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Welcome! Thank you for joining us for worship today. In our services we gather before our almighty God to receive his gifts and to offer him our worship and praise. Through God’s powerful Word and sacraments he renews our faith and strengthens us to serve in joy.
Have you ever opened a Christmas present and had to ask, “What is it?” You were grateful for the gift, but also not 100% certain what you were looking at. Today, as we look into the manger, we ask that question. In this case, the question is not quickly or easily answered. It requires both deep thought and humble awe. We are looking at the same God who once told the prophet Moses, “No one may see me and live.” Yet, Mary, Joseph, and the shepherds all saw their holy God and survived. How? God became human, hiding his glory within our flesh, so that he might come to us without instilling fear or dread.
“What is it?” This gift is God and man in one person, exactly what humanity needed to deliver us from our greatest enemies: sin, death, and Satan. On the Festival of Christmas, we thank God for this greatest of gifts.
Music:
- Hymn: CW 353 “Joy to the World”
- Hymn: CW 358 “Of the Father’s Love Begotten”
- Hymn: CW 342 “O Jesus Christ, Your Manger Is”
- Hymn: CW 356 “God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen”
- Hymn: CW 363 “Now Sing We, Now Rejoice”
Christmas Day December 25, 2024
Romans 8:31-32 Pastor Wolfe
“The Greatest Gift”
Do you feel the drip, drip, drip of 2024 coming to an end? I sometimes feel like we build and build and build up to December 25th, and then the last days of the year just disappear. (And it’s not JUST because pastors take extra naps in these days after Christmas.) But with the end of the year also comes a chance to reflect on the year. Did you have big hopes and dreams for 2024? I did. This was going to be the year I got healthy. Eating better. Sleeping better. Lower stress. Hah. I was looking forward to a second pastor and the flourishing of ministry that will come with him. Not God’s plan for 2024. I really thought I’d get to unpack my boxes at home, or at least be able to set up a work area in the garage. Ask my family how that’s gone. Isn’t it amazing how a year of expectation can turn into disappointment. With only six days left in the year, we may very well be looking back and saying to ourselves, “That’s it?”
Disappointment can sneak into our Christmas celebrations too. How many children were disappointed in their living rooms last night or this morning? For weeks they’ve been looking at those shiny wrapped gifts under the tree with eyes of excitement, but what happens when the gift inside doesn’t live up to expectations? Maybe we’re too old or too polite to say it out oud, but internally we wonder, “That’s it? That’s all I’m getting?”
There was even more hype leading up to the first Christmas. With thousands of years of prophetic marketing, God’s people couldn’t wait to open the gift that God had wrapped up for them. We heard about it last Sunday and last night. God promised a Head Crusher in Genesis 3, a Restorer in Isaiah 11, and Ends of the Earth Greatness in Micah 5. The Messiah was the most-hyped person in the history of the world. But had someone peeked into the stable that first Christmas night and seen a tiny baby with two poor parents, they might very well have thought to themselves, “That’s it? That’s the Gift?”
And perhaps we sometimes find ourselves disappointed with God’s Christmas gift. Jesus doesn’t do what we want or give us what we think we deserve. We want to get accepted into that college, marry that person, get that job, have that life… And it doesn’t always happen. Maybe this year it feels like it doesn’t ever happen. We look around at the suffering people of the world and we wonder, “That’s it? Jesus, you can’t do anything more about this?”
But could it be that we get disappointed because we don’t fully understand who Jesus is? Or because we temporarily forget what he really came to do? This Christmas we look again at the manger through the lens of Romans 8:31-2 and we see just who this “it” is when we murmur, “That’s it?” Our text says, “What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all – how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?”
When you look at the gifts under your tree, do you simply see the gift or do you see the love behind the gift? Often it’s what is behind that gift that makes it a “great gift.” Some of my favorite gifts weren’t the most expensive ones. It’s the homemade gifts that showed someone cared enough to sacrifice not just their money, but their time. The little gifts that show me they actually know me and what I need or want.
We see the love behind the gift in the manger as well. God wasn’t just giving you a baby. He was giving you his Son. More than that, he was giving up his Son for you. Paul says here, “He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all.” God knew us, and he knew exactly what we need. And instead of counting the cost, he freely gave it. And the cost was higher than we could ever imagine.
This baby in the manger is God’s Son from all eternity. Think of the experiences they shared. They worked side by side creating the world. They went through the flood together. Together they brought promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. They worked together to rescue God’s people from slavery in Egypt. They shared honor and glory as David sang them psalms and as Solomon built the Jerusalem temple. Imagine how close the Father and the Son were with all those shared experiences. And yet, the Father was willing to give up his Son for sinners like you and me.
Another pastor shared a story about an old tradition at our seminary. Professors used to share their “Most Memorable Christmas” stories with the students. Professor Siegbert Becker once relayed how his most memorable Christmas was the first Christmas he was going to have with his newborn son. The new parents were so excited to celebrate their baby’s first Christmas. With that excitement and anticipation Professor Becker on Christmas morning went to pick up his son…only to find that the child had died during the night, on Christmas of all days. As Professor Becker shared the story with his students he then added, “It was then that I knew how much God loved me, that he was willing to give up his Son for mine. For me.” You see, that’s what the baby in the manger is. Not just a gift, but the most precious gift ever given. That Father’s Son, delivered for us. God becoming man so that he might save all mankind.
Last night in our service we talked about how God promised to send a Savior almost as soon as the first sin was committed in the Garden of Eden. For thousands of years God watched as the sinful children of Adam and Eve disobeyed him and turned their backs to him. God could have said, “Forget it. I’m not going to send my Son to them. I love my Son too much to have him live with them only to be ridiculed, mocked, beaten and killed.” God had every right to say that. But 2000 year ago, God kept his promise as he wrapped up his Son in human flesh wrapped in cloths and gave him as a gift to the world. And in that child, in that Savior, we place our trust for eternity in heaven. For that child lived and died and rose to free us from our sin.
And Paul’s point in this short verse from Scripture’s greatest chapter is simple. If God was willing to give us this, how can that not give us confidence that God will give us everything we need? Because of Christmas, you can be sure that God will send his angels to guard you (Psalm 91). Because of Christmas, you can be sure that God will be with you wherever you go (Joshua 1). Because of Christmas you can be sure that God will work out all things and that nothing can separate you from his love (Romans 8). Be assured, because God gave you the gift of his Son, “how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things.” Today we recognize again that that’s not just lip service from the inspired Apostle Paul. God is true to his promises, and the manger proves it.
Look again into the manger. Look at God’s gift – to you. Humanly speaking this Gift looks small. This Gift looks fragile. The Gift looks dirty and maybe even disappointing. But I pray you don’t look at the Gift and say, “That’s it?” Rather, look at this Gift and say, “That’s it! That’s what I need! That’s God showing his love to me! That’s God keeping his promises for me.” That’s quite a gift indeed. You might even call it the greatest. Amen.
