Are You Expecting a Baby?

First Sunday of Christmas

December 27, 2015

Luke 2:25

Are You Expecting a Baby?

In the name of the Father and of the ☩ Son and of the Holy Spirit.

I.

Simeon was an old man who was waiting for the consolation of Israel. He was waiting for the Messiah, the Anointed Savior from the Lord. But was he expecting the Messiah to be a baby?

And there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon; and this man was righteous and devout, looking for the consolation of Israel; and the Holy Spirit was upon him. And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. (Luke 2:25-26)

Maybe he had heard about some strange goings on in the little town of Bethlehem a few miles away from the big city of Jerusalem. Perhaps he'd heard of the shepherds' account of the angels and their trip to the bedside of the Christ. Perhaps, perhaps not. (The Magi hadn't reached Jerusalem at this time.)

So Simeon is waiting for the Messiah. And one day―eight days after Jesus is born―the Holy Spirit ushered Simeon into church, the Temple in Jerusalem.

Is he expecting to see a baby?

II.

We live in a world that loves babies (except when we are busily murdering 700,000 of them a year). But we love babies that we can hold in our arms.

So this love of babies is especially true of Cute Little Baby Jesus. The world is filled with Muslims, Jews, Buddhists, Pantheists, Hindus, and “Christians” who despise the Christ of the cross, yet many of them still love Cute Little Baby Jesus.

We sing carols romanticizing the Babe of Bethlehem who no crying He makes. The point isn't that that song is bad; the point is that believers and unbelievers alike are more inclined to focus on cute little Baby Jesus than at any other stage of His life.

Attendance at church is high among church members who despise Preaching and the Sacrament the rest of the year. That's partly nostalgia, but it also that Cute Little Baby Jesus is easier to push around. It's easier to make Cute Little Baby Jesus a symbol for whatever you want―how about world peace―than say the grown-up Jesus driving out the money-changers from the Temple with a whip or even more, the bloody Jesus Christ hanging from the cross.

We live in a world that loves to welcome Cute Little Baby Jesus. But is that whom Simeon was expecting?

III.

Babies can't do a lot. They do a few things really well, but after that, nothing. So wouldn't Simeon have been expecting a grown-up? A man who can do things? The Holy Spirit ushers Simeon into church and there's a baby! What can a baby do? Sure, the baby can grow up, but Simeon wouldn't be around for that.

Whatever disappointment sinful Simeon may or may not have had upon laying eyes on the little baby Jesus, his doubts were destroyed by the word of God. These words poured out of his mouth. He didn't care who heard. He cared only for the Child before him, his Savior for whom he had waited for his whole life. He wouldn't be around to see Jesus suffer, die, and rise again, but for Simeon it was as good as done. That's why he died happy and blessed in the name of the Lord.

IV.

Are you expecting a baby? What are you expecting when the Holy Spirit ushers you into church? Sometimes you might feel like our imagined Simeon. That's it? That's my Salvation? Just a baby. Just some bread and wine. Just some words and some hymns. That doesn't seem like much.

But as you see Christ's body before you and receive it, you realize the joy of Simeon. This is Christ.

Like Simeon, you didn't see Jesus suffer, die, and rise again, but it is done. God's Word destroys your doubt and unbelief, and replaces it with trust that Christ is for you. That's why you, too, will die happy and blessed in the name of the Lord.

God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us,

so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God! Amen!

2 Corinthians 5:21

Same Old Sheep, Same Old Shepherds

Christmas Morning

December 25, 2015

Luke 2:20

Same Old Sheep, Same Old Shepherds

In the name of the Father and of the ☩ Son and of the Holy Spirit.

I.

Do you know what's missing from every Christmas pageant ever? The smell. Animals smell. Babies smell. People who are around babies and animals smell. And then the shepherds show up.

Back in the day you didn't get into shepherding because you liked animals or the outdoors or not bathing. You got into it because your dad did it. It wasn't a choice; it was your family's smelly job.

So these three words are strange,

The shepherds returned. (Luke 2:20)

II.

God had sent angels to tell them that His Son was born in Bethlehem. Thus, the shepherds had wisely and faithfully gone to see Him. We see their trust in their words to each other,

Let's go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about. (Luke 2:15)

Not if this thing has happened, but the shepherds went to see what had happened. When God's messengers speak, things happen. When the angels told the shepherds, they trusted His word and went to see.

And they saw Jesus, who is the Word of God incarnate, in the flesh, there in the manger.

The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:14)

And it came to pass that the Word had eyes and ears and a mouth and a nose! He's here and has elbows and knees and thumbs!

The shepherds saw God face-to-face. And then they spread this full-faced God around Bethlehem.

