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Date: 1st Sunday After Christmas Text: Luke 2:33-40
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Welcome to the teaching ministry of Kungsvinger Lutheran Church. Kungsvinger is a beacon for the gospel of Jesus Christ and is located on the plains of northwestern Minnesota. We proclaim Christ and Him crucified for our sins and salvation by grace through faith alone.
And now here's a message from Pastor Chris Roseberg. The Holy Gospel according.
To St. Luke, the second chapter. And his father and his mother marveled at what was said about him and Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, behold this child is appointed for the fall and the rising of many in Israel and for a sign that is opposed.
The sword will pierce through your own soul also so that the thoughts from many hearts may be revealed. And there was a prophetess, Anna, the daughter of Phanuel of the tribe of Asher. She was advanced in years having lived with her husband seven years from when she was a virgin and then as a widow until she was 84.
She did not depart from the temple worshipping with fasting and prayer night and day and coming up at that very hour she began to give thanks to God and to speak of Him to all who were waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem.
And when they had performed everything according to the law of the Lord they returned into Galilee to their own town of Nazareth and the child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom and the favor of God was upon him.
This is the gospel of the Lord. In the name of Jesus. Amen. Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas. I hope you all had a good one. I think I'm going to need a week or two to recover from ours but that's what being an introvert is all about.
It's about isolating yourself after long exposure to lots of people. You kind of get the idea. But let me talk about something that may be a sensitive subject for some. Have you ever heard of somebody who has daddy issues?
It's a term we use. And by the way I don't particularly like the term. You'll note that in our world there are people who for real have had just terrible, awful, horrible childhoods. And sometimes those bad things that have happened have happened as a result of an inattentive or absent father.
A father who should be leading the way providing firm discipline while at the same time a fatherly love. And so you'll note that when the fathers are gone from the family that often times bad things happen to children and psychologically they may be damaged in ways that it's going to take them years to recover.
Is it any wonder then that when we talk about repentance, one of the ways that Scripture talks about repentance is turning the hearts of the fathers towards their children. It's a very important thing if you think about it.
And so we, because we're born dead in trespasses and sins have this really bad tendency to be like, well, the devil more than God the Father in how we treat others and even our own children. All of that being said, one of the things you might hear from somebody who has, quote, daddy issues is the belief that they can never do enough to earn their father's love.
What a horrible sentence. I can never do enough to earn my father's love. Is God like that? Is God like that? Do you approach God the Father with the idea that I need to really work hard in order to earn God's love?
Just let that sit and roll around a little bit here. It's terrible when you think about it because Scripture is so painfully clear throughout its entirety. God is nothing like an inattentive father who cares nothing for his children.
In fact, God is so loving, merciful, and kind he adopts children who were born to their father the devil. He adopts them. He forgives them. He pardons them in Christ. And this is one of the great things about the Christian faith, the true Christian faith, salvation by grace through faith apart from works is that we hear in our epistle text these amazing words.
But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his son born of a woman, born under the law in order to redeem those who were under the law so that we might receive adoption as sons. One of the things I do with my catechumens is we have to sometimes do some vocabulary work.
Have you guys noticed that in the world we live in from time to time you have to learn some odd language, some weird words. I've pointed it out before that when Starbucks came around I couldn't just walk in and order a large coffee.
I had to learn a whole new language. I would like a venti pike place. You get the idea. And then my wife, she has this thing that she orders, some mocha thingy with seven pumps of chocolate decaf with skim milk.
Oh my goodness. And writing that thing out, it's a paragraph. It is an entire paragraph just to order my wife's favorite drink from Starbucks. And when she sends me in to do it, I have anxiety thinking I'm going to mess this up.
I know I'm going to mess this up. It's too complicated. But as Christians then when we come across words in the Bible, we recognize we're going to need to do a little bit of work here to figure out what some of these words are.
There is vocabulary that we must understand and master as Christians in order to really unpack the fullness of the good news that we have in Christ. So God sent forth his son in the fullness of time, born of woman, born under the law to redeem those who are under the law.
Now I've preached on this before. No, I won't put you on the spot. There will be a quiz afterwards and if you don't pass well then no Lord's Supper for you for a month. No, I'm joking. Nothing like that.
To redeem though, this is a slaving term. I always like to point out to my catechumens when we talk about redemption in this way. Back in the day there used to be slaves here in the United States and what an awful thing that was.
The slavery that was in the United States is absolutely forbidden by Scripture by the way. Absolutely forbidden by it. But all that being said, if you were to travel down to Alabama back in the 1830s, you could purchase a slave.
But here's the thing. There were two prices for slaves. Always two. The one price is the price that you're going to hire a slave for the purpose of that slave working. The purpose of that slave is going to be to go into your house or into your field and that slave is going to work.
