Worship Helps for Advent 1
Art: Noah's Building of the
Ark
Worship Theme: This Sunday we begin a new Church Year with the
season of Advent. In Advent the Word of God bids us prepare for the coming of
Christ. The readings for Advent have this urgency to them: Since he is surely
coming again in judgment, we desperately need for him to come to us first in
grace. For without that coming in grace we will perish at his coming in judgment.
Prayer of the Day:
Stir up your power, O Lord,
and come. Protect us by your strength
and save us from the threatening dangers of our sins; for you live and reign
with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
Old Testament: Genesis
6:9-22; 7:11-23
9This is the account about the development
of Noah’s family.
Noah was a righteous man, a man of
integrity in that generation. Noah walked with God. 10Noah became
the father of three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth. 11In the sight of
God the earth was morally corrupt, and the earth was filled with violence. 12God
looked at the earth and saw that it was corrupt, for all flesh was corrupt in
all their ways on the earth.
13So God said to Noah, “I have
decreed the end of all flesh, because the earth is filled with violence because
of them. Now I am going to destroy them along with the earth.
14“Make an ark of gopher wood. Make
rooms in the ark. Seal it inside and outside with pitch. 15This is
how you are to make it: The length of the ark is to be 450 feet, its width 75
feet, and its height 45 feet. 16Make a roof for the ark, and leave
an eighteen-inch opening just under the roof. Place a door on the side of the
ark. Make it with lower, second, and third decks.
17“I myself am about to bring a flood
of waters on the earth, in order to destroy all flesh under the sky that has the
breath of life. Everything that is on the earth will die, 18but I
will establish my covenant with you. You shall come into the ark—you, your
sons, your wife, and your sons’ wives with you. 19You shall bring a
pair (male and female) of every kind of living flesh into the ark with you to
keep them alive. 20Include the birds according to their kinds, the
livestock according to their kinds, every creeping thing on the ground
according to their kinds. Two of every sort shall come to you, so you can keep
them alive. 21Take with you every type of food that is eaten, and
store it for yourself, so it can be used as food for you and for them.”
22So that is what Noah did. He did
everything that God commanded him, just as he had been told.
7:11In the six hundredth year of Noah’s
life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on that very
day, all the fountains of the great deep burst open, and the floodgates of the
sky were opened. 12The rain came down on the earth for forty days
and forty nights.
13On that same day Noah, Noah’s sons
Shem, Ham, and Japheth, Noah’s wife, and the three wives of his sons along with
them, entered the ark. 14They went in with every animal according to
its kind, all the livestock according to their kinds, every creeping thing that
creeps on the earth according to its kind, and everything that flies according
to its kind, flying birds of every sort. 15Pairs of all the animals
that have the breath of life in them went to Noah in the ark. 16A
male and female of each animal that breathes went in, just as God had commanded
Noah. Then the Lord shut Noah in.
17The flood kept coming on the earth
for forty days. The waters became deeper and lifted up the ark until it floated
high above the earth. 18The water kept increasing and overwhelmed
the earth, and the ark was carried along on the surface of the water. 19The
water overwhelmed the earth. All the high mountains that were under the entire
sky were covered. 20The waters rose more than twenty feet above the
mountains and covered them. 21All living creatures that moved on the
earth perished, including birds, livestock, wild animals, every creeping thing
that crawls on the earth, and all mankind. 22Everything that
breathed the breath of life through its nostrils, that is, everything that was
on the dry land, died. 23Every living thing that was on the face of
the earth was wiped out, including mankind, livestock, creeping things, and
birds of the sky. They all were wiped off the earth. Only Noah was left, as
well as those who were with him in the ark.
1. What was God thinking during
this time in human history?
2. What was God’s plan?
3. Why did Noah find favor
with God?
4. What was Noah to take
into the ark?
Epistle: 1 Peter 3:18–22
18Christ also suffered once for sins
in our place, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was
put to death in flesh but was made alive in spirit, 19in which he
also went and made an announcement to the spirits in prison. 20These
spirits disobeyed long ago, when God’s patience was waiting in the days of Noah
while the ark was being built. In this ark a few, that is, eight souls, were
saved by water. 21And corresponding to that, baptism now saves
you—not the removal of dirt from the body but the guarantee of a good
conscience before God through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. 22He
went to heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers
made subject to him.
5. When and why did Jesus
descend into hell?
6. What does baptism do for
us, just as the flood did for Noah?
7. Peter makes a rather
unusual connection in verse 21. He connects our baptisms and Jesus’
resurrection. See Romans 6:3,4. What is the connection?
Gospel: Mark 13:32-37
32“No
one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son,
but only the Father. 33Watch! Be alert and pray, because you do not
know when the time will come. 34It is like a man going away on a
journey. When he left his home, he put his servants in charge and assigned what
each one was to do. He also commanded the doorkeeper to keep watch. 35Therefore
keep watch, because you do not know when the owner of the house is coming:
whether in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or early in
the morning. 36If he comes suddenly, do not let him find you
sleeping. 37What I say to you, I say to everyone: Keep watch!”
