The lutheransermons's Podcast

Preparing for Worship - February 2, 2025

We have again this week the possibility of two different sets of readings being heard in our churches this weekend. I will begin with the readings for the Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany. There is much emphasis in these readings on the power of God through His Word.

The Old Testament lesson from Jeremiah 1:4-10 tells of the calling of Jeremiah to be a prophet of God. God comes to him, but it is described as God coming to him through His Word. God spoke and told Jeremiah that he had been chosen to be a prophet even before he was born, and he was to be a prophet to the nations. Jeremiah has excuses for not doing what God wants. He is too young, and he is not a good talker to others. The Lord spoke again and commanded Jeremiah to speak whatever the Lord told him to speak. He was not to be afraid, for the Lord would deliver him, even if others opposed him and what he said. The Lord then appeared in a visible way and touched Jeremiah’s mouth and put into His mouth the very Words he was to speak and write. This emphasized the verbal inspiration of the prophet and his Scriptures. They were the very Words of God Himself. Jeremiah would speak to and about nations and kingdoms and their rising and falling according to God’s will and plans for people, including God’s own people of Judah. He was to speak whatever God said, even though many would fight against him and the Words of God he brought. (Jeremiah was also privileged to prophesy of the Savior and the New Covenant He would bring for all people because the Old Covenant had been broken and would pass away.)

The psalm is Psalm 71:1-6 (7-11). The writer is not identified, but some think it might have been Jeremiah because of the challenges he faced for the Words from God he was called to bring against people who were wicked, unjust, and cruel and who rejected the Lord. This author takes refuge in the Lord and calls upon the Lord to rescue and deliver and save him. He knows that the Lord had been with him even before he was born and would not forsake him, even in old age and when his strength was fading. His mouth was filled with praise and glory for God, his Rock and Fortress, the Holy One of Israel (v.22).

In the Gospel lesson, Luke 4:31-44, Jesus was teaching in the synagogue at Capernaum in Galilee, and people were astonished that His Word possessed authority. It was more than just His opinion. That authority became even clearer when an evil spirit in a man there cried out against Jesus and said he knew who Jesus was - “the Holy One of God.” Jesus rebuked the evil spirit and said, “Be silent and come out of him.” The demon came out without harming the man. Again, the people were amazed and said to each other, “What is this Word by which He speaks, with power and authority even over unclean spirits?” The power of Jesus’ Word was shown again as He healed Simon Peter’s mother-in-law (Peter was married!) of a high fever, and she immediately was well enough to be able to serve them. That evening, after sundown on the Sabbath, many sick people were brought to Jesus, and He laid His hands on every one of them and healed them, including casting out some more demons. The demons knew that Jesus is the Holy One, the Son of God, but their witness is not a good witness, and it was too early in His ministry to be identified that way, for the opposition to Him would grow stronger from those who would not believe Him, and it was not yet time for Him to die. So, Jesus silences the evil spirits. Jesus, as a true man, then went out to a desolate place to pray and receive strength from His Heavenly Father. People find Him and beg Him to stay with them, but He reminded them of His primary purpose - to preach the Word of God, the Good News of God’s Kingdom He was bringing, to as many people as possible so that more might believe in Him.

The Epistle reading is from 1 Corinthians 12:31b-13:13 and continues readings from 1 Corinthians. This chapter is sometimes called “the love chapter” of these Scriptures, with emphasis upon the importance of God’s love in the Scriptures. The primary focus is on the fact that God so loved the world that He sent His Son to be our Savior. We are then called to love as He first loved us. Even if we could speak and act in supernatural or other seemingly helpful ways, as Jesus did, it would do no good without doing so in love for God and in genuine love for others, just as Jesus spoke and acted. Paul speaks of what love is and what it is not and that love never ends. Faith in Christ and hope in Him are vitally important for us now, in the perfect work of Christ for us, and we want them for all people. But we see things only partially, dimly at times. When the perfect future in Christ comes, though, in everlasting life in heaven, we will see fully all that God has in store for us. In the meantime, we try to love our spouse and family and others, as Christ loved us, with His forgiveness and patience and kindness for us. Even though we do it imperfectly, we try to do it as God’s Word directs, in love and care for fellow imperfect people, through Christ.

The second set of readings is being used by some churches in remembering the Purification of Mary (in which Joseph participated, in a sense) and the Presentation of Jesus, which happened about 40 days after His birth, according to Jewish Old Testament law. You can read about these laws in passages like Exodus 13:1-3a,11-15, Numbers 3:21-28, and 12:15-16. We read and talked about this same Gospel reading and heard a sermon about it on the “First Sunday after Christmas.” You can find more details about all this on the podcast from December 29.

The psalm is  Psalm 84, emphasizing the importance of God’s house (in the Old Testament, the temple in Jerusalem), where we can hear God’s Word and worship and praise Him and especially receive His good gifts of strength and joy and renewed trust in Him. We are also reminded of the Lord as our Shield and to look upon His Anointed One. In the Old Testament, prophets, priests, and kings were anointed, but this passage is prophetic of Jesus Christ, the One anointed to be our Savior and to bring us the fullness of God’s Word and work. We still hear the Word, centered in Christ, in our churches and worship and Bible study today, and we can receive the gifts of baptism and the Lord’s Supper and forgiveness, as well.

The Old Testament lesson is from I Samuel 1:21-28. A woman, Hannah, was unable to have children but prayed and asked the Lord for the gift of a child. The priest, Eli, said that she would give birth to a child, and in time, she did, as the Lord answered her prayer. A firstborn child belonged to the Lord but could be “redeemed” and stay with family, but Hannah chose to lend her child to the Lord to serve the priest, Eli, at a young age. Samuel served and helped Eli but eventually was called by the Lord Himself to be one of the great prophets of the Old Testament.

The Gospel lesson, Luke 2:22-32 (33-40), tells of the ceremonial Purification of Mary 40 days after the birth of Jesus. Old Testament law said that women were unclean from bleeding and needed to be purified. Mary needed to be purified from the bleeding and other discharges from the birth of a child. This passage speaks of “their” purification because Joseph was involved and needed to pay the price required - for poor people, the cost of two turtledoves or pigeons to be sacrificed. (See Leviticus 12: 1-8.) Jesus was sinless and needed no purification. Joseph and Mary did need to present Jesus to the Lord at this time, though, too. As the firstborn Son, He needed to be "redeemed,” bought back from the Lord, and given again to His family, with the same price required for the purification of Mary. Jesus would be different, though. He was willing to be the true Redeemer and pay the price for us to forgive all our sins and buy us back from sin and Satan and death by His sacrificial death on the cross in our place so that we might have new and eternal life in and through Him. A man, Simeon, was led by the Holy Spirit to be in the temple at this time and recognized Jesus as the Lord’s Christ, His Anointed Savior. Simeon picked up Jesus and sang the song we still sing in our Communion liturgy, the Nunc Dimittis. Simeon could now die in peace because He had seen Jesus, the Light of the world, who would provide salvation available for all people, Jews and non-Jews, the Gentiles. (As mentioned before, you can find more comments on this passage in my podcast for Sunday, December 29.) The key to the eternal future for all people would be whether their hearts would be brought to trust in Jesus as Savior by the grace of God or if they would resist and reject Him.