That's one price. But then there's a second price. The second price is the redemption price. And that's a much higher price. That's the price of purchasing a slave for the purpose of granting them their freedom.
And usually that price was so far higher it made it impossible for slaves to save up in order to free themselves. You think about that. But here's the thing. Slavery throughout the Scripture is this ginormous picture.
This type and shadow of just how awful things are for us as we come into this world. We're all born dead in trespasses and sins in slavery to sin, death, the devil, your own sinful passions that rise up from within your black and dark and sinful heart.
And God has had mercy on us. You see, God doesn't sit there in heaven going, jump through all these hoops. You do the jumping. Let's see how, well, athletic you are. Let's see how intentional you are.
Let's test to see whether you really, really, really, really, really want this. And if you pass through all of these hoops, then I will judge your works and if I judge your works worthy, then I will become your father.
Here's the weird bit. That's what we actually think about God by nature. That's not God the father. That's the devil. God has mercy on us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for our sins. While we were incapable of even scraping up the smallest amount of money to begin to pay the redemption price to get us out of slavery, God says, I got this.
And he sends forth his son to make you children of God. How much does it cost? Oh, it costs the very blood of the Son of God. But in winning it for you, he gives it to you for free. And that's the blessing of Christmas, the amazing bit of the incarnation.
Think of it this way. If we were to, you know, consider St. Stephen, the very first Christian martyr. This is the feast of St. Stephen today, by the way, but we're not reading those texts today. This is the person who in Acts chapter 7 is, oh man, just making the confession of faith regarding Christ.
And the Pharisees and the Jews were hearing nothing of it. Remember last week we talked about them grinding their teeth and them stopping their ears. They wouldn't want to hear anything about Jesus. And then he sees Jesus standing at the right hand of the Father while he is being murdered.
Why was he being murdered? Well, here's the fun bit. The reason why he was being murdered is because the Pharisees, their entire religious system hinged off of the idea that if you do enough good works and you obey God enough, then and only then will you be saved.
And if you're not even trying, you're damned. And if you're not measuring up and keeping their rules, well, you're going to hell as well. The God they believed in didn't justify human beings. The God they believed in justified works.
You see the difference? They want their works to be judged as righteous while they themselves are dead. Their hearts are darkened. They don't want to be made holy. They want God to declare their works to be holy so that they can continue in unbelief.
And it's just like, and I mean this, just like Cain. We're warned by Jude, Jesus' half-brother, kind of three big false doctrines, if you would, prototypes of false teachers. You've got the way of Cain.
You've got Balaam. You've got Korah's rebellion. What is Cain all about? Cain is all about religious activity. Zero faith. Zero. And you'll note then that Stephen laying down his life is a lot like what happened to Abel.
In Genesis chapter 4, we read Abner knew his wife Eve. She conceived and bore Cain, saying, I have gotten a man with the help of the Lord. By the way, the way that sentence reads in the Hebrew is a little different than our English translation.
Just straight Hebrew translation. I have gotten a man the Lord. There is an exegetical tradition that here in Genesis 4 that Eve naively, falsely believed that Cain was the one who was the fulfillment of the promise of the seed of the woman who would crush the head of the serpent.
I have gotten a man, the Lord. Rather than bearing the Lord, she bears someone way more like Satan than you can possibly imagine. Again, she bore his brother, Abel. I like to point out then that with this kind of setup, Eve and Adam think the best of Cain.
What do they think of Abel? He's doing the grunt work. He's doing the jobs that nobody wants to do. I think of that kid's story I used to read to my kids called Rikki-Tikki-Tembo. Have you ever heard of this story?
I may have mentioned it before. It's a wonderful story. It's a story about why names in China are now shorter than they used to be. Because back in the day, apparently, the firstborn son, he received so much honor from his family.
Being the firstborn son, he was always graced with a super long name. The name that they had given to this firstborn son in China long ago was Rikki-Tikki-Tembo-No-Saw-Rembo-Cherry-Berry-Roochie-Pip-Perry-Pembo.
Which basically.
Means the most amazing thing ever. Guess what his brother's name was? Chang, which means like nothing. Same thing here. Just think of the setup. Cain. I've gotten a man, the Lord. Abel. Yeah, I get to work taking care of those mangy sheep.
That's really the setup here. But here's the thing. We learn from Hebrews chapter 11. That Abel had something that Cain didn't have. Let me read this in context. Hebrews 11 1 says, faith is the assurance of things hoped for.
The conviction of things not seen. For by it, by faith, the people of old receive their commendation. By faith, we understand that the universe was created by the word of God. So that what is seen was not made out of the things that are visible.
And by faith, Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, through which he was commended as righteous. God commending him by accepting his gifts. Now watch the emphasis. God commended Abel by accepting Abel and his gifts.
And so let me kind of drive this point home. When you think you are saved by your works, you want God to declare your works to be righteous. But that's not how God works. God will work in this way and this way only.
