Sermon for 12/14/11 "Speak, O Lord"

Sermon “Speak, O Lord” Speak to us, Lord, that we may hear your gracious words of Law, convicting us of our sin, and of Gospel, proclaiming your great promises, in the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. In our Gospel reading from Luke 1:26-38 we catch up with a young lady. She’s probably not very different from many of the young people we know. We don’t know much of her family. They are of the line of David, but don’t seem to be prominent. We can’t tell that she is wealthy or outstanding in any way, except that she believes in the Lord. She’s following her culture’s expectations for her – grow up, get married, and live a life that should show faithfulness before God. She’s engaged to a good guy, who is in business, not an outstanding high-power career, but just a normal guy. Nothing seems too spectacular here. Nothing, that is, until the Lord sends an angel to visit her. What news is there? The angelic messenger comes and says she is highly favored before God. This is shocking. This is troubling. What is God’s favor going to do? The message of God is unmistakable. There is a holy one to be born. And he’s going to be born of you. What does that mean? Mary doesn’t know. She can’t begin to imagine what God’s word will accomplish in her. She can’t imagine what this holy one to be born of her will do. Yet in verse 38 she replies, (ESV) “May it be to me as you have said.” We who are in Christ know the rest of the story. We know that the child to be born is named Jesus, for he will save the world from its sin. He is called Emmanuel, God with us. He lives a life of perfect righteous obedience before God. He dies a death on our behalf, atoning for the sin of the world. He rises victorious over death, rising to save the world and to kill death itself. He ascends to heaven where he is in unity once again with God the Father, always making intercession for our sins, placing his victory over death upon us who believe. Do we respond as Mary did? Though we can’t imagine the enormity of God’s salvation, do we turn to our Lord in faith, knowing that he will accomplish in us what he desires? This is exactly the response we give Sunday after Sunday. Yet what will we do when God begins to show himself as the holy one who is in our midst? What will it mean? How will it influence our individual lives, our local church, our community, and our world? Speak, O Lord! We wish to hear from you. And the Lord speaks to us in his words of Law, condemning our sin. His words hurt. He condemns us as those who have sinned against him. Our thoughts are evil, every day. Our words which could bring healing and life are used for destructive purposes. We do not speak his peace and comfort, but seek our own glory. We work against him, not for him. We who are redeemed by the Lord do not obey him but rather pursue our own self-interests. So we confess that we have sinned against God in thought, word and deed, in what we have done and in what we have left undone. We confess that we have not loved him with our whole heart. We see and confess that we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. God’s word of Law has condemned us. Yet we confess that the Law is good, for without God’s Law we do not know our need for a savior. But God is not done speaking to us when he has spoken his word of Law. He has yet to speak his word of Gospel, that which he has done on our behalf, that which he does to fulfill the Law for us. And in these last days he has spoken to us. There is a holy one, born of the virgin, born to carry our sorrows, born under the law, born to fulfill the law. He has come to fulfill all righteousness. And this Jesus has done. He is the Lord our righteousness. He is the one who speaks all the grace we need. And in his mercy he does not leave us to our own devices. He corrects us. He rebukes us. He trains us in righteousness so we may be prepared for every good work. What would our Lord use us for? As we see Jesus, born in us, drawing us to himself by the Holy Spirit, how is he using us in our families, in our local church , in our community, in the world? Can he use us to bring his peace to those we live with? Can he use us to show his grace in our workplace? Can he use us as leaders in our community, within the vocations he has given us? Can he speak through us, showing that he is the redeemer of the world, including being the redeemer of those people we don’t get along with? How would the Lord of all use all our lives, all our resources, all our hopes, all our dreams, even all our fears? We have only ten days of the Advent season remaining. May the Lord move us to repentance, to see that we are unworthy of standing before him, that he is the one enthroned on high, that we have need of a savior, as does our whole world. And may the Lord give us grace to see how we can be his instruments to reveal him to this world, a world of pain, a world of sorrow, a world of death and destruction. How would the Lord use us? I come before you today without answers. I don’t know how he would desire to work in us. I don’t know how he desires to change our world. But I know he is not finished here. He is not absent. He is not finished speaking to us. He is not finished bringing his grace and peace to our world. In these last days, as our Lord wills, he will use us, his Church, as his hand reaching out to our world. May we have his grace, grace to walk in his ways, grace to trust him, grace to say, as did Mary, “May it be to me as you have said,” grace to see the opportunities he has placed before us and to take them. Lord, let us walk in your paths. Give us your light, and shine your light through us. Transform us by your grace so that we may be used to show you, the Savior of the world, to our world, which needs a savior. This we pray in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.