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1 Year Lectionary – First Wednesday in Advent – Wednesday, December 1, 2021 | Pr. Chris Rosebrough

Welcome to the Teaching Ministry of Kongsvinger Lutheran Church. Kongsvinger 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 Rosebrough:

Time Stamp	Transcript
0:27	A reading from the gospel
0:29	of luke chapter 1 starting at verse 26
0:34	in the sixth month the angel gabriel was
0:37	sent from god to a city of galilee named
0:39	nazareth to a virgin betrothed to a man
0:42	whose name was joseph of the house of
0:44	david and the virgin’s name was mary
0:48	and she came to her and he came to her
0:50	and said greetings o favored one the
0:53	lord is with you
0:54	but she was greatly troubled at the
0:56	saying and tried to discern what sort of
0:58	greeting this might be
1:00	and the angel said to her do not be
1:02	afraid mary for you have found favor
1:04	with god and behold you will conceive in
1:06	your womb and bear a son and you shall
1:08	call his name Jesus he will be great and
1:12	will be called the son of the most high
1:14	and the lord god will give to him the
1:16	throne of his father david and he will
1:18	reign over the house of jacob forever
1:20	and of his kingdom there will be no end
1:23	and mary said to the angel how will this
1:25	be since i am a virgin
1:27	and the angel answered her the holy
1:30	spirit will come upon you and the power
1:32	of the most high will overshadow you
1:37	therefore the child to be born will be
1:40	called holy the son of god and behold
1:43	your relative elizabeth in her old age
1:46	has also conceived a son and this is the
1:49	sixth month with her who was called
1:51	barren for nothing will be impossible
1:53	with god and mary said behold i am the
1:56	servant of the lord let it be to me
1:59	according to your word and the angel
2:01	departed from her in the name of Jesus
2:06	why it’s a question we ask a lot
2:09	nowadays isn’t it why
2:11	why
2:12	was there another school shooting this
2:14	week
2:16	why are we looking at another set of
2:19	lockdowns why omicron
2:21	why do we treat each other so poorly why
2:24	is there a homelessness problem
2:27	why is it that we don’t get along with
2:29	each other why do we gossip
2:32	why do we lie
2:34	why do we steal from one another and why
2:35	do we hate
2:37	why
2:38	when you start asking the question
2:41	you’ll know that the question
2:43	starts to make us uncomfortable
2:45	especially when it comes to the subject
2:47	of such questions because when we ask
2:50	why in that context
2:53	what are we trying to do
2:55	place blame
2:57	who who’s to blame for all of this
2:59	mess that we find ourselves in who’s to
3:02	blame for the suffering that you’re
3:03	experiencing in your life who’s to blame
3:06	for the covet pandemic
3:09	who’s to blame
3:11	for all the problems that we’re
3:12	experiencing in the world
3:15	and see when you start asking why and
3:17	you want to start placing blame well the
3:20	reality is this is that when you start
3:23	playing that game
3:25	it’s not long before somebody points the
3:27	finger at you
3:28	and asks the question
3:30	why and it’s in that context then you
3:33	know as we approach
3:35	the celebration of the birth of our
3:37	great god and savior
3:40	we ask this question
3:42	why
3:44	why would god
3:47	deign to humble himself
3:51	to be born of the virgin mary
3:53	why would he come and join us in this
3:55	mess
3:56	that we’ve created you’ll note that when
3:58	god created everything at the beginning
4:00	everything was good
4:02	in hebrew tov and then at the very end
4:04	god said to me oh very good
4:08	but since our rebellion and yeah it’s my
4:11	rebellion and your rebellion too uh the
4:14	world that we live in is
4:16	anything but tov mahod
4:19	at times there is good for sure
4:22	and it’s those times when their things
4:25	are going well
4:26	that oftentimes our mind wanders back to
4:30	in memory
4:32	times when we were happy times when we
4:34	were healthy times when we were young
4:39	but
4:40	in the midst of the mess that we’ve
4:41	created in this world a world full of
4:44	sin
4:45	hatred
4:46	discord strife
4:48	suffering
4:52	terrible ways in which we treat each
4:53	other
4:54	why would god just not say to hell with
4:57	all of you
4:59	why does he not say that to me
