Saint Luke Ev. Lutheran Church of Watertown

Sermon delivered by Pastor Anthony E. Schultz

Advent Vesper 1, December 4, 2002

Luke 1:11-17

Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing at the right side of the altar of incense. When Zechariah saw him, he was startled and was gripped with fear. But the angel said to him: “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to give him the name John. He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth, for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He is never to take wine or other fermented drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from birth. Many of the people of Israel will he bring back to the Lord their God. And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous—to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”

Dear children of our Heavenly Father—precious in His sight for Jesus’ sake:

We have been preparing for Christmas for a couple of weeks at our house. We put our icicle lights around the house the other day. That’s not an easy job. You have to go down in the basement and find the grocery bags with the lights. Plug them in—to be sure all the light lights light. Then get the ladder out—and very carefully set it against the roof—on an angle—so it’s rock solid. Then send Matthew up the ladder—pockets full of clips—hands in the gloves where your bare fingers poke out. One person holds the ladder. One person hand up the strings of lights. The wind blows. Your cheeks burn. Your fingers get numb! That’s just part of the preparations—decorations. There are the three huge wooden candles by the front door—the pine boughs and pine cones that hang from the garage lights. The little manger scene—of little ceramic Peruvians—with their funny little hats kneeling around the little Christ child. Preparing for Christmas is not about cards and presents—parties and snacks. Preparing for Christmas isn’t about cleaning the house. It’s about the Christ child who came to clean our hearts—to take away all our sins. This Advent Season God’s Word will remind us:

God’s Faithful People Await Christmas

Tonight we will see as they await Christmas—

They Prepare

1. The LORD prepared hearts for the Christ child

2. The LORD prepares hearts for the Christ

God’s Word tells us there was a priest named Zechariah, who belonged to the priestly division of Abijah; his wife Elizabeth was also a descendant of Aaron. Back in Bible times—you couldn’t just say, “I love my LORD very much. When I grow up I want to be a priest!” You needed to be a descendant of Aaron—the one the LORD chose by grace alone to be the very first High Priest. Zechariah and Elizabeth by grace alone were very faithful. God’s Word says, “Both of them were upright in the sight of God, observing all the Lord’s commandments and regulations blamelessly. Blameless! Could that be said of me? Blameless! Could that be said of you? Yes! Not that we are flawless—but forgiven! We make mistakes all the time. When I play the hymn on the piano for our confirmation class opening devotion I hit wrong notes. Is that a sin? Yes it is! To play anything less than perfect is wrong! It’s just plain wrong. I need to practice. I need to be prepared. I need to do better. Every sermon should be better—every devotion more perfect in the dividing of law and gospel. Every Bible class more practical. Every prayer more and more to the point! Everything can be done better—not for the sake of pride and self-glory—but for the glory of the LORD. When Mrs. Lozar was in charge of the meals at the Seminary—she knew she was making meals—not for a hundred and thirty five men. She was making meals for Jesus. And so she was concerned and careful—that when you had your food on your plate—the colors were right. She wouldn’t have fried chicken and mashed potatoes and corn—all short of pale and yellow. If we had to have corn—that was the only vegetable possible—then she would put little bits of red and green peppers in the corn—so the plate would be colorful! That’s being pretty particular. But you would be—when you were making dinner for Jesus—wouldn’t you? Zechariah and Elizabeth were blameless—made faithful by the power of the Holy Spirit—forgiven for the sake of their Savior and Redeemer—soon to be born into this sin infected world!

Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to give him the name John. The angel Gabriel was talking about a miracle—the miracle of conception. Smaller than a single grain of sand—a little baby boy would be conceived in Elizabeth’s tummy. This little baby boy within weeks of conception would grow to the size of a little LeSur pea. Just a few weeks old he would be mostly brain and heart. His little ears would be kind of between his heart and his brain. His back would look like a tiny zipper. His tiny dark eyes would not yet blink. Every baby is a miracle. But this baby was set apart from before conception—to play a wondrous part in the LORD’s plan to save us. The messenger Gabriel said, “He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth, for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He is never to take wine or other fermented drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from birth. Many of the people of Israel will he bring back to the Lord their God.” John the Baptist would bring people back to the Lord their God. He preached a stinging law. When the proud, puffed up arrogant self-righteous Pharisees came out to see him, the Holy Spirit recorded what John said. “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And no not think you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.’ Matthew 3:7b-10 John also knew the comfort spoken through the prophet Isaiah—a reed—a stalk of marsh grass hanging by a thread—the LORD would not break off. A wick—its oil consumed—its flame reduced to the thinnest thread of smoke he would not snuff out. The LORD is merciful to wretched sinners like us!

