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For the third Sunday in Epiphany (Series C readings), the three assigned passages are Nehemiah 8:1-3, 5-6, 8-10; 1 Corinthians 12:13-31a and Luke 4:16-30. Chosen for the sermon text is Luke 4:21, “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”

What has Jesus being rejected in Nazareth have to do with hearers of this event today? The purpose of every sermon is to get people to think as God does. God’s plan is that every passage of Scripture is to be used to move people to believe in Jesus Christ as Lord and therefore freely receive spiritual life. This reading is chosen as part of the season of Epiphany so somehow it manifests and discloses the true nature of Jesus Christ. After Jesus quotes from Isaiah 61, He concludes that what Isaiah is speaking of is finally fulfilled today.

What Jesus quotes is the passage about the One Who has come to preach the gospel to the poor, heal the brokenhearted, free the captives and so on. The first response of the people is to marvel at the gracious words He used in explaining the text. What gracious words? Once more we need to get into the shoes of the Palestinian hearers who had been taught by Judaism that you earned God’s grace by following the Law and particularly the ceremonial law. Whatever Jesus said, it must have been in line with the rest of the Gospel promises that Isaiah is talking about a salvation that is freely given by God Himself.

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Reading chapters 60 and 61 of Isaiah will quickly reveal that the Savior Who is coming is God Himself. By Jesus proclaiming that this passage is fulfilled today, He is revealing and manifesting Himself not only as the promised Messiah but as God Himself. It is most ironic that though He will not do a miracle as He did in Capernaum, He ends up doing a miracle by simply “passing through the midst of them” (verse 30) when they attempt to “throw Him down over the cliff.”

Part of the gracious revelation that Jesus does speak of is how the Gentiles (those in the town of Capernaum, the widow of Zarephath and Naaman the Syrian) are also incorporated into this new kingdom which the Messiah is ushering in. This is radical theology and must have been shocking to those listening to His sermon. For such gracious words had rarely been taught in the way that Jesus explains them. To become a child of God through no effort of your own and without any contribution to the process was totally out of sync with the teachings of the new religion called Judaism. (For more info on Judaism, check elsewhere on this blog by using the “Search” mechanism above.)

The application of this message is that the gracious words spoken by Jesus to His own hometown folks are also addressed to us today. We, who are accused by the Law of attempting to get right with God by our church attendance, offerings and good works need also to be condemned for such manipulation of God. For those outside the faith, there will be anger directed toward Jesus even today that our own works, words and thoughts have no bearing as to whether or not we are saved. Instead, the Holy Spirit takes the same words spoken by the Word Himself and creates a new heart and new spirit.

We therefore rely (trust) on the gracious promsies of the Gospel to be saved rather than the efforts we attempt to do in order to get reconciled with God. Because of the death and resurrection of Jesus, the God/Man, God is already reconciled to the whole world. Through the preaching of the pure Word of God and the proper administration of the holy sacraments, man becomes reconciled to God. Now that is a gracious message to a world burdened as it is today in so many ways.

In Series C, the three readings for the 2nd Sunday after the Epiphany, are Isaiah 62:1-5; 1 Corinthians 12:1-11 and John 2:1-11. Chosen to analyze this coming Sunday is John 2:11, “This beginning of signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and manifested His glory, and His disciples believed in Him.”

This true event of Jesus changing 180 gallons of water into the best wine is a great example of how the true purpose of this passage can get lost in trying to figure out certain questions of doctrine. This passage has been used to argue whether God permits us to drink wine or only grape juice, whether or not Mary is sinless and how this passage shows why we should pray to her and also a principle of life that one should give out the bad first and then later give out the best. Ridiculous. While these themes can be discussed on the basis of other passages, none of these themes are why the Holy Spirit inspired John to remember this event among all the other events that could not be contained in all the books of the world (John 21:25).

What then is the purpose of this passage? Part of the answer is that it is a primary text used for Epiphany. Epiphany reminds us of God’s way of revealing and disclosing the Person and Work of Jesus. Last week’s Baptism of our Lord was that He is seen as the Son of God. This week’s emphasis is Jesus as manifesting His glory which is the glory of God Himself. Jesus is more than the Son of Man; He is more than the promised Messiah; He is more than Savior; He is indeed God Himself!

