"The Reason I’m Here…" Luke 19.28-40 Advent 1C Nov ‘21

 

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 oddness of this moment, at the beginning of Advent, is God’s way of saying, “The reason I’m here...” The message today is taken from Luke 19:28-40, dear brothers and sisters in Christ.

2.                “The reason I’m here...” Have you ever heard those words? After exchanging polite conversation about the weather and how nice it is to have the children back in the classroom, a mother says to her daughter’s first grade teacher, “The reason I’m here...,” and then describes the bullying happening to her daughter. After introducing himself and making sure you are the homeowner, the police officer says, “The reason I’m here...,” and goes on to inform you of complaints from the neighbors about the noise of your party. After wheeling a machine into your hospital room and joking about how difficult it is to navigate all the visitors and the flowers, the technician says, “The reason I’m here...,” and explains the procedure of an echocardiogram.

3.                “The reason I’m here...,” is a short phrase that helps us get to the point. It is so easy to get distracted and we can quickly lose sight of priorities. “The reason I’m here,” sets things straight and takes us to the heart of the matter. On the first Sunday of Advent, we have a “The reason I’m here...” moment. In case you did not notice, our gospel reading seems strange today, out of synch. Jesus is entering into Jerusalem.

4.                If you are immersed in our world’s seasons, we are entering that crazy time between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Parking lots are filled with Christmas trees, people are putting up lights, and the stores are stocked for purchases to celebrate the season of giving. In the midst of all of this, Christians are preparing to celebrate the birth of Jesus, God’s gift of salvation to His broken and sinful world.

5.                So, why does the Church point to Jesus, riding into Jerusalem? Should it not be focusing on Mary and Joseph? After all, in this reading Jesus is no longer a baby but grown up. He is no longer an obscure figure but a well-known teacher. He is no longer in the womb of His mother riding into Bethlehem on a donkey but a celebrated Lord, drawing crowds of disciples, riding into Jerusalem on a colt.

6.                The oddness of this moment, at the beginning of Advent, is God’s way of saying, “The reason I’m here...” Advent begins the Church Year. Today is the first Sunday of a series of Sundays which will take us through the life of our Lord and into the life of His Church. As we enter that series of Sundays, the yearly remembrance of the things of God, God wants us to know the one thing that is most important: The reason Jesus is here.

7.                God the Father has sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to bear your sin and be your Savior. The suffering of Jesus on the cross was not an accident. It was not just what happens to a nice person who loves in a world filled with hate. It was purposeful. God the Father sent His Son into the world to defeat all the forces that oppose His Kingdom. Jesus came to bear sin and bring forgiveness, to defeat death and bring life, to conquer Satan and bring salvation.

8.                No matter where you are in the Church Year, no matter what texts of Scripture you are reading, no matter what hymns you are singing, this is the reason why God is here: To bring you forgiveness, life, and salvation. So, as we come before God with our complex priorities, we are invited to pause and listen. Maybe you have changed jobs during the COVID pandemic and are trying to sort out what it means to have a different vocation. Maybe politics have created tense relationships in your family, and you are nervous about everyone getting together this year. Maybe your social fabric is unravelling, and you have a tough time navigating how to interact with your friends and neighbors.

9.                Into this mess of anxiety, Jesus comes to take us to what lies at the heart of the matter: God’s love for His creatures. It may not take away the anxiety, but it sets you on solid ground. You are a child in a kingdom where God, your Father, loves you. At the heart of His love is the person of His Son Jesus. Though it leads to His death, Jesus will do the work of His Father. He will come and bear what needs to be borne, fight what needs to be fought, and die to put to death what needs to end, so He might rise and bring the beginning of life, eternal life to you.

10.             We have to ask, “How could God be at peace with us? How could he be at peace with a world that is constantly at war? How could he be at peace with a world that disregards him, ignores him, and takes his blessings for granted? How could he be at peace with a world that blatantly disregards his will? How could he be at peace with a world that has taken the celebration of the birth of his Son and turned it into just another time to eat, drink, and be merry? How could he be at peace with me, a sinner?” 

11.             If we are to recover Christmas, we must, recover Advent. Advent is a season of preparation—not simply of our homes, meals, and presents, but a time of preparation for our hearts. A time to recognize why our Lord came in the first place. A time to recognize why that infant child, born to be King, would one day receive a crown of thorns. A time for repentance. “Hark! A thrilling voice is sounding! ‘Christ is near,’ we hear it say. ‘Cast away the works of darkness, All you children of the day!’ ” (LSB 345:1).

12.             “Cast away the works of darkness.” Look at your lives, and turn once more away from sin. Think about your lives. Your hopes. Your dreams. What are you looking forward to? What are you planning for? Are your hearts set merely on the things of this world? on new cars and new homes? on toys and vacations? on a stable financial future? What are your goals? Are they the goals that God would have for you? Are you thinking of the life to come, or are you setting your sights only on the things of this world?

