First Lutheran Church of Little Rock

EPIPHANY 3, JANUARY 22, 2023
Text: Isaiah 9:1–4
Theme: Alien invaders
Other Lessons: Psalm 27:1–9 (10–14); 1 Corinthians 1:10–18; Matthew 4:12–25

A. In the Name of the Father…Amen.
B. The Old Testament lesson serves as our sermon text for this morning.
C. Grace, mercy, and peace be yours from God our heavenly Father through
our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
D. Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, let us pray:
LSB 839:1 O Christ, Our True and Only Light
O Christ, our true and only light,
Enlighten those who sit in night;
Let those afar now hear Your voice
And in Your fold with us rejoice.
Text: Public domain
Introduction

A. The class was Russian History and the university professor stood up in
front of his class on the first day of the new semester and began to teach.
1. He started the class with something that wasn’t unique to Russia at all
but universally true.
2. The professor said, “Students, whenever you’re studying history, there
is at least one universal truth you have to remember.
3. That truth is this: Geography Matters.
4. Russia is, geographically speaking, the largest country in the world,
and it spans eleven time zones.
5. Any attempt to understand Russian history must account for its
geographic realities.”
6. And thus the class on Russian history began.
B. The university professor was right.
1. It is a universal truth that geography matters, and you don’t have to
look at the massive country of Russia to see it play out.
2. You can look at the much smaller country of Israel and observe the same
thing.
3. Geographically, Israel is roughly 780 times smaller than Russia, but its
geography is no less important.
C. When Isaiah speaks a prophetic word of liberty and hope in Isaiah
chapter 9, it’s a prophetic word that’s shaped by geography.
1. Specifically, Isaiah speaks of the land of Zebulun and the land of
Naphtali.
2. He says, “But there will be no gloom for her who was in anguish. In the
former time he brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of
Naphtali, but in the latter time he has made glorious the way of the sea,
the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations” (verse 1).
1. Geography—and Israel’s sins!—made Zebulun and Naphtali dark in the gloom
of alien invaders.
A. But what land, exactly, are we talking about?
B. We’re talking about a portion of the Promised Land—the land promised to
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
1. The story of how the Israelites came to possess this Promised Land is
told in the Book of Joshua.
2. After God delivered the Israelites from slavery in Egypt, he guided them
to the borders of the Promised Land by Moses’ hand.
3. After Moses died, Joshua was appointed the leader of Israel and led the
Israelites across the Jordan River and into the Promised Land and conquered
it.
4. The nitty-gritty, action-packed details of the conquest are found in
Joshua chapters 1–12.
5. But in Joshua chapter 13, the book’s rapid-paced storytelling gives way
to some of the more sleep-inducing passages in Scripture as each of the
twelve tribes of Israel is allotted its portion of the land.
6. Zebulun is one of those tribes, as is Naphtali, and they were allotted
neighboring lands in the northern part of Israel.
7. Think of Zebulun and Naphtali like Minnesota and Wisconsin.
8. They’re both in the north and they share a border.
C. Zebulun and Naphtali are beautiful and fertile areas, but their location
in the northern part of Israel makes them vulnerable to alien invaders.
1. The invaders I am speaking of ones from another country.
2. A foreign country coming along with their conquering armies carrying out
military incursions.
3. For you see, when foreign countries invade the land of Israel, they
almost always come from the north because that’s the easiest way to get
into Israel.
4. The Sea of Galilee and the Jordan River which flows south from it form a
natural barrier along Israel’s eastern edge.
5. The Mediterranean Sea forms a natural barrier to the west.
6. Thus, foreign invaders who are looking to go south to Jerusalem or even
to Egypt are funneled first through the land of Zebulun and Naphtali.
7. You see? Geography does matter!
8. Thanks to the geography of Israel, the tribal lands of Zebulun and
Naphtali are perpetually on the front lines of war and bloodshed.
D. In fact, at the time of Isaiah’s prophecy, foreign invaders known as the
Assyrians are in the process of conquering Zebulun and Naphtali.
1. Within a few years, the entire Northern Kingdom of Israel will be
completely overthrown.
