Tag: Advent4

Real world peace from a Savior who is real.

Posted on by nfuller

Half awake, slightly more asleep, I lie still in bed thinking about how I need to get up on a dark cold morning. I look at the clock and it says 6:55 or so. I will need to get up soon. In my half awake state I think about how since my eyes are closed and I lie still, warm under the covers that I don’t really know what time it is, because I have looked at the clock in my dream like state in my mind.

Sure, I have been realistic, I did not make the clock say 5:30am and tell my self you have an hour and a half left, go back to sleep. But maybe I will need to break down, and sit up, put on my glasses and see what the clock says in the real world, the one that everyone else in the world is more or less going by. The digital clock says 7:05 AM, and even more, now my dog is scratching at the door, scratching at the door in the real world, so I get up.

Dreams and wishful thinking can only get us so far in life and they could get you late to work or school, or even late to church.  That is how it is with our dreams for peace and deliverance from sin and death, wishful thinking is not going to save us. Instead, we rely on God’s Word.  Like that clock in the real world that helps you be honest with yourself about what time it really is, God’s Word has the truth about where our peace and salvation is found.   

Had we lived seven hundred years before the birth of Christ, rather than two thousand years after, we could already have known where he would come, the place of his birth.  We heard the beautiful prophecy from our Old Testament Reading: “But you O Bethlehem Epthrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days.  The little town of Bethlehem would one day become the center of the whole world. 

Even more important than knowing the place of the Savior’s birth is that we know the reason for his coming.  Micah tells us that too: “And he shall be their peace.”

We all want peace.  Nobody just goes looking for strife, unless that person is really confused about what is important in life. But where does peace in our lives come from? Can we will it into being, like a dream? Does it come from a place we can go to, like a say a gym or a spa?

Bethlehem seems like an unlikely source of peace for us.  How can peace come from a place that is so insignificant? Our reading from Micah specifies that Bethlehem was so small it was not even listed as one of the clans of Judah. It was off the map.  If you were using GPS you would have to zoom in to one of the closest views possible just to see it. 

Rome in contrast was the center of power in the 1st century. The Romans boasted of how they brought peace to the world because they were so powerful and wealthy no major nation could even try to challenge them.

Throughout the Old Testament God does not use the most powerful of kingdoms to deliver his saving message.  It was not to the kingdoms of Egypt or Assyria or Babylon that God appeared, but to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, a nomadic family.

The promise made to Adam and Eve is that a Savior would be born who would crush Satan.  The seed of a woman was prophesied as having the power to reverse the curse of our rebellion into sin. How could a young woman named Mary, a virgin of the tribe of Judah who was young and without any wealth or power, how could she deliver peace?

What abilities or resources could she have that others in the world do not? How could a woman in the little town of Bethlehem bring forward the Savior promised from ancient of days? How can someone so low and humble bring peace to the world?

How about in today’s world? Can we find peace in today’s modern world? Have we come far enough as a society to learn from the mistakes of the past? Sometimes you can find articles that describe how much advances in medicine and science help with our health and lifespan. Some advertisers talk about how social media and connections on the internet bring people together from around the world, a new community where people can experience support and love.  Are we now living in a golden age of peace and prosperity?

Advances in medicine may be present, but at least in America most people have a worse diet, so we are if anything probably less healthy than  in the past. And as you have probably noticed, when it comes to the internet sinful fallen people in new ways actually just multiplies sin and misery.

Some people also think today’s world is more humane and less violent than the past. Indeed during Herod’s time and Ceasar’s time there was plenty of bloodshed and violence. When news of the birth of Jesus spread to king Herod, he even went so far as to order that every male child two years and younger should be killed. 

Herod did this of course in the tragic pride of thinking he could remain king if he were to eliminate the Savior who was born to the world. This is called the slaughter of the Holy Innocents. Of course there is no peace and there is no salvation in killing.  And to wake up from our wishful thinking dream state, we should take note of the real world fact that millions in our nation celebrate the right to abortion.                                                  Like King Herod, self interest is used as a reason for killing. Real world statistics record that 62 million babies have been slain in their mother’s womb. And often the dreamlike rationale for these killings is that there is a salvation to be found for a mother or both parents through exercising a right to choose death for an innocent baby.  There is no peace in the world with this slaughter of the innocent.

Our society also preaches a false gospel that we can find peace from within ourselves. People in a dreamlike state of wishful thinking believe that Jesus is a cheerleader for them to achieve inner peace and prosperity in life.  People overlook what Jesus teaches as recorded in Matthew 15:19 “For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander.”

