All I Want for Christmas is a Sermon
Luke 2:11
The Eve of the Nativity of our Lord 2016
At the risk of taking your mind far from church and birth of Jesus what do you want for Christmas? Now let me narrow the question down. If there was one thing you could find under your tree or receive into your life what would it be? What one gift would you want for Christmas?
Caesar Augustus wanted to know how big his tax base was. Mary wanted to arrive safely in Bethlehem before she gave birth. Joseph wanted a room in the Bethlehem Holiday Inn instead of a shed on the back of the Walmart lot. The Shepherds? Who knows? Mutton commodities to go up or maybe some Southern Comfort to warm themselves.
What one gift do you want for Christmas? How about a sermon? Have you ever said, “All I want for Christmas is a sermon.” Without the sermon of the angel preached to the Shepherds there would have been no Christmas. Jesus could have been born 100 times, but without the Angel’s preaching – to Mary first, then Joseph, and finally on this night to the Shepherds, no one, including you, would receive the gift of Jesus your Savior. The angel’s sermon is exactly what we need tonight because only in God’s Word do we learn what we need and through that preached Word God delivers to us that one gift in Christ alone.
A few weeks ago I listened to a program that discussed a lot of the popular Christmas movies. What is interesting is that those movies answer the question, “What one thing do you need for Christmas?” All Ralphie needed in A Christmas Story was a Red Ryder BB Gun. George Bailey needed to know that his life actually meant something in “It’s a Wonderful Life.” In Home Alone, Kevin McCallister finally knew what he wanted – he did not want to be home alone. The Grinch received something from the residents of Whoville that he needed, but not necessarily wanted – He received an enlarged heart – a heart that loved and cared and rejoiced in others and their gifts.
Don’t those movies actually do a good job of describing our greatest desires? Meaningful life, family, to be loved and to love? So why do we need a sermon when we have Hollywood? Because the preaching of the movies always comes up short. In Hollywood the problem is outside of you and the solution is with in you. The angel’s sermon preaches something Hollywood will never preach – the problem is within us and the solution is outside of us.
God’s Word preaches what we know about ourselves, but don’t care to admit. What lies behind our many desires and disappointments at Christmas and indeed in life is our own sin. We covet not only Red Ryder BB guns, but every other item under the sun because we’re trying fill life’s emptiness with goods. But the fact that we are never satisfied preaches a sermon that these gifts aren’t the answer. We are alone because our own sin divides us from one another – children anger their parents and parents frustrate their children, your brother ticks you off, and in the quest for peace you leave each other alone. There are many tonight and tomorrow who will be home alone. We wonder if our lives have meaning because we don’t even live up to our own expectations (and fall even farther short of what God expects).
Because of all that you need a sermon for Christmas. Mary got a sermon for Christmas. “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God.” (Luke 1:35, ESV) That sermon delivered the Son of God into her womb by the power of the Holy Spirit. Joseph heard a sermon for Christmas, “Mary will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” (Matt. 1:21, ESV) By that sermon the Holy Spirit made Joseph a faithful husband to Mary and a diligent guardian of Jesus before and after he was born. The Shepherds got a sermon for Christmas, “For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.” (Luke 2:11, KJV) That sermon delivered Jesus to the world, starting first with those shepherds, but from their ears and eyes it went to their mouths and from their mouths the news went out to the world, so that you could hear it for yourself tonight.
The angel preached it straight to Joseph – Jesus was in Mary’s womb because of sin – He will save His people from their sins. That sermon revealed the source of the bad news – it’s you, but also contained the best good news ever, the glad tidings of great joy. Jesus was in Mary’s womb to save us from our sins. The shepherds heard that same sermon outside Bethlehem – Jesus was born to be the Savior of the world.
Here is the gift of Christmas – The Son of God became man. God Himself has taken on human flesh to save you from your sins. Now you might not think that’s what you need for Christmas – and that’s OK. Mary didn’t think she could be pregnant and Joseph didn’t think a virgin could conceive. The Shepherds never thought they would leave their sheep on a cold winter night to visit a makeshift maternity ward where they would behold God’s own Son wrapped in newborn human flesh and wearing a diaper. God knows what you need and He delivers it – or rather delivers Him into the world through Mary. No one would have known Jesus or received Him apart from the sermons preached. How would you have heard except someone preached it to you?
Jesus comes to do what we cannot do ourselves. He always and only did good works – perfectly faithful to His Father in heaven and perfectly loving His neighbors and enemies on earth. Never, ever, ever sinning. He didn’t lead a wonderful life. He led a perfect life. Then He and He alone bore the sin of the world – He left His Home in heaven with the Father to go all alone into hell and death. He did all of this to show us how large our Father’s heart is – it is mysteriously large with love and forgiveness for us. This is the sermon and story of Christ Jesus, of Christ alone – He alone saves us from our sin. He alone is true God and true man. He alone kept the commandments of God. He alone died for the sin of the world. He alone rose from the dead after three days. He alone is your Savior from sin and your way into the good graces of God your Father.
You will not find what He did under your tree. You will not receive His gifts from Amazon. They come in one place and one place only – in His preached Word. That’s how He was delivered to Mary and Joseph and the Shepherds and that is how He comes to you.
What one thing do you want for Christmas? I’m quite certain it isn’t a sermon, but that’s the gift here at Redeemer tonight – the sermon of the Angel to the Shepherds and it alone delivers Jesus to you. He was born for you. He lived for you. He died for you and three days later He rose for you. He sits at the right hand of God for you. And He is coming back for you. On account of Christ alone God gives you gift upon gift – forgiveness for your sins and everlasting life. He brings you into the communion of saints (that means you’re never alone again) and on the last day He will raise your body and bring you home. I pray you hear the angel’s sermon and receive the only gift you need, the One God delivers to you in the name of Jesus. Amen.
Pr. Bruce Timm
24 December 2016 anno Domini