A Psalm of Complaint, a Song of Peace
Rev. Delwyn and Sis. Lenita Campbell
Advent • Sermon • Submitted
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Prayer
Prayer
1. Lord God, bless Your Word wherever it is proclaimed. Make it a Word of power and peace to convert those not yet Your own and to confirm those who have come to saving faith. May Your Word pass from the ear to the heart, from the heart to the lip, and from the lip to the life that, as You have promised, Your Word may achieve the purpose for which You send it, through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen
Holiness
Holiness
Illustrations for Biblical Preaching Holiness
Many trees appear to be healthy when we see them in summer. But, in the winter, after their leaves have all fallen off, we sometimes find that hidden underneath the lush green of the summer foliage was a parasitic plant called mistletoe, which had been slowly sucking away some of the tree’s vitality.
We as Christians sometimes have hidden sins—which like the mistletoe—slowly suck away our spiritual vitality. Although not always evident in times of outward spiritual health and fruitfulness, we must always examine ourselves for those small, often unseen, parasites of sinful habits that will sap our vitality. And we must also remember that just because they are not apparent now does not mean that in another season of our life God will not reveal them for all to see.
Lord, you were favorable to your land; you restored the fortunes of Jacob. You forgave the iniquity of your people; you covered all their sin. Selah You withdrew all your wrath; you turned from your hot anger.
On the Second Sunday of Advent, we celebrate the theme of Peace. The peace that passes all understanding is the peace that we all desire, consciously or unconsciously, deliberately or under the guise of personal satisfaction. The peace of reconciliation between God and man is a peace that the ungodly must deny, because they are compelled to deny His existence.
If favor is shown to the wicked, he does not learn righteousness; in the land of uprightness he deals corruptly and does not see the majesty of the Lord.
We understand that the truth as it is in Christ is the foundation upon which the entire creation rests. The haters of the Gospel recognize it too, and are compelled to resist that truth, through resisting the 1st article as well as the 2nd article of the Creed. It is the 1st Article, “I believe in God, the Father almighty, CREATOR of heaven and earth,” that declares our dependence upon God for live and all that pertains to it. It is the 2nd Article, “And [I believe] in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our LORD, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried; he descended into hell. On the third day he rose [again]; he ascended into heaven, seated at the right hand of God, the almighty Father, from where he will come to judge the living and the dead,” that declares our dependence upon Christ for that peace that eludes us no matter how hard we try, deny, fight, flee, work, play....
Robert Kolb, Timothy J. Wengert, and Charles P. Arand, The Book of Concord: The Confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2000), 355.
Robert Kolb, Timothy J. Wengert, and Charles P. Arand, The Book of Concord: The Confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2000), 354.
Restore us again, O God of our salvation, and put away your indignation toward us! Will you be angry with us forever? Will you prolong your anger to all generations? Will you not revive us again, that your people may rejoice in you? Show us your steadfast love, O Lord, and grant us your salvation.
What does it mean to say that “God is angry with us?”
says
The Lord is a jealous and avenging God; the Lord is avenging and wrathful; the Lord takes vengeance on his adversaries and keeps wrath for his enemies.
What is the evidence of God’s anger?
tells us
Robert Kolb, Timothy J. Wengert, and Charles P. Arand, The Book of Concord: The Confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2000), 354.
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.
In response, according to
Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.
Indeed, the remainder of the first chapter of Romans reveals that the wrath of God is manifested, not by what God does to us, but by what He allows us to do to one another. catalogues the sins that we see covering our community:
And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless.
In such a time, surely, one would think, “holiness and love of the truth” would be a prized possession. Concerning holiness, “C. S. Lewis once commented to an American friend, “How little people know who think that holiness is dull. When one meets the real thing, . . . it is irresistible. If even 10% of the world’s population had it, would not the whole world be converted and happy before a year’s end?” (C. S. Lewis, Letters to an American Lady [Grand Rapids: Wm. Eerdmans, 1967], p. 19).”
Robert Kolb, Timothy J. Wengert, and Charles P. Arand, The Book of Concord: The Confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2000), 354.
Let me hear what God the Lord will speak, for he will speak peace to his people, to his saints; but let them not turn back to folly. Surely his salvation is near to those who fear him, that glory may dwell in our land.
