Reflections on the Birth of Our Savior

[00:00:32] Speaker A: 16 and our daughter. Technically, she struggles with learning butterfly and then. [00:01:32] Speaker B: I don't. [00:01:32] Speaker A: I don't think so. But yeah, it was. It's. It. It. It. It. It Sa. [00:07:12] Speaker C: Good evening. Merry Christmas. That was nice. And this is exciting. It's always exciting. But here we are to celebrate the birth of our Savior, Jesus, who is not an ordinary guy. He is the Son of God. Become a human being for us and for our salvation. He came down from heaven and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the Virgin Mary, as we say in the Nicene Creed. So we give thanks to God for giving us the gift of no less than his Son humbling himself for us and for our salvation. The service is on the screen and in the bulletin. It's a series of readings and hymns to help us reflect on his birth. So let's stand and begin with this responsive prayer for the word. Blessed are you, O Lord our God, King of all creation. For you have had mercy on us and given your only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. In your righteous judgment you condemned the sin of Adam and Eve who ate the forbidden fruit. And you justly barred them and all their children from the tree of life. Yet in your great mercy, you promised salvation by a second Adam, your son, Jesus Christ our Lord, and made his cross a life giving tree for all who trust in him. As we contemplate the birth of our Savior, give us to rejoice in his coming. Amen. Please be seated. [00:09:43] Speaker B: Blessing. We now rejoice with heart and soul and voice, Life's most precious treasure, your pouring manger lights. He brings purer pleasure than sunlight from the skies. Christ is born today. Christ is born today. That sun comes from above your grace and saving love to my spirit bringing. O pure and holy child. Fill my heart with singing for grace so great and might Draw me unto you, Draw me unto you. We sing as the divine for us in Jesus shine. Guilt of sin had taught us but death and misery Then our ransom bought us God's right eternity. O that we were there. O that we were there. Where is that place so fair? Or nowhere else but there where the angel voices with God's redeemed unite all that he rejoices to share his holy light. Oh that we were there. All that we were there. [00:11:45] Speaker C: The first lesson is from Genesis chapter three. And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day. And the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among The trees of the garden. But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, where are you? And he said, I heard the sound of you in the garden. And I was afraid because I was naked and I hid myself. He said, who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat? The man said, the woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree and I ate. Then the Lord God said to the woman, what is this that you have done? The woman said, the serpent deceived me and I ate. The Lord God said to the serpent, because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and above all beasts of the field. On your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life. I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your offspring and her offspring. He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel. To the woman he said, I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing. In pain you shall bring forth children. Your desire shall be contrary to your husband, but he shall rule over you and to Adam. He said, because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, you shall not eat of it. Cursed is the ground. Because of you in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life. Thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you. And you shall eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground. For out of it you were taken, for you are dust and to dust you shall return. [00:14:22] Speaker B: O little town of Bethlehem how still we see thee wide above thy deep and dreamless sleep the silent Starbucks yet in thy dark streets shine the everlasting light the hopes and fears of all the years Are met in thee tonight. [00:15:06] Speaker A: For Christ is born of Mary and. [00:15:12] Speaker B: Gathered all above While mortals sleeping angels keep their watch of wandering love O morning stars together proclaim the holy battle when praises sing to God the King and peace to all the earth how silently, how silently the wondrous gift is given so God imparts to human hearts the blessings of his hand we hear his coming but in this world of sin where many souls will receive and still the dear Christ enters in. [00:16:43] Speaker A: O. [00:16:43] Speaker B: Holy Child of Bethlehem Descend to us, we pray Cast out our sin and enter him be born in us today we hear the Christmas angels the great glad tidings sound O come to us Abide with us Our Lord Emmanuel. [00:17:41] Speaker C: The second lesson is From Isaiah chapter 11. There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit and the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge, and the fear of the Lord and his delight shall be in the fear of the Lord. He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide disputes by what his ears hear. But with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth. And he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked. Righteousness shall be the belt of his waist, and faithfulness the belt of his loins. The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat and the calf, and the lion and the fattened calf together, and a little child shall lead them. The cow and the bear shall graze their young shall lie down together, and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. The nursing child shall play over the whole of the cobra, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder's den. They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain. For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea. In that day the root of Jesse, who shall stand as a signal for the peoples of him, shall the nations inquire, and his resting place shall be glorious. [00:19:44] Speaker A: Sa Ra Ra. [00:23:13] Speaker C: The third lesson is from Isaiah, chapter nine. The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light. Those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone. For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, everlasting