Remembering the "Why"
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Illustrations for Biblical Preaching Spiritual Pride
There was a godly Christian woman who startled her friends by saying, “There isn’t a sin of which I am not capable. I could be a prostitute; I could murder; I could embezzle.”
Most of her friends were not impressed with her frankness. Instead they thought that she was displaying a false humility. Then she added, “You don’t really believe what I just said. I mean it—because I realize that any particular sin that crops up in someone else’s life expresses itself in me, but in different ways. Until I accept that, I am self-righteous, proud, and arrogant.”
1 What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? 2 You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. 3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. 4 You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. 5 Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, “He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us”? 6 But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”
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.
We put a lot of effort into Christmas. I recently heard someone say, regarding gifts, “it isn’t what you get, it’s what you give that counts.” The funny thing about that statement is that, in a perverse sort of way, we spend a lot of time, energy and money, in an effort to convince others that we value them, on a day that supposedly is not celebrating them at all.
We know that Christmas is the birthday celebration of Jesus Christ. Yet our culture puts most of the emphasis on what we are giving to each other, and few people think on what God has given to us.
This leads to people getting frustrated over what they have spent, while others get frustrated over what was not spent on them. What lies behind all of this frustration? In the words of the Isley Brothers, “When you finally break it all down, it’s the pride!”
Pride makes you spend money that you cannot afford to waste, put bills off for later, and go into consumer debt to finance the end of the year profit statements of retail businesses. Pride makes you go and sink money into a new car, not because you need one, but because it’s the “end of the year sales event.” Pride makes you get angry because someone else didn’t guess what you wanted, or makes you feel better because your gifts were more expensive or had a larger number than someone else’s.
2 But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days.
The entire setting of our Lord’s first coming into the world is a study on God’s view of humility. Our First Reading, from the prophet Micah, addresses God’s choice of Bethlehem to become His staging area. Not a major city, not the City of David, but the “Little Town of Bethlehem” Ephrathah -the little “house of bread that is fruitful” - is God’s choice for the place where He chooses to join us in the war against sin.
Bethlehem Ephrathah is a name that should be in the minds of our congregation. You see, we are also a “house of bread” and we desire to be “fruitful.” In this place, I try to faithfully deliver God’s Strong Word, and I pray for us to be “fruitful unto every good work.” In this place, we gather together to receive God’s gifts of grace and mercy, and to share the peace of Christ with one another and with all who enter here. In this place, I mourn because there are still so many who neither know nor believe that “Christ is for YOU!”
So instead of being a large “House of Bread,” we are “little” - “too little” to be among the influential churches in Gary. Too little to be a place where the movers and shakers can find the time to visit, too little to get the attention that some of those other “houses of worship” receive from people. Yet God still loves this little house enough to come to us, as He promised in , every time that we gather together in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
The Lord Jesus Christ comes here, and He doesn’t come empty-handed. Each time we gather, we trust in His promise contained in as we confess that we are poor, sinful creatures who deserve His temporal and eternal punishment. He commands me, and I joyfully obey, to declare the forgiveness of sins unto you all. Each time we gather is another opportunity to “taste and see that the Lord is good; happy is the man who puts his trust in Him.” Each time, God speaks to us poor miserable sinners that we are, and declares His Word to us in the Liturgy, the Lessons, the sermon and the Sacraments. And each time, we rejoice that it is so, as it has been so since 1870.
39 In those days Mary arose and went with haste into the hill country, to a town in Judah, 40 and she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. 41 And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the baby leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit, 42 and she exclaimed with a loud cry, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! 43 And why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me? 44 For behold, when the sound of your greeting came to my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. 45 And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord.”
People say that they like to go to a church where they feel welcome. Mary knew that she was welcome into Elizabeth’s house from the moment her foot touched the entrance, from the moment that she said “hello.” Mary came with intent, wen she heard that her elderly cousin Elizabeth was pregnant (). Elizabeth greeted her at her arrival, not with displeasure, not with suspicion, but with words of blessing! We should have the same response to those who visit this house of bread. We should bless them in the name of the Lord.
