1.
Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Heavenly
Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Amen. The message from God’s Word,
as we continue our Advent Midweek series, “Behold
the Light,” is taken from Romans 15:4–7.
The message is entitled, “Many
Lights are Brighter—Together,” dear brothers and sisters in Christ.
2.
Maybe you can remember a time when you only had a few
strands of lights and how difficult it was to position them on your Christmas
tree. Every year you started stringing them, you would have too many at the
bottom and then never enough to reach the top. You’d start over and end up with
more on top and not enough on the bottom. When they’re finally balanced throughout
the tree, not only were you relieved, but it really was a wonderful sight.
3.
Each year, you’d buy a few more strands, making it much
easier to balance out the lights from the bottom to the top, but also to add to
the brightness given off by all the lights together. A well-lit Christmas tree
brings more joy to a darkened room than does a single light by itself. A single
light isn’t very bright on its own, but when it’s joined by hundreds more,
their brilliant glow fills the room and touches the lives of all those around.
4.
In our text today, we hear St. Paul’s conclusion of
dealing with quarrels over differing opinions among the Christians in Rome in
Romans 15. There were those who believed they could eat anything, while others
believed they could eat only vegetables. Some wanted to observe the Old
Testament festivals, while others considered every day the same. Paul wrote to
them to settle these disputes and instruct them in how to receive and welcome
one another, that they might shine in unity, as Many Lights Are Brighter—Together!
5.
Many lights together bring praise to God, Who has given
them—those lights, these believers in His Church, through His only Son, Jesus, Who
has united them in hope through His own sacrificial life and death. That hope
is the reason we’re able to shine together—and shine brightly enough for all
the world to see.
6.
The hope for the Romans, as well as for all men of
yesterday, today, and tomorrow, lies within everything that was written in the
Old Testament. Paul begins our text in Romans 15:4, “For
whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that
through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have
hope.” Unfortunately, there are many
people today who shy away from the Old Testament, as they find it difficult to
hear and understand the hope that was promised there and throughout
Scripture.
7.
Without this hope, we’re like lights strung together,
hung on a tree, and disconnected from its power source. When we look to
ourselves to provide a source of hope, we fail and find ourselves totally
unplugged—in the darkness of the world trying to cover our sinfulness. Remember
Adam in the Garden of Eden? After he ate from the forbidden tree, God came
looking for him, but the man hid in search of the darkness provided by the
world to cover his sin. Or David, the man who hid in the darkness of murder to
cover his sin with Bathsheba. Without hope, we’re nothing more than sinful man
lost in darkness and unable to seek God’s light, which lightens the pathway to
forgiveness and life everlasting.
8.
Without hope, there’s always an “every man for himself” mentality. Picture a sinking ship. On that
dark night in the North Atlantic, April 15, 1912, as the Titanic was
sinking into the ocean, the orchestra calmly played “Nearer, My God, to Thee,” allowing others to get into the
lifeboats as they faced certain death. That’s hope, knowing that at the moment
of death we’ll be with our Lord face-to-face. Meanwhile, other passengers
scrambled, pushed one another out of the way, desperate for one of the precious
seats in a lifeboat. A man disguised himself as a woman to be on the boats with
the women and children who went first. Some tried to bribe their way to safety
with something as worthless as money. Me! It’s all about me when there’s no
hope!
9.
In God, we’re given hope—through His Word. In this hope,
we receive the endurance and encouragement to confess and repent of our sins,
knowing that we will be forgiven and strengthened. As Romans 15:4 says, “For whatever was written in former days was written for our
instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the
Scriptures we might have hope.”
10.
In God’s Word, we can look to the prophets for
instruction. There, we’re given countless examples of suffering and endurance. As
a pastor, I can’t imagine preaching all my life and receiving nothing but
negative responses as did the Old Testament Prophet Jeremiah. It’s difficult
enough to hear an occasional complaint about a sermon or to see people walk away
from the church now and then. But to receive only criticism year after
year—that would be terribly detrimental to one’s endurance! Nevertheless,
Jeremiah persevered and kept proclaiming God’s truth. He also persevered
through the physical persecution of beatings, imprisonment, and even being
thrown into a muddy cistern. And if that wasn’t enough, there were also false
prophets to contend with as they preached only what people wanted to hear
rather than what they needed to hear. In spite of all the persecution, Jeremiah
was still able to write, “The steadfast
love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new
every morning; great is your faithfulness. ‘The Lord is my portion,’ says my
soul, ‘therefore I will hope in him’ ” (Lam 3:22–24). Jeremiah knew that if
God is your source of strength, you have everything, even in the midst of
strife and trial. And that’s the encouragement we have in Holy Scripture
(including in Old Testament books like Jeremiah and Lamentations)—that God is
with us, our strength and endurance. That’s what gives us hope to be God’s
lights to the world.
