Sermons

In the Name of our Advent Lord, Dear Christian friends. How many of you exchange names among family and friends at Christmas time? I know it’s one way our family chooses to better manage the number of Christmas gifts needed to be purchased this time of the year? But if we chose to exchange names, how many of us secretly wish that a certain person in our family gets our name because he or she is known for giving really good gifts at Christmas time? While there may be others in our family that when we receive their gift we have to ask, “And what does this thing do?” Or we finding ourselves having to force a smile and say with a generic heart, “Why, thank you. That’s very nice…” as we drop our voice hoping that we don’t have to finish the sentence. Today on this third week in Advent, as we are still getting ready to praise God for the gift of his Son on Christmas Day, there’s no need to worry about the gifts that we’re going to receive, nor about the giver of those gifts. Through the prophet Isaiah our Lord Jesus himself is speaking to us about exchanging things that cause us sadness with those that bring joy. And so on the basis of God’s Word our sermon theme is “God’s Advent Gift Exchange.” An exchange implies that something is given to one person while something else is received back. In the words of our text we learn that God’s Advent Gift Exchange is just a little different. In God’s Advent Gift Exchange we’re doing all the receiving of the gifts and God is doing all the giving of the gifts. As we hear more about God’s Advent Gift Exchange, we’ll see that there are two special gifts our Lord Jesus gives us. First of all, we get some really good news, and, secondly, we get an even greater new name! Did you ever get one of those gifts, where you got something that led to something else and that led to something else – in other words, either a theme gift, or a gift that had all kinds of things attached to it that made it better and better with each box you opened? Well, that’s what the first gift that Jesus is talking about might remind us of. His first gift is a general theme gift: We get some really good news. And then it’s like our Lord has other boxes for us to open that make us appreciate the good news he’s talking about all the more. The theme of this first gift is taken from the very words of Jesus concerning why he came into the world: TO PREACH GOOD NEWS TO THE POOR. When Jesus speaks about the poor he is not referring to one’s bank account or one’s financial securities. Instead Jesus is addressing the spiritual condition of all people by nature. Such spiritual condition is not only poor, it’s spiritually bankrupt. The first of God’s Advent gifts then address our spiritually poor condition. And Jesus says “There is some really good news.” Isaiah records Jesus’ words in our text: HE HAS SENT ME TO BIND UP THE BROKENHEARTED, TO PROCLAIM FREEDOM FOR THE CAPTIVES, AND RELEASE FROM DARKNESS FOR THE PRISONERS, TO PROCLAIM THE YEAR OF THE LORD’S FAVOR AND THE DAY OF VENGEANCE OF OUR GOD, TO COMFORT ALL WHO MOURN AND PROVIDE FOR THOSE WHO GRIEVE IN ZION. After hearing words like “bind up the brokenhearted … proclaim freedom … comfort all who mourn” it’s reason all the more to be thankful that God is the one who drew our name. We’re thankful because we could really use some good news, couldn’t we? Daily we see the ravages of sin in the world and in our own personal lives. We feel it in our family life. We mount against it in our married life. We carry its burdens in our career life. We face it as failing health numbers our earthly days. The ravages of sin loom over us in the light of the loss of a loved one. Yes, we could really use some good news! And good news is exactly what God’s Advent Gift Exchange is all about. Jesus says he was anointed or chosen by his Father to preach good news to the poor. Isaiah uses beautiful picture language to help us appreciate the good news of God’s Advent gift. The first picture is to BIND UP THE BROKENHEARTED. If your insides feel shattered because of something you’ve suffered, if your heart feels broken because of a love that has gone wrong, if your soul feels crushed because of a sin or a problem that has devastated your life, then know that Christ is coming to heal you, to bandage your bleeding heart, to give peace to your sobbing soul, to bind up the brokenhearted. Jesus also is coming to PROCLAIM FREEDOM FOR THE CAPTIVES AND RELEASE FROM DARKNESS FOR THE PRISONERS. If