5:02	why
5:03	would god send his son into the midst
5:06	of such
5:09	muck
5:11	filth
5:12	sin
5:14	and
5:16	it’s an unsatisfactory answer when
5:18	somebody says well
5:20	god promised back in the garden of eden
5:22	that he would send
5:24	the seed of a woman
5:26	who would crush the head of the serpent
5:28	it’s an unsatisfactory answer to say
5:31	well god always keeps his word the
5:34	reason why it’s an unsatisfactory answer
5:36	is this it is true god never lies and he
5:38	always keeps his word
5:39	but then there’s another why behind that
5:42	explanation and the why behind that
5:44	explanation is the one we have to get at
5:48	because god didn’t have to promise that
5:52	the seed of the woman would crush the
5:53	head of the serpent for us
5:56	he didn’t have to do that
5:59	and the answer comes back to who god is
6:02	and what he’s all about
6:03	and when we search the scriptures there
6:05	is one answer to why god would do that
6:09	that comes back
6:10	to us over
6:12	and over
6:14	and over again
6:16	you see it in the words of Christ
6:18	recorded for us in the gospel writers
6:21	you see it in the words of the apostles
6:24	written for us in scripture paul writes
6:26	about it extensively in fact habitually
6:30	john mentions it so clearly that it’s
6:34	well
6:35	it’s written in such a way
6:37	that it embarrasses us and convicts us
6:41	even peter talks about it so boldly
6:44	in fact it was the very thing that peter
6:46	pointed his wife to on the day of her
6:49	crucifixion
6:51	and the answer to the question as to why
6:53	why would heaven meet earth why would
6:55	god
6:56	deign to be born of a virgin into the
6:59	midst of this world
7:01	of sin and death
7:02	it’s because of his great love for us
7:06	because god really is love and we
7:09	understand that when you have to do the
7:12	proper distinction between the law
7:14	and the gospel that when we hear about
7:17	love
7:18	we are convicted of our failure to love
7:20	god
7:23	and
7:24	if you’re thinking well i’m not that bad
7:26	at it
7:28	remember the modifiers to love the lord
7:30	your god with all
7:32	your heart
7:34	soul
7:35	mind
7:36	strength
7:37	well when you put it that way you know
7:39	maybe i’m not as good at that as i
7:41	thought
7:43	but then you have the other love your
7:44	neighbor as yourself
7:46	when we hear about love
7:48	we are always convicted because we don’t
7:52	we don’t love god we don’t love our
7:54	neighbor as ourself but boy do we love
7:57	self
7:58	i know i love myself
8:00	way too much
8:02	i trust myself far too much
8:05	if you’re honest so do you
8:07	but it’s in that context then we hear
8:10	the words of that are so familiar to us
8:14	our text tonight from the gospel of luke
8:16	is the text the gospel text that’s taken
8:19	from well
8:21	the month of march the annunciation
8:24	where the gabriel announces
8:27	that mary will conceive and bear a child
8:30	and it’s the following verses that will
8:32	form the canticle that we will sing
8:34	tonight the magnificat
8:36	but we have to understand that god
8:40	loves
8:41	us
8:43	like a parent who has a child who’s
8:45	wandered away in gun prodigal
8:50	god has never stopped loving us
8:53	and he’s done all that is necessary
8:56	so that we can be saved forgiven
8:58	pardoned redeemed adopted back in the
9:00	family given an inheritance and life
9:03	eternal rather than the damnation that
9:05	we have earned because of our
9:07	participation
9:09	in satan’s rebellion and apostasy
9:11	against god
9:13	paul writes about it this way in romans
9:15	5
9:16	while we were still weak
9:19	at the right time
9:21	Christ he died for the ungodly
9:25	one will scarcely die for a righteous
9:27	person though perhaps for a good person
9:29	one would dare even to die
9:31	but god he demonstrates he shows
9:34	his love for us
9:37	in that while we were still sinners
9:39	Christ
9:40	died for us
9:42	and so we recognize that Christ was sent
9:45	on a mission and the mission is going to
9:47	take him straight to the cross
9:50	but the mission begins
9:52	with his conception in the womb of the
9:54	virgin mary
9:56	and his mission continues when he is
9:59	conceived and then born
10:02	with
10:03	well ten fingers ten toes and a little
10:06	nose
10:08	and a mouth
10:10	and a hand that can just grasp a finger
10:13	that’s all part of the mission
