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A sermon is a manner of oral communication and therefore words and sentence structure/order would be added, altered, or deleted at the moment of delivery. + In Nomine Jesu + The Rev. Evan Gaertner First Sunday in Advent "Hosanna! God Comes to Save Us" Welcome to the beginning of the church year. Welcome to Jesus at the Jesus comes to the world even though the world may be against him or fail to recognize him. The wise men needed the star, the shepherds needed the angels, Mary and Joseph needed the stable. None of us in our lives on our own are ready for this savior who comes to us. Listen to the Old Testament prophets that we will hear this Advent season and you will hear promises that were for hope and promise. Isaiah, Zechariah, Micah, they all together with one voice proclaimed the promise of the Lord who would come to save us. But even though generations have heard the prophets our generation again needs to hear God’s words of judgment. We need to hear how we are an unclean people whose sin clothes us shamefully. But we also need to hear that nevertheless the Lord’s desire is for us. It is an all purpose message for every generation, for every culture, for every people. God comes to save us. The Word of God that delivered the Old Testament people from their sin and enemies was the message that God comes to save us. It was by faith in the God that delivers and redeems that the people of every time and place are saved. Abraham who followed the Lord found his faith credited to him as righteousness. Not always do we know why or when or how the Lord works, but we know what for. God comes to save us. My wife has an all purpose cleaner. She uses it for everything. Robert Duval in the movie, “Apocalypse Now” said, “I love the smell of Napalm in the morning.” My wife would say with glee, “I love the smell of soft-scrub in the morning.” The counter top, the kitchen stove, the vinyl tile floor, the bathtub, the toilets, the baseboards. Any dirt better watch out because soft-scrub is coming your way if you are in my house. Well any sin, malcontent, malicious work better watch out because I have a God who comes to save us. Jesus Christ, upon the In many ways the description of that day when the The expectation was of a global victory against the enemies of God. The people were ready for their king to come down from the Indeed they expected something with Jesus. They gathered palm branches which were used in a festival that was focused on remembering that God would restore the king to his people. They shouted” “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! 10Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David! Hosanna in the highest!” Hosanna was used a word of praise that means, “Praise to the one who comes to save us.” The all-purpose message that God comes to save us was the hope of the people. Even as the people were shouting praise, they were not exactly sure how Jesus was bringing the kingdom of heaven. They were still anticipating more by saying, “Blessed is the coming kingdom.” They understood the victory of Zechariah to be still a future event. The promise, “God comes to save us,” was still ahead. But the colt that had never been ridden is a hint to us that with Jesus the kingdom was not just a future event but a present reality. Even nature makes known her faith in Jesus, the unbroken colt, bowed to be ridden by Jesus. God comes to save us was a future promise in the Old Testament prophets. It is a present promise for us today because Jesus left the treasures of heaven and became flesh and dwelt among us. God has become flesh in Jesus Christ. With Jesus birth came not just the indwelling of God in the flesh, but the indwelling of the kingdom of heaven into our reality. The miracles that Jesus performed, the calming of the wind and wave, the healing of the blind and lame, the raising of Lazarus, are all about the breaking into our world of sin the We may not always understand the how, when, or why, but we know the what for, “God comes to save us.” We come to worship and here the Word of God brings to reality what he long for. Here in the Divine Service through the sharing of the Word of God and the administration of the Sacraments the hope and longing of the people of God is found answered. “God comes to save us.” To some we might look foolish for gathering together and we might on occasion feel foolish ourselves. But consider the disciples who followed the Lord. They were sent to gather an unbroken colt. If any asked why they responded, “The Lord has need of it.” The Lord would make use of the colt for his sacred purpose. The colt was going to carry the kingdom of heaven to the people. Jesus rode on that colt into Now if any asked what the bread and wine were for in our worship you could respond, “The Lord has need of them.” We cannot explain how the body and blood of Jesus are present in, with, and under the bread and wine. But we know this much, in this meal Jesus comes to us to save us. As the colt carried the In many ways God uses the things of this world in ways we might not expect to bring alive the Now I do not desire to see God at work by causing cancer, Alzheimer’s, or a miscarriage and indeed I do not believe that sin, death, and disease are the work of God. But I must have faith and hope that even in the midst of these God will be at work. Too many faithful Christians look to the day of the Lord with fright and worry, and if this includes you, I want you to take into each day this confident message, “God is at work to save us.” In the middle of our lives the triumphant king is at work bringing his salvation. I long for God to be at work in my life as I proclaim the Word of God. I long for God to be at work in each of your lives. Soli Deo Gloria -->> Home |