Christmas is Your Fault

Introduction

In the Name of the Word Made Flesh, and who dwelt among us, Even Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Galatians 4:4–7 ESV

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. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.

Last week my wife and I continued our Christmas tradition of watching one of the classic holiday movies: “It’s a Wonderful Life.” Most are familiar with it, but for those who are not, it’s a movie about a man named George Bailey, who ultimately comes to the conclusion that his life didn’t matter to anyone. He had met financial ruin, he had a warrant sworn out against him for his arrest, and he gives up on life, contemplating suicide. He brutally takes out his situation on his wife and family. Leaving his house to cool off and sitting in a bar, he utters a prayer that if God is out there, that He help him. Help doesn’t seem to come. He then goes to the bridge, pondering the plunge into the waters of death. That’s where he meets Clarence, who jumps in first so that George would save him. In the process he saves George’s life.

Of course, from the beginning of the movie, we knew this was going to happen. God had heard George’s prayer and, intervening, sent this second-class angel, Clarence, to save him. If he is able to save him, Clarence will finally earn his wings.

After they are introduced, George utters that “it would be better if I wasn’t even born.” So Clarence arranges it. He lets George live out his life as someone who never existed. All of the people he knew and loved in life do not recognize him. His mother slams the door in his face, his wife, who wouldn’t be married if it wasn’t for George, becomes an old maid working at the Library. The town changed its name to Pottersville from Bedford Falls, after the nemesis George had as a competitor in his town. Ultimately, George recants, and his life is returned to him. He learned a valuable lesson, and his love was renewed for his wife, his family, his town, and his position.

In the last scene the agents are there, in his house to arrest him. He doesn’t even care. He swoops his wife up in his arms and kisses her. He hugs his children. He even hugs the IRS guy. He was in a bad way, and had no way out. But then, his friends arrive. They bring money. Lots of money. It was more than enough to cover his debt. The marshal rips the warrant in half and joins in the singing. And, of course, they lived happily ever after. If you haven’t seen it— you should!

In a sense we are all like George. We’ve been given a tremendous gift of life. And an even better gift in Eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. We celebrate His incarnation tonight with hymns of praise and joy as we hear the story of the Shepherds, Mary, Joseph, and the manger. Yet we squander it. We sin. And there are not enough friends in the world to pay the price that is demanded of our heads. No one can rip up our death warrant. No one can stop us from going to hell , which is very much a reality. But then comes Christmas and the story changes forever.

To fully understand it’s grasp, we go to our text tonight.

In the Beginning

Galatians 4:4 (ESV)

But when the fullness of time had come....

There was never such a thing as Christmas when God made Adam and Eve. They lived in perfect communion with their Creator. They were one with Him in the most intimate of ways. God blessed them. God loved them. God dwelt with them.

That all changed, however, when they disobeyed God. Paul’s words could not ring clearer, “For as in Adam all die...” That includes each of us.

The first time anything was uttered about Christmas it was during God’s pronouncement of the consequences of sin. Not only would mankind die, but before that happened, they would suffer. There is no mystery about where suffering comes from, or why we suffer in this life. The answer is both in the Garden, and in our continued sin. So you don’t have to write a book or do a lot of research on suffering. It’s pretty straightforward. The answer lives in your lives.

In the midst of these curses that God utters against Adam, Eve, and Satan, He utters something very mysterious.

Genesis 3:15 ESV

I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”

Do you realize what this is saying? Christmas is your fault. Yes, Adam and Eve created this cascade of death, but you’ve done a fine job of keeping it going. Remember, Christmas was never supposed to be. But because of Adam, Eve, and You, we have it. Hearing this news is like George Bailey hitting bottom. It would be better if we had not been born.

Yet, in the midst of the curses uttered by God, is this cryptic promise!

The seed of the woman was going to bruise (or crush) the serpent’s head. When Eve gave birth to Cain, some believe the Hebrew implies, “I have given birth to God”. According to Hebrew tradition, every woman who bore a son said much the same thing. But none of them did.

In the fullness of time.

The prophets heralded the coming of Messiah. The Psalms sung of this One who would deliver Israel. The History of Israel was built around this truth.

So they watched and waited for Messiah, but He did not appear. Until the fullness of time had come.

Born of a Woman

And come it did. Finally, there was a woman who, after giving birth, could say “I have born God.” Mary. The antitype of Eve, and the type of the Church. This One, Incarnate God and wholly man, came to do what even George’s friends could not do. And that is set us right with God. Not as a warrior against oppressors, or a king with earthly power and reign.

Born Under the Law

Rather, He comes as a victor over your sin and mine by His perfect, sinless life that He gave you as righteousness, and his Death on the Cross. That’s where the head crushing, serpent-stomping, death embracing, hell-suffering Savior would pay the only price that could be accepted by the Father that was placed on your head. Without it, our lives would not matter. Sadly, many in the world feel that their lives don’t matter. They need Jesus, not the Christmas of the world.

To Redeem Those Under the Law

Christmas is the beginning of a life that we could never imagine! That moment in Bethlehem changed everything forever. God not only has made you “somebody” but has marked you with His Cross on your forehead and breast as the Christmas water flowed over your head. He has granted faith to you by the Holy Spirit through His Means of Grace so that you have received the eternal gift of Christmas: the death of your sins, the guarantee of resurrection to eternal life, and God’s favor now through the forgiveness of your sins.

That we might receive adoption as sons.

Christmas is ongoing every day. Christ still comes to us in the manger of His word. He still feeds us with His body and blood. Every Sunday is both Christmas and Easter, Promise and Fulfillment. To taste of Christ once a year and then not hear His voice or receive His Sacrament will stave you. Then Christmas just becomes another holiday in this meaningless life.

But here we are. Gathered not just before the manger but His body and blood. Given and shed for you. God gives you the best Christmas present in His Son, who makes nobodies into somebodies whose faith is active and living. Faith is lived out in the Body of Christ, not just individually. You need the Body of Christ into which you were placed by the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit needs you in the body of Christ and active so that this Gospel of the Good News of Jesus might reach all people It’s not an individual assignment, but the very Life of the Body of Christ.

And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.

To be God’s child means your sins are forgiven. All fear is gone. Hope is living. Peace is yours already. Joy fills your heart despite the gloom of sins darkness that keeps poking its head in. You can call upon your Abba, Father, any time and at all times and He hears and answers you.