10:15	since therefore now we have been
10:17	justified by his blood the blood of this
10:20	messiah this Jesus how much more then
10:23	shall we be saved from the wrath of god
10:26	and you see then
10:27	the stew that we find ourselves in
10:31	we’ve each sinned and earned the wrath
10:34	of god each and every one of us are
10:36	ungodly and i’ve said it before from
10:38	this pope and i’ll continue to say it if
10:40	you do not consider yourself part of
10:42	that group the group known as the
10:44	ungodly then you have no need for Jesus
10:47	you can just turn off the stream now
10:50	or leave the congregation
10:52	there’s no point in you being here if
10:53	you’re not part of that group
10:55	but you’ll note that that group has
10:57	earned the wrath of god but it does not
11:00	satisfy god
11:02	to just pour his wrath out on us
11:05	above and beyond his wrath is his great
11:08	love for us in giving us a way out
11:11	calling us to repent
11:13	calling us to be forgiven providing
11:15	everything that we need for that
11:17	salvation you see while we were enemies
11:20	we were reconciled to god by the death
11:23	of his son
11:24	how much more now that we are reconciled
11:27	shall we be saved by his life and more
11:30	than that we also rejoice in god through
11:33	our lord Jesus Christ through whom we
11:35	have now received reconciliation
11:37	paul says it this way in ephesians
11:40	blessed be the god and father of our
11:41	lord Jesus Christ
11:44	who has blessed us in Christ
11:46	with every spiritual blessing in the
11:49	heavenly places even as he chose us in
11:53	him before the foundation of the world
11:55	so that we should be holy and blameless
11:58	before him
12:00	i recently read a sermon from a fellow
12:03	who kind of quipped and i had to think
12:05	about it for a little bit he said when
12:07	adam and eve
12:08	disobeyed god and aid of the tree of the
12:11	knowledge of good and evil
12:12	we like to talk about it as a fall
12:15	from grace
12:18	he says i don’t think that’s quite right
12:21	when our first parents sinned
12:24	they fell from holiness for sure
12:28	but god demonstrates his grace and his
12:30	mercy
12:31	in providing and covering their sin and
12:34	their nakedness
12:36	and caring for them and giving the
12:37	promise of the savior
12:39	so maybe we should stop talking about it
12:41	as a fall from grace
12:44	because if it was truly a fall from
12:46	grace and what are we doing here tonight
12:52	you see
12:53	he predestined us
12:56	in love
12:57	he predestined us for adoption to
12:59	himself as sons through Jesus Christ
13:02	according to the purpose of his will
13:04	to the praise of his glorious grace with
13:07	which he has blessed us in the beloved
13:09	man these are amazing words when you
13:11	think about it
13:13	you all remember when you had your first
13:15	crush when you were in like grade school
13:17	right
13:18	or maybe it was junior high maybe you
13:19	were a late bloomer but i remember
13:23	when i was a kid distinctly having a
13:26	crush on that girl i couldn’t remember
13:27	her name to save my life now i think
13:29	about it but man
13:32	when those feelings came
13:34	about the only person i can think about
13:37	was that girl right and then my wife oh
13:40	man she transferred into my high school
13:42	algebra class second day of high school
13:45	sixth period she comes transferring and
13:47	she’s she was oh man she was just
13:50	nothing but braces rubber bands headgear
13:53	and uh
13:54	and knee-high socks
13:56	and little blue ribbons right
13:59	but as soon as i saw her oh i knew
14:02	and at that time the feelings that i had
14:06	were just
14:07	all-consuming
14:09	and overwhelming
14:10	and what’s really interesting here is
14:12	that if you consider paul’s description
14:15	of god’s love for us
14:18	it’s as if
14:19	well
14:20	all of that is present in god
14:24	even though we have sinned horribly and
14:26	become his enemies and transgressed as
14:28	law and we have acted high-handedly
14:32	against his commands
14:34	even in the midst of all of that he has
14:36	blessed us in Christ with every
14:39	spiritual blessing he has chosen us in
14:42	him before the foundation of the world
14:44	so that we can be holy and blameless
14:46	before him in love he predestined us for
