Untitled Sermon

Have you seen this guy? His name is Captain Obvious. He’s the spokesman for Hotels.com and he makes a living out of stating the obvious--kind of like husbands—(sort of what we do). But you know sometimes it’s okay—it’s good to state the obvious—because otherwise you might miss it because it’s so close to you—that’s the way some things close to us get—it’s obvious, but either we’re distracted or just so used to whatever it is that we miss it.

Little ones are good at stating the obvious. “Mommy, I made a mess!” Yep, Mom agrees, that’s obvious to me, too. Or “Daddy, look at your funny hair!” If it wasn’t obvious to dad before it’s obvious now. Or to her fellow church members on Christmas Eve, “Look at my pretty dress!”

What I like about at Christmas is that it takes all the important things about Christmas and makes them obvious to everyone in just one verse! “God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son.”

Isn’t that obvious to you at Christmas? You see the baby Jesus and you think of God’s love. That’s the kindness and love of God appearing there in the manger, the Son of God. It’s that obvious to you—and of course, without Christ there in the manger for you at Christmas, there is no Christmas! If you drove by our church and in the Nativity scene out front there was a Mary and a Jospeh and maybe shepherds, but no manger or baby Jesus, something would obviously be wrong! And you’d state the obvious right away!

So just in case anyone lost sight of this obvious truth, John reminds us of the significance of this baby’s appearing. “God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” To sinners who know that God should instead appear to us like he did to Israel on Mt Sinai as an all-consuming fire—and that in fact we deserve to perish forever in the fire of hell for our sins, that instead, God appears to us in what is the most non-threatening way possible—he comes in the form of an infant!

By a miracle of the Holy Spirit, God the Father’s Son, Jesus is born of Mary. Bernard of Clairvaux, was a 12th century church father—(He’s the one who writes our Lenten hymn, “O Sacred Head Now Wounded,”)—Bernard also wrote ALOT about the virgin birth of Christ, and, in talking about Jesus’ incarnation and rightly calls this work of the Holy Spirit a unique miraculousness and a miraculous uniqueness—the kind of miracle of God that mankind is completely incapable of, and about which work we could never be sufficiently astonished at! That all the fullness of the deity of God was dwelling there in human form!

Most of us have memorized John’s truth—it’s obvious—God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son—if you had ten sons you wouldn’t give even one of them up to die for me, would you?!

John reminds us, the angels remind us in the Christmas Gospel—this is good news of great joy—that God so loved the world that he gave us his one and only Son—Luke calls him Mary’s firstborn son—Bernard of Clairvaux, a 12th century church father, who wrote the hymn, “O Sacred Head Now Wounded,” that we sing in Lent, also wrote ALOT about the virgin birth of Christ and his incarnation by the power of the Holy Spirit. He talks about Jesus’ birth and rightly calls this work of the Holy Spirit a unique miraculousness and a miraculous uniqueness—the kind of miracle of God that all mankind could never be sufficiently astonished at!

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There’s a 16th century pastor by the name of Johann Gerhard who makes this interesting comparison in his Christmas Eve sermon—He makes mention of the burning bush on Mount Sinai--something that was really obvious to Moses—and he draws some comparisons with the baby Jesus in the manger at Bethlehem. What wasn’t obvious to Moses at first though, was why, even though the bush was on fire, it wasn’t burning up. He points out that how the Bible describes God as a consuming fire (). When Moses asked God to show him his glory to Moses, God replied, (Ex.33:20) “You cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live.”

I asked one of the little ones here tonight to help us with the obvious tonight (place baby Jesus in the manger).

I asked one of the little ones here tonight to help us with the obvious tonight (place baby Jesus in the manger). What would Christmas be without Christ?

A 16th century pastor by the name of Johann Gerhard makes an interesting comparison in his Christmas Eve sermon with the baby Jesus in the manger and the Lord Jesus who appeared to Moses in the burning bush. Remember how Moses saw that burning bush on the mountain—that was obvious to him—but what wasn’t clear to him at first, what wasn’t obvious, was why, even though it was all aflame, that yet it was not burning up!

Elsewhere the Bible says the Lord your God is a consuming fire ()—Paul wrote to Timothy saying, () “[God] alone is immortal and lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see.” When Moses asked God to show himself to Moses, God replied, (Ex.33:20) “You cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live.”

There’s a 16th century pastor by the name of Johann Gerhard who makes this interesting comparison in his Christmas Eve sermon—He makes mention of the burning bush on Mount Sinai--something that was really obvious to Moses—and he draws some comparisons with the baby Jesus in the manger at Bethlehem. What wasn’t obvious to Moses at first though, was why, even though the bush was on fire, it wasn’t burning up. He points out that how the Bible describes God as a consuming fire (). When Moses asked God to show him his glory to Moses, God replied, (Ex.33:20) “You cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live.”

Now think about the little Lord Jesus, “asleep on the hay,” as we sing with the hymnist—same Lord Jesus in the burning bush—same all-consuming, holy God that meets with Moses on Sinai—aand tells him he better take off his shoes because God’s presence made the whole place holy with God’s glory—believe me—it was obvious to Moses—he bows before God trembling in fear—because he knows he a an unholy sinner in the very presence of God!

But everywhere you go in Luke’s Christmas Gospel you hear angels telling everyone to “Fear not!” Why? Could God make it anymore obvious—here in the manger, it’s true, Jesus appears and in Christ, the new-born babe of Bethlehem, all the fullness of the Godhead dwells in human form—but unlike he did at Sinai, he hides his holiness and glory even more—he’s still God—we’re still sinners—but more of a non-threatening way could God than in the form of a tiny baby to show why he’s coming?!

That God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, so that…(what is the reason given in the end of the verse—what obvious thing does God NOT want to happen to us?! God did not want anyone to perish for their sins.

So how do you go from that idea about God—a holy God—an all-consuming fire, to the tender picture we see in Luke 2:12, with the angels telling the shepherds, “This shall be a sign unto you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”

became

That God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, so that…(what is the reason given in the end of the verse—what obvious thing does God NOT want to happen to us?! God did not want anyone to perish for their sins.

became