Christmas (Dawn) Day 2023

Text: “11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. 12 And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and 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 among those with whom he is pleased!”” (Luke 2:11-14).

Ok, now Christmas finally begins. The world around us has gotten it out of its system. They’re done with the parties and the presents— or they soon will be— and their attention will very soon be fixed on the New Year.

They’ve sung about “What Christmas Means to Me....” They’ve pontificated about how precious family is. They’ve wrung their hands, wondering why we can’t actually have “peace on earth, good will toward men.”

They’ll leave Christmas behind until next year. Most of the presents will get stuck somewhere and forgotten, adding to the piles of stuff clogging our homes. The decorations will come down very soon. They’ll go back to their jobs and their busy-ness. They’ll unironically fall back into their partisanship and their virtue signalling until next November when we start our great, secular Christmas pageant once again.

A few will try to hold on to it. They’ll start the countdown— There are only 365 days until Christmas, 2024, you know! They’ll insist on continuing to listen to the Christmas music until the people around them can’t stand it any longer.

Even fewer will actually try to hold on to what they call the ‘magic’ of Christmas.

But you realize that this is only the beginning of Christmas.

Another pastor made an interesting point about what the Church is about. He wrote: “A lot of people seem to think that the goal of Christianity is something boring and bland like making people nice, instead of something bombastically radical like raising the dead and restoring the universe to its erstwhile glorious perfection.”

I don’t think that he was talking about Christmas at the time but, if that doesn’t sum up our world’s problem with Christmas in a nutshell, then I don’t know what does. They are teased with visions of a world where light breaks through the darkness; where swords are beat into plowshares; where the little child is perfectly safe playing over the hole of the cobra, the wolf lies down with the lamb, and the lion eats straw like an ox. They are inspired by stories of Christmas miracles. They are lured in by the idea of a love that overcomes amazing things. And, without fail they’re disappointed. They treasure those images for a day— or perhaps for a season, but they quickly return to the ‘reality’ of a very dark world.

It’s tragic, really. Their efforts to try to chase after that light, their hopes of a world of peace, their longing for true, genuine, godly love are doomed to fail.

As I mentioned almost exactly 24 hours ago, in my sermon for the fourth Sunday in Advent, the Vladimir Putins, Kim Jong Uns, and Xi Jinpings of this world are convenient scapegoats. It’s easy to shake our heads at them, to lament all the suffering they cause in the world. And that’s certainly true. But let’s not forget that this world would be just as dark without them. In fact, they are playing out, on a bigger stage, for bigger stakes, the same desires that are in your heart and mind, too.

They can try to cover over the problem with wrapping paper and presents; they can hide behind traditions for a time; they can try to inspire themselves to reach for something more, something better. But, just like there is no political system that can fix this world, no economic system that can solve all our problems, there is no Christmas story or inspiration that can overcome the darkness of this world. Because the fundamental problem is us.

Christmas, for them, is a tragic illusion. It is a mirage in the desert of this world. But, for you, Christmas is just beginning.

Jesus was not born into a world that needed to be cleaned up a bit. He was born into a world that is dead. He was sent to people who are dying.

Why can’t the feeling that they have at Christmas last year ‘round? Because each of us is, by nature, spiritually dead. You and I know very well what is good and right. Most of the time, you and I even agree that it is what should happen. You have to admit that it is how things should be. But making it happen is impossible— either in the world around you or in yourself.

“[You] were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air…” (Ephesians 2:1-2b). That is your natural state. Sin is not something outside of you that you can avoid if we try hard enough. It’s certainly not just in those evil men who are ruling things. It is within each of us. You and me. It’s not a mindset that you can change if you work hard enough or if inspired by the lights, the carols, the ribbons and bows. Your sinful heart and mine continually inspire us in exactly the opposite way. “[Desire] when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death” (James 1:15). The sins all around you in this world, the sins that others commit against you, the sins that you commit against others are symptoms of the fact that you were born spiritually dead.

