"The Means By Which God Works" The Nativity of Our Lord Christmas Day December 25, 2010 Hebrews 1:1-12
Since we did some Latin for Advent I thought we could do a little grammar for Christmas. The author of Hebrews says that in these last days God has spoken to us ‘by His Son’. This in the Greek is what we call a Dative of Means. You are saying how something is brought about; the means by which it happens. In this simple grammatical construction is an extraordinary theological doctrine God is giving us: the means by which He works is His Son. On the first Christmas Mary wrapped her little baby up in cloths. But salvation was wrapped up in that little bundle. The very means by which God works is His Son. In other words, that little baby that Mary fed and changed and sung to and played with. You would think salvation would come in a fancier package than that. But no, a little baby. Born in a stable. Laid in a manger. And that little baby didn’t move on from humble circumstances. Because the very means by which God works was in a man who never again had a home when He left His home to begin His ministry. He never went a day in His ministry without being reviled and doubted and tempted. He carried the weight of the cross every day until the day He was too exhausted to physically bear it, in which case He then hung on that cross to bear the sin of the world. This is the means by which God works. When the author of Hebrews says that “at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days He has spoken to us *by His Son*,” he really means that it is by His Son that God works for us and for our salvation. But we really don’t get this. In other words, we don’t really, fully, completely, understand that everything God does for us is because of, and through, and by His Son. The baby that lit up the face of Mary was the very means by which God brings light into the darkness of our sinful hearts. Jesus wasn’t just being fed, and giggling, and crying, and being changed—He was accomplishing salvation. He was living on this earth, born of a woman, from conception on without sin, and growing up to become the man who would go in the place of all who are born into sin. Christmas has a very different character than Good Friday. Christmas is joyful, Good Friday is solemn. Christmas has more the character of Easter. Easter is filled with joy much in the same way Christmas is. And yet, neither of them mean anything apart from Good Friday. The reason Christ was born was to go to the cross. And the reason Christ rose from the grave is because He had gone to the cross. This is the means by which God works. His Son. Born, crucified, risen. Everything He gives us—salvation, all our needs of body and soul—is by His Son. The author of Hebrews gives props to angels. God used angels a lot. We know God used prophets. He used apostles. There are many means by which He accomplishes His work of salvation and caring for us in our needs. But all these are by means of His Son. The grammarians might catch me on that one, but theology is more important than grammar. And grammar itself is a means by which God works to give us salvation. In the language of God’s Word the Bible, we know of the Word made flesh, the one born of Mary, Jesus the Son of God. It is by Him that all of this means anything. Speaking of grammar, how does God accomplish His salvation of us? By speaking. The author of Hebrews says that it is through His Son that He created the world. And what do we see in the creation account? God said. “God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light.” Jesus is the Word made flesh. Jesus is the Word by which God created the world and by which He creates us anew. He said to His Son, as the Epistle reminds us: “You are My Son, today I have begotten You.” He accomplishes His salvation of us in the Word made flesh. In other words, by means so His Son. He is born of the virgin Mary and begotten of the Father. Every blessing God gives you He gives you by means of His Son. Without God becoming flesh, being born and living and suffering and dying and rising, there are no blessings from God. Without Christ there are no means by which God works for us and for our salvation, or for any of the other blessings we receive from Him, in body and soul. You might not have expected to get a little grammar lesson on Christmas Day. And whether or not you’re interested in grammar, this little grammatical lesson shows us how God works. God likes to work in simple ways to bring about remarkable spiritual and eternal blessings. In a little grammatical construction we are taught an amazing theological reality: God works by means of His Son. In the same way, in a simple peasant girl, God works to bring the Savior into the world. Likewise, in her little baby boy, God works to bring salvation into the world in His very life, even in the cooing and being in need of a diaper change. So also, in the humiliation of being crucified, God works to accomplish salvation for the world, binding the world’s sin to His only-begotten Son. When Jesus was born He began the process of growing. He grew into a little boy, and then a bigger boy, and then a teenager. He became a young man, and then an adult. It was by means of His Son that God worked salvation for us. But that is past tense (I can’t seem to get off the grammar kick this morning). God not only *worked* by means of His Son, He *works* by means of His Son. After accomplishing salvation He ascended into heaven. God continues to work by means of Him in the Gospel proclaimed, the washing of regeneration and renewal, the body and blood of His Son given and shed for you for the forgiveness of all of your sins. When you want to know how God works, then know, when you look at the manger, when you look at the cross, when you look at the empty tomb, that He works by means of His Son. His birth, His life, His suffering, His death, and His resurrection. His coming to you in Baptism, in the proclaimed Gospel and pronounced Absolution, in His Holy Supper. These things may not seem a big deal, and, truth be told, as elements in and of themselves, they’re not a big deal. Words, water, bread, wine. These are simple, ordinary things of this world. But when you want to look at how God works, then look at that manger and that little baby lying in it; look at that man who doesn’t have millions listening to His preaching, but is often found preaching to a small group of people; look at that man who is hanging on the cross; and there you will see the means by which God works and how it is the most natural thing in the world for Him to continue working according to the same kind of means: in words, water, and bread and wine. In these things God is working by means of His Son to give you His Son. Amen. SDG -- Pastor Paul L. Willweber Prince of Peace Lutheran Church [LCMS] 6801 Easton Ct., San Diego, California 92120 619.583.1436 princeofpeacesd.net three-taverns.net It is the spirit and genius of Lutheranism to be liberal in everything except where the marks of the Church are concerned. 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