Sermon December 20-21, 2025 4th Sunday in Advent

Title: Christ the King is Jesus!
Text: Matt. 1:18-25

Facebook live: Christ the King is Jesus!

20 But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”

The Father’s love is made known to us – you and me - in the sending of his son Jesus the promised incarnate son of God from eternity past the Alpha and Omega the first and the last.

In the beginning when God spoke all things came to be. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the word was God.

God’s Christ – begotten of the father – born of a Virgin for you!
Christ the King is Jesus!

Our sermon hymn proclaims the good news!

1
Hark the glad sound! The Savior comes,
The Savior promised long;
Let ev'ry heart prepare a throne
And ev'ry voice a song.

We hear this Good News in the words of our gospel tonight/today.

“Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”

The fall into sin brought death.

All are born in death and live a life of death. You and I apart from Jesus and faith created by the Holy Spirit - have no hope and we remain dead!

But that is the Good News of a savior who saves, redeems, and calls from death to life.

It is Good News today; it is good News tomorrow; it is good News because it is redemption, restoration, and resurrection from death to life eternal!

2
He comes the pris'ners to release,
In Satan's bondage held.
The gates of brass before Him burst,
The iron fetters yield.

All yield to Christ!

In the past God spoke through the prophets of old as the writer to the Hebrews says, but in these last days he has spoken through his Son.

14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.

(God with us)

God’s word made flesh, Jesus Christ, was spoken of, prophesized, and foretold, that the plan of redemption would come in God’s time and in God’s way.

But who is this Jesus … and more importantly … as Jesus asked his disciples

… who do you say that I am?

Your answer to this question determines quite literally life and death.

This humble child that now lies in a manger is truly the King of Kings and Lord of Lords whether he is your King and your Lord depends on the work of the Spirit and faith in him.

This Jesus who created the heavens and the Earth, lived, suffered, died, and rose again from the dead for you … so that he might to bring peace to this broken world.

3
He comes the broken heart to bind,
The bleeding soul to cure,
And with the treasures of His grace
To enrich the humble poor.

Dear friends we speak of incense, gold, and myrrh for the king of Kings, and loving hearts enthrone him with song and voice.

It is impossible to imagine the joy of heaven but we can get a glimpse … in this child, in this son, the babe the son of Mary!

The Perfection of God’s only begotten son - Jesus Christ - sent down from Heaven and wrapped in swaddling clothes. …

Though, this child would grow into the man Christ Jesus to complete his work.

That God would become man, shows the value of his life for you and your life in him.

Since the incarnation, when God, born of a virgin became man - no longer is God separate from you on a mountain, or speaking to a prophet for you.

Now in his flesh he has come to unite his death, with your death, and his life, with your life, so that in him we are clothed with his righteousness through the power of the Holy Spirit by faith.

The epistle of the Romans today confirms this:

3 concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh 4 and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, 5 through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations,

6 including you who are called to belong to Jesus Christ,

Romans 1:3-6

In the world God remains hidden. But he reveals himself in this world by his Spirit through the word.

If you wish to know him, don’t look into the heavens as the angles told the disciples when they looked up as he ascended before them.

11b …This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.” Acts 1:11b

The ascension for the Son into heaven is not the end.
The eternal victory is found in Christ’s glorious return to judge the living and the dead.

Death is no escape.

All will be judged. Some will depart to be with the Lord, and others cast into … a hell of their own choosing.

Where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

The good news though, is that the Lord Jesus is on his throne and he still calls those who have ears to hear.

Listen, come, and drink the living water from the river of life that is Jesus.

4
Our glad hosannas, Prince of Peace,
Thy welcome shall proclaim,
And heav'n's eternal arches ring
With Thy beloved name.

As my Professor Peter Scare once wrote:

Cain lives in every heart and each of us must die. Who then can raise the brother slain? Christ alone is Able.

He is Able in the real sense and in the figurative sense.

Unjustly killed Christ overcomes sin, death, and the devil for you.

He is able to raise you up by the power of the simple things … water and word, bread and wine … for you, and he continues through his church to make disciples.

Let the little children come to me he calls, and as a little child born in a manger, he came to be the savior of the world.

And as the God/man in death he fulfilled all righteousness for you so that you too might be righteous.

22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet:

23 “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,
and they shall call his name Immanuel”

(which means, God with us). 24 When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife, 25 but knew her not until she had given birth to a son.

And he called his name Jesus.

In the name of the Father and of the Son + and of the Holy Spirit.

Amen

Sermon December 17, 2025 Advent Midweek 3

Title: Since Adam’s Age, so Long Have we!
Text: Isaiah 61:1-4

Facebook live:  Since Adam’s Age, so Long Have we!

61 The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me,
because the Lord has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor;
he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives,
and the opening of the prison to those who are bound;
2 to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor,

As Lutheran’s, we’re accustomed to all kinds of acronyms, abbreviations. Those of us who have grown up in the Missouri synod know the Lutheran lingo. We know about our women’s and men’s auxiliaries, the LWML and LLL. We may remember the old insurance companies AAL and LB … now Thrivent.