The Epistle lesson, Hebrews 2:14-18, reminds us that since human beings have flesh and blood, Jesus also had to be one of us, with flesh and blood (as well as being the Son of God) in order that He might be able to die in our place, for us, on the cross, in service to us and His Heavenly Father’s plan. In this way, he would be both the High Priest and the sacrificial Lamb in making propitiation for us (a sacrifice that would make payment for and forgive all our sins). He did this for the offspring of Abraham, which now includes, as Simeon predicted, every human being who was brought to faith in him, Jews and non-Jews. (See how this is described in Galatians 3:10-14 and 26-29.) Jesus takes care of our eternal future, and because He was a real human being when here on earth, He can also help us in daily times of trouble and temptation, here and now, since he has lived here and been tempted as we are and knows and understands our human struggles. How vitally important He is for us!

Preparing for Worship - January 26, 2025

There is the possibility of two different sets of readings being used in churches this week. I will begin with the regular readings for the Third Sunday after the Epiphany and then comment on the readings that recall the ministry of Paul’s co-worker, Titus. I will try to keep this shorter, as we have eight different readings to consider.

The Old Testament reading for the Third Sunday after the Epiphany is Nehemiah 3:1-3, 5-6, 8-10. Nehemiah was the cupbearer for King Artaxerxes when he heard that the Jews who had returned to Judah after the Babylonian exile were in great trouble and shame. The walls and gates of Jerusalem were still in ruins, and little had been done on repairs and restoration. Nehemiah went to Judah but found strong opposition from the non-Jews of the area to any help for the people of Israel. His own fellow Jews were doing little to help rebuild anything other than their own homes. Nehemiah encouraged his people and prayed to the Lord for them, and the Lord strengthened their hands for this good work. Different groups of Jews worked on each of the gates into the city of Jerusalem, and others worked on the walls in spite of continued threats. As they worked together, the Lord blessed them, the city walls were repaired, and a temple area was built.

The Psalm is Psalm 19:(1-6) 7-14. David speaks in a poetic way of how the amazing universe God created declares the glory of God and His handiwork. There is no speech, but there is a natural knowledge of God that all people recognize in the created world. This marvelous and intricate universe could not have just happened on its own. There had to be a Creator, a Supreme Being, or Beings behind all this, but people developed all sorts of ideas about such beings or gods. The One True God, the God of Israel, revealed the Truth through His Word, through the prophets and their writings, the Scriptures. The laws and testimonies and precepts and commands and all the Word of God show us the truth about the Lord. His Word shows our sins and errors and our need for Him, but it also rejoices our hearts with good news sweeter than honey, showing that the Lord is our Rock and our Redeemer, who rescues us from our troubled world.

In the Gospel lesson, Luke 4:16-30, there is another Epiphany, as Jesus goes to the synagogue, the worship center in His hometown of Nazareth, and reveals Himself as the promised Redeemer. He quotes from Isaiah 61:1-2a, a prophecy of the Christ, the Anointed One of God (that’s what the word “Christ” means), coming to proclaim Good News (Gospel) to poor and captive and blind people (that’s what we all are, spiritually, on our own, because of our sins) and to proclaim the Lord’s favor, His grace and love still given to us. Then Jesus said that this prophecy was being fulfilled that day in Him, as he had come to be that Redeemer and Rock of salvation. So, sadly, Jesus is quickly rejected by people from His hometown, who try to kill Him. But, as we heard last week, His “hour” had not yet come to suffer and die to pay the penalty for our sins on the cross and then to rise in victory. Jesus is thus able to escape at this point, but what was coming for Him was predicted - the rejection of Him by many of His own people, and rejection of this Good News going beyond Israel, as it did in the time of Elijah and Elisha, the prophets, and finally came even to us today.

The Epistle lesson continues a reading from last week from 1 Corinthians 12:12-31. In the One Holy Spirit, we were all baptized into one Body, the Holy Christian Church, no matter what our background, when we were brought to faith in Jesus and were baptized. As our human bodies have many parts all working together, Christ’s body, the church, has many people with different abilities, ideally working together. We need each other, even as Nehemiah had to get lots of people working on different projects to get all the walls and gates of Jerusalem rebuilt. Ideally, we care about each other in the church in times of suffering and in times of joy. (Obviously, only Jesus ever had this perfect love and care for us all as our Savior. But we are called to grow in such faith, hope, and love through Christ and His Holy Spirit, as we will hear next week in 1 Corinthians 13.

Churches that focus on the ministry of Titus this Sunday will use the following readings.

The Psalm is Psalm 17:1-14. The psalmist knows that there are many wicked, unjust, and cruel people in this world who oppose the Lord and His followers and accuse and attack them. The psalmist trusts that the Lord is his Rock of Refuge to whom he can continually come. The Lord is his Savior and Fortress. The Lord has been with him before he was born, in his mother’s womb, and will not cast him off in the time of old age or forsake him when his strength is spent and he’s not sure if he can go on. The Lord has been his hope and trust since His youth. He prays, “O God, be not far from me; O my God, make haste to help me.” He will seek to hope in the Lord continually and praise Him more and more, no matter what his circumstances are at the moment.

This is the hope that the Lord is seeking to instill in His leaders and, through them, in all His people. In the Gospel lesson, Luke 10:1-9, Jesus sends out 72 disciples, two by two, to the towns and places where He would soon be going to prepare the way for Him. He warns them that they are going out as “lambs in the midst of wolves.” He would be taking care of them, though, through the people they would reach out to. They should expect opposition but keep reaching out to those who will listen and make it clear that “the Kingdom of God has come near to you.” (It would come fully, of course, in Jesus and His Word and  ministry and His saving work for the world.) The disciples were also to pray earnestly for more laborers to tell of Christ, for He was the Lord of the Harvest and would be the One to bring people to faith through His Word and work and the work of the Holy Spirit.

