O Come Thou Dayspring
Notes
Transcript
Good morning everyone. If you are able, could you stand as we read scripture? Today we are reading from Luke chapter 1, verses 67 - 79
Luke 1:67–79 (CSB)
Then his father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied: Blessed is the Lord, the God of Israel, because he has visited and provided redemption for his people. He has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David, just as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets in ancient times; salvation from our enemies and from the hand of those who hate us.
He has dealt mercifully with our ancestors and remembered his holy covenant—the oath that he swore to our father Abraham. He has given us the privilege, since we have been rescued from the hand of our enemies, to serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness in his presence all our days.
And you, child, will be called a prophet of the Most High, for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways, to give his people knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins. Because of our God’s merciful compassion, the dawn from on high will visit us to shine on those who live in darkness and the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.
Pray with me. Go ahead and have a seat.
There are few things more hopeful and gorgeous as the sunrise. Often times they bring with them a tangible warmth and hope.
Peter and I have made it a practice over the last three years to head out to hunt deer west river right along the missiouri in the river bluffs. We wake up really early, like 3:45, and hike almost two miles back through cedars and thickets up a bluff to get a good vantage point.
For the hour or so it takes us to make it up, we are warm, too warm during the hike. And we are utterly reliant on our flashlights, maps, and experience to get up to the right place.
When we finally arrive, we set up where we are going to sit until shooting light, a half our before sunrise. That usually means it’s typically an hour or so of complete darkness.
And I tell you what - that hour can be gorgeous with beautiful lights trailing the skies - but it can be completely debilitating too. As we sit in the dark, unable to perceive whats twenty yards away, and the warmth we had worked up during the hike now turns to chill.
That hour before the sunrise always feels like the darkest, and the coldest.
But then the light pours out from the horizon. Its cascading rays of light flowing and illuminating and warming all that they touch. and it is gorgeous.
And instantly it can fill you with hope and energy, and allows peter and i to adjust and move and hike, and hopefully make a move on a deer.
Beyond just hunting - some of us in our work wake up early, and especially in the winter it feels like daylight is a highly sought after commodity. And when you wake up and are getting ready for the day in the dark - it can feel pretty rough! But those rays of light can bring all the difference in the world.
The dawn - or in older language - the dayspring - brings light, and hope, and warmth. And so the song we are using for a trellis advent continues in it’s second stanza
O come thou dayspring from on high; and cause thy light on us to rise; Disperse the gloomy clouds of night; and deaths dark shadows put to flight
I love the imagery of this stanza. And again - like a good worship song ought to - it’s explicitly biblical.
As we consider our scripture reading this morning from Luke 1. This section we read from is actually the account of the birth of John the Baptist, before the birth of Jesus.
At the beginning of Luke 1- we find out that there is a man and his wife, Zechariah and Elizabeth, and they were righteous, but they were unable to have kids. Now Zechariah was a priest, and he is told by the angel Gabriel that Elizabeth will indeed bear a son - and this son will be one who prepares the way. This is what Gabriel says to Zechariah in Luke 1:13-17
But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, because your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you will name him John. There will be joy and delight for you, and many will rejoice at his birth. For he will be great in the sight of the Lord and will never drink wine or beer. He will be filled with the Holy Spirit while still in his mother’s womb. He will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God. And he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of fathers to their children, and the disobedient to the understanding of the righteous, to make ready for the Lord a prepared people.”
This child is John the Baptist - and he has a role, to make ready for the Lord a prepared people. What a brilliant phrase.
Now Zechariah is mute for the pregnancy, and in the mean time - Elizabeths relative, a young girl named Mary living in Nazareth was engaged to a man named Joseph.
Now we know a bit from last week that story - Mary conceives by the holy spirit, Joseph almost divorces her, but is reprimanded from an Angel, and is told that this son, Jesus will be god with us.
But looking back at the John the Baptist and his parents - when John is born, Zechariah unleashes this prophetic worship song.
Luke 1:67–71 (CSB)
Then his father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied: Blessed is the Lord, the God of Israel, because he has visited and provided redemption for his people. He has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David, just as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets in ancient times; salvation from our enemies and from the hand of those who hate us.
This is a beautiful doxology of Zechariah praising God for following through on his messianic prophetic promises. Salvation has come in and through the visitation of God - and in that visitation he has provided redemption and salvation. And that looks like being saved from enemies and those who hate us.
Now Zechariah almost certainly didn’t understand the nuances of how JEsus’ ministry would play out - but he DOES know that the time has come. He continues
Luke 1:72–75 (CSB)
He has dealt mercifully with our ancestors and remembered his holy covenant—the oath that he swore to our father Abraham. He has given us the privilege, since we have been rescued from the hand of our enemies, to serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness in his presence all our days.