2. The people of Israel (Northern Kingdom) will be taken away into
captivity.
3. The remaining Southern Kingdom of Judah will be brought to its knees
before God’s miraculous intervention.
E. Zebulun and Naphtali then are rightly identified by Isaiah as a land
upon which the Lord brought contempt.
1. They were a constantly conquered people.
2. They were a people that were burdened, beaten, and battered.
3. They were a land of darkness and shadow.
4. They were in such a bad spot that just a few verses earlier Isaiah
called them a land with “no dawn” that suffers “the gloom of anguish”
(Isaiah 8:20, 22).
F. And remember, God had brought these alien invaders upon the land only
because Israel had abandoned him, fallen into idolatry and all kinds of
sin.
1. So Zebulun and Naphtali were a land of contempt filled with people who
sit and walk and dwell in the darkness of deeds deemed damning by God.
2. But a different kind of alien invader, Jesus Christ, would be the great
light to bring them glory.
A. It is to these hopeless people that Isaiah speaks a word of hope.
1. Isaiah speaks of a stunning reversal of fortunes.
2. God intends to make this “land of contempt” glorious.
3. But how?
4. How will this land go from contemptuous to glorious?
5. The change has to come from entirely outside them.
6. That is, something foreign, something alien.
7. God will bring upon them another alien invader.
B. Except this time it isn’t a nation that will infiltrate the land of
Zebulun and Naphtali.
1. This time it will be just one man.
2. And he doesn’t come to them from out of the north like all the other
alien invaders.
3. This man comes from heaven itself.
4. This man is God’s eternal Son, Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.
C. This is a different kind of alien invasion.
1. Jesus takes no hostages,
2. he plunders no grain,
3. he exacts no taxes,
4. and he sheds no blood except his own.
5. Instead, Jesus teaches, and he preaches in Matthew 4:17,
A. “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
D. It is this man—and the good news on his lips—who is a great light upon
this land of darkness, because the Lord isn’t interested in holding this
land in contempt.
1. He isn’t looking to extract from Zebulun and Naphtali their greatest
resources.
2. He’s looking to redeem their greatest resource— namely, the people
themselves.
E. The more Jesus preaches, the more Jesus teaches, the more Jesus serves,
the brighter the light shines.
1. In our Gospel lesson for this morning, Matthew says,
A. “So [Jesus’] fame spread throughout all Syria, and they brought him all
the sick, those afflicted with various diseases and pains, those oppressed
by demons, those having seizures, and paralytics, and he healed them”
(Matthew 4:24).
B. People are flowing into Zebulun and Naphtali, not to conquer them but to
be rescued by one in the midst of them.
F. As the light of Jesus Christ increases, the true source of darkness is
exposed.
1. The greatest threat to the people of Zebulun and Naphtali was never
alien invaders from the north.
2. The greatest threat to the people of Zebulun and Naphtali isn’t alien to
them at all.
3. The greatest threat to the people of Zebulun and Naphtali is:
A. their own sin,
B. the specter of death,
C. and the schemes of the devil.
4. These are the things that held Zebulun and Naphtali in perpetual
darkness.
5. These were the real forces of oppression in their lives.
6. And these are the oppressors from whom Jesus will rescue them.
3. The same light, entirely alien, from outside of us, Jesus, invades your
life.
A. Jesus, like any alien invader, makes a claim upon this people.
1. He’s claiming to be their Lord, and he’s directing them to acknowledge
his Father as King.
2. But they will not be won over by oppression, because his is a kingdom of
freedom.
3. They will not be won over by threats, because his is a kingdom of grace.
4. They will not be won over by extortion, because his is a kingdom of
gifts.
5. They will not be won over by fear, because his is a kingdom of love.
B. And it is God’s love that will break the yoke of their burden.
1. It is God’s love that will break the rod of their oppressor.
2. It is God’s love that will drive Jesus south out of Zebulun and Naphtali
to the city of Jerusalem in order to die on the cross.
3. And when Jesus dies on the cross, Zebulun and Naphtali will experience
darkness and gloom once more, as darkness covers the whole land when Jesus
dies for them.
