The End in the Beginning
Advent - The return of the King • Sermon • Submitted
0 ratings
· 5 viewsNotes
Transcript
Sermon Tone Analysis
A
D
F
J
S
Emotion
A
C
T
Language
O
C
E
A
E
Social
Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations 5466 A Fault in Olivet
There was an earthquake on July 11, 1927, which shook Palestine from the Sea of Galilee to the border of Egypt and, after the tremors, geologists discovered a fault in Olivet, running from east to west. Prof. Bailey Willis, of Stanford University, said that the land could expect to suffer from seismological disturbances and that the area around Jerusalem was a region of potential danger, a fault line, along which slippage might occur, passing directly under the Mount of Olives. It is evident, therefore, that what Zechariah described is precisely what geologists would expect to occur.
Blessed Lord, You have caused all Holy Scriptures to be written for our learning. Grant that we may so hear them, read, mark, learn, and take them to heart that, by the patience and comfort of Your holy Word, we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life. … through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
[1] Paul Lee Tan, Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations: Signs of the Times (Garland, TX: Bible Communications, Inc., 1996), 1240.
14 “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and the house of Judah. 15 In those days and at that time I will cause a righteous Branch to spring up for David, and he shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. 16 In those days Judah will be saved, and Jerusalem will dwell securely. And this is the name by which it will be called: ‘The Lord is our righteousness.’
The Book of Concord The First Commandment
What does “to have a god” mean, or what is God?
[2] Answer: A “god” is the term for that to which we are to look for all good and in which we are to find refuge in all need. Therefore, to have a god is nothing else than to trust and believe in that one with your whole heart. As I have often said, it is the trust and faith of the heart alone that make both God and an idol. [3] If your faith and trust are right, then your God is the true one. Conversely, where your trust is false and wrong, there you do not have the true God. For these two belong together, faith and God. Anything on which your heart relies and depends, I say, that is really your God.
The Lutheran Cyclopedia Justification
Faith is itself a gift of grace wrought and given by the Holy Spirit through the means of grace. A gift cannot have merit. Faith is the eye that sees and the hand that grasps the merit and righteousness of Christ.
How many of us really view our lives as if our actions fulfilled God’s purpose rather than just being a series of events - fortunate or unfortunate as it seems to us at the time. Jesus saw His entire life as unfolding according to God’s predestined purpose. John declared concerning Him, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (). The Bible affirms that Jesus did this by the will of the Father, as it is written:
17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.
During this Church Year, Lectionary Year “C” of our three year cycle, we will explore Luke’s Gospel. In it , we will discover, or rediscover, “who Jesus is” in terms of His humanity and Divinity, and why that matters to us as Christians and to the world. We know that as “Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, 32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free”” (), but many people in the world have ideas about who Jesus is that do not line up with the truth of Scripture. The Bible calls this “another Jesus” and “another Gospel,” witnessed by a “different Spirit (), that can lead them astray from the simplicity that is in Christ ().
How many of us really view our lives as if our actions fulfilled God’s purpose rather than just being a series of events - fortunate or unfortunate as it seems to us at the time. Jesus saw His entire life as unfolding according to God’s predestined purpose. John declared concerning Him, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (). The Bible affirms that Jesus did this by the will of the Father, as it is written:
The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), .
How many of us really view our lives as if our actions fulfilled God’s purpose rather than just being a series of events - fortunate or unfortunate as it seems to us at the time. Jesus saw His entire life as unfolding according to God’s predestined purpose. John declared concerning Him, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (). The Bible affirms that Jesus did this by the will of the Father, as it is written:
8 When he said above, “You have neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sin offerings” (these are offered according to the law), 9 then he added, “Behold, I have come to do your will.” He does away with the first in order to establish the second. 10 And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), .
It was the will of the Father that led Jesus to be baptized by John, just as it was the will of the Father that Jesus be tested by the Devil after He spent 40 days of fasting in the wilderness. It was by the will of the Father that He preached the Good News that “the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.” It was the will of the Father that Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a colt upon whom a rider had never sat.
29 When he drew near to Bethphage and Bethany, at the mount that is called Olivet, he sent two of the disciples, 30 saying, “Go into the village in front of you, where on entering you will find a colt tied, on which no one has ever yet sat. Untie it and bring it here. 31 If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ you shall say this: ‘The Lord has need of it.’ ” 32 So those who were sent went away and found it just as he had told them. 33 And as they were untying the colt, its owners said to them, “Why are you untying the colt?” 34 And they said, “The Lord has need of it.” 35 And they brought it to Jesus, and throwing their cloaks on the colt, they set Jesus on it.
This is a curious turn of events. At no other time in any of the Gospels do we read of Jesus, during His ministry, riding anywhere on a colt. Now, He directs two disciples to take a colt, upon which no one had ever sat, and bring it to Him. What does this mean?
10 The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until tribute comes to him; and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples. 11 Binding his foal to the vine and his donkey’s colt to the choice vine, he has washed his garments in wine and his vesture in the blood of grapes.
13
Jacob’s deathbed prophecy to his son, Judah, included words that referred to the promised Messiah. He would come royally, but he would also come in blood.
