Sermon 12-9-07

Old Testament – Psalm 130 A song of ascents. Out of the depths I cry to you, O LORD; O Lord, hear my voice. Let your ears be attentive to my cry for mercy. If you, O LORD, kept a record of sins, O Lord, who could stand? But with you there is forgiveness; therefore you are feared. I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word I put my hope. My soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning, more than watchmen wait for the morning. O Israel put your hope in the LORD, for with the LORD is unfailing love and with him is full redemption. He himself will redeem Israel from all their sins.

Epistle – Romans 15:5-10 May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow Christ Jesus, so that with one heart and mouth you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God. For I tell you that Christ has become a servant of the Jews on behalf of God’s truth, to confirm the promises made to the patriarchs so that the Gentiles may glorify God for his mercy, as it is written: “Therefore I will praise you among the Gentiles; I will sing hymns to your name.” Again, it says, “Rejoice, O Gentiles, with his people.”

Gospel – Matthew 3:1-6 In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the Desert of Judea and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.” This is he who was spoken of through the prophet Isaiah: “A voice of one calling in the desert, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.’” John’s clothes were made of camel’s hair, and he had a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey. People went out to him from Jerusalem and all Judea and the whole region of the Jordan. Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River.

Sermon-

Today is part III of our five-part series on “The Real Meaning of Christmas”. It’s important that we touch on this as Christmas approaches because many people begin to wonder “Just what IS the Real Meaning of Christmas?” And most of the time when people decide what the Real Meaning of Christmas is, they get it wrong! As we talked last week, Christmas really has nothing to do who you spend it with; it’s nice if you can spend Christmas with your family and friends, but that is not the Real Meaning of Christmas. If you can’t spend Christmas with your family and friends, you can still have a Christmas that’s filled with great joy. The Real Meaning of Christmas has nothing to do with giving the perfect gift or receiving the perfect gift. Therefore if you get a bag of coal for Christmas, you can still have a great Christmas; it has nothing to do with the gift that you receive from your family or friends. A lot of times people says, “Well, Christmas is just a time to love one another and do things for one another.” That’s true, but we should be doing that all year long! Loving one another and being kind to one another is a by-produce of the Real Meaning of Christmas.

So then, what is the Real Meaning of Christmas? It’s found in Luke Chapter 2, “The angel said to the shepherds ‘Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.’”. That is the Real Meaning of Christmas, that’s the source of our peace, our hope, and our joy. And that’s why we’re spending so much time on this because we don’t want to miss anything about this great gift that God has given to us.

Last week we started talking about the message, “Fear not, good news, great joy, to you is born a Savior, Christ the Lord” and we talked about the angel that brought the message to the shepherds. The word angel means “messenger”. It doesn’t make any difference whether that message its brought to us by an angel, whether we read it in black and white in the Bible, if someone sings it to us in a Christmas Carol or if we receive a Christmas card with the message on it. The important thing is that no matter how these messages come to us, they are all from God. And because the message is from God, because it’s God’s Word, it has power. When God speaks, His Words are power. We illustrated this last week when we talked about Lazarus. Lazarus was dead! Nothing was working! We talked about Lazarus in relation to Frankenstein and the reanimation of dead tissue and we said, “That’s cuckoo! No one can reanimate dead tissue!” But Jesus did it; He reanimated dead tissue to show that He is God, to show His glory and to show the power of his Word. He reanimated dead tissue with His words; He said “Lazarus, come out!” and Lazarus came out of the grave. The power of God’s Word went into dead eardrums and brought them to life. The eardrums heard, the mind started functioning, the heart started pumping, the nerves had life, the muscles began working and Lazarus got up and walked out, all by the power of God’s Word.

How did God create light? He just spoke His Word. God said in Genesis Chapter 1, “Let there be light” and because His Word is so powerful, light was created. And it’s important to see that when God spoke the words “Fear Not!” to the shepherds, because they’re God’s Words and God’s Words create what they say, our fears are gone! There is a rebirth, a reanimation, a coming to life of peace. When God says, “I have good news”, the bad news in life, and life is full of bad news, dissipates and there is a rebirth, a reanimation, a coming to life of good news. When God says, “I have great joy for you centered in a Savior, Jesus Christ, who paid for your sins.” the sadness dissipates and there is a rebirth of joy.

But does this really work for us? We’ve been fooled too many times, we’ve heard all sorts of words and advertisements about things that are supposed to work but when you get them home they don’t do what they are supposed to do. I remember discussing cleaning the bathroom with my sister about a year ago. She said, “I found this great bathroom cleaner, you don’t have to scrub, all you have to do is spray it on and it eats the soap scum. It’s wonderful!” So I bought some and, it may work for my sister, but it didn’t work for me! And the knife commercials on TV, the ones that cut through steel I-beams. You get them home and they can’t cut through a tomato! You may be saying right now, “Will God’s Word really drive the fear out of my life, will it really bring me joy, will it really create faith? Will the Word do all those things?” Let’s check it out and see if it works.

We could leave here and go wander around in the cemetery down the street and find a guy by the name of Lazarus who has been buried and we could say “Lazarus, come out!” repeating God’s words. Is Lazarus going to come out? Probably not; we have a pretty good idea that it’s not going to work. Can we create light? I’ll take my Bible, turn to Genesis Chapter 1 and go in the back room where it’s dark. (Pastor walked into the back room and said “Let there be light!”) I’ve got bad news for you – it’s still dark back there, it didn’t work! But if God’s Word is truly effective when He says “Fear not”, it should end our fears; when He says “I have good news”, those words should create good news; when He says, “You can have joy”, His words should create joy, when God says “The Bible creates faith”, faith should be created. The Word should be working, right? Maybe we can find out what the problem is.

