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The Fourth Sunday in Advent, 2018.

The Fourth Sunday in Advent, 2018

Pastor Gregory L. Jackson

Christmas Eve Service at 7 PM Central Standard Time

Bethany Lutheran Church

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/bethany-lutheran-worship

The Hymn #477                    Lord Jesus Thou             

The Confession of Sins
The Absolution
The Introit p. 16
The Gloria Patri
The Kyrie p. 17
The Gloria in Excelsis
The Salutation and Collect p. 19
The Epistle and Gradual       

The Gospel              

Glory be to Thee, O Lord!
Praise be to Thee, O Christ!
The Nicene Creed p. 22
The Sermon Hymn #90               Come, Your Hearts              

Rejoice! Rejoice!

The Hymn # 103 – Luther          To Shepherds             

The Preface p. 24
The Sanctus p. 26
The Lord's Prayer p. 27
The Words of Institution
The Agnus Dei p. 28
The Nunc Dimittis p. 29
The Benediction p. 31
The Hymn #95                Savior of the Nations              

KJV Philippians 4:4 Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice. 5 Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand. 6 Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. 7 And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

KJV John 1:19 And this is the record of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, Who art thou? 20 And he confessed, and denied not; but confessed, I am not the Christ. 21 And they asked him, What then? Art thou Elias? And he saith, I am not. Art thou that prophet? And he answered, No. 22 Then said they unto him, Who art thou? that we may give an answer to them that sent us. What sayest thou of thyself? 23 He said, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord, as said the prophet Esaias. 24 And they which were sent were of the Pharisees. 25 And they asked him, and said unto him, Why baptizest thou then, if thou be not that Christ, nor Elias, neither that prophet? 26 John answered them, saying, I baptize with water: but there standeth one among you, whom ye know not; 27 He it is, who coming after me is preferred before me, whose shoe's latchet I am not worthy to unloose. 28 These things were done in Bethabara beyond Jordan, where John was baptizing.

Fourth Sunday In Advent

Lord God, heavenly Father, it is meet and right that we should give thanks unto Thee, that Thou hast given us a more glorious baptism than that of John the Baptist, and hast therein promised us the remission of sins, the Holy Spirit, and everlasting life through Thy Son, Jesus Christ: Preserve us, we beseech Thee, in such faith in Thy grace and mercy, that we may never doubt Thy promise, but be comforted by the same in all temptations: and grant us Thy Holy Spirit that we may renounce sin, and ever continue in the righteousness bestowed upon us in baptism, until by Thy grace we obtain eternal salvation, through the same, Thy beloved Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, one true God, world without end. Amen.

Background for Sermon

Lenski, p. 698:

Luke tells the story of the founding of the church in Philippi (Acts 16:18, etc.). The first convert, Lydia, seems from the very beginning to have made this church liberal and generous in appreciation of Paul's work. After her baptism she insisted on lodging Paul and his assistants in her home. Prompted by the same spirit, this church soon sent gifts to Paul who was then in Thessalonica (Phil. 4:15, 16); the present epistle returns thanks for a gift sent by the Philippian church by the hand of Epaphroditus while Paul was in Rome. Now that Paul's appeal to the emperor is in process of being heard, this gift helped to increase his joy. The church had grown and prospered. We learn of no disturbance that was due to either persecution or aberration in doctrine and in life.

Although Paul is in prison and facing a death sentence, he encouraged the Philippians to rejoice. The times of greatest trial encourage Gospel proclamations because our citizenship is in heaven, so we do not cling to what is temporary. Paul - like Stephen - made martyrdom to be seen as a great honor. In the Gospel of John, faith and witness (martyr - Greek) always go together. When someone has faith in the Savior, telling the truth is a necessity. Some groups try to connect this witnessing with obligation or scoring points, but instead witnessing is energized by the Gospel and happens freely and without hesitation.

I have noticed that people can be asked specific questions and they will answer truthfully, even when those answers indict them as false teachers. If someone is pontificating about a topic and seems to be off-base, I simply ask them the defining questions of the Virgin Birth and the actual (note - actual) resurrection of Christ. Both questions pin them down about the divinity of Christ and the truthfulness of the Scriptures (in their eyes). I say "actual" resurrection because some want to make it an experience that never really happened - often talking about the "Easter-faith" of the disciples. 

