For the 2nd Sunday after Christmas in Series B, the three assigned readings are 1 Kings 3:4-15; Ephesians 1:3-14 and Luke 2:40-52. Chosen to preach on is the 6th verse of chapter 3 of 1 Kings, “And Solomon said, ‘You have shown great mercy to your servant David my father, because he walked before You in truth, in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart with you…”

How else can this verse be interpreted except to conclude that because of David’s walking in truth, righteousness and uprightness, God showed great mercy to him? The goal of the sermon, then, would be to motivate the congregation to walk in a similar way so that they also might receive the mercy of God. But does that even make sense?

God would not be showing mercy to David if he walked in truth and righteousness. Mercy is not giving what a person deserves. How is God merciful to one who is already doing what God expects? In fact, is not such an interpretation completely contrary to the theme of the Bible that God shows mercy to those who are sinners; not to those who are righteous?

Every other religion in the world would agree with such a legalistic interpretation because every man-made religion is based on our works as that which persuades God to save us. But Christianity is totally different. God declares the ungodly to be godly while they remain ungodly! But then how does that agree with Solomon’s words about his father David?

First of all, after the Bathsheba incident, who would conclude that David had the reputation of walking in truth, righteousness and uprightness of heart? No David was a sinner who himself confessed that only by God being merciful to him by creating a clean heart and right spirit could David ever be considered as righteous.

Which is precisely the point. It is not that God was merciful to David because David was so righteous. No, rather David is regarded by God as righteous because God is merciful to him. To put it plainly, it is not David’s uprightness of heart that moves God to be merciful to him; instead, it is God’s mercy that declares David to be walking in truth, righteousness and uprightness. How doea that work?

What God does is first to create faith in those who were sinners deserving nothing but temporal and eternal punishment. Through that faith, believers now cling to the promises of the Messiah/Christ to take away the punishment of their sins. (See Psalm 23) God then accounts such faith as righteousness and uprightness because one’s sins are forgiven and one is wearing the robe of Christ’s righteousness.

The mercy of God consists in His not holding us accountable for our sins while the grace of God consists in His providing us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. (see Ephesians 1:3) In fact, verse 4 of Ephesians 1 reveals that God chose believers in Him before the foundation of the world and imputed to us that righteousness and uprightness of the Messiah that we should be holy and without blame in His sight.

So rather than interpreting these verses as every other religion living under the Law does, Christians recognize that their righteousness before God is only because He is merciful and gracious to us. We indeed, through faith in Jesus, live under the Gospel promises of being in the kingdom of God even while we are here on earth.

For the first Sunday after Christmas in Series B, the three assigned readings are Isaiah 61:10-62:3; Galatians 4:4-7 and Luke 2:22-40. The sermon text is Galatians 4:4-5, “But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.”

While there are many ways to distinguish between Law and Gospel, my favorite is the two columns entitled, “Living Under the Law” and “Living Under the Gospel.” The primary passage for this concept is Romans 6:14 which reads, “For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.” These distinctions are different than those between the proper three uses of Law (curb, mirror and rule) and the Gospel.

Instead, “living under the Law” interprets one’s progress in life on the basis of one’s works. While there is some truth in that in regard to the temporal realm, it is not at all true in regard to the spiritual realm where one needs to get right with God. To live under the Law is to live with the assumption that your works make a difference as to whether you go to heaven or hell.

Another way of distinguishing these two views of reality is to speak of living under the law as salvation by works which we merit through effort while living under the Gospel is salvation by grace which we inherit through faith. Being “born under the Law” therefore means that the curse of the Law faces every human being which says, “In the day that you sin, death is the result.”

Jesus took upon Himself that curse to redeem those of us who were already under the curse. What He did on the cross was to complete the work of forgiving our sins which means that we are no longer held accountable for sins of thought, word and deed. Jesus took that punishment upon Himself with the words, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”

The result according to the Galatians reading is that we are no longer a slave to the curse of the Law but a son of God through Christ. That occured not through our works as we gain entrance to the family of God but by grace through faith as we enter into the family of God by adoption.

The 4th Sunday in Advent provides the following three readings: 2 Samuel 7:1-11, 16; Romans 16:25-27 and Luke 1:26-38. The verse chosen as the sermon text is Romans 16:25, “Now to Him who is able to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ…”

There are three primary comings of Christ the Church celebrates during the Advent season. The first, of course, is His coming in the Bethlehem stable and the last is His coming on the Day of Judgment. But the second coming refers to His coming into the hearts of human beings on the day of their conversion. Most Christians would agree that such an act of conversion is the work of the Holy Spirit who gets all the credit.

However, not so unanimous in their opinion is how one remains in the faith. It is not unheard of that much responsibility is given to the saved individual to make sure that he remains in the faith. But God is Creator; we are creature. In heaven all Christians will answer with once voice as to who gets all the credit for our salvation. Answer: The Holy Trinity!

Thus, even our life of sanctification is credited to God and Him alone. That is why the text makes it clear that God establishes you according to both the gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ. Such preaching is a proclamation of the Word that goes way beyond transmitting biblical information. For it is not information but a transformation that saves.

