The Second-Last Sunday of the Church Year – Pr. Faugstad sermon
Text: 2 Chronicles 36:11-21
In Christ Jesus, who came into the world, yet the world did not know Him, who came to His own, and His own people did not receive Him (Joh. 1:10-11), but who still, by His grace, gave Himself humbly for the sins of all people, for your sins and mine, dear fellow redeemed:
As we review the history of the kings of Judah, it is strange to see how often the throne flip-flopped between good kings and bad kings. Ahaz was a wicked king, and he was followed by Hezekiah who “did what was right in the eyes of the LORD” (2Chr. 29:2). Hezekiah’s son Manasseh was a wicked king before the LORD humbled him and led him to repentance. After him came Amon, a wicked king. He was followed by Josiah, a good king. Josiah’s sons once again pursued wickedness after him.
So why did it so often happen that a son did not follow his father, either in doing what was right or in doing what was wicked? The reason that some sons did not follow the wicked example of their fathers is because God was merciful to His people and continued to raise up good kings to call the people back to the worship of the true God.
On the other hand, it is troubling that so many sons did not follow the example of their faithful fathers. Was it because the fathers ruled the kingdom well but failed to lead and guide their households? Or was it because the times of peace and prosperity under faithful kings led their sons to become complacent and proud? We can imagine both to be true.
We fathers know well our own failures in teaching the truth to our kids. We might excuse ourselves for our past failures because we had too much work to do. Or maybe we were so caught up in our hobbies and leisure activities that we told ourselves we didn’t have time to lead our families in the Word of God. God’s command to fathers is clear and convicting: “Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord” (Eph. 6:4).
Even when fathers lead their households well, it can happen that their children forsake the truth and chase after the false promises of the world. These children take the peace and prosperity of their Christian home for granted. Instead of seeing the blessings God gave them in the home, they only see barriers to their personal happiness and fulfillment. It is ever the case that the younger generation is critical about the older generation. “We could do it better,” they say. “When we are older, we won’t make the mistakes our parents did.” And maybe they won’t, but they will certainly make new ones.
Despite the clear evidence of God blessing the faithful kings before him, the last king before Jerusalem was destroyed, King Zedekiah, “did what was evil in the sight of the LORD his God.” He disregarded the words of the LORD’s prophet Jeremiah and “did not humble himself.” He rebelled against King Nebuchadnezzar, to whom he had sworn allegiance. “He stiffened his neck and hardened his heart against turning to the LORD, the God of Israel” and would not repent of his wrongs, and he led the people of Judah to do the same.
“He stiffened his neck and hardened his heart” against the LORD. Those are strong words! The head and the heart go together, don’t they? Zedekiah would not listen to the LORD’s Word and humble himself. He would not bow to the LORD’s will but went in a different direction. He would not turn his face from evil; he pursued it with all his heart.
We can relate to this sinful stubbornness. We have behaved like this more times than we can count. Maybe your parents or other superiors told you not to do something, so it made you want to do it even more. There was no fun in being good, so you pursued what was evil. No one was going to tell you what to do or not do. You were going to do what you wanted. If anyone didn’t like it, that was their problem. You made up your mind, so nothing would stop you from going through with it—stiff neck, hard heart.
But what did those times of sinful stubbornness get us? We acted and spoke in pride, but are we proud of what we’ve done? There is so much we wish we could undo and take back. That humble assessment of the sins of our past is a true gift from God. He is constantly calling us back from the sinful paths we’ve taken and away from our bad choices. In love, He wants to lead us to repent of our wrongs and to trust in His mercy and grace.
This is what He wanted for the people of Judah. He “sent persistently to them by His messengers, because He had compassion on His people and on His dwelling place.” He wanted to save them. He wanted them to be His own and live under Him in His kingdom (Second Article Explanation). He wanted to lead them in faith from this life to eternal life with Him in heaven. But how did they respond to His gracious call? “[T]hey kept mocking the messengers of God, despising His words and scoffing at His prophets.” They rejected God’s Word, so they were also rejecting God’s goodness and life.
This is nothing but pride. It is saying that I know better how to live my life, than God knows who gave me life, provides for my life, and preserves my life. Talk about ungratefulness to the extreme! God does not reward this; He opposes it. We see this in God handing over His prideful people to the Babylonians. Many of the people were slaughtered, Jerusalem was burned to the ground, and all the treasures of the temple and the kingdom were hauled away.
Proverbs 16:18 says, “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.” This is why Jesus will reject the goats at His left hand, the unbelievers, on the Day of Judgment. In their pride, they did not fear, love, and trust in the true God. And because they rejected Him, they neither loved Him nor their neighbor as they were commanded to do.