35 And they brought it to Jesus, and throwing their cloaks on the colt, they set Jesus on it. 36 And as he rode along, they spread their cloaks on the road. 37 As he was drawing near—already on the way down the Mount of Olives—the whole multitude of his disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen, 38 saying, “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”
The scene gets even more curious; as Jesus rides along the way to Jerusalem, “the City of the Great King,” His disciples do the strangest thing, at least to us. Not only have some of them put their cloaks on the colt’s back for Jesus to sit upon, but now, the multitude of them are putting their cloaks on this dusty road, a road upon which others have walked, other animals have walked and left tokens of their presence - what does this mean?
9 Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
Everything that is taking place at this moment is a fulfillment of the prophetic Word that God sent through Zechariah during the reign of Darius the Mede over Babylon and during the time of the rebuilding of post-captivity Temple in Jerusalem. Not only that, but these words are part of a prophecy that speaks to the establishment of the Messianic Kingdom over all the world, with the judgment of God upon the kingdoms of this world.
Even the words proclaimed by the crowd point to the Messiah,
38 λέγοντες, Εὐλογημένος ὁ ἐρχόμενος, ὁ βασιλεὺς ἐν ὀνόματι κυρίου· ἐν οὐρανῷ εἰρήνη καὶ δόξα ἐν ὑψίστοις.
“ὁ ἐρχόμενος” - the Coming One - is the same phrase John the Baptist used when asking whether Jesus was the Messiah, or should he look for another (). Then they go even further: “the King in the name of the LORD; peace in Heaven, and glory in the Highest.” The only thing left to do was to march either to Herod’s palace or Pilate’s residence and launch the Coup de tat!
39 And some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples.” 40 He answered, “I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out.”
Doesn’t it make sense that the Pharisees would try to get Jesus to silence the crowd? This kind of activity would get the wrong kind of attention - the attention of Herod and Pilate, and they knew that there would be problems then, not only for Jesus, but for the city as a whole!
Doesn’t it make sense that the Pharisees would try to get Jesus to silence the crowd? This kind of activity would get the wrong kind of attention - the attention of Herod and Pilate, and they knew that there would be problems then, not only for Jesus, but for the city as a whole!
Jesus was so conscious of the Father’s will that even when offered an alternative, He refused to entertain it. Whether it was the Devil (), Peter (), or the crowd of disciples (), Jesus rejected any path to His enthronement as King that tried to bypass the Cross, but fulfilled every step which would take Him to the Cross.
As He submitted to the fulfillment of the Word by entering Jerusalem on that colt, He also submitted to it by being despised and rejected, by being forsaken, by being pierced, by “the holy, innocent, bitter sufferings and death,” which then led to His resurrection from the dead.
The same Scriptures that declared these things about Christ declares something concerning us:
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. 18 All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.
You are a new creation, risen with Christ:
4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.
You are no longer slaves to sin and unrighteousness, but have been set free so that you might freely serve righteousness in the Kingdom of God:
1 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. 3 For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
We have been given power - ability - by the coming of the Holy Spirit upon us. This power enables us to be His witnesses, as it is written
8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
We represent a Kingdom, for we are a Kingdom of priests - the priesthood of the believers - and we have the authority to represent our King:
16 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.
Keep in Step with the Spirit
Your focus is either upon the things pertaining to God or the things pertaining to the world. There is a difference between the holy and unholy, betwen clean and unclean, between the kingdom of darkness and the Kingdom of God’s dear Son. The children of Satan walk in his ways, even as the Children of God walk in His. I know that not every one in church is living as a subject of Christ’s Kingdom - that’s why congregations aren’t able to do all that they would do in the world. I know that the world sets itself in opposition to the Kingdom of God - that’s why congregations face so much opposition when they try to fulfill their purpose in Christ.
16 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. re represent a Kingdom, for we are a Kingdom of priests - the
Most importantly, I know that we don’t have things completely together, not even we who understand that we are simil iustus et peccator - at the same time saint and sinner. We are called to operate as one body in Christ, not as independent entrepreneurial enterprises, competing for market shares against other similarly named groups. That’s why Paul wrote these words:
12 Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. 13 Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
When we gather together for worship we are pressing towards the goal. When we come together to study God’s Word and our Confessional teachings, we are pressing towards the goal. When we come together in service to our neighbor through our vocations, loving them for Christ’s sake, we are pressing towards the goal.
If you aren’t pressing, you’re regressing.
If you don’t rise and shine, you can get left behind.
No, I’m not talking about the rapture, I’m talking about growing in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. But you need to understand that only dead things don’t grow. If you’re looking back to the past, don’t get mad if you get left back there like Lot’s wife. God is bringing us up, and we won’t be held down.
16 For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.
“Jesus gettin’ us ready for that great day (3x).
Who shall be able to stand? (etc.)
We shall, together, in the power of the Holy Spirit. We shall stand together on that great day as Christ raises us to Himself so that we can live in the joy of His Kingdom forever.
It’s time for us to come together, worship together, walk together, and grow together, to the praise of His glorious grace who brought us together in one body, and be thankful.
Who shall be able to stand?”
On that day, your politics won’t help you.
On that day, your buddies and BFFs can’t help you.
On that day,
“Can’t nobody do me like Jesus, … He’s my Friend!”
Can’t nobody do me like Jesus,
He’s my Friend!”
Today is the day - don’t wait for tomorrow.
God’s gave us beauty for ashes and joy for our sorrow.
He made us a promise and His Word is true.
Sealed it in blood, and said that He is for you.
So let the peace of God that passes understanding guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.