By faith, he declares the sinner righteous, holy, forgiven, adopted, redeemed. You get the idea? And only then, having been made holy by faith, does God then consider the good works that flow from faith.
But the unbeliever, they think God's a liar. God doesn't really forgive sinners. Salvation isn't really a free gift. Stop listening to those people who say that, because if you believe that, then you're going to end up not applying yourself to the works that God has called you to.
You're going to turn grace into a license to sin, and you're going to engage in all kinds of sin, thinking that somehow this is okay. So we've got to take that message of faith, and we need to tuck that away.
And we need to get you busy. Because God, in their way of thinking, will judge your works as good, and then by judging your works as good, you then become good. Have you ever heard the phrase, fake it till you make it?
It don't work with sin. I'm sinful and unclean. I have sinned against God in thought, word, deed, the things I've done, the things I haven't done. And that's just this morning. We won't talk about yesterday or the day before, or the week after that.
You get the idea, right? I confess that I am by nature sinful and unclean. How then could I possibly say that I am a child of God? Because God has made me that, apart from my works. In Christ, He has declared me to be righteous.
Same with you. Were your sins not washed away in the waters of baptism? Did you not hear the absolution spoken to you this morning, that you are forgiven? Last time we had the Lord's Supper, last week, did you not hear these are the very body and blood of Christ given and shed for the forgiveness of your sins?
You see, all of those things, in order for that to be true, that requires faith for us. They're true whether or not we believe it, but it's only applicable when we believe it for us. We can say, Christ died for me.
God declares the sinner holy, and then the works that flow to be holy as well. All because of what Christ has done. But those who do works for the purpose of justifying themselves and relying on them, they turn God into a liar.
Salvation isn't by grace through faith, apart from works, they say. You can't trust that Apostle Paul. You need to hedge your bets. It's not true. Scripture is painfully clear. So here's what we learn then.
God had regard for Abel and then for his sacrifice. And so we go back to Genesis and we hear these words. Again, Eve bore his brother Abel, and Abel was a keeper of sheep, Cain a worker of the ground.
And in the course of time Cain brought to Yahweh an offering of the fruit of the ground. Abel also brought of the first fruit of his flock and of their fat portions. And Yahweh, listen to the words, had regard for Abel.
Had regard for him and his offering. But for Cain and his offering he had no regard. It begins with Cain. Why? Cain didn't have faith. None. Whatsoever. Not interested in believing and trusting in the promise of the seed of the woman who would crush the head of the serpent.
And one has to wonder if his lack of faith was in part due to the fact that his parents mistook him to be Jesus when he wasn't. And so what does he do? Cain was angry. His face fell. Yahweh said to Cain, why are you angry?
Why has your face fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is contrary to you. You must rule over it. Cain spoke to Abel, his brother, and when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and he killed him.
Murdered him. And the Lord said to Cain, where is Abel, your brother? He said, I don't know. Am I my brother's keeper? By the way, always and again, whenever that question comes up, the answer is yes.
You are. So the Lord said, what have you done? The voice of your brother's blood is crying to me from the ground. And now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand.
And when you work the ground, it shall no longer yield its strength. You shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth. And Cain said to Yahweh, well, my punishment is greater than I can bear. Behold, you have driven me today away from the ground and from your face.
I shall be hidden. I shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth. And whoever finds me will kill me. And Yahweh said to him, not so. If anyone kills Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold.
And Yahweh put a mark on Cain, lest any who found him should attack him. And then Cain went away from the presence of Yahweh and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden. So you'll note that even in the midst of God punishing Cain for his murder of his brother Abel and his faithlessness, that God had mercy on Cain, at least temporally, put a mark on him in order that his life would be spared should anybody run into him and want to avenge the blood of Abel.
God protected him. And so we'll note then, coming back to our text from Galatians, listen to what Paul is saying here. I mean that the heir, as long as he is a child, is no different from a slave, though he is the owner of everything.
We're familiar with this, at least in part, maybe not from experience. The idea, you know, a wealthy child, a child born into a wealthy family and his parents die, that he will technically be the heir of everything, that while he is still under age, though he has guardians and managers, until the date set when he can fully inherit what has been granted to him in the will.
So in the same way, then, Paul says, we also, when we were children, we were enslaved to the elementary principles of the world, and we know what these are from the cross references in Galatians. The elementary principles of the world are the basic ideas of do not handle, do not taste, do not touch, all these rules that have the appearance of godliness, but they don't have any power to actually produce the fruit of the Spirit.
We were enslaved to the elementary principles of the world, but when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of woman, born under the law, in order to redeem those who were under the law so that we might receive adoption as sons.
And because you are sons, listen to what it says, because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, Abba, Father, you are no longer a slave, but you are a son, and if you are a son, then you are an heir through God.