There is no Old Testament reading but a reading from Acts 20:28-35, the history of the early Christian Church, as we also have in the Easter season. Paul was heading to Jerusalem, where he knew there would be trouble for him. He calls together the elders, the church leaders from Ephesus, and prepares them for what is ahead, as Jesus had prepared His disciples. Paul also warns, as Jesus did, of fierce wolves who would want to destroy the flock, the church of God. Some would even come from within, teaching twisted things, seeking to draw people away from the truth to their false ideas. Paul commends these true leaders to the Lord God and His Word. His grace would build them up and keep them in Christ and His eternal inheritance He had earned for them. This meant hard work, caring for the weak, struggling, and remembering that, as Jesus said, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” (Jesus, of course, is the One who gave up everything for us, even His life, to be our Savior, sent from God the Father, and as the Risen Lord is the One who truly helps people through His saving work and through the work of the Holy Spirit. The Triune God saves, not us or any of our leaders.)

With the Epistle lesson, Titus 1:1-9, we finally hear of Titus, though he would have been hearing the same Word of God brought through the psalmist and Jesus and Paul. Here is what the Lutheran Bible Companion, Vol.2, CPH, p.979, says about Titus in a summary way. “A Gentile convert to Christianity who became Paul’s friend and helper. Titus went with Paul and Barnabas to Jerusalem at the time of the council. Since Titus was born of Gentile parents, he was uncircumcised (Galatians 2:3-5). This offended the Judaizers at the council; however, the Church refused to make Titus submit to circumcision, siding with Paul, who maintained the freedom of Gentiles from the Mosaic Law (Galatians 2:1, 3-5). Titus was sent to Corinth to solve the problems there and then rejoined Paul in Macedonia (2 Corinthians 2:13, 7:6, 13-14, 8:6, 16, 12:18). Later, Titus was left behind in Crete to organize the churches there. Paul wrote his letter to Titus while Titus was in Crete (Titus 1:4-5). The last mention of Titus indicates that he went to Dalmatia (2 Timothy 4:10). According to tradition, Titus was the Bishop of Crete.”

In Titus 1:1-9, Paul calls Titus His true child in a common faith, which brings the hope of eternal life that God had promised and now shown in the coming of Jesus Christ our Savior and manifested in His Word. Paul had left Titus in Crete to help organize the churches and appoint elders (overseers equivalent to our pastors) in every town as leaders. The personal qualities of the leaders are described. (Though no pastor is perfect and lives by God’s grace and forgiveness, as we all do, these are qualities that Paul must have seen in Titus, too, with this responsibility.) Most importantly, a pastor should “hold firm to the trustworthy Word of God and be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also able to rebuke those who contradict it.” That’s a crucial responsibility- trying to keep people in God’s true and faithful Word.

You will likely hear only one of these sets of readings. You can still read and study the other set, too, if you have time, as there is much of importance in both.

Preparing for Worship - January 19, 2025

This is the Second Sunday after the Epiphany, and most of the readings revolve around the Gospel reading, where Jesus did His first miracle (John calls it His first “sign”) and “manifested His glory” at a wedding at Cana in Galilee. This is what the word “epiphany” means - a “manifestation” or “showing forth” of Jesus as the promised Savior.

The psalm is Psalm 128, which speaks of the blessings for those who fear the Lord and walk in His way. These are pictured as enjoying the fruit of our labor, our work, having a family and children, seeing our grandchildren, and enjoying the prosperity of God’s people, centered in Jerusalem. This is an ideal picture for many and is matched by Psalm 127, where the Lord builds a house and a city and gives His beloved people rest and sleep from anxious toil and blesses them with children, as a heritage from Him. Obviously, this is not what always happens in a very fallen, sinful world. There is so much sorrow and trouble, even among God’s people. Think of Job and his wife, who lost all their children, and his wife wanted him to “curse God and die” (Job 2:9). Think of the many people who have lost their homes in California and in hurricanes and in famine and murder in Sudan and many other places because of warfare and other evils. Think of those who want children and cannot have them and those who wanted a spouse but never found the right one. And on and on.

The Lord still cares about people, though, in all their difficulties, and promised in our Old Testament lesson, Isaiah 62:1-5, a Savior who would come forth like a burning torch, with righteousness and hope for all nations to see. His name was, of course, Christ Jesus, and those who follow Him will have a new name, Christians, as part of the Holy Christian Church. They will no longer be “forsaken” or “desolate” but will be connected to Christ and with Him, the whole Triune God. It will be like a spiritual marriage, with the Lord delighting in His “bride," the Church, and rejoicing over her. That means us, too, as we trust in Jesus, with joy in Him, with a joy like that of a newly married young man and young woman, though we will not all have the exact same gifts. We will have eternal life always, with Christ.

The Gospel lesson, then, is John 2:1-11. Jesus was invited to a marriage in Cana in Galilee with some of the disciples he had gathered. His mother was there and told Him that they had run out of wine for the wedding celebration. Jesus delayed because His hour had not yet come, but He had six large stone jars filled with water used for Jewish purification ceremonies and then turned all that water into wine. The master of the feast was amazed that this, the best wine, was now being served after all the inferior wine had been served.

What does all this mean? One of the Old Testament images of the coming of the Savior was His providing a great feast or banquet, with wine in great abundance, in eternal life. (See, for example, Isaiah 25:6-9. Note also Amos 9:13 and Joel 3:18. These are images about Israel, but are really pointing forward to the New Israel, the Church, and the abundance of God’s blessings, described as overwhelming amounts of wine available. Finally, if you have a Lutheran Study Bible, p. 1689, you can see a whole article showing how Jesus used the image of a heavenly banquet in a number of His parables and other sayings, showing that He was the bringer of eternal life and salvation.)

The culmination of our Gospel lesson, John 2:11, says that by His great miracle of turning water into abundant wine, Jesus was manifesting His glory as that promised Savior and brought His disciples to believe in Him. That is always His goal, to bring us to trust in Him and keep us in that faith. Look at one more important part of this Gospel. When Jesus said, “My hour has not yet come,” He went on to use words like this six more times, as recorded by John since He knew that His most important “hour” was when he would suffer and die to forgive all our sins and then rise in victory from the dead to give us eternal life. See John 7:30, 8:20, 12:23,27, 13:1, and 17:1. Only in this way could He rescue us entirely, and he did what He needed to do. In John 17:1, He “lifted His eyes toward heaven and said, ‘Father, the hour has come.’” He then went to the Garden of Gethsemane, where He was betrayed and arrested, and His death and resurrection followed, and His saving work for us was completed. We can only thank and glorify and trust Him, by God’s grace, in return.

