Notes

The Lord be with you!
Shower, O heavens, from above, and let the clouds rain down righteousness! This is the Fourth Sunday in Advent, and all four candles on the Advent wreath are lit. Christmas is within days, and we conclude the Advent season with one more message of repentance from John the Baptist. As fall gives way to winter in our area, we see impressive clouds and cold winds, but the rain showers do not seem to follow. God’s rich blessing of righteousness, however, rains down generously exactly as He has promised- Jesus came in our flesh and our sins were washed away in a magnificent cleansing torrent.

Let us pray:
Stir up Your power, O Lord, and come and help us by Your might, that the sins which weigh us down may be quickly lifted by Your grace and mercy; for You live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

Deuteronomy 18:15–19
Who could have imagined a greater prophet than Moses? He went up the mighty Mount Sinai and talked to God, first through a burning bush, then later through a pillar of cloud, lightning, fire and thunderous voice. The face of Moses glowed so that he needed to wear a veil over his face to dim the brilliance of reflected Divine glory. But as great as Moses was, a greater prophet was promised back when Israel camped for the last time on the Jordan river’s bank. Moses could only see the land from a mountain above and afar, but Jesus, the greater Moses and greater Joshua leads us in through His death on the mountain of Golgotha.

Philippians 4:4–7
When the Lord is at hand, we who are found in Him can do nothing else but rejoice, and if it meets with any doubt in your heart, then it bears repeating: rejoice! With the Lord at hand, that is, God with us (Emmanuel), we have a new attitude toward God and our neighbor. St. Paul’s word for this attitude is translated as “reasonableness”, “moderation”, “gentleness”. It’s the same idea that Peter is getting at when he advises us that “love covers a multitude of sins.” (1 Peter 4:8) It’s an attitude governed by a new perspective we have, knowing that our gracious giver of eternal gifts is here- why are we going to major in the minors when our fellow Christians occasionally irritate us with their unintended shortcomings? Rather than insist on what we think we deserve, rather than dwelling with an anxious heart on what we lack, we let our requests be known to God in prayer, for He has already known and answered us in Christ.

John 1:19–28
John the Baptist caused quite a stir in Jerusalem. A streaming crowd went out to him in the wilderness to hear his preaching of repentance and receive God’s forgiveness through John’s baptism. Many heard about the coming Messiah whom John constantly proclaimed, but there was still confusion, thanks to the hardness of men’s hearts. This ignorance got so severe that Jewish leaders sent some of John’s own closest relatives—the priests and Levites—to ask him directly who he was! If the priests and Levites couldn’t figure out who John was, even though he was the son of Zechariah the priest and Elizabeth, also of the tribe of Levi, then they’re not going to get it when John points out the actual Messiah when His ministry and road to the cross begins.

Here’s hymn 353, stanza 4:
Jesus comes in joy and sorrow,
Shares alike our hopes and fears;
Jesus comes, whate’er befalls us,
Cheers our hearts and dries our tears;
Alleluia! Alleluia!
Comforts us in failing years.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.

Pr. Stirdivant

Sermon for the Fourth Sunday in Advent: December 20, 2020 jj
Rev’d Mark B. Stirdivant, Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Yucaipa, California
✝ sdg ✝

What’s the best-kept secret that you can think of? Usually you think of a restaurant, a vacation spot, or someplace else where you don’t want a crowd to get in the way of your enjoyment of it. When a good thing gets too popular, then it becomes yet another hassle, and we certainly don’t want any more of those in our life. I ask you, should the Church ever be “our little secret”? Would we ever be right to keep the Gospel of forgiveness to ourselves? Of course not, and yet we do it. We know it’s just as necessary to speak God’s Word to our family and friends, and spread the Gospel, as it is essential to keep that Word pure and in line with the Bible. It remains true that Christ died for all people, and yet we can think of people we know who are not hearing that Good News.

You may have heard about the importance of witnessing, and I would say it’s absolutely important. Faith comes by hearing, so people need to hear the word of salvation in Christ. A so-called silent witness may do some good for your neighbor, and you would be an instrument of God’s blessing in their physical life, but not to the extent that using words would ever be considered as something optional. You can do a whole load of good for someone, and Christmas brings out a wealth of charitable activity both in and out of the church, but don’t fool yourself into thinking that you can get someone into heaven without the Gospel message. In fact, a silent witness, when he has a message to tell, has made himself a false witness when he’s chosen to remain silent. Lord, have mercy on us all, right?

Here comes some help! The greatest witness ever born wasn’t afraid of being labeled as a “Jesus freak!” Christ himself said that John the Baptist was unequaled among all the prophets who came before him. He knew the One whom he served. He leaped with joy at the Lord’s presence, even when he was still in the womb. He was privileged to point to Jesus and declare, “Behold the Lamb of God!” He knew why Jesus had come. Because of this, he could invest his entire existence into preparing for Christ’s coming. Wouldn’t that be nice to throw all the distractions away and put everything into the hands of the Lord? Think of the mundane trivialities that John just shoved aside- what with the Camel’s hair clothes, a leather belt, locusts and wild honey to eat. He had more important things to take up his time and attention.