8. Who can predict the day when “heaven and earth will
pass away?”
9. Since we know the end of
the world will come out of the blue, unexpectedly, what should our lives be
like?
Answers:
1. His Spirit had been
contending with mankind, trying to lead them to give up their wickedness and
turn to him. But he could no longer do that. He saw how wicked people had
become. He was grieved over what he saw, and his heart was filled with pain.
2. He would give people 120
years, and then he would destroy mankind. Some might see God as vindictive in
his destruction of the world. But when you understand his righteousness and
then see the terrible depths to which his creation had sunk, you have to be
impressed that he would wait another merciful 120 years before taking action.
3. Noah found favor with
God because God had given Noah his grace and mercy, and he led Noah to believe
in him. Noah’s life reflected God’s love.
4. He was to take his wife,
three sons, and their wives. Later we learn that in addition to the two of each
kind of unclean animal (an animal not used for eating), Noah was to also take
with him seven of every kind of clean animal (to then be used for eating and
sacrificing). He was also to take food provisions into the ark. (At this time
God had not yet given people permission to eat animals.)
5. Jesus descended into
hell after he came back alive, Peter says. We understand this to mean that he
did so early Easter Sunday morning. Jesus went, body and soul, to the only
place in the universe where spirits are in prison―hell. He went there to preach
to them. We gather he preached to the spirits in hell his victory over death:
If he had won, they had lost forever. How Jesus went to hell, we do not know,
but since he proved that he had taken all the devil's might from him, we know
that neither hell nor the devil can take captive or injure us.
6. The water of the flood
drowned everyone else in the world, but it floated the ark, so it saved Noah
and his family. In the same way, God's Word and the water of baptism save us.
They wash away all our sin, so they give us a clean conscience before God. They
plug us into the power of Jesus' resurrection. They comfort us when we suffer
for our faith in Jesus.
The waters of the flood
destroyed everything on earth. At the same time, it raised the ark up above
this destruction. The water of Baptism has raised us above God’s condemnation
of the world, and it will also raise us up above the destruction coming on the
world on the Last Day. In our Baptism liturgy, it mentions that in our Baptism
we are placed in the Ark of the Christian Church, rising up to the Lord while
fire destroys the world below you.
7. Through Baptism we are
linked with Jesus’ death, and so we are linked with his resurrection. Because
Jesus rose, free from our sins, we live to serve our Lord in purity right now.
This link with Jesus’ death and resurrection is the reason why our Paschal
Candle which sits by the font is lit only for Baptisms, funerals and the season
of Easter.
8. No one knows. As part of
his humility, not even Jesus knew the time for Judgment Day. God has the
specific time set for Judgment Day. No one can discover that with his or her
logical calculations.
9. Instead of being caught
up in the busyness of our world, we should be watchful and on our guard against
falling away. We should be busy with the assigned tasks he has given us so we
can impact the world with the gospel in whatever scheduled time is left.
Putting your faith into action
Christians should regard
and recognize the actual transgression of God’s commandments as sin; but sin is
also that horrible, dreadful hereditary sickness by which the entire human
nature is corrupted. This should above
all things be regarded and recognized as sin indeed. Yes, it is the chief sin, which is a root and
fountainhead of all actual sins. Dr. Luther
called it “nature sin” or “person sin.”
He says this to show that, even if a person would not think, speak, or
do anything evil (which, however, is impossible in this life, since the fall of
our first parents), his nature and person are nevertheless sinful. Before God they are thoroughly and utterly
infected and corrupted by original sin, as by a spiritual leprosy. Because of this corruption and because of the
fall of the first man, the human nature or person is accused or condemned by
God’s Law. So we are by nature the
children of wrath, death, and damnation, unless we are delivered from them by
Christ’s merit.
Article XIX of the Augsburg
Confession teaches: God is not a creator, author, or cause of sin. By the instigation of the devil through one
man, sin (which is the devil’s work) has entered the world. Even today, in this corruption, God does not
create and make sin in us. Original sin
is multiplied from sinful seed, through fleshly conception and birth from
father and mother. – Formula of Concord, Solid Declaration, Article I, Original
Sin (paragraphs 5-7)
Savior of the nations,
come; Virgin's Son, make here your home.
Marvel now, O heav'n and
earth, That the Lord chose such a birth.
Not by human flesh and
blood, By the Spirit of our God
Was the Word of God made
flesh, Woman's offspring, pure and fresh.
Wondrous birth! O wondrous
Child Of the virgin undefiled,
Though by all the world
disowned, Yet to be in heav'n enthroned!
From the Father's throne he
came And ascended to the same,
Captive leading death and
hell -- High the song of triumph swell!
Praise to God the Father
sing, Praise to God the Son, our King,
Praise to God the Spirit be
Ever and eternally.
Text and Tune: public
domain. *Setting: c 1993 Kermit G.
Moldenhauer.
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