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B11
Preached @ St. John & Zion Dec 21, 2014
38 And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.
“According to Thy Word”
In the name of the Father and of the T Son and of the Holy Spirit. AMEN.
Today we hear the fulfillment of the first Gospel spoken. Adam and Eve, broke God’s Holy Law: Gen 2:15 The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. 16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat[d] of it you shall surely die.”
Break God’s Holy Law on that Day you will die!
They did eat, and death entered our World. All we know is death. Death is all around us. We are in the season of Winter, the season where everything shrivels up dead. Trees are bare, fields produce nothing. Outside is a dead, cold world.
Our lives are one way streets to the grave yard. We die. Everyone who sins dies, everyone dies, therefore everyone sins. No one is better than the next person, not the pastor, not the every Sunday parishioner, not the occasional church goer, not the never been to church people. No one, in God’s sight, is better then the next. EVERYONE DIES.
This was God’s punishment for Adam and Eve, breaking His Lwa, and this is His punishment for you breaking His Law. There is no way around it. You can not earn a reprieve from your death sentence, you and me, we are going to have a funeral.
Into this dark, dead, depressive, world our God speaks a gospel promise. First notice that when Adam and Eve eat the forbidden fruit they are not struck dead on the spot, they should’ve been, deserved to be, but they were not. Instead God speaks the first Gospel Promise. Gen 3:15 I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”
This world was thrown into sin and death by sin. God spoke His Law Do not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, if you do you will die. They ate. God then shows His true nature, His true heart, He promise by the seed of the women the Messiah, the Savior. Not born to Eve, on Sarah, or Hannah, or Elizabeth, but Born to a lowly virgin. Luke 1: “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 31 And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”
The promise from long ago comes to Mary. God chooses what is lowly in the sight of the World and blesses with it. Mary is nothing special, not set apart from anyone else. To her the angel comes and speaks God’s Word. She hears God’s Word and believes. Luke 1: 34 And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?” 35 And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God. 36 And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. 37 For nothing will be impossible with God.” 38 And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.”
The church calls this the Annunciation of our Lord and it is celebrated on March 25, 9 months before Dec 25th.
Into this World of death and Sin God speaks life. The Word that spoke into the nothingness and created, the Word that was with God in the beginning is made flesh. Made flesh in the Womb of the Virgin Mary.
Charles Dickens begins his famous book A Tale of Two Cities with these words
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way”
How fitting these words for us.
We live in the best of Times. The Lord Jesus has come, died, rose, and ascended for all of us. We know this, the Gospel is being preached to the world....
Yet this is the worst of times: That Gospel that saves is being ignored, scoffed at, dismissed as not relevant anymore.....and that’s inside the Church. The sad truth is that not everyone that calls themselves Christian are, not everyone who comes to the Lord’s house will enter into heaven. This is what keeps pastors up at night. This sad truth that though the saving Gospel is being proclaimed not everyone believes it.
We are tempted by the devil, the world, and our sinful flesh. The lie that was spoke in the garden is still ringing today. Did God really say.....
Here we are at the edge of Advent, The celebration of the birth of our Lord is less than a week away. What are your worried about? What concerns you? If you got enough presents for everyone, or remembered everyone? If anyone remembered you? Are you getting what you asked for?
We worry about silly worldly things. Things that do not last. Do you concern yourself with Heavenly things? Do you hear God’s Word and take it to heart. Doing everything you can to hear it preached, and read and study His Word? Do you set aside time for prayer and meditation on His Word? This Word, This Gospel is the power unto salvation. We are called to have it upon our Lips and in our hearts, yet this world wins out on that category. This world and our sinful flesh take the number one spot don’t they? You shall have no other Gods, Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. But you don’t
This is what you received from your parents and this is what you have passed on. This is what we all receive from our first parents. This is why this world knows nothing but sin and death.
And this is where you and I can learn from Mary. When the angel tells her that she will conceive by the power of the holy Spirit, she confesses. 38 And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.”
The Promised Messiah The Savior Emmanuel, God with us.
