SERM: John 1:1–14, Christmas Day, LSB One-Year
"Do You Want to See God’s Glory?" The Nativity of Our Lord Christmas Day December 25, 2014 John 1:1–14 It’s Christmas! Everybody knows what Christmas is all about. Okay, not everybody knows. But even those who don’t know and even those who don’t believe may have heard something about how Christmas is about Jesus being born. They may have a vague notion that this is a religious holiday. They might even have an inkling that it is a specifically Christian holiday. After all, it is the Christ Child we celebrate today. It is His birth we give thanks for. We are Christians because Christ came into the world. And that is what John is getting at in the Gospel reading today. Jesus is God, John makes known. He is the eternal Word of the Father. And then, in an amazing action, the Word became flesh. The Word became flesh and then the Word dwelt among us. And then, perhaps even more amazingly, John says, “We have beheld His glory.” Christmas is not the celebration of Christ’s birth for the sake of Him being born. It is the celebration of beholding the glory of God. But see, this is why there’s such a huge disconnect between society’s celebration of Christmas and the Christian Church’s celebration of Christmas. When the apostle John tells us that we see the glory of God the world looks at us and is underwhelmed. When we see the glory of God in a little baby who is laid in a manger the world says that a little baby born two thousand years ago cannot bring about the peace on earth the earth so badly needs. So if we want people to see the glory of God we are going to be showing them something that they very well may be apathetic toward. If we ourselves want to see the glory of God we are going to have to do a little soul-searching because our notion of glory can run parallel with the world’s rather than the glory John is talking about. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. And we have seen His glory! We haven’t seen the glory of God because God made a massive demonstration to the whole world of His greatness. Jesus did something like that once. In His Transfiguration He gave a glimpse of His glory and the disciples who witnessed thought that they had achieved the pinnacle. They didn’t need to go anywhere else. They would camp out there forever. But Jesus was yet to show His true glory. They beheld it when they saw Him bleeding and groaning in pain on the cross. They saw His true glory with Jesus hanging on the cross and the weight of the world’s sins on His shoulders. This is why the Word became flesh. This is why God’s true glory is seen in the little baby who was laid in a manger. God’s glory apart from His Son coming in humility is glory that strikes us down. The glory of God that beams from the baby Jesus and the marred face of Christ on the cross is glory that sends waves of grace and forgiveness over us. In the Epistle reading the apostle Paul expresses this true glory of God: “When the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, He saved us.” See, this is the thing people miss about Christmas. Christmas is not about Jesus being born, per se. It’s about God saving us. It’s about God showing His glory, and His glory is in His kindness and love appearing. And how did it appear? In His Son who was born of Mary and laid in a manger. It appeared in the Word becoming flesh. That is how we see God’s glory. To truly understand God’s glory is to see what God actually did in sending His Son. How does Paul say that God saved us? He says He saved us by His mercy. It was specifically not, as Paul says, by works we have done in righteousness. God saved us by what He has done. What He has done is becoming flesh, dwelling among us, taking on our sin. Paul really can’t help but go on to speak about another birth, this one the birth of Baptism. He speaks of it as “the washing and renewal of the Holy Spirit whom He poured out on us through Jesus Christ our Savior.” It is God’s glory to save you in these waters of Baptism where He poured out on you His Holy Spirit. Is it any wonder most people don’t know what Christmas truly is? Isn’t it plain to see that when the world seeks glory it seeks it through the money, the power, and the fame the world offers? When what God offers is a little baby, the world is not impressed. When God offers us His Son on the cross for the sin of the world, the world shrugs. John says in the Gospel reading that Jesus, who is God, was in the world but the world did not know Him. Sounds a lot like today, huh? The world will never be able to see the true glory of God as long as it does not look to the God as He has revealed Himself in in His only-begotten Son. Now, we’re here today. We’re in church. We understand. We know. We see God’s glory for what it truly is, that it is in His Son. Why is it, then, that we so often follow right in with the ways of the world? Why do we continue to seek glory that is of the world? Why do we not content ourselves with the humble ways God shows His glory to us, i
SERM: Luke 2:1–14, Christmas Eve, LSB One-Year
"Salvation, Gift-Wrapped" The Nativity of Our Lord Christmas Eve December 24, 2014 Luke 2:1–14 Tonight or tomorrow many people will gather around the Christmas tree and open up the presents sitting under it. They have been wrapped up and sitting under the tree now for a while and are just waiting to be opened. And part of the fun of getting presents is unwrapping them and opening them up. Of course, the main excitement is to see what you’ve gotten and especially if it’s something you love. But if all the presents were sitting under the tree unwrapped, it would be no fun to gather around the tree at Christmas and be handed something to you that’s not wrapped. In the Gospel reading for Christmas God is showing you that He has a gift to give you. It is salvation. You will be excited to get whatever gifts you get tonight or tomorrow morning, and rightly so. God loves to give and so we are blessed to give and receive gifts to one another. But take all those gifts away and you still have a gift beyond compare in the salvation God gives to you. We can see this with what Luke tells us about the circumstances of Jesus’ birth. He doesn’t say that it came to pass that God issued a decree that everyone should return to their hometown so that Joseph and Mary would make their way to Bethlehem so that Jesus could be born there. Rather, it was a ruler who was the most powerful ruler of the time. Caesar Augustus issued a decree for everyone to be taxed. That is how it came about that Joseph and Mary made their way to Bethlehem for Jesus to be born there. And so that the point is not lost on us, Luke describes in very simple and even sparse detail the setting of Jesus’ birth. While