14:49	adoption to himself as sons through
14:52	Jesus Christ according to the purpose of
14:54	his will to the praise of his glorious
14:57	grace with which he has blessed us
15:00	in the beloved in him we have redemption
15:03	through his blood and the forgiveness of
15:05	all of our trespasses according to the
15:08	riches of his grace which he lavished
15:11	upon us
15:12	in all wisdom
15:14	and insight making known to us the
15:16	mystery of his will
15:19	you hear those words
15:21	this sounds
15:22	sounds like an obsessed lover
15:24	practically a stalker
15:27	and yet i’m so thankful that god has
15:29	stalked me
15:31	and i bet you you’re thankful that he
15:33	stalked you as well
15:35	this is one lover that we dare not spurn
15:38	is it any wonder that in our first text
15:40	for advent this year we heard the
15:43	glorious words of the prophecy of
15:45	zechariah
15:46	say to the daughter of zion
15:50	when you you can even trace it back
15:52	through the old testament all those
15:54	terms of endearment and love
15:57	say to the daughter of time behold your
15:59	king comes to you humble
16:02	riding on a cult the full of a donkey
16:05	all of these words as if god himself is
16:08	wooing us
16:10	isn’t that what he’s doing in Christ
16:13	john puts it this way in his epistle in
16:15	chapter 4 beloved
16:17	let us love one another
16:19	in light of the love of god john here is
16:22	thinking about the very love of god and
16:24	then it’s impacted it should have on
16:26	each and every one of us as his beloved
16:29	children beloved there’s that word
16:31	listen beloved
16:33	i mean
16:34	when was the last time i wrote a letter
16:35	to my wife and called her beloved
16:38	probably when i was still in the midst
16:40	of all the hormones of young love right
16:43	who of us have written love letters
16:45	lately especially if we’ve been married
16:46	for more than a few decades
16:48	right
16:49	but here
16:50	the holy spirit has caused the apostle
16:53	john to write to us
16:55	and he writes to us in these terms of
16:58	endearment beloved
17:00	you who are beloved in Christ you who
17:03	have been chosen in Christ you who’ve
17:05	been forgiven whose
17:07	sins Christ has washed away
17:10	you who he is lavishing the riches of
17:13	his grace upon let us now love one
17:16	another for love is from god
17:19	and whoever loves has been born of god
17:21	and knows god
17:23	anyone who does not love does not know
17:25	god
17:26	because god is love
17:29	in this the love of god was made
17:32	manifest among us
17:33	the god sent his only son into the world
17:37	so that we might live through him and
17:39	this is love
17:41	not that we have loved god
17:43	but that he loved us
17:45	and he sent his son to be the
17:46	propitiation for our sins
17:49	beloved and there it is again
17:53	listen to the wooing words of scripture
17:55	beloved if god so loved us and he has
17:59	we ought to love one another
18:01	no one has ever seen god
18:04	and if we love one another god abides in
18:06	us
18:07	and his love then is perfected in us and
18:10	by this we know that we abide in him and
18:12	he and us because he has given us of his
18:15	spirit and we have seen and testified
18:18	that the father has sent his son to be
18:19	the savior of the world
18:21	whoever confesses that Jesus is the son
18:24	of god god abides in him and he and god
18:28	what a strange sentence
18:31	that we sinners
18:33	can have god now abiding in us
18:36	despite the fact that we have yet to be
18:38	perfected
18:39	and don’t worry we don’t have to go to
18:41	purgatory for that just want to make
18:42	that clear with you mike you know
18:46	in the twinkling of an eye he will
18:47	perfect us right
18:49	so we have come now to know and to
18:51	believe
18:52	the love that god has for us listen to
18:55	those words again
18:56	in this wonderful chapter we have come
18:59	to know
19:00	and we’ve come to believe the love that
19:03	god has for us
19:05	you see god
19:06	is
19:08	love
19:10	and that’s what he wills is it any
19:12	wonder then that scripture says it’s not
19:14	his will that any should perish
19:16	of course it would not be his will that
19:18	any should bearish
19:20	because god is love
19:22	he truly wills desires to be reconciled
19:25	with all of us
19:28	each of us sons of adam
