Preparing for Worship - December 8, 2024

The Psalm for this Sunday is Psalm 66:1-12. The author is not identified, but he sings a great song of praise to God. He calls upon all the earth to join him in worship and joy for the awesome deeds of God on behalf of the children of man. He remembers how God’s people had walked through the sea and the river on dry land as they traveled to the promised land. He knows that God had tested people, as silver is purified by fire, and gave them crushing burdens, at times in their lives, as their mighty ruler, yet brought them out to a place of abundance and blessing. (David uses the same word in Psalm
23:5, when he speaks of his cup “running over,” abundant with God’s blessings. This
abundance may not always be seen in this life, but it certainly will be clear in eternal life to come with the Lord.)

The Old Testament lesson is Malachi 3:1-7b. God’s people have not always been faithful to Him and His will, yet the Lord still cares for His people and predicts a coming time when He will send a messenger who will prepare the way for the coming of the Lord Himself to His temple and to His people. This will be a time of cleansing and purifying.
Judgment will be spoken against all kinds of sin, but the Lord has not changed. He still wants His people to return to Him in repentance and faith, and He will provide the way for offerings of righteousness to come from people. (This is a prediction of the coming of John the Baptist, preparing the way for our Savior, Jesus, God’s own Son.)

We see this in the Gospel lesson for this Sunday, Luke 3:1-14,(15-20). Luke gives the historical background of the time of the coming of John the Baptist. This happened in a real time and place in our world. God’s Word came to John, and he began to preach a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, as prophesied also by Isaiah in Isaiah 40:3-5. People could not trust simply in being children of Abraham. They were all a sinful brood of people, and John pointed out their sinfulness and many things that God wished for all kinds of people, including the crowds and tax collectors and soldiers and even the tetrarch (ruler) Herod, who had stolen away his brother’s wife and taken her for himself. (Herod had John thrown in prison for challenging him with his sin.) John also made it clear that he was not the Christ, the Anointed One sent from God, but that One was coming, through whom people would see the salvation of God. That One would be Jesus, the Son of God, sent from God the Father, in the power of the Holy Spirit.

In the Epistle lesson, Paul writes to Christians in Philippi, thanking God for bringing them to faith in Jesus and for their being partners with him in sharing the Gospel of salvation through Jesus and His grace. Paul prays for this congregation but cannot be with them because he is in prison just for being a faithful Christian. So, Paul writes this letter and also prays for the believers that their love would abound, with greater knowledge and discernment and understanding of what is excellent. Paul also prays that the believers will be “pure and blameless” at the coming of Christ. Obviously, we are not pure and blameless. We are poor, miserable sinners. Christ has lived perfectly for us, though, and paid for all of our sins by His sacrifice on the cross and is our Risen Lord who now lives in us through bringing us to baptism and faith. When God looks at us now, He sees Jesus in and with us, and we are counted as righteous through the Lord Jesus, who is our Righteousness. That is our certainty now and for our eternal future - not in ourselves and our performance - but through the righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ our Savior, and the glory and praise for all that go to the one True Triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.