Tuesday, December 22, 2020

December 19-21, 2020 Pastor Timothy J. Spaude Text: Luke 1:26-38 (EHV) “WHAT GRACE IS THIS?

 

ADVENT 4

December 19-21, 2020

Pastor Timothy J. Spaude

Text: Luke 1:26-38 (EHV)

 

“WHAT GRACE IS THIS?

1.     In choosing

2.     In promise keeping

3.     In faith giving

 

Luke 1:26-38 In the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a town of Galilee named Nazareth, 27to a virgin pledged in marriage to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. 28The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you. Blessed are you among women.” 29But she was greatly troubled by the statement and was wondering what kind of greeting this could be. 30The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, because you have found favor with God. 31Listen, you will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to name him Jesus. 32He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David. 33He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and his kingdom will never end.” 34Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?” 35The angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. 36Listen, Elizabeth, your relative, has also conceived a son in her old age even though she was called barren, and this is her sixth month. 37For nothing will be impossible for God.” 38Then Mary said, “See, I am the Lord’s servant. May it happen to me as you have said.” Then the angel left her.”

 

          Like many other well written songs and hymns that give glory to Jesus “What Grace is This?” has wormed its way into my heart. It’s a newer hymn for the church year season of Lent. Here are some of the lyrics:  

 

1  What grace is this! My Lord and King

Has set his face to suffering.

My God eternal dies to bring

Eternal life to me.

 

3  What grace is this! Though Lord of all,

He yields to Pontius Pilate’s law

And lets the Roman hammers draw

A rush of blood for me.

 

There are more of course. Beautifully written lyrics that take us through Jesus’ suffering, death and burial in such a way that you feel you are there and can’t help but be overwhelmed by God’s grace in all that Jesus willingly went through for us. It struck me that the beginning of Jesus’ earthly life does the same. It highlights God’s grace to us. So let’s look at the angel Gabriel’s announcement to Mary in that light. What grace is this?

          What Grace is this in God’s choosing. In the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a town of Galilee named Nazareth, 27to a virgin pledged in marriage to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. 28The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you. Blessed are you among women.” 29But she was greatly troubled by the statement and was wondering what kind of greeting this could be. 30The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, because you have found favor with God.” Why me? is a question people often find themselves asking. Most often though when a dark cloud seems to be over their head and “bad” after “bad” seems to happen. Rarely is it asked when good things happen. Does that reveal maybe that we all have a skewed view of ourselves? God says, “No one is righteous, not even one.” God says even your best actions are like filthy rags. He knows us too well. “Why me?” should be asked, especially when we get blessed. Why Gabriel? Why does he, of all the angels, get to be the one to deliver news of two miraculous births? We are told nothing else about Gabriel. Why Mary? Why is she chosen to be the mother of Jesus? We don’t know a whole lot about her. We don’t’ know how old she was, whether she was an easy daughter to raise or a precocious toddler who became a rebellious teenager. We do know she was a sinner who needed a Savior. So why is she chosen? God tells us in Gabriel’s words. “Greetings, you who are highly favored! And “Do not be afraid, Mary, because you have found favor with God.” In the Greek language those are both grace words. They highlight the fact that when God chooses it is by grace. Why me? Why does He send Jesus for me? Why of the some 7 billion people on the planet right now am I one His chosen? That’s your question too. What grace is this God shows in choosing people like us?

          And what grace is this in promise keeping. “Listen, you will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to name him Jesus. 32He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David. 33He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and his kingdom will never end.” Gabriel revealed to Mary the special nature of the son she would bear. Name Him Jesus. Savior. He is the Son of the Most High, Son of God. He is the fulfillment of the promise made long ago to King David and Patriarch Jacob. He is the one was coming who would reign forever. God was keeping the promises He made. Where is the grace in that? Just that no one God kept these promises to deserved to have the promises kept. Parents know the feeling. We may promise something for our kids, go out to eat, go to a waterpark, a special toy, but then ongoing, continued bad behavior forces your hand. “I can’t reward your bad behavior,” we say. No Mcdonalds. No waterpark. Think of the ongoing bad behavior God put up with like Jacob lying and deceiving and playing favorites or David’s adultery and murder. But the promise of the Savior was not just for them. It was for us too. Any bad behavior on our part? Any pet sins that continue despite ongoing warnings from God and promises on our part to stop? Why does God keep His promises? It’s because He’s so good, not us. What grace is this, Lord, that you keep your promises to people like us?

