A Sermon... The Nativity of Our LORD December 25, 2005

Sermon Text: Luke 2:1-20

 

Title: “The Bad News and the Good News.”

 

I. The bad news is that Jesus needed to come.

II. The good news is that Jesus DID come.

 

FOR UNTO YOU IS BORN THIS DAY IN THE CITY OF DAVID A

SAVIOR WHICH IS CHRIST THE LORD.

 

Grace, mercy and peace from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

 

The sermon text for the celebration of The Nativity of Our LORD, is taken from ...Luke 2:1-20

 

And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch‍over their flock by night. ‍ ⁹ ‍And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.‍ ¹⁰ ‍And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.‍ ¹¹ ‍For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.‍ ¹² ‍And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.‍ ¹³ ‍And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,‍ ¹⁴ ‍Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.‍

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

 

I.

MERRY CHRISTMAS! THE SAVIOR HAS COME! This should be on the lips of all Christians this day. But let me shift gears slightly.

 

How many of you have heard of Willow Creek church in Chicago? It is a megachurch, and when I say mega I mean huge. Their membership is nearly 18,000! How many of you have heard of Mars Hill Bible church in Grandville, Michigan? It is also a megachurch. Their membership is over 10,000! How many of you have heard of Fellowship Church near Dallas? It too is a megachurch and their membership is over 16,000!

 

Do you know what is going on right this very moment at these churches at roughly 9:15am CHRISTmas morning? Not a single thing. There are no choirs singing praises to God. There are no organs or pianos playing the beautiful notes of Silent Night. There are no children dressed as Mary and Jospeh or the shepherds. There are no prayers being said before altars thanking God for the wonderful gift He has given us in sending His Son to be born into this living hell that we call earth.

 

Instead the doors are locked tight. The lights are turned off. The heat is turned down. And the parking lots are empty. This is how nearly 50,000 CHRISTIANS are celebrating one of the holiest days in the church year. They are celebrating by leaving the house of the LORD silent.

 

I became aware of this through an email list I am on with Paul McCain, the interim President of Concordia Publishing House. A couple of weeks ago he sent out an article that was published in the Chicago Tribune newspaper. I would like to read some of this article to you…

 

“Willow Creek Community Church, one of the largest churches in the Chicago area, will be closed on Sunday, Dec. 25--because it's Christmas.

Although thousands of the faithful usually flock to the South Barrington church and its satellites on Sundays, Willow Creek is joining several other evangelical megachurches across the nation in choosing not to worship as a congregation on Christmas Day.

Instead, they will urge members to focus on family at home, rather than filling the pews.

‘At first glance it does sound contrary,’ said Rev. Gene Appel, senior pastor of Willow Creek. ‘We don't see it as not having church on Christmas. We see it as decentralizing the church on Christmas--hundreds of thousands of experiences going on around Christmas trees. The best way to honor the birth of Jesus is for families to have a more personal experience on that day.’”

 

Did he just say that church is getting in the way of celebrating CHRISTmas? Are you kidding me??? To hear this so called pastor tell it, the best way to honor the birth of the Savior of the world is to completely take the focus off of Jesus, the baby in the manger and focus on family, and the personal experience of the day. Really?

The writer of the news article talked to another pastor, Rev. John Buchanan of Fourth Presbyterian Church in Chicago. This pastor praised Willow Creek's innovative efforts to cater to its audience. Really?

 

So according to these pastors the world tells the church what to do and church bows to the people. Can that be right? Of course not. And it is in this one article about CHRISTmas that we see how devalued God has become not just among nonbelievers, but among its supposed faithful as well. It’s more important to make memories around the CHRISTmas tree and eggnog then it is to be in church praising the Father for answering our cry for mercy in the birth of His one and only Son. A birth that leads to one thing and one thing only a shameful death on a Cross.

 

How many of you have kept up with the way stores have treated CHRISTmas this year? Many of the larger chains of stores decided against saying CHRISTmas and instead saying happy holidays or something else. First, the importance of Christ is removed from the church and now from the places where we shop. What’s next? It truly makes me sick that there is so little left of what CHRISTmas is truly all about.

 

And we are not exempt from this litany of woes. We go on sinning just the way we always do. We don’t trust in God above all things. We curse, swear, lie and deceive by his name. We don’t call upon Him in every trouble, instead we often look inward to ourselves to solve our problems. We despise preaching and His Word when we choose to do other things then be in His house regularly. We despise our parents and employers provoking them to anger. We hurt and harm our neighbor. We don’t lead chaste lives. We don’t honor our spouses. We take our neighbor’s money and goods and get them by false ways and dealings. We speak poorly of our neighbor in our gossiping. We craftily seek to get our neighbor’s things. In other words we do the opposite of what God expects of us in the Ten Commandments.

 

And all of this - the churches closed on CHRISTmas, the stores not using the word CHRISTmas, our sinful neglect, desires and wants all of this leads to the bad news of CHRISTmas…and that is that Christ had to come in the first place. For Christ was born for a single and sole purpose…to die a sinner’s death. The death meant for every single person on the planet, it is this that awaits this babe lying in a manger. And it’s all because of YOU and ME. Jesus needed to come.

II.

 

However, Christian friends the good news this CHRISTmas morning is that Jesus DID come. He came and beared our sins upon Himself gladly. He came so that we should live. That is the love the LORD has for us His dear children. This is why we worship here in the LORD’S house today, one of the holiest days of the year. God the Father comes to us. God the Son comes to us. God the Holy Spirit comes to us in this service. We receive here on this holy of holy days the Word preached and it has strengthened us and our faith. We have been reminded of our Baptism from the invocation of our service that begins in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. And shortly we will partake in a special meal that bestows forgiveness of sins and is reserved for those who believe that our Savior’s body and blood is truly present on His altar, and confess it and all of our beliefs as one body with Christ as our head.

 

All of this comes to us because Christ came to us that first CHRISTmas morn…

 

FOR UNTO YOU IS BORN THIS DAY IN THE CITY OF DAVID A SAVIOR WHICH IS CHRIST THE LORD.

 

Jesus - this tiny Baby in the manger - saves us from our sins. What a wonderful gift, truly the best CHRISTmas present ever. Amen.

 

Now the peace which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our LORD. Amen.

 

+ Sola Deo Gloria +