“But Lord,” they will cry, “when did we see You hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to You? If we knew You needed help, we would have helped You!” (Mat. 25:44). He will reply that they were only ever concerned about themselves: “as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me” (v. 45). No matter how outwardly good and charitable they appeared to be, “without faith it is impossible to please God” (Heb. 11:6).
The reverse is also true: “With faith it is impossible not to please God.” You, dear child of God, are pleasing to Him, though you might wonder how this could be. You remember the stiff-neck, hard-heart episodes; how in your pride, you didn’t want to admit your wrongs. You think of how you have taken God’s gifts for granted and been so ungrateful toward Him, how you have fallen short in your callings to your family, friends, and neighbors. How could you be pleasing to God?
You are pleasing to Him not because of what you have done for Him or others, but because of what He has done for you. He has redeemed you, a lost and condemned creature, purchased and won you from all sins, from death, and from the power of the devil. The price for your soul could not be covered by anything you might do or pay, not by a billion good works or by all the gold and silver in the world.
You could not do it, so Jesus humbled Himself for you. The Son of God took “the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (Phi. 2:7-8). He redeemed you with His life of perfect obedience to God, with His holy, precious blood, and with His innocent suffering and death (Second Article Explanation).
He did this for you, and the Holy Spirit has given you faith to believe it. One of the gifts that comes with faith is humility. How can I be proud when I hear that Jesus took all my wretchedness and transgression on Himself, every sordid sin, and paid for it as though it were His? How can I be proud when I know that He suffered eternal death and hell in my place to win for me eternal life? How can I be proud when I learn that He chose me by grace to be His own and that He brought me to faith by the power of His Word?
This same powerful Word that brought you to faith is what keeps you humble before Him and equips you for humble service to others. As true as it is that “God opposes the proud,” which sometimes means you and me, it is also true that He “gives grace to the humble” (1Pe. 5:5). He looks with favor upon you. He knows how you are weak, and how you don’t always do the things you want to do or should do. He does not turn His back on you or push you away from Him.
He says, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Mat. 11:28), and “whoever comes to me I will never cast out” (Joh. 6:37). And when you stand before His throne of judgment on the last day, He will say, “Come, you who are blessed by My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world” (Mat. 25:34). This is all grace, undeserved love.
Grace cannot be earned; it can only be received in humility. The LORD has looked with favor on you. He has chosen you. He has saved you. There is no other response, nothing more to say, than: Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, forevermore. Amen.
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(picture from “The Last Judgment” by Fra Angelico, c. 1395-1455)
The Annunciation of Our Lord – Vicar Anderson sermon
Text: St. Luke 1:26-38
In Christ Jesus, where at the end of the season of Lent we get this taste of Christmas, an announcement of why your Savior was born for you, dear fellow redeemed:
There are many ways in which you can find information. Many surf social media. Some watch the news on the TV. What I have learned living in New Hampton is: You must read the newspaper. If you want to be in the know, you just read it. How else will you know what is happening with the county? Now the newspaper can be used for many different announcements. It can be used to announce weddings, funerals, anniversaries, and the like. How about using an angel? Now that would be a statement! And what kind of announcement comes from an angel? Well, it must be something special. When God wants to announce something important, He sends His messengers. Today we celebrate a special announcement. The time has come! God announces His promise for all, the promise of a Savior—true God and true Man.
This special announcement of the Christ’s coming is always celebrated on March 25th. There are a few reasons why that is. This is the day of Jesus’ conception in Mary’s womb. He was conceived at God’s command. A great miracle. Then do some simple math and add nine months to the date. Nine months from now we are celebrating the birth of our Savior. The date of Christmas came later, though, and this is not why the early Christians settled on March 25th. They were looking at the incarnation for a different reason. In Jewish tradition, it was thought that the great prophets died on the same calendar day that they had been conceived. The early Christian church identified the date of Jesus’ death as March 25th. That is one of the first things they celebrated and held as important. We see that important connection too. The reason that Jesus is born is so that He can die.
That reason was even tied up in His name. Mary is told the name she is supposed to give her son. She is to give Him the name Jesus. Jesus means God saves. The prophet Isaiah also prophesied the importance of today. “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel” (Isaiah 7:14.) Immanuel means God with us, and today we see it so clearly. The closest God can be with us is when He comes in the flesh. Gabriel announces God’s plan, His promise to send His son down from heaven and it is happening. “But she [Mary] was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be.”