And don’t forget our hymnals: TLH, LW and now LSB. Acronyms are a way of life for Lutherans, second nature. But “WH”? That abbreviation is new to us. It’s unfamiliar.

I mentioned last week that finding seasonal Reformation hymns – German Advent hymns dating back to the 1520s or 1530s, hymns Luther or first-generation Lutheran’s wrote and I mentioned that this was hard and difficult because the fact is … there just simply were few German hymns when the Reformation began. Hymns written within this narrow historical snapshot are few and far between. The shortage of such hymns forced a look outside of LSB and it was suggested “WH” might be the place.

“WH” stands for “Walther’s Hymnal.” C.F.W. Walther was the first president of the Luther Church – Missouri Synod. In 1838, along with the other Saxon Germans, he sailed from Germany to Missouri.

When this group sailed, they brought with them the Germen-Language hymnal they had used in their homeland. That hymnal was a bad hymnal. Its hymnal didn’t reflect pure biblical doctrine (teaching) and true confessional Lutheran theology. Its hymns failed to faithfully teach about Jesus.

Because a hymnal is an important resource in teaching, and because right (orthodox) teaching was so important (and still is) to the Missouri Synod, in 1847, Walther’s congregation, Trinity Lutheran Church in St. Louis, with Walther’s encouragement and oversight, published a hymnal.

The hymnal’s title was:

“The Church Hymnbook for Evangelical Lutheran congregations of the Unaltered Augsburg Confession containing the most popular hymns of the blessed Dr. Martin Luther and other special Teachers.”

Walther’s hymnal became the first and only hymnal the Missouri Synod would ever have, available for purchase even into the 1960s. five years ago the German Hymnal was translated into English. In the hymnal we find tonight’s Reformation era Advent hymn,

“Since Adam’s Age, So Long Have We.”

A man named Michael Weisse wrote this hymn in 1533. See his name on the hymn bottom. Weisse wasn’t a Lutheran. He was a former Roman Catholic Priest, influenced by Luther’s teachings. Luther’s clear teaching on justification by faith led Michael to turn away from Roman Catholicism.

However, he didn’t turn to Lutheranism. He turned to a Reformed group known as the Bohemian Brethren. After leaving the Roman Catholic Church, Michael Weisse served this group as a pastor. The group refused to join Luther because of a disagreement with the Lutheran confession concerning the Lord’s Supper and justification by faith alone.

As one historian explained,

“Michael, was a man of great influence among them, a member of their council, and editor of their first hymn book in German.”

Luther was acquainted with Michael. In 1545, Luther wrote that despite being weak on the sacraments, Michael was a good poet. Walther also regarded Michael Weisse, including six Weisse hymns in his German hymnal.

Among the six is tonight’s hymn.

Concerning “Since Adam’s Age, So Long Have We,” it’s likely that Weisse’s clear gospel proclamation is what moved Walther to include the hymn within the hymnal’s Advent and Christmas section.

In twelve short stanzas, Weisse tells the story of salvation. He begins by diagnosing the disease affection each of us: sin, original sin, and punishment we deserve for sin.

Stanzas 1,2. If you’re attempting to teach and explain the Christian faith, these stanzas present clear teaching. Yet not only does he diagnose the disease but he also describes the medication. The medicine is Jesus. The father said,

“I will display My Grace and Give My Son to save this race, to heal them as their doctor true, to bless them, and to make them new.”

Stanza 7 frames Jesus within the wider Biblical context, the context of God’s covenants with Abraham and David. This is the wider biblical context we want us to reflect upon tonight.

To put this hymn in perspective, the other hymns we’ve reflected upon this Advent season have taught us to remember that Jesus is God of God yet fully man, that Jesus gives us the victory over sin by vanquishing grim death for us and opening heaven before us.

Tonight’s hymn is a bit different in that it teaches us to remember another important truth: that God keeps his promise.

God promised both Abraham and David a descendent. Jesus, God kept his promise.

God told Abraham, “I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring (noun singular) as the stars in the heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore, and your offspring (noun singular) shall possess the gate of his enemies, and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed.”

When God spoke these words, God was talking about Jesus, the ultimate offspring promised to Abraham. Likewise, when God told David,

“When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your own body, and I will establish his kingdom forever,”

God wasn’t talking so much about Solomon, but about the greater David, Jesus. In fact, the very first verse of Matthew’s gospel reminds us that in Jesus God kept his promise. Here the first verse:

1 The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.

Jesus’ connection with the past, with God’s covenant with Abraham and David, is also revealed when Gabriel announces Jesus’ conception to Mary, explaining to Mary that

“You will conceive and bear a son of the most high, And the Lord God will give to 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.”

And Mary herself even made the connection that through Jesus, the son, carried in her womb, God remembers his promises!

“He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, as he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his offspring forever.”

Indeed, God doesn’t forget his promise. “He has caused his wondrous works to be remembered; the Lord is gracious and merciful.” Psalm 111

In Jesus God remembered his promise.

