122505 Christmas Day

Christmas Day, December 25, 2005

Genesis Again

Text: Titus 3:4–7

Other Lessons: Psalm 98; Isaiah 62:10–12; Luke 2:1–20

Theme: The birth of the Son of God in the flesh is a new Genesis for us.

Goal: That the hearer believe that through his Baptism into Christ’s body, he has entered into a new creation.

          “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” You know the story in Genesis. Everything was good. Then everything went wrong. Man was enticed by the false promise that he would be like God to rebel against God. When man fell, all creation fell into decay and death. Now, we know death. And, because of sin, we die. But not only us; in the end, all creation will die and pass away.

          We might consider ourselves to be mere victims of that past event in Eden. But have we not also participated in the rebellion of Adam and Eve by our own sin? Titus 3 says, “We ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another” (v 3 ESV). The effect of sin is catastrophic in more ways than we would like to admit.

          We would be destined to perish eternally, except for one thing. God broke into our world of sin the fact that the kindness and love of God our Savior for sinners has appeared, and became sin for us, so that we would not perish but have everlasting life. God has set out to redeem and re-create us through his Son. Our text shows us that the Birth of God’s Son in the Flesh Is a New Genesis for Us.

I.

          Christmas is about God inaugurating a new creation in Jesus. That’s why John’s Gospel starts out, “In the beginning was the Word. … And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (Jn 1:1, 14 ESV). In that dwelling of Jesus’ human flesh, God has made a new beginning, a new world, a new creation that is not subject to decay and death. Christ’s death and resurrection in the flesh broke the curse of sin and brought life and immortality to light.

          Christmas, then, is like a second Genesis. It is as if the very first day were happening all over again when God said, “Let there be light.” And, in the birth of Jesus, the Light of God shines on a dark and desperate world. It’s a new Genesis. God the Son has entered into this world in order to make a new creation that will never pass away. He has done this so that we who are subject to the old order of created things might be released from it and made to be participants in the new and eternal order of things. And in spite of what certain television personalities and prophets might say, Jesus is the only portal, the only passageway from this fallen creation into the everlasting creation.

II.

          So how do we pass through that portal? How are we made to be participants in this new creation? Paul answers that question in Titus 3 when he says God saved us “by the washing of regeneration” (v 5 ESV). That last word, regeneration, is especially significant. In the Greek, regeneration literally means “genesis again,” “a new genesis.” You get it, don’t you? Through Baptism we are re-created. The promise of God connected with Baptism is a new life in Christ through the promised Holy Spirit. And, this is how God makes us to share in the eternal blessings of the new world. It all began for us and all mankind when Christ is born of virgin mother, Mary. Because of God’s promise, we can rightly say: “Baptism is our Genesis event.” It sets God’s creative power at work. It not only washes away our sins, but also joins us to Christ, who is the entrance to the new heavens and the new earth. This is what Jesus meant when He said in John 3, “Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God” (v 5 ESV).

          Let me help you think of this in yet another way. The old creation of Genesis and the new creation of Christmas overlap. We still live in this fallen world. But we are also given entrance into the new world by our Baptism into Christ’s body. Paul said:

"But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus." (Ephesians 2:4-7, ESV)

          The New Creation, and the old, overlap in the body of Jesus Christ.

III.

          And please note that all of this creating and saving work is entirely God’s doing. Paul makes this totally clear when he says here, “not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us” (v 5 NKJV). It is not our goodness; it is God’s goodness. It is not our merits; it is the merits of Christ. It is not because we climbed up to heaven by our superior spirituality; it is because the Son of God came down from heaven and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the Virgin Mary and was made man. Christmas is the paradigm and pattern of our salvation. God comes right down to where we are in order to save us. He doesn’t do part and then require us to do the rest. He goes all the way, one hundred percent, even to the point of becoming one of us. He descended to us in order that we may ascend with him.

          St. Paul concludes, “This is a faithful saying” (v 8a NKJV). It is trustworthy, rock solid, and reliable, in other words. The same God who kept his promise to send a Savior will surely keep the promises that he made to you in your Baptism. The Lord is faithful, and he will do it. In fact, He is working on it right now. Trust Him! Amen.