Dec 27th - In Person

The Christmas Story in One Sentence Pastor Kevin Ader (December 27 Transcription) Grace, mercy and peace be unto you from God our Father and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen. Our text from this morning’s message is the theme verse from Gelatins: 4: “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.” Here we are, the first Sunday after Christmas. In large part, for many, Christmas celebrations have come to an end. Most of the Christmas music on the radio has transferred back to the usual music we hear the rest of the year. Christmas movies – unless you’ve recorded them – are probably pretty much done. And yet, in the church, the celebration continues. Today, next week Sunday will be the second Sunday after Christmas. Two Sundays. Two full weeks to continue the celebration of our Savior’s birth. You see, the church will not succumb to the way of the world and just shorten everything for its convenience. But rather, it will broaden it out. Now, wouldn’t it be nice if you and I had a two-week celebration of our birthdays? We’d probably be tired of it after the first day. But the church sees the birth of our Lord Jesus as so important, that, at least this year, we have two Sundays after Christmas. Some years, we only have one. It all depends on where Christmas falls in the week. And likewise, the church does the same at Easter time. Only there, it expands it to seven Sundays. Seven Sundays of Easter. And beyond that, every time we gather, every Sunday is a little Easter. Because that is such a great event. And yet, as in every story, there is a villain in the Christmas story. Although, he never really appears in any of the children’s pageants. But there is a villain. Just like “It’s a Wonderful Life” has the villain, doesn’t it? Mr. Potter. Mr. Potter. I always felt sorry for the teacher in grade school whose name was Mr. Potter, especially at this time. He wasn’t anything like Mr. Potter in “It’s a Wonderful Life.” But there’s a villain. Yesterday, I imagine there were people busy – maybe not so busy this year – exchanging gifts not with one another, but with the retailers. And maybe forgot, maybe missed that yesterday was Saint Stephen’s Day. Saint Stephen’s Day, you know the carol “Good King Wenceslas?” The day of Stephen. And in the midst of this joyous season of Christmas, we have Saint Stephen’s Day where the villain shows up. And we have Stephen, I’ll call him the first adult martyr for the faith. Stoned to death. The villain appears. And tomorrow, will be Holy Innocents Day. Holy Innocents Day, we kind of skip over that. That’s when the villain appears, as King Herod seeks to put to death all of those infant boys, in hopes of putting to death the newborn King, who is a threat to him. And we see the villain again. There’s really only one villain in the whole of the story. He even appears in your life and my life, but he appears in various forms. Saint Stephen’s Day, the villain appears as Saul. Holy Innocents, the villain appears as King Herod. Who knows how many times and in how many appearances that villain has appeared in our own story? And what form he has taken? And yet, the church continues to celebrate. Celebrate the birth of our Savior. John, in Christmas Day’s Gospel said the light has shown in the world, and the darkness tried to overcome it, but it cannot. Darkness cannot overcome light; it’s overcome by light. And the villain, likewise, is defeated in the story. That Holy Innocents. At the Feast of Stephen. We’re reminded that though the villain shows his ugly face, that the newborn King continues! Herod sought to put to death the King because he felt threatened by Him. And God spared His son – had Mary and Joseph flee to Egypt until Herod should die and it would be safe for Him to come back. The villain did not win. And likewise, on the Feast of Saint Stephen, there, the villain saw him standing there. And as Stephen is being stoned to death, he says, “Lord, please don’t hold this against them.” Not unlike our Lord himself, speaking from the cross, “Father, forgive them.” And there stood one by the name of Saul at the feet where the cloaks of those who stoned him. Saul didn’t throw the stone, but he certainly egged on the group that did throw the stones. And you see, Saul is threatened because he sees this newborn King and these teachings as a threat to the law. A threat to the law. And so, it needs to be put out. So, he has letters to arrest all those who follow after Jesus to imprison them. The villain, thinking that he will finally silence this newborn King. He thought he had done it when the Lord died on the cross. “Finally, I got Him! He’s dead! He’s gone!” Until three days later, when He rose. See, the villain is the one who is defeated. And, so we come to our reading from Galatians, and in this, now, Saul, converted to Saint Paul, gives us his Christmas message. It isn’t anything like Luke’s that we heard on Christmas Eve with