C. But the darkness doesn’t linger.
1. It disappears.
2. And in three days’ time, it will give way forever to the resurrected Son
of God.
3. So now the light that first shone in Galilee among the people of Zebulun
and Naphtali is invading the world.
D. You and I don’t share the geographical particulars with Zebulun and
Naphtali.
1. The darkness that engulfed Zebulun and Naphtali doesn’t care about
geography, because it isn’t an alien darkness.
2. Our darkness is a local, homegrown darkness.
3. Our darkness, like their darkness, is that of our own sinful flesh.
E. Illustration: The deep darkness of sin.
1. We are quite simply “in the dark.”
A. Our sinful condition is far more critical than being without physical
light.
B. It cannot be penetrated by spotlights or laser beams.
C. It is the darkness that Jesus describes when He says:
1. Matthew 6:23 “If then the light within you is darkness, how great is
that darkness!”
2. The only fitting comparison to our sinful condition is what astronomers
have called a “black hole.”
A. Their theory (and science has proven this to be true) is this:
1. Deep in space there are collapsed stars so dense and with such strong
gravitational pull that they literally swallow up everything:
A. Planets
B. Moons
C. Stars
B. They all disappear into this dark abyss, that even light cannot escape.
C. Such a “black hole” is right here, as the Lord says, within each one of
us.
1. It is the black hole of our sin.
2. It is the darkness of death itself.
3. Pointing to the heart of our problem, the psalmist cries out:
A. Psalm 107:10-11
(10) Some sat in darkness and in the shadow of death, prisoners in
affliction and in irons,
(11) for they had rebelled against the words of God, and spurned the
counsel of the Most High.
F. For that darkness, Isaiah tells us all to look to Zebulun and Naphtali
for hope, because there a great light has shone.
1. This light is Jesus Christ and his ministry, and it is a ministry for
all people of all times and all geographical places.
2. This light is for you.
3. It invades your life.
4. The salvation first seen in Galilee is now coming for you.
5. Indeed, it’s already here.
6. Jesus Christ is here, for you.
7. He expels your darkness.
8. He forgives your sins.
9. He casts out the devil.
10. He promises to raise the dead,
11. He does all the with the effect of increased joy.
G. Jesus Christ is the alien invasion we all need.
1. It’s a glorious invasion of grace.
2. Totally alien.
3. Totally from the outside.
H. In the Person of Jesus, God’s Salvation Comes from Outside of Us.
Conclusion

A. There is a darkness that has nothing to do with the absence of light
particles.
1. Rodney could tell you about such darkness.
2. He was wearing a yellow gown, an N95 face mask, and a face shield.
3. He was holding the hand of his younger brother Warren (sixty years old),
who had Down syndrome and was dying of COVID-19.
4. Though neither attended church, Warren would occasionally listen to the
Lutheran Church radio broadcast in town.
5. Thus the Lutheran pastor was called to help them in their darkness.
B. The pastor arrived in a hurry.
1. It was a Wednesday night, and there was much still to do.
2. The pastor talked with them about Baptism.
3. Warren hadn’t been baptized.
4. After reading passages that testify to God’s promises of grace and life
in Baptism, he baptized Warren in the hospital bed.
5. A quick prayer was said and the pastor turned to leave.
6. As the pastor reached the door, Rodney spoke up, asking. “Pastor, do you
have time to baptize me too?”
7. The pastor happily obliged.
C. The light of Christ invaded that dark room on that dark, cold Wednesday
night (Isaiah 9:1–2).
1. Three days later, the pastor gave Warren a Christian burial, in the
certain hope of God, who raises the dead.
D. Jesus Christ is the alien invasion we all need.
1. It’s a glorious invasion of grace.
2. Totally alien.
3. Totally from outside.
E. In the Person of Jesus, God’s Salvation Comes from Outside of Us.
F. To him be praise now and forever. Amen.
G. Let us pray:
LSB 849:1 Praise the One Who Breaks the Darkness
Let us praise the Word Incarnate,
Christ, who suffered in our place.
Jesus died and rose victorious
That we may know God by grace.
Let us sing for joy and gladness,
Seeing what our God has done;
Let us praise the true Redeemer,
Praise the One who makes us one.
