5th December 2021 at 11:00 “Fore telling and forth telling”
Order of service 5th December 2021
Welcome – Keith
Lighting of the Second Advent Candle – Paige
Today we relight the candle of hope. Now we light the candle for the second Sunday in Advent. This is the candle of peace. (Light candle) As we prepare for the coming of Jesus, we remember that Jesus is our hope and our peace. From the prophet Isaiah:
Isaiah 40: 3 - 5
"A voice of one calling:
“In the wilderness prepare
the way for the Lord;
make straight in the desert
a highway for our God.
Every valley shall be raised up,
every mountain and hill made low;
the rough ground shall become level,
the rugged places a plain.
And the glory of the Lord will be revealed,
and all people will see it together.
For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.” Jedi
Let us pray, Gracious God, Grant that we may find peace as we prepare for our Lord’s birth. May divisions in ourselves and in our families be peacefully resolved. May there be peace in our cities and in the countries of our world. Help us to see the paths of peace in our lives, and then give us the courage to follow them. Lord, let us remember that you only are the giver of lasting peace and that you are always with us. Amen.
Hymn Hark the herald angels sing
Sermon in the sack – Julietta
Hymn O what a glorious night
Devotional O come all you unfaithful
Time of silent reflection
Lord’s Prayer – Jonathan
Notices:
Bible Study, Wednesday 8th @ 19:30
Prayer meeting, Thursday 9th @ 10:00
Prayer walk, Friday 10th @ 10:00
Nativity practice Saturday 11th @ 13:00 = 14:00
Hymn It is well with my soul
Reading Luke 3: 1 – 6
“In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar—when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, Herod tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of Iturea and Traconitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene—during the high-priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness. He went into all the country around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet:
“A voice of one calling in the wilderness,
‘Prepare the way for the Lord,
make straight paths for him.
Every valley shall be filled in,
every mountain and hill made low.
The crooked roads shall become straight,
the rough ways smooth.
And all people will see God’s salvation.’” - Alison
Hymn Power of your love
Thought “Fore telling and forth telling”
Hymn My hope is built on nothing less
Blessing
May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ,
and the love of God,
and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us all evermore. Amen - Steve
Thought 5th December 2021 “Forth telling and fore telling”
Our Advent reading from Luke introduces us to the three most important themes of the Bible. These themes can be summed up as three questions. The first question concerns the identity of Jesus. “Who is Jesus?” The second question has to do with the mission of Jesus. “Why did Jesus come?” The third question has to do with the call of Jesus. “What does Jesus demand of me?” When you read the gospels thoughtfully – you discover that every event, every story, every quote, every conversation is really about one of these three questions. The gospel narratives are all about asking or answering one of these three fundamental questions of who is Jesus, why did Jesus come and what does Jesus demand of me?
We are going to think about these three questions and seek to answer them this morning. In answering these questions we can find a peace that come from surety of knowing who Jesus is, why Jesus came and what Jesus demands of me.
So, firstly, who is Jesus?
Luke 3: 1 - 4 “In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar—when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, Herod tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of Iturea and Traconitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene—during the high-priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness. He went into all the country around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet: “A voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord,”
As we look at our passage we see how Luke goes into great detail to give the historical context and geographical location of Jesus birth. Luke lists the names of five important political leaders and two religious leaders ruling when Jesus was born. This continues a pattern establishing Luke's narrative as genuine history. This is a pattern in Luke’s historical narrative fixes Jesus as real person and not a myth or literary construct or the figment of someone’s imagination. Jesus was a person like you and I in many way in that He loved, laughed, wept, mourned and rejoiced but He is also fundamentally different from us as we will see.
Luke recognised this difference that in relation to these other leaders, Jesus was no ordinary person. Jesus was so different that his birth was foretold by the prophet Isaiah whom John the Baptist quotes. The focus of this fore telling is the coming of someone called “The Lord” which we look at in a moment.
Luke's account also provides a connection between John's ministry and the prophecies which predicted it. There had been 400 years of silence since God had last spoken through a prophet. The last prophet in the Old Testament was Malachi. The last paragraph of his prophecy brings down the curtain on God’s revelation for 400 years. It reads:
Malachi 4: 5 – 6 “See, I will send the prophet Elijah to you before that great and dreadful day of the Lord comes. He will turn the hearts of the parents to their children, and the hearts of the children to their parents; or else I will come and strike the land with total destruction.”