The Epistle lesson is from 1 Corinthians 12:1-11. Paul reminds us of what our Lord has done for us to bring us to faith and to keep us in faith. He tells us that none of us could say “Jesus is Lord” and mean it except in connection with and by the power of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit also gives us spiritual gifts by which to stay in faith and serve our Lord and help one another. “To each of us is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.” We need each other because none of us has everything we need on our own. The one Holy Spirit gives gifts individually to each one of us, as He wills and empowers us to use those gifts for ourselves and others. Together, we have what we need through God’s Word and His gifts.

We don’t have time to look closely at all these gifts, but I will make a few comments on some. Spiritual knowledge comes from God’s Word, the Scriptures. That’s why we need to keep listening to and studying them. It also takes wisdom, though, to know how to apply what God says when and where and in the way we should, as He wishes. Scripture guides us, interpreting other Scriptures. Every Christian has the gift of saving faith in Jesus as Savior, but some may be more courageous and confident in living out and sharing that faith. We hear of miraculous healings through some of the apostles. There were also people like Luke who wrote Scriptures through the Holy Spirit but was also a beloved physician, and we know there were medicines used like the oil that the Good Samaritan used for healing purposes (Colossians 4:14, Luke 10:34). Certainly, those in the medical professions can now also bring healing and help to us, and God wants us to pray for healing for ourselves and others. Many of us know people who weren’t supposed to get better, and some of them do, by God’s grace and His plans.

On Pentecost, disciples of Jesus were able to speak in tongues (Acts 2:4ff.), speaking in languages they had never learned, to communicate the mighty works of God in Christ to others (Acts 2:11). Today, we have Lutheran Bible Translators and other groups and people who have a gift of learning languages, who can translate and share the Gospel with people in their native languages. Some supernatural gifts will pass away (1 Corinthians 13:8). God, for example, will not give new spiritual knowledge through new Scriptures beyond the Old and New Testaments (Revelation 22:18-19). He is not limited, though, in giving spiritual gifts as He chooses through His Holy Spirit. Above all, He wants more people to know and believe that “Jesus is Lord” through the Spirit, working through the Word and Baptism (1 Peter 1:23-25, 4:21, Romans 6:1-11, John 3:5-6, Acts 10:44-48, etc.). And we praise God for giving us such faith in Jesus, too - the greatest gift we can receive, no matter who we are.

Preparing for Worship - January 12, 2025

This Sunday is the First Sunday in the Epiphany season and remembers The Baptism of our Lord, a clear showing forth or manifestation of Jesus, who He is, and what he has come to do for us.

The Psalm is Psalm 29,  a psalm of David. David calls upon the heavenly beings, the angels, and all people to give the LORD the glory due His Name for His holiness and strength. This psalm is sometimes called the psalm of “thunder,” with the picture image of God’s power being like a thunderstorm coming from the waters of the Mediterranean Sea. His voice in the thunder is majestic and powerful. His thunderous voice in a storm can shake and break the mighty cedars of Lebanon and strip leaves bare and disturb animals, with lightning and winds. (See similar passages like Isaiah 2:12ff. and Job 37:1-5 and Jeremiah 10:12-13.) The Lord is enthroned as King forever. He can bring judgment, as with the worldwide flood in Genesis. David prays that the Lord, in His might, will now also give strength to His people and bless them with peace. Martin Luther saw this psalm as a prophecy of the coming of the Gospel, in Christ as Savior, with the flood, the water of His Word and baptism, doing good, spreading not just to Jews but all over the world to bring people peace in forgiveness and new life in Jesus. See John 14:25-27 as an example of the peace that Christ came to give, different from the world’s peace.

The Old Testament lesson, Isaiah 43:1-7, also speaks of the Lord’s great care for His Old Testament people, but also for all people from the ends of the earth, drawn to Him through the coming Savior, our Lord Jesus. The Lord had formed His people and redeemed them and called them by name. They should not fear, though they pass through waters and fires. The Lord would be with them, and they would not be consumed, though they would be threatened by many, including the Babylonians, during a time of captivity. The Lord would be their Savior and ransom them, and other peoples would be attacked instead of them, including Egyptians, people of Cush and Seba, and Chaldeans of Babylon. (More details of this are revealed in later passages in Isaiah, as Cyrus and the Persians rise to power and conquer other peoples and allow God’s people to return to their homeland. See Isaiah 43:14, 44:28-45:6,14, etc.) God still loved His people. They were precious in His eyes, and eventually, through an Offspring of God’s people, our Lord Jesus would gather followers from east and west and north and south, from the ends of the earth, who would be called by the name of Christ to believe in Him. (The waters mentioned in v.2 could refer to the gift of baptism in the New Testament, where the Lord is with people in a saving way, even though there would be times of trial and testing. See the reference in the Gospel lesson, Luke 3:16-17, to Jesus baptizing with the Holy Spirit and fire, through the cleansing and purifying waters of Baptism and judgment for those apart from the Lord.)

In that Gospel lesson, Luke 3:15-22, we hear of John the Baptist, preparing the way for the coming of Jesus. He was not the Christ and was not worthy, he said, even to untie His sandals, but had the great privilege of baptizing Jesus. When Jesus was baptized, the Holy Spirit came upon Him, and the voice of God the Father came from heaven saying of Jesus, “You are My beloved Son; with You I am well pleased.” This could be said of no one else on earth because of the reality of everyone being a sinner other than Jesus. (See Psalm 14:2-3 and Romans 3:23 and Hebrews 4:15.) Jesus had no sin to be forgiven but was baptized for us to fulfill all righteousness for us (Matthew 3:15 and 2 Corinthians 5:21). Jesus lived a perfect life in our place and then paid the penalty for all of our sins by His suffering and death on the cross. That is how He could be our Savior, and that is what He did for us and for the world.

The Epistle lesson for this week, Romans 6:1-11, reminds us that we received personally the benefit of what Christ Jesus did for us, in our own baptism, as a gift from God through the Holy Spirit. We were connected to Christ and died to our old, sinful life, and were raised to newness of life and have the promise of eternal life and resurrection, even though we die. We no longer are enslaved to sin and its absolute dominion over us. As we remember our baptism, we remember that we are dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. That is the way that God now looks at us. We still struggle with sin and temptation because of our sinful nature,  but we are under grace, with the Triune God to help us with our battles and forgive us when we fail. We no longer are eager to want to continue in sin, and we ask the Lord to help us, day by day, with His mercy and strength. (See Romans 7:15-25, for example.) Our victory is through Jesus Christ our Lord, and we keep listening to His Word, which shows us our sins, but above all, our Savior (Romans 3:19-24).

