Sermon for Christmas Eve
+ Luke 2:1-14 +
On Sunday we talked about forerunners: the ones God sends to run before His Son, to announce His coming and to prepare people for it. John the Baptist was the great forerunner, but, really, all the prophets and apostles, all pastors and ministers of Christ’s Church are forerunners, heralds, who announce the coming of Jesus, both the reality of His coming and the meaning of it.
On Christmas Eve, the famous forerunners are the angelic host, the “herald angels” who teach, not only the shepherds of Bethlehem, but all of us who have ever heard their message, about the coming of God’s Son into the world. So ponder again this evening the message of the angelic forerunners.
We’ll focus this evening just on the one forerunner, actually, the one angel who stood before the shepherds on the night of Jesus’ birth, surrounded by the brilliant, shining glory of the Lord. He spoke to the cowering shepherds those famous words, Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people, or actually, “to all the people.” We’ll come back to that in a moment. First, what are the good tidings of great joy?
For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.
What do we learn from the angel about the identity of the child born of Mary? He is a Savior, someone who rescues people from terrible danger and makes them safe. The danger that threatens all mankind is well-known to us Christians, but largely ignored or loudly denied by the rest of the world, especially the world we live in today. It’s the danger of hell and eternal death in hell. Even the pagan Greeks and Romans believed that hell was a real place and a real danger, even though they didn’t rightly understand what it was or how it could be avoided. But our modern world has sunk into such deep darkness that even people who believe that heaven is real are more likely today than ever to imagine that hell isn’t a real place or a real danger. If it exists at all, it exists only for a small group of really, really bad people—not for people like me, or like anyone I care about.
But according to Holy Scripture, hell is real and is a real danger for every man, woman, or child who has ever sinned against the Almighty God. And that’s everyone. We’ve all earned it for ourselves, both by actual deeds of disobedience to God’s holy commandments and by the ugliness of the diseased soul with which we’re born, a diseased nature that has no true fear of God, no true love for God, no true trust in God, a nature that is filled with evil, selfish desires. We’re born outside of God’s kingdom. We’re born on our way to hell, dead in trespasses and sins, and so thoroughly unable to save ourselves. We’re in danger of hell, because we are born under God’s wrath and condemnation because of our sins against Him.
But then, into that dark, desperate scene, steps the angelic forerunner, who says, “Wait! There is hope! A hope that has been brewing for some four thousand years. A hope that has finally been given a tangible, visible form: A Savior has been born to you. He is Christ, the Lord.” The Christ, whose coming had been promised since Adam and Eve, the One who would be the true Prophet, Priest, and King, the One who would live as mankind’s Substitute under the Law, to keep it, to satisfy its requirement that salvation—rescue and safety—from sin and death can only be purchased by the sinless life and by the innocent death of One who is not only human, like us, but also divine, like God the Father. And so the angel proclaims the birth of a perfect Savior, who is Christ, the Lord.
He was found, as the angel said He would be, as a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger. A baby just like any other. But lying in a manger, unlike any other. Such was God’s compassion on our race, that His beloved Son, who shared in His glory from eternity, would humble Himself to be born in such a lowly way, to lowly parents, in a lowly little town, to live a life of lowliness, until He should lower Himself all the way to the cross and death. For unto you was born that day a Savior who is Christ the Lord.
This birth, the coming of this Child, was the reason for the joy that would be to “all the people.” The sad reality is that Jesus’ birth to be our Savior from sin, death, and hell has not brought joy to all the people of the earth, because most refuse to repent of their sins and be reconciled to God through this Child. Still, God wants all the people of earth to repent and believe in the Savior who is Christ the Lord. He intends the joy of that Savior for all the people of the earth. And yet the ones for whom it is truly joy are only those relative few who acknowledge the danger they’re in because of their sin and who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ to save them from it. So, in effect, the angelic message of Jesus’ birth is the joy of all the people of God, those who have become part of the Holy Christian Church.
How many churches are nearly empty this evening or will be empty tomorrow for sure? How many are regularly empty on Sunday mornings? How many people are still sad this evening, still lonely, still hurting, still feeling guilty, still in love with their sins, still unwilling to admit the danger they’re in? Well, before we try to help anyone out there, let’s focus on those who are in here.
Be among those who believe God when He tells you the truth about your sin and the danger it puts you in. But then, oh, be among “all the people” who hear the angel’s words and rejoice that God has given His own beloved Son into the world to rescue you, to make you safe from death, safe from hell, safe from His wrath and condemnation. The joy of Christ’s birth is meant for you! The joy of God’s grace and favor, of His mercy and forgiveness, is meant for you! For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.
Unto you was born that day a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. Let that be the joy that fills your heart at Christmas time and throughout the year. Let that be the joy that overcomes all guilt. Let that be the joy that tempers all sadness and hurt and loneliness. This evening God invites you again to believe the angelic forerunner, to share in the joy of all the people who find joy in the birth of God’s Son, to share in the joy of His birth, and in the joy of His salvation. Amen.
