Church Sermon - January 4, 2004

Rev. Bernt P. Tweit

Epistle Lesson; Ephesians 3:2-12
Gospel Lesson; Matthew 2:1-12
Sermon Text, Isaiah 60:1-6

The festival of Epiphany is on Tuesday this year. Epiphany happens to fall in the great ‘letdown season.’ It’s that time of the year, when the Christmas trees end up on the curb, and other holiday decorations are returned to the attic or basement. It’s that time of the year, when many of our members have to start paying off their Christmas bills. It’s that time of the year, when the kids have to get back into the basic school routine and the adults have to get back to their own weekly routine. It’s that time of the year, when we have to endure one of the darkest, coldest, and gloomiest months. And it’s that time of the year, when the football fan has to start experiencing football withdrawal symptoms. For many reasons, both pastor and parishioner can certainly use Isaiah’s opening encouragement:

If you have your Christmas lights and decorations still up, you have a valid reason why you’ve done so. It isn’t because you are lazy, or haven’t had the time. It’s because you’re celebrating Christmas, the Gentile Christmas. It’s on this festival, known as the Epiphany of our Lord, dating its beginnings back to the 100’s AD, that Gentiles began celebrating the birth of Jesus. It is on this festival day that we celebrate the Wise Men, the first recorded Gentile worshippers and visitors to the Christ-child. It’s on this festival that we particularly celebrate the Savior born in Bethlehem, shining out good news to all nations that He is the Savior of all.

Isaiah begins today saying,

"Arise,

shine,

for your light has come."

What is this light? It is the ‘glory of the Lord’. The glory of the Lord is mentioned many times in the Old Testament. After Israel had left Egypt and crossed the Red Sea, they were led in their journey by the glory of the Lord,

a pillar of fire by night and a pillar of cloud by day.

After Moses had received the Ten Commandments, he again went up the mountain. A cloud covered it, and the glory of the Lord settled on Mount Sinai. To the Israelites, the glory of the Lord looked like a consuming fire on top of the mountain. For six days the cloud covered the mountain, and on the seventh day, the Lord called to Moses from within the cloud. Then Moses entered the cloud, as he went on up the mountain, and stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights.

When the Ark of the Covenant was brought into the temple that was built by Solomon, the priests withdrew from the Holy Place, because a cloud filled the temple of the Lord. And the priests could not perform their service, because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled his temple.

The glory of the Lord has special meaning, during the Christmas season, as it appeared to the shepherds over the plains of Bethlehem.

"And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, ‘Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; He is Christ the Lord.’" Luke 2:8-11

The glory of the Lord has special meaning, during the Easter season. Jesus rose victoriously from the grave, having conquered death and guaranteeing that God had accepted His payment for us.

The glory of the Lord is the Good News of the Gospel.

"Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned." Mark 16:16

The appearance of the bright sun, on a clear day, perks up the spirit. It is especially welcome, after a number of cloudy days. But, if someone were so foolish as to gaze into that bright sun, the brilliance of the light would rob his eyes of sight forever. That illustrates quite well the two sides of the glory of the Lord that has risen upon us. The Savior is a glorious light to the believer, but He is a fierce darkness to the unbeliever.

What cleansing light, what warming light, what revealing light, what joy-bringing light comes into a place, when people hear and believe the true message of Christ! And, what darkness hangs over a place, where Jesus is not! If only they would see the light! The prophet saw many people who had been in darkness, coming to the Messiah’s light and rejoicing greatly in that light: "Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn." The Gospel has drawn millions to faith in the Savior over the centuries. We are the Gentiles who have come to the light at this time. The Lord gives us the opportunity to announce the message of His love, and through our witness He gathers others.

Next Isaiah addresses us saying,

"Lift up your eyes and look about you: All assemble and come to you; your sons come from afar, and your daughters are carried on the arm".

The Lord tells His people in the Christian Church, "Look around you. Look who’s coming and look who’s here." The Gospel is a light for all, both Jew and Gentile. In our Epistle Lesson from Ephesians this morning, Paul lets the ‘cat out of the bag’ about this fact, when he spoke about the great mystery of this light. He said,

"This mystery is that through the Gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, … sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus". Ephesians 3:6.

This light of Jesus, forgiveness in a sin darkened world, glows for all. The Gospel is universal, intended for every tribe, language, people, and nation.

For us, that means the Gospel, the message we have to share, is not for a certain few. There are to be no prejudices in the Christian Church. It doesn’t matter what race you are, what sex you are, what your economic standing is. This Gospel has no barriers and knows no barriers.

"There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus." Galatians 3:28

Did you see what the Wise Men did, when they followed the star to Jesus? They had been taken out from the darkened world of sin, death, and separation from God, and reacted with hearts of thanksgiving. The light of God’s Gospel brought life to their heats and moved them to action. They brought wealth! They brought riches! They brought their best! Think of the riches of gold, incense and myrrh that were laid at the house, by the Wise Men. God’s people should also bring Him nothing but their best, laying them at Jesus’ house.

Christians at Holy Cross, we can bring our riches and our praises to the house. Having been brought from the darkness of eternal misery in hell, to the warm light of God’s compassionate love, we want to let God have all we have to offer in treasures and praise. Letting our light shine, brings Him praise. In these next couple weeks, during the Epiphany season, we’ll have the opportunity to be wise men, bringing our best treasures to our King. How are we going to respond to the One who has caused His glorious Gospel to glow in our sin-darkened hearts? We can bring Him our costliest treasures in faith. We can have our hearts reflect His glowing Gospel.

While gazing in the night sky, wise men from the east were led hundreds of miles by a star. What a treasure they found under that light! Though only looking like a small child, they were staring face-to-face with the glory of the Lord. Their faces fell down before the One who would light up a sin-darkened world with His glowing message of forgiveness and peace with God. Their face fell down before the One who radiates salvation and the promise of Heaven for all people, of all nations. Their faces fell down before the One who would say to them, and now says to us,

"Arise,

shine,

for your light,

your saving Light has come!"

This really isn’t the great ‘letdown season.’ Sure, the Christmas trees end up on the curb, and other holiday decorations are returned to the basement. Sure, it’s that time when the kids get back into the school routine, and the adults get back into their weekly routine. Sure, it’s that time when we endure the darkest, coldest, and gloomiest months. But, we can certainly use Isaiah’s opening encouragement:

Amen.

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