Sermon 12052012 Advent 2 Mid-Week

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be pleasing in Your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer.  AMEN.

Let us pray! Gracious Heavenly Father, You sent Your angel to proclaim the fulfillment of Elizabeth and Zacharias heartfelt desire for a child, but our human condition of doubt entered into the equation.  May we not doubt Your promises, but believe, for You are unchangeable in Your divine will to set us free from our sins by sending our Savior, Your Son, Jesus Christ.  May our hearts continue to be prepared for Jesus coming as foretold by John the Baptist, the son of Elizabeth and Zacharias for all of us saints gathered here at Emmanuel.  AMEN.

In years past if someone were given the moniker “Pious”, it was usually greatly misunderstood.  If you were to use it in church circles, people considered that this person was ‘better’ than everyone else, even ‘closer to God’.  Yet tonight we encounter Elizabeth and Zacharias who were well known for their piety and devotion early in the New Testament.  Zacharias was devoted as a priest in the temple and Elizabeth was a good wife of her husband, both of them were good Jews.  Not unlike some couples today, Elizabeth and Zacharias wanted children and for years were not blessed with children’s pitter patter of little feet around the house.  They doubted they would ever have children.

Enter the angel of the Lord.  As we heard last week the angel while Zacharias was performing his priestly duties in the Temple saw the angel of the Lord.  And Zacharias was told of a child to be born to him and Elizabeth.  How does Zacharias respond, not with “Alleluia’s”, but with clear doubt saying, “How will I know this for certain?”  It is clear that Zacharias has human doubts and these cloud even the vision of an angel standing in front of him in God’s house around His altar.  Since Zacharias doubts even the angel of God, known as Gabriel, there are clear consequences that he will endure, he will be silent, unable to speak, but God though He could have, does not withdraw His promise through Gabriel of a son to be born to Elizabeth and Zacharias after such a long period of being childless.

We are no different today.  We have clear promises from God to us through His Word of the coming of our Savior, Jesus Christ.  Even when we doubt, God can and does accomplish His plans through us.  God still fulfills and reveals His glory to and for each of us today.  But there is a cost for our doubt, just as Zacharias found out in doubting the angel Gabriel and the plans of God.  We today sometimes doubt God’s potential provision, action and involvement here at Emmanuel, whether it was funding a Pastor full-time, getting enough money to make the church more energy efficient or even expanding the work of the church in the community, we honestly doubt God’s action and what can be done.  We pay the price for it, but in walking out in faith and not fear God will bless us and come in a most wonderful way.

For Elizabeth and Zacharias it would be the birth of their son, John the Baptist, who would herald the Savior by ‘preparing the royal highway’.  God still fulfilled His plan through these two pious servants for all of us today.  And God will fulfill His plan in the life of Emmanuel as well. 

We as God’s people are enabled by God to understand His divine will more fully as we tell and retell these stories of God’s action in the life of people like Elizabeth and Zacharias.  For we tonight continue to prepare our hearts, souls and spirits for the coming of the Savior Jesus Christ for all of mankind, not doubting God, but understanding that all of us saints gathered here at Emmanuel are included in the preparation of our lives for the fulfillment of the promises of God of His Son and our Savior, Jesus Christ.  AMEN.

Sermon 12022012 Advent 1

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be pleasing in Your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer.  AMEN.

Let us pray!  Jesus Christ, the Lord Our Righteousness as we enter a new church year enable our hearts to hear clearly the Gospel of our salvation brought by Your death on Calvary for us.  Allow us as we prepare our homes and hearts to prepare again for our celebration of Your entrance in Bethlehem.  For You are our righteous branch and will reign as king, not only of the World but of our hearts and souls that You won on Calvary.  For You offer us the greatest gift of salvation freely for all of mankind including all of the saints gathered here at Emmanuel this morning.  AMEN.

