Our Sermons

Bible Passage: Psalm 119:12-16, 26,27
Pastor: Pastor Berg
Sermon Date:  December 2, 2020

As Christians, we thank God for the gift to his church of men like Martin Luther. God used Luther to accomplish many things, most notably a rediscovery of the truth that we are declared “not guilty” because the righteousness of Christ has been given to us through faith. Luther also prompted a return to studying the Scriptures. When it came to studying the Scriptures, Luther had three “rules” that he followed for good, solid Bible reading and thinking about God: those rules were Oratio, Meditatio, Tentatio, or in English: Prayer grounded in the Word, Meditation on the Word, and Trials, which reinforce the truth of the Word. During our midweek Advent services this year, we’re going to spend one week on each “rule.” Today, we’re focusing on Oratio. 

For the Christian, Advent is much more than a hectic season of preparation for the trappings of Christmas. Advent is really the Christian life in miniature. Advent is the time to slow down, to focus on the Word of the Lord, to learn again from his Word that we are his children and that he’s coming for us. What better time is there, in the midst of this world’s chaos, with our own lives lacerated by sin, to stop, to take a moment with God’s Word and to call upon the one God sent to be our Savior and our Brother. Today, in this day of trouble, we call upon you Jesus. We call upon you to keep your promise and deliver us. It is with great joy that we honor and glorify you!

Everything about Advent announces that the Lord is present to redeem and rescue his people. We find that in his Word and it’s there the Psalmist points us. “Blessed are you, O LORD! Teach me your statutes. With my lips I tell about all the judgments that come from your mouth. I rejoice in the way that is taught by your testimonies as much as I delight in all riches. I will meditate on your precepts, and I will consider your paths. In your statutes I delight. I will not forget your words.” How can the Psalmist have the boldness to pray such things? Because he knows God is his Father. How did he come to this knowledge? God had given him his Word. He had given him his name. And why would God give his name unless he wanted it used? Luther certainly captured that thought in his explanation to the Address of the Lord’s Prayer. Remember, Jesus’ own disciples asked him to teach them how to pray. And how did Jesus tell them to begin? “Our Father…” Listen to what Luther says concerning this address. “With these words God tenderly invites us to believe that he is our true Father and that we are his true children, so that we may pray to him as boldly and confidently as dear children ask their dear father.” We know that God is our Father because he has told us so in his Word. And it’s in that same Word that we hear of God’s wonderful promises, most importantly the promise to send his Son. And that’s what Advent is all about! It’s about looking forward to the coming of the Son. It’s the confidence we have that because God is our Father, we can call upon the name of the Lord in every trouble. As the Psalmist says, “I told you about my ways and you answered me.”  The Psalmist was undergoing some great inner struggle. In other places in this psalm, he says things like, “My soul is overwhelmed…my soul is stuck in the dust…my soul melts with sorrow…” What causes such conflict in the soul? What else but sin. Sin and its consequences cause sorrow. They cause us to feel like we’re stuck in the dust. They make us feel overwhelmed. And we certainly can feel that way at this time of year. Why is it that often we avoid things in December? Isn’t it because we are so busy? Because there’s so much going on? Why is that people, by the time Christmas actually gets here, are ready to be done with it? Isn’t it because we’ve lost our focus? Isn’t it because we’ve taken our eyes off of the prize, of the true reason for Christmas? Isn’t it because we’ve forgotten that we have a Father who has given us his name to call upon? 

We all fall into this trap. But our God does not abandon us. Again and again he calls to us through his Word and encourages us to pray, encourages us to use his Word to pray. That’s what our Psalmist demonstrates. Listen to all the different phrases that point to spending time in the Word in prayer: “Teach me your statutes, taught by your testimonies, meditate on your precepts, consider your paths, in your statutes I delight. I will not forget your words, make me understand the meaning of your precepts.” And what will happen when we do this? What will happen when we pray over God’s Word? We will be reminded of his promises. Or as the Psalmist says, “I will meditate on your wonders.” 

Wonder of wonders that God would send his one and only Son to this world to be our Brother and Savior. Wonder of wonders that Jesus would be willing to humble himself under the Law, the Law which he gave, just to live in our place. Wonder of wonders that Jesus would keep that Law perfectly, dotting every “i” and crossing every “t”. Wonder of wonders that Jesus would be willing to suffer the abandonment of his Father so that we could be God’s children. Wonder of wonders that Jesus would willingly die in our place so that we could have his righteousness in exchange for our sins. Wonder of wonders that God would give all of this to us as a free gift and in that gift he would include the faith that believes it all to be true. The fact that God has given us his Son shows him to be our Father. And it’s through his Son that we have access to the Father, that we have the privilege to pray to the Father for anything and everything. 

It is because of this wonder of wonders that the posture of Advent is prayer. It’s calling out to the Lord who has come, who comes to us in his Word, who will come again to take us to himself. But until he comes again, Advent reminds us that we do not live in fear and confusion and uncertainty, but we live in our identity as children of God. We live as children who have learned and continue to learn that God is our true Father and we are his true children who delight in his statutes, who do not forget his words. 

Dietrich Bonhoeffer once said, “The richness of the Word of God ought to determine our prayer, not the poverty of our heart.” How important then, during this season of Advent, to go back to the Word for strength and understanding so that we can truly pray aright as we meditate on God’s Wonders. May our Advent Oratio ever be, “Come, Lord Jesus.” He is near to all who call on his name and he has promised to hear and save us. What better time is there, in the midst of this world’s chaos, with our own lives lacerated by sin, to stop, to take a moment with God’s Word and to call upon the one God sent to be our Savior and our Brother. Today, in this day of trouble, we call upon you Jesus. We call upon you to keep your promise and deliver us. It is with great joy that we honor and glorify you! Come, Lord Jesus. Amen.