It is significant that 400 years later John the Baptist is seen as Elijah, sent by God to warn and prepare people to meet Himself through His Son? The prophets predicted that God would enter the world in human form. And John the Baptist, like Jesus, conceived by a miracle, is the one chosen to announce His arrival. John does so concisely and humbly, describing himself as, “A voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord’”. The Lord of John’s foretelling telling is clearly Jesus. But there is a question here, what is so special about this Lord that the prophets foretold His arrival. The answer is in the word translated Lord. Luke use the Greek word Kurion which we translate as Lord in this verse. Here, in this verse, Kurion is in place of God’s personal name.
You see, John wasn’t just announcing the arrival of another prophet or leader of Israel, no John was proclaiming the arrival of God Himself. This is who Jesus is, He is Immanuel that is God with us. He is the Lord, the long-awaited Messiah that would free His people and bring peace between God and His creation.
So, secondly, why did Jesus come?
Luke 3: 4 - 6
“A voice of one calling in the wilderness,
‘Prepare the way for the Lord,
make straight paths for him.
Every valley shall be filled in,
every mountain and hill made low.
The crooked roads shall become straight,
the rough ways smooth.
And all people will see God’s salvation.’”
Why did Jesus come? Answer, to save as Luke writes “And all people will see God’s salvation.’” Now the one thing the Hebrew Prophets could not foresee, from their distant perspective, is that the Lord would come not once, but twice. This is why their language sometimes refers to his first coming as the suffering servant and sometimes to his second coming to reign as king. Jesus came the first time as a babe born in Bethlehem to accomplish our salvation. And Jesus will come again, this time His arrival written large in the Heavens. This is because salvation is three dimensional. There is a past, present and future dimension to the work of Jesus. In his first coming Jesus freed us from the penalty of sin. At his return he will free us from the presence of sin. Between these two events he will free us from the power of sin as we depend on His Spirit with us. This is why the return of Jesus should be good news. In the Book of Revelation, we read what will happen when Jesus returns.
Revelation 21: 1 – 4 “Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”
Think about that it no more war, no more death, no more crying and no more suffering. Plenty of reason to rejoice that Jesus is coming for us. So, who is Jesus? He is the Lord, our Saviour. Why did Jesus come? To accomplish our salvation.
So, thirdly what does Jesus demand of us?
Luke 3: 3,8 “He (John) went into all the country around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins… Produce fruit in keeping with repentance.”
Christmas is three weeks away. You know it is coming. You may be dreading it or excited by it. Either way, I am sure you have been preparing for it. You may have a Christmas card list, a present list, a wish list, a guest list, certainly a shopping list. Some of you who are hyper-organised and bought your Christmas cards last January in the sales. And those of us who are not, we will be buying presents and food late on Christmas Eve. Either way everyone will be preparing in some way for Christmas because we know it is coming. And if we take the Bible seriously we know that Jesus is coming back. We just don’t know when. So, how do we prepare for an event in the future that we can’t put in the diary?
Many, if not all of us here this morning will have prepared for the birth of a child. We all know of the preparations that happen as we wait for the child’s sometime early or late arrival. We don’t know when the child will arrive but arrive they will. In preparation we change everything our home, our job, our car, our finances, our social life everything changes. The same principle applies to how we prepare for the return of Jesus. John states in simple terms, we are to repent. Repentance simply means turning away from something. God wants us to turn away from sin, our old life, that leads to death and judgement and turn back toward God and experience, our new life that is His forgiveness, His loving presence, and His peace. This should be our daily priority, to live in the new life Jesus won for us. In the verses that follow John elaborates on what this new life will look like.
Luke 3 :9 – 14 “Anyone who has two shirts should share with the one who has none, and anyone who has food should do the same… Don’t collect any more than you are required to… Don’t extort money and don’t accuse people falsely—be content with your pay.”
Generosity, honesty, integrity and most of all to love your fellow man. This is what repentance, our new life, will look like. We are called to turn from our old self-centred lives and follow Jesus in the new self-giving life He has begun in us.
We have considered three questions to help us prepare for the coming of the Lord, who is Jesus this Advent and beyond. We have found the answers in our gospel reading today. Who is Jesus? He is the Lord our Saviour. Why did Jesus come? To accomplish our salvation. What does Jesus demand of us? That we are to repent, that is to leave our old life behind and believe and share the good news in word and deed.
In certainty of who Jesus is, why Jesus came, knowing what Jesus demands of us what Jesus and the surety of His return we can find peace. This peace is not the worlds peace that quickly evaporates when adversity comes. No Jesus peace is different, listen to His words, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”