Some clergy will lie about going to Fuller Seminary but they do not have a script for denying their dogmas. In my experience, people tell the truth when asked about beliefs.

We can never prepare enough for good or bad news, so we should have a unshakeable foundation when there are sudden changes or long-term dramatic changes. For good news, people are all too anxious to credit themselves for making great choices when a slight alteration of events might have changed everything for the worse. In public life, it is called "reading your own PR releases," where the goodness and wisdom of the featured person is exaggerated beyond credibility. I used to predict football games by the amount of glowing reviews before the game. The team, college or pro, was divinely destined to wind, because they had the best of everything and were undefeated - and had a Heisman winner on the team - and were interviewed to exhaustion before the game. A reader code-named 29A still laugh about the game where everything came together and the Big 10 team was smashed by unknowns. The object of the worshipful coverage came out on the field stone cold and soon became mixed up, gloomy, and fatalistic. 

I met one man who seemed so negative. His adult son said, "I am glad Dad heard your sermon. He once had $22 million and lost it all, never recovered." he identified with his wealth and could not reconcile that with all his losses. In that respect, extended good news can be far more damaging than bad news.

No one is prepared for bad news. We have seen many kinds, because of members, social media friends, and online students. However, this is the result of bad news for Christian believers - it takes away our focus on the material and makes us thing about spiritual blessings and how they come about. The largest becomes the smallest and the seemingly minor things (to others) are dominant.

When Paul was arrested, he faced a very tough life in Roman prisons. Some think he had another missionary journey. The New Testament is not clear, because its topic Jesus, not Paul. But we do know that arrest and the threat of death led Paul to address the eternal rather than the material. That is why Philippians is called The Epistle of Joy.

Rejoice! Rejoice!

KJV Philippians 4:4 Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice.

Luther:

2. Joy is the natural fruit of faith. The apostle says elsewhere (Galatians 5:22-23): “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, meekness, self-control.” Until the heart believes in God, it is impossible for it to rejoice in him. When faith is lacking, man is filled with fear and gloom and is disposed to flee at the very mention, the mere thought, of God. Indeed, the unbelieving heart is filled with enmity and hatred against God. Conscious of its own guilt, it has no confidence in his gracious mercy; it knows God is an enemy to sin and will terribly punish the same.

This famous passage begins with two imperatives, Rejoice always, and again Rejoice!

Unbelievers are not jolly. Even though they might wear the label Christian - or even Lutheran - they are deadly serious, quite grumpy, and unlikely to appreciate a joke. 

If they cling to false doctrine, they put themselves into dead peril. One error leads to another and soon the tiny filaments of faith are lost too. Without trust in the Means of Grace, and individual loses grace and enters the realm of sin, judgment, despair, and foreboding. 

Through faith in the Gospel, God renews our spirits with forgiveness, which shows us His grace. 

The Gospel Word is essential, because 

1. it heals our past, 
2. energizes our present, and 
3. prepares us for the future.

The Gospel Heals Our Past

God heals us two ways, by forgiving our sins and wiping them out forever. That gives us the motivation and reason to forgive others. Both kinds of unforgiveness will weigh us down. "The guilty flee when no one pursues." If we keep going back to blame others for harm in the past, we dwell in that and live in that. We should definitely avoid toxic people, and there is no reason to pronounce forgiveness on the unrepentant - that only hardens their hearts. But Paul is an example of seeing the worst of outcomes as a reason for rejoicing, because that thin veil that separates us from eternal life was opening before him. And he could see the results of proclaiming the Gospel.

The Gospel Energizes Our Present

The utility company does not "turn on the electricity" after an outage. They like to say, "The lines are energized." That verb is from the Greek for "working in." The Gospel works in our present and gives us the power and motivation to spread the Word in various ways. Someone gave me the three-volume What Luther Says when I was first ordained. I have the beat up set, which was the beginning, with Luther's Sermons, of all the quotations I gathered.