One way to bring in a Law and Gospel theme would be to accuse the hearers of not believing how God uses the plain things of this world to accomplish the impossible. For example, this event demonstrates how Jesus as God changed simple water into wine which from a physics point of view takes the energy of an atomic bomb. But this is the same One Who raised a dead Lazarus simply by speaking a word. For the comfort of the hearers, this is also the One Who through the power of the Holy Spirit takes simple water and creates a new heart and new spirit within an infant.

Baptism, therefore is not only an important theme for the Baptism of our Lord, but it is also a significant theme in regard to Jesus’ use of water to make wine. It is of some interest that the rabbis in Jesus’ day conjectured that the fruit Eve and Adam ate was that of the fruit of the grape. How interesting is that the fruit which was traditionally part of the Fall of human beings into sin is also the fruit of Jesus’ first miracle as He begins to usher in the Kingdom of God.

Every passage of Scripture according to John himself is to “believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name.” That is not the subject of just interpretation using the principle of Scripture interprets Scripture, but also the subject of application which takes place through the distinctions of Law and Gospel. During this entire Epiphany season, the goal of every Bible study and sermon should be to give glory to Jesus because He Himself is God indeed!

For the Baptism of our Lord festival in Series C of readings, the three passages are Isaiah 43:1-7; Romans 6:1-11 and Luke 3:15-22. The text to prepare for a sermon will be Isaiah 43:3, “For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior; I gave Egypt for your ransom, Ethiopia and Seba in your place.

The word Epiphany in the Greek language means a manifestation or appearance. The Church uses the term to refer as to how the holy Scriptures manifest Jesus the man from Nazareth. While the date could be January 6 or January 19 depending on the calendar system used, it primarily focuses on the coming of the Wise Men to the baby Jesus some time after the family left the stable and now resided in a home. The significant item mentioned in that visit is that the Wise Men worshipped the Child. This demonstrates their understanding that He was indeed God Himself.

While for many Christians who have heard the Biblical accounts of Jesus again and again, we often assume that the Old Testament made it clear that the Messiah would be God Himself. But that certainly was not obvious to the majority of Jews living at the time of Jesus. Indeed, the Messiah would be the promised Son of Man but that he would be God Himself was not taught. It is a fact that once we read the New Testament, we now interpret the Old Testament books with new eyeglasses and see passages that are indeed read as the promised Messiah would be God Himself.

If interested in a longer presentation of the Epiphany appearances of Jesus go to www.lawgospel.com and click on Radio to hear our explanation of the Epiphany of Jesus on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday’s broadcasts.

One such passage is in today’s readings from Isaiah 43. Verse 1 is God the LORD revealing that He created Jacob and formed Israel. Verse 3 even reveals that “I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.” There is nowhere in the Old Testament that God reassigns the task of being Savior to either a created angel or created human being. No, God Himself is our Savior. Thus, when Jesus is born, the Church refers to it as the incarnation of the Son of God. John the Baptizer himself speaks of Jesus as the One in Whose hand is the winnowing fan and that He will burn the chaff with unquenchable fire (Luke 3:17). When one looks up this reference in Isaiah and Jeremiah, it is clear that God is the One Who does this work.

The goal of this sermon would be to concentrate on the Epiphany or appearing of Jesus not only as the Son of Man as promised; not only as the Messiah as promised, but specifically as God Himself becoming incarnate to fulfill His promises of salvation that He made through the prophets. 1 Corinthians, chapter 3 makes clear that those of us living in the times of the New Testament are learning about God in a way that was not clear to those who came before us. The Corinthians’ passage makes specific note of the Gentiles also being part of God’s holy people without any distinction between Jew and Gentile.

But among the greatest of revelation and insight made clearly known to New Testament believers, is that the Messiah is none other than God Himself. This is a most comforting revelation because it means we can pray to the man Jesus because He is also God and in His humanity is omnipresent, all knowing and all merciful and gracious. He indeed is the proper mediator between God and man because He is both God and man. Christians today need to be aware of how radical was such a notion to many of the Jews at the time of Jesus that the Messiah was more than a super Son of Man–He was and is God Himself!

For a fuller examination of the Epiphany appearances of Jesus as God, go to www.lawgospel.com and click the Radio button to hear the Monday through Wednesday broadcasts of Law and Gospel.