Zechariah looks back - all the way to the abrahamic covenant - but he says that we now have the privilege to serve without fear for we now are in the presence of God for all our days. This speaks to the arrival of the king in Jesus - but also with a hope for the consummation of all things when Jesus returns at the end of the age.
And now, Zechariah gets specific about his son, John -
Luke 1:76–77 (CSB)
And you, child, will be called a prophet of the Most High, for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways, to give his people knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins.
Look at this! Zechariah - filled with Holy spirit declares that John will be a prophet - preparing the way, for what purpose? To give HIS people knowledge of Salvation. In what way will they be saved? Through the forgiveness of their sins.
Saved through the forgiveness of sins.
Sometimes i fear that we can lose sight of just how glorious salvation from sin is. For sin is the root of the evil and injustice we see in our world.
And yet, we tend to love our sin, make them pet sins, hide them. Or we compare ourselves to other people who tend to be a bit crustier than we are - so we can feel really good about ourselves - because we aren’t like them!
People in our culture want salvation from all sorts of things. We want to be saved from oppression, from financial hurdles, from health issues, from the woke mob, we want salvation from depression and from unfair work environments. We want salvation - but do we realize that at its core - we need salvation from our own sin?
Not that Christ in his kingdom does not promise salvation from injustice and all sorts of oppressive regimes - he does that. But entrance into that perfect kingdom and perfect state is predicated on the perfect state of those who dwell in the kingdom.
In other words - even if humans were to move into a perfect world unmarred by sin - we would mess it up unless we were forgiven and mode glorious first!
We desperately need forgiveness of sins. We desperately need to be redeemed from the pit and washed white in the blood of the lamb.
That is the only way that salvation is possible in all the other ways we desire. And he made that salvific way possible in the life death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. He has brought the light to shine down on the darkness.
Luke 1:78–79 (CSB)
Because of our God’s merciful compassion, the dawn from on high will visit us to shine on those who live in darkness and the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.
Oh the joy of the gospel. Oh the joy of the compassion of God! Who while we were still sinners sent Christ to come and die for us.
The word dawn here is where we get the word dayspring in older translations.
This is a vivid picture - as if god made the world and made it bright, but when our ancestors adam and eve chose disobedience, sin came into the world, and the tangible glory and brilliance of God’s presence was now hidden.
And humans started loving the darkness. keeping hidden sin. Taking advantage of each other. sin and mold growing on the deepest parts of our beings.
But light has dawned. because of God’s compassion - Light has come into our lives to purify and save us from sin. to chase away the shadow of death.
Friend, do you not see that as the most glorious thing? In Christ we can have redemption, we can have freedom, we can have light, and joy and peace. We are no longer lost in the dark like sheep without a shepherd.
We have purpose, belonging, a family, a father in heaven and a brother in Christ who has shown us the way to live, and the Spirit to tend to us and guide us and be compassionate in our very midst.
We need to marvel and the dawn, the arrival of Jesus and the gospel truth! In Christ we can be forgiven and freed from the reign of Darkness. And I think of John 8:36
So if the Son sets you free, you really will be free.
We can be fully free!
And Thus I think of the glorious end of Romans 8, Let me read this for us - for it’s incredible. Romans 8:31-39
Romans 8:31–39 (CSB)
What, then, are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He did not even spare his own Son but gave him up for us all. How will he not also with him grant us everything? Who can bring an accusation against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies. Who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is the one who died, but even more, has been raised; he also is at the right hand of God and intercedes for us. Who can separate us from the love of Christ? Can affliction or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?
As it is written: Because of you we are being put to death all day long; we are counted as sheep to be slaughtered.
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
When we are in christ - nothing can keep us from the love of God. From the warmth of his love light. From his rays of glory.
There is nothing more important than the forgiveness and salvation offered to us in Jesus.
And yet there is a sad reality here. Some have become creatures of darkness. And when the light comes, exposing all the actions that we’ve been up to, instead of asking jesus to purify us, and give him everything - we instead choose to find somewhere to hide from the light.
We find ourselves having more affection for our idols and our sin rather than Christ who can actually save us.
So the dawn of Christ, and the gospel, it is a divisive thing.
For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but it is the power of God to us who are being saved.
And so as we consider the proclamation that Dawn has sprung in the arrival of our King Jesus, we need to ask
So What?