He remembered the promise he gave to Abraham and David, the promise of giving them his only son, the son by whom redemption – your redemption – would be won.

Conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary, Jesus – the son of David and son of Abraham – Jesus is living proof that God keeps his word from first to last.

And that assurance means all the difference to you and me. We now go through life assured God is true – he never forgets his promise. So, remember and take refuge in his promise spoken to us through his word: Jesus is your savior from sin; in Jesus, your sins are forgiven; in Jesus, heaven is opened to you; God doesn’t forget; he remembers.

Just like with Abraham and David, he remembers his promises, the promise of rescue from death and the devil, the promise of everlasting salvation, promises he made to you in your Baptism, promises that are “yes” to you now by faith, promises that will be “yes” to you by sight on Resurrection Day.

Need Christmas cheer? God remembers! The Lord is gracious and merciful. Go to sleep in that peace tonight.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son + and of the Holy Spirit!

Amen

Sermon December 13-14, 2025 - 3rd Sunday in Advent

Title: Christ the King is God with us!
Text: Matt. 11:2-15

Facebook live:  Christ the King is God with us!

10 This is he of whom it is written,

“‘Behold, I send my messenger before your face,
who will prepare your way before you.’

11 Truly, I say to you, among those born of women there has arisen no one greater than John the Baptist. Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.

Many people who call themselves Christians believe the way to be accepted by God is to try sincerely to live a good life. Some believe that God is satisfied if a person lives the best life he can. Others think that the main emphasis of the gospel is on God’s rules for right living.

Some I’ve talked to - even Lutherans - wrestle with the assuredness of salvation and whether they will spend eternity in heaven with Jesus.

There are times where you are unsure or doubt things in this life, or feel unsure of how you’ll live up to other’s expectations.

For Lutherans though, we should have great confidence in God’s work and promises for us unto salvation as the scriptures attest.

In our text today, doubt and unsureness were a problem for some of the disciples and followers of John the Baptist.

They brought to John an account of Christ's work, of His preaching and its effect, of His miracles of healing, and the astonishment of the people.

John himself, filled with the Holy Spirit from his birth, having been a witness of the revelation of God and being thoroughly convinced of Christ's Messiahship, that He was in fact the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world - had no doubts concerning Christ and His mission?

John’s message about Jesus was clear - but a few disciples were still clinging to him showing no inclination to leave him and follow the greater Teacher, who was to increase as John must decrease.

Even John in prison sends his disciples with a definitely worded question:

“Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?”

John knew that the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world was Jesus.

It was his intent to continue to point to Christ and though many of his disciples had begun to follow Jesus, others needed to be brought to Christ, so that they might also follow and believe.

What is different today?

In this life many today wrestle in the prisons of their own unrighteousness looking for the truth and long to be sure and have assurance.

It is still the same unbelief and unsureness caused by sin, which clouds the understanding and reason in unbelievers, and for those who have been brought to faith but have fallen back in the ways of the world, the work of the word and Spirit continue to be crucial.

Life in this broken fallen world - filled with sin - and the working of the devil, can take the focus off of Jesus causing apathy or a lukewarm faith that can quickly turn cold and dead to Christ. Failing to recognizing Christ for who He is … the savior of the world., can become an eternal death sentence.

Jesus tells John’s disciples:

4 … “Go and tell John what you hear and see: 5 the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them.

Adding …

6 And blessed is the one who is not offended by me.”

Jesus sends them to John with the assuredness that the works that he does testify as to who he is.

For those who trust and believe in him and are not offended, the work of the Spirit confirms that they are indeed his sheep and follow him.

In John’s gospel in chapter 10, a different visit occurs with Jesus in the Temple in Solomon’s Colonnade. A question is asked by other Jews.

24 [Saying] to him, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.” 25 Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father's name bear witness about me, 26 but you do not believe because you are not among my sheep.

John 10:24-25

The contrasts of the two accounts and the questions asked:

“Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?”

“If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.”

For the disciples, they return to John with hope and joy that Jesus and the works he does testify to who he is. The one to come as the psalmist proclaims!

7 Then I said, “Behold, I have come;
in the scroll of the book it is written of me:

Psalm 40:7

The others who demand “If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.” Have a different hope and response to the works of Jesus.

31 The Jews picked up stones again to stone him. 32 Jesus answered them, “I have shown you many good works from the Father; for which of them are you going to stone me?” 33 The Jews answered him, “It is not for a good work that we are going to stone you but for blasphemy, because you, being a man, make yourself God.”

John 10 31-33

What stands in the crosshairs of these different responses is the gift of Faith.

For we, who have been enlivened by faith through the Holy Spirit have been made members of God’s family, and see the works of God as a testament, not only to our fallenness, but to God’s great mercy.

In our lives God’s Spirit conforms us to the word of God. At times bringing repentance and other times comfort and forgiveness.

If we rail against the word it speaks to the reality of where our hope and trust is truly placed, as we stand no only confronting the word but conforming ourselves to the filthy rags of our own unrighteousness.

