The First Sunday in Advent, 2021
Pastor Gregory L. Jackson
The Hymn # 245 God Loved the World The Confession of Sins
The Absolution
The Introit p. 16
Unto Thee, O Lord, do I lift up my soul:
O my God, I trust in Thee.
Let me not be ashamed:
let not mine enemies triumph over me.
Yea, let none that wait on Thee: be ashamed.
Psalm. Show me Thy ways, O Lord:
teach me Thy paths.
The Gloria Patri
The Kyrie p. 17
The Gloria in Excelsis
The Salutation and Collect p. 19
Stir up, we beseech Thee, Thy power, O Lord, and come,
that by Thy protection we may be rescued from the threatening perils of our sins and saved by Thy mighty deliverance; who livest and reignest with the Father and the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end.
The Epistle and Gradual
All they that wait on Thee shall not be ashamed, O Lord.
V. Show me Thy ways, O Lord:
teach me Thy paths. Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
V. Show us Thy mercy, O Lord:
and grant us Thy salvation. Hallelujah!
Prayers and Announcements
- Randy Anderson's upcoming surgery.
- Pastor and Mrs. Jim Shrader.
- Pastor K and Doc Lito Cruz - dealing with diabetes.
- Those dealing with government mandates.
- Our media ministries - Alec Satin, Norma Boeckler, Travis and Lauren Cartee.
- Midweek Advent Service, 7 PM Wednesday.
KJV Romans 13:11 And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. 12 The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light. 13 Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying. 14 But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.KJV Matthew 21:1 And when they drew nigh unto Jerusalem, and were come to Bethphage, unto the mount of Olives, then sent Jesus two disciples, 2 Saying unto them, Go into the village over against you, and straightway ye shall find an ass tied, and a colt with her: loose them, and bring them unto me. 3 And if any man say ought unto you, ye shall say, The Lord hath need of them; and straightway he will send them. 4 All this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, 5 Tell ye the daughter of Sion, Behold, thy King cometh unto thee, meek, and sitting upon an ass, and a colt the foal of an ass. 6 And the disciples went, and did as Jesus commanded them, 7 And brought the ass, and the colt, and put on them their clothes, and they set him thereon. 8 And a very great multitude spread their garments in the way; others cut down branches from the trees, and strawed them in the way. 9 And the multitudes that went before, and that followed, cried, saying, Hosanna to the Son of David: Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest.
First Sunday in Advent - Viet Dietrich
Lord God, heavenly Father, we thank Thee, we bless and praise Thee forever, that Thou didst send Thy Son to rule over us poor sinners, who for our transgressions did justly deserve to remain in the bondage of sin and Satan, and didst give us in Him a meek and righteous King, who by His death became our Savior from sin and eternal death: We beseech Thee so to enlighten, govern and direct us by Thy Holy Spirit, that we may ever remain faithful to this righteous King and Savior, and not, after the manner of the world, be offended with His humble form and despised word, but, firmly believing in Him, 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.
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Wake from Sleep!
KJV Romans 13:11 And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed.
Paul and the early Christians were aware that they were standing in the midst of a complete change of time, a transition in eras, the growth of truth. There is no doubt that people in the Apostolic Church were keenly aware of their tiny size and the universal greatness of the revelation that had been delivered to them.
This truth was confirmed by the resurrection of Jesus Christ and His appearance to the disciples, the Emmaus disciples, the women at the empty tomb, and hundreds more. Last, Jesus appeared to Paul, and converted him to faith.
Jewish believers had been trained in the Old Testament Gospel for centuries, which is why the non-Jews had to study the Old Testament Scriptures to see how this was worked out from Creation on. The Son of God was the executing Word in Genesis 1, as John 1 teaches so clearly.
When Adam and Eve were expelled from Paradise, Genesis 3:15, they were promised Someone who would crush the head of Satan while being wounded by their common opponent. Eve thought her baby boy was fulfillment of that Promise, Genesis 4.
The patriarchy was established by Abraham, who was promised a son through Sarah, when neither one was expected to have a child. Abraham believed and was forgiven his sins, Genesis 15:6, because that son would begin the establishment of the Kingdom of God through his line, through King David. Abraham was ordered to sacrifice his only son and he still believed God - "Where is the sacrifice?" Isaac asked. "God will provide," Abraham answered. That foreshadowed the actual death of God's only Son, who - like the ram as substitute - became the substitute for our sins.
I tell my Old Testament graduate students, "Look at the passages as the foundation for the Gospel, because they are the Promises." The Word is a means, an instrument of God's grace. A screwdriver can be used to open windows, doors, open paint cans, start a place for a nail to go in, serve as a garage door lock. But it is primarily and best a tool using screws to hold things together. The Old Testament has lots of features and benefits, but it is primary the base for the ancient Scriptures to serve as the foundation of the Gospel.
