Sermon 12-24-24

Pastor Ray Lorthioir

Trinity Lutheran Church

W. Hempstead, NY

Christmas Eve Mass

How Will This Be?

Christmas is the Christ Mass, the service that occurs on December 25th — the day appointed to observe the virgin birth of Messiah Jesus. It’s common knowledge that Jesus wasn’t actually born on December 25th. Those who have studied the matter say He was probably born in September. Nevertheless, in ancient times, the church appointed December 25th to observe Jesus’ birth and it has stuck with us right to the present.

So is this the oldest birthday celebration in the world? I can’t think of any other ancient person’s birth that we celebrate in the present.

But we’re not really celebrating a birthday. We’re celebrating an event — a supernatural event. Therefore, the proper name of December 25th is the celebration of the Incarnation of Our Lord.

What’s an incarnation? It means to be placed in a physical flesh and blood body. Due to the influence of eastern religion, we’re probably more familiar with the term reincarnation. What does that mean? It means being placed back in a physical body after having been disembodied by death.

It may come as a surprise but Christians believe in reincarnation. The difference between us and eastern religions, however, is that our Scriptures teach that reincarnation for everyone will only ever happen once — at the resurrection of the dead on the great Day of the Lord. We will not have multiple reincarnations back into this world.

We only get to do this life once. And that’s one good reason to do life right. An even better reason to do this life right is that this life establishes how we’ll exist in life’s main event — eternal life. For, this life is not the main event in life. Eternal life is. Therefore, where we’ll spend eternity is a subject well worth considering.

Is there an eternity? Scripture says so. But now even General Revelation also says so. Because of the modern technology that permits emergency resuscitation from death, all around the world there have now been tens of thousands resuscitated from what are called Near Death Experiences. Many of these people have had various experiences during the time their body was clinically dead. They saw and heard things. And when these experiences can be corroborated with things in this world, it’s clear that their souls did not die when their bodies died. For instance, a person in soul form looks down upon their body being resuscitated and notices a serial number on the top of a machine being used to resuscitate them. This would be something impossible for them to see lying on the gurney. They’re able to memorize the number and report it to a researcher after being resuscitated. Someone then looks at the top of the machine and discovers that the serial number is exactly what the person reported. It’s these kinds of things reported over and over that has forced medical literature to grudgingly admit that the death of the body isn’t the death of the soul. Human souls survive death. 

And if we survive, like Scripture says, then is Scripture also correct about the future of resurrection and reincarnation it predicts for every human? Is it also correct that everyone’s eternal destiny is decided completely on how we live life here? Moses, the Prophets, the Apostles and especially Jesus say it’s correct.

Now you and I are incarnate beings. We’re human souls joined to a physical body in a union so tight that we can hardly tell the difference. There’s one fool proof way to see the difference, though, and that’s to look at a dead body. The body is still here, but the soul is gone. But, for as long as our souls are permitted to rent these physical bodies we can hardly tell the difference between soul and body.

Certainly we have to care for our physical bodies. Otherwise all kinds of bad things can happen. These bodies need nourishing food, proper sleep, exercise, healthcare and more. Likewise, our souls need proper care. But caring for your soul is not easy to figure out on your own. This is where your Creator comes in. He knows our souls need. After all, He is our Creator. Therefore, if we pay attention to what Yahweh says we can learn how to nourish our souls.

For instance here’s a verse that Jesus quoted in His warfare with Satan. Deuteronomy 8:3, “. . . man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD.” Bread meets the needs of the physical body. The Word of God meets the needs of the human soul.

And what exactly is the Word of God. It’s a number of things. There’s God’s Law. All His commands are Law. There’s also God’s Gospel. All His promises are Gospel. But the Word of God is also God Himself. We read in John 1:1-5, “1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”

These verses aren’t exactly easy to understand. God is Word. Word is God. And yet this Word is also distinct in and of Himself. And I say “Himself” because that’s what the text says. The text also says that the living God created everything that exists. But God did not create the Word because the Word is also God. Yet at the same time the text says that the Word was with God.

It’s verses like these that point to Yahweh’s incredible nature. He is a Trinitarian being. He is One. Yet, He is distinctly Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The best our logic can do is describe what Yahweh says about Himself in the Bible. However, how Yahweh can actually exist as One being and yet distinctly Father, Son and Holy Spirit goes far beyond our logic and our descriptions. It’s in the very essence of His being — something beyond our comprehension. It’s what’s called a mystery.

A Trinitarian being is bad enough. But it gets worse. We read in John 1:14, “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” The Word — God — became flesh like us? He created everything. How can the Creator become something He created, namely one of us? We don’t exactly know. But it was done. And again, the best our logic can do is describe Jesus according to the things He said, He did, what He said about Himself and what was said about Him.

Take, for instance, the words of the angel Gabriel in this discussion with the Virgin Mary found in Luke 1:30-35, “30 But the angel said to her, ‘Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. 31 You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.’ 34 ‘How will this be,’ Mary asked the angel, ‘since I am a virgin?’”

How will this be? That’s the question of the ages. Luke 1:35, “The angel answered, ‘The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.’” Lord Holy Spirit, who we’re told in Genesis 1 hovered over the waters at the beginning of creation in order to create, would also hover over Mary in some way so that a virgin woman would miraculously conceive a child. And no ordinary child — the very Son of God.