shepherds and angels, Mary and Joseph and the baby lying in a manger. It isn’t like Matthew’s that includes the magi who come. And the angel telling Joseph “don’t worry about it, it’s OK.” Nor is it like John’s. But you see, here, in these verses, four and five, this one sentence. Saint Paul gives us the Christmas story in once sentence. Which is rather remarkable, because Paul likes to run on with sentences and go on and on and on and here, very concisely, he says to us: “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.” The fullness of time. When the time was right. How many in the past are wondering “When is the Savior going to come? When’s He going to come? When’s he going to get here?” And they’d been waiting so long, that their whole idea of what the Savior would be had changed. What Paul reminds us: when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son. That’s important for us to understand, because you and I, we’re living in anticipation of our Lord returning, aren’t we? And we probably say, “When’s He going to come? When’s He going to get here? Has He forgotten about us?” And Paul, here, reminds us that it’s not our timing. It’s God’s timing. And when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman. He didn’t just get transported down here like from the Starship Enterprise, where He’s this fuzzy looking thing, and then behold, there’s Jesus. No! He comes through a woman. Important! He comes through woman, through the virgin Mary. Whether you like it or not, you cannot deny a virgin birth, because that’s how God chose to send His Son into the world. Born of a woman. Born in the same way you and I were born. Conceived in our mother’s womb, going through nine months of pregnancy, and then the day comes. And the birth. Sent forth His Son born of woman. Born under the law. Born under the law, because you see, all of humanity was under the law. From Adam even until the day of Jesus’ birth. Man was under the law. And Paul tells us, explains that even further. He says, “You know, people were under the law even before God gave the law to Moses. It’s just that it wasn’t written down. But they were still sinning against the law.” And so, the Savior is born under the law. Jesus is born under the law, just like you and I. And that’s important. Because often times, when we think of our salvation, all we think of is Jesus’ birth and how wonderful that we have children’s pageants for that. And then we skip over our whole Lord’s life until Good Friday and Him dying on the cross. And yes, that is a key component of our salvation – Him dying on the cross. Taking the punishment, the death that God did not want you or I or any human being to have to bear. But there’s the whole rest of Jesus’ life under the law. And I guess it isn’t exciting, because there’s nothing in there, The National Inquirer or any of the supermarket tabloids would put on their front cover. Because He is without sin. No scandal. Although people in our world try to drum up scandal like “oh maybe there was something between Him and Mary Magdalene.” Or “maybe there was something between Him and John, because after all, John is leaning on Him at the Last Supper.” That’s just the way they ate. There’s gotta be some scandal, but there’s no scandal. Jesus was born under the law to keep the law that Adam and Eve couldn’t keep, Abraham couldn’t keep, Isaac and Jacob couldn’t keep. David certainly couldn’t keep. And you and I can’t keep. For the purpose of redeeming those who were under the law. It’s not that Jesus’ death isn’t important. It is an important component, but Jesus’ life is just as important. Because it’s His perfect, obedient life to His Father that ensures our redemption so that, when we stand before God, God doesn’t see our sin. God doesn’t see Saul standing there at the cloaks of those stoning Stephen. But He sees His Son. He doesn’t see the blood on Saul’s hands. He sees the blood of His Son, Jesus Christ covering that blood. And when he looks upon you and I, he doesn’t see our filth of sin, but he sees that robe of righteousness. That righteousness that we’re clothed in that Isaiah speaks about in our Old Testament reading. Covered in a robe of righteousness. To redeem those who are under the law for what purpose? That we might receive adoption as sons. When you’re adopted, you don’t have any role to play in the whole process. Doesn’t matter if you’re looking as cute as you can. It all is dependent upon the one who chooses, makes the choice to adopt. They gotta fill out all the paperwork. They gotta go through all the interviews. And they make a choice. We’re gonna adopt this child. This son or daughter will be our adopted child. And if you’re adopted, you’re part of a family, aren’t you? It’s not like just being a foster child – you’re one of the family now. You may still keep your original last name, but you’re still part of this family. And God has made a choice. A choice from before the beginning of the world. To