If we stand against the word, we stand against Jesus and we stand outside the stronghold of his forgiveness.
7 As they went away, Jesus began to speak to the crowds concerning John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind?

8 What then did you go out to see? A man dressed in soft clothing? Behold, those who wear soft clothing are in kings' houses.

9 What then did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. 10 This is he of whom it is written,

“‘Behold, I send my messenger before your face,
who will prepare your way before you.’

John was sent to prepare the way so that you might rejoice in the coming of the one who would save you from your sins.

But not only you, for Christ came to redeem the world corrupted by sin and to give, by the power of the Holy Spirit, faith to believe this blessed good news.

We rejoice today that God was not so callus that He walked away from our failing and sin filled life, but has sent his son to be the very mediator and sacrifice that you and I could never be.

God, joining himself to human flesh, so that He might take our place and be both the sacrifice for sin and the savior for the world.

Rejoice that God did not forget you in your sin but sent his son.

23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith.

Rom. 3:23-25a

Dear friends, Christ the King is God with us!

In the name of the Father and of the Son + and of the Holy Spirit.

Amen

Sermon December 10, 2025 Advent Midweek 2

Title: The Only Son from Heaven!
Text: Isaiah 35:10

Facebook live: The Only Son from Heaven!

10 And the ransomed of the Lord shall return
and come to Zion with singing;
everlasting joy shall be upon their heads;
they shall obtain gladness and joy,
and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.


In 1545, one year before his death, Martin Luther supervised the final hymnal published in his lifetime – titled Holy Songs. That hymnal had only 120 hymn texts, about twenty percent of the number of hymns we have available in our present hymnal.

Twenty-one years earlier, in 1524, Luther supervised the very first Lutheran hymnal, called the eight-song book which is a collection of eight hymns, four of which were Luther texts.

In twenty-one years, Lutheran’s went from eight hymns available to sing to 120 hymns.

Why such a big change? Luther and his friends emphasized hymn singing.

Why was such a strong emphasis placed on hymn singing?

Listen to what Luther wrote in the preface to Holy Songs, the last hymnal he supervised. Commenting on Psalm 96:1,

“O Sing to the Lord a new song, Sing to the Lord all the earth,”

Luther writes:

“For God has cheered our hearts and minds through his dear son, whom he gave for us to redeem us from sin, death and the devil. He who believes this earnestly cannot be quiet about it. But he must gladly and willingly sing and speak about it so that others also may come and hear it.”

Because he who believes the gospel, is now led to gladly sing and speak about the gospel, demand for hymns increased.

Remember, when the Reformation began, few German hymns existed for Germans to sing. So, by preaching the gospel, Luther created demand for hymns, and by God’s grace, supply met demand. God raised up more people besides Luther to write new hymns. God raised up a hymn writer named Elizabeth Cruciger.

Born in 1500, Elizabeth had been a nun. She belonged to a convent in Pomerania (an area between Germany and Poland), along the southern part of the Baltic Sea.

Luther’s teaching started to spread, thanks to Luther’s friend John Brugenhagen and by the Holy Spirit’s work, Elizabeth heard and believed the gospel he preached and as a result she resolved to escape from the nunnery.

In 1520, she fled to Wittenberg and found refuge in the Brugenhagen home. Disowned by her parents for converting to Lutheranism, in 1524 she married a theology student named Casper. She and Casper became close friends of Martin and Katherine Luther, and could often be found around the Luther dinner table.

Because of their friendship a conversation took place around the time of the publication of the first 8 song hymnal.

The Luther’s were dining along with the Crucigers, talking about church life and the need for more German hymns. When 24-year-old Elizabeth announced that she has written a hymn. Luther asks to see the text and she showed him, and even gave him the German folk tune she wanted used when singing the text.

Well, Luther was thrilled with the hymn! But the first collection has just been published so he puts her hymn in the second edition, which was a collection of 26 hymns.

Elizabeth was one of five hymn writers who contributed to the hymnal along with Luther who wrote about 70% of the hymns. Yet, Elizabeth’s text … was included in the collection.

She was the first female Lutheran hymn writer and found her own hymn placed next to Luther’s.

Her hymn The Only Son from Heaven, is hymn #402 in Lutheran Service book, and it is common for hymnal editors to place this hymn in the Epiphany section. However, it has been found in hymnals included in the Advent section.

Since we are looking at seasonal hymns written in Luther’s lifetime – which can be a challenge in itself – and since there are few hymns to begin with, much less Advent, The Only Son from Heaven is an Advent hymn for our use today!

As we reflect on this hymn, we want to ask the question, “What does this hymn teach us about Jesus?

First, the hymn clearly teaches who Jesus is. He is the Father’s only son, the son whom ancient prophets foretold, the son who, in the fullness of time, was born of a virgin.

Second, the hymn teaches us what Jesus came to earth to do: to vanquish grim death for us and to open heaven before us. The gospel message is reinforced when we gather together to sing this hymn.

Singing of Jesus leads to a response:

Hearing the gospel, and believing the gospel, results in action.

Stanzas 1 and 2 teach us the gospel. They teach us about Jesus.