Text: © 1987 Hope Publishing Co. Used by permission: LSB Hymn License no.
110000247
H. The peace of God, which transcends all understanding, guard your hearts
and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
I. In the Name of the Father…Amen.

EPIPHANY 2, JANUARY 15, 2023 Text: John 1:29–42a Theme: A most important
question Other Lessons: Isaiah 49:1–7; Psalm 40:1–11; 1 Corinthians 1:1–9
A. In the Name of the Father…Amen. B. The Gospel lesson serves as our
sermon text for this morning. C. Grace, mercy, and peace be yours from God
our heavenly Father through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. D. Dear
brothers and sisters in Christ, let us pray: LSB 527:1 O Savior, Precious
Savior O Savior, precious Savior, Whom yet unseen we love; O name of might
and favor, All other names above, We worship Thee, we bless Thee, To Thee,
O Christ, we sing; We praise Thee and confess Thee, Our holy Lord and King.
Amen. Text: Public domain Introduction A. It’s difficult to determine which
of these two questions of Christ is the more important: 1. “What are you
seeking?” or 2. “Who do you say I am?” 3. The first comes early in Jesus’
earthly ministry and the second in the midst of his ministry. 4. One is
spoken to two who would then begin to follow him, and the other is spoken
to his disciples following years of discipleship. 5. One seems to be
applicable to life in general and the other to saving faith in particular.
6. Both are significant questions to be answered by every follower of
Christ. B. Today’s text draws our attention to the importance of Christ’s
first question, the one addressed to his would-be disciples: 1. “What Are
You Seeking?” C. The would-be disciples to whom Jesus directs this question
are actually already disciples of John the Baptist. 1. John’s original
crowds of hearers were certainly seeking something. A. By this point,
John’s call for repentance and Baptism had gathered a large following. 1.
John was all the buzz. A. He had devoted disciples hanging on his every
word. B. His message had struck a nerve. C. Hundreds, perhaps thousands,
were hearing his preaching and confessing their sins. 2. He was
accomplishing his mission: A. people were eager for the Savior! B. Many
were even asking whether John himself might be that Messiah. B. Then one
day, John turned every head away from himself and declared, “Behold, the
Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (verse 29). 1. There’s
the one whom you should follow: Jesus (verses 30–34). A. At Jesus’ Baptism,
the Holy Spirit as a dove had descended on Jesus as the signal to John. B.
Jesus would be much greater than John, for he was “before” John even though
he was the younger cousin. C. Announcing Jesus to be the Messiah was the
whole purpose of John’s ministry. 2. It was time! A. Jesus must increase.
B. John must decrease. Two of John’s disciples therefore leave John to
follow Jesus (verses 35–37). 3. One of them was Andrew; A. the other may
well have been the Gospel writer John himself. 4. This was entirely
appropriate, just as the Baptist intended. C. Faithful Jews had long been
seeking the Messiah for a very long time. 1. They were seeking a messiah
who: A. Would bring freedom from the oppressive Romans. B. Would restore
Jerusalem and Jewish power back to the Jews. C. Would heal sicknesses,
which were signs of God’s judgment. 2. They were seeking the Messiah all
right, A. They just did not know what kind of messiah they were looking
for. 3. Therefore the question must be asked: A. “What are you seeking?” 2.
In fact, all of humanity are seeking something— they just don’t know what.
A. Since most people don’t know what they’re really seeking, their best
worst guess is to seek it in four areas: 1. Power A. with power I can have
anything I want. B. If I have to step on people to get what I want, so be
it! 2. Wealth A. money, too, can buy almost anything, certainly plenty of
nice things I can name. B. Money can buy me love! 3. Knowledge A. it isn’t
just for knowledge’s sake, but to impress others, control others, solve the
world’s problems and my own. B. Look at how smart and enlightened I am! 4.