When they had seen Him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this Child (Luke 2:17a)

III.

Then they went back to work. It might have been tempting for them to quit their shepherding gig since―of all people―God did choose to tell them about His Son's birth. No other smelly shepherds showed up, or well-dressed merchants, or kings with gold (the Magi wouldn't show up for a while).

These shepherds returned to their same old sheep. Back to the same old faces, the same old places, the same old smells. They continued their same old routine, but from then on, I assume that they continued to speak of hearing and seeing God's Word in the manger while their sheep wandered around those fields.

Instead of going where they weren't called, they stayed where God had called them to work. They didn't go out as self-appointed preachers, potentially a less smelly line of work. Rather they wisely stayed where God had already placed them and received God's promise with joy.

You know what the shepherd know. The Child is born. He is the Word with eyes and feet and hands. He is Jesus. He came into the world so that His eyes would see how even His friends totally abandoned Him. He came into the world so that His feet and hands would be nailed to a cross. No smelly shepherds came to save the bloody Good Shepherd, but Jesus wouldn't have had it any other way. The cross was His job and His alone. Their job and ours is to speak Christ where you already are, to the same old faces, to the same old sheep, in the same old places, whether you enjoy where you are or if it smells.

God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us,

so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God! Amen!

2 Corinthians 5:21

John the Grass Man

Fourth Sunday of Advent

December 20, 2015

John 1:20 & Isaiah 40:6-8

John the Grass Man

In the name of the Father and of the ☩ Son and of the Holy Spirit.

I.

John could have tried to be Jesus. For a while John could have said that he was the Christ. And it's a good bet that many people would've believed him for a while.

If John had said that he was the Christ, many would have followed him. John would have been able to civilization and gotten a haircut. He could have gotten free home-cooked meals instead of eating grasshoppers and honey. He could have put on comfortable clothes instead of his animal skins.

He could have had it all, but when asked directly if he was the Christ, he said,

“I am not the Christ.” (John 1:20)

Perhaps his conscience prevented him from claiming to be the Son of God. But he could have settled for being Elijah. That would have been good. The Pharisees would have been interested in meeting an 800-year old Elijah, back from the dead. They would have listened to that prophet. But John said he wasn't Elijah, either.

Instead he borrowed from a different prophet, Isaiah, and used Isaiah's words to point to the true Christ.

I am the voice of one calling in the desert, “Make straight the way for the Lord.” (John 1:23)

John patiently explained to these fellow Jews that the Lord was coming soon. Therefore, it was time to get ready for His arrival. The Jews who heard John quote Isaiah would have known the words that followed this straight-way making.

A voice says, “Cry out.”

And I said, “What shall I cry?”

“All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field.

The grass withers and the flowers fall, because the breath of the Lord blows on them. Surely the people are grass.

The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever.” (Isaiah 40:6-8)

We get ready for Christ just as John did. We confess freely that we are fading blades of grass. We also confess that we puff ourselves up and try to stand on our own before the righteous Lord God. This is as foolish and dangerous as a blade of grass thinking that they are indestructible just before the lawn mower comes and the frost hits.

II.

So it seems odd that Jesus praised a blade of grass.

John had confessed that he was grass, here today and gone tomorrow, we might say. John said that he was not even worthy to untie Jesus' sandals. He refused to pretend to be anything more than grass.

Yet Jesus praised John.

Truly I tell you, among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist; yet whoever is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has been subjected to violence, and violent people have been raiding it. For all the Prophets and the Law prophesied until John. And if you are willing to accept it, he is the Elijah who was to come. (Matthew 11:11-14)

John had said that he wasn't Elijah, but Jesus said that he was! Jesus didn't mean that John was the dead Elijah brought back to life. He meant that John was the promised prophet who spoke boldly like Elijah of old. He was the forerunner whom God had promised would arrive before the Christ and announce His coming.

John is the promised Elijah; Jesus is the promised Christ.

Jesus didn't need John (or Elijah, for that matter). But He chose to need John. He gave John life in the womb of his barren mother. He put John under orders to go out and preach repentance and baptize sinners. John didn't go on his own. Christ chose to need John and sent him out.

III.

With the same mercy Jesus chooses to need you. He sends you out, but not into the wilderness. He sends you back into your life. He sends you into His Word to confess freely that you are a blade of grass who is joyfully waiting for the coming Christ. Paul promised that the Lord is near. These final days of waiting will pass quickly and so we rejoice and are glad. John had been dead for many years when Paul wrote his letter to the Christians in Philippi, but surely they capture John's joy in the coming Christ. Our joy, too.

Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:4-7)

God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us,

so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God! Amen!

