Sermon for Christmas Day, Part 3 (Merry Christmas)

by Aaron

Well, it is finally Christmas Day and there are no services at Element…whatever will you do? How about you read this blog, as well as the ones from the last two weeks, and go over the questions with your family? Over the last 2 ½ weeks, we have been looking at pieces of a sermon by Martin Luther written in 1521 and delivered on Christmas Day. (Obviously, he was holier than we are because he went to church on Christmas). 

 
Luther has spoken of God shaking the world to bring peace, he has spoken about how we miss Jesus in the ordinary because our lives are so consumed with self, and today, we will go over where Luther begins to speak of grace in an unconventional way.
 
“Grace does not interfere with nature and her work, but rather improves and promotes it. Likewise Mary, without doubt, also nourished the child with milk from her breast and not with strange milk, or in a manner different from that which nature provided, as we sing: ubere de coelo pleno, from her breast being filled by heaven, without injury or impurity. I mention this that we may be grounded in the faith and know that Jesus was a natural man in every respect just as we, the only difference being in his relation to sin and grace, he being without a sinful nature…It is a great comfort to us that Jesus took upon himself our nature and flesh. Therefore we are not to take away from him or his mother anything that is not in conflict with grace, for the text clearly says that she brought him forth, and the angels said, unto you he is born.

How could God have shown his goodness in a more sublime manner than by humbling himself to partake of flesh and blood…But what happens in heaven concerning this birth? As much as it is despised on earth, so much and a thousand times more is it honored in heaven. If an angel from heaven came and praised you and your work, would you not regard it of greater value than all the praise and honor the world could give you, and for which you would be willing to bear the greatest humility and reproach? What exalted honor is that when all the angels in heaven cannot restrain themselves from breaking out in rejoicing, so that even poor shepherds in the fields hear them preach, praise God, sing and pour out their joy without measure? Were not all joy and honor realized at Bethlehem, yes, all joy and honor experienced by all the kings and nobles on earth, to be regarded as only dross and abomination, of which no one likes to think, when compared with the joy and glory here displayed?

Behold how very richly God honors those who are despised of men, and that very gladly. Here you see that his eyes look into the depths of humility, as is written, "He sitteth above the cherubim" and looketh into the depths. Nor could the angels find princes or valiant men to whom to communicate the good news; but only unlearned laymen, the most humble people upon earth. Could they not have addressed the high priests, who it was supposed knew so much concerning God and the angels? No, God chose poor shepherds, who, though they were of low esteem in the sight of men, were in heaven regarded as worthy of such great grace and honor.

See how utterly God overthrows that which is lofty! And yet we rage and rant for nothing but this empty honor, as we had no honor to seek in heaven; we continually step out of God's sight, so that he may not see us in the depths, into which he alone looks…He works in opposition to these temporal things, looks with favor upon that from which the world turns, teaches that from which it flees and takes up that which it discards.

And although we are not willing to tolerate such acts of God and do not want to receive blessing, honor and life in this way, yet it must remain so. God does not change his purpose, nor does he teach or act differently than he purposed. We must adapt ourselves to him, he will not adapt himself to us. Moreover, he who will not regard his word, nor the manner in which he works to bring comfort to men, has assuredly no good evidence of being saved. In what more lovely manner could he have shown his grace to the humble and despised of earth, than through this birth in poverty, over which the angels rejoice, and make it known to no one but to the poor shepherds?”

 
On Christmas Eve we talked about light, that Jesus came into the world to expose our darkness. One of the ways we live in darkness is by constantly thinking the rich, famous, or powerful have everything we could ever want or need. (I wonder if they got everything wanted today in terms of “stuff.”) We raise people higher in our own estimation and want what they have, but God comes in the form of Jesus and shows what really matters; it is not the high and lofty, it is the common and ordinary. We are a people who live in the common and ordinary places and that is where Jesus chose to make Himself known.
 
This Christmas day, ask your kids what would bring them the most joy: having God speak words of grace over them, or having their favorite movie star (or super hero) show up for dinner? Talk about how God’s grace reminds us that living in the ordinary is good, and that as we live for Him in ordinary places, His grace becomes more deeply known and understood.
 
Merry Christmas, Element.
 

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