Intro Today, so distant from creation’s dawn. A time forlorn, forgotten by our fragile minds, when God spoke the earth and heavens into being, and formed a humanity in His image.
Too soon did defect begin to breed, to taint and tarnish a perfect creation. The man and woman, Adam and Eve, ate of the verboten fruit. Still, glowing with love, the Creator did not abandon His creatures. No, He came and spoke of a Promise, of One who will brave the Serpent’s strike, still unafraid to stare down and crush the primordial foe. Main Body Many ages and epochs passed, and God selected to set apart a people to keep His ageless promise alive. So, He called Abraham to become the father of many. Though they doubted and distrusted the Heavenly Word, His faithfulness endured. From slavery in Egypt, He unfettered His people, but soon, they rebelled against Him again. In love, He fashioned manna for them to eat by day and, for fuller nourishment, He guided quail to fly their way. In their thirst, He gushed water from a rock and led them to a plenteous land, abundant in buttery milk and sweetest, fragrant honey. In both plenty and want, our forebears still grumbled against their God. So, the Father directed His prophets, who cried into their darkened minds, pleading and repeating His prophecies of old. In many heapings and various voices, they pointed forward to the One to come. The people waited, as the merciful Father’s kindness remained unabated. By faith, we yearned for God’s best pleasure to grace us with His Life, complete and unmeasured. So, in time’s fullness, from His bounteous love, God sent His Son, foretold from ages past. The Spirit’s Breath whispers in the virgin’s ear, and a Child begins to grow in her womb. An imperial edict forces Joseph, a descendant of David, to return to his ancestral town. Though bearing a noble lineage of generations past, no vestige of wealth remains. Part of the poor, he travels with his betrothed, but unwedded, wife. Soon, they arrive at the family home, but other offspring of this long-past king inhabit the house, with the guest room filled to the full. So, they only find lodging where animals are stabled. Such meek and modest happenings, which heaven is heralding in the highest! Now on the cusp of this Messiah’s birth, He enters a troubled and fearful world, a feeble Infant for our salvation. The events are simple, “She brought forth her son, the Firstborn, and wrapped him in strips of cloth and laid him in a feeding trough.” Gaze for a second longer, and you will find the most awe-inspiring Mystery of all breathing before you. A Love incarnate, so entrenched, so vast, and so high, surpassing our thought and fantasy. For Christ, the Son of God now takes our mortal’s form for mortal’s sake. O Bethlehem regaled as King David’s town, greet this Infant of divine renown. Though He is a human Son, do not despise this Lord of all, birthed and cloaked in a cattle stall. Such musky scents and snorting sounds abound to these parents, bowing in reverence to the ground. This Child will burn from bitter bite as He drinks the dregs of the oldest fruit, which still beat us down and steal our breath. For He comes to be the Second Adam, to unravel the havoc from Eden’s time, to restore this diseased universe anew. The cross and burial, yet to come, will confound sin and Satan and defeat the last enemy, death. The Infant forsakes the splendors of His glorious realm, to bring God’s love in human form, to favor His people on the earth. For He forges on to emancipate us Hell-bound slaves to bust open the Father’s kingdom for all believers, beginning with His birth. More than unseen Majesty, He embodies what will bring us endless peace. Yes, Peace prevails when darkness is half-spent on this night of nights. So, others also need to shine in His splendor, hidden behind our human frame. Nearby, no-nonsense guards and watchers of the night are faithful keepers of their flock. To do their tasks, they understand the course of stars, the snaring branch, the treacherous drop, and summer’s long-faded flight. Now, in winter’s cold and shrouded haze, when blackness dwarfs the night, an intensity strikes with blindness bright, beyond the experience of their created eye. An angel resounds with words, which will save the world. An immense army of angels appears, which turn the nighttime into noon. Yes, this choir from celestial realms cleaves the sky with song and light. The shepherding guardians of the night are stunned in silence, shaking and shuddering in their fright. Glad tidings from God echoes in their ears, of a Deity close by who sheaths His might. The messenger tells of heaven residing among men, proclaiming to these rough-hewn sheep-men of old. All is now calm, with hearts blessed by serenity again. For this night, every son of Adam, every daughter of Eve, can glory in the God made flesh. In a Bethlehem stable, two taxpayers huddle with their Child. Of meager means and few finances, they traveled by donkey with little to spare. In Rome, the