Stanza 3 is our response to the message.

It is a prayer.

Hearing about the only son who brings us life again prompts us to want to know and love him more. And so, we ask God to do something, to “awaken our spirit” so that we can indeed know and love him more.

We ask God to “awaken our spirit” so that we by faith in this Only Son can stand unshaken, despite the moving world of temptations and afflictions and changes and chances.

We ask God to use each glimpse of heaven to sustain us in faith until we enter that open heaven that Jesus has prepared for us, where we will reap the fullness of eternal life.

Commenting on Elizabeth one pastor describes her this way:

“Here was the soon forgotten wife and mother, who had been rescued from the nunnery of false belief and superstition, [here she was] writing of how her heart had been awakened to know and love her savior and Lord.

Now she was able to stand in that saving gospel with faith unshaken…

https://wwwcuchichago.edu/globalassets/documents/center-for-church-music/devotions/hymns-of-the-daydevotion-epiphany-2.pdf

While 500 years old, The Only Son from Heaven, is a relatively new hymn for us. The hymn wasn’t included in the older 1941 hymnal. It was included and reintroduced to the synod in the 1982 hymnal, -one here at Peace that we never adopted - appearing with Elizabeth’s first three stanzas and a newly fourth stanza, of Trinitarian praise.

These four stanzas were retained for our current hymnal, now eighteen years old.

And so, we sing it mindful of a young woman who lived during the first few years of the reformation, a woman to whom God gave the gift of faith in Christ, and the gift of confessing that faith through hymn writing.

We sing the hymn mindful that we poor sinners still plead for God to awaken our hearts, to use any glimpse of heaven, whether it’s the Lord’s Supper, absolution, or Holy Baptism.

We sing the hymn pleading for God to awaken our hearts not just to know and love him more but to sustain us with the hope of everlasting life as we travel to the eternal Promised Land.

We ask this in the name of the Father, and of the Son + and of the Holy Spirit!

Amen

Sermon December 6-7, 2025 - 2nd Sunday in Advent

Title: Rejoice, the Savior comes!
Text: Romans 15:4-13

Facebook live: Rejoice, the Savior comes!

8 For I tell you that Christ became a servant to the circumcised to show God's truthfulness, in order to confirm the promises given to the patriarchs, 9 and in order that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy. As it is written,

“Therefore I will praise you among the Gentiles,
and sing to your name.”

10 And again it is said,
“Rejoice, O Gentiles, with his people.”

Author, G.K. Chesterton writes:

Hope means hoping when things are hopeless, or it is no virtue at all. As long as matters are really hopeful, hope is mere flattery; it is only when everything is hopeless - that hope is strength.

G.K. Chesterton, Signs of the Times, April 1993, p. 6. [edited]

And so it is in the story of self-made multi-millionaire Eugene Lang, who greatly changed the lives of a sixth-grade class in East Harlem [in 1981].

Mr. Lang had been asked to speak to a class of 61 sixth-graders. What could he say to inspire these students, most of whom would drop out of school [he was told]? He wondered how he could get these predominantly black and Hispanic children even to look at him. Scrapping his notes, he decided to speak to them from his heart.

"Stay in school," he admonished, "and I'll help pay the college tuition for every one of you."

At that moment the lives of these students changed. For the first time they had hope. Said one student,

"I had something to look forward to, something waiting for me. It was a golden feeling."

Nearly 90 percent of that class went on to graduate from high school and college and to good and high paying jobs.

Parade Magazine.

4 For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.

Hope is strength – as has been said - when everything is hopeless.
In the former days Paul speaks of hope in the one to come.

The Old Testament reading in Isaiah points to this – this shoot from the stump of Jesse – a branch from his roots shall bear fruit.

Isaiah goes on to say:

2 And the Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him,
the Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the Spirit of counsel and might,
the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD.

Jesus himself made this known in his hometown of Nazareth. As recounted in Luke Chapter 4 when he says:

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives
and recovering of sight to the blind,
to set at liberty [or to free] those who are oppressed,

Luke 4:18

With righteousness he shall judge the poor and decide with equity for the meek of the earth.

Christmas can be a dark time for many. Hope in the holidays nonexistent.

It may be from a resent loss of a loved one or the remembrance of loved ones no longer around.

I was online this past weekend and, on my YouTube, page saw the link to my ordination video some 13 years ago. I clicked on the beginning of the service and the processional hymn “Praise to the Lord the Almighty” began.

As I watched I was taken by the faces of those no longer with us I saw …

Orville and Joan Kitzman near the isle,
Hilda Klein near the organ,
Donna Kyle, my friend from my former business sitting near the back of the church
My own dad Al Tkac, sitting up front
And Pastor Merrell who ordained me, along with many brother pastors.

Much has changed.

There of course were many more faces and I didn’t watch too much of the service … I felt a sense of sadness, and loss as we all do.

Brokenness in the family too can bring a sense of hopelessness for many.

We see on TV joyful faces on the Hallmark Channel movies around the Christmas tree, or at the family meal and know our lives are somewhat different than that – maybe not even happy or joyful at all.

