Sermon: Advent Midweek (Psalm 149)

5 December AD 2012

Title: Breaking the Chains (MP3 Audio)

Summary: Laden with chains, Jacob Marley’s ghost appearing to Ebenezer Scrooge in Dickens’s A Christmas Carol gives us a picture of our bondage to sin, death, and devil. As the story shows us, some of the heaviest, most binding links are those of our own forging.

We are unable to free ourselves, even though Hebrews encourages us to “lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely. (12:1)” Only Christ can free us from our chains, releasing us from self-inflicted bondage and that imposed by Satan and this sinful world.

Only then are we free to praise the Lord with “dancing” and the “melody” of musical instruments (see Psalm 149 below), as well as in lives of service to our fellow man. Then we are sent out with the Holy Spirit to wield the two-edged sword of God’s Word with voices and actions. Rather than seeking to bind others, we ask that we might proclaim to them the freedom we enjoy in Christ. And instead of finding new ways to ensnare, entangle, and burden ourselves, we ask that we might always live in the freedom of the Gospel.

Text: Praise the Lord! Sing to the Lord a new song, his praise in the assembly of the godly! Let Israel be glad in his Maker; let the children of Zion rejoice in their King! Let them praise his name with dancing, making melody to him with tambourine and lyre! For the Lord takes pleasure in his people; he adorns the humble with salvation.

Let the godly exult in glory; let them sing for joy on their beds. Let the high praises of God be in their throats and two-edged swords in their hands, to execute vengeance on the nations and punishments on the peoples, to bind their kings with chains and their nobles with fetters of iron, to execute on them the judgment written! This is honor for all his godly ones. Praise the Lord! Psalm 149

Scripture quoted from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®, © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Audio: Click to hear the MP3 of Breaking the Chains, preached to the saints of God at Faith Lutheran Church, Knob Noster, Missouri.

NB: For some reason, a few people have had problems trying to play the inline audio if Windows Media is their default MP3 player. If this occurs, you can either change to QuickTime or another default browser player, copy and paste the link directly into a selected player, or download it to your computer, where it seems to work regardless of which player. Several folks have suggested VLC Player from VideoLAN.

Other Readings: Isaiah 53:4-6; Hebrews 12:1-3; Luke 1:67-79

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