When we say the Nicene Creed all of this comes out in the best logic we human beings can produce about what the Bible actually teaches. “[I believe] in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of His Father before all worlds, God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father, by whom all things were made; who for us men and for our salvation came down from heaven and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the virgin Mary and was made man;”

Some how, some way Yahweh, the Son — God Almighty — was united with a human soul and body extracted from the body of the Virgin Mary. And so God was made man. This is the great and deep Christmas mystery.

But this mysterious conception and birth has a very understandable purpose. If Jesus had been conceived and born in the normal way, He would have inherited Adam’s Original Sin. Since Jesus came to earth for the express purpose of undoing not only Original Sin but all sin, how could He have accomplished that task if He had inherited Original Sin? If He had inherited Original Sin, He would simply have been a sinner like all of us. He wouldn’t have been able to save anyone, not even Himself.

However, as the only human being ever born of woman without Original Sin, Jesus was given the opportunity to succeed where Adam had failed. Like Adam, Jesus would undergo temptation. But unlike Adam, Jesus was able to obey the Word of God even unto a wretched death on a Roman cross. For His perfect obedience Jesus was rewarded with resurrection from the dead in a new, immortal and totally righteous human body. And . . . He won eternal, righteous life not only for Himself, but for all who will put their faith in Him. Here’s what St. Paul had to say about the matter in Romans 5:18-19, “18 Therefore, as one trespass [Adam’s sin] led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness [Jesus’ crucifixion for us] leads to justification and life for fall men. 19 For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous.”

As sinners, you and I cannot make ourselves righteous enough to stand in Yahweh’s presence. Only Jesus can do that for us. He does it through the forgiveness of sins. For where sins have been forgiven and removed only righteousness remains.

There is forgiveness of sins in Jesus because He followed the plan for Messiah. Through the kind of suffering and death the Son of God endured, Yahweh’s justice against us was executed and the punishment was served. Yahweh’s wrath against us was satisfied. The cosmic injury our righteous Creator, Yahweh, has endured on account of our unrighteous rebellion has been atoned for. It’s been paid for. 

These are cosmic things that enable righteous eternal life for every sinner. Messiah’s cross is a cosmic game changer. Ultimately, it’s power to heal the entire universe will be clearly revealed. And no matter where you spend eternity, you will be there to see it. 

On a more intimate level, the cross is the Tree of Life for all who put their faith in Messiah Jesus. How is this so? As it says in the verses we quoted in the confession of sins: 1John 1:8, “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” The biggest danger we face in life is self-deception. Believing lies turns us into losers even if we gain the whole world. Ultimately, believing lies turns us into cosmic, eternal losers — especially believing lies about the Word, believing lies about Jesus.

God’s Law — His commandments — are like a mirror. In the commandments we behold ourselves as we truly are. We behold the rebellious devil within us. For we don’t want to obey. If we think we can get away with it, we won’t obey. But ultimately that’s believing the big lie of the devil. For, Yahweh’s cosmic and eternal justice can’t be escaped. We are not our own gods. This is the truth. Therefore, Lord Holy Spirit coming upon us and enabling us to believe the truth about our sin is the first step.

But then we read these marvelous words in 1John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Messiah Jesus was born for precisely this. Being cleansed from unrighteousness by the blood of the Messiah is the most powerful Christmas gift you can ever know. For it leads to Christmas forever, a Christmas that will never get old.

The thing about righteousness — true goodness — is that it never gets old. For righteousness comes directly from our Creator Himself. As it says in 1John 1:5, “God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.” Stumbling in the darkness gets old. Living in the light never does.

So, there is this great power in Messiah and His glorious cross. His sacrifice can cleanse from all unrighteousness. His blood can turn human devils into saints. God’s promise in the Word is sure. If we confess our sins, He will cleanse from all unrighteousness. He will make us fit to live with Him in His light forever.

There is an alternative, though. Yahweh loves us enough that He has given us the right to walk away from Him forever. We don’t have to love Him. But that alternative will turn us fully into human devils who will follow the angelic devils right into the Lake of Fire. It’s far better to be cleansed from all unrighteousness and eventually to be turned into one of Yahweh’s truly righteous ones who love Him and are loved by Him forever.

Shepherds guarding their flocks in the night were the first to hear the Good News that the One who would cleanse us from all unrighteousness had been born. They were to look for a baby lying in — of all things — a manger, an animal’s feed box. Jesus had to make do with an animal’s feed box as His first crib because there were no rooms available in Bethlehem that night. 

That night, angels didn’t appear to Caesar, Herod and their lot to declare the Good News. They would have killed the newborn King to try to escape the allegiance and service they owed Him. And Herod the Great did try to kill baby Jesus. That’s why angels appeared to powerless shepherds, who instead marveled at the Good News and were glad to see the child.

So, which one are you — Herod or a shepherd? If God’s Law has shown you how powerless you are over the Original Sin you inherited from Adam, the Gospel of Jesus Christ is there to show you the power that Messiah has to cleanse you from all unrighteousness and make you fit to live forever with the King of all creation to the praise and glory of His Name. So, rejoice that Yahweh, the Son, became incarnate in mortal human flesh and was put to sleep in an animal feed box for your sake. Through the cross, He has gained righteousness, immortal human flesh and eternal life for you. Right now, Holy Spirit is alongside you to enable you to believe the Word. Amen.

All Bible quotes are from the ESV.