spoken to Abr’ham’s offspring God is fulfilling – O sing the greatness of God the Lord! Amen. Come out of sadness from wherever you’ve been Come broken-hearted let rescue begin Come find your mercy O sinner come kneel Earth has no sorrow that Heaven can’t heal Lay down your burdens lay down your shame All who are broken lift up your face O wanderer come home You're not too far So lay down your hurt lay down your heart Come as you are There's hope for the hopeless And all those who've strayed Come sit at the table come taste the grace There's rest for the weary Rest that endures Earth has no sorrow that Heaven can’t cure Lay down your burdens lay down your shame All who are broken lift up your face O wanderer come home You're not too far So lay down your hurt lay down your heart Come as you are Come as you are Fall in His arms Come as you are There's joy for the morning O sinner be still Earth has no sorrow that Heaven can't heal Earth has no sorrow that Heaven can't heal |
AuthorPastor Dean R. Poellet Archives
April 2024
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