The Fourth Sunday in Advent, 2019
Pastor Gregory L. Jackson
Christmas Eve Service at 7 PM Central Standard Time
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 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
Praise be to Thee, O Christ!
The Nicene Creed p. 22
The Sermon Hymn #90 Come, Your Hearts
Faith and Confessing the Truth
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
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
In Our Prayers
- Carl Roper and his wife Lynda.
- Pastor and Mrs. Jim Shrader
- Randy Anderson's leg (Andrea's father)
- Pastor K and Doc Lito Cruz - dealing with diabetes.
- Those looking for work and a better income.
- Our media ministries - Alec Satin, Norma Boeckler, Travis and Lauren Cartee, Pastor Jordan Palangyos.
- Christmas Eve Service, 7 PM Central Standard.
- Norma Boeckler's birthday is today, and Facebook friends are lining up to congratulate and bless her.
- Note the new PayPal address for our Philippine Mission.
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 Today's Gospel - John 1:19ff.
John the Baptist is described in all four Gospels and his witness is very important in the opening of John. The Gospels are really quite short, so we should pay attention to details rather than skip over them because we are somewhat familiar with them. Every phrase has meaning.
John the Baptist had disciples and many who came out to hear him preach. He created such a stir that the religious leaders wanted to know more about him, out of curiosity and fear.
They were in the midst of a great disturbance in history. After centuries of hearing that a great prophet would announce the coming of the Messiah, John the Baptist said, "I am the voice of the prophet in Isaiah 40." That is the second part of Isaiah, where the Gospel passages are overwhelming and full of joy.
For John the Baptist to say, "I am the voice" is to claim, "The promised Messiah is here! now!"
At the same time, Jesus in acknowledging what John said to the people - John is the voice crying in the wilderness and I am the Messiah.
Faith and Confessing the Truth
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.
The Gospel of John, the last of the four to be written, is best seen as providing an emphasis on the most important parts of the Savior's work. Since it assumes we know the basics, the extra details are valuable - not as trivia but as essential knowledge.
John the Baptist was at the peak of his fame, so this was his great temptation. Those who questioned him were not ordinary citizens or even ordinary clergy. They were the top religious officials, emissaries from the high and mighty.
I remember in Greek class in college, when we got to this verse, everyone was groaning about verse 20, so repetitive, repeating the word "confessed" - confessed, denied not, confessed. Is not one of those enough? It should have occurred to us smart-alecks that the repetition serves a purpose in stressing the importance of his statement.
In the Gospel of John especially, these two expressions come together often - believing and confessing. After all, if we do not confess the truth, we do not believe it. That is really the test.
I was just reading about Melanchthon at the Augsburg Imperial Diet. As many know, Melanchthon is often criticized for being too eager to please, too anxious to compromise. But he stood up to the Roman Catholic emperor and refused to endorse the parading of the Corpus Christi, that Roman tradition where the consecrated host is carried through the streets. The Evangelicals won and hardly anyone appeared for the parade. That could have been a compromise. Instead, the Lutherans confessed the truth, facing possible prison, torture, and death. Luther was hidden away in a castle - because they were sure to burn him at the stake. (Source - Clyde Manshrek, pupil of Roland Bainton, Melanchthon, The Quiet Reformer).
Visiting John the Baptist, the emissaries were ready to believe that the fiery prophet was a major figure. But he began in the most emphatic way (which we also do for emphasis) saying, "I am not the Christ." It is like saying, "I am not a Nadler fan. I have never been, and I will never be."
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?
Since Elijah was taken into heaven in a chariot, he was considered the prophet who would announce a new age. He was not Elijah. he was not "that prophet" which could mean a new Elijah or a powerful prophet like Elijah. No, he was not that either. Their response is verbose, which shows their urgency:
- Who are you?
- We need a response for those who sent us.
- What do you say about yourself?
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.
Isaiah 40 Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God.This is the break in Isaiah, chapter 40. Interestingly, the first part has 39 chapters and the second part has 27 chapters, corresponding to the number of Old Testament (39) and New Testament books (27).
2 Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned: for she hath received of the Lord's hand double for all her sins.
3 The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
4 Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain:
5 And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.
This interview shows a desire to take John in and making him part of their power structure, which meant betraying his mission. The struggle is fairly obvious, because John did not answer the way they wished. Instead, he gave them more material take back and form ways to stifle him entirely.
By announcing his role as Isaiah's Prophet before the Messiah, John told the truth and alarmed the opponents at the same time. Similar questions about identity and mission were asked - by Jesus - when He said to His disciples later, "Who do you say I am?" Peter answered correctly with the title but did not comprehend the meaning of that title - Christ. (Mark 8)
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?
The conversation turns toward suspicion. I had a conversation with someone who taught world religion, and we had two classes at once in that subject. We were in the faculty room and soon he had me pegged with a few questions. First it was the synod question. Independent. Secondly - Do you ordain women? No? Then you agree with Rome. I said, "I agree with Paul." For him, the important issue was that I did not go along with his apostasy, which gave more standing in academics.
