Third Sunday of Advent (C) 2018

+ In nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti + Amen.

Text: Luke 3:4-6
Theme: God’s Living Will

Dear friends in Christ Jesus,

Advent builds momentum as it presses forward. Expectation grows. Like a woman in pregnancy, there’s no going back. The matter must come to resolution. Sin must be accounted for. Unbelief must be judged. Faith must be rewarded. The coming of Christ in glory will bring all these things to finality. Meanwhile, these things are continually being sorted out as we speak. One person comes to repentance and faith. Another falls away in unbelief. One by one we reach the limits of our mortality. Each of us must meet our Maker. The moment of truth cannot be avoided. In the process the will of God is either fulfilled or rejected.

John the Baptist comes proclaiming the will of the Lord today. He does it with clarity and conviction. What is the will of God? The answer is a simple as it is profound; as straightforward as it is complex. The prophet calls people to repentance. He condemns their hypocrisy. He instructs them in their sanctity. It is the will of God that we turn from our sins. It is the will of God that we have eternal fellowship with Him. What could be more important?

Throughout all seasons of the Church Year we are not only celebrating the accomplished activities of God- as we do in Christmas celebrations- we are being challenged, convicted, shaped, formed, and blessed by His presence. The Holy Spirit is not deceased. Christ is not aloof. God’s will is dynamic and pervasive. The will of God, of course, can only be discerned on the basis of Scripture. There are clear absolutes. There are also situations, though these don’t put our salvation risk, where the will of God is not so easy to discern.

Consider just one example in the life of the Saint Paul. In Acts 16 we find these words, “They went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia.”1 Why on earth would the Holy Spirit prevent His eminent apostle from preaching the word of God anywhere? Paul preached in prison and from prison, to Jew, Gentile, and Greek, to the receptive and unreceptive, to the apathetic and the riotous. Why on earth would Asia be excepted? I’m afraid I won’t be able to answer that one for you. The task, apparently, was for another person at another time.

Consider a more modern moral dilemma. In 1939 Albert Einstein wrote a letter President Roosevelt warning him the German government had plans to develop a nuclear weapon. He proposed the Americans look into their own research. Though Einstein never played an active role he struggled with the moral implications of nuclear capability. He later regretted his decision to even write the letter. The Manhattan Project was the code name for the development of the atomic weapon that effectively ended World War II. Was it the will of God that so much destruction could be unleashed by a single device? Was it the will of God that some of the best scientific minds of the age were employed to such an end? Now, if you think I’m going to answer that question satisfactorily for you, don’t get too excited.

In discussing the will of God in vexatious circumstances, we don’t mean to say that the Bible is unclear or that we can change the parameters. The biblical teaching on both sin and grace are very clear. It is God’s will, for example, that husbands be faithful to wives and wives be faithful to husbands. There is nothing unclear or uncertain about God’s commands. The Sixth Commandment, like all commandments is not a rough moral guideline. Our subjective opinions are not decisive. The commandments carry the threat of punishment because their intent is to protect, preserve, and promote life.

Just as clear as God’s commandments are His acts of mercy. His will is not in doubt. We can say with absolute certainty that it was the Father’s will to send His Son to the cross. No teaching of the Bible is more undeniable than the gospel. Jesus Christ was sacrificed upon the cross to atone for the sins of the world. He was our substitute in death. He rose bodily from the grave on the third day. He did these things for us and for our salvation. The Scripture says, “It was the Lord’s will to crush Him and cause Him to suffer.”2 And again, “This Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men.”3 The Father willed His Son to be the sacrifice of reconciliation and the Son willingly submitted to the Father.

We can also say with certainty it is the will of God that our faith is expressed in actions. The crowds asked John the Baptist what they should do, and he offered very practical advice. Be generous with your resources. Don’t resort to dishonesty. Don’t abuse your authority, are a few examples of how John exhorted them to follow God’s will. Faith is active in love. Follow God’s will. Obey His commands. Believe His promises.

God never says this will be easy. Our faith will be refined and our character proven time and time again. What were the Israelites doing for 40 years in the desert? They were being tested and tried. They were being prepared to cross into the Promised Land. And so it is with our pilgrimage on this earth. Do you think it is God’s will to test us and try us before we enter into the promised land of heaven? Yes, it must be so because our sinful nature cannot subdue itself. It never wants to take the narrow road, but the broad, easy road. The Old Adam has no ability for self-regulation. All of the feedback loops are broken. The sinful nature must be crucified and raised to life again, as the Scripture says, “For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.”4

Luther says in the Large Catechism that if you could see how many knives, darts, and arrows are at every moment aimed at you, you would be glad to come to the Sacrament as often as possible. He was speaking of Satan. He wasn’t fear-mongering, He was simply communicating biblical realism. As the Scripture says, “Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith.”5 That is the message of Advent. How do we resist him? We come to the Lord’s Table. In that meal we are strengthened, and he is weakened, we participate in Christ’s victory while Satan is reminded of his own defeat. The body and blood of Christ is the food of immortality. It is a foretaste of the feast to come.

Dear friends, advent is a time for serious but joyful expectation. We are frail, but our strong God comes to us. We are sinners, but the Righteous One comes to clothe us in His majesty. It won’t be painless. That’s why Jeremiah pleads, “Correct me, O LORD, but in justice; not in your anger, lest you bring me to nothing.”6 The Child of Bethlehem is the Redeemer of Calvary. He will bring the Father’s will to completion. Amen.

+ In nomine Jesu +

Third Sunday of Advent
16 December 2018
Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt

1 Acts 16:6
2 2 Isaiah 53:10
3 Acts 2:23
4 Romans 8:13
5 1 Peter 5:8-9
6 Jeremiah 10:24