Sermon in Minneapolis 25.12.2004

Grace from the God of grace and Christmas peace from the Prince of Peace may they increase unto each and every one of us in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Let us quieten our hearts and join in opening prayer and thanksgiving this Christmas morning.

Dear Heavenly Father, Holy, Righteous, All-Knowing God, we thank you, Father, this Christmas day for the greatest of gifts that you sent into this world, your Son, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, born on Christmas to suffer and die on behalf of the sins of all of mankind.

Father, we cannot fully thank you as we are for this greatest of gifts, but this we wish to do, dear Father, is thank you as weakly and poorly as it is, but nevertheless as we are capable.

Father, we know that there is in this world much unrest and peacelessness. We ask that you would allow the grace light to shine from your kingdom to call together and light those who are without this eternal Christmas peace. Allow them to hear that Christmas gospel message preached from your kingdom so that they too could be freed from sin and joined with all of thy things to rejoice over personal and mutual salvation.

Father, we pray that you would not yet close the doors of your kingdom, but keep them open and allow those whom you have chosen to find.

Lord, we thank you, Father, for all of the goodness and gracious gifts that we have received, both temporally and spiritually. You have blessed us in such great abundance that we do not fully even appreciate it.

And we pray as your Son has taught us, our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory, forever and ever. Amen. Amen. Amen.

I shall read for our mutual study from the most familiar of text that is forever new in the scripture, the gospel as Luke has recorded it, among the birth of Jesus Christ in the second chapter. We hear these words read in Jesus' name as follows.

And it came to pass in those days that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed. And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria. And all went to be taxed, everyone into his own city.

Joseph also went up from Galilee out of the city of Nazareth into Judea onto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child.

And so it was that while they were there, the days were accomplished, that she should be delivered. And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

And there were in the same country shepherds, abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them. And they were sore afraid.

And the angel said unto them, Fear not. For behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.

For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.

And this shall be a sign unto you. You shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying, Glory to God in the highest. And on earth, peace, good will toward men.

Amen. Amen.

I read these first 14 verses of Luke, and not all the way to the 20th is our typical Christmas custom, because the gospel for today's study, the gospel of Romans actually divides the text that way. So, in order to hear the rest of the story, I guess you have to come to this evening service, and maybe one of the other brothers will deal with the rest of those verses.

The gospel of Luke is a very concise description of the time and the birth of our Lord and Savior. Luke, almost as if, wants to define a very exacting time in history to set the stage for what was the conditions in Israel, in the world, what was happening, why were these things happening, and what is the purpose of all that is happening in the world at the time of the birth of Jesus.

And when we look at these kinds of historical narrations, of course, from a human side, it would be nice if there were complimentary texts and other authors supporting all of that which believers have written. But if you look at or ask historical researchers, they will tell you that it is, when you go that far back, the possibility of having exact complimentary writings preserved are essentially not possible.

But the writings, of course, as someone who believes each and every one of you have accepted this message of the gospel for your own salvation and the purposes for which it was written.

When we look at the world around us, we see many people for whom the message of Christmas and of peace and of forgiveness is something that is foreign and is strange.

And because we know that each and every person who has come into this world has been born believing upon Jesus and has in their hearts the Holy Spirit of God, that they are born as the child of God. But through sin, through disobedience, through unbelief, of course, eventually that spirit leaves and that person is left without that consolation.

So it is sad to see the condition of such people who have strayed so far from faith in salvation, that they no longer accept and believe that such is the case.

I don't know how many of you have followed or if you've seen, but it has been fascinating this Christmas time to see, we see in many of the writings in the world around us that there are those who attempt, even with their position in whatever publication they have some authority to write in, and they attempt to destroy faith and destroy Christianity, to destroy the validity of the narrations that point to the will of God.

But this year, in the same way, a similar way, actually, as we saw during the campaign, the others in the world around us have risen up to battle against such who attempt to destroy.

And it's been fascinating to see the writings of those who have researched these happenings of Christmas and how defendable they are and how they do support faith and they support the will of God.

The description that Luke gives us is of a time when the Roman Empire was the ruling power in the world around the Mediterranean Sea. Caesar Augustus, as Luke here knows, was a mighty ruler, ruling over a far-flung empire, over many nations, over many peoples of different languages and cultures.

