Sermon - Christmas Day 2018

Merry Christmas! God’s richest grace and blessings be unto thee this joyful day whereon we celebrate the birth of our Savior by hearing the Word, singing our praises, and being fed the feast of Christ’s body and blood. St. John writes: “In the beginning was the Word.” Those words hearken back to the first words of the Bible in Genesis 1:1, “In the beginning.” The birth of Jesus is for us Christians a new beginning.

Have you ever wanted that before? A new start on life. A New beginning. Looking back on this last year, or even the last decade or more, do you have any regrets? I know there are the sayings so many live their lives by, maybe you too: “Never look back!” or “No regrets!” Well it’s not such a bad idea to look back.

When St. John says “In the beginning” we can do nothing but look back. So look back, and what do you see? Do you have any regrets? If you have any modicum of decency or even the slightest resemblance of a conscience, you will look back on your life and find things that you did and which happened to you that causes you shame and regret.

Now I’m not talking about feeling regret over not taking a chance and investing in that stock which skyrocketed or failing to live life to the fullest, whatever that means. I’m talking about our great sins and vices which bring us shame and regret. When we look back, we ought to examine our life in reference to “the law given through Moses,” to the ten commandments and all of God’s Word. 

Has God alone been our God, or have we had idols? Have we faithfully heard God’s word in church and home? Have we honored our parents, our authorities, our spouse, and our neighbors? Have we had impure thoughts about others? Have we desired that which wasn’t ours or failed to help our neighbor maintain their possessions and body? If you’re honest with yourself, you’ll have regrets and should feel shame.

 Because of our great sin and vice, we join the psalmist and say: “Out of the depths I cry to you, O LORD! O Lord, hear my voice! Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my pleas for mercy! If you, O LORD, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? But with you there is forgiveness, that you may be feared.” A new beginning, a new start on life, a clean slate free from our past wrongdoings is what we desire. The birth of Jesus is for us Christians that new beginning.

The reason we want that new start is because the beginning is good! It’s the stuff that happens afterwards which isn’t so good. But the beginning, that part is very good. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men.”

The beginning was amazing! The beginning was God, the beginning was life, and all things were made by this God who gives life. This life was for man as light in the darkness, illuminating and casting away all shadows of sin and death. “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” 

But then fell man into sin, and darkness sure puts up a fight against the light of Christ. Indeed, “The true light, which gives light to everyone, was in the world. Christ was in the world, and the world was made through Him, yet the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and His people did not receive Him.” The beginning was very good! God was there and He created all things! From Him all received life! It’s what happened afterwards which is quite shameful and regrettable. His own people, whom He created, neither knew Him nor received Him. We, those created by Him, His own people, we have chosen not to know Him and we’ve chosen not to receive Him. We have failed. We have regrets.

So we yearn for a new beginning, a new start, a new creation. That is exactly what Christ has come to accomplish for us. In this new creation, “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” The Word has come again and this time in the flesh. Into the virgin Mary’s womb the Word became incarnate, the Word took on flesh and was conceived as but a little baby, no more than what we call an embryo or a fetus. This little one, while even in the womb, is the Word through which all things were created. 

This Word, this Christ, continues His work of creating anew all things. Just as Jesus was born of Mary, the sort of thing we call a new life, a new start, a new beginning, so Jesus gives to us that new creation. “He gave the right to become children of God, born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.” Jesus this very day gives new life to those whom He created. Jesus was born to give a new beginning to us.

“The law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” Jesus came so that you would be reborn, recreated through His grace and truth. Just as Jesus was born for us in the womb of Mary, so is Christ’s birth a new birth for us. “When the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, He saved us.” You’re not saved by making better decisions or living life with no regrets, you’re not saved by living life to the fullest or by any sort of righteous living. We are saved by God’s grace, His undeserved kindness, which is revealed for us in the birth of Jesus.

Jesus came to give you a new birth by delivering to you God’s forgiveness from all of your shame and regrets. You have been reborn, recreated, by the blood, will, and flesh of God. God willed to take on human flesh, by His will He took on our shameful and regrettable flesh. All of your sins, all of the things you’ve done to other people and God, all of your failures and tragedies in life, all of your guilt and embarrassment, God took them all on Himself when He took on human flesh.

God took all of that darkness from our lives and shed His blood on the cross so that we would have a new beginning. “From His fullness we have all received grace upon grace.” Jesus poured out His blood on us richly “so that being justified by His grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.” 

You have been given a start, a new shot at life. Jesus has saved you from the shames and regrets of your past. Those dark misdeeds are covered in the blood of Jesus, it is as if you have been reborn with Christ and given a new chance. “By the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit,” God has caused you to be reborn in the waters of baptism. Baptism is for you Christmas and Easter all wrapped up into one. For in the waters of Baptism, you were drowned with Jesus, you were crucified with Him, and so you were reborn with Him. 

This font is like the womb of the church whereby Christ gives birth to us Christians as a new creation. If you’ve already been baptized, then this new life has already started for you and indeed it begins anew every morning. With every time we confess our sins, we are again drowned and crucified with Christ, and the holy absolution, forgiveness, is being reborn again. 

This Christmas remember that you are Christ’s new creation. Today is a new day for you and a new start on life. Jesus is the Word made flesh, He was there at creation thousands of years ago, He was there at your birth from your mother’s womb, He was there at your birth from the font, and He is still here each day giving you a new beginning. Jesus has always been the one from whom we receive life, and His life is your light in this dark world. The darkness will never overcome the light of Christ. As dark as your life may be at times, Christ still shines away your shame and regrets. His light shines through the death in this dark world, and gives you the hope of eternal life. Merry Christmas.