13.             The season of Advent is one of assessment. It’s a time to remember that the things of this world are already passing away, a time to set our hearts upon things above. A time to look at the child who came to die, a time to crucify our sinful passions.  And so we sing, “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.” And we recognize that he comes to die for our sins. And so we sing, “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” (Mt 21:9). 

14.             We remember that we have been baptized into the name of the Lord. Returning to our Baptism, we renounce, once more, the devil, all his works, and all his sinful ways. We don’t simply cry out against the evils of this world, but we repent of the evils of our own heart. We recognize the troubles we have caused, the damage we have done, the friends we have hurt, and the responsibilities we have not met. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, and we who also bear his name now also take up our crosses and follow him.

15.             Yes, Advent is a time for repentance, a time of sadness over sin. But it is also a time of hope. For if we are sinners, we have a Savior. And if the end is near, so also, in Christ, is there a new beginning. If we have made a mess with our lives, Christ has come to make things right. And he will come again.

16.             For the world, Christmas is a big game of pretend—of creating an idyllic world that does not exist, speaking of a peace that does not exist. But for us, Christmas is life itself. In this season of Advent, let us prepare our hearts once more for our Lord’s coming. Let us cast away the works of darkness and be adorned with every good work and with acts of charity and generosity. Let us forgive as we have been forgiven. And let us embrace the child who came to embrace us. And let us offer up our lives as gifts to the One who came to offer up his life as his gift of salvation for us all.

17.             So, in this messy world with its complex priorities, rest for a moment today. Jesus has come for us today, not in Jerusalem, but here. Not on a colt but in His Word and through His Sacraments. Not surrounded by crowds throwing cloaks on a road, but still surrounded by disciples. You and me. Here, in this place, Jesus comes to remind and assure us. Grace is the reason He is here. Amen. Now the peace of God that passes all understanding guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus until life everlasting. Amen.

 

 

 

“Thanking God for His Grace” Deut. 8.1–10 Thanksgiving Nov. ‘21

 

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 on this Thanksgiving Eve is taken from Deuteronomy 8:1-10. It’s entitled, “Thanking God for His Grace,” dear brothers and sisters in Christ.

2.                        Starting with our first parents, Adam and Eve, God has given us a place to live, a place to tend, a place that produces sustenance for our existence. In Genesis 2:15 it says, “The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.” Later, God, through a covenant, gave a holy land—to his people. To Abraham, he said, “To your descendants I give this land, from the [river] of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates” (Gen 15:18). And later, after Moses had led the Hebrews out of their Egyptian bondage and through forty years of wandering in the desert, Deut. 34:1 & 4 says, “Moses climbed Mount Nebo from the plains of Moab to the top of Pisgah, across from Jericho. There the Lord showed him the whole land. . . . Then the Lord said to him, ‘This is the land I promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob when I said, ‘I will give it to your descendants.’ ” The gift of a land to call our own is God’s pattern, right from the beginning. Today, on this Eve of Thanksgiving, we thank God for His grace.

3.                        We, as Christians living in the United States, thank our God for this land where we enjoy the ability to worship God without persecution. A land that produces much good food. A land in which to raise our families and build our homes. A land in which to live out the days of our earthly lives. But, on this Eve of Thanksgiving, I want to remind you that we, as Lutheran Christians of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, should also remember what it is that brought our Lutheran forebears to America in the mid 1800s.

4.                        The Reformation took place in Saxony, Germany, in the sixteenth century, triggered by events surrounding Martin Luther’s posting of his Ninety-Five Theses on the castle church door in Wittenberg, October 31, 1517. In fact, many of the events of the Reformation took place in Saxony, which at the time was essentially a kingdom. Three hundred years after the Reformation, religious persecution returned to the area, once again directly affecting those Christians who followed the reformer Martin Luther’s teachings and theology as recorded in the unaltered Augsburg Confession. But this time, the persecution was different. The government was forcing the Lutheran Church and the Reformed Church—what we would know in America as the Methodists and the Presbyterians, among others—to ignore their differences and merge into one church. Essentially, the Lutherans were asked to abandon the Lutheran Confessions, especially as found in the Augsburg Confession, in order to bring only one state church to the area. False religion was again the source of great troubles. The direct descendants of the Reformation Church again found themselves being persecuted by the government for their faith.