Such salvation, as far as we humans known, comes through the Gospel, not the Law, and the preaching of Jesus Christ. And the Gospel is not a recounting of the history as revealed in the Bible. That is, one can believe that Jesus was born, died and rose from the dead and still go to hell. For the devils and the unbelieving Pharisees believed that.

What saves is the Gospel promises connected to the historial events of His birth, crucifixion and resurrection. Those promises always contain a “for you” element that the Holy Spirit takes not only to create faith but also to sustain such faith. Because sanctification involves proper motivation, one cannot “preach” sanctification in the sense of giving information to the hearer as to how to become more sanctified.

Rather, becoming more sanctified; that is, becoming established in the faith, takes place not by speaking of sanctification but by proclaiming the Gospel benefits of the passion of Jesus Christ which began with His birth. Once the Gospel promises are heard and believed, the works of sanctification develop spontaneously without effort on our part for they are indeed fruit of the Holy Spirit.

What better New Year’s resolution can a congregation make than to insure the establishment of faith in its midst by a proper liturgy and preaching that provides all the Gospel and sacraments necessary for the work of the Holy Spirit to prevail. Take away the pure Word and proper sacraments, and you have taken away the reason for the season.

For the 3rd Sunday in Advent in Series B of the 3-year lectionary the 3 readings are Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11; 1 Thessalonians 5:16-24 and John 1:6-8, 19-28. Chosen as the sermon passage is Isaiah 61:10, “I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for He has clothed me with the garments of salvation; He has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.”

If you were to ask most Christians what is the benefit we receive because of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ they would certainly answer with the “forgiveness of sins.” Yet that is only 1/2 of the primary benefit Jesus won for you. For there are two obstacles to our relationship with Almighty God since the fall of human beings into sin.

The first is the sins we commit. For that the forgiveness of sins is valid and proper. But what do you do with an individual who is aware of the many good works he is unable to perform as God demands? While the first reason for separation from God can be referred to as sins of commission, the second reason is referred to as sins of omission.

The faithful pastor, along with any Christian, will first listen to the attitude of the individual to arrive at a decision whether the broken relationship is due to an active sin of thought, word or deed or the inability to do a good work. For the former problem, the Good News is the forgiveness of sins. But for the latter problem, the Good News is Isaiah’s words of being clothed with the robe of righteousness.

That robe was given during the glorious exchange in baptism when we gave to Jesus our sins and He gave to us His righteousness. Not His intrinsic righteousness of being divine but those many good works He did while on earth. Those are transferred to us who, of course, do not deserve that robe anymore than we deserved the forgiveness of sins.

Law and Gospel distinctions first diagnose the condition of which kind of sin the person worries about. Then comes the treatment of the proper antidote of either forgivness for sins of commission or the robe of righteousness for sins of omission. In this way, the second 1/2 of the works of Jesus Christ are made available so that from God’s point of view, the believer is regarded not just as 100% sinner but also as 100% saint by grace, through faith on account of Jesus Christ!

The second Sunday in Advent for Series B has the following three readings: Isaiah 40:1-11; 2 Peter 3:8-14 and Mark 1:1-8. The chosen text is Isaiah 40:2, “Speak comfort to Jerusalem, and cry out to her, that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned…”

The word for this week is “pardoned.” While it is a synonym for “forgiven” it provides a better insight into God’s good news than what most Christians understand by just the word “forgiven.” What is of first interest is that God is not speaking directly to His people but through the prophet Isaiah. God is a God of means and remains so today in speaking through pastors and teachers who are faithful in repeating back to the people of God what God has revealed in His holy Word.

How many funerals are there in which the only “good news” is a eulogy spoken by one or more of the relatives or friends. It may be that the person in the coffin was a nice man or woman but so often eulogies only work to bring comfort if people did not know the individual intimately. For an intimate knowledge of any person means you realize that no matter how nice, he or she still was a sinner deserving nothing but temporal and eternal punishment.

The GOOD NEWS as distinct from the eulogized good news is that God really has pardoned His people. But note well that being pardoned does not mean that you are not guilty. President Bush pardoned a farmer for killing bald eagles because he had poisoned certain animals that the bald eagles ate. While it was not his intention to kill the birds, he still broke the law and the pardon did not remove his guilt. What it removed was his punishment!

So also with the true God. The pardon or forgiveness He provides at no cost is not a removal of our sinful nature nor our guilt but a “get out of jail free” card. How can a just God do that? Because He took it upon Himself to pay the price of the curse of the Law at the cross with the words, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” Answer? “Because you have on your shoulders the sins of the whole world.”

People are prepared for this pardon not by doing good works, thoughts or words but by confessing that they are sinners in need of a Savior. That is the work of the John the Baptists in our day so that the Good News of the Messiah is received by grace, through faith on account of Jesus Christ. Believers in Christ are ungodly people whom God has pardoned (forgiven) for their sins while they remain ungodly and guilty for such sins. No other religion in the world comes even close to that Good News as revealed in the Christian faith.