Christmas Day - 2009

2 Corinthians 8:9 - "For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich."

"What Is The Story Of Christmas?"

Have you ever been cooking or baking, when, at the end of mixing up the recipe and you are about to put it in the oven, you realize that you forgot to add an ingredient? I once heard the story of some children who had gotten together to bake sugar cookies for a school Christmas party. As they worked together and prepared the batter, they tasted it, but it just wasn’t right. Something had been left out, and even the raw batter could not hide it. Quickly they rechecked the recipe and learned to their astonishment that they had left out the sugar. What a difference that addition made! A sugar cookie cannot be a sugar cookie without sugar!

Sometimes that happens with Christmas too, doesn’t it? We follow the recipe with the greatest care: we put up the tree and hang the lights; we exchange the CD’s in the CD player with Christmas ones; we bake the cookies and prepare for Christmas parties; and we buy and wrap the presents – only to discover that the most important ingredient has been forgotten. As sugar cookies cannot be sugar cookies without sugar, so Christmas cannot be Christmas without Christ.

For the past month the people of the world have been busy getting ready to celebrate Christmas. But were we to ask, “What child is this who is the reason for Christmas,” we would no doubt get a variety of answers. While we make many of the same preparations we know the story of Christmas. We know who this child is and why his birth is reason to celebrate. It is the happy scene at the manger presented to us by the Gospels that give us the occasion for celebration at this time every year. It’s the happy scene at the manger which tells us what the story of Christmas really is!

HYMN: 65 - "O Little Town Of Bethlehem"

"His Is A Story Of Riches To Rags"

There are many things that jump out at a person as they carefully read of Jesus’ birth in the Bible, and one of those things is the lack of wealth and earthly goods at that manger scene. Everything about it suggests modesty and humility. His birthplace was not in a hospital as we are accustomed to, nor was it in a sanitized room with midwives to assist Mary. Instead, it was in a stable, the place where animals usually dwelt. His bed was a manger, a trough from which animals usually ate. And his dress was that of the common man, simple cloths.

However, it isn’t simply the humble surroundings of Jesus’ birth that should cause us to take note. Now, I realize that according to our way of thinking our senses are offended at the surroundings. We tend to think that the world was harsh and cold by not providing a suitable place for delivery. But this would not appear to be the way the people at that time would have viewed it. To live in a stable and place a child in a manger seems to have been not that uncommon. But nevertheless, we still should be amazed! In fact, we should be shocked! And that which SHOULD amaze us, that which SHOULD startle us, that which IS so noteworthy is who this child born in a stable, placed in the manger, and wrapped in simple cloths is.

He is our Maker. He is the Creator of everything, both visible and invisible. He is “God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God,” as the authors of the Nicene Creed put it. He is King of the world and Ruler of the universe. There was nothing that didn’t belong to him. Now, can you imagine a rich man giving up his riches and luxuries to live as a poor man? Could you imagine the president of a country stepping down from his exalted position to be a common laborer struggling to make a living? Yet, Jesus did this sort of thing. He took upon himself the characteristics of what he created. He made himself obedient to the laws of nature he established. Gravity would now affect him. He would now be bound by time. He would hunger and thirst and tire. Even though all the power and majesty of God was his, he did not come parading it before us. He did not even come into this world as a child of royalty and wealth. No, he was human just as we are in every respect -- except for one. He did not have a sinful nature.

In order to live among us as a true man, Jesus did not make use of the qualities that were his as true God. That is because he did not come to have us bow before him in service, but to serve us as sinners. To be sure, he was a servant of God, his heavenly Father, as he said, “For I have come down from heaven…to do the will of him who sent me” (John 6:38). But more than that, in his lowly condition on this earth he was also a servant to each of us to save us from sin and damnation. Just think, if Jesus had been born in a palace with carpets on the floor an inch thick, ordinary man would have hesitated to walk into a room like that and Christ would have remained at a distance from the common man. Not so now! He was born in a stable! And that humbleness, the lowliness of Christ is for our benefit.