Emperor with his hungering budget and expenses rules over a still-growing Empire. Unknown to him, sleeping in a crevice and hovel of his realm, conceals a greater One. For a virgin mother delivers the Messiah, who will send away our sins and failings. So, take solace, you who suffer from your fallen steps and misdeeds. No matter how distressing or desolate your life may be, God does not forget you. For He is faithful, upholding and keeping us in His promise. The birth of a Baby, Jesus, proves this. Listen once more to the message of the angel. These are the signs spoken to dwindle your dread, so you can recognize your Rescuer is here. In an animal trough, so bleak and cold is enclosed the Promise so long foretold. The Child, who honored the maiden’s womb, is the One who frees us from death’s tomb. With quiet tranquility from above, He approaches for all, to release us sinners from sin’s dark fall. To all weighed down with sin-bound blame, God comes to don our flesh and frame, so men made sad may dance again. Tired, listless, and wounded with sorrow, we need this Christ-born life today. For only He can kill our death, for which He comes now to destroy. So, ponder your response, on this holiest of days. The flimsy fabric and failed facade of your wanton ways must shrink away. For if we puff ourselves up with pretense and fraud, the less we will yearn for the Savior, our God. Consider if the Spirit never chose to unveil the life God gives to you in His only Son. To this moment, to this day, you will be adrift, lost and undone. The descent of Jesus to rescue and save, reveals how much we will require of Him. For if He walks in our sin-born way, our wrongdoings and sins will still shackle us down as hunted prey. In meekest size and strength, this Baby enters our world, which shows how humble He will become for our redemption and life. With sinful people, He will live, abandoned and denied, rejected and tortured in the strife, cursed and buried by His creation. These actions lay bare the corruption commonplace to us all. So, don’t slink behind some hollow front, which discards your need for a Divinity so small. To do so is to reject the joy of the blessing to come, shorn of all hope and downcast again. So, trust and rely on this Newborn this day, who clamps the mouth of death’s ravenous grave. For He descends to rise again, all to make sure you will do the same, to receive an inheritance beyond all call and cry. In His lavishness and grace, He will be with you in every turning twist and fall, in each depression and mountain’s peak you face. At life’s end, all our added merits will not warrant an animal’s feed-box for our bed. Still undeterred, our Lord arrays us in His regal robes of virtue. To feed us into eternity, He dines us at His royal banquet Table. So, when this reality of Christ’s presence takes root in your thought and holds your heart, hell and all its underlings cannot hound you down or rip you apart. For you are Christ’s and He is yours! Yes, the One born for you is Christ divine, the Master of the heavens; yes, God sublime. With mortal’s face and deity, He became incarnate to render your free. A Child but also a Lord, heaven’s God in form and flesh, whom we adore. Born two-thousand years ago, he still bends down to us below. Gathered in His name, He is present, still the same. Though now enthroned in heavenly height, He does descend to us this night. Veiled inside the preacher’s word is Jesus Christ, our saving Lord. To proclaim repentance into sin forgiven is His mandate for His Church within. So, when those words do pierce your ears, He is here to free you from your fears. Though grief still harbors in your voice, because of this Christ, you can rejoice! Today, your Redeemer draws near, who swallows up your death-born fear, to carry you into perpetual bliss. For He shuts no one out from this immeasurable joy so each may regale in this reason for rejoicing. So, Satan, you wicked one, own now your Master, for Jesus is born to bring joys never-ending. Let your soul resound in the angels’ refrain. Celebrate and cheer, for the Son pronounces His pardon. Take courage He reaches down to be born, all to deliver to you your birth from above. So, if you plummeted into disgrace and sin, grieve no longer in despair. For Someone extends and stretches down, curved with creation’s sinew and bone, for all your transgressions to atone. In the softest of skin, the Destroyer of death arrives, unbound, coming to cast the evil down! In His earth-bound birth are you, born now into heaven anew. Conclusion This night, the conquering Light advances, unbridling eternity’s bedazzling beauty, to we who tread in dismal gloom and longest shadow of the day. For the Word of Christ still slices the air, breaking into our lives, dispelling all our darkness away. Now, as heirs of heaven’s glory, you too can tell the Christ-child’s story. Amen. _______________________________________________ Sermons mailing list [email protected] https://cat41.org/mailman/listinfo/sermons