Our society today seeks to blame others for the evil within.  But there is no peace in  blaming others for what is not right in our own lives.  We wont find peace coming from our own hearts.

We can find peace from nowhere other than Bethlehem. Just like the prophecy from Micah foretold, God sent his Son to be born in the little town of Bethlehem, to be born into our fallen world with all of its violence.  Jesus was born so that he could die a violent death at the hands of war loving people, so that we might be saved.

Because of the birth of this baby, peace between God and man is restored. After all of the years in which our sin put a wedge between us and God, after all of the years living as enemies of God, the baby born in Bethlehem shall be our peace. He shall bridge the gap between God and man so that once again we can know Him as our loving Father and we his dear children. He was born so we can receive both the blessings of this world and eternal blessings.

From Bethlehem he brings us peace by creating in us a new heart.  The human heart, which is the source of all evils and sins, is reborn in God’s gift of a Savior.  With a new heart we know a peace that the world cannot give.

With the gift of the Holy Spirit we are led to Bethlehem to find the gift of Jesus.  And as we look upon Jesus we see peace personified.  Jesus the Son of David, the Son of Mary carried the peace of God. He brings the unity with the Father that had been lost since Adam and Eve first rebelled against God.  

And we have been joined to the peace Jesus has in a very intimate way through the waters of Holy Baptism. We have been united in a death like his so that we can be united in a resurrection like his. We have peace with God no matter what we face in life.  Romans chapter 8 reminds us: “There is therefore no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”

And we also participate in the peace of Jesus through the Lord’s Supper, where we are granted pardon and peace with his body and his blood given for you.

The true and lasting peace that we seek cannot come from the powers of this world, nor from the advances of our modern world. And this peace certainly is not found in our own hearts and good intentions. Instead, peace comes as God humbles himself for us, a baby born to a young maiden in a small town. In Bethlehem God’s peace comes to us. This peace comes to us as a free gift simply by receiving the babe of Bethlehem, our Lord Jesus.

As we are on the brink of Christmas, what a wonderful time it is to ponder the real life peace and wholeness Jesus brings to our lives. “My soul magnifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my savior.” That was Mary’s response of learning about the peace God was bringing to the world in the birth of Jesus. This week I urge you to read those spontaneous words of joy that Mary spoke, the what we call  the Magnificat.  Read those words in faith pondering in your heart how they are your words of praise and wonder as well, because the joy and the peace is yours as well in Christ Jesus.  

The unborn John the Baptist, leaped for joy in the womb at coming in contact with Jesus, when Mary and Elizabeth visited on that day recorded in our gospel lesson.   Already at that time the peace which Jesus brings created a living faith for John, already in the womb. May we also leap for joy at the faith Jesus builds in us today and has been building since our first contact with him in Holy Baptism.  Ponder the real world deliverance Jesus has in store for you, and be glad in this great season of hope.

The House the Lord Builds

Posted on by nfuller

We have all heard of the honey do list.  Home projects a wife may have for her husband to catch up on- big projects, little projects, usually more than a husband has the energy to visualize or conceptualize doing them all.  We all in our own way have the list of projects we want to get done in the month of December. 

Earlier this week it was refreshing to finish up the Christmas decoration in the Atrium, something we just did not get to several weeks earlier when we decorated. It is, after all a shame to leave the Christmas ornaments in a box and not get to them. Whether it is decorating or looking for gifts for others, or sending Christmas cards, there is much potential for unfinished business in the month of December.

When we went caroling last weekend it was exciting to see neighbors face to face and share the joy of Christmas carols. But it also reminded me of other things on the ministry to do list, that street sign that would tell people driving on highway 40 that the church is around the corner, or the postcards I think it would be worthwhile to send as a mass mailing to our local zip code. 

Perhaps you have your own to do list in your faith, what you would like to do for the church, or even scripture reading schedules you would like to put into practice.

 If you feel like you have some significant things on your list that you are failing to get to, consider what King David had on his list: building the temple for God to dwell in.

King David, once settled on his throne had thoughts about doing something good for God.  David had accomplished so much already in terms of conquests of enemies, building projects throughout Israel- even moving the ark of the covenant to Jerusalem.  But there was something missing. 

As we heard in our reading from 2Samuel chapter 7: Now when the king lived in his house and the LORD had given him rest from all of his surrounding enemies, the king said to Nathan the prophet, “See now, I dwell in a house of cedar, but the ark of God dwells in a tent.”

David had the desire to serve God, yet on account of sin he unfortunately prioritized over the years building something for himself and others rather than building for God. 

