Download Read the Sermon - Mount Calvary Worship

A, Advent 1
Mt. Calvary Lutheran Church, Brookings, SD
Rev. Matthew Wurm
November 27th, 2016
Theme: Walk in the light of the Lord.
Goal: That the hearer would cast off the works of darkness and walk in the light of the day.
Malady: We make a false peace for ourselves to cover what is done in darkness.
Means: Jesus brings peace by the blood of His cross.
Grace, mercy and peace to you from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The sermon text for this
morning is Isaiah 2:4-5, “He shall judge between the nations, and shall decide disputes for many
peoples, and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks;
nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore. O house of
Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of the Lord.”
On October 24th, 1945, the United Nations was established. According to its charter, it
seeks “to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war,”. For the most part, the UN has
done its job saving successive generations from the scale of world-wide war that promoted its
beginning, but I doubt it will succeed forever. After WWI, the League of Nations was formed to
help stem what became WWII. As the League of Nations failed, so too will the United Nations
fail in bringing about peace and keeping it.
The only hope mankind has for the kind of peace that lasts is a hope outside of itself.
We need a hope that is different from the hope we make for ourselves by our structure, our
groups, our governments, our elected leaders, our planning and choice. We need a Savior to
come to this world who is not of this world. We, mankind, need the kind of hope that only the
sinless Son of God and Son of Man, Jesus can bring. We need a peace that will last and that will
only come in Christ who takes away the sin of the world, reconciling it to Himself and making
peace by the blood of His cross.
Until that time comes when Christ returns to judge the living and the dead and usher in
peace that lasts so that nation will not lift up sword against nation nor even learn war anymore,
sinners will keep on doing what they do – sin. As quickly as sin took hold of Cain, leading him in
jealous anger to kill his brother Able, so too does sin lay hold of us leading us into great and
terrible sin. We must always be on guard against the sin and darkness that lurks within.
The United Nations seeks to save future generations from the scourge of war and guard
against the threat of war that befell our world two times in the last century, but God’s Word
here in Isaiah seeks to do something different. It seeks to give you the hope of a peace that will
last far beyond earthly rule and counsel. Isaiah aims to point us to the true source of the peace
that will last and that is in Christ Jesus – the Light of the Lord. “O house of Jacob, come, let us
walk in the light of the Lord.”
In our gospel lesson for today, the house of Jacob did walk with the Lord. Crowds went
before Him and after Him shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is He who comes in
the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the Highest”. But not all who were there walked in the light
of the Lord. By the end of that week many would fall prey to the snare of the evil one call out
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for war against the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world. Instead of the song of
peace “Hosanna to the Son of David” upon their lips, they would call out for war, “Crucify Him,
crucify Him.”
What astounds me every year is how quickly the city of Jerusalem, which means “city of
peace”, gives over the prince of peace to violence and death. How soon the inhabitants of
Jerusalem, the house of Jacob desert the faithful One of God who came into their midst healing
all their diseases, casting out demons, forgiving sins and preaching a peace that comes down
from above. He never took up club or sword, but they come after Him with such the night He
was betrayed. He only ever urged His followers to come and walk in the light of the Lord but
one of them overcome by the darkness of sin that night follows Him into the garden in order to
betray Him with a kiss.
It appears as though the only person at peace as Jesus comes to the daughter of Zion,
humble and mounted on a donkey, walking into the city and walking to the cross of Golgotha, is
Jesus Himself. The whole of the city from least to greatest was stirred up as peace comes
walking in. What is going on? The only one at peace was Jesus. His face was set as flint toward
the cross, fully in control, fully focused on bringing a peace that lasts by the blood of His cross.
The simple fact is that sin keeps us from having peace. Sin is corruption to the core and
we all have it in spades. Our sin and the sin others commit against us steals away our peace.
Sure we may seek to do the old home remedy method of doctoring ourselves with the hearsay
treatment making our own peace. We can surround ourselves with people who will never tell
us that we are sinners. We can quit going to church or tune out the things the preacher says
we don’t agree with. We can rationalize away our sin and say well, my lying, cheating, or
stealing is actually a good thing because it save from a worse thing. God really didn’t want me
to marry her. God doesn’t want me to let me suffer so His will must be … and we fill in the
blank with our own treatment to bring about our own peace. Then we suffer all the
consequences of choosing not to walk in the light of the Lord.
The truth is we seek to make for ourselves peace that is just a temporary facade. As the
League of Nations failed, so too will the UN. Always as we seek to make peace for ourselves
with God, we will fail. The only peace that comes to us and lasts is the peace that comes by the
blood of the cross of Christ. There He made peace for us with the Father and from there He
bestows His peace upon us.
His peace comes by the faith implanted in you and over you in your Baptisms. His peace
comes to you in His body and blood given and shed for you for the forgiveness of your sins. His
peace goes with you in His word of benediction out of this place of peace back into the world
full of sin. His word and His work of peace comes to you from outside of you and remains with
you amid the turmoil and wars that rage on in your life and in this world. His peace takes you
by the hand and leads you in faith to walk in hope in the light of the Lord.
O house of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of the Lord. Amen.
The peace of God which surpasses all human understanding keep your hearts and minds
in Christ Jesus the Lord. Amen.
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