[Sermon Archive]

This Week's Sermon THE EPIPHANY of OUR LORD 06 January 2009 "God's Grace Is Still Shining" Isaiah 60:1-6 LSB Series B Pastor Philip G. Meyer Soli Deo Gloria!

The Nativity of Our Lord showed us Jesus, the Christ, the Son of Mary, while Epiphany shows us Jesus, the Christ, the Son of God. Today the Christmas celebration reaches its culmination, the twelfth day of the celebration. Even though there is a popular Christmas song called "The Twelve Days of Christmas," few people celebrate the Christmas season the way the Church has celebrated it for centuries. For most people in our society, Christmas began the day after the National Day of Thanksgiving and ended on 26 December. Tonight, however, there is still a gift for us to open. God himself unwraps his gift for us. "Unwrap" might be a good word for Epiphany because epiphany means "showing" or "unfolding." Tonight we unwrap this precious gift that is Christ, Son of Mary and Son of God. Jesus is the Light that shines in the world.

Isaiah announced it centuries beforehand:

"Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you." (Isaiah 60:1, ESV)

Living in the dark always leads to searching. Man gropes around in the darkness looking for the light. He can't see his way, he can't know what his dark world means other than that he wants deliverance. These men, among the most learned of the day, were still searching for the light. God unwrapped his gift for them by leading them to the infant Jesus. They represent that God's gift of Light is not meant only for the Jews, but for Gentiles, the nations, the whole world, and so, as the Epiphany season unfolds we hear the Gospel being broadcast to those who were "far away" from God as well as to those who were near to him.

Isaiah describes the world before the Epiphany of the Christ as being in darkness. What is more, the people were in "thick darkness." That kind of darkness is hard for us to imagine, those of us who live by city street lights, the lights of our alarm clocks, our security lights, our night lights. And on an overcast night, there is not even the light of stars or moon to dispel the darkness that envelopes us.

The other day some goofy scientist called for people to turn off the lights at night. He disputed the facts that lights deter crime, among other silly ideas. He prefers darkness to light. Darkness is a motif for ignorance and superstition, sin and death. Wherever man tries to justify himself before God there is darkness and death. Man cannot make himself acceptable to God by what he does. The harder man tries the deeper his darkness. Some in our world eventually give up searching for the light and revel in their darkness. They deny God's existence or that man should even consider God. They whistle in the dark.

But here in the manger is the true Light for all. The Evangelist John began his Gospel with this theme when he wrote:

"In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it." (John 1:4-5, ESV)

Light makes things clear. The Light of God, who is Christ himself, makes clear to the world the heart of God. So confesses John a little later:

"For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father's side, he has made him known." (John 1:17-18, ESV)

God gave his Law, not so that man could save himself by it, but to show man how deep is his darkness and how his salvation must shine in from above. God must save man, yet this work of God remained hidden under the flesh of Jesus. It is true that God gave his holy Law to the Jews, not so that they could save themselves by it, but so that they might see their sin and be trained and ready for the Christ. The Jews served a purpose for the Gentiles. They were to be the custodians of the faith in the true God.

Here at Epiphany that secret is unwrapped. God has not excluded the Gentiles nor has he chosen only the Jews. In this Christ lies God's grace for everyone. The real mystery is that in the flesh and blood of Jesus is God's solution to the sin of the world. The Epiphany, the unwrapping, is that God loves our world, Jew and Gentile alike. No one stands outside of his seeking love.

But Satan, whom the Scriptures call the Prince of Darkness, does not give up easily. He stirs up those who love darkness more than the light. They fight against the Light and those who live in it. Wherever hatred against others is proclaimed as being the will of God, there is deep darkness. Satan and his legions seek to kill the good news of Christ. Certainly there are times when it seems that Christianity will be undone by those who hate the Bride of Christ and that the Gospel will disappear from the earth. Sometimes it seems that Satan will win, but John assures us that the darkness cannot put out the light. The glory of New Israel, the holy Christian Church, will never be extinguished.

"God's Grace Is Still Shining!" The Epiphany season is a time when the Church considers her mission in this world. Kenneth Korby wrote:

"God not only creates the Holy Church by the Spirit through the preached Gospel, but he also makes the Church herself part of the revelation of his secret. Created by the Gospel, the Church is called, gathered, enlightened, and preserved in the faith to carry that Gospel to the whole earth. Missions are nothing else than this one holy Church of God in motion." [CPH, vol. 19. Part 1, Series B, p. 61].

On 31 December we received sad news that our good friend, Pr. Andrew Elisa, Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Sudan, who preached from this very pulpit, died from a brain tumor. God had raised this man up who opened the door to the faith in a nation dominated by anti-christian hatred and violence, a nation where darkness seems to rule. God used him to proclaim the light of his Gospel, and for Christ's Church to take root in a very unlikely place, and God blessed it. Now, it seems that the darkness has gained the upper hand, but we trust that God will not let his work go incomplete because he has promised that his Word does not return to him empty but accomplishes the purpose for which he sends it [Isaiah 55.10-11]. God will not abandon these brothers and sisters. God will not turn off the Light of Christ! God will raise up leaders who will keep the Light of Christ shining in a darkened land. Why can we be so confident? Because God himself is with this Church. The darkness will not overcome the Light! Christ lives and reigns at the right hand of God for the benefit of his Bride, the Church.

Lest you think that mission work is something done in far away places like Sudan, that same Light shines here, too. God works through ordinary Christians just as much, maybe even more than through pastors, to bring others into the Light. As you live out your Christian vocation, serving others in Christ's name by your occupations and other stations in life, you testify to the Light. You invite others to come into the Light when you hear the Gospel, receive God's gifts, and live in the Light.

Forgiveness of sins is the heart of the Light. It is the very reason he sent Christ to earth, to earn this forgiveness for all people, to bring them into his eternal presence where no darkness or death ever touches them again. Tonight that Gospel is again proclaimed and forgiveness in Christ is again distributed through his body and blood. The Sun of Grace is shining! The darkness has not put it out, and indeed, it cannot.

"God's Grace Is Still Shining!"