David’s family would be racked by problems in the coming years as a result of his own sins of murder and adultery, incest among his children, rebellion from a son. David would die and be buried and his earthly accomplishments turning to dust.

David wanted to build the temple to hold the ark of the covenant, but he would not be the one to build it.  This was not the Lord’s plan for him, but instead the plan for his son Solomon to build the temple.

As is the case with all of the best laid plans in life, “Unless the LORD builds the house, those who build it labor in vain.   When it comes to the “To do lists” we have for our life and our church’s ministry, we are encouraged to look to the Lord for support.  But what is most important is not what we can do, but what he has done for us in the past and continues to do for us.

The house that God builds is what demands the most attention- especially in a busy month of December.  It is always our gracious God who constructs what is perfect and lasting.  God reminded David that it was he, the LORD who in the past had done everything for him and for all people. 

The LORD delivered them from slavery in Egypt. The LORD shepherded them through the journey to the promised land. The LORD gave them rest from their enemies.  The LORD had already provided a place for the ark in the portable tent that was the tabernacle. 

God has built the same house for us.  Like David we can look at our lives and see the same sinful insufficiency David saw in his life.  Our priorities have been displaced by God’s priorities.  Our family is marred by sin, as we break the LORD’s commandments. Like David, we will die and be buried, as everything we build will turn to dust.

But God has done everything we need.  He has delivered us from sin and it’s slavery; we have come through baptism’s water out of Egypt.  Like David, the LORD has built our house by shepherding us with his Word and Sacraments.  He has conquered Satan and all that would threaten us his lambs.  And most important of all he has built for us the ultimate temple- Jesus!

Jesus, the Word became flesh, who dwelt among us full of grace and truth, is the only one in whom the fullness of God can dwell.

Jesus fulfills all of the accomplishments that we cannot fulfill.  He does it all for us.  In verse 11 of our Old Testament reading we hear how God reverses things for David instead of laying out the plans for David constructing the temple, he promises to build David a house!

The house God promised was Jesus and the kingdom of God that he brings. “He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give 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.”

The reading continues, verses not in our bulletin selected reading:  “When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up for your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.

We see what this house looked like several generations later when the angel Gabriel spoke to Mary, a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph of the house of David.  This house worthy of the name of the LORD was not found in the appearance of a famous dynasty of kings living in a palace of great wealth, but instead in the form of a young family just getting started in a small back woods town of little significance called Nazareth.

God’s ways are higher and greater than our ways. Instead of building a great temple, the house of David reached its ultimate power in the birth of a baby named Jesus.  He would be the temple that all the glory of God is contained within.

In John chapter 2 Jesus even called himself the temple, predicting that he would take the ultimate destruction, your eternal damnation, on the cross and rise victorious as your eternal king.  And Jesus spoke about how we continue in receiving the great promises of the house of David through Him, as we have been grafted into the line of David by faith.

John 14:2  “In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?”

Revelation 21:3  “And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be there as their God.

You now have David’s hope that “God builds the king’s house for you.” God builds the house when you hear his Word guiding you in His grace. You are commissioned to like David was told, “Do all that is in your heart, for the LORD is with you.”

The Tabernacle and the temple of the Old Testament did not endure. The cloth tent was never intended by God to be a permanent structure. The temple built by David’s Son Solomon was eventually destroyed  after 400 years.  It’s replacements were also destroyed not all that long after they were built. God wanted His people to have lasting hope, not in earthly things or in their own accomplishments , but in His eternal king , Jesus and in His eternal kingdom. 

God’s ways are higher than our ways.  We hear this often as we read through the scriptures, and it is reflected perhaps no clearer than in the promise to the house of David.

David’s reaction to all of this news of a house being built for him is recorded in verse 18 of chapter 7  “Then King David went in and sat before the LORD and said, “Who am I O LORD God and what is my house that you have brought me thus far? And yet this was a small thing in your eyes O LORD God.  In verse 26 we hear: “Your name will be magnified forever, saying, “The Lord of hosts is God over Israel, and the house of your servant David will be established before you.”

Does this sound similar to our gospel reading? Listen as Mary hears about the same promise made to the house of David through the angel Gabriel. “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant, For behold from now on all generations will call me blessed.”

And we also are called blessed, as we receive the inheritance of our faith. We began focusing on those TO DO lists in our life. As we have considered how ‘Unless the LORD builds the house those who build it, labor in vain’,  Our blessing is not in what we can accomplish, but in the House that The Lord builds for us, the kingdom He has prepared for us. Amen.