You have been distracted, you have let the responsibilities of your vocation, as important as they are, get in the way of speaking God’s Word to your neighbor. You have too often been consumed with frivolous and passing things—but you are not without help. In John the Baptist, you have someone who, thankfully, paid close attention to the Savior whom you have sometimes treated like a best-kept secret. John is not the Savior, as his hearers mistakenly thought, because a Savior is not going to whip you into shape and set you straight. John instead was going to prepare you for the Savior, and when He comes, John would point you in His direction! He won’t believe in Jesus for you, but he will connect you with Him through Baptism and the preaching of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. He will also model for you great courage and conviction, because to John, nothing else in this life matters next to Jesus. He must increase, I must decrease. And that’s the way our Advent preparation should be.

We as a struggling, weak-hearted bunch of forgiven sinners, have much to learn from John. He will teach us that there’s more to the kingdom of heaven than meeting a bottom line, of serving the idle whims of men, meeting their so-called “felt needs”, or even to have the perfect, snappy answer to all of their questions. John wasn’t afraid to upset the religious “status quo,” to ruffle a few feathers that needed ruffling, and even make people uncomfortable if they were secure in their sins. And when some really religious people were offended at being washed in the same Jordan River water with filthy Gentiles, prostitutes and tax collectors, then John the Baptist called them what they were—a hypocritical brood of vipers. How’s that for winning friends and influencing people?

How many times have you kept silence out of fear? Was it anxiety that you might upset a delicate family balance? Does your silence testify against you, that you might have missed your chance to bring peace to a lost soul, only because you didn’t want to feel uncomfortable for a short time? I am in the same boat with you—the warning sounds very harsh in my ears, too.

Thanks be to God that we have John, to set our minds on Jesus Christ and His comforting Word of forgiveness. Because if we just heard more encouragement, more rules, more requirements, and more funny stories, we would be lost. You can’t get a sinner whipped into shape. You have to drown the sinner in Baptism. You can’t make a sinner become a good witness. You have to kill the sinner with the Law and let the Lord raise up to life a good witness by the Gospel. John was a good preacher because he knew what he was and who he wasn’t. He wasn’t the Christ, or Elijah, or the great Prophet promised through Moses in Deuteronomy. He refused all high and lofty titles that could have been bestowed upon himself. He was the voice in the wilderness. He may have been a trumpet, but God was the Trumpeter. The note that sounded from John’s mouth was the Lord’s own voice speaking through him. He prepared his baptized and forgiven followers for a Baptism into Christ, that would fill us all with the Holy Spirit. And in joyful acclamation John pointed to Jesus and proclaimed, Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.

This tune that John played wasn’t elaborate or focus-group-tested. Nothing was there to satisfy the desires of fellow Jews; indeed, his own relatives the priests and Levites couldn’t figure him out. John sounded a single note that continues to ring out loud and clear even now: “Repent. Be completely and permanently changed in your mind, and be turned from yourself to Christ.” That’s all John had to say, and he wouldn’t have cared what you or I or anyone thought about it. Given his perspective as we have it in these Biblical accounts, I’m willing to bet he wouldn’t have doubted that Covid was a bad disease, he just would have said, no matter what thing there is on this earth you fear that could kill you, eternal damnation is infinitely worse than that! He had nothing to lose when he preached, because he wasn’t holding on to anything earthly anyway. But to John, Jesus was everything. And that’s what makes him a great preacher of the Word for you. He calms your guilty heart with real forgiveness, even though he would refuse to sweep your sin under the rug. He gives you joy in Christ, yet it will involve the suffering and death of the cross—but although John did not live to see it, he knew that the precious blood of God’s true Lamb would take away his sin and yours.

Without a mission-minded guilt trip being laid on your heart, and instead with a forgiven, renewed heart freely granted you by the Holy Spirit through your Baptism, your mouths, like John’s will likewise open up with joy on the day when you are freed from anxiety over what other people will think, when you cease to look at yourself, and put your trust instead fully in Jesus. Like John reminds us, you and I are nothing, while Jesus is everything. The One whose sandals John wasn’t worthy to bend down and untie, is the very same One who willingly bent down from His lofty throne in heaven to wash away your sin and lift the burden of your guilt off of your shoulders, including the guilt of your sin of silence. It is gone, and the sinner you are is dead in Baptism. You often ponder the blessings you have been given in Christ, but think also about what Jesus took away from you. Even in a year like 2020 has been, you have nothing to lose that you haven’t already lost in Him. The best vaccine in the world can’t do what Jesus has done already! The worst that could possibly happen to you has already happened to your Savior, who stood in for you. And if others reject what you have to say to them about Christ, then they have really rejected Him, anyway.

Your Christian witness to others doesn’t have to be a burden. It doesn’t have to be a slick advertising program. It is your new life of joy in which you bask in the sunlight of the forgiveness of your sins, and the confidence of life everlasting. The Holy Spirit has moved you to think of and pray for others who are still captive in their sins, still walking about in the darkness, who are yet to see the great light. His Word in your mouth in your daily life and calling will proclaim release for every prisoner of death. You have healing and wholeness in abundance for the brokenhearted—and the holidays are a perfect time to start handing that spiritual wealth out. As John pointed the crowds to Christ the Lamb of God, so you have been anointed in baptism to declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. Yes, it will involve moving you and them out of a certain comfort zone of leaving well-enough alone, but that’s all part of making sure that true Christmas joy does not become the Church’s best-kept secret.

In the Name of the Father and of the ✝ Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Readings:
Deut. 18:15–19 a Prophet like me from your midst … Him you shall hear
Psalm 111 The works of the LORD are great, studied by all who have pleasure in them
Phil. 4:4–7 Let your gentleness be known to all men
John 1:19–28 this is the testimony of John
or
Luke 1:39–56 Blessed are you among women