And it is so amazing to see how our Lord, our Creator, is not just an idol, foreign God, or ruler of this world, but He yet rules and allows things to happen to further His will and the work of His kingdom.

Because Mary and Joseph were living quite some distance away from Bethlehem, where Jesus was to be born, where the Savior was to be born, God used the greatest of nations of that time for His own purpose.

And we see how that law that Caesar established in order to take, in English, he calls it a taxing, we could say it probably would be more like a census, because most of the people probably in the empire would not have had money to actually pay tax, but maybe they had to pay some minimal taxing to the empire anyway.

But in any case, it forced all of those people in the area to go to their home city.

And because Joseph was of the house and lineage of David, as Luke here notes, he had to go to the city of David, which is Bethlehem.

The decree that Caesar Augustus set forth, of course, forced not only Mary and Joseph, but all kinds of others to also, everyone in that nation was going, traveling, to their home city to be accounted for, to be taxed, as our scripture here says.

And of course, that meant that there was not an abundance of room in that city, that there would have been enough sufficient lodging for all those who came.

But it also pictures, of course, much more the spiritual side of the coming of the Lord and the Savior.

He was not born in a great kingly palace, born somewhere where there would have been servants and plenty of help to assist and celebrate that birth.

But he was born in the lowliest of the lowliest of places. In a stable in a manger in the midst of the animals.

And it gives a very clear picture of the condition of the kingdom of God in this world.

Not celebrated, not accepted as something that is of value or of worth or anything that is great and mighty or noble, but rather it is lowly and often as Noah's ark was tarred on the outside, so also the kingdom of God is often tarred by the comments and the attacks of those who do not believe.

This is our portion, dear brothers and sisters, and as we have sometimes said, it is unavoidable but what the scents, or you say the stinks that are part of the manger attached to us children of God.

We are brothers and sisters of Jesus and the smell of the manger is part of our life.

Sometimes you boys and girls may not recognize or realize why those others around you in the world recognize that you are different.

Seeing you something different that is something that they don't have.

Seeing you something that is so strange that they may ask you about it. Why you do, why you act, or why you believe as you do.

It is because the smells that are part of the manger also emanate from you.

How do they emanate? How do they come out? What is it that causes people to recognize it?

It is simply the righteousness of life because you have Jesus in the manger of your heart.

He is there leading, guiding, directing, teaching.

And so your life also reflects his righteousness.

And you desire and you want to be faithful to him.

So because you follow him as your Lord, as your master, it means you do not follow the one who is as if leading those around you in the world by their noses.

They certainly follow someone, but it is not the Lord Jesus.

And their lives also reflect that who is the Lord of their hearts.

So continue to live, dear boys and girls. Confess and believe because God works through you.

And none of you know, none of us know what is the effect of those around us, on those around us in this world of our own lives, whom God will call to be sanctified in his kingdom through the preaching of the gospel.

So Jesus was born in that stable.

It is interesting to note that even though Mary is his mother and Joseph is his father were there at the birth of this their firstborn son, they could not nevertheless receive or even comprehend all that was to pertain to his life or to the giving of this savior.

They were no different than you and I.

They carried the same sin-corrupt flesh.

I'm sure they had the same desires and wishes and thought about things for this child and their other children as your parents think about for you children and as you boys and girls think about for your own lives.

We often in bringing children into this world as parents as mothers as fathers we often are concerned worry pray about what is their lives what is their loss what will happen in this world and what is the will of God.

And so I'm sure it is also was also with Joseph and Mary.

But in as Mary represents the kingdom of God in that sense that the kingdom of God as a mother takes care of each and every one of her children takes care of each and every one of us.

But Mary also at the same time is a physical mother was a human being.

No different than you and I.

Having been blessed given this portion to be the mother of Jesus she nevertheless carried the sin corrupt flesh that you and I carry.

She was not made more holy or more righteous or more special because she was the mother of Jesus.

It gave her a calling and a lot that she had to fulfill but she also had to believe for her own personal salvation believe upon this savior that would be also sacrifice for her sins.

This very same Jesus dear boys and girls whose birth we celebrate today is the same Jesus that on Good Friday is nailed to the cross.

Or as we sang in the finished song evening a few weeks back as if in the thinking of the words are the thoughts of Mary.

This dinker and this little rakent of us.

Is it a cross that they will be building for you?

And the world is so cold, so cold.