In the recent movie Brave it is clear that the Queen ‘runs the kingdom’.  When the clans are gathered together in the great chamber to present the ‘suitors’ for Princes Merida’s hand, the Queen while chaos and fighting are ensuing around her walks through the upheaval and upon reaching her husband and the other leaders of the clans brings order from chaos and restores a clear sense of order.

This morning as we gather at the beginning of another church year, we have the opportunity to bring order from the chaos that surrounds us in the world around us.  Christmas decorations have been in Wal-Mart since before Halloween, ads for the great sales have been assaulting our minds on television, radio and the internet for weeks.  And no longer is there an anticipation of the real reason for the Christmas season, but a dread hoping that it would be over quickly so we can return to the stress free life of family not hovering around, meals that have to be prepared a certain way and the travel required to see everyone..

Our dread over the seasons is a result of our society overtaking the sacredness of the seasons from the church.  We as a church have allowed and catered to society, even though we live in this world, but we should not be ‘of this world’.  Jeremiah the prophet from our Old Testament lesson this morning prophecies clearly about the coming of something greater for all of mankind including we today here in Goodland, KS.  Jeremiah says “⁵ “Behold, the days are coming,” declares the Lord, “When I will raise up for David a righteous Branch; And He will reign as king and act wisely And do justice and righteousness in the land.”  This prophecy of a ‘righteous branch’ is clearly about Jesus Christ Who will come as King and act wisely.  The Gospel we heard this morning is from Palm Sunday.  The expectation was the fulfillment of Jeremiah that Jesus riding on a colt, the foal of the donkey would be ‘crowned King’.  But unlike the events that followed Jesus triumphal entry, Jesus crown was not of gold, but of thorns that cut His brow and ultimately resulted in His innocent death on Calvary.

The first century society expected Jesus to radically change the outcome of persecution that was occurring in that day and age.  But the prophecy of Jeremiah was larger than what they could imagine.  Jesus would radically change their perspective, but it wasn’t what they understood that would change.  Jeremiah continues, “⁶ “In His days Judah will be saved, And Israel will dwell securely; And this is His name by which He will be called, ‘The Lord our righteousness.’”  Jesus entrance into Jerusalem would herald His being the ultimate sacrifice for all of mankind.  Jesus Christ with the title, “The Lord our righteousness” would save Judah and all of mankind.  Jesus Christ would save them and us not from the rulers of the time, the sales at Wal-Mart, Target or any of the on-line merchants, but from the sin that pervaded the people’s lives including ours today.  Jesus in, through and by His death on Calvary would set mankind free from sin, death, the devil, hell and damnation.

This is what we are preparing for as we begin our Advent pilgrimage, the ultimate sacrifice of “The Lord our righteousness”, Jesus Christ.  But ultimately the responsibility of change in each of us will only come as a result of our believing that Jesus Christ came to set us free.  We will not be free from the bonds that society tries to place us under until we change ourselves, but this only occurs through the work of the Holy Spirit.  It is only by God’s work in our lives that we will be changed.  Now you would rightly say, how can we change a society, we in and of ourselves are unable to do this, but God working through us is able to change society.  We do this by remembering the real reason for the season, preparing our hearts, souls and spirits for the entrance of a Babe in Bethlehem.

For in our preparing the church for the celebration of Jesus Birth, in our preparing our homes for the mystery of a Babe wrapped in swaddling clothes and our preparing our hearts for the entrance of Jesus Christ we will be changed and society through us will be changed.  We will not be able to see the change, but God will make the change in His time.  The prophecy and promises are clear for us today through Jeremiah the prophet that “The Lord our Righteousness” comes to set us free to be the people of God.  This is the promise we are not only told of, but are participants of and included in for all of mankind, including all of us saints that are gathered here at Emmanuel this morning as we begin our Advent pilgrimage.  AMEN.

Sermon 11282012 Mid-Week Advent 1

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be pleasing in Your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer.  AMEN.

