Born, Born, Born To Living Hope

​1st Sunday in Advent                                                                                     LSB #’s 356, 594, 374
Text – 1 Peter 1:3-5
 
“Blessed be the God & Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!  According to His great mercy, He has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled & unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” 
 
BORN, BORN, BORN TO A LIVING HOPE
 
 
In the 17th century there lived a monk named Brother Lawrence.  His writings have been collected in a book called The Practice of the Presence of God.   He wrote, “the practice of the presence of God ... is to find joy in His divine company & to make it a habit of life, speaking humbly & conversing lovingly with Him at all times, every moment...”[1]
Wouldn’t that be a wonderful outcome this Advent, to know the presence of God in your life as you’ve never known it before?   When the work & challenges of the day are staring you in the face, hopefully, a sense of God’s presence would improve your attitude.  
When going through times of suffering, even to the point of despair, wouldn’t a strong sense of the presence of God help you persevere?   When tomorrow & tomorrow & tomorrow stretch out before you, because God gives you birth to a living hope, He can transform that tedium into Te Deum, “We praise You, O God…”  
A growing knowledge of God’s presence comes from learning more about God’s advents – His comings to you.  Advent is easily underestimated as simply the birth of baby Jesus,   but when you’ve put away the decorations & are going through the challenging times of life, is the image of baby Jesus in a manger a “very present help in time of trouble”?  (Psalm 46:1 ESV)  
From the first chapter of Genesis to the last chapter of Revelation, the Bible is a Book of
Advents.  And the Bible is our book, not the world’s.   It is not a dusty book on a shelf.   The Bible is the church’s living word of God by which the Spirit assures us that Jesus keeps coming to us, is present with us now, & is always leading us to a wonderful future.  
The OT is a great source for deepening our sense of Jesus’ coming to us, of Jesus’ advents.    If you think, “OT?  Wasn’t Jesus was born in the NT?” then you might be stuck in the “green room.”  It’s what they call the waiting room in television studios.  If you’re going on camera to perform or be interviewed, you wait in the green room.  
At the right time, you go out, do your thing in front of the camera, & then go back & relax in the green room.  I suspect many Christians think the OT was like the green room.  Jesus was just hanging out waiting to be born & do all that He did so long ago.  Our Book of Advents – the Bible – reveals that Jesus was already making advents in OT times. 
In John chapter 8, Jesus tells us that He indeed was present in the OT.  While Jesus was talking with Jews who were proud of being descendants of Abraham, He told them, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples.”  (John 8:32 ESV)    Their pride pushed back, but Jesus did not back off.   He said, “I speak of what I have seen with my Father...”  (John 8:38 ESV)
Still, the Jews kept harping on Abraham, so Jesus finally tells them bluntly: “Truly, truly I
say to you, before Abraham was, I am.”  (John 8:58 ESV)    This is not just a one-off.   As He prayed to the Father in John 17, Jesus said, “Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.”  (17:5 ESV) 
And, in the same chapter, “Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory which you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.”  (17:24 ESV)   Revelation looks to the return of Jesus Christ as He takes us to our inheritance in heaven.  In the last chapter of that last book of the Bible, Jesus says, “I am the Alpha & Omega, the first & the last, the beginning & the end.”  (22:13 ESV)   Do you really think the One who’s at the center of all things was, in the OT, just waiting in some “green room”?   Jesus, the Son of God, was there, there & active.   Among His many OT advents, Jesus was present in a surprising announcement to Abram & Sarai.  
From Genesis 12: “Now the Lord said to Abram, ‘Go from your country & your kindred & your house to the land that I will show you.  I will make of you a great nation, & I will bless you & make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.’”  (12:1–2 ESV)  
The text began, “…the Lord said to Abram.”   Who is “the Lord” that is speaking?   Was it just God the Father, while Jesus was off in the “green room” waiting to be born, while the Holy Spirit waited even longer for the day of Pentecost?    No, Jesus was part of this advent to Abram & Sarai, as was the Holy Spirit.  
The Bible teaches that our Creator is the Triune God, three persons in one God.  All three, Father, Son & Holy Spirit are involved in our salvation.  We confess in the Athanasian Creed, “the Father is Lord, the Son is Lord, the Holy Spirit is Lord; & yet there are not three
Lords, but one Lord.”[2]  
From eternity, the Triune God was determined that blessings would come from the offspring of Abraham to all the families of the earth.    But there was a problem.  If Abraham’s line was going to bless all nations, you’d expect Abraham & Sarah to have a child.  They had none.  Abraham was 100 years old.  Sarah was 99.   Childbearing years were obviously past.  
Page ahead to Genesis 18: “And the Lord appeared to [Abraham] by the oaks of Mamre, as he sat at the door of his tent in the heat of the day.  He lifted up his eyes & looked, & behold, three men were standing in front of him.”  (18:1-2a ESV)   They said to him, “Where is Sarah your wife?”   And he said, “She is in the tent.”   The Lord said, “I will surely return to you about this time next year, & Sarah your wife shall have a son.”  (18:9-10a ESV)   The Lord gave Abraham & Sarah their birth announcement.  As Jesus said, “Before Abraham was, I am.”   So Isaac was born, & other birth announcements kept coming.  
Those announcements led at last to the Son of God taking on human flesh, as Jesus was born in Bethlehem.  The Gospel of Matthew begins, “The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.  Abraham was the father of Isaac, & Isaac the father of Jacob...”  (Mt 1:1–2 ESV)   On it goes through centuries until the genealogy climaxes:
“…Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who is called Christ.”  (Mt 1:16 ESV)    Though it’s tedious to read through, this genealogy of birth announcements has a very personal aim.    Who is the target?    It’s You!    St. Peter says the eternal Son of God:
“…was foreknown before the foundation of the world   but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you who through Him are believers in God…”  (1 Peter 1:20–21 ESV)   
The title of this sermon is “Born, Born, Born to a Living Hope!”  This saving history has been coming straight to you.  Isaac was born, Jesus was born, & you have been born to a living hope.  The birth of Isaac to Sarah & Abraham was, without any doubt, a miracle.  St. Paul says,
“In hope [Abraham] believed against hope, that he should become the father of many nations, as he had been told, ‘So shall your offspring be.’  He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead (since he was a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah’s womb.  No unbelief made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what He had promised.”  (Romans 4:18–21 ESV)  
 