Father, Prince of peace, of the increase of his government and of peace, there will be no end on the throne of David and over his kingdom to establish it, and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness. From this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this. [00:24:57] Speaker A: In this morning. For. [00:26:48] Speaker C: The fourth lesson is from Luke, chapter one. In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph of the house of David, and the virgin's name was Mary. And he came to her and said, greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you. But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. And the angel said to her, do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son. And you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever. And of his kingdom there will be no end. And Mary said to the angel, how will this be, since I am a virgin? And the angel answered her, 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. And Mary said, behold, I am the servant of the Lord. Let it be to me according to your word. And the angel departed from her. [00:28:28] Speaker A: Sa Christ. [00:31:20] Speaker C: The fifth lesson is from Luke, chapter two. In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. This was the first registration when Quirinius was governor of Syria, and all went to be registered, each to his own town. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child. And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn. [00:32:36] Speaker A: Lord Jesus lay down his rain. [00:34:19] Speaker C: The sixth reading is also from Luke, chapter two. And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them. And they were filled with great fear. And the angel said to them, fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a savior who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you. You will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying, glory to God in the highest and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased. When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened which the Lord has made known to us. And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph and the baby lying in a manger. And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child. And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them. But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart. And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen as it had been told them. [00:36:07] Speaker A: Sa sa sa sa sa. [00:39:00] Speaker C: The final lesson is from John, chapter one. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God. And the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him. And without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it. The true light which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through Him. Yet the world did not know Him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. And we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son, from the Father, full of grace and truth and peace be to you, from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen. Merry Christmas. We're celebrating not just the birth of a cute baby in. In Bethlehem many years ago. I'm sure he was cute. We're celebrating the true light which gives light to everyone who was coming into the world. Now, part of the beauty of the story and the reason, I think that it has such, well, aesthetic charm maybe as we read the story every year over and over again. Part of the reason I think it's so beautiful is because it's a quiet, unassuming town where he's born. And then he's born in a manger. I'm sorry, a stable. He's born in a stable and placed in a manger in a feeding trough, that the true light which enlightens everyone who is coming into the world, who came down to us from heaven, that there he is. Look at him. You know, it's like the glory of the Lord which he possesses as the Son of God and as the king appointed by God to rule forever on the throne of David. Or to get more crazy, the beginning of the Gospel of John that we just read says that he was in the beginning with God, and all things were made through him, and nothing was made without him. And in him was life. And the life was the light of men, the reality of Jesus Christ and what he comes to do and what he brings and who he is and what he has is hidden as he lies there. The baby in the manger. But there are those who know about it. There are those who have been enlightened by the word of God, who know what's going on. To some degree, they've been tipped off. Mary, of course, was the first to know, I guess you could say, told by the angel Gabriel that her baby would save his people from their sins and that he would be conceived by the Holy Spirit and therefore he'd be called Holy, the Son of God. So she knows in advance what's going on. Of course. Then you have the shepherds who come. The shepherds have been once again told by the word of God. It's not that they would have walking by the stable, peeked in there, and oh, oh, whoa, you know? No, it's, how do they know? How have they been enlightened? They've been enlightened by the Word of God. Enlightened by the Word of God. The Word of God, who was in the beginning with God, through whom all things were made, who is the true light which enlightens everyone who was coming into the world. They've been enlightened by the word of God. You and I, we have been enlightened too, as we look to Jesus and recognize in him the Savior who's come for us, for our salvation. The Savior who's come to forgive our sins, who's come to give us knowledge of God. He came from God in order to make God known to us. He came from the Father in order to lead us to the Father. He's the only one who's seen God. John says in his gospel, he the only begotten Son of God. He makes God known to us. This is a mystery. Take a little peek at what's coming here in the church year. The next season after Christmas is epiphany. It's the season of light. The true light which enlightens Everyone was coming into the world. And then throughout this next season, every Sunday, we're going to have after Christmas, there are a couple more Sundays in Christmas, but then we're going to be seeing the light of Jesus revealed more and more