And so it is, the world around is evil and cold.

But there is a place of warmth, a place of life, and a place of salvation.

And that is the stable, the kingdom of God, where Mary and Jesus are.

That is where there is salvation.

That is where there is forgiveness.

That is where even the coldest of hearts can be warmed by the fire of the love of God, whose love was so great that for all of us, for all of sin fallen mankind, that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believes in him, he did not suffer, die, and can have everlasting life.

And so in the same sense that Mary as a human being had to contemplate these things, had to also believe, and also was then comforted and supported by the other believers in the area.

The angel did not appear unto the shepherds simply because they were shepherds, or to the shepherds because as if they were separated from the world.

The shepherds were there in the fields with their animals, with their sheep, goats probably, and other animals, keeping watch over them, as they were required to do.

But the angel appeared unto them because they believed.

Believed.

The angel appeared unto the shepherds because they believed.

And because they believed, they were not left then to idly wander about, wander about what had happened, what was told them, what did they do.

They hastened to find that Savior.

Oh, that all who hear would hasten to find the Savior, the Son of God.

The shepherds rejoiced because they had such exact descriptions by which to recognize and know that when they came to that little city of Bethlehem, we don't know how long they had to search.

Maybe there weren't too many places where it was even possible in those days that such a description was fit.

Or maybe there were even tens of them.

But nevertheless, there was only one in which the baby Jesus was.

Only one in which Mary and Joseph and Jesus were.

There is only one kingdom.

One place of salvation.

One gospel.

One Lord.

One faith.

One baptism.

Not many.

Not many places of salvation.

Not many places where peace can be found.

Not many places where the Spirit of God speaks.

But one.

One place that is the kingdom of God where there is righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.

And you have found, dear brothers and sisters, this place of true Christmas, peace, and joy where Christ is, where Jesus is, where you can come to hear again and again the best of Christmas gospels, that your sins are forgiven in the name and blood of Jesus.

There is the greatest of Christmas gifts.

That we can wish for each other and give to each other, that there is peace with God.

There is no longer a separation between us and heaven.

Nothing to keep us from getting to the glory of heaven, because God has given us that righteousness which his son completed on the middle cross of Golgotha.

And so we can also be partakers of his resurrection, victory, and power and one day arise from this cold, sin-filled birth into the glory of heaven to eternally celebrate Christmas with all of the saints and with God and his son, Jesus.

For unto you is born this day in the city of David, a Savior, which is Christ the Lord, and this shall be a sign unto thee.

You shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes lying in a manger.

Jesus was wrapped, wrapped, of course, in a natural sense, because that is a very natural custom to wrap a child, to help it feel secure after being born.

But Jesus was wrapped in a spiritual sense, in all other things, the law and the prophecies that went before him to be fulfilled.

He was so tightly bound to all of those that his whole life, from his birth to his death on the cross, was set to fulfill that which no other human being could fulfill, the demanding law of God.

Someone who was at the same time human and God, as we confessed and as Luther explains in the second article, that Jesus was at the same time God and man, true God and true man, carried the sin-corrupt flesh as we carry, the very same flesh, in that he was then subject to all of the temptations and enticements that you and I are subject to, tempted in all things like as we, but with one huge difference, he is without sin, without sin, so that he can then save us.

But because he was tempted, he is also able to help us, to assist us, to comfort us, and to lead us on the way of salvation, because he is the best of high priests, suffering as we suffer, but without sin.

And that is why, as the writer to the Hebrews says, it pays for us to come boldly to the mercy seat when we have need.

So often times, of course, the enemy desires the place as if a goldfish bowl around us, so that we could not talk to anyone else, so we could not compare experiences of the way and the journey, we could not talk about our failures, our weaknesses, our trials, our temptations, and our sins.

Then we only see the other brothers and sisters as perfect believers, those who do not suffer as we suffer, so someone who is not tempted is, I am tempted, and if the enemy can create that kind of an impression, what are we left with?

We are left with no place to believe, no place to come to, no place to confess our sins.

But yet, this morning, our word is the same as it has always been, that Jesus is here in our midst, he is here showing his bloody wounds from the middle cross, the Golgotha, that I am the one who came into this world and then suffered and died so that you could have peace, have Christmas peace, eternal peace with God, which means your sins can be forgiven in the name and blood of Jesus.