Paul, in our epistle today, deals with trial and hope too. Trial – in that he was writing from prison, not a good place to be but, also a time for
hope.

8 For I tell you that Christ became a servant to the circumcised to show God's truthfulness, in order to confirm the promises given to the patriarchs, 9 and in order that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy.

Wonderful good news!

God is truthful and his promises are fulfilled as he would have so. Both to those who were given the promise, through the patriarchs and also we who are a far off might to have that hope.

Those early Christians that Paul is writing to new that they were in the midst of trial, both as Jew and Gentile, Christian and Roman, faithful and faithless, and aware of false teachers and the pressures to return to their old ways – back to Judaism and keeping the law, or back to the sinful brokenness of darkness that Paul touched in our lesson last week.

But just as the students in the 6th grade classroom were ready to turn off the old man about to address them - hope sprang forth from Eugene Lang’s words.

Something that they couldn’t have hoped for was now theirs!
So too Paul reminds his readers and us what had been written:

“Therefore I will praise you among the Gentiles,
and sing to your name.”

10 And again it is said,
“Rejoice, O Gentiles, with his people.”
11 And again,
“Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles,
and let all the peoples extol [to praise highly and to glorify] him.”
12 And again Isaiah says,
“The root of Jesse will come,
even he who arises to rule the Gentiles;
in him will the Gentiles hope.”

Where is your hope placed?

For some it is in the hope that can fade away.

Is your hope in a happily ever after or a fairy tale?
Because, we all know that life doesn’t promise you or me that.
We are in this world though promised tribulation and we can all attest to that reality, can’t we?
Is it a broken promise, or a lost job, a failed marriage or a life of hope that has turned sadly to illness and doubt?

God though does promise a gift, a savior and a means to know him. He has come as a child to redeem that which was lost and he sends the Comforter – the Holy Spirit - to make this known for you.

This knowledge, comfort and hope is found where you might expect it to be … in God’s word. The scriptures that God the Holy Spirit inspired Paul and others to write is here for you in the words of Holy Scripture. But it too is sung in the wonderful hymns based on those writings.

It is proclaimed here for you to hear in readings and sermons based on these sacred texts and all by the working of the Holy Spirit is made to you who have been brought to faith in the root of Jesse which springs forth in our lives, understanding and faith.

Advent is hope because Advent points to Christ and in him when everything seems hopeless … he is our strength.

So the hope of Christ is yours in the blessed promise that the savior that comes has redeemed you and will be with you now and forever.

In the name of the Father and of the Son + and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen

Sermon December 3, 2025 Advent Midweek 1

Title: Savior of the Nations, Come!
Text: Isaiah 25:9, Matthew 21:11

Facebook live: Savior of the Nations, Come!

9 It will be said on that day,
“Behold, this is our God; we have waited for him, that he might save us.
This is the Lord; we have waited for him;
let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.”

11 And the crowds said, “This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth of Galilee.

Having recently celebrated the Reformation, the restoration of the gospel, and beginning of the Lutheran church on Reformation Sunday, it seemed to me a good time to celebrate Advent - in light of the new freedom of the gospel enjoyed through the lens of the hymns that that our church sung early in its life.

Savior of the Nation’s Come is the theme for our Advent midweek series this year. Over the next few midweek services, we will look at a few of the seasonal hymns that followed shortly after the reformation of the church, either written by Martin Luther, or brought into the church during Luther’s life time, and other important times in the life of our own church, the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod.

Before we begin, I believe that it is good to remember why we, as Lutherans, sing hymns. Here is what Martin Luther once wrote in 1524:

“That singing hymns is good and acceptable to God is, I think, known to every Christian; for everyone is aware not only of the example of the prophets and kings in the Old Testament who praised God with song and sound, with poetry and psaltery, but also of the common and ancient custom of the Christian church to sing Psalms.

St Paul himself exhorted the Colossians to sing spiritual songs and Psalms heartily unto the Lord, so that God’s word and Christian doctrine might be instilled and implanted in many ways.

Therefore I, too, in order to make a start and to give an incentive to those who can do better, have with the help of others compiled several hymns, so that the holy Gospel which now by the grace of God has risen anew may be noised and spread abroad.”

Martin Luther 1524 (LW 53:315-316)

According to Luther, we sing hymns for two reasons:

First, to instill and implant God’s word and Christian doctrine, and second to spread abroad the gospel.
In other words, Luther viewed hymns as a way to teach the faith and to spread the word about Jesus.

In short, Luther’s purpose in writing hymns and editing hymnals was to “promote and popularize the Gospel.” And so, he wrote in 1545 near the end of his life, that Christians sang of Christ - “so that others, too, may come and hear.”