because it's a gradual thing. We gradually see Jesus as the light. He doesn't come and just, bam, now you know everything there is to know about God. That's not how we work as human beings. Otherwise, he could have just said a word from heaven. Instead, he came down to teach us the light, which enlightens everyone. He came down to teach us. And that's part of the reason that he's hidden. His glory is hidden. The light is hidden to some degree in that baby, so that it doesn't blind us, so that we can get used to the light, so that we can grow in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. What a beautiful thing. It's kind of like math class or science class or pick your class. I don't know. I tried to take a physics class in college and realized, like, oh, no, you need math for that. You know, it's been years since I took math and it just didn't work out right. But there I was in that class, and I really wanted to challenge myself. I wanted to learn physics. I thought this would be great. But people were saying things and the professor was teaching, and I just. I was in the dark. I didn't know what was going on. I couldn't see. The funny thing is, walking to class that day, I thought I was going to be able to see something. You know, I thought I could see. I didn't think I was in the dark as much as I actually was. Turns out, yeah, I was in the dark. And if I wanted to not be in the dark with physics, I would have to gradually learn. It would take a while. It's not like the words of the professor would just suddenly hit me and I would know there's more to learn and more to grow, which. To somebody who would be really into physics or who goes a long way, like somebody who gets a PhD in physics. They're so glad there's more to learn all the time. They're so glad that they get to grow and learn, you know, kind of grow and. Well, yeah, grow up in the world of physics. That's what it's like for you and me. Tonight we look at Jesus in the manger and, well, we see him. And maybe by God's grace, we see him, the Savior who's come for us and for our salvation, who's come to forgive our sins and to give us his righteousness, who's come to teach us so that following him, we would come to. To know God, that we would grow in our ability to see the light as he gives us strength, as he teaches us there's always more, more growing to be done, more to be seen in Jesus. That's why the metaphor is following. This image of following doesn't stop. Not like, all right, now Jesus and I are just hanging out and I know everything. No, it's a continual following. It's kind of like, well, we see Jesus in the manger and we see what he's done for us and we hear God's word of the things he's going to do, like reign forever as king, that he's come to forgive his people. And we chew on it, and we chew on it and the Lord gives us knowledge and understanding. And not just that, but notice what knowledge does. This is from our second reading this evening. Right. So I'm going to give you the end first. For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord. What comes before that peace, the end of strife. God's utopia. Right, like the real utopia that actually happens when he comes back. When Jesus comes back and restores all things. The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together. And a little child shall lead them. It keeps going. The cow and the bear shall graze. Their young shall lie down together. And the lion shall eat straw like the ox. The nursing child shall play over the whole of the cobra, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder's den. They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain, for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord. Jesus Christ has come to enlighten us. We who sit in darkness to some degree, even those who believe in Jesus who have his salvation again, is there more darkness to be taken away and more light to be enjoyed? Absolutely, all the time. And so tonight, as we look upon the Christ child lying there in the manger, I propose that we think of ourselves as the animals in the stable. The animals in the stable. Like, what is Jesus to them? Right. He's just like. They don't understand. There's a psalm that says, be not like the donkey or the horse, with no understanding. Well, how do we do that? Well, be enlightened by God and so. Well, maybe we start out there in humility and we look at Jesus with fresh eyes and say, teach me. Lead me. Lead me into know God. Lead me to know myself and my sin and to repent. Give me the light. There's a reason I say, be like the animals. All right, this is the verse. That is the Reason that every manger scene has an ox and a donkey. This is Isaiah, chapter 1, verse 3. The ox knows his master, the donkey his owner's manger. But Israel does not know. My Israel does not know. My people do not understand. One more time. The ox knows his master, the donkey his owner's manger. There the ox and the donkey are. And this is the. This is how God, you know, pleases to do his work, is pleased to do his work is that while people are hustling and bustling and learning and such, all throughout Israel, in the town of Bethlehem, in the dark, in an unassuming town, the Son of God is born, the king is born, and who's there to see it? The ox and the donkey. But they know their master and their owner's crib. May we, like them, be enlightened. Not because we have great understanding of ourselves or the ability to figure things out, but may we look to Jesus to be enlightened by him. Hang on to God's word in order to see Jesus for who he truly is. In Jesus name. Amen. Sa it. Sa it. Let's stand. The grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions and to live self controlled, upright and godly lives at the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the Lord, of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us, to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession, who are zealous for good works. Let us pray. Most merciful God, you gave your eternal word to become incarnate of the pure Virgin. Grant us grace to put away fleshly lusts that we may be ready for your visitation through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen. [00:58:36] Speaker A: Ra. Sam. Sa. Sa. Sa. Sa. Glory Christ. Ra. [01:05:27] Speaker C: Go in peace and serve the Lord. Thanks be to God. Merry Christmas. [01:05:51] Speaker A: It It. Sa.