1. Please pray with me. May the words
of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be pleasing in Your sight, O Lord,
our Rock, and our Redeemer. Amen. The message from God’s Word in our Advent
Midweek series, “Behold the Light,” is
taken from Romans 1:1-7 and is entitled, “A
Light with a Special Purpose!” Dear brothers and sisters in Christ.
2. During this Advent season, our texts from St. Paul’s
Letter to the Romans have focused on the Christian life, illustrated by the
lights on a Christmas tree. We heard about a routine as we prepare for Christ,
the true light of the world, by putting on Jesus, in faith, as our armor of
light to protect us from the darkness of this world and the temptations of the
devil. Last week, we heard again from Paul the encouragement God’s Word
provides each of us in our living together—that in faith we may be united and
shine brighter than we could alone in bringing praises to God, who has given us
an eternal hope in Jesus, our Savior.
3. As we look at the lives of Christians living together
and shining brightly the light of Christ, it causes one to consider how the
lights on a Christmas tree are used. Over the year’s of serving as a Pastor, I
heard of one family having a Christmas ornament that’s a small church that has
an opening for a light to be placed inside. As that family unwrapped this
simple ornament, hung it on the tree, and placed the light inside, they were
always amazed at how this simple church ornament takes on a whole new identity.
Displayed among all the other lights, this particular one stands out as a light
with a special purpose, as the light shines out of its windows, drawing one’s
attention not to the ornament itself but to the light inside. That’s very much what St. Paul says about
himself in our text—and what he says about each of us. He tells us that we are each a light with a special purpose.
4. Paul’s opening words in his letter to the Christians in
Rome bring out the similarity to this simple church ornament: Romans 1:1 says, “Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to
be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God.” Just as the ornament was
filled with darkness until the light was placed inside, so also was the life of
Paul. As a young Pharisee, he went by the name of Saul, and, like many of his
contemporaries, he lived a strict life of observance to the Jewish religious
laws and ceremonies. His life’s goal was to persecute Christ and see to the
arrest or murder of anyone, including the apostles, who proclaimed Jesus of
Nazareth as the promised Messiah.
5. Amazingly, Saul became the great apostle we know as
Paul, the author of our text who so beautifully writes about his faith as one
who had been set apart for a special purpose in proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus
Christ. Set apart in an extraordinary life that wasn’t chosen by himself but as
one sent by Christ, a life as a servant with a mission to shine the light of
Christ into the lives of the Gentiles.
6. Paul didn’t choose to be a servant for Christ. It was
quite the opposite, he’d chosen a life of artificial shining success within the
world. The standard for shining success in the world is different and distorted.
Even as Paul refers to his readers as those “loved by God and called to be saints” (v 7), there’s much confusion
in the hearts and minds of man. The world would have us to believe in
ourselves, to be wise and strong in making our own choices, taking the
initiative to be good and worthy first, long before God would even consider
loving us. For us, becoming a saint is a challenging work that we must strive
for and accomplish. The world would also have us to believe that once you or I
accomplish sainthood then we may have earned the right to be loved by
God. Isn’t that what Saul was really trying to do through his persecuting of
Christ and arresting those who witnessed of Jesus?
7. By those same distorted standards, Saul and all men are
left in the dark and truly unsuccessful in earning God’s love. Success in
self-achieving sainthood and earning God’s love is impossible, leaving us in
the darkness of our sins, searching for “the
desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life” (1 Jn
2:16). If we’re honest, as God’s Word reveals our sinfulness, we’ll humbly
admit as Paul writes, “all have sinned
and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom 3:23).
8. But God had even murderous Saul in mind when he set
apart his own Son, Jesus, for His most special purpose: to be the Light of the
world, the Messiah promised through the Old Testament. Jesus is the Good News “who was descended from David according to
the flesh and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the
Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead” (Romans 1:3–4). Yes,
this Good News message centers on Jesus, who was born of a humble mother and
laid in a manger. Born a direct descendant of David through Mary and Joseph.
Born to fulfill God’s first promise to Adam and Eve—to send a Savior, the Seed
of the woman, to rescue all men from their sins. Born to suffer and die with
the burden of every man’s sin laid upon Him on the cross of Calvary. Born to
die and be laid in a tomb. But God’s grace didn’t send His only Son into this
world to be born and die to the same dead end that death is for every other
human. Christ Jesus, after taking our sins upon Himself, put them to death and
then was vindicated as the Son of God, conquering death by His resurrection.
9. For Paul, this all became clear after that unforgettable
day when he was on the road to Damascus and the “light from heaven shone around him” (Acts 9:3). From that moment
on, life was no longer his own to do with as he pleased. He had been set apart
from everything he was and had done before, as Jesus revealed Himself in light
and Word.
10. As Christ’s chosen instrument, Paul listened and obeyed
the words of his Lord. Christ had called him for a special purpose: to be an
apostle, set apart to shine the light of Christ’s Gospel through to others. “We have received grace and apostleship to
bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the
nations, including you who are called to belong to Jesus Christ” (Romans 1:5–6).
11. Rightly so, Paul refers to himself, in v 1 of our text,
as a “servant of Christ Jesus,”
taking great joy in being a slave for his Lord and Master. No longer did he
wish to achieve his own glory but sought to share the light of Christ with
those living in darkness. Paul realized the light that was now shining through
him wasn’t based upon his own worthiness, but was rather a pure and holy gift
of grace. A gift of loving grace from God, a gift that changed his life and the
life of all men as “God shows his love
for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom 5:8).
12. We, too, have been called by God’s free gift of grace in
Christ for the special purpose of living and sharing with others, through word
and deed, this Gospel message. It’s entirely a matter of grace that we are
among those “who are loved by God and called
to be saints” (Romans 1:7). Loved and called by grace through His Holy
Spirit in His Word and in the washing waters of Baptism, making us His own, in
faith, and setting us apart to be witnesses for Him. “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works,
which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them” (Eph 2:10).
13. Being loved by God and called as a saint to shine the
light of Christ on others isn’t always easy. There are many fears and doubts
that overshadow the light of Christ in our lives, just as there were for the
prophets, evangelists, Paul, and the other apostles. Man’s sinful nature will
always welcome the temptations of the devil to pull down the shade on sharing
and living the light of Christ. Yet in God’s grace, there’s peace and assurance
of strength. The angels announced that peace over the shepherds as they sang, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth
peace among those with whom he is pleased!” (Lk 2:14). Their message of
peace wasn’t one of drying our tears in comfort for the moment. Instead, their message of peace was anchored
in the redemptive work of Christ. His redemptive work is given to us in His
Word and through His Sacrament of the Altar, where we receive the forgiveness
for our sins, the strength in faith to endure temptations, and the assurance of
life everlasting. Their message of peace calls us to seek our rest in Christ
when overwhelmed by temptation, to call upon Him, to answer our prayers, and to
grant us comfort when challenged by life.
14. Paul was called by Christ to be a light with a special
purpose. He was “set apart for the Gospel
of God” (Romans 1:1), to shine the light of Christ into the lives of the
Gentiles. We, too, have been called by Christ to be “light(s) of the world” and to let our “light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and
give glory to your Father who is in heaven” (Mt 5:14–16). Amen.