One more important related comment. Some churches and groups emphasize that it is our repentance and decision for Christ that really saves us, and then God acts with His blessings for us. They point to Acts 2:38, where Peter says, “Repent and be baptized.” Being baptized is then just our expression of our faith to God and others. It does nothing special for us. The context of this passage says the opposite. Peter had already preached the Word of God about Jesus to the crowds at Pentecost and shown them their sins in rejecting Jesus and calling for His crucifixion. They were “cut to the heart” and knew that they had done wrong but did not know what to do about that. They already were feeling repentant through the Holy Spirit, working through the Word. Peter then calls them to the gift of baptism and forgiveness, also through the Holy Spirit. Peter calls this the promise of God for them and their children and all whom the Lord calls. It is a promise for all since God wants all to be saved (Matthew 28:18-20 and 1 Timothy 2:3-4).

In Acts 2:40, some translations have Peter saying, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation.” This contradicts other Scriptures, which say that we cannot save ourselves. (Ephesians 2:8-9 says, for example, “By grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”) In Greek, the word in Acts 2:40 is also in passive form, better translated, “Be saved from this crooked generation.” And Acts 2:41 simply says, “Those who received the Word brought by Peter were baptized, and about three thousand souls were added to the believers.” Acts 2:47 says that the Lord added more and more to their number, those who were being saved by Him. It is His doing, not ours that we are saved. When we read on, in Acts 5:31, when Peter and the other apostles were witnessing to fellow Jews, Peter said, “God exalted Jesus at His right hand as Leader and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins.”

We don’t produce repentance first on our own. God gives repentance, also, as His gift. Later on, when Peter was witnessing to non-Jews, Gentiles, and some believed and were baptized, through the Word and baptism, those Jews already believers glorified God and said, “Then to the Gentiles also God has granted (given) repentance that leads to life.” Even repentance is enabled in people as God’s gift. He does the saving work from beginning to end. Our confidence is in Him and His fulfilled promises, in Christ, and through the Holy Spirit.

We could look at more examples from Acts 16, also. In Acts 16:14-15, “The Lord opened Lydia’s heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul, and she and her household were soon baptized, by the grace of God. She did not open her own heart. Later in Acts 16, Paul and Silas are arrested and thrown in prison, unjustly, and were praying and singing hymns, when a great earthquake came. The prison doors were opened, and the bonds on all the prisoners were unfastened. The jailer assumed that all the prisoners had escaped and was about to kill himself rather than be tortured for letting them escape. Paul cried out, “Don’t harm yourself. We are all here.” The jailer must have been listening to Paul and Silas himself, and seeing that they had saved him from taking his own life, he asked what he had to do to be saved, to have what they had. Paul simply said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.” The jailer was already prepared by the Lord through the witness of Paul and Silas. Paul then taught him and his family the Word of God, and they, too, were baptized. The whole family then rejoiced that they had believed in the one true God. Again, it was what God had done, working through the Word of God and songs and baptism to bring this family to faith.

And that is still how God works to this very day. How important the Word of God and Baptism are as the means by which God’s Holy Spirit still works to bring the gifts of repentance and faith to others, as He has done for us. Keep rejoicing in these great gifts and remembering who and what you now are through Jesus and your Baptism.

Preparing for Worship - January 5, 2025

This is the Second Sunday after Christmas, with January 6 as the Epiphany, remembering the coming of the Wise Men, the Magi, led by the star to Jerusalem and then to Bethlehem. The Christmas season then ends, and next week, we begin the Sundays after Epiphany, looking at the ministry of Jesus beginning with His baptism.

The Old Testament lesson tells us of Solomon, King David’s son, who sought to follow the Lord as king and did not ask for personal riches and benefits but for wisdom in governing God’s people and in telling good from evil. God gave him a wise and discerning mind and other blessings but called him to walk in His, the Lord’s, ways. Solomon then made offerings to the Lord before the ark of the covenant in the Tabernacle in Jerusalem. (Sadly, the seeds were already there for Solomon’s drift away from the Lord over time. Already he had married Pharaoh’s daughter for political reasons (1 Kings 3:1) and later married many other women who worshiped false gods and helped turn his heart away from the one true God. He sometimes offered sacrifices at high places of false gods, too. See 1 Kings 11ff. When Solomon died, his kingdom split into two kingdoms, Israel and Judah. There was never again one united earthly kingdom. Our Lord Jesus finally came, of course, from the line of King David, but His kingdom would not be of this world, but in the hearts of those who were brought to listen to His voice and believe in Him as Savior. See John 18:33-37.)

The Psalm is Psalm 119:97-104. The psalmist loves and meditates on God’s Word, including its laws and precepts and testimonies. God’s Words are sweet and give wisdom and understanding. They give more understanding than many teachers and aged people and help us avoid evil and false ways. (The psalmist has to admit also, though, in the last verse of this psalm, Psalm 119:176, “I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek Your servant.” Like all of us, he had not always followed God’s Word and needed His forgiveness and mercy and “longed for His salvation,” which would eventually come in Jesus (Psalm 119:174).)

The Epistle lesson is Ephesians 1:3-14 and is one of the most complete and beautiful descriptions of the Triune God’s saving plan for us and our fallen world. In the Greek, it is one long, complicated sentence describing God’s work for us, for which we bless and praise Him. Before the creation of the world, God knew that we would sin, and yet, in love for us, had a plan for our redemption, choosing us. God the Father, in His glorious grace, sent His “beloved” Son, Jesus Christ, to redeem us through His blood for the forgiveness of our trespasses in the fullness of time. This forgiveness comes to us personally, through the Gospel of our salvation, through the Promised Holy Spirit, as we are brought to faith, to believe in Christ, through God’s Word of Truth and our Baptism. We do not understand how all this can be, but we trust the Triune God’s “purpose, the mystery of His will” and “counsel” and “plan,” centered in Christ. Though heaven and earth will pass away as we know it (Matthew 24:35), our eternal inheritance is guaranteed in Christ and through the Holy Spirit. We can only sing praise to God’s glory!