The same is true with the Pharisees - they were judging John by their standards and trying to gather more evidence about him. That was not all bad, because it brought out his confession of faith in the Messiah.
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.
John is saying what he does not baptize with - the Holy Spirit. That will be the realm of Jesus' work. John's is purely preparatory work, but essential. He preached repentance of their sins and faith in the One To Come. While we take that for granted, many of the religious were very much against John the Baptist and Jesus.
Luther:
24. This is the second part of his confession, in which he declares what he is, after having denied that he was Christ, or Elijah, or a prophet. As though he were to say, Your salvation is much too near for a prophet to be required. Do not strain your eyes so far out into the future, for the Lord of all the prophets is himself here, so that no prophet is needed. The Lord is coming this way, whose forerunner I am; he is treading on my heels. I am not prophesying of him as a seer, but crying as a courier, to make room for him as he walks along. I do not say, as the prophets, “Behold, he is to come”; but I say, “Behold, he is coming, he is here. I am not bringing word about him, but pointing to him with my finger. Did not Isaiah long ago foretell that such a crying to make room for the Lord should go before him? Such I am, and not a prophet. Therefore, step aside and make room, permit the Lord himself to walk among you bodily, and do not look for any more prophecies about him.”
25. Now this is the answer which no learned, wise, and holy men can bear; therefore John must surely be a heretic and be possessed of the devil. Only sinners and fools think him a holy, pious man, listen to his crying and make room for the Lord, removing whatsoever obstructs his way. The others, however, throw logs, stones and dirt in his way, aye, they even kill both the Lord and his forerunner for presuming to say such things to him. And why?
John tells them to prepare the way of the Lord. That is to say, they have not the Lord nor his way in them.
This is the main battle today. People say they have the Gospel, but they do not confess faith in Christ or teach faith in Christ. They want everyone to make their human institutions prosper. Therefore, a faint-heartedness grows where no one is to be offended by anything Biblical.
Our little group is starting to work on the issues of Biblical translations and texts. They go together. In a nutshell, the Calvinist/rationalists have removed what they loathe in the Bible, such as, in the NIV/ESV -
- The Sacraments in 1 Corinthians 10:16 (communion is "participation") and 1 Peter 3:21 (baptism now saves you - removed).
- We are not to go out and teach all nations but to manufacture disciples using certain methods.
- The traditional text "cannot be trusted" because there are thousands of examples carefully preserved (Byzantine Empire 11 centuries, Greek and Christian). But we should accept two dubious text examples "discovered" by the crackpot Tischendorf - Sinaiticus, Vaticanus.
- We need paraphrases that say what the Holy Spirit would have said if He knew as much as they think they do - dynamic equivalence, or I like my words better.
In many different ways the Scriptures warn us against religion without faith. Everyone has a certain longing for spiritual values, especially lasting values and a sense of purpose. For that reason, all kinds of claims and delusions fill our world and provide a substitute for the real thing, margarine for butter. For the longest time, people accepted artificially hardened fats as healthier than butter. When that started to change, I would tell the waitress, "My cardiologist says I have to have butter." And that's why I still don't have a cardiologist.
There are powerful social forces that lead people the wrong way. Oh, we want children to understand the Bible more easily. But that happened for centuries since it was reliably understood we should have a universal, precise translation. Now a so-called translation only lasts a few years. The NIV expects to change every few years, making people wonder, "What next?" But they already have church members conditioned to accepted what was never in the Bible, as indicated above. Now a LCMS professor is chopping off the ending of Mark and few will object.
Popularity is a major force in shaping behavior. If the shun button is pushed, then people will be afraid of objecting to error.
At the time of Christ, everyone was longing for the Messiah, but they had bad ideas about what that meant. Some longed for enormous prosperity - and in fact Christianity has produced that in ways the pagan world has never seen. Others longed for a warrior Messiah who would defeat the Roman occupation, That was tried twice, around 70 and 130 AD, and Jerusalem was turned into a relative ghost town.
When we look at the disciples' responses to Jesus, we can see that they did not fully comprehend His predictions. John and Jesus faced death for their teaching, and the apostles followed that Way of the Cross. Yet death and persecution spread the Gospel across the world.
John said, "The Messiah coming after me was before me." They were the same age, roughly 30 years. But the Son of God existed in eternity, as explained in John 8 - "Before Abraham was, I AM."
We can look at all the ways John and Jesus were rejected, but the fact remains - the religious leaders took the message back to Jerusalem, the same place and headquarters where the boy Jesus stunned the professors and priest with His knowledge and questions, the same place where Jesus was presented. Those steps introduced the true Messiah to many people, and the stories certainly survived, creating hatred and fear, faith and hope.
We have no way of knowing exactly how things will turn out. I have seen far more hatred and rejection from the "conservative" Lutherans than I would have ever imagined, even if someone had warned me. But I have also seen many miracles of faith and rebirth from the struggle for truth.