Do we let people know that they are welcome here? Do others even know that we are here? Not many stop to read the the marquee, park their cars, and come in. Maybe that passive signage is not enough. Mary did not simply passively accept that the Lord wanted to be planted inside her womb. She actively declared her willingness to be God’s servant in this Mission of Mercy:
38 And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.
Elizabeth also actively welcomed the presence of the Lord, as did her son, John, boldly declaring:
44 For behold, when the sound of your greeting came to my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. 45 And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord.”
As we respond to God’s Word to us in the hymns and the liturgy, do our voices carry with bold joy, or do we push them out dutifully, just wanting to get through to the end so that we can mercifully escape after only an hour or so. Do we joyfully share the news with others that God’s promises are faithfully declared here, and God’s strong Word is unflinchingly declared as a medicine that will cure the sin-sick soul?
Or are we ashamed because we are just “too little to be among the clans of Judah” - too little to be among those whose Choral songs of praise fill the skies of Gary, IN? We have no problem with Motown’s “oldies but goodies,” we sing them with gusto! Why do we stumble at Heaven’s “oldies but goodies” that declare a love that will never fade away, a peace that passes all understanding, and a joy unspeakable and full of glory?
46 And Mary said, “My soul magnifies the Lord, 47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, 48 for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant. For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed; 49 for he who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name.
God knows our weaknesses, just as He knew Mary’s frailties and lack of esteem or social capital. He saw her as she was, and chose her to partner with Him in His Mission. She rejoiced that God chose her, and humbly declared His greatness in doing so. She knows hat God’s actions are resisted by the proud, but nevertheless values His Word over their acclaim :
50 And his mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation. 51 He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts; 52 he has brought down the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of humble estate; 53 he has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty.
In the midst of a culture that disparages the idea of trusting in God as He reveals Himself through His Holy Scriptures and worshipping Him with the gifts that He has given us for centuries, we confess that He is still faithfully giving Himself to us, and we respond with the Words that He has given to us. in the Liturgy, the sacraments, and the Pastoral Office. We confess, with Mary, that
54 He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, 55 as he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his offspring forever.”
It took 33 years for the holy, innocent, bitter sufferings and death of God’s beloved Son, Jesus Christ to fulfill what Mary declared, but He did it. When she said those words, she didn’t know when or how it would take place, but she knew that God was faithful to fulfill the promises “as He spoke to our fathers.” Now, like Mary, we wait for the Lord to come. This time He comes, not entering into the Virgin’s womb where He was received with joy, but He will come into a world of which He asks, “when the Son of Man returns, will He find faith upon the earth?” ()?
He will only find it because we are faithful in our vocations to declare the Gospel, for “faith comes by hearing, and hearing from the Word of Christ.” Whether it is me, and others like me, faithfully declaring the Law in all of its harshness and the pure Gospel in all of its sweetness, or it is “the mutual conversation and consolation of brothers and sisters ,” speaking to our neighbors concerning the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living, and especially speaking of “the Gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation for all who believe.”
God faithfully fulfilled His promise to Elizabeth and to Mary; He faithfully fulfilled His promise to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and He faithfully fulfilled His word to Adam and Eve, by sending Jesus to die on the cross and to be raised from the dead. He faithfully fulfilled His promise to the Church, having sent the Holy Spirit of promise to us in our baptism, whereby we were united to Christ in His death (). He now empowers us to faithfully fulfill our service to Him, even putting His word in our mouth as we meditate upon it in prayer and study so that we can declare it to others. As Mary went to Elizabeth when she heard the news, so we should go to our neighbor whom God brings before us, to declare that God is still faithful to keep the promise that he has made, to the praise of His glorious grace.
And let the peace of God, that passes all understanding, guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.