Midweek Advent III, 2012
Pastor Gregory L. Jackson
Mid-Week Advent,
Thursday, 7 PM Central
The Hymn # 554 Now Rest Beneath 3:67
The Order of Vespers p. 41
The Hymn # 554 Now Rest Beneath 3:67
The Order of Vespers p. 41
The Psalmody Psalm 100 p.
144
The First Lection
The Second Lection
The Sermon Hymn #94 Hark the Herald Angels 3:19
The First Lection
The Second Lection
The Sermon Hymn #94 Hark the Herald Angels 3:19
Jesus God
and Man
The Prayers and Lord’s Prayer p. 44
The Collect
for Peace p.
45
The
Benediction p. 45
The Hymn
#136 Angels 3:86
Luke 1:26 And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel
was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth, 27 To a virgin
espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the
virgin's name was Mary. 28 And the angel came in unto her, and said,
Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee:
blessed art thou among women. 29 And when she saw him, she was
troubled at his saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this
should be. 30 And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found
favour with God. 31 And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring
forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS. 32 He shall be great, and shall be
called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne
of his father David: 33 And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever;
and of his kingdom there shall be no end. 34 Then said Mary unto the angel, How
shall this be, seeing I know not a man? 35 And the angel answered and said unto
her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow
thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be
called the Son of God.
Jesus God and Man
Luther said, in a brilliant
summary, that all false doctrine breaks down into three categories:
- They attack the humanity of Christ.
- They attack the divinity of Christ.
- They attack justification by faith.
That is important, this summary,
because our hackles should go up when we hear an attack on A, B, or C, no
matter what the source might be.
The Virgin Birth of Christ is
a statement of Christ’s humanity and His divinity. Since this audience is not uncertain
about His divinity or the reality of the Virgin Birth, I will focus on His
humanity.
The actual birth was a major
stumbling block (scandalon – the trip mechanism in a trap, not our definition
of a scandal – something far more dangerous).
The people of the Apostolic
Era had considerable trouble with Christ being truly man, born of a woman,
suffering and dying on the cross.
Although we can certainly
see many miraculous elements of the Virgin Birth, from the conception to the
birth itself, the angels and Wise Men, most of the story reminds us of the humanity
of Jesus and early cross (persecution, slaughter of the innocents).
How does a young maiden answer
to God when the birth of a Savior was announced as a promise to her?
The mythological approach
was to make her as divine and perfect as Christ – the Immaculate Conception of
Mary, the Romanist claim that she was born without any sin, that she never
committed a sin during her lifetime. Her mythical Assumption is another
affirmation of that approach.
Many more mythological
details could be added, and they all add to the claim that Christmas itself is
a myth.
That is why we should never let
any human being get between us and the plain Word of God. Why? Because people
reject the false statements and the truth of the Word at the same time. They
mix the two together and throw both out together.
Joseph and Mary suffered from
this great Promise. Joseph felt compromised and humiliated – to such an extent
that he planned to end the marriage quietly. He was persuaded otherwise by the
angel, but that did not take away his burden. Likewise Mary shared this early cross
to bear, since the Word brings the cross.
Every aspect of the birth of
Jesus was tinged with difficulty, from the journey to Bethlehem to the birth in
the stable. He was not only denied earthly honors but the very men who came to
greet Him (the Wise Men) were placed in great danger.
Note how they escaped and
went back to teach their own people about the Savior they saw.
All this happened so we
would identify with the infant Jesus and see how God was willing to come down
to our level and dwell among us – and the Word became flesh.
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