          What grace is this in giving faith to believe? “Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?” 35The angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. 36Listen, Elizabeth, your relative, has also conceived a son in her old age even though she was called barren, and this is her sixth month. 37For nothing will be impossible for God.” 38Then Mary said, “See, I am the Lord’s servant. May it happen to me as you have said.” Then the angel left her.” You know the Christmas story well enough to understand how remarkable Mary’s reaction is. She believed. Her question was not coming from doubt like Zechariah’s but rather to gain understanding of her part. She knew well the stories of others who had received promises and messed things up. Abraham and Sarah getting tired of waiting for God to fulfill His promise to give them a son and “helping” Him out by having Abraham sleep with a servant girl. Rebekah and Jacob concerned that God was not powerful enough to thwart Isaac’s plan to bless Esau instead of Jacob and lying to their father so Jacob had to run away. Moses not waiting for God’s timing and killing the Egyptian slave master leading to his exile. Not Mary. When the angel explained she would not have to help God at all, Mary simply believed. And while some would want to look for something in Mary that made her better than Abraham and Sarah, or Rebekah and Jacob, we know the real truth. Mary believed because of the faith God gave her, a gift, a grace.

          Same thing is true for us, brothers and sisters. Do we even want to know how many of our fellow Americans won’t celebrate Christmas as Jesus’ birth and the gift of a Savior? How many don’t care? Why me? Why do I believe? Why do I care? Why will I get heaven while those who don’t believe will get Hell? What grace is this? From Jesus’ birth to His death and resurrection, from the gift of faith to the reward of faith in heaven—it’s all a product of God’s grace.

          So I came up with another verse to the Lenten hymn. Doubt it will make the new hymnal but its words are true for me and you.

 

What grace is this! God chooses me

And keeps His promise faithfully

And gives me all the faith I need

Jesus is born for me.

 

May that grace of God fuel your Christmas celebration. Amen.

Thursday, December 10, 2020

Dec. 9, 2020 Pastor Timothy J. Spaude Text: Luke 1:41-45 “ELIZABETH’S SONG”

MIDWEEK ADVENT 2

Dec. 9, 2020

Pastor Timothy J. Spaude

Text: Luke 1:41-45

 

“ELIZABETH’S SONG”

                             Verse 1: Blessed is Mary.

Verse 2: Blessed is Mary’s baby.

Verse 3: What an honor!

Verse 4: Blessed is the one who believes.

 

          The theme for our Midweek Advent worship is Sing a song for Advent. We are looking at songs that people sang soon before Jesus first Advent as the baby at Bethlehem. The careful listener or reader might be getting their mental pencil sharpened ready to grill me after service. “Hey Pastor! You said these were songs of Advent and I don’t see anything indicated in Luke’s Gospel that indicates Elizabeth sang anything, not even the headings put in by the Bible translators. What gives?” Fair enough but now I rebut that every song does not start out as a song. It begins with ideas that become tunes and words that need to be passed down and repeated. Songs certainly do that so for this service we actually are going to help Elizabeth write her song.

          Let’s review the background. Elizabeth was married to a priest named Zechariah. They were past childbearing age and had not been able to have children. An angel appeared to Zechariah and told him that he and Elizabeth would have a special child. They were to name him John and he would prepare the hearts of the people of Israel for the Lord who was coming soon. Zechariah doubted this wonderful news so as a consequence would be unable to speak until John was born. Now it is 6 months later. Mary was a relative of Elizabeth. She had no doubt heard the story of an angel appearance and had the proof of it in Elizabeth’s pregnancy. She too had received an angel visit who had announced an even more miraculous pregnancy. Mary would conceive even though she was a virgin. She would give birth to the Messiah! Who better to relate to angel visits and miraculous pregnancies than Elizabeth? So Mary went to visit her. This is where our text picks up.

          Just as Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. 42 She called out with a loud voice and said, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! 43 But why am I so favored that the mother of my Lord should come to me? 44 In fact, just now, as soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy! 45 Blessed is she who believed, because the promises spoken to her from the Lord will be fulfilled!”