you feel in the dark about God’s plan for your schooling or your job or your life, if you feel your mind is unable to see the reasons God has allowed that cross to come into your life or that challenge to confront you, if you feel like there’s no way out of the shackles which don’t allow you to sleep or to eat or to smile with joy, then know that Christ is coming, inviting you to simply follow and he will give you light. He’s coming to lift your eyelids and let you see that what he wants for you, no matter how challenging, will serve your best interests in helping you hang on to him and not depend on yourself or someone else. He’s coming to release you from what may seem like spiritual handcuffs so that you can be free of your griefs and burdens and free for going about your daily business with a sense of purpose, patience and confidence in the Lord Isaiah also paints a picture good news for God’s people as he goes on to write: [Jesus has been sent] TO COMFORT ALL WHO MOURN, TO BESTOW ON THEM A CROWN OF BEAUTY INSTEAD OF (or we could say, “in exchange of”) ASHES, THE OIL OF GLADNESS INSTEAD OF MOURNING, A GARMENT OF PRAISE INSTEAD OFA SPIRIT OF DESPAIR. Did you hear how Isaiah highlighted God’s Advent gift exchange plan? It all centers on the coming of Jesus, God’s own Son, into the world. He came for a purpose, a divine purpose, a spiritual purpose. God fully realizes that we his people carry a heavy load of sin. God wants to exchange that load of sin with a refreshing assurance of peace, joy and contentment in the forgiveness of sins. And so God sent Jesus to comfort those who mourn, those who are sorrowful. Jesus came to give us a crown of spiritual beauty with God instead of leaving us to smolder away in the dust of an ash pit. Jesus came to pour over us the spiritual oil of gladness that comes from knowing that one day we will leave this world of mourning and be with Jesus in heaven where there is no mourning, or crying or pain of any kind. Jesus came as God’s Advent gift to the world so that knowing of our forgiveness we would be able to wear garments of praise instead of toting a spirit of despair. Wow! That’s not just good news, that’s great news! Now when it comes to opening gifts, have you experienced this? Have you ever gone through a wonderfully long time of opening gifts and you thought that you had received all the gifts you were going to receive, only to get one more special gift at the very end? That’s the kind of gift we still have to open this morning as we receive from God not only some really good news, but we get an even great new name! Just look at the final two lines at the end of our text: THEY WILL BE CALLED OAKS OF RIGHTEOUSNESS, A PLANTING OF THE LORD FOR THE DISPLAY OF HIS SPLENDOR. The oak trees of Isaiah’s day were known for the same things as they are today – the qualities of being strong and stately, with deep roots. By believing in the work the Christ Child came to do as the greatest gift of Christmas, God calls us “oaks of righteousness.” Our names may be David or John or Jill or Joy, but our new name, according to Isaiah, is “Oak of Righteousness.” Righteousness is the gift of being right with God. The way we are right with God is by being holy. The way we are holy is through the work of God’s holy Son, who did all the holy work of living a holy life and dying a holy, innocent death and then letting us get the credit for it. In the Bible Jesus is called “The Lord Our Righteousness,” and by believing in his name, his name is our name. We are God’s righteous people through Christ. By coming to earth, Jesus gave us the greatest exchange of gifts that doesn’t in any way seem fair, but is something for which we can only thank him. I gave Jesus my sin, and he gave me his holiness. I gave Jesus my death, and he gave me his life. And now I bear his name “righteous.” That’s a pretty good gift exchange, wouldn’t you say? You and I didn’t have to spend any money on gifts, but God spent the life of his Son so he could provide us with the greatest gift of all. That’s some really good news! But there’s more! We get an even greater new name as sons and daughters of God, people of a holy family who get to be part of this Advent Gift Exchange not only in preparation for Christmas, but every single time we open the gift catalog of God’s Word. So my dear Christian friends, don’t ever worry about whose going to get your name for the Christmas gift exchange. God’s has already had it from eternity. Amen.