2 Corinthians 5:21

Escaping All These Things

Second Sunday of Advent

December 6, 2015

Luke 21:36

Escaping All These Things

Be always on the watch, and pray that you may be able to escape all that is about to happen,

and that you may be able to stand before the Son of Man.

In the name of the Father and of the ☩ Son and of the Holy Spirit.

A lot of people died this week. Most were strangers. Some of those who died didn't even have names.

There was also another Islamic terrorist attack—people having a Christmas party were gunned down without warning.

But I did know someone who died this week; he was a classmate from high school and a roommate in college. His name was Tim. He died suddenly in Tampa this week, when a fight at a neighborhood nightspot got out of hand.

Whether we die alone or with others, with warning or without, in the daytime or at night, each of us will stand before Christ at the end of our time on earth to be judged, each according to our own faith in Him. Those who trust in Jesus will escape with their lives into eternity.

Today the day of escape is one day closer for each of us. And escape is the right word. We are now victorious and triumphant in Christ, but we often don't feel victorious or look triumphant. Christ makes good our escape, but it will be a close one because of us.

Jesus used the example of a tree sprouting leaves as the obvious sign that summer is coming. There are some signs that tell us things.

Kids, if your house feels hot and you smell smoke, what does this tell you? The house is on fire! Jesus talks about escaping, and so we might think of escaping a burning building. Any wise person knows that escaping is the top priority.

In a way our lives here on earth are burning buildings. Christ makes good our escape from ourselves, but we want to stay behind and hang onto to all these things, often when we know that we're going get burnt.

As Jesus said, we burn ourselves by getting trapped into dissipation, drunkenness, and the anxieties of life.

Dissipation isn't a word we use, but it is the opposite of anticipation. People who live in anticipation are focused on God's kingdom and that His Son is coming back; those who live in dissipation are scattered and their focus is not on what really matters. People who live dissipated lives drift from little thing to little thing. Peter wrote about this drift in his first letter.

Therefore, since Christ suffered in His body, arm yourselves also with the same attitude, because he who has suffered in his body is done with sin. As a result, he does not live the rest of his earthly life for evil human desires, but rather for the will of God. For you have spent enough time in the past doing what pagans choose to do—living in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing and detestable idolatry. They think it strange that you do not plunge with them into the same flood of dissipation, and they heap abuse on you. But they will have to give account to Him who is ready to judge the living and the dead … The end of all things is near. Therefore be clear minded and self-controlled so that you can pray. (1 Peter 4:1-5, 7)

Peter perhaps had Jesus' warning on his mind when he was inspired to write these words, linking dissipation to drunkenness.

For those who drift through this life and have no focus on what is to come, getting drunk is a natural path to take. If this is it, it is fairly logical to spend the flickering moments of life squeezing pleasure out of every second. A dissipated heathen might say: “Achieve better dissipated living drifting through daiquiris and Dewar's.

But you don't get drunk on wine or booze. Good. But why do you intoxicate yourself by living confidently that today will end like every other day? Intoxicate is a good word to describe drunkenness, both the wet kind and the dry kind, because the belief that time won't end is toxic. The belief that this life is all that there is is toxic.

A recent example of this toxic view is how some condemned those who sent out message saying that they were praying for those suffering in the aftermath of the terrorist attack in California. These messages of support were mocked venomously because these mockers believe that time won't end. They believe that this life is all there is. They trust in the god, whose name is humanity. So consistently these critics, really their high priests, damn anyone who prays to Christ and pleads for His mercy on behalf of those who suffer. These mockers are zealous for their god. But their god is a lie.

Be like the wise Virgin and carefully ponder these things in your heart. It is right to understand and point out the toxic words of unbelievers, but we must watch ourselves.

If we become more fired up over the threat of Islamic terrorism, which can kill the body, than the danger of unbelief in our own homes, then we need to take a close look at ourselves, repent, and trust the Gospel. If we pat ourselves on the back because we say Merry Christmas before it's even Christmas and don't consider the possibility that there might not even be a Christmas, then we should probably take a look in the mirror, repent, and trust the Gospel.

When you or someone you know becomes intoxicated by the worries of this world, speak, Christian. When the world shakes with tumult and destruction and they ask, “Why doesn't God fix this? This world? This violence? This death?” we tell them, “He did. God did fix this with the death of His own Son.” Christ willingly suffered in His body to take away the punishment for violence, anger, indifference, all our sin. Likewise we suffer and will only escape all these things only though His forgiving blood.

A lot of people died this week. Most were strangers, a few weren't. But for those who died in the Lord, they escaped all these things into everlasting life because:

God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God! Amen!

2 Corinthians 5:21