Such a clear proclamation of who we are and what we have in Christ, all as a gift, because God, the Son, although by nature God did not consider equality with God a thing to be grasped, He humbled Himself, took on the form of a servant, I called Him God in diapers the other night, took on the form of a servant, became obedient even to the point of death on the cross so that we can be forgiven, pardoned, and redeemed, bore your sins and mine.
And all of this He does out of His graciousness, His mercy, His kindness, and His love. You do not have to try hard and figure out, what do I need to do to please God so that I can finally get my Heavenly Father to love me?
It's not like that. God so loved you, He sent Jesus for you, and He's given you all of this as a gift. And so you are not a slave, you are a son. And it's very tragic when people in the church do not hear about this Jesus, and I mean it, Jesus barely comes up at all, but consider what we just heard in Isaiah, and I love the fact that during the daily lectionary during December we've been reading our way through all of Isaiah, but I love how Isaiah as well as the other prophets, they exalt Christ, and in looking at the coming Messiah for them, they talk about Him in such amazing terms.
Listen to what Isaiah says, there shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, a branch from his roots, it'll bear fruit, the Spirit of the Lord will rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of Yahweh, His delight will be in the fear of the Lord, and He will not judge by what He sees, or decide disputes by what His ears hear, but with righteousness He will judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth.
What an amazing picture of Christ in His strength, His mercy, and His wisdom. I would just ask a question along these lines, do you guys know of any politicians like this today? The current guy in the White House is not exactly like this, nor was the guy before him, or the guy before him, you know what I'm saying?
The idea here is that, is this not the one we long for? Are you tired yet of hearing about constantly how inept our governments are? Not just ours, the ones around the world. Has anyone solved how to stop this invisible virus from wrecking our economy?
No! Is anyone capable of ruling the earth with this kind of wisdom and knowledge and delight in the things that are right in the Lord? No! And that's the point. Jesus stands not head and shoulders above the rulers of the earth, He's in a different league altogether.
He is just, He is holy, He is right, He is true, He is faithful, He is loving, He is kind. There is not a thing you can point to in Jesus and say, you know, I don't think you did that one right, I kind of disagree with what you did there.
All of our politicians, oh good grief, it's a mess. And yet, God gave a wonderful vision to of all people, one of these miserably bad politicians, King Nebuchadnezzar, gave a vision of the rock that wasn't cut with hands, that would smash the kingdoms of the earth and grow and consume all of the earth, King Jesus Himself.
And so you'll hear these words of Isaiah of just how amazing Jesus is and He's all of that and more, and He's all of that and more for you. And He has decided with equity for the meek of the earth, that's you and I who humbly confess that we are sinners, who recognize that we have participated in the rebellion against Him, wrought by the devil in the lies told to our first parents that they went for, and that God has had mercy on us and forgiven us.
You cannot earn His love, He doesn't offer it to you for a price, He only gives it for free. Only. And so in that context then, here we are in Christmas and we hear these words, when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who are under the law so that we might receive adoption as sons.
You can put away all of your striving, just put it all now. One of the things that drives me nuts is when I hear people in evangelicalism say, well, I think it's really arrogant to have confidence and say with certainty that you're a Christian.
I mean, I'm so humble that I embrace doubt. And so I would never presume to think that I'm a child of God. I would never, that's arrogant. I would never presume that because, I mean, I recognize that I still have a lot of work to do before I can really begin to embrace that idea.
And when you look at the Roman Catholicism of Luther's day, when they would see a text like this, where Paul so clearly says to Christians that they are the children of God now, that they are saints, that he is a saint, that they are holy, that they are forgiven.
Rome took these words and said, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. That's not for today. Don't think it applies to you. Paul had received some special vision from God that made it possible for him to say those things about the people at the time.
But don't think that this applies to you. So who are you going to believe? Are you going to believe Paul, the apostle of Jesus Christ, who so boldly tells us that we now are children of God, that in Christ we have been made holy, that we do not have to earn the love of God.
It is given to us freely. God has had mercy and pity on us. He has redeemed us so that we can be adopted into his family. And now because he's given us the Holy Spirit, we cry out, Abba, Father, you are no longer a slave.
You are a son. And if you are a son, you are an heir through God. Get used to being on planet Earth. You're going to be here when the new one shows up and you're going to reign forever and ever because not only are you a member of the family by what Christ has done, you have been guaranteed an inheritance in the new earth and you will live in days in a world without end.
Slaves cannot speak this way, nor can hired hands who work on a farm talk about the inheritance that they'll have in the farm that we're working. No, only we who are in Christ, who have this bold confidence in the forgiveness of our sins and trust in these merciful words given to us, only we can have this confidence to say that I am no longer a slave.
I am a son. I am a child. I am an heir all through Jesus Christ who kept the law perfectly for me and has given this to me as a gift. In the name of Jesus. Amen.
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