5.                        Therefore, devout Saxon Lutherans—the descendants of Luther, Melanchthon, and all those who fearlessly stood down Holy Roman Emperor Charles V and the pope himself—now some three hundred years later, in the 1830s and 1840s, were again being persecuted. This time, they packed up, boarded ships, and settled in Perry County, Missouri, a new world that would allow them to practice their faith freely. The leader of this exodus was Martin Stephan, a Lutheran pastor from Dresden who appointed himself as a bishop after arriving in America. These brave Lutherans, the forebears of The LC-MS—about 1,100 of them, wanted the freedom to practice their Christian faith in accordance with Scripture, expressed in the Lutheran Confessions, and so they bravely and faithfully followed Stephan toward the United States in November 1838. Four of their ships arrived in New Orleans in January 1839. Not knowing that another ship had been lost at sea, they spent some time waiting there. Finally, most of the remaining 750 immigrants settled in Perry County, Missouri, in and around St. Louis.

6.                        Later, on April 26, 1847, twelve pastors from fourteen German Lutheran congregations met in Chicago, Illinois, and founded the German Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Missouri, Ohio and Other States. Carl Ferdinand Wilhelm Walther, better known as C. F. W. Walther, became the first president of the synod. One hundred years later, in 1947, the synod changed its name to our present name: The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod. And today, the Rev. Dr. Matthew C. Harrison is the thirteenth president of the LCMS.

7.                        I take the time on this Eve of Thanksgiving to give you a brief history of our own Lutheran Church body because, while today isn’t specifically a church holiday, today is a day that highlights God’s great mercies toward his children. God continues to bless us with his grace—that unmerited, undeserved goodness he shows toward us, his sinful and rebellious children. What he’s done for our church fits his pattern of grace always active among us.

8.                        God’s grace, the gift of His one and only Son, Jesus Christ, who took your sin and my sin upon himself and paid for those sins on the cross, is what we thank God for today. And that one act of grace, Jesus’ death on the cross—since it removed the sin that would have ever separated us from all of God’s gifts and now instead has reconciled us to him as dear children—that one act of grace has made possible every other gift for every person.

9.                        The gift of the Garden given to our first parents is God’s grace at work. The gift of the Promised Land—promised to Abraham, shown to Moses before his death, and given to the people who entered into this Promised Land—is God’s grace at work. The protection given to the Wittenberg reformer, Dr. Martin Luther, as he faced kings and emperors and pope, in order to proclaim fearlessly the life-giving Gospel of Jesus Christ—salvation by grace through faith, without any work of our own—that is truly God’s grace at work, in so many ways! The exodus of our own forebears—those brave Saxons who had their hand firmly on the Gospel as recorded in Holy Scripture, who, when challenged, refused to let go of that Gospel and instead chose to leave their own country behind in order to practice their God-given faith freely here in America—this is God’s grace at work!

10.                    Friends, the fact that you and I are here today, worshiping this same God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—this is God’s grace at work. For this same God protected our own ancestors, whoever they might be: original immigrants to the first thirteen colonies or maybe refugees just a few decades back from Cambodia or Laos. Maybe slaves taken against their will, either from Africa or from wherever they called home. Maybe immigrants from Mexico or the Philippines or Russia. Whatever the background, whether the trip to America was one of optimism or one of terror, these are our ancestors, whom God has promised never to leave or forsake.

11.                    We recall the words of the psalmist in Psalm 121: “I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth. He will not let your foot be moved; he who keeps you will not slumber. Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord is your keeper; the Lord is your shade on your right hand. The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night. The Lord will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life. The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore” (ESV). In our pilgrimage here on earth and our journey to our heavenly home, our Immanuel God is with us. This is God’s grace at work!

12.                    And so today, on this Eve of Thanksgiving, we, many of whom are either immigrants ourselves or descendants of immigrants, give thanks to God that he had his hand of protection upon each man, woman, and child as they came here to America. And because of God’s grace at work in protecting them, you and I are here today worshiping God freely.

13.                    Our God is with us at the fall in the Garden, with us during the time of Egyptian enslavement, with those brave reformers in Saxony some five hundred years ago, with those original immigrants from Saxony as they came to America to worship God freely, and with us in the person of his Son, Jesus, true God and true man, true Messiah for the world! Thanksgiving is a day to remember God’s grace—his living, active, all-powerful, and all-forgiving grace—and that is why we gather here today. We gather to worship God. We gather to receive grace upon grace as we read God’s Holy Scripture and hear his Word being preached to us. We received grace and forgiveness as our sins were washed from us in those waters of Baptism. We receive grace and forgiveness of sins as we receive Jesus’ body and blood in, with, and under the elements of the bread and wine.

14.                    Friends, at a time when we were horribly lost in our sins, God saved us from our fallen nature through his Son, Jesus Christ. We have so very much for which to be thankful today! Happy Thanksgiving, my friends and family of Grace Lutheran Church. You are living proof of our God’s grace at work. The peace of God that passes all understanding guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus until life everlasting. Amen.