Second Sunday Of Advent
Preaching
Lectionary Preaching Workbook
Series VII, Cycle A
Object:
Seasonal Theme
The hope for, and anticipation of, the coming of Jesus into the world and into our own hearts again.
Theme For The Day
John announces the coming of the new king and kingdom which is one of justice, hope, joy, and peace.
Old Testament Lesson
Isaiah 11:1-10
Peace At Last
The Contemporary English Version titles this section "Peace at Last." That says it well. There is hope, says Isaiah, hope that a new king will be restored who will fulfill what a true king ought to be. This will be one who will obey God and have understanding and wisdom. He will treat the poor and needy with fairness and justice (v. 4). He will maintain true religion and bring peace to the kingdom. These hopes became focused on the Messiah, a future figure who would restore the kingdom. Here, then, is what was hoped for when the people were far from experiencing it. Perhaps this hope is on the way and we can pray for its coming soon.
New Testament Lesson
Romans 15:4-13
The Bells Of Faith
Paul allows for many differences within the church but still all are united in a common fellowship. Christ's coming ought to erase all divisions and usher in a brand new righteousness based on faith. That brings joy and peace and hope. Our promise is that God will enable us to live at peace with each other. Paul claims the Gentiles, as well as the Jews, have this profound hope and promise. The bells of the Christian faith ring out in this passage: hope, joy, peace, and power. Only when the Holy Spirit fills our weaknesses can we live life as we should.
The Gospel
Matthew 3:1-12
A Voice Out Of Nowhere
For 400 years there was no prophetic voice and then suddenly John the Baptizer burst upon the scene. His description is very similar to Elijah's clothing (2 Kings 1:8) and Matthew makes the connection between the two (Isaiah 40:3). The reason John was recognized as a prophet after so many years without one is because he put light on dark sin, his message challenged people to a different way, and his message pointed people toward God. There must have been also a certain authority about him that was obvious. His message was identical with that of Jesus in Matthew 4:7. People came to him to confess their sins. John says it is fire in the judgment for those who don't repent. John is quick to tell the religious that they were like the animals of the desert scurrying ahead of a fire or ahead of the harvester in a field of corn. He warns them it is no good to lay claim to their Jewish heritage. Here John is speaking in terms of the Jewish doctrine of the Spirit and not the Christian doctrine of the Holy Spirit (v. 11b). The word for spirit also means life, so the promise of the spirit is the promise of life.
Preaching Possibilities
Using William Barclay's outlines, we could make this a character sermon about John the Baptizer:
A. He fearlessly denounced evil wherever he might find it -- in the state, in the church, in the crowd.
B. He urgently summoned people to righteousness. There was a positive erecting of the moral standards of God.
C. John came from God. He came not with some message of his own but with a message from God. Before he spoke to people, he had spent time with God.
D. John pointed beyond himself. He was a signpost to God, not to himself.
In this picture of fire of baptism Barclay offers these three points:
1. There is the idea of illumination -- light to the dark.
2. There is the idea of warmth -- a heart kindled with love toward God and toward others.
3. There is the idea of purification -- the entity of Jesus entering into our hearts.
I believe one can hook the Old Testament Lesson with the New Testament and Gospel in a very dynamic sermon today. Isaiah hoped for what John the Baptizer promised, and Paul in Romans confirmed what was actually delivered!
Possible Outline Of Sermon Moves
1. Introduction: All of us have things we hope for. Tell of your hopes. All of us rely on certain promises made to us by other people. Tell a couple of yours. And all of us want affirmation that we really do have peace and security available to us through God's Holy Spirit and presence.
2. Tell of the disappointment of Isaiah with the king and the kingdom. He hoped for a king who would obey God and have understanding and wisdom. He hoped for one who would treat the poor and needy with justice and would bring peace to the kingdom.
3. John the Baptizer announces that God's son has arrived and would bring a baptism of water and fire. The water would wash away our sins and the fire would bring light to us who fight the dark and would purify our hearts of evil. This Jesus is the one Isaiah hoped for to be king and the kind of king Isaiah wanted. John promised it.
4. Paul confirmed that Jesus was the one Isaiah hoped for and John promised would establish a new baptism. His dying on the cross and coming out of the grave and returning in spirit made it all come true. We are no longer divided but unified in him even though we are very different. That brings joy and peace and hope. Isaiah wanted it, John promised it, Jesus provided it, and Paul affirmed it was so.
5. Now frame your sermon by returning to the beginning and telling what joy it gives you to have your hopes fulfilled and affirmed.
Prayer Of The Day
God of hope and peace, make us strong in our resolve to celebrate in this season of Advent the promises you have given us and the hopes fulfilled. We thank you that we have a Christ coming soon and that you have given us the privilege, as you did John, to announce it boldly. Amen.
Possible Stories
Christopher Columbus tried to find a passage to India by sailing west from Spain. He got up the river which is now the Panama Canal as far as the Santa Maria would go, gave up, and turned around. Had he climbed the hill and looked over, Columbus would have seen the Pacific Ocean, as did Balboa later. He missed the vision by so little. Defeated, he went to Cuba and then Jamaica, where two of his ships ran aground -- approximately 1500 A.D. How often we give up too fast and a little too soon.
Amy Grant, interviewed on CNN, was asked what the purpose of Christian music is. She responded that it "... is to lift people up." Our preaching and witness to the gospel misrepresents the message if it does not "lift people up" and give them hope and promise.
A little sign on my desk says, "Joy is not the absence of trouble, but the presence of God." The great preacher George A. Buttrick used to say, "Joy is what we are chosen for and joy is what we have to offer to all who will come. It is a deep sense of joy not dependent on the number of things we get done in a day -- for this is not the opposite of unhappiness but the opposite of unbelief."