Christopher Boyd Brown, singing the Gospel: Lutheran Hymns and the Success of the Reformation Cambridge: Harvard University Press 2005, pg 9-10

Christopher Boyd Brown in Singing the Gospel: Lutheran Hymns and the Success of the Reformation, writes:

Because of these doctrinal and evangelistic focuses, it’s been observed that “when Luther and his successors placed German hymns in the hands and on the lips of the laity, they did so in the conviction that the people were brought into contact with the word of God, which was to be spread and applied not only through sermons preached by pastors, but through the hymns sung by the laity …

Through the hymns, God’s Word was applied to instruct, comfort and encourage, in the streets, in the churches and in the homes, both for those who could read and for those who could not … the Lutheran hymns conveyed doctrine (which is teaching) in a way intended to be not only understood by the people but also actively applied to them, to impart not only information but comfort.”

Brown 14-15

Knowing that Luther wrote hymns to teach about Jesus and to comfort Christians, we look tonight at hymn 332, Savior of the Nations Come.

You may have seen after the hymn on the bottom of the bulletin’s page, that this hymn didn’t originate with Luther.

Using the original Latin, Luther translated it into German. With the exception of stanza 5 which Luther did write; it was – not Luther – but a lawyer who wrote the entire hymn. A lawyer would come to be know as St. Ambrose.

Ambrose lived in the Fourth Century, a long time ago. He lived in the northern Italian town of Milan.

Not long after Ambrose moved to Milan, the bishop of Milan died. Since the bishop had favored false teachers, the Roman Church was concerned about who the next bishop should be. While a great crowd was debating what should be done, someone shouted out that Ambrose should be bishop.

At the time, Ambrose was a layman, not a priest. He wasn’t even baptized! But in December of 374, Ambrose was elected bishop of Milan. He was consecrated bishop just one week after he was baptized which is certainly not the normal practice of selecting bishops!

Ambrose oversaw a church that battled false teaching, the teaching that Jesus was not fully God and not coequal to the father, the same teaching that his predecessor seemed to favor. By God’s grace, Ambrose faithfully confessed the truth. Jesus is true God and true man!

Because Ambrose was interested in teaching the laity Christian doctrine, he combined his love of music and theology to write hymns that proclaimed Christian truths.

Savior of the Nations Come is one of the hymns Ambrose wrote to combat bad teaching. The hymn teaches the truth that Jesus is God, “God of God yet fully man.”

Now, about 1200 years later, Luther, like Ambrose, also wanted to teach the people Christian doctrine.

He wanted to teach his people the truth.

Luther, aware of Ambrose’s Latin hymn, translated it into German, so that the German people could sing it.

Luther probably translated this hymn and reconstructed its tune for Advent 1523, just six years after nailing the 95 theses to the castle church door. Several individuals also have then translated Luther’s German hymn into English so that we too can sing it today.

(see Peter Reske, The Hymns of Martin Luther CPH 2016)

When we sing Savior of the Nations Come, we should ask ourselves,

“What does this hymn teach us about Jesus?”

First it teaches us that Jesus is true God, that he is Divine.

This first teaching shouldn’t surprise us, given Ambrose’s context and bold confession of Jesus’ divinity. And so, we sing,

“Not by human flesh and blood, By the Spirit of our God was the Word of God made flesh – Woman’s offspring pure and fresh.”

Word of God is a divine title found in the beginning of John’s gospel in Chapter 1.

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

Stanzas 3 and 4 also confess Jesus’ divinity:

“Here a maid was found with child, yet remained a virgin mild. In her womb this truth was shown: God was there upon his throne.”

Mary’s womb was the divine and holy throne on God.

Her womb was God’s throne because life begins at conception, and by the Holy Spirit conceiving, the uncreated, infinite, and eternal God became flesh and truly dwelled inside Mary.

The second truth that the hymn teaches us about Jesus is that Jesus is King.

And so, we sing of thrones and halls.

Again, stanza 3, we sing of Mary’s womb serving as the throne of God.

To describe the incarnation, stanza 4: tells us that the Lord steps forth

“from his pure and kingly hall.”

With stanza 5, Luther writes, that we sing of Jesus leaving his source, the Father, but then eventually returning, at his Ascension, to “His throne and crown.”

In stanza 8, we sing of Jesus as our King.

He descended from Kings and is a King in his own right,

a King whose throne will last forever,
a king whose kingdom will never end,
a King who reigns with no golden throne and wears no diamond encrusted crown,
a King whose kingdom is not one of boundaries and custom agents, but is, instead:
a kingdom of human hearts where he rules and reigns by the Gospel and the Sacraments.

The third and final teaching we sing of when we sing Savior of the Nations, Come, is the comforting message that Jesus has won the victory over sin and death, and that he won this victory for all nations.

Stanza 6

“For you are the Father’s Son who in flesh the victory won”

The victory is that Jesus Christ, true God, begotten of the Father from eternity, and also true man, born of the virgin Mary redeemed us, lost and condemned people, purchased and won us from all sins, from death, and from the power of the devil.

He purchased and won us by his “heroic course”: His life, holy and precious blood, and his innocent suffering and death, and a life restored in the resurrection.

Savior of the Nations, Come, is a wonderful hymn that teaches us that Jesus is God and King and that he gives us victory over sin and death.

