Sermon at First Presbyterian
Church Lockhart
Have you ever considered the importance of the birth of Jesus upon
your faith and human history?
Have you considered God’s Love, behind that important event? On this 4th Sunday of Advent we celebrate
the coming of Christ into
history. It is not
just the birth of Jesus,
the Messiah, but the intersection of God into human history.
We see this in our hymns and songs of the Christmas season.
Sometimes it is hard to jump-start
the love and joy
in our lives, because we are
wrapped up in the problems of the present.
This is a time to be joyful, it is the
anticipation and the celebration of
the coming of the Lord; yet we
are faced with the realities. There are people laid off from work,
just after Thanksgiving, only to show a profit on a company ledger. There is the reality of the family member, who died this year and we
miss their presence. It is hard to find joy in the absence, and the
sorrow. It becomes a tough time of year. It is the joyous expectation, and the clash of lingering disappointments, and loss
in our lives.
Yet we are reminded how God, in His Love, sends His Son into history, and changes
all of history, that we may
be saved. The central theme from our readings is the message of God’s
Teaching Love.
I Teaching of Love– Isaiah
In Isaiah, we see the prophesy of the birth
of the Messiah in V-14.
The Lord is speaking to Ahaz whose name means “he has grasped”. He was the king of
He aligned himself with Tiglath
Pileser III the king of
Now the only reason I know about Tiglath Pileser the Third is because in my Old
Testament class at seminary, we learned that he was the one in history who started the practice of up rooting entire
populations and removing them from
their land and putting them into slavery
in another part of his kingdom.
This practice is what later caused the Hebrews to be carted off into slavery in
Verse
14 seems to be completely
out of context with the passage. Ahaz is worried about the tribe
of Ephraim (northern Judah)
and
Because God loved his people he saved them, in spite of their King. At the time of Jesus’ birth, some 700 years later, these 2 kingdoms
were laid waste, and God again,
is with his people in the person of Jesus. (Emmanuel
– God with us)
II
God’s
faithfulness Teaches Love – Psalm like Isaiah
In
Psalm 80 is an
over view and outline of the purpose,
of the coming of the Messiah and
the call to God, to save his people. It is a plea
of the psalmist who calls upon
a righteous God, to be righteous. He also calls
upon God to be with
“O Shepherd of
The
Covenant was a binding promise from the King to the subjects: from
the one with power, to the powerless.
The call to God, “Restore us” is used 3 times: V-3
Restore us, O God.
V-7 Restore us, O God Almighty. V-19 Restore us, O Lord God Almighty. All 3 calls
ask that God to “make your face
shine upon us,- that we may be saved”. The plea is intensified with each request. The word face
in the Old Testament was
where a one’s attitudes were most clearly
expressed. It was a dwelling presence. Just as God dwelled in the midst of
In V-8 the word Vine is the symbol for
It is a simple metaphor. The warning
and the message of Christ is, that we are the
branches, and He is the Vine.
We get all of our life
nutrition from Him. Christ, and we produce the fruits of the Spirit. If we are not “in Christ”, and do
not produce fruit, then God,
the vinedresser, cuts off the nonbearing branches, and throws them
into the fire. In light
of this example, we must bear fruit “that we may be saved.”
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III Paul’s Teaching of Love to
those Called –
Romans
In Romans, we see
Paul’s introduction to the book
with its lengthy description of
Paul’s call, identity, and purpose as an apostle to bring the gospel to both Jew and Gentile through the power of Christ’s resurrection. His identification is being in Christ, and Christ being in him. His proclaiming the Good News is to all in
IV The Teaching of Love – Matthew
In Matthew, we see the prolog to
the birth of Christ. It is the realization of God dwelling in human flesh, and truly
is Emmanuel – “God with us”.
We see Joseph’s
character in his response to
Mary’s pregnancy. He is described as
a just man. His first insight was to
divorce her quietly, so
as not to bring dishonor upon
her.
He is her husband. He is devoted to Mary. Joseph was obedient to the instruction of the angel, and the fulfillment of the prophesy in Isaiah. His
naming of the child “Jesus”
(as the father) made the child
legitimate (in the society), and a part of the lineage of
David. Through this action, he was a reflection of God’s divine purpose, and love.
The meaning of Jesus’
name (Yeshua) is “God is salvation”, “God saves”, or “God will save”. It is the reflection
of Christ’s purpose revealed in
the psalm, “that we may be saved.” He
is God’s dwelling presence. He is
God’s glory revealed in Christ.
This is Christ coming
to us teaching us God’s love, as the living example. Christ comes in the fullness of history to “save us”.
Christ is the Living Word
with its Shekinah. It is God in his earthly dwelling, in Christ.
This is why Jesus is identified as The Word. He is the presence of God with us. God has come to dwell in the flesh of Jesus Christ. He is the spiritual and physical
dwelling of Emmanuel – “God with us”.
IV The Conclusion Summation: God’s Love, What’s It All
About?
We see how God as
the “Shepherd of his people”
sends his Son the redeemer who
comes to, rescue and restore not only the nation of
John 3:16 is a reflection
of the depth of that love.
We have only to trust in His presence with
us, God’s care for us.
Because
it is Christ within us, who comes
Teaching the Love
of God, that we
may be saved…
In the Name of … the Father, the Son,
and the Holy Spirit. Amen
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