Sunday, December 23, 2012

Podcast Sermon for December 23, 2012: Jesus is Coming

A sermon preached by Seminarian Lewis Polzin on December 23, 2012 at King of Kings Lutheran Church in Mason, OH, on Micah 5:2-5a. The text of this sermon may be found at the following web address: http://apastoralapproach.blogspot.com/2012/12/sermon-for-december-23-2012-jesus-is.html. The sermon recording may also be accessed by clicking the title of this blog post and playing it in your browser.

Sermon for December 23, 2012: Jesus is Coming

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

The text for this fourth Sunday in Advent comes to us from the reading from the Prophet Micah, the fifth chapter:
But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days. Therefore he shall give them up until the time when she who is in labor has given birth; then the rest of his brothers shall return to the people of Israel. And he shall stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God. And they shall dwell secure, for now he shall be great to the ends of the earth. And he shall be their peace.
Thus far the text.

Dear friends in Christ,
     It is a great joy for me to be here with you this morning. If you don’t know me, and even if you do, my name is Lewis Polzin. I’m a fourth-year seminarian at Concordia Seminary in St. Louis and I am a son of this congregation, one whom you have graciously supported financially and prayerfully. Thank you. It is my privilege to have accepted an invitation from your pastors to preach the Word of God to you this morning.

     In the text this morning, we have this very nice, very comforting passage that predicts the Messiah, Jesus Christ. It’s certainly easy for us, isn’t it, to hear these words and remember the Christmas story, where Joseph takes Mary, his betrothed, to Bethlehem to go and get registered under the census of Caesar Augustus. We look at that and go, oh sure! Bethlehem! Yes, the Messiah. And then we shut our ears up.

     It’s not that we’re trying to be difficult. Not at all. We just feel like we’ve heard it all before. Jesus is going to come... He’s going to rule... He’ll be a cool kind of shepherd... something about peace. It’s all very Christmasy isn’t it?

     Yeah... NO!!!! You see, you’re already missing the point! It’s not Christmas! It’s not Christmas yet! The world thinks we’re already at Christmas, that we’re already in that season, and a lot of churches do, too! But we’re not. We’re in Advent!! We have not arrived at Christmas morning yet, man, we’re not even at Christmas Eve yet! And that’s the point of the text!

Sunday, December 16, 2012

Podcast Sermon for December 16, 2012: Keep Christ in Christmas

A sermon preached by Seminarian Lewis Polzin on December 16, 2012 at Holy Cross Lutheran Church in O'Fallon, MO, on Luke 7:18-35. The text of this sermon may be found at the following web address: http://apastoralapproach.blogspot.com/2012/12/sermon-for-december-16-2012-keep-christ.html. The sermon recording may also be accessed by clicking the title of this blog post and playing it in your browser.

Sermon for December 16, 2012: Keep Christ in Christmas?


Grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

     The text for this morning’s sermon comes to us from the Gospel lesson, Luke Chapter 7, focusing in on the rejection of Jesus:
The disciples of John reported all these things to him. And John, calling two of his disciples to him, sent them to the Lord, saying, “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?” And when the men had come to him, they said, “John the Baptist has sent us to you, saying, ‘Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?’” In that hour he healed many people of diseases and plagues and evil spirits, and on many who were blind he bestowed sight. And he answered them, “Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor have good news preached to them. And blessed is the one who is not offended by me.”
... (When all the people heard this, and the tax collectors too, they declared God just, having been baptized with the baptism of John, but the Pharisees and the lawyers rejected the purpose of God for themselves, not having been baptized by him.)
Thus far the text.

Dear friends in Christ,
     Keep Christ in Christmas!  That is the cry we hear this time of year.  It’s usually coming from well-meaning Christians who are moved to shouts of protest when they get angry about the secularization of that most holy day, that day our Lord Jesus was born into this world, that day when the Virgin Mary looked down at the baby laying in her arms and saw that He is the God who created her and yet the baby that she created in her womb.

     What greater thing can there be?  Of course we all want to keep Christ in this Christ’s mass, this Christmas.  Is this a good cry?  Yes!  Keep Christ in Christmas!  But are we doing it?  Are we keeping Christ in Christmas?  Can we?

     In the text today, John the Baptizer, imprisoned by King Herod for decrying his marriage, the marriage that Herod began by seducing his sister-in-law away from her husband, his brother, sends his disciples to Jesus.  It’s funny, isn’t it?  We only really think about Jesus having disciples, followers learning at His feet, but John, the man that Jesus says is the greatest man who had ever lived, was a man who, by the very Word of God and the baptism he performed, was a dynamic preacher.  John was a man who told people exactly who they were, sinners against the Holy God of Israel who must repent and trust in this God.