The Gospel of Matthew quoting Isaiah talks about it this way in Matthew 4:16
Matthew 4:16 (CSB)
The people who live in darkness have seen a great light, and for those living in the land of the shadow of death, a light has dawned.
A light has dawned. And so the question I have for us - is what are we gonna do about it?
Are we gonna go after the light, or are we gonna hide from the dark in the shadows.
Paul talks about this in Ephesians 4:17-19
Therefore, I say this and testify in the Lord: You should no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thoughts. They are darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them and because of the hardness of their hearts. They became callous and gave themselves over to promiscuity for the practice of every kind of impurity with a desire for more and more.
This is being spoken to the church in ephesus - those of faith - and paul is saying - there are people who have become callous and are more and more desensitized to the sin that they believe they are hiding. and it’s ignorant! Paul continues
But that is not how you came to know Christ, assuming you heard about him and were taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus, to take off your former way of life, the old self that is corrupted by deceitful desires, to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, the one created according to God’s likeness in righteousness and purity of the truth.
This is a call from paul to repent! Hey, you say you know Jesus - then get out from the shadows! Get out of the grave - you don’t belong there anymore. Stop playing with that stuff that’s going to kill you!
Some of us still have the idea of parts of our lives being set aside and hidden as if God doesn’t have rights to that parts. Or we are nurturing or protecting some hidden sin, vice, or affection.
If you are in Christ - that self has been crucified with Christ. We need to put on the new self.
1 John has what I find one the most compelling passages when we talk about light, and darkness, and our sin. Let me read, 1 John 1:5-10
This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light, and there is absolutely no darkness in him. If we say, “We have fellowship with him,” and yet we walk in darkness, we are lying and are not practicing the truth. If we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say, “We have no sin,” we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say, “We have not sinned,” we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.
We walk in the light, as he is in the light - and therefore we have fellowship with one another and Jesus’ blood cleanses us. And John isn’t saying that we aren’t sinning - no if we say we have not sinned we are LYING to ourselves and God.
No the idea is complete transparency.
Because IF Jesus is sufficient and compassionate and able to forgive all sins - if we trust that, then we ought to own all our sins with open hands - because in a tangible reality they aren’t our sins anymore - they are Christs! He became sin who knew no sin so that we may become the righteousness of God.
So What?
So would we stop living in darkness. Friends in our community, in our tribe, some of us are living in darkness. Hidden vices. Bad thought processes. Grudges and decent and un-forgivness.
There are some here addicted to lust, pornography and are scared to admit it to anyone for the shame they would feel. Others have found their way potentially into chemical addictions - alchohol or otherwise, looking for something to numb the pain and now being ruled over by that chemical.
These are not the ways of the kingdom.
We need to live in a transparent manner. We need to confess our shortcomings. We need to live in the light as god is in the light.
So What?
would we be people who are radically committed to being honest and telling the truth - for there is no hiding from the light of God, and if we are in Christ, THERE IS NO REASON TO HIDE.
So we repent. We confess.
I don’t know what it is for you - and I’m not saying yall need to come up and line up and do some public confession. But we do need to be honest about the ways we are living according to the ways of the darkened world rather than the kingdom of God.
My own heart is so often so constantly disordered. If I can just be honest and transparent with you all. I wrestle with accepting the truths that God is good when I feel depressed and anxious. I often times feel like God won’t take care of me, and give in to thoughts of sadness rather than reminding myself of the glories that Christ has won.
And so oftentimes I find myself living and operating out of my dysfunction. I can hide and not want to be around people who love me, because I don’t want them see the broken man their pastor is.
I find my seeking of approval from others, rather than living our of the validation I have from God as his son through the salvation of Jesus.
Instead I need to confess, and admit, yall I’m a broken man. Prone to be cynical and sarcastic to mask the pain I can feel.
And if it were not for the love of Christ and God and the empowering of the Holy Spirit I would have nothing to offer.
But here’s why Christ is so good. By grace through faith, In Christ, We are forgiven, healed, made whole, restored, chosen, loved, and cherished by God.
And so we come to God, out of the dark holes we hide in, and we drop everything that falsely promised us life - and wake up to the dayspring of Christ.
Where we find that he has prepared a table before us. We come out, deserving of wrath, and Christ instead offers the bread - saying that it is his body, which was broken for you. The wrath of God which was due you, has been put on him.
And in the same way he took the cup - and he said this cup is the new covenant of grace for the forgiveness of sins which is for you!
So What?
So Friend - would we wake up to the dayspring of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ, confess and lay down all of our sins, and false identities, and eat and drink and be nourished by the riches and lovingkindness of Jesus.
It is only right for us to take some time to reflect, and then we will move to a time of communion.