Popularity A. I like people to like me . . . B. and I like what certain
people can give me if they like me. C. It’s all about making and keeping
people happy! D. Therefore I must be a people pleaser! 5. But all of these
lead to a living death. B. Without knowing it, what most people are really
seeking is deliverance from sin and all its effects: 1. Seeking a sense of
identity A. sin confuses me as to my relationships with others and where I
fit into the big picture. 1. I am the center of the universe! 2. Seeking a
sense of security A. sin means I’m going to get sick, B. lose my vitality,
C. perhaps even lose my nest egg. D. Therefore: 1. I need to stay healthy
2. I need to amass as much wealth as possible E. But, finally, I’m going to
die. 3. Seeking meaning and purpose A. Since I’m going to die, what can
really come of anything I do? 1. Perhaps it’s best that I “eat, drink, and
be merry, for tomorrow I may die!” 3. What we’re really seeking, God
provides in the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. A. God
calls us to repent of all those “best worst guesses”—which are really false
gods. 1. Power, A. The lust for power demands one get more power. 2. Wealth
A. The desire for wealth means I need to have more of it. B. I will also
need to safeguard my wealth. 3. Knowledge A. Knowledge is power! B. For who
doesn’t like a smart person? 4. Popularity. A. How can I be noticed unless
I am the most popular? B. Or as it was said during our college days: BMOC
(Big Man On Campus) 5. Confessing these to be false gods, sins against God
and one another, we realize that what we really seek is the One who can
take away sins. B. If we’re clear on what we’re seeking, we’ll see that
those two disciples are headed in the right direction (verses 38–39). Jesus
the Christ is the Anointed One of God bringing reconciliation with the
Father. Through his obedience, passion, death, and resurrection, he: 1.
Restores our identity as redeemed children of God A. with sin that
alienated me from God and others forgiven, B. I belong to him, which also
means I belong with others who are his. 2. Restores our security A. having
reconciled me to himself by removing my sin, B. God holds me securely,
while I live and when I die, whatever else may be uncertain. 3. Restores
our meaning and purpose A. since now death isn’t the end, my labors for
God’s kingdom have lasting, eternal value. C. Like Andrew, we go to tell
others of the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! (verses
40–42). 1. Bringing others also to know forgiveness and everlasting life A.
Therein is our purpose! B. Therein lies, dear brothers and sisters in
Christ, eternal value! Conclusion A. It was not that long ago that
congregations were offering “seeker services” in addition to their regular
or traditional services. 1. The thinking was that those who do not know
Christ can be attracted to a god that offers answers to their temporal
needs A. financial security, B. lasting relationships, C. and so on. B. In
reality, all Christian worship is a seeker service. 1. Our seeking in
worship is characterized by an attitude stated by the prophet Jeremiah: A.
“You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart”
(Jeremiah 29:13). 2. This attitude finds its source in our thirst for God
as expressed in Psalm 63: A. “O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you;
my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary
land where there is no water” (Psalm 63:1). 3. This seeking is commanded by
Christ in his words recorded in Luke 12: A. “Seek his kingdom, and these
things will be added to you” (Luke 12:31). 4. And seeking is motivated by
Jesus’ promise in Luke 11: A. “And I tell you, ask, and it will be given to
you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For
everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who
knocks it will be opened” (Luke 11:9–10). C. “What are you seeking?” Jesus
asked the two disciples of John who were following him (John 1:38). 1. And,
of course, the “what” is really a “who.” 2. May all of our worship be
seeker services! D. What are you seeking from Jesus? 1. Is deliverance from
all the effects of sin that which you seek? A. If it is, then that second
important question has become the one needs to be answered next. B. We need
the One who takes away our sin, the sin that causes the world and everyone
affected by it with so much suffering. C. But John has already answered
that question in our text, too, hasn’t he?! D. “Who do you say that I am?”
Jesus will later ask his disciples. E. And John answered: 1. Jesus is the
Lamb of God, who does exactly what we need. 2. He takes away the sin of the
world. Amen. E. Let us pray: LSB 512:7 At the Name of Jesus Glory then to
Jesus, Who, the Prince of light, To a world in darkness Brought the gift of
sight; Praise to God the Father; In the Spirit’s love Praise we all
together Him who reigns above. Amen. Text: Public domain F. The peace of
God, which transcends all understanding, guard your hearts and minds in
Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen. G. In the Name of the Father…Amen.