Our God does not leave us, abandoned to the fires of Hell. Though we deserve and have earned them. Instead He keeps His word. Speaks life into this world of death.
Into this darkened sin-filled world comes the Light and life of men. Hear the Gospel and believe and you are saved. Hear what God has done for you. Repent and turn from you worldly lusts and desires. Repent and turn to Jesus. For He has come to take away the sins of the World. He came and sin and the devil are defeated.
All your sins are accounted for, paid for. The Cross is your get our of Hell free card. The God that owes you nothing gives you everything. Wraps it up and delivers it to you through baby born to the virgin and laid in the manger.
The baby that was born solely to die. Not for anything He did but for everything you have done.
hear this Gospel that saves you from hell and the devil and speak with Mary
“Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.”
In Jesus T name. AMEN
Now, the peace of God that far surpasses all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord. AMEN.
Preacher Dec 31, 2014 & Jan 1, 2015 @ St John Beemer & Zion Bancroft
At the Name of Jesus
In The Name of the Father and of the T Son and of the Holy Spirit. AMEN
Happy New Year! We say it, the world says it, but what does it mean? When you say it, what do you mean by those words? What does the world mean? Maybe it has become a platitude, clichè, and has become to mean nothing at all. Just another way of saying “see ya later” Or maybe there is some meaning behind that little phrase? Maybe when you say it you really do mean to tell them, “I hope your year is good, maybe better or the same as this last one” Is it earthly happiness that we wish them to have, financial, romantic, prosperous, dream come true type of year? What’s meant by Happy New Year? and what’s the guarantee that that wish will come to pass?
We, who have been baptized into Christ’s death and resurrection, we do have a guarantee, a promise, that This Year will be a Blessèd One. You hear it each and every week. You are sent out with this blessing upon you, This Promise of who you are and whose you are. When we have the Divine Service you hear the Lord’s guarantee that you are blessed, loved, died for, forgiven, your name written in the book of Life.
The Lord Bless You and Keep You...
Luke 2:21 And at the end of eight days, when he was circumcised, he was called Jesus,
It only too 8 days on this sin-filled fallen world for our God to show His love for you in the spilling of His blood. God told Abraham to circumcise every male child, showing with a mark on the body that they belong to God. They are different, set aside. Hear this as Law. Do it and you are in, do it not and you are out. This Law and so many like it, must be kept perfectly for you to be God’s Child.
We, are so comfortable in our Gospel covered lives that we don’t realize what a burden this Law really is. I have a New Years Resolution for you, Read the Book of Leviticus this year. Hear all that HAD to be done in order to be a child of God.
God’s Law was not something that some did and other didn’t do, do it if you feel like it. That might be the way we treat Laws today. Speed limits, taxes, stealing (or I mean borrowing). Not God’s Law, This was it, you want to be in God’s good grace, you want to assure yourself a place in heaven, keep the Law perfectly.
Can’t be done, and even if it could be done, that doesn’t take away the inherited sin that we all have. The Law condemns everyone, then and now.
This is what we hear in the Gospel Lesson. The beginning of Jesus keeping the Holy Law in your Place. Doing it for you. It took only 8 days for our Lord to shed blood, keep the Law, and call you blessed for it. When you hear that Jesus lived a perfect life, this is what is meant. Not simply that He followed the rules of the land but that He kept God’s Holy Law as you are called to do but fail at.
But now on account of Christ you are called Forgiven, Holy, a Child of God, as St. Paul tells us in Gal 3:23 Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. 24 So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith. 25 But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, 26 for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. 27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise.
Now instead of God’s face turned toward you in Wrath for you sins,
The Lord Make His Face Shine Upon You and be Gracious unto You...
The wrathful face of God was turned not toward you but toward Jesus on the Cross on the Friday we call good. Jesus took that wrath, that forsakenness of God in your place so that God would call you His own. Turn His face upon you and be gracious to you.