Abraham hoped in the promises the Lord spoke to him.  Jesus said, “Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day.  He saw it & was glad.”  (John 8:56 ESV)   The birth of the Son of God to Mary was even more miraculous than the birth of Isaac.  Isaac was born to a human
father & mother, but the incarnation of the holy & sinless Son of God had no earthly father.  
When the Virgin asked the angel, “How shall this be,” Gabriel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, & the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born  will be called holy – the Son of God.”  (Luke 1:35 ESV)  
Just as Abraham had hoped in the birth announcement from God, so Mary answered in complete trust, “…let it be to me according to your word...”  (Luke 1:38 ESV)   Now these births, all the births in Matthew’s genealogy, come to you.  Baptism is God’s birth announcement that He has a newborn – & it’s you! 
“Blessed be the God & Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!  According to His great mercy, He has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled & unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.”  (1 Peter 1:3-5 ESV)
 
The Son of God took on human flesh & went to the inescapable destiny of sinners, death under the just judgment of God.  Jesus was dead, totally dead, but the Triune God raised Him to life.  That’s what only Yahweh can do.  From the creation of the world to your baptism, He creates out of nothing:
“You were dead in trespasses & sins” (Ephesians 2:1 ESV),  but the Triune God has given you – put in your own name – the Triune God has given you your name that was spoken when God gave you birth from sin & eternal death  to holiness & eternal life.   The Triune God has given you new birth, miraculous birth, because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.  
Yahweh intended this for you from eternity, & your baptism is God’s birth announcement that you have been born in Christ to a living hope, to an inheritance reserved in heaven for you.  Like Abraham & Mary, now you, born, born, born to a living hope!   
I pray our Advent observance will encourage you with the advents of God into your life.    We need encouragement as “Time marches on.”  That’s a saying often spoken with some melancholy.  Christians easily slip into the notion that after Jesus ascended to heaven – He went back to the green room.  There He’s waiting until He appears again at the end of the world.[3]    
Not true!   Our Book of Advents teaches something far more inviting.  Jesus was not in the “green room” in the OT, & neither is He in the “green room” now.   Birth announcement after birth announcement, the Triune God has been coming to you.  Those comings lead to what Brother Lawrence said:
“…the practice of the presence of God ... is to find joy in His divine company & to make it a habit of life.”  Isaac was born, Jesus was born, & through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, God has given you new birth to the hope of being alive forever in paradise.  Amen. 
 
 
Death, you cannot end my gladness:  I am baptized into Christ!   When I die, I leave all sadness to inherit paradise!  Though I lie in dust & ashes faith’s assurance brightly flashes:  Baptism has the strength divine to make life immortal mine.        There is nothing worth comparing to this lifelong comfort sure!   Open eyed my grave is staring:  even there I’ll sleep secure.   Though my flesh awaits its raising, still my soul continues praising:  I am baptized into Christ; I’m a child of paradise!  Amen.  LSB 594:4-5.


[1] Brother Lawrence, The Practice of the Presence of God (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1981), 68.

[2] Verses 17–18, LSB p. 319.

[3] Cf. Os Guinness, The Call: Finding and Fulfilling the Central Purpose of Your Life (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2003), 149. “In short, the modern world quite literally ‘manages’ without God. We can do so much so well by ourselves that there is no need for God, even in his church.  Thus we modern people can be profoundly secular in the midst of explicitly religious activities. Which explains why so many modern Christian believers are atheists unawares. Professing to believe in supernatural realities, they are virtual atheists; whatever they say they believe, they show
in practice that they function without practical recourse to the supernatural. ... The call to follow Jesus Christ runs directly counter to this deadly modern pressure toward secularization.”