Our Sermons

Bible Passage: Luke 2:1-20
Pastor: Pastor Berg
Sermon Date:  December 24,2020

There’s something about the birth of a baby that is so exciting. Understatement of the year, I know, but hear me out. There’s something about the idea of a fresh start, a clean slate. There is something about the excitement of a new baby because we see that this child is so full of potential. This could be the child that cures cancer. This could be the next great athlete or musician or artist. This could be a future president. With the birth of a new baby comes a whole new set of expectations. 

This entire Advent season, leading up to tonight, we’ve been encouraged to see why we can Expect More Out of Christmas. And now that Christmas is here, what are we expecting? What are we expecting out of Christmas? What are we expecting from ourselves this Christmas? It might be kind of hard to answer that question without going back to the beginning, back to the moment you were born. Why did God put you here? The answer goes all the way back to the very beginning, to the very first human life God made. He tells us why. God had that conversation with himself in Genesis 1: “Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness.” 

God–the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit–made us. You were born to be like God–perfect–to be with God–to live with him forever in total joy and peace and perfection–to be a holy companion for a holy God. Talk about lofty expectations! The only problem is that whole “image of God” thing didn’t last very long. Remember that? God made Adam and Eve, gave them the Garden, gave them everything. And he gave them one command and told them that disobedience was death. Well, they didn’t trust him to know what was good for them and they disobeyed. They doubted God’s love and brought sin and death on themselves and every human since. They ruined their perfection and their ability to be with a holy God. 

And that’s a problem we’ve inherited, isn’t it? It’s a problem we’ve perpetuated. God made us to be perfect. You were born to be his companion, and well, even on such a holy day, even celebrating such a “God-thing” as Christmas, I’d be willing to bet that you wouldn’t pick the word “holy” to describe getting the family ready to come here and making it on time and all the other preparations you’ve made for the day. From the short fuse with the kids to the internal complaining about having to go to church. I don’t have to do much convincing. We aren’t holy. We aren’t living up to our purpose–the reason for which we were born. And then add to that all the times we go in the absolute opposite direction and do exactly what God tells us not to do. Think about what all that means for our relationship with God. Exceeding expectations? I don’t think so. 

More disappointing than the kid who doesn’t win the state championship for his father who never grew out of his teenage sporting career, more crushing than the kid who rebels against his parents and ends up in jail, worse than any kid failing to meet the expectations of their earthly parents–our failures mean we don’t meet God’s demands. Our sins earned death–separation from God forever.

And that, my friends, is why Christmas is such a big deal. That’s why we can Expect More Out of Christmas even having it Exceed Expectations! First of all, it’s a big deal because it’s the birth of God’s Son. The holy maker and preserver of the universe sent his own Son. God came to earth. The LORD who holds the planets in the courses that stars in their places left behind the eternal glory of heaven to become our substitute, to become so weak and fragile that he couldn’t walk or talk or hold his head up. God became man. That’s mind blowing!

But it Exceeds Our Expectations even more because of the purpose. This baby wasn’t born to win a state championship or even cure cancer, not to end world hunger or cure a pandemic–but to cure sin–the cause of it all. You see, God’s presence with us would not emphasize the chasm between God and humanity, but would span it.

God became man–not born in Augustus’ palace because he wasn’t born to rule. He wasn’t born in the lap of luxury because the purpose of his birth was not to be treated as he deserved. He was born in Bethlehem because that is what was promised through the prophets, to a descendant of Adam and Abraham and David, because God had said that’s who he would send. He was born and placed in a manger because he came to suffer, not to show off. God himself was wrapped in cloths and put to sleep in a feed trough among the smells of manure and dirt, all because of why he was born. 

He was born to save us. He was born to take our place and feel the pain our sins brought on. He was born to do what we are too weak to do–obey the law. He was born to pay for the times we don’t. He was born to die. And every detail of the Christmas story we know so well proclaims this! The God who plays kings and emperors like pawns on a chess board had Caesar move the world’s population with this census so that Micah’s little prophecy of the Savior would be fulfilled and David’s greatest descendant would be born in David’s city. And that’s the kind of power this helpless baby gave up to be born there. And even with that great family name, God sent his Son to some of David’s poorest children, who couldn’t even afford a lamb to dedicate him at the temple, who couldn’t even afford a room the night he was born all so that what he said through Isaiah would be true– “He had no attractiveness and no majesty. When we saw him, nothing about his appearance made us desire him.” 

And look how simply this birth is described: “And so it was that while they were there, the time came for her to give birth. And she gave birth to her firstborn son, wrapped him in swaddling cloths, and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.” Such simple words, such a simple scene, foreshadowing another scene 33 years later as this baby’s grown, helpless body is carried from the cross, wrapped in linen cloths and placed in a borrowed bed, the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea. You see, this child was born to die.

Even the angels’ announcement of it points to the purpose. “Today in the town of David, a Savior was born for you. He is Christ (the promised anointed one) the Lord (God himself–now check out the sign of God’s coming). And this will be a sign for you: You will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” The sign that your Savior is here is that God so humbled himself. The sign is the cloths, the borrowed bed. That’s the sign that this child was born to die. Because this is what it took to save us. 

We’ve tried so many ways to deal with our failures–from denying them, to trying to blame someone else for them, making excuses and every rationalization under the sun–but our efforts don’t work. Even trying our best to be good can’t fix our sin problem. Remember, we were born to be perfect, to live with God forever. But we aren’t. So Christmas happened. Far exceeding our expectations, Jesus was born to rescue us from what our sins had coming, to deliver us from the guilt and shame and junk that sin brings into our lives. He was born to save us from hell. 

That exceeds expectations, doesn’t it!

So, now let’s go back to where we started. Back to expectations. No matter what the expectations were for your life or for your children, all the details of your birth would say that you were destined to die–that was the price tag hanging over your head. But God’s love changed that. Christmas changed that. Exceeding Expectations this baby, God’s Son, this sinless perfect Son of the virgin was born to die in your place so that you will live, so that your rebirth means life forever, so that your guilt is gone, so that you are perfect and perfectly suited to live with your God for all eternity. You were born to live because this child was born to save us. This Christmas, expect more. But don’t go looking for world peace or cures for disease to find more. Instead, look to the manger. Look to the child who was born to save. I promise, he will exceed your expectations. Amen.