Our Sermons

Bible Passage: Luke 2
Pastor: Pastor Berg
Sermon Date:  December 24, 2022

On a Christmas Eve, not too long ago, a young woman named Jane lay dying. Her kidneys were failing. Dialysis was no longer helping. Those kidneys were about to cease to function. And so her friends gathered around for one final Christmas celebration with her, it was the least they could do. Some of them had been there with her on that day when she received the call from the doctor that the test results weren’t good–that her kidneys were failing. It was earth-shattering news! What she thought was going to be something minor, something so routine had turned her world upside down. She was on the donor list, but the list was long and her blood type was rare. It seemed unlikely that a donor would ever be found. And so, as those kidneys were about to give out, Jane’s friends wouldn’t have been anywhere else on that Christmas Eve. As you can imagine, they brought many gifts. The tears seemed to flow endlessly as each gift was opened. Some were costly–but it didn’t matter to Jane. All were beautiful. And after that last gift had been opened, and the last “thank you” had been shared, and the last “I love you,” had been spoken, there was a knock on the door. And outside was Jane’s friend, Molly. It wasn’t until now that the others noticed that Molly wasn’t there–they had been so caught up in the emotion of the day. Molly came in and without even taking off her coat she went and sat on Jane’s bed and she said, “Jane, I just got word from the doctor. I’m a perfect match. I’d like to give you one of my kidneys.” Talk about news that changes the world. A gift that was precious to the giver was even more precious to the recipient. 

It’s not too often that we hear world-changing “good news.” At least it seems when news is world-changing, it’s usually unexpected bad news. That was true for the nation of Israel, wasn’t it? All of the prophets we hear from in the season of Advent–from Jeremiah to Malachi to Isaiah to Micah have this in common–they preach a stern message of repentance and a promise of coming judgment. They held back no punches when they talked about what would happen to the nation of Israel. They were going to suffer; they were going into captivity because of their impenitence. It was world-changing for the faithful who wanted to follow the LORD. But God did not simply give them a world-changing message of law and judgment and punishment. In an equally world-changing fashion, he promised deliverance through the very same prophets. He promised a Savior who would change the world. A Savior who would be righteous, who would be from the line of David, who would be the LORD to bring them peace. He even promised that the coming of this Savior would be world changing! Listen to what the prophet Haggai tells us:    “Listen, this is what the Lord of Armies says. Once again, in a little while, I myself will shake the heavens and the earth, the seas and the dry land. I will shake all the nations, and the desired of all the nations will come, and I will fill this house with glory, says the Lord of Armies.” The earth would shake; the nations would be shaken when the Savior comes. Sounds spectacular, doesn’t it? Yet as we view the coming of the Savior again today, we don’t see a lot of world-changing spectacular things. Sure, the angels were spectacular–and we’ll get to them. But they only spoke to a handful of shepherds. But beyond that…there’s a lot of humility. So how in the world would the earth be shaken and the nations shaken? What’s so world-changing?

Martin Luther had an interesting take on it. He says that indeed the nations were shaken and the earth was moved. And we scratch our heads and feel like asking Dr. Martin, “What does this mean?” Well, what was taking place at this time? A census–of the entire Roman World, which at that time was the entire known world. Ok, no big deal, so the people were being counted and taxed. That’s not world-changing–that doesn’t shake the nations. Until we remember what it meant for the nations. Luke tells us: “And everyone went to register, each to his own town.” Talk about shaking up the population! Talk about shaking the nations! Everyone would have been on the move if they had ever left home. And this was a pretty mobile society already. But, I think we all understand that’s not the only shaking Haggai was referring to. The impact of Jesus’ birth was felt well beyond that manger. The shepherds did hear about it and they came and saw and they told everyone what they had heard and seen. The heavens were shaken as the angels filled the sky that night with the Gospel. A star unlike any other appeared in the sky and caught the attention of the Wise Men on the other side of the world. And they, too, traveled to see the King. But even that, I don’t believe was God’s point as he spoke through Haggai. No, I believe the world-changing was in the words of the angels. It was in the message that they shared with the shepherds and also with us. Let’s listen again to what happened. 