Even within the church, death attacks you constantly. “Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness?” (Romans 6:16). Or, as it says in 1 John, "8 Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. 9 No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God's seed abides in him; and he cannot keep on sinning, because he has been born of God. 10 By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother" (1 John 3:8-10, ESV). If you make a practice of sinning, if you treat sin as if it were harmless, then you allow your faith to die. You reject the gift of life you've been given and your faith is dead.

Christmas is about far more than just a new life being born to one particular man and woman. It is about the life that that child came to bring. That’s why the world will always come away from Christmas disappointed. And that’s why you know that Christmas is just beginning.

Jesus was not born simply to show you a better way, to teach you a better way to love, to show you the path to peace. He was born of the Virgin Mary in order to take the darkness of this world into Himself— to take the sins of Vladimir Putin, of Kim Jong Un, of Xi Jinping, AND even yours— into Himself, to be nailed to the cross, and to die the death that they and you deserved. He came to give life.

Through Him, every child of Adam is offered a new birth. “9 The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. ...12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God” (John 1:9-10, 12-13).

And that it what He continues to do through His Church. Just like Jesus’ mother Mary, Christ’s bride is found to be with child. Except there is no scandal this time. Her groom isn’t debating whether to quietly break off the engagement. He knows precisely from where these children have come— indeed, it is not just one child, but many children that His bride has given birth to and continues to bear— and, in fact He, Himself, has commanded them to be conceived and born.

And they are conceived in the same way that He was: The Holy Spirit has come upon His bride, the power of the most High has overshadowed her. In fact He, Himself, has sent the Holy Spirit for precisely that purpose: to bring forth life where life was not yet possible. It began at Pentecost when He did exactly what He had promised and sent His Holy Spirit, who descended upon His church, bringing forth thousands of children— thousands of new believers— that day alone, and who has not stopped since, nor will He stop until the day that the Bridegroom arrives.

“[The] power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God,” the angel said. And the Holy Spirit continues to come upon the church, the power of the Most High overshadowing her, therefore every child born to her is called holy— a son or daughter of God.

“12 To all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God” (John 1:12-13). Just like Mary’s pregnancy, the conception of each of these children was not a result of any human decision or an act of human will, each one was born of God— born of the waters of baptism. Therefore they are called holy— they are sons and daughters of God.

Every child that has come from the womb of a daughter of Eve is born dying. But the children of Church, the daughter of Mary, come forth from her womb born into life everlasting.

For all of God’s people, today is only the beginning of Christmas— in fact, Christmas really is every single day of the year— because the eternal life that He offers is given out here at this font, from this pulpit, and from this altar not just one day a year, but every day.

Your spiritual mother does not just give you new birth into eternal life and forget you. Ever since you came forth from the womb of the baptismal font, she has continued to care for you. From infancy onward, you have been nursed with the pure spiritual milk of the scriptures and, although you are never weaned off of that pure food, in time you are also given bread from heaven to eat in order to sustain you. You have been nursed with the pure food of God’s Word and your mother, the church, continues to feed you. And this is no ordinary food that your mother sets before you. She feeds you the fruit of the tree of life: the cross.

The best part is that it's not just a symbol. Mary doesn't point to something that might be. She is where it all flows to you from: the child of Mary taking on flesh and blood so that He could take your sins and mine into His body and be nailed to the cross to die the death that you and I deserved so that you will live forever. The world will press on in sin, in darkness, and in the shadow of death. But not you. "9 No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God's seed abides in him; and he cannot keep on sinning, because he has been born of God" (1 John 3:9, ESV). You have been born of God. Consider yourselves dead to sin and alive in Jesus Christ. Continue to allow your spiritual mother to nourish and sustain you through the pure food of God's word and "22 ...be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves” (James 1:22). The world around us is getting Christmas out of its system. They’re done with the parties and the presents— or they soon will be— and their attention will be fixed on other things. But, for you, Christmas has finally begun.