Sermon - Midweek Advent I - Sola Gratia - 2017

“For from His fullness we have all received grace upon grace.” “By grace you have been saved.” “But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.” “But You, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious.” 

During our three midweek Advent services this year we are going to be unpacking the three solas of the Reformation: grace alone, faith alone, scripture alone. If you haven’t figured it out yet, this evening we’re going to be unpacking the doctrine of grace, especially focusing on the fact that through Jesus Christ, we have found favor in the eyes of the Lord.

America has a DIY, a do it yourself mentality. I’ll admit this is my general mentality for most things in life, I like undertaking projects that I can do. Part of this is fueled by my desire to have that feeling of accomplishment after I’ve spent 5 times longer working on the project than I was originally planning. Part of it’s fueled by the sense of adventure you get when problem solving and learning how to repair or building something. But, mostly it’s because I’m  a cheap pragmatist.

And after spending a year with you all in rural Iowa, I suspect many of you are not that different. We’re pragmatists, we just want to get the job done, and we’re independent, we like to get the job done ourselves. When presented with a problem, we use that old Iowa farm trick to get ‘er done. 

And DIY is great! It works when fixing a leaking toilet, or building a flower planter or putting up a new shed. But it doesn’t work for everything. Eventually we have to come to terms with the fact that the old Iowa farm trick doesn’t work for everything. Some things we aren’t able to do. Some things we aren’t good enough at to get done.

And we are able to do lots of things, and we’re really good at doing lots of those things. We’ve been able to do lots of things, real good, for a real long time. In the days after Adam and Eve, it says right there in the Bible that “the daughters of man were attractive,” and the men “were the mighty men who were of old, the men of renown.” We’re good lookin’, we’re strong, and we’re mighty. It’s biblical!

“The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” So much for being good looking and mighty, huh. But after the fall, before conversion, every intention of the thoughts of our hearts are only evil continually. This wickedness, this evil, grieved the Lord to His heart. God’s reaction wasn’t just to blot out sin, but He was going to “blot out man.” Not because God’s creation was bad, but because God’s perfect creation had been completely infected by evil.

This isn’t the sort of infection anyone could ever DIY their way out of. You heard the situation, every single intention from the heart was only evil continually. Someone who desires only evil continually can never do any good ever. This is our problem, this is a universal problem that is common to every person upon the earth. Such were you!

“You were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.”

I’m sorry, but the old Iowa farm trick isn’t going to work. “But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.” How!? What did Noah do that was so great that caused God to look upon him with favor? Nothing! When you read the word favor in the Bible, it’s not like how we use the word favor. As if your children clean their rooms or your employees work extra hard, you favor them. No, when you read the word favor, it’s the same word as grace.

Noah didn’t do anything, but Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord! In spite of Noah’s sin and evil heart, God looked upon Noah with grace! Though we have been born dead in our trespasses, “God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which He loves us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ - by grace you have been saved.” Grace means that you have done nothing, but you have received everything as a gift from God.

But let’s be fair, we haven’t just done nothing, it’s not like we’re rocks whom God suddenly makes alive. Actually we’ve done quite a bit, just not anything good. In our evil intentioned hearts, prior to conversion, we actively rebelled against God. Yet out of God’s loves, we’ve received grace from the Lord, as a gift.

That’s what Christmas is all about! I know we like to tell people Christmas isn’t all about presents and receiving gifts, rather it’s better to give than to receive. We should be all about giving other people gifts and we should be generous to other people. It’s true, it is better to give than to receive and we should be generous to people. But properly speaking, Christmas is truly only about us receiving grace upon grace, gifts upon gifts.

Christmas is about God’s great love for us being poured out when “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth… For from His fullness we have all received, grace upon grace… grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.”

The favor of the Lord comes to us through Jesus the Christ. The Lord He is “a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.” Jesus’ incarnation, when He took upon human flesh and blood, is the manifestation of God’s gracious love and goodwill towards us His creation. Though we should have been blotted out from the face of the earth, God showed us His grace through Jesus Christ wholly and completely as a gift for us.

So not only are we not blotted from the face of the earth, but because we have received grace upon grace, we have been made alive together with Christ and raised with Him and seated with Him in the heavenly places. Instead of blotting us out, He will take us to heaven so “that He might show us the immeasurable riches of His grace in kindness towards us in Christ Jesus.”

Immeasurable riches of His grace! This means that there’s more than what He’s already given to us! The love that the Father has for us is immeasurable. No matter how guilty you feel, the Father forgives all of your sins through the grace of Jesus Christ.

God gives you His grac whenever He gives you Jesus. When He clothes us in Christ’s robe of righteousness in baptism, there is Jesus and there is His grace for you. When the Word made flesh is sung from the heights in scripture, there is Jesus and there is His grace for you. When we are fed with the body and blood of Christ there is Jesus and there is His grace for you.

So on Christmas don’t feel guilty about it being all about the gifts for you. Instead come readily and encircle the thorned Christmas tree, gather around the tree where Christ was hung with His head encircled with a crown of thorns. From this Christmas tree receive the immeasurable riches of God’s gifts. These gifts are wrapped up so beautifully. Jesus gifts you Himself, wrapped in the presents of His Word, Baptism, and the Lord’s Supper. Here you have all received grace upon grace.