When I think about the work ahead for doing more of this, I think of that one present, how valuable that was over the years, helping me think through the various issues.

The Gospel energizes our present by making us thankful for what God has given us, all of which makes us what we are today. The spiritual opposition is far more valuable in teaching us than spiritual harmony, which we certainly can enjoy. As beginners we wonder, Why do people want to upset the apple-cart and act like demons of hate? Eventually, with enough study of the Word, we see that is the sign of the Gospel's success. Luther explained it well.

The Gospel Prepares Us for the Future

Wherever we are at the moment, the past has prepared us for that life. We do not know it at the time. But later, it dawns on us, "The ship away from Ninevah has tossed us to the whale going to Ninevah, and here we are."

5 Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand. 

This word moderation is difficult at first but makes sense when examined. It is more like forbearance or yielding - not insisting on our own way. If we act with the strictest justice, we can cause the most injury. Sometime we realize that we have been too insistent on something very minor, and the other has given way without a protest. That makes us more willing to be yielding too. That spreads as surely as staking out claims and cries of justice. As we always said as kids, "That's not fair." My answer to that cry of outrage was, "Quote President Carter. Life's not fair. Unquote." That was met with additional complaints. "How sharper than a serpent's tooth is an ungrateful child. King Lear."  Response - I never want to hear that again.

In an unusual best-seller, My Utmost for His Highest, the author said, reflecting this message - "The Christian life is not one of claiming rights but giving up rights." The source of those meditations was a minor post in Egypt, of all places. But where will the great books of tomorrow come from? Harvard, Yale, Princeton, ND? They wear soft robes and march with great solemnity.

We are always near Judgment Day, one way or another. The Lord is at hand. What value is anything material or any earthly honor? We watched a show where someone got a singular honor from the Masonic Lodge in England, which was shown to be fading. We both asked, "That is a big deal?" It depends on where our values are. Jesus spoke about treasures in heaven, something that comes up in Gerhardt's hymns. His treasures were in heaven so we sing his hymns all the time, and the ones which are not his are influenced by him in a singular way.

6 Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. 

Careful has changed a bit in meaning, but started as full of care, but we can easily say - Do not be anxious about anything. At the same time, Paul urges people to make known their requests to God. A pattern of prayer will show over time that God takes the care away by taking care of many important details in our lives. Prayer is based on trust in the Gospel, and prayer increases that trust, not only in the great challenges of life, but the ordinary details as well. I could not imagine how the 8 volumes of Luther could get done in the midst of everything else. And I wanted to go to Megiddo and swear, "Never again." And then another Luther project started, and it is close to being done.

7 And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

Luther:

40. This peace of God is beyond the power of mind and reason to comprehend. Understand, however, it is not beyond man’s power to experience - to be sensible of. Peace with God must be felt in the heart and conscience. How else could our “hearts and minds” be preserved “through Christ Jesus”? To illustrate the difference between the peace of God and the peace comprehensible by reason: They who know nothing of fleeing to God in prayer, when overtaken by tribulation and adversity and when filled with care and anxiety proceed to seek that peace alone which reason apprehends and which reason can secure. But reason apprehends no peace apart from a removal of the evil. Such a peace does not transcend the comprehension of reason; it is compatible with reason. They who pray not, rage and strive under the guidance of reason until they obtain a certain peace by fraudulent or forcible removal of the evil. Just as the wounded seeks to be healed. But they who rejoice in God, finding their peace in him, are contented. They calmly endure tribulation, not desiring what reason dictates as peace - removal of the evil. Standing firm, they await the inner strength wrought by faith. It is not theirs to inquire whether the evil will be short or long in duration, whether temporal or eternal; they give themselves no concern on this point, but ever leave it to God’s regulation.

Understanding is an important word in Paul's letters. We are to use our education and knowledge, not judge everything by our emotions, which are unreliable and volatile. The peace that God gives us is far beyond human understanding, and yet we can see it is one of the primary fruits of the Spirit.

This verse is called the Votum because it is a prayer, often used to end a sermon (in a liturgical church). So this is Paul's prayer for his members in Philippi and a pastor's prayer too.