Like Mary, we would be afraid to see the power of God. The Power of God means He sees and knows all our sins. The world depicts angels as gentle people or even tender babies. But Scripture describes them differently. When angels appear, people are often terrified. God is called the LORD of Armies. This angel is bringing a message directly from God. Would we want to hear that message? We would be troubled seeing their power as we are sinful creatures. They dwell in God’s presence.
But Gabriel told Mary not to be afraid, because she had found favor with God. Found with favor, yet she was still troubled. That is what we want to have, favor with God. The question is how do we find it? Do we look at God’s favor as something we earn, or something we are freely given? Our sinful nature likes to think that we can find favor with God by our efforts. Our pride works hard to earn His favor. Whether we are trying to move up the corporate ladder or be accepted by our friends, our ambitions might not be in the right place. As we look to serve ourselves, we forget that everything we do should be in service to God. We forget the very first commandment of what we are to do. We are to love God with all our heart, soul, and mind. Because we have failed to do this, there is no favor found here.
In our sins, it is impossible to find favor with God. We can’t have favor with the world and favor with God at the same time. We like to be of the world. We want to find favor in the world. Doing so causes us to sin in ways for us to find that favor. The world wants us to be more accepting. It wants us to accept everyone’s sins. When we give into that pressure, usually we do it because we might be engaged in those same sins. We might not realize it before it is too late. Do we give up our sins when they are brought out into the light? Do we double down to try and get our way? To find favor in the world, we find our own destruction.
When God sent Gabriel to Mary, He was announcing the keeping of His promise. This promise is THE promise made in the Garden of Eden. The promise was repeated to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The promise was prophesied about by the prophets. King David heard directly that, “your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever” (2 Samuel 7:16.) Years and years go by, building up to this important moment. It is time for God to keep His promise, which means the child that Mary had, that she conceived, His job was to grow up, suffer and die for you.
Jesus is the promised Savior. He is conceived at the speaking of God’s Word, and then He is born. This miracle shows that all things are possible with God. We never have to doubt God. This singular date brings together both holidays that the Christian church loves. We have the joy of Christmas knowing that the somberness of Good Friday is around the corner. Jesus’ birth is only one step of His humiliation. He must be born to die for you. His death on the cross cleanses you of your sins and with His rising from the grave, another miracle assures you that your sins are gone. Your favor is found in Christ death and resurrection.
Thankfully our favor with God is not up to us. There is only one person who can have perfect favor with God. That person not only is man, but He is also God. That is who Jesus is, true God and true man. He perfectly finds favor with His Heavenly Father. We hear the Father say how much favor Jesus has. He says, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:17.) Jesus does His Father’s will. He knew that this is why He was sent here. Only He can willingly obey the law in our place. Only He can willingly die in our place. Jesus’ death and resurrection saves everyone because when God the Father looks at us, He sees the life that Christ lived.
We now have favor with God because Jesus lived the life that we couldn’t. This announcement comes directly to you every day. As we fall flat on our faces and the world looks to convince us that we must find favor with it in order to live, this announcement comes to you with forgiveness because you hear the Son of God comes to save you.
God announces His promise for all to hear. First Mary hears it announced directly to her. That she was picked to be the bearer of the Christ child. You hold onto this announcement by faith in the Savior. Faith that is from the work of the Holy Spirit in you. This announcement comes to you through the hearing and reading of the Word. You hear the Words of God as He announces His coming Son to save all of mankind. He is born to die for the sins of the world. He is the Word made flesh. This is the joy that you have. God keeps his promises. He says nothing is impossible with Him. Since we were condemned because of our sins, God sent a Savior. Mary conceives Jesus by the Holy Spirit. Your Salvation came down from heaven.
The angel tells you what Jesus’ job is here on earth. “He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” He will reign forever, and you inherit His kingdom because of what He did for you. You couldn’t earn God’s favor but you have God’s favor because Christ earned it for you. God announces His promise for you.
An announcement for the ages. It wasn’t found online or in the newspaper. This announcement came from a special messenger directly from God. Mary heard the ultimate news. Her Savior was sent for her, and she would be the one to give birth to Him. We see abundantly clear that God keeps His promises. This was the ultimate promise. Eve was promised that her seed would crush Satan’s head. Jesus is the promised seed. His mission was simple. He lived a perfect life to die. Today we celebrate Jesus’ incarnation. In less than two weeks we remember His death. As one of our Christmas hymns says: “Nails, spear shall pierce Him through, The cross be borne for me, for you; Hail, hail the Word made flesh, The Babe, the Son of Mary!” (145:2 Evangelical Lutheran Hymnary). Amen.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, forevermore. Amen.
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(picture from “The Annunciation” by Toros Taronetsi, 1323)