The third fraternal triplet... SERMON FOR THE THIRD MIDWEEK IN ADVENT
THE LORD IS STILL IN YOUR MIDST Theme: Connected to you by Baptism, Christ continually remains with you wherever you go your personal life. God spoke many promises in His Old Testament. God also gave His Old Testament people the gift of circumcision (Genesis 17:1-14), which was a sacrament. The gift of circumcision gave God’s people certainty and assurance that they were, without doubt, personally included and fully participating in the promises from God. The sacramental benefits of circumcision ended with the coming of Christ (Galatians 5:1-12). At Christ’ coming, God also fulfilled His Old Testament promises (2 Corinthians 1:20), but not all of those divine promises are yet completely fulfilled. Many of God’s Old Testament promises are still being fulfilled for you in every moment of your life, and some promises await ultimate fulfillment on the Last Day. How do you and all God’s Christians today get connected to God’s Old Testament promises, now that circumcision has been cut out of the picture? How can you be certain that God’s Old Testament promises are personally yours? Baptism now does for you what circumcision no longer can do (Colossians 2:11-12). Stated another way, your Baptism does MORE than assure you that you have personal place in the things God says to you in His New Testament. Your Baptism also gives you certainty and assurance that God’s Old Testament promises are likewise personally yours. Tonight’s prophecy from Zephaniah is an example of a promise that God speaks as much to you today as He did to His ancient people. This prophecy began its fulfillment when Christ came in the flesh, but this prophecy continues its fulfillment for you—and it shall do so for you—every moment of your life: Sing aloud, O daughter of Zion; shout, O Israel! Rejoice and exult with all your heart, O daughter of Jerusalem! The Lord has taken away the judgments against you; He has cleared away your enemies. The King of Israel, the Lord, is in your midst; you shall never again fear evil. On that day it shall be said to Jerusalem: “Fear not, O Zion; let not your hands grow weak. The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save. The One who promises here that He will stand in your midst is your Lord Jesus Christ and Him alone. Jesus is “the image of the invisible God” (Colossians 1:15). Christ is the Rock that accompanied Israel through the desert (1 Corinthians 10:4). He is the pillar of cloud by day and fire by night that guided them along their way. He is the fourth man in the fire, whom King Nebuchadnezzar saw standing in the furnace with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego (Daniel 3:24-25). He is the LORD who closed the mouths of the lions for Daniel (Daniel 6); He is the opening of the Red Sea (Exodus 14); and He is every other act of salvation in God’s Old Testament. “The King of Israel, the LORD, is in your midst,” says Zephaniah. “The LORD your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save.” This prophecy and promise from God was most deeply and profoundly fulfilled for you at the birth of your Christ, whose name is “Immanuel (which means God with us)” (Matthew 1:23). But it was not once-and-for-all completely fulfilled for you at the birth of your Lord Jesus. This prophecy from Zephaniah continues actively to be fulfilled personally for you in every moment of every day. This prophecy shall only be completed for you in its ultimate fulfillment on the Last Day. What I mean is this: There is never a time when your Lord Jesus is not in your midst, faithfully with you, accompanying you in every event of your life, remaining present with you even in hardship and darkness and death. Immanuel is not “God was with us” but Immanuel is “God with us,” here and now and eternally present with you personally and individually. This is one of the Old Testament benefits of your Baptism, that you would think of your Lord Jesus as always present with you in every hardship and struggle, as I tried to illustrate for you on the cover of the bulletin. Because of your Baptism, Jesus your LORD and your God remains ever present, complete with His holiness and His righteousness and His forgiveness of sins—all of which are now yours. Because of your Baptism, there is nothing that can ever happen to you that Jesus your LORD will not faithfully accompany and bear you through. Because of the promise and assurance that Jesus delivers personally to you in your Baptism, Zephaniah’s Words concerning Zion’s strength likewise apply individually to you: “Fear not, O Zion; let not your hands grow weak. The LORD your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save.” Baptismally stated, these Words could be read, “Hang in there, dear Christian. You are not alone. You are not forgotten. You are not abandoned. You are not exposed to any danger, no matter what you might see and think and feel. The LORD your God is in YOUR midst, and He shall not fall to save.” ___________________________________________________________________________ 'CAT 41 Sermons & Devotions' consists of works that are, unless otherwise noted, the copyrighted property of the various authors; posting of such gives members of this list implied consent for redistribution _with_ _attribution_ unless otherwise specified by the author, as well as for quoting or use in a congregational setting _with_or_without_attribution_. Note: This list's default reply is to the *poster*, NOT the list. Do *not* reply to the list with your comments, but to the poster. Subscribe? Send ANY note to: sermons...@cat41.org Unsubscribe? Send ANY note to: sermons-...@cat41.org Archive? <http://www.mail-archive.com/sermons@cat41.org/> For more information on this or other lists offered by Confess And Teach For Unity, you can contact the CAT 41 list administrator at: Rev. Fr. Eric J. Stefanski <MoM [at] lists (dot) cat41 <dot> org>