they were in Bethlehem Mary’s pregnancy came to full term and her baby was ready to be born and she gave birth to her firstborn son. She wrapped Him up in swaddling cloths and she laid Him in a manger, because there was no other place for them to stay. In the palace of Caesar Augustus a child born to him and his wife would be wrapped in the finest of purple cloth and laid in a bed made of gold. Jesus was wrapped up in ordinary cloths. And there was no bed for Him, He was laid in a manger, a feeding trough for animals. When you give a gift to someone either their name is on it so that they know it’s for them or you give it to them and you say, “This is for you.” After Jesus was born, an angel announced to shepherds of the birth of the Savior, Christ the Lord. This was the announcement to you and me and to the whole world of the gift of God of salvation. The gift of salvation was wrapped up in swaddling cloths. This was the Savior, Christ the Lord. This was Jesus, God’s own Son, gift-wrapped for the world. Caesar Augustus had more wealth than he could use. But it was all nothing apart from the gift that all the money in the world could not buy and all the power in the world could not take hold of. Salvation has come gift-wrapped and laid not under a tree but in a simple manger, a feeding through for animals. Salvation is God’s present to you, given to you in the city of Bethlehem, the city of David, from whose lineage would come the Savior of the world. In the Epistle reading Paul expresses it this way: “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people.” You would never know the grace of God appeared. You would forever be in the dark that God brought salvation to all people. The gift was wrapped up. The angel announced that in that little baby was the gift of God, the gift of salvation. I bring you good news of great joy! Paul and the other apostles announced it over and over again. The Church down through the ages has continued to make known to the world that this little baby wrapped up in swaddling cloths is the gift of God, the gift of salvation. When a gift is wrapped, you know it’s a gift. You don’t know what it is, you can’t see it because it’s wrapped. You have to unwrap it in order to see it and enjoy having the gift. In the Epistle reading Paul goes further than just saying that God gave His Son for our salvation. It wasn’t just that Jesus was a baby all wrapped up and snuggled in His mother’s arms. Paul says that He “gave Himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness.” This is truly the greatest gift and perhaps the one most easily missed. How exactly did this baby born and laid in a manger give Himself over for us? Just as He was God’s gift but not laid under a tree but laid in a wooden manger, so He was affixed to a tree of sorts when He was nailed to a cross. On the cross He was wrapped up once again, this time not by His mother. On the cross you see your gift-wrapped Savior, wrapped up in the sin of the world. Covered in the guilt of every person, from the mightiest king to the lowliest shepherd. The gift God has given you there at the cross is the gift of salvation. This gift is continually unwrapped as it is proclaimed again and again. The angel may have been the first to announce the good news, but
SERM: The Lutheran Herald for the Third Day of Christmas
Scripture: St. Matthew 1:1-17 (NKJV) 1 The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham: 2 Abraham begot Isaac, Isaac begot Jacob, and Jacob begot Judah and his brothers. 3 Judah begot Perez and Zerah by Tamar, Perez begot Hezron, and Hezron begot Ram. 4 Ram begot Amminadab, Amminadab begot Nahshon, and Nahshon begot Salmon. 5 Salmon begot Boaz by Rahab, Boaz begot Obed by Ruth, Obed begot Jesse, 6 and Jesse begot David the king. David the king begot Solomon by her who had been the wife of Uriah. 7 Solomon begot Rehoboam, Rehoboam begot Abijah, and Abijah begot Asa. 8 Asa begot Jehoshaphat, Jehoshaphat begot Joram, and Joram begot Uzziah. 9 Uzziah begot Jotham, Jotham begot Ahaz, and Ahaz begot Hezekiah. 10 Hezekiah begot Manasseh, Manasseh begot Amon, and Amon begot Josiah. 11 Josiah begot Jeconiah and his brothers about the time they were carried away to Babylon. 12 And after they were brought to Babylon, Jeconiah begot Shealtiel, and Shealtiel begot Zerubbabel. 13 Zerubbabel begot Abiud, Abiud begot Eliakim, and Eliakim begot Azor. 14 Azor begot Zadok, Zadok begot Achim, and Achim begot Eliud. 15 Eliud begot Eleazar, Eleazar begot Matthan, and Matthan begot Jacob. 16 And Jacob begot Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus who is called Christ. 17 So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations, from David until the captivity in Babylon are fourteen generations, and from the captivity in Babylon until the Christ are fourteen generations. Devotion The genealogy of Jesus Christ emphasizes two important points. The first is that God keeps His promises. And the second is that His work of our salvation is a true flesh and blood reality. Our Lord does not make idle promises, nor does He forget about the promises He makes. Reflecting on Jesus’ genealogy shows how God guided and protected His chosen people so that Satan would truly be crushed and defeated. His promise was made to Adam and Eve after they fell into sin. It was affirmed in Abraham, whose offspring would make a mighty kingdom and nation. It was further magnified in King David and the glory that God accomplished through him. All these things were part of God’s gracious revelation that He would truly deliver His Son at the proper place and time to bring about the salvation of mankind! Secondly, the work of our salvation from death and sin is not mere philosophy. It is not a matter of a fickle deity just changing his mind and saying, “It’s ok, I changed my mind.” The wages of our sin is death. And rather than be a liar and go against the order of things He established at creation, He paid the price of that death Himself. Real people committed real sins throughout history, and it required real blood and real death. Jesus Christ was true man with a real lineage and real flesh and blood. So His death was real as well, which makes our salvation real! We pray: Lord God, endless thanks and praise be to You on account of Your mercy shown to us in Jesus Christ, our Lord. Make us always to remember the reality of our Lord’s life and death, which brings us true forgiveness. Amen. The Lutheran Herald is a publication of the Evangelical Lutheran Diocese of North America. These daily devotions are authored by the bishop, pastors, and deacons of the diocese. Daily posts are provided by The Reverend Jeffrey A. Ahonen.___ Sermons mailing list Sermons@cat41.org http://cat41.org/mailman/listinfo/sermons