11.
Of course, the sum total of all the Scriptures is Jesus
Christ. Jesus is our hope that unites us to God and to one another as the
family of Christ. In the Gospel of Luke, after He’d risen from the dead, Jesus
explained to the disciples the entire meaning of the Old Testament as he “opened their minds to understand the
Scriptures, and said to them, ‘Thus it is written, that the Christ should
suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance for the
forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning
from Jerusalem’ ” (Lk 24:45–47). The Old Testament is all about Jesus, our
Savior, the hope of the world. Our hope that was once prophesied through Isaiah
when he wrote, “For to us a child is
born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and
his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father,
Prince of Peace” (Is 9:6). Our hope, Jesus Christ, would be the Lamb
and sacrifice Himself for the sins of all people once and for all. Jesus Christ
wouldn’t remain dead but would rise again and live forever, uniting us through His
shed blood.
12.
Before His betrayal and arrest, Jesus prayed His High
Priestly Prayer, asking His heavenly Father that all those who believe in Him
would be one, just as He and His Father are one, so the world may know and
believe in Him as being sent by the Father (cf Jn 17:20–21). Now in our text,
Paul also encourages the Romans, as well as all believers, to be in harmony
with one another—to be of the same mind, with one voice united in glorifying
God. Romans 15:5-6 says, “May the God of endurance and encouragement
grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ
Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ.”
13.
Just as many lights on a Christmas tree are brighter
together, so are the united praises of many people when glorifying God. And as
the many lights are joined by one strand, we, too, are joined together by the
One, Christ. We’re joined through the gift of salvation through Christ—given to
us out of the grace of God in the Good News that our sins are forgiven through His
blood and righteousness, given to us in our Baptism, and strengthened in us
when we receive His very body and blood in His Supper. It’s only through our
gathering together before God and His altar that we receive His Word and
Sacraments, united as one, lifting our voices in prayer, praise, and
thanksgiving to our gracious God.
14.
“Therefore
welcome one another,” Paul says in Romans 15:7, “as Christ has welcomed you,
for the glory of God.” Welcoming one another as fellow members of the family
of Christ isn’t always an easy thing. Paul knew this also to be true for the
Romans as he continued to reach out and encourage them to live in the love and
righteousness afforded to each of them. Sinful pride is a terrible thing to
stand between redeemed brothers and sisters. It makes it difficult, if not
impossible, to receive one another as Christ has done.
15.
Jesus doesn’t receive us because we may be richer or
smarter or because we have a stronger Lutheran heritage. No, Jesus receives
each of us because of His mercy, and when we understand this, the darkness
caused by our sinful pride will begin to melt away. The darkness of “every man for himself” gives way to
hope. And the brightness of God’s mercy will shine within us, enabling us to
join with others in the brightness of Christ.
16.
Flying east across the country on a clear evening allows
a person to see the shadows of darkness being cast over the land. Going farther
east, the darkness becomes heavier. Scanning across the land, you happen to see
an individual light here and there, wondering, just, how many isolated lights
you’ve missed. Looking up and off into the distance, a glow begins to appear.
As the plane gets closer and closer, the glow becomes brighter, and soon you
can see the expanse of a city where all the individual lights are shining
together, creating a brightness that can be seen even from outer space.
17.
As brothers and sisters in the hope of Christ, we have
been united together as individuals who share in the blessings and mercies of
God. The darkness that once covered the world has been pierced with the light
of Christ when He came as a baby in Bethlehem so many years ago. The darkness
of our sins has been removed by His very blood on the cross. Yes, the world has
seen a great light, the light that shines in the darkness, enlightening our
lives with grace and mercy, uniting us, for many lights are brighter—together.
Amen.
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