Dear brothers and sisters, this is the best of Christmas gifts.

Jesus brought all these things onto us in this world, those of us who suffer from sin.

He brought righteousness, peace, joy, love, mercy, and grace in a much, much longer list.

But he brought all these things because we lack them, because we need them, because we are all corrupt and tempted and fallen into sin.

So come boldly, dear brothers and sisters, to the mercy seat.

And that way you receive grace when you have need.

This is our portion, that here we are trying and tempted.

Here we are failing and faulty.

But Christ was, from his very birth on, wrapped in all of these demands of the law, so that he would fulfill them to the last top, that we could, therefore, be free, free from sin, and free to fall on him, in life, in suffering, and in doctrine.

To that day that he takes us home, where we can then see this same multitude of angels, which the shepherds saw, rejoicing over the birth of the Savior of mankind.

And as Peter records them, this is the greatest reason for joy.

And he says, the angels in heaven rejoice over this salvation when it appears to mankind.

Here in this world, we are often too bound by things that are earthly, things that are temporal, and things that have too little to do with those things that are eternal.

Is it so, dear mothers and fathers, that in preparing even for Christmas, we spend almost in inordinate amounts of time, effort, even resources, preparing for Christmas, preparing gifts, cards, and everything else that pertain to this wonderful celebration.

There is nothing wrong, nothing wrong with doing so.

It is good.

It is appropriate.

But isn't it also good that we spend some time, some portion of our celebration remembering the reason for our celebration, why we are celebrating Christmas, why we think, why we pause to contemplate this holiday.

Because without the Christ child, without Jesus, what is Christmas?

It is nothing.

It is an empty repetition of customs and traditions that may have some value in upbuilding societal and family values and relationships.

But if that is all there is, it is the poorest and the weakest of traditions.

But when it also includes the Christ child, includes he who is our savior, then it refreshes and strengthens not just these temporal relationships and things, but it also refreshes and strengthens those things that are eternal, those bonds of faith, of love, hope, and even of mutual love amongst the other brothers and sisters, so that we are not here, left as an outward group, creating some kind of an outward show of faith and love, but rather it is a love that is kindled by the love of God for us, in that he gave his son for us, and that we can rejoice over this gift of faith and righteousness, which we have.

It is a gift.

It is the greatest of Christmas gifts.

Dear boys and girls, sometimes you probably think that faith is there for the taking.

And this is, of course, the position that the enemy would desire to put you into, that there would be plenty of time for believing then when you are older.

Faith is not such an object on a shelf that we can go and grab when we desire we want to have it.

But faith is a great Christmas gift, a gift that God gives to those whom he selects, whom he chooses from this world.

And if we reject that gift, we do not know if he will give it to us again.

It is his calling and his choosing.

We are here as the shepherds, as our responsibility is, as even Mary took it as her responsibility to preserve all these things in our hearts, to contemplate faith, to think about those things that pertain to our own personal salvation and to the mutual salvation of our brothers and sisters.

But what is the biggest portion of that responsibility?

It is that we first of all believe our own sins forgiven and then that we are ready to preach, ready to speak of this glory and grace that God has given unto us in forgiving us, our sins and transgressions.

Lift up your hearts, dear brothers and sisters, young and all to rejoice for this greatest of gospel messages.

Jesus may move on all sins that are forgiven.

In Jesus' name, the sins are forgiven.

That here sins are forgiven.

Jesus may move on all sins are forgiven.

That here we can rejoice and believe that our sins are forgiven and we have peace.

Peace with God.

Peace that surpasses all human understanding.

This is the greatest of Christmas gifts.

I also ask for my own soul and heart.

I say that I came here this morning tried and tempted, feeling my own failures and sinfulness, failing in many things and trouble, but wanting to believe that can't believe together again.

So I desire to believe and desire to confess.

This is our portion, dear brothers and sisters, as his children, that we can with the shepherds rejoice that we have found this manger child, Jesus.

And I would like to say in closing, I wish you on behalf of Sinica, myself, and I the most joyous and peaceful Christmas celebrations for each and every one of you.

In Jesus' name, Amen.

Let up flows the benediction.

The Lord bless us and keep us.

The Lord make his face shine upon us and be gracious unto us.

The Lord lift up his countenance upon us and give us his eternal peace.

In the name of the Father, Son, Holy God.

Amen.