You see, as a true man Jesus was subject to the Law of God which he himself had established for us. He did this so that by his perfect obedience he could give the record of his sinless life as a replacement for each of our lifetimes of disobedience. Yet, his service to us led him to even greater lowliness. A lowliness which saw him betrayed by a follower, deserted by his friends, abused by his enemies, and eventually suffering a painful and shameful death reserved for the worst of criminals. But couldn’t we say his service led him to even greater depths than that? Doesn’t that come out in those heart-wrenching, spine-chilling, tear-inducing words, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Mark 15:34) Whatever sins we are guilty of, even ones we don’t know we have committed, every single wrong we have ever confessed -- each and every guilty stain on our record Jesus took upon himself.

HYMN: 40 – “O Jesus Christ, Your Manger Is”

"Ours Is A Story Of Rags To Riches"

There are many rags to riches stories that can be found in this world. The hit movie from about a month ago, “The Blind Side,” portrayed one such story. Or think of the hard working and enterprising young man or woman who knows overnight success; or the fortunate person who makes millions because of an invention. All you have to do is watch “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous” or “MTV Cribs;” all you have to do is browse through a bookstore or surf the internet and you will find such a story. But you know - you don’t really even have to go to that much work. All you really have to do is look in the mirror or look at the person sitting next to you right now and you will see a rags-to-riches story. Because Jesus went from riches to rags to serve us, our story, the story of the believer, is one of rags to riches.

But our story is even greater than anything seen on TV, read in a book or witnessed on the intranet. You see, we were not just poor, we were beggarly. There was nothing good in us by nature. We were spiritually broke. We didn’t even have a penny of righteousness which we could offer to God so as to avoid punishment in hell for sin. All that lay within the hearts of each of us is the seeds of every sin. And if you aren’t so sure about that, just think of some of the things you’ve done in your lifetime (either as a believer or before becoming a believer) – the repulsive, disgusting, shameful things you thought you would never do. We lived in a condition of death: spiritual, physical, eternal – with absolutely no wealth of wisdom to avoid God’s judgment against sin.

To make matters even worse, we have no power to do anything about our spiritual poverty. Every effort by the sinner to make things right with God only accumulates a greater debt of sin. Try as we might, by comparing ourselves with others or attempting to do more good than bad, we still can do nothing to erase the sin that stains us. As the Proverb puts it, “There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death” (Proverbs 16:25). Simply put, each of us was fit only to be sent out of God’s courtroom to the debtor’s prison of hell forever.

But then Jesus was added to the mix! Through his poverty, he won and gives us riches that save us from damnation and give us eternal life. With his death he won for us the wealth of God’s forgiveness. So now, all the times we’ve sinned by forgetting to add Christ to our Christmas celebration – forgiven. Having kept God’s law perfectly as our substitute, we are now covered with the glorious robe of Christ’s holiness. So now, when God looks down at us he no longer sees those repulsive, disgusting, shameful things we’ve done. We possess the riches of eternal life in heaven and the glorious conditions we will enjoy there forever. We know peace with God; joy in believing; patience for our troubles; perseverance in the face of temptation; and any other godly virtue that will benefit our life of faith on this earth. We have the treasure of confidence, knowing that God is with us with help and protection as we live out our lives on earth.

Close your eyes. Picture the cross. The absolutely perfect Son of God, the creator of the universe, the one to whom everything belongs, hanging on that instrument of torture for no crime of his own, forsaken by his very own Father. Now, picture the manger. Who is that child who is the reason for Christmas? He is our Savior from sin and damnation. He is the one who earned for us eternal life. He is the one who has brought us from the worst condition of rags to the finest condition of riches. What is the story of Christmas? On our side, it is a story of rags to riches. As you consider again the child born of the virgin in Bethlehem’s manger, may you say with humble joy and thanksgiving, “I know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for my sake he became poor, so that I through his poverty might become rich.” Amen.

HYMN: 64 – “Let Us All with Gladsome Voice”