When you pull the presents out from under the Christmas tree on Christmas morning, the important thing is to look for the name tag on the present so the gift goes to the right person. Let’s look at the Real Meaning of Christmas in Luke Chapter 2 and find out who it is for. We read, “The angel said to them” – so the message is to the shepherds – “do not be afraid, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all people.” Did you catch it? God put a tag on the Christmas gift! We know who the Savior is for, He’s for us! That means that this stuff is true for us! He came for you; He came for me, that’s what the tag says, so – FEAR NOT! – the gift is for us! The good news is for us, the great joy is for us, centered in the Savior, Jesus Christ, Who paid for our sins and reconciled us to God. God never said in the Bible that, for all people for all times, if you go in a dark room and shout “Let there be light” that light would be created. If He had said that, when you go in a dark room and say “Let there be light”, light would appear. But that was a one-shot deal when He created the earth. God never said “Hunt down, in the graveyards, all the people named Lazarus and say ‘Lazarus, come out!’ and raise all the Lazarus’s from the dead.” It was a one-shot deal to show His power, His glory and that His Words bring life from death. But the Savior, the “Fear not, good news, great joy”, that is for all people for all time.

We see this as well in our Bible readings for today. The Old Testament reading, Psalm 130:8 says, “He himself will redeem Israel from all their sins” You and I are not Israel in the political sense, but we are Israel in the spiritual, New Testament sense. We know that this message is for us because the Epistle Lesson, Romans 15 tell us not only do the Jews have reason to rejoice because God sent them a Savior in Jesus Christ, but “Rejoice, O Gentiles” We are the Gentiles; the tag on the Christmas gift is for us. You can live your life without fear because God says it’s o.k. to do that. In times when there’s bad news, it’s o.k. to stop and say, “There’s bad news, but I know some good news - to me is born a Savior”. When sadness hits you it’s o.k. to say “I’m sad, but God gave me a Savior, He has reconciled me to Himself, He has paid for my sins, He has an investment in me, He controls all things, He doesn’t hate me, He loves me, He’s not out to make my life miserable, He’s out to send me through some difficult times so I learn to trust in Him. I can have joy amidst my sadness because God is working in my life!”

What other good things in the Bible has God put a tag on saying that it’s for you? 1 John 2:2 says “Jesus Christ, the Righteous One is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world” Jesus is the One who paid for, not only our sins, but “the sins of the whole world!” For everybody, forgiveness is for everyone. That certainly is good news; the tag on the gift says it’s for everyone.

One aspect of the Christmas Story is the assurance we have that in our bad situations, in our difficult times, God can bring about good. In fact, He works through the bad to bring about the good. Think about it, everything in regard to the Christmas Story went wrong but God brought good from bad. We’ll talk about that on Christmas Eve. But does God promise to everyone that even in the most difficult situations that all things will work together for the good? What does the tag say? Is this for all of us? Be careful – this gift is not for everyone. Romans 8:28 says “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him and have been called according to His purpose.” This gift is for those people who have confessed that they are sinners, who believe that Jesus died on the Cross and paid for their sins and who say, “Alright God, being reconciled to you, take my life and use me in Your Kingdom.” God’s promise to believers is that He will bring good from all things in your life, from all that bad stuff that’s going on. He will work it for the good because you love Him are called according to His purpose. You have the assurance that this is for you. Believe it. But it’s not for everyone; this gift is not for someone who doesn’t believe in Jesus as their Savior.

Financial worries are always on people’s minds, especially at Christmas time. And then after Christmas, income tax season arrives! God has a promise that He will open the floodgates of Heaven and pour out so much blessing that you won’t have room for it. But what does the tag say on that present, who is it for? In Malachi 3:10 God says “Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse that there may be food in my house. Test me on this, says the Lord and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of Heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room for it.” So who is this gift addressed to? It is addressed to tithers, those who are giving 10%, those who have first confessed that they are sinners, who believe in Jesus as Lord and Savior and say “OK, God, my life is in your hands. I’m going to work your financial plan. I’m going to do what Malachi 3:10-12 says, I’m going to give 10% to you.” That’s who the promise is for. It’s important to pay attention to the tag on the gift. The gifts are always true, and God’s Word is always effective. So if the tag on the gift says it’s for you, those promises are effective for you.

What does the tag say on the gift of Holy Communion? Who is it for? Was it a one-time-only event with the disciples? Does the bread and wine in Holy Communion just symbolize that Jesus died and paid for our sins, or is it, as Jesus said, His true body and blood? Holy Communion is for all people who have confessed their sins and believe that Jesus died and paid for them. And, God’s people are to “Do this often in remembrance of Me” (Matthew 26:28). It was not just for the disciples on Maundy Thursday before Jesus was betrayed; all believers of all time are to do this often. The bread and the wine in Holy Communion are the true body and blood of Jesus Christ. In Luke 22:19, 20 Jesus says “This is My body…this is My blood”. You cannot have Holy Communion unless the Words of Institution, “Our Lord Jesus Christ, on the night that He was betrayed took bread, gave thanks, broke it and said ‘This is my body, this is my blood’’ are spoken. God, again, creates through the power of His Word and we know that when we do Communion by the power of God’s Word in, with, and under the bread and the wine, the true body and blood of Christ are created just as He said. That’s the power of God’s Word.

That’s why it is so important to take this Real Meaning of Christmas and look at it sentence by sentence. It’s important to understand when God says “Fear not, good news, great joy which shall be to all people” that to you, personally, is born a Savior. Therefore you can fear not, there is good news and you can have joy! And to that we say Amen!

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