He will…turn the hearts of the fathers to their children… When the Holy Spirit turns the heart of the father to their children it changes everything. When the Holy Spirit turns the heart of the father to their children—it means fathers being concerned about the spiritual wellness of our children. I have heard more than once lately—what is a parent to do—if their child begs and pleads for a video game for Christmas—that you the parent know is bad. You the parent know—that that video game is filled with violence—dead people becoming reanimated—and the object of the game is to take off arms and legs? The object of the game is to be a drug dealer—stealing cars—buying hugs and kisses. And your son—11,12, 13 years old says I have to have that game. It’s only make believe—it’s only pretend—it’s only my mind, my thoughts, my imagination! What are you to do? Tell them no—because you love them. Tell them no—because Jesus says it would be wrong to spend hour upon hour thinking about what is evil and hurtful and wrong. That thoughts dwelling on what is evil are just as wrong as actually doing what is evil—lust is adultery—hatred is murder—coveting is stealing in God’s sight. When earthly fathers love their children they will teach them by their powerful example. Earthly fathers will be strict—not hurtful and abusive—but strict with their children. Earthly fathers will discipline their children and encourage their children and bring them up—to love and serve Jesus more and more!

Many of the people of Israel will he bring back to the Lord their God. Do you know someone you could bring back to the Lord their God? You do not bring somebody back to the Lord their God—by nagging them. You don’t bring them back by trying to guilt them or shame them into coming back. You don’t bring them back with an attitude of self-righteous holier than thou arrogance. You bring them back by praying for them. Then humbly, gently inviting and encouraging them—with the greatness of God’s forgiving love. There is a man in Arizona who has a puppy named Sadie. If you ever had a puppy you love that little puppy with an unconditional love. You will get up in the night—if your puppy gets sick. You will feed and water your puppy. You will walk them all hours of the day and night—when it’s nice out—and when it’s not nice out. It doesn’t matter if you love your puppy. This man in Arizona really really loved his puppy Sadie. You see he spent not just $100 or $1,000 or $5,000 or $10,000 for her. He spent $14,000 to get her safely back. $14,000 for a puppy? That makes no sense at all—unless you know and love that puppy. Jesus bought us back. Not with gold or silver—not with green wrinkled pieces of paper. Jesus bought back sheep who love to wander. He bought us back at the exceedingly high price of his holy life—and innocent suffering and death! That’s what Jesus did to wash away the sins of the whole world!

He will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous… Over the Thanksgiving weekend we watched an episode of The Family Feud. You know how that game show works. They survey 100 people—the top four answers on the board. Name someone who set people free. What would you answer? Survey says—Abraham Lincoln! I grew up in Illinois. That makes sense—Abraham Lincoln who signed the Emancipation Proclamation—to set the slaves free. Then they had Martin Luther King Jr. That made sense, too—the civil rights movement during the sixties! Then they had Moses. You could understand that, too. Moses told the mighty Pharaoh, “This is what the LORD says—let my people go!” Can you guess the fourth and last answer—the last name—with only four votes? Name someone who set people free! The last choice—Jesus. Only four people said Jesus. Would you? Is Jesus the first one you think of—for setting people free? Jesus set us free—not just from earthly slavery and servitude. Jesus set us free from slavery to sin. Now—when we are tempted we can tell the devil himself—forget it! I will not do what is wicked and hurtful and painful and wrong! Like Joseph we can say, “How could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?” We couldn’t! We won’t! That’s the wisdom of the righteous.

John the Baptizer would be born—to make ready a people prepared for the Lord. A people prepared! They had this little weather guy—who was going to explain about lake effect snow. Where better to explain that—than right next to the lake—right next to Lake Michigan. In the dark this guy is standing next to this huge boulder—right next to the Lake—in the dark except for this really bright video camera light—when kabloosh! Here comes this huge wave washing over that huge boulder—and all over the weather guy, too! The guy is absolutely drenched and it’s about 23 degrees! He wasn’t prepared for that! When the little Christ child was born—who was prepared to welcome him? The first ones to welcome him were humble shepherds—keeping watch over their flocks by night. They came and worshiped baby Jesus. Then they told everyone they met—that Christ the Savior was born! Who will be ready when Jesus comes on Judgment Day! By grace alone—we will be people prepared! Amen!

To God alone all glory!