The Gospel lesson, Luke 2:40-52, takes us now to Jesus going to Jerusalem with His parents, Joseph and Mary, for the Passover Feast. They lost track of Him when the festival was over, and it took a few days to find Him in the temple sitting with the teachers, listening and asking questions. All were amazed at Jesus’ understanding and answers as a twelve-year-old. His parents were astonished, too, and Mary asked why He had treated them this way, giving them “great distress.” (The same word is used to describe the rich man’s “anguish” in hell in Luke 16:24.) Jesus was surprised that they did not realize that He must be in His Father’s house, hearing and discussing God’s Word. They certainly did not understand what He meant by “His Father” and “His Father’s house.” Jesus then willingly went home with Mary and Joseph and was “submissive” to them, as the fourth Commandment requires. We don’t know how much Jesus Himself knew as true man at this point. He was true God and yet also a real human young man, increasing in wisdom and stature and strength, as Luke 2:40 and 52 tell us. He had God’s favor and was doing God’s will in a perfect way, as other Scriptures tell us. (It is hard for us to imagine what a sinless child would be like!) We are also simply told that Mary treasured (kept and considered carefully) these things in her heart. We know little about the years following. Jesus learned Joseph’s trade of being a carpenter. We hear nothing more of Joseph, so many think he then died at an early age, and Jesus took over leadership and support of His family as a carpenter until his public ministry began at about the age of 30. We read that when Jesus came home to Nazareth in Mark 6:1-6, people said, “Where did this man get these things?… Is this not the carpenter, the son of Mary, and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? And are not his sisters here with us?” (These would be the children of Joseph and Mary, born the usual way after the virgin birth of Jesus. See Matthew 1:24-25. Some groups, like the Mormons, say that Jesus traveled to other places, even America, but there is no Biblical basis for that at all. We hear next of Jesus at His baptism by John the Baptist.)

Preparing for Worship - December 29, 2024

This is the First Sunday after Christmas. The focus of the readings turns to the early days after the birth of our Savior Jesus, especially in the Gospel lesson. (We also hear more at the circumcision and naming of Jesus in Luke 2:21 and in the Epiphany story of the coming of the Magi and then the escape to Egypt in Matthew 2:1-23.)

The Old Testament lesson is from Exodus 13:1-3a,11-15 and helps us understand what was going on with the “presentation of Jesus to the Lord” in the Gospel lesson. The last plague that came upon the Egyptians and convinced the Pharaoh to let the Israelites go free was the death of all firstborn males and animals of the Egyptians. The Israelites were spared from this plague by celebrating the Passover meal and putting the blood of the sacrificed lamb on their doorposts. At the same time, this meant that the firstborn males and firstborn animals who were spared belonged to God, set apart for Him. The firstborn male children could be “redeemed,” bought back from God, though, by a sacrifice. These firstborns were still to serve the Lord throughout their lives, but later on, the Levites were chosen to serve the Lord in their place in the Tabernacle and temple. (See Numbers 3:11-13 and 8:16-18.) All this was to be like “marks” or “frontlets” sometimes worn on people, reminding them of God’s rescue of them from Egypt.

The psalm is Psalm 111. The psalmist is not identified but gives thanks to the Lord in a wholehearted way, praising Him, especially for His many works, which benefit His people in so many ways. The psalmist piles up a list of the Lord’s qualities. He is gracious and merciful, faithful and just and trustworthy. He remembers His covenant with His people and sends redemption to them. What He has done is “to be studied and delighted in.” “His righteousness endures forever.”

In the Gospel lesson, Luke 2:22-40, we see that Jesus, even as an infant, is clearly identified as the One sent from God the Father to be the redeeming Savior, as the psalmist hoped for and expected. Jesus was circumcised 8 days after birth (Luke 2:21), but Mary had to wait another 33 days before she and Joseph could go to the temple in Jerusalem for her purification from her time in pregnancy and childbirth. (See Leviticus 12. She and Joseph were very poor people, for only the cheapest animal sacrifice was done for her cleansing and for Jesus to be presented to the Lord as the Firstborn Child and then released back to the family. Jesus, however, would never be released from His service to His heavenly Father. In his perfect life for us and in His death in our place for our sins.)

While they were in the temple, a devout believer, Simeon, was led by the Holy Spirit to come to the temple. He realized that Jesus was the One promised to bring salvation and the Light of Revelation for both Jews and non-Jews. Simeon could now depart this life in peace, for the Savior had finally come, and his own eyes had seen Him. Simeon also needed to predict that Jesus would face opposition and people would rise or fall, depending on whether they would trust in Him (Jesus) or not. Mary would also have a pierced heart because of what would happen, referring especially to the suffering and death of Jesus on the cross.

Another faithful believer, Anna, who had had a difficult life, also came to the temple, trusting the Lord. She, too, realized that Jesus was the Promised Redeemer, and she began to give thanks to God and tell her fellow believers about Him. Later, after the escape to Egypt that Matthew tells about, Joseph, Mary, and Jesus returned to Nazareth in the area of Galilee. And the Lord blessed Jesus, and He grew wise and strong, and the favor of the Lord was upon Him.

The Epistle lesson, Colossians 3:12-17, takes us many years later, after Jesus had lived and died and risen again and completed all of His saving work for the world. Now Paul, a Jewish convert to Christ, writes to fellow believers chosen by the Lord in the city of Colossi. He calls upon them to seek to have Christ-like qualities of compassion and kindness and patience and forgiveness and love in dealing with one another. They would need Christ’s peace in their hearts and His Word living in them richly as they worshiped and sang and taught and served each other and the Lord with thankfulness. In word and deed, they were to speak and act, mindful of Christ and giving thanks to God. None of this could they do on their own, but only as they “continued in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the Gospel which they had heard” (Colossians 1:23). 

Sermon from December 18, 2024

Sermon for December 18, 2024

Based on Psalm 85 - Psalm for the Third Sunday in Advent

Let us pray: Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen. (Psalm 19:14)

(You are encouraged to open up your Bible or Hymnbook to Psalm 85 and follow it, together with me. It is the psalm for the Third Sunday of Advent.)

Many think that Psalm 85 was written after the Babylonian captivity of God’s Old Testament people, the Jews. They had been sinful and rebellious and were worshipping false gods, and God finally allowed the Babylonians to destroy Jerusalem and the temple and carry many people away to Babylon, where some had been captives now for as long as about 70 years.

God had then allowed new leaders to take over Babylon, who permitted the Jews to return to their homeland of Israel. They could say, as the first three verses of Psalm 85 say: “Lord, You were favorable to Your land; You restored the fortunes of Jacob. You forgave the iniquity of Your people; You covered all their sin. You withdrew Your wrath; You turned from Your hot anger.”

God had helped and forgiven and given grace and favor to His people again and again in the past. And now he was giving them His blessing once again in setting them free from captivity. As God had promised through the prophet Jeremiah earlier, “I will satisfy the weary soul, and every languishing soul I will replenish” (Jeremiah 31:25).

Unfortunately, things did not go as expected. Many Jews chose to stay in Babylon or go to other places. Of those who returned to Israel, things were difficult. The people now in control of the land did not want these Jews to come back. We read in the Book of Ezra, “The people of the land discouraged the people of Judah and made them afraid to build and bribed counselors against them to frustrate their purpose” (Ezra 4:4).

It was hard, and the Jews began to focus on themselves and their own survival and forgot the Lord who had rescued them and wanted them also to help rebuild the walls of Jerusalem and especially their house of worship, the temple. We hear this report in Nehemiah, Chapter 1: “The remnant there in the province who had survived the exile is in great trouble and shame. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates are destroyed by fire” (Nehemiah 1:3).

