Isaiah 64:1-9; The First Sunday in Advent; November 29, 2020;

Isaiah 64:1-9; The First Sunday in Advent; November 29, 2020; Life in Christ Lutheran Church, Grand Marais, MN; Oh that you would rend the heavens and come down, that the mountains might quake at your presence— as when fire kindles brushwood and the fire causes water to boil— to make your name known to your adversaries, and that the nations might tremble at your presence! When you did awesome things that we did not look for, you came down, the mountains quaked at your presence. From of old no one has heard or perceived by the ear, no eye has seen a God besides you, who acts for those who wait for him. You meet him who joyfully works righteousness, those who remember you in your ways. Behold, you were angry, and we sinned; in our sins we have been a long time, and shall we be saved? We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away. There is no one who calls upon your name, who rouses himself to take hold of you; for you have hidden your face from us, and have made us melt in the hand of our iniquities. But now, O LORD, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand. Be not so terribly angry, O LORD, and remember not iniquity forever. Behold, please look, we are all your people.” (Isaiah 64:1–9, ESV) Grace and peace to you from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Isaiah has a dream, and it is a big one. God’s people are mired in sin. They are ignoring him, but more importantly they are ignoring God. His dream? That God would show himself in power and fix everything. He knows already that judgment is coming. He is afraid for the people. You do not trifle with God’s anger over sin. When the one who made the heavens and the earth displays his anger, there are earthquakes and lightning and fire and darkness and the rivers boil. A little of that would go a long way to the people seeing their sin and confessing. Isaiah makes no bones about it; the people are sinful. Even the good stuff they do is polluted like a bloody rag. Their sins make them dead and dry like a leaf that will just blow away in a breeze. But the people don’t see it, at least they won’t confess it. They refuse to call upon God’s name for mercy. Their sin has blinded them to their need for forgiveness. Isaiah confesses for them and then begs God to be the merciful God that Isaiah knows he is. There is no other god who acts in mercy toward those who wait for him. What that means it that those who stand in faith, those who wait for God to act in mercy toward them, those who see their great need for forgiveness, are given mercy and forgiveness. Isaiah reminds God that his people are his children. They were created by him, just as he created everything in the very beginning. Please temper your anger, Lord. He says. Lord, have mercy! He says. Look at us in mercy and forgive. What could be better at Advent? We get a bit confused because we think Advent is all about the little baby in the manger. But it really is about waiting for God to act. Isaiah was waiting for God to act in mercy, to come and fix everything. He wanted God to come in person. And he did. He came in the manger in Bethlehem, the little baby that the song says doesn’t cry. But Advent is about his coming for a purpose, it is Isaiah’s dream. Jesus comes to bring mercy for those who are caught in sin. But Jesus also comes to bring God’s wrath against sin, lighting and thunder and earthquakes. Jesus is God who acts. The baby goes to the cross. There is the full anger of God played out. God, the Father, turns his face away from Jesus, his Son. Jesus quotes Psalm 22. His words on the cross are haunting. “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” (Psalm 22:1, ESV) The Psalm continues to make the point. I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint; my heart is like wax; it is melted within my breast; my strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to my jaws; you lay me in the dust of death.” (Psalm 22:14–15, ESV) It is so much like what Isaiah wrote. There is no one who calls upon your name, who rouses himself to take hold of you; for you have hidden your face from us, and have made us melt in the hand of our iniquities.” (Isaiah 64:7, ESV) It is God, coming in Jesus. It is Isaiah’s dream, only better. Isaiah wanted the law to convict the people. Jesus comes and stand convicted for the people. He takes on God’s wrath in full. God executes justice on the cross, all justice for all time, for all people. It is the awesome thing that we didn’t look for. Forgiveness of sins when we were not calling upon his name, but enemies of God instead. but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.” (Romans 5:8–10, ESV) God does it, he pours out his great wrath on Jesus so that his people can have Isaiah’s dream, so that he can: Be not so terribly angry, O LORD, and remember not iniquity forever. Behold, please look, we are all your people.” (Isaiah 64:9, ESV) We are God’s people. Made so by God’s name placed on us in Holy Baptism. Made so through faith in the baby made sacrifice for us. And yet we are sinners, too. Isaiah’s dream needs to be re-read again. We live our lives not calling upon God’s name but trying our best to get along without him. We do our good deeds for our own benefit. Sin spoils everything. Even the good things we do are polluted by false motives. We need God, himself to come and be present and fix everything. We need Isaiah’s dream again. And Jesus comes. Word, water, bread and wine. He is here. He is present here just as he promises to be. And he comes for forgiveness. We confess our sin along with Isaiah. Please temper your anger, Lord. Lord, have mercy! Christ, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Look at us in mercy and forgive. … in the stead and by the command of my Lord Jesus Christ, I forgive you all your sins, in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. … take eat this is my body … take drink this is my blood… for the forgiveness of all your sins. God present in an awesome way we would never expect. Forgiving our sin through his very presence. And that’s not all. Advent is about God coming to fix everything. He is coming yet again. He will fix everything then, by first destroying all that is corrupted by sin. Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn! But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.” (2 Peter 3:11–13, ESV) It is God acting in mercy for those who wait on him. Sin and suffering, death and disease, done in. So, we wait for God to act for us. And while we wait, we act in holiness and godliness. That means serving the world as it needs to be served. Doing our daily work for the sake of our neighbor. Proclaiming the Good News of Jesus who forgives sins through his cross and resurrection and return. Amen. The peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