          There is Elizabeth’s song. But it’s not done yet. What kind of tune should it have? It’s important that songs, especially songs for the Lord, have tunes that are appropriate to the message. You can’t have a lively peppy tune if the words are expressing sorrow over sin and repentance. Then the tune needs to be sad. What should it be here? Happy. Joyful. Confident.           OK, now that we have that done let’s write the verses. Looks like four of them to me. 1.Blessed is Mary. 2. Blessed is Mary’s baby. 3. What an honor! 4. Blessed is the one who believes.

          Now more words for the verses. Verse one says “Blessed are you among women.” Elizabeth’s song teaches us a proper view of Jesus’ mother Mary. The word translated here “Blessed” literally means spoken well of or praised. We certainly hold Mary in high regard. She is not God. She is not the Redeemer. She was a sinner saint just like we are now. But what an example of faith! Unlike Zechariah, the priest, who should have been an example of faith when the angel spoke to him but was not, Mary certainly was. She accepted the Gabriel’s impossible to believe message. She had to endure rejection from Joseph who did not believe the truth she told of Gabriel’s visit and her miraculous pregnancy. She would have the lifelong struggle of trusting that the baby that needed her daily care was God Himself. She would have to stand by and watch as her Son sacrificed Himself even for the people who rejected Him. Verse 1 of Elizabeth’s song reminds us to speak well of Mary but not treat her as God.

          That’s reserved for her Son. Verse 2. “Blessed is the fruit of your womb!” Elizabeth’s song teaches us to speak well of and praise the fruit of Mary’s womb, her baby, Jesus. Our praise for Jesus is higher than that of Mary. This is God’s Son as well as Mary’s son. Jesus is the Savior of the world. Only He will perfectly obey all of God’s laws as our substitute. Only His life is worth enough that His sacrifice can pay for the sins of the world. Elizabeth’s song teaches us to speak well of Jesus, to praise Him. It then sadly reminds us of the times when we have looked at worshipping Jesus as a burden or a have to. We remember with shame half hearted praise and straying attention. As Pastor Waldschmidt is so good at reminding us, “Good thing we have a Savior!” His name is Jesus, the fruit of Mary’s womb.

          If only we could have the heart that Elizabeth revealed in the 3rd verse of her song. “But why am I so favored that the mother of my Lord should come to me? 44 In fact, just now, as soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy!” Let’s take the last part first. John the Baptist reacted in the womb to the presence of Jesus. He was filled with the Holy Spirit. We know that the Holy Spirit works through the Gospel message in Word and Sacrament because He has promised to. Here we find He is working in an unborn baby! What a great encouragement for moms to be to make sure they are hearing the words of God spoken and to read Bible stories to your babies in the womb. The Spirit will work as the Spirit will work. And He had worked on the heart of Elizabeth. If only we could be like her. She is painfully aware of the privilege to be in the presence of her Lord. Again, it leads us to repent of the times we feel like we have to worship the Lord as though He could not get by without us when in fact we need to ask why we are so favored that God would come to us!

          And that takes us to the final verse of Elizabeth’s song. “Blessed is the one who believes.” Blessed is she who believed, because the promises spoken to her from the Lord will be fulfilled!” Even though there are three “blessed” in Elizabeth’s song they are not the same. The first 2 are the same literally “spoken well of.” The last one is an entirely different word. It means “made happy” or “good things happen to.” For 6 months Elizabeth has been living with a very visible but silent reminder of what happens when you don’t believe what God says. She would live another 3 months and 8 days with what happens when you don’t believe what God says. Zechariah, her husband, could not speak. While she might have liked that for a while, it was not a blessing. It was a consequence. Mary was different. She believed and was blessed. Do you and I?

          Advent calls on us to prepare to be ready, yes to celebrate the real meaning of Christmas but also for Jesus to Advent to us again. Do you believe He is coming back, that He could at any moment? The promises spoken by the Lord will be fulfilled. And all who believe that will be made happy and have good things happen. That’s something to sing about with a happy tune.

          I don’t know if Elizabeth really appreciates our help in writing her song but certainly she will appreciate it if we put into practice what her song proclaimed: speak well of Mary and honor her as a faithful person, 2. but to speak better of her Son Jesus and honor Him as God’s Son and the only Savior,  3. be humble before God and 4. believe whatever He says. Amen.