Transcribed by TurboScribe.ai. Go Unlimited.
Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. And let us pray.
Oh Lord, send forth your word into our ears, that it may bear fruit in our lives, in Jesus’ name. Amen. So today is the second Sunday in Advent, and it’s a Sunday that is historically referred to as Populus Zion.
It simply means the people of Zion. It’s a Sunday that offers us the opportunity to meditate on what it means to be the people of God. Time to reflect on our life together with Christians around the world, and especially time to consider our life with our brothers and sisters in Christ in this place.
For we are the people of Zion here, the Populus Zion. Now there are many things that would divide us as people. Some are not really all that serious, like sports allegiances.
You guys know that I root for the Wolverines, Detroit sports teams. Others root for different teams. But regardless of how passionate fan bases can get, in the grand scheme of things, it’s really not that important.
There’s a whole host of people out there who really couldn’t care less about football, or basketball, or any other sports, and that’s fine. Because our unity as the people of God is not found in pulling for the same teams. Maybe on a more significant level, we live during the second term of one of the most polarizing presidents in the history of our nation.
There are some who love him, some who loathe him, some trying to find a middle ground. It seems like the rhetoric and political and social discourse is particularly polarizing right now. It feels like we’re being pressured to put ourselves into one camp or the other, and if you don’t choose one for yourself, then one will be assigned to you.
And then once you’re in your camp, there is to be no contact with outsiders except to dehumanize and demonize them. But the reality is that Christians can, in good conscience, come to opposite conclusions about the best course of action for our country, while still remaining faithful children of God. And as strange as it may sound in this day and age, when it comes right down to it, our unity as the populist Zion is not found in the American political system.
Our unity is, and always has been, found in Christ himself. So during this time of Advent, we remember the ways that our Lord comes to us. He came in the past as a baby born in Bethlehem.
He comes today through his word and sacraments, and he will come again in the future, with clouds and great power and glory. Our unity is found in these things, not in our skin color or our politics or our social views. Now, our unity as the populist Zion, as the people of God, begins with the sin that we all share.
There is none who is righteous, Paul says, not even one. All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. But God showed his love for all of us, and that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
And so we are united as people who deserve condemnation and yet who have not received it. We are united by the forgiveness of sins that Jesus won for us in his life, death, and resurrection in our place. So as we prepare to celebrate the birth of Jesus, we do so remembering what we heard last week.
Christmas is in the shadow of the cross. The reason our Lord was born was to live, die, and rise in our place. The reason he became like us was so that we could become like him, that one day we will be risen from the dead and living unto eternity.
We have unity in that. We also have unity in the way our Lord comes to us today. He comes to us through the preaching of his word, a life-giving word that creates faith in our hearts.
And that faith clings to Jesus so that all who are united to him are united to each other. There is only one Jesus. So everyone who is united to Jesus is therefore also united to everyone else who is united to Jesus.
We are united together because we are all baptized into the one Christ. For there is one body, one spirit, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all. We are united in him.
We are united together at this rail as we feast upon the same body and drink from the same cup of the one Jesus. When the person next to you takes the flesh of Jesus into their own body, Jesus lives in them, and they live in Jesus. But there is only one Jesus.
And so everyone who lives united to Jesus through his body and blood also lives united to the other people who have feasted on the same body and blood of the same Jesus. As the many grains become one loaf, as the many grapes become one cup, so also through the bread and wine of this blessed sacrament we are united to each other as the people of God in this place. We are united with the people of God around the world.
But the hard truth is that such unity is difficult to maintain in real life. For the unity we possess in Christ does allow for separation in many other areas of our life. And not only in trivial things like what sports teams you root for, but also in our politics, in our musical preferences, in our clothing style, a host of areas.
To actually live as the united body of Christ, that’s a hard thing. Which is why Paul ends his epistle to the Romans with a prayer that we heard just a few moments ago. It’s a prayer for unity.
May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another and accord with Christ Jesus that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Living united as the body of Christ requires more strength, more patience than any one of us has on our own. So it all depends on our Lord granting us the gifts of endurance and encouragement.
The Greek word that Paul uses for endurance here is the same one we looked at just a few weeks ago. It can be translated as fortitude, perseverance, steadfastness. It means the ability to keep going when things are tough.
And so we beg our Lord for endurance because Satan would love nothing more than to see wedges driven into the body of Christ. Both in this and in every place. It becomes especially obvious in our synod every few years when the national convention rolls around as it is right now.
Christians, congregations across the LCMS begin debating the best way to do things like worship the true God or train pastors for his church. Satan would love to see these debates turn into bitter divisions. He would love to undo the unity we possess as the body of Christ.
And so we join our voice with Paul. We pray that our Lord would give us perseverance, fortitude to live in harmony with one another. Because in music, harmony is a beautiful thing.
A literal translation of the Greek would say that Paul is praying that we would be of the same mind. Some like to render Paul’s words as a prayer for unity. But I do think the image of harmony is more appropriate.
For while we do certainly possess unity as the body of Christ, it’s a unity in harmony. Think about music. When a single note is complemented with a second note or a third note or a fourth note, the resulting sound is much fuller, much richer than any single note can be by itself.
In a symphony, each instrument plays its own part. The notes of the clarinet are different than that of the flute or of the oboe. And the trumpets play different notes than the trombones or the saxophones.
The cello plays something different than the bass or the violin. Now if each one were simply to do whatever it felt like, if the woodwinds just ignored the brass or the strings altogether, the resulting sound would be harsh on your ears. So the different instruments must be of the same mind.
But when the sections work together, even though they’re playing different notes, the sound is rich and full and wonderful. They may be playing different notes, but they’re playing the same song. So also in our interactions with other Christians in this place, across our synod, throughout the whole Christian church on earth, the prayer is not for uniformity in all things, homogeny in all things.
Prayer is for unity in Christ and harmony with one another. Paul’s prayer for the Church of God in Rome, his prayer for the Church of God in this place, in every place, is that the God of endurance would give us endurance, that the God of encouragement would continue to encourage us through his word, so that we who are different parts of the one body might be of one mind, a beautiful harmony in this and every place. And so if we are each simply playing whatever notes we feel like, we will not be in harmony.
We do need a conductor. We need a shared musical score. We need Jesus and his word, because they alone are the only infallible source and norm for all Christian teaching and all Christian living.
But if we’re all playing the same notes on the exact same instruments, then we’re not in harmony with each other either. A harmony not only allows for different notes and instruments, it actually requires it. So we actually have a gift before us, a gift to embrace the different notes and instruments that our Lord has given us to play in his symphony, the different vocations and personalities and people that all work together to give us harmony in this place.
And so yes, you’re probably a different instrument than the person sitting next to you, probably even playing different notes. But when you’re both playing the same song, the music is beautiful. The song we play is the unity we possess in our Lord Jesus Christ.
We may be a symphony of different instruments playing different notes, but the melody is Christ. We live in our different vocations, but we are members of the same body, living under the same head. We are the populace Zion, the people of God.
And so whatever disagreements may arise in this life, we know that our Lord is the one who unites us, and he is the one coming again in glory to deliver us into paradise. And as we continue down this Advent road, we remember the end is not simply found in the manger, neither is the end found at the foot of the cross or the empty tomb. Our Lord will come again, and when he does, all other differences between us will fall away.
All other disagreements will cease to matter as we enter side by side into the new and perfect creation. That is the end that’s awaiting us all. And until that day, as you and I and all Christians continue to walk as the people of God, the people of Zion, we pray that the God of endurance and encouragement would grant us to live together in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together we may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
In his name, Amen.