On the 2nd Sunday after Christmas the three Series C readings are 1 Kings 3:4-15; Ephesians 1:3-14 and Luke 2:40-52. The passage chosen to interpret and apply is Ephesians 1:5, “having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will.”

There is no greater unanswered question of all Christianity than, “Why some and not others?” Those who attempt to answer it will always fall into false doctrine. About the closest the Bible comes to answering that question is found in verse 5, “according to the good pleasure of His will.” While this is an answer it still does not satisfy the human’s desire to be in control of our destiny.

Of more importance is the analogy of what salvation really is. In every other religion of the world which has a personal god, salvation is up to us in meeting the divine demands for the purpose of meriting our becoming saved. However, in Christianity, there is no road or path of self-glory to reach such a destination. For our salvation is impossible to achieve if it means either doing works of perfection or making up for our sins.

The analogy God prefers for our salvation is ” adoption.” What does a baby do to get adoopted? Nothing. What does a child do to stay adopted? Nothing. Only Christiainity denounces our works as a means of salvation to make it clear that we are saved by grace. Grace means we do not deserve salvation. And that takes place because of a merciful God Who will not hold us accountable for our sins because of what His only-begotten Son Jesus Christ did on the cross and from the empty grave.

Why are some saved and others are not? We not only do not know but need not to know or else God would have revealed the answer in His holy Word. Instead, we know that those who are saved are saved through hearing that Word and receiving those holy sacraments which the Holy Spirit uses to create and sustain faith, salvation and our adoption as children of God!

For the first Sunday after Christiams in Series C, the three assigned readings are Exodus 13:1-3a, 11-15; Colossians 3:12-17 and Luke 2:22-40. We examine Colossians 3:17, “And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”

We are faced with the impossible. Not only are we to do good works, we are to do them in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Of what is Paul speaking? In all other religions of the world, a good work is all that is necessary to placate an angry god. But a perfect work from God’s point of view is not achieved by outward obedience but also by inward motivation.

How are we then able to be motivated by our love of Jesus Christ in all that we do? Motivating oneself properly is as difficult to do as to make a resolve to be humble. Being humbled is not due to a decision we make but rather because of some outside force that makes us humble. So also, to be thankful in all that we do takes something outside of us.

That outside strength is found in both verses 15 and 16. Verse 15 encourages us to “let the peace of God rule in our hearts” and verse 16 encourages that the “word of Christ dwell in you richly.” To make it clear, these verses reveal that our proper motivation has again found its source in the Holy Spirit. In fact, looking at the entire passage one realizes that we are the elect of God Who has provided us with tender mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering and so forth.

The Christian life is not one in which we create within ourselves the proper attitudes and gifts but rather that we do not hinder the work of the Holy Spirit wihtin us. To put it another way, the life of sanctification is one that takes place spontaneously as the benefits of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ come to us by grace through faith.

For the 4th Sunday in Advent, Series C readings, the three passages are Deuteronomy 18:15-19; Philippians 4:4-7 and John 1:19-28. Chosen as the text to proclaim is Philippians 4:6, “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.”

It’s one thing that we are not to be anxious about anything but we are also to be thankful? Not only that but two verses previous to that is we are to be rejoicing in the Lord always! But what if our lives are not filled with that for which we are to be thankful and rejoicing? Here again we find a distinct difference between the only 2 religions in the world–Christianity and everything else.

For in everything else, your rejoicing and thanksgiving is directly proportional to what you are experiencing. If you are experiencing evil or suffering, then god is not happy with you and is punishing you. But the Christian faith reveals that God thinks just the opposite of common sense religion. What religion considers good and evil is the opposite from God’s point of view.

The cross makes clear that suffering is not evil. Moreover, giving your good works to God as a means of meriting your way into heaven is evil in the sight of God. So how are we able to be rejoicing and thankful in the midst of the evil that surrounds us? The answer is found in verse 5, “The Lord is at hand.” This phrase is not only referring to His omnipresence but also to His omnicare for His children.

There is nothing that happens to His children that He does not direct for our good. Because we are at peace with God because of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, He promises to guard our hearts and minds at all times. With God at your side in every situation and under every condition, who cannot be thankful and not anxious for what is about to happen? God is in charge. He was on Good Friday as evident by Easter Sunday. He is for you every day as will become evident on the Judgment Day of His third coming.