19:30	and daughters of eve god is love and
19:33	wills to us to be saved so whoever
19:36	abides in love then abides in god and
19:39	god abides in him and by this is love
19:42	perfected with us so that we might have
19:44	confidence for the day of judgment in
19:47	fact god sent his son
19:50	born of the virgin mary so that rather
19:53	than shrinking back in fear
19:57	and lament
19:59	rather than hiding under the rocks at
20:01	his coming
20:03	we might greet him when he arrives
20:06	with shouts of joy and praise
20:09	and that comes from the confidence that
20:11	knows that we are forgiven in Christ
20:14	because of god’s great love god’s love
20:18	gives us confidence for the day of
20:20	judgment because he is so also are we in
20:23	this world you see there is no fear in
20:26	love
20:27	but perfect love then casts out fear
20:30	and fear has to do with punishment
20:33	and whoever fears has not yet been
20:35	perfected in love and that’s kind of the
20:38	point if you think that you’re going to
20:39	save yourself by your good works by your
20:41	deeds by your brownie points by your
20:44	community service by your
20:47	hard work
20:49	your sacrifices
20:51	then there’s nothing for you but fear
20:53	because you can never know
20:55	if it’s enough
20:58	but Christ is enough for us
21:01	and he has been sent because of god’s
21:04	great love for us it was because of
21:06	god’s love that he was promised in the
21:08	first place
21:09	and john then says this
21:12	the reason we love
21:14	is because he first loved us
21:17	apart from Christ we can do nothing
21:20	and through the love of Christ
21:22	who loves the loveless who loves his
21:25	enemies loves those who are hostile to
21:27	him now we can love others as paul says
21:30	we overcome evil now
21:32	by doing good
21:34	so we love because he first loved us if
21:37	anyone says i love god and then hates
21:39	his brother he’s a liar that person
21:41	doesn’t know what he’s talking about he
21:43	doesn’t even know god at all he does not
21:46	for if he he who does not love his
21:48	brother whom he has seen cannot love god
21:52	whom he has not seen
21:55	and so this commandment that we have
21:56	from him whoever loves god must also
21:58	love his brother
22:00	and this is only possible by
22:02	faith
22:03	faith in the love of god faith in the
22:06	forgiveness of sins faith in the savior
22:09	sent to redeem us
22:11	faith
22:12	in the babe of bethlehem
22:15	who will grow and then eventually be
22:17	nailed to the tree
22:20	who becomes a curse
22:21	so that we can be blessed
22:24	is it any wonder then that paul
22:26	speaking about
22:28	love says that love is patient and love
22:30	is kind
22:32	it doesn’t end very boast
22:34	it’s not arrogant or rude
22:36	every time i hear that passage of
22:38	scripture i’m so tempted to replace the
22:40	word love with Christ
22:43	and if i were to replace the word love
22:45	with Christ
22:47	would i do any violence to this text
22:51	Christ is
22:53	he’s kind
22:56	on mount sinai he was declared
22:58	himself to be slow to anger
23:01	abounding and steadfast love
23:04	pardoning iniquity
23:06	Christ is not arrogant
23:08	nor is he rude
23:11	he’s not irritable or resentful
23:14	he doesn’t rejoice at wrongdoing
23:16	but he rejoices with the truth
23:19	Christ bears all things
23:21	believes all things hopes all things
23:24	and he has endured truly all things
23:27	he’s endured the wrath of god on the
23:29	cross that you and i can be forgiven
23:31	Christ never ends
23:34	you see it doesn’t do any violence to
23:36	that text
23:37	so as we begin our advent tied as we
23:40	begin our time together
23:42	and considering the mysteries of the
23:44	incarnation
23:46	the time
23:47	when physically heaven and earth meet
23:50	where god himself tabernacles among us
23:53	when we ask the question
23:54	why
23:56	no
23:57	the answer that scripture gives
23:59	practically on every single page
24:02	is because of God’s great love
24:05	love for his creation love for
24:08	rebel sinners like you and me love
24:11	love so much that he would bear our sin
24:14	that God will lay on him the iniquity of
24:16	us all
24:17	so that we can be pardoned and god can
24:19	lavish
24:20	his love and grace upon us
24:23	in the name of Jesus
24:25	amen

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