“There were in the same country shepherds staying out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified!” How many of you have an angel atop your Christmas tree? Does it frighten you? I don’t imagine that it would. Our society has tended to turn angels into loveable creatures–almost like cupid in their appearance. But that’s not the description of angels that we see most frequently in the Bible, and it’s not the description Luke gives us here. These were not the cute, chubby, Hallmark cherubs. These were not the Precious Moments kind of angels you put atop your Christmas trees. The Greek word used here to describe the angels is a military term. This is the heavenly army! These were God’s warrior angels. How would you react if you were sitting in the dark, staring up at the stars like you do every night when all of sudden the sky is brighter than the sun and you see a plethora of warrior angels? The way the shepherds reacted isn’t really captured in the translation “terrified.” The Greek literally says, “and they feared a great fear!” It’s redundant in its expression, but Luke’s point is to emphasize the fear. But God didn’t send his angels to make the shepherds afraid. He doesn’t send his angels with a world-changing message of judgment. He sends his angels with good news.

“But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. For behold, I bring you good news of great joy, which will be for all people: Today in the town of David, a Savior was born for you. He is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: You will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.”” As we look again at these beloved words, I want you to focus on two of them. In the Greek, it’s actually just one word and it’s plural–ὑμῖν—best translated, “for you.” A son has been born for you, yes, for you dirty shepherds. Shepherding was not a noble profession. Shepherds were perpetually ceremonially unclean. They were poor. They sacrificed their lives to protect a flock of sheep while everyone else was tucked warm in their beds. But God chose to send his warrior angels to poor, lowly shepherds and announce to them, a Savior, the Christ, the one promised of old to save his people from their sins, yes, that Siavor has been born for you, dear shepherds. 

Just try and trap that in your noggin. Let it bounce between your ears and massage your brain. “For you.” Not for them. “For you.” “Do not be afraid, for you.” There is the sermon. Gospel. Just when you are tempted to think that God has forgotten about you, or that the birth of his Son means nothing for you, God comes to you as he did the shepherds and says, “a Savior was born for you.” And it’s not just anyone born for you, but a Savior. It’s world-changing! How amazing! We started out tonight talking about the prophets. They too tell us that Jesus came for us. Isaiah says, “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given.”  And this is only the beginning! For if you think that his birth and infancy were difficult, how much more were the devil’s temptations that he faced during his years in this world. And yet he faced them and defeated them for you! And if you think that his birth was humble and the circumstances awful, how much more was the humble and awful death he endured for your sin on the cross over three decades later. And yet, he went to the cross and died for you! Isaiah tells us again, “but it was because of our rebellion that he was pierced. He was crushed for the guilt our sins deserved.” And if you think the whole story of his birth is world-changing, how much more was the world-changing defeat he accomplished over death on the day of his physical resurrection from the grave. And that resurrection was a victory won for you! But it all started today. “Today in the town of David, a Savior was born for you. He is Christ the Lord.” The Savior came into the world to change the world for real people–people like you.

Because of Christmas, you and I will no longer be afraid when we stand before the host of warrior angels and the holy Judge on the final day. Good news has come for us. What God demands, Christ fulfilled in his life, death, and resurrection. What we deserve, Christ took from us. What we are, Christ gave to us. So that what God sees in us is Christ’s life, his death, his resurrection–good news of great joy!

“Suddenly, there was with the angel a multitude from the heavenly army, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward mankind.”” “On earth peace.” Can we say it enough? What is further from this world than peace? Every day we see everything but peace. But peace on earth is not a dream. Peace on earth is the most real of realities. Peace on earth now reclines in the lap of his mother. I saw a billboard once that said, “A world at prayer is a world at peace.” It sounds good, but it’s just not true. I may look nice and give you warm fuzzies, what with all the happy faces and peaceful poses, but you know that kind of peace won’t exist here. We like the picture, but unlike the manger, it has no place in the real world. Peace is not prayed. Peace is born and proclaimed. Peace comes down from heaven into the hearts of men. This world will war until its end, but it will not rob us of our Peace, our Peace that surpassess understanding. 

“For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son…” Remember Molly and Jane? A gift that was precious to the giver was even more precious to the recipient? The same is true of God’s gift of Jesus this Christmas. His Christmas message, that good news of the Gospel, that God gave his only Son as a baby in Bethlehem that he might live and die and rise, that message is for us. It’s for you! And there’s nothing that changes the world more than that! May this world-changing good news fill you this Christmas! Amen.