In the Incarnation of Christ, God has spoken peace to the world He created, a world that in its folly, worships temporal power instead of God, the Father Almighty. describes its manifestation in the Antichrist,
Michael P. Green, ed., Illustrations for Biblical Preaching: Over 1500 Sermon Illustrations Arranged by Topic and Indexed Exhaustively, Revised edition of: The expositor’s illustration file. (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1989).
He shall honor the god of fortresses instead of these. A god whom his fathers did not know he shall honor with gold and silver, with precious stones and costly gifts.
Surveys have indicated that atheism has greatly increased in America. The Pew Research Institute, in an article written by Michael Lipka and published in June 1, 2016, states that
The share of Americans who identify as atheists has roughly doubled in the past several years. Pew Research Center’s 2014 Religious Landscape Study found that 3.1% of American adults say they are atheists when asked about their religious identity, up from 1.6% in a similarly large survey in 2007. An additional 4.0% of Americans call themselves agnostics, up from 2.4% in 2007.
Lipka further stated that:
Self-identified atheists tend to be aligned with the Democratic Party and with political liberalism. About two-thirds of atheists (69%) identify as Democrats (or lean in that direction), and a majority (56%) call themselves political liberals(compared with just one-in-ten who say they are conservatives). Atheists overwhelmingly favor same-sex marriage (92%) and legal abortion (87%). In addition, three-quarters (74%) say that government aid to the poor does more good than harm.
Finally, regarding Americans’ general reesponse to this cultural shift, the article says that
About half of Americans (53%) say it is not necessary to believe in God to be moral, while 45% say belief in God is necessary to have good values,according to a 2014 survey. In other wealthy countries, smaller shares tend to say that a belief in God is essential for good morals, including just 15% in France. But in many other parts of the world, nearly everyone says that a person must believe in God to be moral, including 99% in Indonesia and Ghana and 98% in Pakistan.
The only counter to this remains the preaching of the Gospel of Christ. Our surest response to what we see taking place around us is till declared in Luther’s Smalcald Article IV
[4:] Concerning the Gospel
[4:] Concerning the Gospel
We now want to return to the gospel, which gives guidance and help against sin in more than one way, because God is extravagantly rich in his grace: first, through the spoken word, in which the forgiveness of sins is preached to the whole world (which is the proper function of the gospel); second, through baptism; third, through the holy Sacrament of the Altar; fourth, through the power of the keys and also through the mutual conversation and consolation of brothers and sisters. [:20*]: “Where two or three are gathered …”129
We now want to return to the gospel, which gives guidance and help against sin in more than one way, because God is extravagantly rich in his grace: first, through the spoken word, in which the forgiveness of sins is preached to the whole world (which is the proper function of the gospel); second, through baptism; third, through the holy Sacrament of the Altar; fourth, through the power of the keys and also through the mutual conversation and consolation of brothers and sisters. [:20*]: “Where two or three are gathered …”129
Robert Kolb, Timothy J. Wengert, and Charles P. Arand, The Book of Concord: The Confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2000), 319.
When we say that we confess this, we are committing ourselves to participate in this, not merely vicariously by coming to church on Sunday and hearing the Word of Christ. Christ did not die vicariously, that is, though us. He died substitutionally - for us. We are justified through Him, not simply to enjoy the fruits of His work, but to participate in it, to have fellowship with Him.
Are you walking in Fellowship with the Father and with His Son?
The Apostle John, writing about this fellowship, proclaimed in
that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. And we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete. This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.
Those who walk with the Son participate in the Mission of God. Those who sit on the sidelines, criticizing but doing nothing that supports ministry of the Gospel, do not. Jesus said, in ,
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.
The will and work of God the father is not found in the 1st (Curb) Use of the Law. It is declared in the 2nd (Mirror). It is embraced in the 3rd (Guide) by those who Hear the Word of Christ
Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.”
Jesus later gives us a promise, in
For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”
In Christ alone is the prayer of today’s text answered. closes with comforting words:
Steadfast love and faithfulness meet; righteousness and peace kiss each other. Faithfulness springs up from the ground, and righteousness looks down from the sky. Yes, the Lord will give what is good, and our land will yield its increase. Righteousness will go before him and make his footsteps a way.
If you are weary with the darkness of this age, there is only one remedy. If you know that there is a balm in Gilead, and you have been blessed with the anointing that comes through the preaching of Christ, God has given you peace to share with your neighbor, a peace that passes all understanding in a world that clearly lacks any understanding.
So be strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might, putting on the whole armor of God so that you can stand in this evil day, and let the peace of God, that passes all understanding, guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus our lord, Amen.