Forgiveness. That is God’s graciousness toward you. You and me deserve the wrath of God, but we get His grace. This is why Christmas happened. 8 days ago we celebrated God taking on Human flesh for this reason. So that Jesus would grow perfectly in God’s Law, and die under the curse of Sin.Though He did not deserve that death but you and I do, so He comes and does it for you. Christmas and Good Friday go are together. The Word of God incarnate, taking on flesh, to bleed and die. Dying that He would defeat that punishment your sins deserve. Rising so that death and the power of the devil are defeated.
Forgiveness and life eternal is given to you, spoken over you, placed in your ears, is your because Jesus shed His blood. This is what we begin and and the Divine service with. Beginning in name of the Holy Trinity placed on you. Ending with the Three-fold blessing of that same Trinity.
Do we realize that? Do we care? Does it matter?
This is the moment for you to bask in the Lord’s face shining on you, not a time to look to what comes next. Not a time to glance at the hymn board for the next number or flip the page but to bathe in the Gracious Blessing of God.
Take it in, Believe it is yours, by faith in the death of Christ, your God wants to give you His blessing. Covering you for the week to come. Promising to be with you, protect you, forgiving you by the the death of Jesus.
In the place of the wrathful face you receive the Lord’s countenance of Peace. His good pleasure
The Lord Lift up His Countenance upon You and Give You Peace...
In the garden the Lord was in the presence of Adam and Eve. The fall into sin, and our sinfulness, separates us from God. The countenance of God, the face of God can not stand sin. Holiness and sinfulness can not mix. Like Light and Darkness. Sinners stand in darkness and can not find the light. IF God continues to remove His presence we would be lost forever.
1 Peter 2:9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
Now His face is no longer turned from you but given to you. This is what Jesus accomplished for you. The undeserved presence and blessing of God.
The moment on the cross when our Lord cried our “Why hast thou forsaken me” That is what you deserved, this is what i earn. God turning His back and leaving us to our sin. This is the true punishment of Hell and damnation. God utter abandonment. Jesus took that forsaken from you and gives to God. Undeserved, grace and blessing of God.
1 Peter 3:18 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit, 19 in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison, 20 because they formerly did not obey, when God's patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water. 21 Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, 22 who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers having been subjected to him.
This gift of God’s blessing, His presence is yours because the name of Jesus, the Name of the Triune God, is upon you. Gifted to you at the font, given to you in the forgiveness of sins, fed to you at the altar. The only name under heaven by which to be saved. The name given at the circumcision, told by the angel. Jesus, “God Saves”
Not to be misused as a curse or swear, but given to you to hold sacred and call upon it in every trouble in prayer, in praise, and in thanksgiving.
Repent of taking God’s promise and blessing too lightly. Repent of misusing Jesus name. Repent of thinking you deserve God’s presence. Repent of thinking that Jesus didn’t do everything for you. Repent of thinking that God’s abandoned you, forgotten about you, doesn’t care. Repent, and receive this forgiveness won for you on the Cross and the empty Tomb.
The blessing that you receive at the end of the Divine Service is God’s promise that you are forgiven, not abandoned, not forgotten. This is His word to you that even though we earned nothing He wants you to have forgiveness, life, and salvation in the name of Jesus. The name given to you in Baptism as it was given to Him at His circumcision.
Because His name is upon you, your name is in the book of life. The reservation list in heaven.
Washed clean in the blood of the lamb, standing on the true and sure foundation, covered in His Robe of Righteousness and salvation. You belong to Christ Jesus because He came and got you.
Today hear this blessing of the Lord a new. Live in it, and find your year Blessed by knowing that you are a baptized Child of God. Sins Forgiven.
God says to you at the end of every divine service, as we will sing in our closing hymn;
Go, My Children with my blessing, Never Alone
Waking, Sleeping, I Am with you, You are my own
On my loves’ baptismal water I have made you mine forever
Go my children with my blessing, you are my own.
The Lord Bless you and keep you
The Lord make His face shine upon you and be gracias to you
The Lord lift up His countenance upon you and give you Peace
In the name of Jesus. AMEN
Now, the peace of God that far surpasses all understanding keep yu hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord AMEN.
B4 / mixed media canvas / 230cm x 150cm