The hope for, and anticipation of, the coming of Jesus into the world and into our own hearts again.
Theme For The Day
John announces the coming of the new king and kingdom which is one of justice, hope, joy, and peace.
Old Testament Lesson
Isaiah 11:1-10
Peace At Last
The Contemporary English Version titles this section "Peace at Last." That says it well. There is hope, says Isaiah, hope that a new king will be restored who will fulfill what a true king ought to be. This will be one who will obey God and have understanding and wisdom. He will treat the poor and needy with fairness and justice (v. 4). He will maintain true religion and bring peace to the kingdom. These hopes became focused on the Messiah, a future figure who would restore the kingdom. Here, then, is what was hoped for when the people were far from experiencing it. Perhaps this hope is on the way and we can pray for its coming soon.
New Testament Lesson
Romans 15:4-13
The Bells Of Faith
Paul allows for many differences within the church but still all are united in a common fellowship. Christ's coming ought to erase all divisions and usher in a brand new righteousness based on faith. That brings joy and peace and hope. Our promise is that God will enable us to live at peace with each other. Paul claims the Gentiles, as well as the Jews, have this profound hope and promise. The bells of the Christian faith ring out in this passage: hope, joy, peace, and power. Only when the Holy Spirit fills our weaknesses can we live life as we should.
The Gospel
Matthew 3:1-12
A Voice Out Of Nowhere
For 400 years there was no prophetic voice and then suddenly John the Baptizer burst upon the scene. His description is very similar to Elijah's clothing (2 Kings 1:8) and Matthew makes the connection between the two (Isaiah 40:3). The reason John was recognized as a prophet after so many years without one is because he put light on dark sin, his message challenged people to a different way, and his message pointed people toward God. There must have been also a certain authority about him that was obvious. His message was identical with that of Jesus in Matthew 4:7. People came to him to confess their sins. John says it is fire in the judgment for those who don't repent. John is quick to tell the religious that they were like the animals of the desert scurrying ahead of a fire or ahead of the harvester in a field of corn. He warns them it is no good to lay claim to their Jewish heritage. Here John is speaking in terms of the Jewish doctrine of the Spirit and not the Christian doctrine of the Holy Spirit (v. 11b). The word for spirit also means life, so the promise of the spirit is the promise of life.
Preaching Possibilities
Using William Barclay's outlines, we could make this a character sermon about John the Baptizer:
A. He fearlessly denounced evil wherever he might find it -- in the state, in the church, in the crowd.
B. He urgently summoned people to righteousness. There was a positive erecting of the moral standards of God.
C. John came from God. He came not with some message of his own but with a message from God. Before he spoke to people, he had spent time with God.
D. John pointed beyond himself. He was a signpost to God, not to himself.
In this picture of fire of baptism Barclay offers these three points:
1. There is the idea of illumination -- light to the dark.
2. There is the idea of warmth -- a heart kindled with love toward God and toward others.
3. There is the idea of purification -- the entity of Jesus entering into our hearts.
I believe one can hook the Old Testament Lesson with the New Testament and Gospel in a very dynamic sermon today. Isaiah hoped for what John the Baptizer promised, and Paul in Romans confirmed what was actually delivered!
Possible Outline Of Sermon Moves
1. Introduction: All of us have things we hope for. Tell of your hopes. All of us rely on certain promises made to us by other people. Tell a couple of yours. And all of us want affirmation that we really do have peace and security available to us through God's Holy Spirit and presence.
2. Tell of the disappointment of Isaiah with the king and the kingdom. He hoped for a king who would obey God and have understanding and wisdom. He hoped for one who would treat the poor and needy with justice and would bring peace to the kingdom.
3. John the Baptizer announces that God's son has arrived and would bring a baptism of water and fire. The water would wash away our sins and the fire would bring light to us who fight the dark and would purify our hearts of evil. This Jesus is the one Isaiah hoped for to be king and the kind of king Isaiah wanted. John promised it.
4. Paul confirmed that Jesus was the one Isaiah hoped for and John promised would establish a new baptism. His dying on the cross and coming out of the grave and returning in spirit made it all come true. We are no longer divided but unified in him even though we are very different. That brings joy and peace and hope. Isaiah wanted it, John promised it, Jesus provided it, and Paul affirmed it was so.
5. Now frame your sermon by returning to the beginning and telling what joy it gives you to have your hopes fulfilled and affirmed.
Prayer Of The Day
God of hope and peace, make us strong in our resolve to celebrate in this season of Advent the promises you have given us and the hopes fulfilled. We thank you that we have a Christ coming soon and that you have given us the privilege, as you did John, to announce it boldly. Amen.
Possible Stories
Christopher Columbus tried to find a passage to India by sailing west from Spain. He got up the river which is now the Panama Canal as far as the Santa Maria would go, gave up, and turned around. Had he climbed the hill and looked over, Columbus would have seen the Pacific Ocean, as did Balboa later. He missed the vision by so little. Defeated, he went to Cuba and then Jamaica, where two of his ships ran aground -- approximately 1500 A.D. How often we give up too fast and a little too soon.
Amy Grant, interviewed on CNN, was asked what the purpose of Christian music is. She responded that it "... is to lift people up." Our preaching and witness to the gospel misrepresents the message if it does not "lift people up" and give them hope and promise.
A little sign on my desk says, "Joy is not the absence of trouble, but the presence of God." The great preacher George A. Buttrick used to say, "Joy is what we are chosen for and joy is what we have to offer to all who will come. It is a deep sense of joy not dependent on the number of things we get done in a day -- for this is not the opposite of unhappiness but the opposite of unbelief."