choose to adopt you and I as His sons and daughters through Jesus Christ. And your adoption papers are your baptismal certificates. Because it’s at your baptism that God Himself adopts you as His son and daughter, welcomes you into His family. Marks you as His with the sign of the cross upon the forehead and the breast. Marking you as one redeemed by Christ the crucified. You see, Saul understands us. He understands that Christmas isn’t just about angels and shepherds and good news. It’s about a Savior! And sometimes, that gets lost. Now, the angel says, in many translations, “I have news of great joy unto you is born this day a Savior who is Christ the Lord. And this shall be good news for all the peoples.” All the peoples. Who are the peoples? Well, obviously, it’s you and I. But if I were amplifying it, I’d eliminate “peoples.” And I’d say, “good news for all sinners!” All sinners. Because we’re all sinners. And the good news of Christmas is that a child’s been born to us. But He’s more than just a child. He’s our Savior. He saves us from sin and from death and from the power of the devil. The villain in the Christmas story. The villain in your story. The villain in my story. I love it in a movie when the villain gets defeated, don’t you? When they get their comeuppance for all the nasty, despicable things they’ve done? And how much more am I thrilled that the villain in my story, your story, has also been defeated. Destroyed. Humiliated. By that little baby born in Bethlehem who grew to manhood, suffered on the cross, rose again by the power of God on the third day, and now sits at the right hand of God in heaven, and who we await to come. To take us. To be once and for eternity in our home with Him in heaven. All because in the fullness of time, God fulfilled, completed His plan for the salvation of sinners. From Adam and Eve, all the way, even including Herod, even including Saul, and every sinner up until that day when our Lord should come and return. And He reminds us of that good news as we remember our baptism. He strengthens us in our faith in those promises as we come and we receive His very body and blood, reminding us, assuring us that our sins are indeed forgiven. And that He is coming again. There is a German professor I had in college at Concordia, and his favorite saying when it came to knowing how your verbs were declined, was, “Why don’t you get a T-shirt made of that?” Well, these words, this theme verse for this week, well, that would probably be a good verse to get a T-shirt made of, don’t you think? For the conversation piece as you’re sitting, maybe with family around the dinner table. Maybe at the coffee house over a cup of coffee with a friend. Or maybe just standing in the grocery store aisle or lane. What in the world does that mean? “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.” Well, you know, it’s really the Christmas story in one sentence. And it’s not really about gifts and exchanging gifts, but it’s about The Gift. And it’s about the Great Exchange. He, the son of God, exchanging His life in heaven for our life here on earth. I remember wool sweaters before they put in this nice soft stuff to keep them from itching. And my dad had a wool sweater, and I’d like wearing it in the winter because it kept me warm. But I hated that prickly itching. And I sometimes wonder if our human skin was prickly and itchy to our Lord Jesus. But He exchanged His place with ours. He became sin so that you and I might become and have the righteousness of God. He endured death that we might have life. The Great Exchange, Luther called it. “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.” We like changing around the pronouns on John 3:16, don’t we? We can do the same with Galatians 4. “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son, born under woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law – myself included – so that I might receive adoption as a son.” The Christmas story continues in the hearts and minds of the people of God. And Paul understood what it meant to be one redeemed by the Son of God. And also, what it meant to live as an adopted child of God, and so he pens his letters to his fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. This, then, is how God would have us live as His adopted children. Not in that doing so, He should desire to adopt us, but because He desired to adopt us before we could live in that righteousness, He had already adopted us. And now, we show forth our praise and our thanks. As the glory of the Lord is revealed through us to this dark and sinful world, through the words, let’s speak the good news. And the actions that show the good news that work in our hearts through the Holy Spirit. Together with the Father and the Son, be glory forever and ever. Amen. And now, may the peace of God, which surpasses our human understanding, keep our hearts and our minds in faith in Christ Jesus unto life everlasting. Amen.