And the Lord God had to speak through the prophet Haggai, saying, “Thus says the Lord of hosts: These people say the time has not yet come to rebuild the house of the Lord... Is it a time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses (meaning that the houses were getting pretty nice and fancy) while this house (of the Lord) lies in ruin?… Consider your ways. You have sown much and harvested little… My house lies in ruin while each of you busies himself with his house. Therefore, the heavens above you withheld the dew, and the earth has withheld its produce. And I have called for a drought on the land” (Haggai 1:2-11). (Notice in the psalm where what is good comes from, in v. 11-12, also, as we will soon hear again - from above.)

The Jewish people finally woke up and realized that only the Lord God could turn things around for them and help them. They cried out for that help and mercy with words like those of our psalm in verses 4-7: “Restore us again, O God of our salvation, and put away Your indignation toward us! Will You be angry with us forever? Will You prolong Your anger to all generations? Will You not revive us again, that Your people may rejoice in You? Show us Your steadfast love, O Lord, and grant us Your salvation.”

The words in v.4, ”Restore us again,” literally mean, “Turn us again, O God of our salvation.” We can’t get this all straightened out on our own. You are going to have to come and help us. And the words in v.6, “Will You not revive us again?” mean that we know that we faint and fail on our own, at times - isn’t that true of all of us, even in our own day? - and that we really need the Lord to lift us up and forgive and save us so that we may rejoice in Him.

God did help a remnant of His Old Testament people, and eventually, the walls of Jerusalem were repaired, and the temple was rebuilt, and people were kept in faith in the Lord and His promises. There were lots of ups and downs as time went on, too. There was a time when some people drifted so far from the Lord that He said, through the prophet Amos, “Behold, the days are coming when I will send a famine on the land - not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the Words of the Lord” (Amos 8:11).

The Word of God was still readily available in the Old Testament, but few people were listening to it, and there were no new messages from the Lord Himself between the end of the Old Testament and the beginning of the New Testament.

But the rest of our psalm is really a prophecy of what God would do in the future, beginning with the event we will celebrate in about a week, the sending and the birth of His own Son, Jesus.

The psalmist says in v.8 of our psalm, “Let me hear what God the Lord will speak, for He will speak” - and He did speak and act for us most clearly in Jesus Christ. The New Testament Book of Hebrews begins, “Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days He has spoken to us by His Son" (Hebrews 1:1-2) - true God, conceived from the power of the Holy Spirit (Matthew 1:20) - “holy, the Son of God” (Luke 1:35) and yet true man, born of the virgin Mary (Matthew 1:21-23). When He was born, “His salvation was near,” as v.9 of our psalm says, “that glory might dwell in Him, in our land, on our earth.” And “He would speak peace” to us and all His people, as v.9 says. As the multitude of angels announced to the shepherds, praising God and saying at His birth, “Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace among those with whom He is pleased” (Luke 2:13-14).

And how are people, including us, pleasing to God? Only through Jesus Christ as our Savior and what he has done for us. In our psalm, in v.10, we hear that “Steadfast love and faithfulness” are personified, “meeting together,” together with “righteousness and peace,” who “kiss each other.” Only in Jesus, true God and true man, are these qualities combined together in a perfect way, in Jesus and what He did for us, in His perfect life, and sacrificial death for us, and His mighty resurrection from the dead.

I don’t think you want to be here all day, but we could look at Scripture after Scripture describing these qualities lived out in Jesus for us. The psalmist says in v.12, “Yes, the Lord will give what is good,” and it came to us, James writes, not from ourselves, but “every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father… Of His own will He brought us forth (to a whole new and eternal life) by the Word of God and through the Word made flesh, our Lord Jesus (James 1:17-18).

Or as our Psalm says in v.11, “Righteousness looks down from the sky,” not from us, and “the Lord will give what is good, in Christ “our Righteousness” (Jeremiah 23:6 and 33:8,14-16). And as v.13 of the psalm says, “Righteousness will go before Him,” before Christ, in and with Him, and make His footsteps a way - in fact, the way to eternal life. As Jesus said, “I am the Way and the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6). And as John wrote in his Gospel, “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth… For from His fullness we have all received, grace upon grace… Grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God; the only God (God the Son) who is at the Father’s side, He has made Him known” (John 1:14-18).

Finally, note that there is one strong word of warning in this psalm, at the end of v.8: “But let them not turn back to folly.” We are only foolish if we stop hearing what the Lord speaks in His Word and seeing the peace we have alone in Christ and His forgiveness and knowing the peace He brings to us in the Lord’s Supper, as well, that we will receive in a few moments.

So, we keep praying, with the psalmist, also: “Restore us, keep turning us again to You, O God of our salvation,” and “revive us,” strengthening us always with Your steadfast love in Christ. Amen.

Preparing for Worship - December 22, 2024

The readings this week bring us even closer to Christmas, with more prophecies of the coming of our Savior. The Psalm is Psalm 80:1-7. The author, Asaph, prays that the Lord will stir up His power and come to save His people. Some think that since three of the Northern tribes of Israel are mentioned, along with Joseph, this psalm may have been written when the Assyrians were conquering the Northern Kingdom, and refugees were fleeing south toward Judah and Jerusalem. Asaph calls three times upon the Lord, enthroned in heaven and appearing in the temple in Jerusalem, to let His face shine so that His people may be saved and restored to Him (v. 3,7,19). See also the blessing from God spoken of in Numbers 6:22-27, which Asaph requests and which is used as the benediction in many of our services. The words of v. 2 may also sound familiar, as they are used in some of the Collects (Prayers) in worship in the Advent season. God’s people especially pray that the Savior Jesus would come and be with us with His saving power always.

The Old Testament lesson is from Micah 5:2-5a. Micah prophesies that from the little town of Bethlehem, a Ruler would come forth who had actually existed from “ancient days." God the Father is called the “Ancient of Days” in Daniel 7:9, and a Son of Man is connected with Him and would be given an everlasting kingdom, in Daniel 7:13-14. This One would come from God when “she who was in labor" (the Virgin Mary) would give birth in Bethlehem to our Savior Jesus, a true “Son of Man” and yet also the true Son of the Lord His God. This One would also shepherd His people in the Lord’s strength and bring them “security” and “peace.” This promise would extend to people everywhere, at all “ends of the earth,” in Christ Jesus our Lord, born in Bethlehem. (See related prophecies in Isaiah 7:14 and 9:6-7 and the fulfillment in Luke 2:1-20.)

