*Sermon for 12.01.21 (Advent Midweek 1) Text: Luke 1:26-38 Theme: The birth
of God: How…and why?*
*In the Name of the Father…Amen.*
*Luke 1:26-38 serves as our sermon text for this evening.*
*Grace, mercy, and peace be yours from God the Father through our Lord and
Savior Jesus Christ.*
*Prayer*
*Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, let us pray:*
*My soul now magnifies the Lord; *
*My spirit leaps for joy in Him.*
*He keeps me in His kind regard, *
*And I am blest for time to come.*
*For He alone who shows such might *
*Has done amazing things to me.*
*His mercy flows; His name like light *
*Remains in time perpetually. *
*Introduction*
*One day, during confirmation class, a student asked the pastor a question
about Jesus when he was young: **“**When Jesus was our age, did he know
that he was God?**”*
*The pastor replied: **“**I don**’**t know the answer to that question.**”*
*There are questions even pastors have trouble answering:*
Why did my loved one have to die from cancer?
Why do the wicked continue to prosper while the righteous suffer?
Where is God when I need Him the most?
*There are a lot of hard questions that hardly anybody**’**s asking these
days, and for some of those questions there are Advent answers. *
*For, after all, isn**’**t that precisely what Advent is all
about?**—**preparing
to celebrate that time **“**When Heaven Met Earth,**”** when God first took
on human flesh in the person of Jesus, and preparing for that ultimate
Advent when that same Christ shall come in the fullness of the Godhead!*
*For this season of Advent, we will consider the hard questions hardly
anyone is asking,** but that have answers in Advent, Christ coming to
earth, heaven meeting earth. *
*And the first hard question that hardly anybody**’**s asking but which we*
*’**ll address is this one tonight:*
*How Can God Take on Human Flesh . . . and Why?*
*1.1 God is infinitely beyond our ability to comprehend.*
*Imagine yourself a missionary in a remote part of New Guinea trying to
share your faith with people who**’**ve never heard of this God of ours. *
*For that matter, imagine yourself talking over the fence with your
neighbor who knows absolutely nothing about the Christian faith. *
*How would you describe God? You know:*
*The* God we trust with our very lives and eternal destinies,
*The* God whom we believe, teach, and confess,
*The* God whom we worship and serve,
*The* God with whom we have daily conversations through prayer.
*1.2 Who is this God?*
*He is Awesome. *
*He is Glorious. *
*He is Eternal. *
*How in the world do you describe something which has no beginning and no
ending? *
*So you try again, and then give up trying, to describe or explain God. *
*The might and majesty of almighty God are infinitely beyond our ability to
comprehend, which is a good thing. *
*I am thankful for the fact that I can**’**t fit my God into some little
box of my own understanding, that there**’**s a whole truckload of stuff I*
*’**d like to know about God but never will this side of eternity. *
*1.3 **While we have lots of words to describe God:*
We can never explain him,
We just marvel that this God is the Creator of all that is—of light out of
darkness, of the seas and stars and mountains and plains, of animals and
plants and birds and fish, of man and woman.
Out of nothing, no less!
All that we see and touch and smell and hear that’s good—God made it, from
scratch. Amazing!
*2.1 Yet by mystery and miracle, God was truly born into human flesh.*
*That**’**s the context of today**’**s hard question that hardly anybody is
asking: *
How can God—this God who is infinitely beyond all description or
explanation or comprehension—how can God take on human flesh . . . and why
would he do it?
*How?*
John, using the same words to begin his Gospel as did Moses, the writer of
Genesis, penned:
*“**In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word
was God**”** . . . and the Word created life and light and the totality of
creation: **“**and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, . . . full of
grace and truth**”** (John 1:1, 14).*
*2.2 **How? You know the story as well as I, and it**’**s just as much
mystery and miracle as all that has just been said.*
*It**’**s the story we just read, the story of a young girl named Mary,
chosen to be the human mother of this holy God, conceived in her by the
Holy Spirit.*
*And in a stable in Bethlehem, quietly and with a faithful man named Joseph
looking on, God did take on human flesh, and his name was Jesus. *
*How is this even possible?*
*Mystery and miracle. Thus, the birth of God!*
* 3.1 He did it because he loves us so much he would never give up on us.*
*The baby**’**s name gives response to why God took on human flesh. *
Jesus is a form of the same name as Joshua, both of which mean “Savior.”
*The first man and woman, made in God**’**s image, fell from holiness but
not from grace.*
*Ditto, the same goes for every created human being since that first free
fall into sin.*
*The world would never be the same as when first created; *
sin is powerful
sin is deadly
sin wreaks havoc upon all people.
*3.2 **The world needed a Savior. *
*But the qualifications were steep: *
the Savior had to be someone who was still holy, that is without sin.
But the Savior also had to be someone who would be able to endure the
consequences of sin—pain and suffering and death—and then snuff out its
power through the new life of resurrection.
*3.3 **Why did God take on human flesh?*
*Because he loves us enough to say: *
“I’ll never give up on them.”
“I’ll never leave them.”
“I, the Father, will send them my only Son, to be born among them and to
live among them and to save them from the curse of their sins.”
*So it was, on that night we call Christmas, **“**When Heaven Met Earth.**”*
*The Lord bless us as we ponder the questions of Advent, questions no one
seems to be asking. Amen. *
*Prayer*
Let us pray:
*His arm is strong; His strength is great.*
*He scatters those of proud intent*
*And casts them down from high estate, *
*Then gives the low His nourishment. *
*He feeds the hungry as His own; *
*The wealthy leave with empty hands.*
*He gives His help to Israel; *
*His gracious promise always stands.*
*Text: © 1978 Lutheran Book of Worship. Used by permission: LSB Hymn
License no. 110000247*
*The peace of God, which transcends all understanding, guard your hearts
and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.*
*In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.*