A sermon based on Psalm 98
Sunday, December 17, 2017
A "Sola" Christmas – Children's Christmas Program
My house is usually full of signing and music, and especially this time of year. But it's maybe not what you think. On occasion, it's a Christmas hymn my boys have been practicing for today's program or Christmas Eve. Sometimes it's a song playing on the radio. But more often it's a song I've never heard before, made up in the moment, that one of my boys is belting out.
[Singing] "Five days till my birthday! Five days till my birthday!" or [Singing] "It's almost Christmas. And I get to open up all of my presents. It's almost Christmas!"
Now I imagine that for many of you parents and grandparents, you're familiar with this artistic freestyling when kids simultaneously write the music and lyrics to a brand new, never-been-sung-before song, spontaneously. Now I'm not certain any of these songs will make the radio someday. But nevertheless, it usually fills my heart with joy to hear my boys' hearts so full of joy that they can't help but sing.
That's how the Psalmist felt when he wrote Psalm 98—a new song. He couldn't contain his joy and excitement. He just had to sing and he wanted the whole world to sing with him: "Joy to the world!" Why? What had him so excited? Well, in a sense, it was his Christmas presents. God in his grace gave mankind his gift of salvation. And that is definitely worth singing about. Our sermon text for this morning is Psalm 98…
1 Sing to the Lord a new song, for he has done marvelous things; his right hand and his holy arm have worked salvation for him. 2 The Lord has made his salvation known and revealed his righteousness to the nations. 3 He has remembered his love and his faithfulness to the house of Israel; all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.
4 Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth, burst into jubilant song with music; 5 make music to the Lord with the harp, with the harp and the sound of singing, 6 with trumpets and the blast of the ram's horn—shout for joy before the Lord, the King.
7 Let the sea resound, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it. 8 Let the rivers clap their hands, let the mountains sing together for joy; 9 let them sing before the Lord, for he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness and the peoples with equity.
Now in a moment, the kids are going to share with you a Christmas message highlighting the five "solas" of the Lutheran Reformation. And with each one they (or we) are going to sing a song of praise to God. That's the only natural response to hearing what God's done for us—whether literally or just figuratively within your heart—singing praise to God in joy for what he's done. That's the only right response.
So, let me introduce those "solas" to you briefly before the kids tell you more…
I. Sola Gratia (By Grace Alone) and Sola Fide (By Faith Alone)
Let's start by looking at the last verse of the Psalm. It says, "He comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness and the peoples with equity." Now, does that phrase make you want to sing for joy?! It sure didn't have that effect on Martin Luther. That thought of Jesus Christ coming to judge the earth; to judge the world in righteousness… that idea terrified Martin Luther. You see, he knew that God is a righteous judge. He knew that God would judge all people with equity. That is, he would be fair. But what troubled Martin Luther was that he knew what "fair" looked like for him. He knew he was a sinner who had rebelled against God. And so he knew that "fair" meant punishment. "Fair" meant death. "Fair" meant hell.
And it's not different for us. Too often the songs we sing are self-aggrandizing. We sing, "Look at me! Give to me! Help me! Bless me!" But too seldom do we sing our praises to God by living for him and for others. Our song is, "It's all about me. It's all about me." And so the thought of having Jesus come to judge the earth in righteousness and equity ought to terrify us too.
But… we won't be damned. We won't go to hell. Why not? Because, "[God] has remembered his love and his faithfulness to the house of Israel…" In a minute, the kids are going to remind us of many of the promises God made to his people; the promises about the coming Savior from sin. And why did God send Jesus to rescue us? Not because of anything we've done or ever could do, but entirely because of his grace. By grace alone.
By grace, God sent Jesus to be the righteousness we could not achieve. Jesus became a human to take our place. Jesus lived a perfect life in our place. Jesus died an innocent death in our place. Jesus took God's wrath in our place. Jesus endured hell on that cross separated from the Father in our place. We did nothing. He did everything. "His right hand and his holy arm have worked salvation for him."
He did it all. There's nothing left for us to do. We simply trust in his gracious work in our place and in the salvation he worked. We simply receive what he did by faith. We are saved by grace alone through faith alone.
Martin Luther came to realize this truth for the first time when he studied the Bible. Forced by his superior to leave the monastery and teach the Bible at the University of Wittenberg, he discovered for the first time what that phrase—"the righteousness of God"—really meant. No longer did God's righteousness terrify him because he came to see that "the righteousness of God" is not just the righteousness that God has being sinless and holy, but that phrase often referred to the righteousness God gives in Christ alone revealed in Scripture alone…
II. Sola Scriptura (By Scripture Alone) and Solus Christus (In Christ Alone)
In the Scriptures alone that righteousness of God is revealed. The Psalmest rejoiced that, "The LORD has made his salvation known and revealed his righteousness to the nations." And we do too. For in the Scritures (the Bible) and here alone does God reveal what's he done for us in Christ. But he has made his salvation known to us.
You know there might be a bit of a pun in the Hebrew here. In Hebrew, the word for "salvation," is Yeshua. That's the Jewish name for Jesus whose name mean's "salvation." So the Hebrew could be translated, "The LORD has made his salvation known," or, "The LORD has made his [Yeshua] known," or, "The LORD has made his [Jesus] known."
And that's what God has done for us by his Word. In the Word of God he has revealed his plan of salvation for all people. "The Lord has… revealed his righteousness to the nations… all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God." He's revealed that the salvation he won is not just for Jerusalem. It's not just for Israel. It's for all nations. It's for all the ends of the earth—even to Alaska!
And he's revealed this all to us by his Word. "All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation [the Yeshua, the Jesus] of our God," because the Word has gone to the ends of the earth. We need that Word. We love that word. We want to learn that Word better in church and in Bible Class. We can't get enough of that Word that is God's love letter to us. For by Scripture alone we learn how we are saved by Christ alone.
III. Sola Dei Gloria (To God Alone Be the Glory)
And as we learn that message again and again, more and more, there's only one response to all that God's done for us… for his salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, revealed through Scripture alone… We can't help but sing to the Lord a new song. The same old song and dance of trying to earn God's favor by what we do, just won't do it for us anymore. The same old song and dance of living for ourselves, with little to no thought of God on a day to day basis, won't cut it. We, who know that we already have God's favor by Grace alone, through faith alone, as Christ alone is revealed in Scripture alone, can't help but bring glory to God alone and sing a new song to the Lord!
We just can't help it! Our hearts are so full of joy that we can't help but sing our praise to God. We can't help but live our praise to God as we live to serve him by serving one another.
It's been said that a Christian is a lot like a tea kettle, which, when it's up to its neck in hot water, sings all the more loudly and clearly. Even as we go through the problems and trials of this life, we know what is to come because of Jesus. And as we sing for joy we too call on everyone and even everything to shout for joy! Joy to the World! The Lord is come! In his name, dear friends, amen!
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