1.Thess.5.1–11; Twenty-Fourth Sunday after Pentecost; November 14, 2020;

1.Thess.5.1–11; Twenty-Fourth Sunday after Pentecost; November 14, 2020; Life in Christ Lutheran Church, Grand Marais, MN; Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers, you have no need to have anything written to you. For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. While people are saying, “There is peace and security,” then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. But you are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief. For you are all children of light, children of the day. We are not of the night or of the darkness. So then let us not sleep, as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, are drunk at night. But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation. For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with him. Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.” (1 Thessalonians 5:1–11, ESV) From a Sermon by Rev. Jeff Gibbs; Grace and peace to you from Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. You've probably heard someone say it, that St. Paul believed that Jesus was going to return before he and the disciples died. That he probably went to his death surprised that he hadn't see Jesus' return. Well, disappointed maybe but not surprised. After all if you look at the end of our text today you see Paul saying, " through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with him" or if you look at Romans 14:8 he says For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s.” (Romans 14:8, ESV) Paul clearly allowed for his own death. Weather we live or die. Now if you ask the question in this way, "Did Paul expect the Lord's return at any time?" You have to answer with an emphatic "Yes!" Paul expected that the day of the Lord, the day that Jesus would return, would be soon, tonight, today, tomorrow, without warning. Dear Christians, this is what you confess here every Sunday. You confess that you are expecting for the day of the Lord at any time. It’s there in the creed. "I look for the resurrection of the dead..." You are looking for the day when your Savior will return to set all things right. When all evil will be put down. When all sin and death will end. The day when everything will be forever as it should be, exactly as God created it to be. Now since you are looking for such a time as this, today's reading, today's text is for you. St. Paul put pen to paper to write these words for your encouragement. I'd like you to open your bulletin and look at the text. It is really divided into three parts, like three steps. First, he says, since you are expecting the day of the Lord, remember who you are. He writes. Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers, you have no need to have anything written to you. For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. While people are saying, “There is peace and security,” then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. But you are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief. For you are all children of light, children of the day. We are not of the night or of the darkness. Here he sets a very strong contrast between those who reject God's son and those who look for his return. It will surprise them with "sudden destruction" like the agony of "birth pangs." Those who think nothing of Jesus will be caught unaware. They will not escape. They are living in the darkness. But not you, St. Paul says. Because you are not in darkness. You are the baptized children of light. You expect his return at any time. As you wait for the day of the Lord, you are children of the day. Now isn't that interesting. As you wait for the day you are children of the day. How can that be? Well that's because for you the day has already happened. The day of the Lord was a day of darkness and agony and day of death and forsakenness. Jesus, your Savior, hung between heaven and earth in darkness, suffering the agony of the punishment of your sin, your rebellion. He was forsaken by God for you. "My God, my God why have you forsaken me." That was the day of the Lord. Do not be afraid, St. Paul says. He is risen. He is not here. You are baptized into his death and his resurrection you are children of the day as you expect the day. You expect him to come soon. Do not be afraid. Remember who you are you are children of the day. Now about halfway through the text Paul says, "So then” Because you are expecting his return remember who you are, so then live let us not sleep. That is, live as who you are. Those ready for his coming. Those who are baptized into Christ. Paul uses these important words. Be sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, are drunk at night. But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation. For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with him. It probably shows the influence on us by the world around us, but we probably think of these two references to being sober as a bit of a downer. Don't be drunk, be sober sounds to us as if he means, be serious, don't have any fun. This isn't what he means. You know what it is to be drunk. To be drunk is to be foolish. When you are drunk you don't even know or care if people are mocking you. When you are drunk you stager and fall, you can't get up. You can't find your way. When you are drunk you are helpless and defenseless. You can't see danger coming. To be drunk is to forget who you are. Paul applies this image to people in both the physical sense of drunkenness and the spiritual state of drunkenness, which is to be without Christ. He says to you, don't forget who you are, be sober. To be sober is to see clearly. To see truth and beauty and be open to real joy. To be sober is to be strong. To be sober is to walk toward your neighbor in love and mercy. To be sober is to be wise, to live well. To be sober is to have your wits about you to avoid danger. To be ready for the day that is coming and not caught unawares. To be sober is to be dressed well, "having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation." Have faith in God and love for your neighbor. Having hope that Jesus is indeed coming soon. The hope of salvation in Jesus Christ. To be sober is the only way to live for those who are waiting for Jesus to return. Since you know who you are you will live it out. Finally, St. Paul, says, encourage one another. Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing. You see, you are not alone. We are all together by our own confession, waiting for the Lord's return. We are aware of who we are, and we desire to live it out, together. So, as encouragement to each other we are going to confess as we so often do. Open your hymnal to the back cover. Find the Nicene Creed. Find the fourth line from the bottom that begins "And I believe in one Holy and apostolic Church." That' us, the church of those baptized into the day of the Lord. And I believe in one holy Christian and apostolic Church, I acknowledge one Baptism for the remission of sins, and I look for the resurrection of the dead and the life T of the world to come. Amen. Children of the day, encourage one another, speak to one another about the day to come. Christ has died, Christ has risen, Christ will come again. Amen. The peace of God that passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.