Christmas Eve

Oh Come All Ye Faithful

Pray

It is a joy to see so many of you joining us this evening! * INSERT ANNOUNCEMENTS* And it is a great pleasure to have the opportunity to celebrate the brith of Jesus Christ! It is a joyous and great happening that we should be excited celebrate. This evening I would like to ask for your participation as we are reminded of the great things the Lord has done for us. I want to begin by walking through the story of Jesus’ birth. You may have heard this story 1000 times or maybe tonight will be the first. Either way, it is a glorious tale, but more than that, it is a world-changing truth.

Allow me to read through the real Christmas Story.

Luke 1:26–27 ESV

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.

Luke 1:28 ESV

And he came to her and said, “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!”

Luke 1:30–32 ESV

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,

Then

Luke 2:4 ESV

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,

O Little Town of Bethlehem

Luke 2:6–7 ESV

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.

O Holy Night

Luke 2:8–14 ESV

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!”

Angels We Have Heard on High

Luke 2:15–17 ESV

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.

The First Noel

The Christmas story, therefore, reminds us of the miracle of Jesus`s birth, that God became a man like us and yet He was still God. Christmas also reminds us that Christ is a gift to us-- the gift of new life and salvation.

But now, I want to to tell you about the side of the Christmas story we often Overlook. This is most definitely a time for rejoice, a time to glowingly ponder all these marvelous things. But here is what you may not have considered before.

When you look into that manger in Bethlehem, you need to see a warrior. Jesus came to do battle with the Enemy and to defeat him for our sake. He would defeat the Devil in his life, he would defeat him on the cross, and he would defeat him by the empty tomb. Each victory was for us so that we would be able to resist the Devil’s deceptions and temptations in our lives. Because Jesus came to defeat the Devil, a face-to-face battle with the Devil was inevitable. The life of the baby in the manger would march toward a moment when the Devil would throw everything in his arsenal toward Jesus.

All of history hinged on that battle. Soon that baby would grow into a man, and he would face what Adam faced: the seductive temptations of a deceptive enemy. In Genesis Adam is the first man. He and Eve walked with God. They had perfect relationships. Then Satan tempted Adam and Adam sinned against God. Humanity fell. We were separated from God. But then Jesus would stand toe-to-toe with Satan as the second Adam. If Jesus were to be defeated that would spell our doom, but the victory of Jesus would guarantee our hope of countless moral victories as we too would face the seductive voice of the Tempter, whispering lies into our ears.

You see, Jesus is the Chief Warrior, the Adam the world longed for, but the final battle is not over. We still live in a broken world that doesn’t function as God intended. We still battle with temptation outside us and sin inside us. Seductive voices greet us every day, working to get us to step over God’s moral boundaries. You could argue that life on this side of eternity is war. So it is a huge comfort that at Christmas we celebrate the birth of the second Adam, the Chief Warrior, who came to do battle on our behalf, to win victory for us, so that by his power we could resist, stand fast, and conquer. By grace Jesus was willing to come to earth and to stand in Adam’s place, so that we would be graced with daily victory over temptation and sin. The Christmas story is the first chapter in a war story; this war was fought on our turf and for our sake by the hero of the story, the God–man, Jesus.

I want to contrast two historical moments for you. The first is that horrible moment when Adam and Eve faced the Serpent, bought into his deception, and rebelled against the wisdom, goodness, and authority of God (Genesis 3:1-7).  How could you possibly overstate the horrors of evil that were unleashed in that moment? The effects of that one act of disobedience are moral, emotional, rational, environmental, relational, political, and spiritual. Nothing in the created world was left unharmed. We still pay a daily price in the struggles of life and faith in this fallen world.

Contrast this with another historical moment: the Christmas story. This is the story of God’s responding to the cry of the world, now damaged and darkened by sin, for a second Adam. This Adam would need to be a perfect man, with the moral power to stand against the Enemy and not succumb to his tempting voice in any way. No person on earth was qualified to be the second Adam, so God sent his Son, Jesus, to stand in that place for our hope and salvation.

When this second Adam was tempted by the Devil, he resisted perfectly. He resisted not just in one moment, but in every moment in his entire life. The Second Adam obeyed God perfectly, fully, every single second of every single day. And because this baby of Bethlehem eventually died on the cross and rose again, those who put their trust in him can receive this perfect record of obedience on their behalf.

How Low was Our Redeemer Brought

So when you celebrate Christmas Day, remember to celebrate the birth of the Great Warrior. He won the victory that you and I could have never won. That victory is our hope in this life and in the one to come.

And the beautiful thing is that Christ came to be the Adam we could not be. There is no one among us who is without sin. The wonderful thing is that Christ came to save sinners! Christ came for the unfaithful, the weak, the unstable, the barren, the waiting, the weary, the bitter, the broken, the fearful, the guilty, the hiding. He came for all us who have nothing and did what we could not do. We are not saved by our perfection, but rather because He is perfect. He is inviting guilty sinners like you and me to have faith and rest in Him. That is the gift of Christmas.

O Come All You Unfaithful

Pray

The best gift that you could receive this Christmas is faith in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. He is the Light that pulls us out of the darkness. We follow Him as the light. As we follow Him, others see the light that we have and we are called to point them to the Father. This faith is contagious.

I’ve often seen these Christmas Eve services end with a lighting of the candles and a very somber song. I’d like to do half of that and flip the trend for the rest. In a moment of silent reflection, we’re going to turn off most the lights in the building I’ll light my candle and then we’ll share the light throughout the room. After that time of reflection, I would like to invite the room to zealously and joyfully join me in singing an acapella verse of JOY TO THE WORLD! This will conclude our service.

JOY TO THE WORLD