The Gospel lesson, Luke 1:39-45 (46-56), takes us to Mary, now expecting the child, Jesus, by the miracle of the Holy Spirit, and going to visit her relative, Elizabeth, who is also expecting a child, John the Baptist. (You can read the background for all this in Luke 1:5-38 and Matthew 1:18-25.) Elizabeth’s baby, John, leaps in her womb at the coming of Jesus, and Elizabeth is moved by the Holy Spirit to speak of Mary being blessed to be chosen to be the mother of her Lord. She also speaks of the blessing of Mary being given the grace to believe that this miracle would happen to and for her and for the world. Mary then speaks a song, now called “The Magnificat,” a song of praise, magnifying God. She knows that the child to be born would be her Savior, too. She is only a poor and humble servant, yet God has done great things for her in His mercy, and all generations would call her blessed, as we still speak of her in our creeds. She seeks to give all the credit to God. The birth of Jesus would be the fulfillment of God’s promise of Jesus, the One through whom all families of the earth would be blessed, through His saving work for all. Mary also seems to know her Scriptures, and/or the Holy Spirit leads her to speak portions of many Old Testament Scriptures in what she says in the Magnificat. Mary stays with Elizabeth for about three months, as they encourage one another. Some think she may have stayed until the birth of John the Baptist. She does return home, as she must get ready for a trip to Bethlehem, where her child Jesus would be born, according to prophecy.

The Epistle lesson is from Hebrews 10:5-10. In this passage, Jesus Himself speaks of why He came into the world - to do the will of His Heavenly Father. He quotes from an Old Testament prophesy where He knows that all the animal sacrifices and other offerings of the Old Testament could not pay for sins. They only prepared the way for the “once for all” sacrifice of Christ’s body, as the true Son of God, but also a real human man. This had all been predicted in Old and New Testament Scriptures, and Jesus forgave our sins and sanctified us, in God’s eyes, through the sacrifice of His own body, bearing our sins and punishment for us, in our place, on the cross. Animal sacrifices and other sacrifices were still being done in the temple by priests, but it was “impossible” for them “to take away sins.” Only Jesus could do what was needed, as He followed the will of His Father and the Holy Spirit, and His own will, through the body prepared for Him in the Christmas miracle. More than 30 difficult years were ahead after that first Christmas, but that plan was perfectly fulfilled for us and our salvation, and with Good News to share with everyone else, in Christ. The Lord’s continued blessings in our Savior.

Preparing for Worship - Sunday, December 15, 2024

This is the Third Sunday of our Advent season, and the readings continue to prepare us for the coming of our Savior Jesus, with all His blessings and hope and strength and guidance for us.

The Psalm is Psalm 85, a psalm of temple singers, the Son of Korah. They know that the Lord had forgiven their sins in the past and had covered over those sins. (See also Jeremiah 31:19-20, 25 and how we also are to forgive others, James 5:20.) Now the psalm writers realize that they and their people are again having trouble in following the Lord and are under His anger and judgment. They pray that the Lord, in His steadfast love, would revive and restore them (literally, “turn them” back to Him and grant them salvation). They know that they also need His intervention so that they do not “turn back to evil folly.” They pray that the Lord, in His mercy, would “speak peace” to His people again. The Lord would have to “give what is good” in His own “steadfast love and faithfulness and righteousness and  peace.” This is prophetic of the coming of God’s own Son, Jesus, to be “our Righteousness” (Jeremiah 23:6, 33:8, 14-16) and “fulfill all righteousness” in our place (Matthew 3:15, 1 Corinthians 1:18-21). In His footsteps is our Way (1 Peter 2:21-25).

The Old Testament lesson, Zephaniah 3:14-20, is also prophetic of the “rejoicing and singing” when “the Lord our God comes into our midst” in the Person of His Son, “a Mighty One who will save” and “take away the judgments against us” because of our sins. He will “save the lame and gather the outcast” and “change our shame into praise.” He will “quiet us with His love” and help us “not to fear” and not to “let our hands grow weak” but “exult in Him.” God’s mighty work in Christ will be a witness to “all the peoples of the earth” and for their benefit, too. One commentator, Franzmann, says that the Lord will act as Judge (v.15) and Warrior (v.17) and the One who loves us (v.17) and our Good Shepherd (v.19-20). What a wonderful prophecy!

The Gospel lesson is from Luke 7:18-35. Jesus, God’s Son, did come, but the one preparing His Way, John the Baptist, had been thrown into prison. John and his followers needed assurance that Jesus really was the Promised One. Jesus lets them see what He had been doing, including the lame walking and good news being preached, even to the poor, and many other miracles - exactly what had been predicted. He encourages all not to be offended, even if He is not doing everything in the way that people expected of Him, especially in His coming suffering and death for our forgiveness and salvation. Jesus also speaks again of John the Baptist, who did faithfully prepare the Way for Him in a “great“ way. Even despised tax collectors and many others could see the justice of God for their needs and were baptized for repentance by John. Sadly, religious leaders and others rejected the purposes of God and would not repent and be baptized. Too many people, Jesus said, were like fickle children, never satisfied with what was happening, with John the Baptist in His strict ways or with Jesus, who ate and drank with joy and sought to be a friend of all, including despised tax collectors and sinners. Jesus was the truly Wise One, doing His Father’s will, in love and care for all since all are sinners. (He demonstrated this in the story that follows, in Luke 7:36-49, forgiving a sinful woman and bringing her salvation, while others rejected Him and His true wisdom and thought they were much better and failed to show love. See how Jesus is described by Paul in 1 Corinthians 1:18-25.)

The Epistle lesson is Philippians 4:4-6. This reading, plus many additional verses, was read in many churches on Thanksgiving Day. The focus here is upon rejoicing in the Lord and all that He has brought to us in His Son, Jesus Christ. We now have peace with God and the peace of God, which goes beyond all that we can see and understand. Our Lord God guards and keeps us in connection with Christ Jesus. He is at hand, with us always, and we can bring our anxieties and needs and requests to Him, along with our praises and thanksgivings, knowing that He truly cares for us, in and through and because of Christ. The word “reasonableness” is also sometimes translated as “forbearance,” the idea of being kind and gentle and yielding toward others. We don’t always have to have our own ways and desires because the Lord knows what is best, and he is working for good as we seek to stay in Christ and His Word. See passages like Titus 3:2, 1 Timothy 3:3, and James 3:13, where the same Greek word is used. We can try to talk with courtesy, without being quarrelsome, with “the meekness of wisdom” that comes from God. We don’t always do it so well, but we try to rely on God and His Word as we speak and on His mercy and forgiveness for us and for others, too. The rejoicing is not in ourselves but in our Lord. He and His Word are our confidence.

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.