Let us pray!  Almighty God our Heavenly Father, as we enter the Advent season, prepare our hearts for the entrance of Your Son and our Savior Jesus Christ.  The prophets foretold of His coming and we have heard the stories, but let our receipt of the story this year overcome us and grip us so we may embrace not only the story, but our Savior with new found passion and expectation.  We ask this trusting in the grace offered to all the characters of Advent, but especially Zacharias who speaks to us tonight for all of us saints here at Emmanuel.  AMEN.

Recently we were in Colorado Springs visiting my brother and his family. My niece Abigail and her brother Ethan are great cousins, because they play with Sarah and treat her not only like part of the family, but as a big kid.  Well, Abigail’s room is on the top floor and I wanted to go and see what Sarah, Abigail and Ethan were getting into.  From the other side of the door, I could hear Sarah talking, so I quietly snuck up to the door and began to open it.  As soon as I had started pushing the door Sarah heard it and came to see what was happening with the door.  No sooner had I started to open it then she popped her head around it and I said, ‘boo’.  From the look in her eyes I could tell, she was not only startled, but gripped, not by fear, because she recognized me, but that innocent joy that children have.

This evening, unlike Sarah, we hear of a man named Zacharias.  He was not just a priest, but a man who would hear a promise made to him and his wife.  While completing his priestly duties around the altar of the Lord, “an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing to the right of the altar of incense.”  In Zacharias day and age, it was uncommon for angels to appear unless they had a specific purpose to fulfill given to them by God.  So at this time, “¹² Zacharias was troubled when he saw the angel, and fear gripped him.”  Not like Sarah who knew her father by sight, Zacharias was fearful, because he did not recognize the angel of the Lord.

The angel spoke clearly and directly to the fear Zacharias felt saying, “Do not be afraid, Zacharias, for your petition has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you will give him the name John.”  This is the beginning of the fulfillment of God’s plan of salvation of mankind.  God through His holy angel is telling Zacharias that not only has God heard his petition, God is fulfilling His prayerful desire for his wife Elizabeth and him.

John, his son, who will be born to him and Elizabeth, “will be great in the sight of the Lord; and he will drink no wine or liquor, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit while yet in his mother’s womb. ¹⁶ And he will turn many of the sons of Israel back to the Lord their God.”  This promise of John’s birth is not just a fulfillment of a promise, but has a purpose ordained by God.  The angel continues about John, “¹⁷ It is he who will go as a forerunner before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers back to the children, and the disobedient to the attitude of the righteous, so as to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.””  John has his work cut out for him, John will come before the promised Messiah to turn the heart of man and prepare the people for the Lord.  That is his job, his calling and his purpose.

But of what consequence is that for us today this Advent 2012?  You see Zacharias for some is an inconsequential character, but for us today he models clearly that God can, does and will answer our prayers.  When our desires and prayers are for God’s glory, God reveals to us not only His foreknowledge of what would occur, but how God reveals and makes happen the plans for all of humanity of what His Son and our Savior Jesus Christ would fulfill with His birth in Bethlehem.  John was not only a ‘forerunner’, but a ‘banner bearer’ of Jesus Christ.  John’s birth was to come before Jesus and prepare the people for the message of salvation that they would hear, see and experience in Jesus Christ.  Just as farmers prepare the soil for planting the winter wheat, spring corn or any crop, John came to prepare the soil of our hearts for the coming of the Savior.  And here and now Zacharias was the recipient of the promise made to him by the angel of the Lord.  Hence we tonight, who have heard this message again, can begin to break the dry dusty ground of our hearts and prepare our hearts, souls and spirits for the coming of the Messiah for all of us saints gathered here at Emmanuel this evening, just as  Zacharias heart was opened to the fulfillment of his petition.  This is the promise through Zacharias that we are a part of because of our baptism into Jesus Christ birth for all of us saints gathered here this evening.  AMEN.