We can say, the New Testament does more than teach faith in the risen Christ - it teaches faith in the Old Testament's hundreds of Promises about Jesus. "The Lord is my Shepherd" - Psalm 23. The other half is John 10 - I AM the Good Shepherd. Psalm 22 connects Isaiah 53 and the Four Gospels.
Psalm 2 - "Kiss the Son lest He be angry" is a warning to the pagan rulers to stop opposing the Faith.
So the Apostles and the congregations were energized with the fact of faith in the risen Lord and the future of a world set free from slavery to demonic and pagan powers.
Sleep has always been a metaphor for self-indulgence, laziness, and refusal to face the facts. The watchman on the tower does not nap but points out safety or alarm, based on what he observes.
3. “Sleep” here stands for the works of wickedness and unbelief. For sleep is properly incident to the night time; and then, too, the explanation is given in the added words: “Let us cast off the works of darkness.”
Similarly in the thought of awakening and rising are suggested the works of faith and piety. Rising from sleep is naturally an event of the morning.
Relative to the same conception are Paul’s words in 1 Thessalonians 5:4-10: “But ye, brethren, are not in darkness... ye are all sons of light, and sons of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness; so then let us not sleep, as do the rest, but let us watch and be sober. For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that are drunken are drunken in the night. But let us, since we are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for a helmet, the hope of salvation. For God appointed us not unto wrath, but unto the obtaining of salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him.”
12 The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light.
The night is a metaphor for spiritual blindness and refusal to see the truth of God revealed, and so it is accompanied by the blindness of the unbelieving world. Light removes darkness. Even a tiny ray of light can turn doom and danger into something else, because God created light through the Creating Word, the Son, who is the Light of the World. Everything is darkness without that Light, and wherever the Light shines, darkness is defeated.
The armor of light seems to be a contradiction, since light itself is not solid. But God created light before the sun, moon, and stars, so they are dependent upon the Light, the Creating Word, and He is not dependent upon or subordinate to them.
In the same way, He stills the storm, walks on water, and turns ordinary water into extraordinary wine.
The apostates are always so funny. If they see an clear pattern of Christ and His miracles, the wonders are invented and they embarrass the unbelievers who make so much money deriding them in the position as seminary professors and world religion teachers. But if one miracle is different from all the rest, they are offended at that too, because it proves something - a major error instead of collusion. They cannot be helped and get more and more blind, until their eyelids are cracked open and they see how wrong they were. There are plenty of them.
And there hordes of people who take their favorite parts for granted but say nothing when more and more is taken away.
13 Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying.
As Luther says, this passage in based upon faith. When we have faith in Jesus Christ, our walk (our conduct as believers) is honest, as it is in the day, and not an imitation of Roman festivals with riotous behavior and drunkenness. Not in chambering (bed-hopping) and wantonness - doing whatever we want, not in causing strive and envying what others have.
We drove by a doctor's house, which was so large, I thought it was an apartment complex. It even had an enclosed, elevated walk out to the breakfast room. Someone said, "Imagine cleaning that house!"
14 But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.
This could be a reference to the baptismal robe, and illustrates how being a Christian is outward, like a uniform, or the livery of a soldier, statesman, officer,
or king. The Thanksgiving-Advent-Christmas season is aimed at what Paul argues against, and reminds us how we too are on the cusp of a new age, whether enslaved or set free by the truth.
43. Also you will note here Paul does not sanction the fanatical devotion of certain effeminate saints who set apart to themselves particular days for fasting, as a special service to God, one for this saint, another for that.
These are all blind paths, leading us to base our blessings on works.
Without distinction of days and meats, our lives should be temperate and sober throughout. If good works are to be our armor of light, and if the entire life is to be pure and chaste, we must never lay off the arms of defense, but always be found sober, temperate, vigilant, energetic. These fanatical saints, however, fast one day on bread and water and then eat and drink to excess every day for one-fourth of the year. Again, some fast from food in the evening but drink immoderately. And who can mention all the folly and works of darkness originating from regarding works for the sake of the efforts themselves and not for the purpose they serve. Men convert the armor of good works into a mirror, fasting without knowing the reason for abstinence. They are like those who bear a sword merely to look at, and when assailed do not use it. This is enough on today’s epistle lesson.
The high-church Lutherans seem to be intent on repeating the errors of the papists, from fasting to smells and bells, fancy robes, and varnished sticks to make them mock shepherds who actually led the sheep and warned away the predators.