In this way, the hymn helps us understand Christian doctrine (teaching) and also gives us the blessed Gospel comfort.

It’s for these reasons that we Christians continue to sing this wonderful hymn today.

So may we all find comfort in these gospel truths of this blessed hymn as so many others have over the centuries by the power of God’s Holy Spirit.

During this Advent may we have our eyes focused on the Savior of the Nations, Come!

In the name of the Father, and of the Son + and of the Holy Spirit!

Amen

Sermon November 29-30, 2025 - Advent 1

Title: Are you ready?
Text: Matt 24:36-44

Facebook live:  Are you ready?

36 “But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only.

Friday afternoon at 2 PM, What are you doing?

Imagine someone came to you exactly at that time and said,

“Stop what you're doing now!”
And you would say, “But I'm not done with this yet.”
The person would say, “Stop now!”
And you would say, “But it's only 2 o'clock. I have several hours to go after this afternoon.”
“Stop now!” says the figure and you would put down what you were doing and walk with the person and say,
“Will I be able to finish this later?”
“No!” comes the reply.
“You mean I won't be able to pick up where I left off?”
“But where are you taking me?”
“Is it a long way off?”
“But I had such great plans for the weekend.”
“Come along,” is the reply.
“Can I go just for a minute?”
“Just one little minute? “
“No,” come on.

I think you know who the person is, was, or could have been.

Our text for today recounts, some of our Lord's words. Towards the end of his ministry, he speaks of the end of the world and the need to be ready for it even as in the days of Noah.

When the normal course of life was going on and the flood suddenly came, so it'll be business as usual as our lives today.

When the trumpet sounds and all earthly life as we know it suddenly ceases to exist.

If we had known the hour, Christ says - we would have been ready.

But you don't know on what day your Lord's coming. He tells us, so we are to watch, to be ready, for the son of man is coming at an hour that you and I don't expect.

Let's consider this sobering thought this morning.
How can we be ready for Christ’s coming?

The Lord will come when it's business as usual. Waking, sleeping, working or play.

38 For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, 39 and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.

None of the virgins in the chapter of Matthew following this were on the watch for the bridegroom, but some of them were prepared for his coming.

You can’t always be looking heavenward for the personal appearance of our Lord, but it is possible for you to be prepared and ready for his coming right now.

Are you prepared?
Is your soul ready for the coming of the son of man and when he appears?
What will the verdict of your life be?

Imagine 2 o'clock last Friday has come and gone. And you are now in the presence of God. What might be said about you 2 days after your passing?

The old line I’ve heard comes to mind,

“If you were accused of being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you?”
What will others say about you, or me?

Are you ready?

40 Then two men will be in the field; one will be taken and one left. 41 Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken and one left. 42 Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming.

A Christian pastor is always to preach as a dying man to dying people.

Today you and I are baptized and redeemed Christians, and we're living in the grace, mercy, love, and care of God; for we are his children now, and not on the brink of falling into hell.

Nevertheless, our Lord’s sober words apply to us as they did to the people in Noah's day and our own day.

How then do we live with a proper spirit of preparation?
Always ready for his coming.
First, we should live in the present tense, each day for itself.
For most of us it is a fairly level road, but it could change dramatically tomorrow.
What will you do?
It may be a totally unexpected illness.
It may be calamity in your home or your life.

It may be loneliness or despair. The likes of which you have never experienced before in your life.
You may meet death itself.
Sickness, loneliness, desperation and the like are all inevitable.

What will you do? How will you get ready?

I submit your best preparation is to give attention to today. Trust in the very Lord who said these words of our text to you for every passing moment of your life.

That means most of you in life.

Prepare for the changes which will surely come, but to which you cannot foresee, and need not fear so you can see the little blessings of your life today.

Prepare for the big emergencies tomorrow. And the ordinary road you travel right now.

Luther said that if God told him there'd be a judgment day tomorrow, he would plant an apple tree today. That's the way to live in the present.

The son will rise only if our Lord lets it. But that being granted, when we are living in the Lord, and we can say that this day will never come again. Let's enjoy it. Let's live in it to its fullest

We see our life and preparation as being one. Not filled with fear in Christ’s coming but with hope for the scriptures say perfect love casts out fear.

The Christian does not live in anxiety for he knows his redemption is assured through Christ's work. And he lives in hope.

And the hope he lives in is the confidence and certainty of life in the Lord. And with this certainty, the Christian has an attitude towards life-and-death.

Quite unlike others around him.

Knowing we are going to die. We can live with a certain zeal and zest. Because we shall not pass this way again and we can approach life's daily task with a fantastic kind of satisfaction.

We live as those who must die but who know Christ will take care of us?

That is his promise!

The word and the devil wants you to cling to this broken life of sin and forsake your true home, but God in Christ has called you to faith to believe the Good News that your eternal home has been prepared in Christ and that you have that hope and peace.

Are you ready? This Advent season and always in Christ Jesus the answer is, “Yes, and Amen!”

In the name of the Father and of the Son + and of the Holy Spirit.

Amen

Concordia pulpit 1978 Donald Deffner modified