SECOND CHRISTMAS DAY
Text: 1 Timothy 1, 15
Source from Back to Luther with German archive reference. Back to Walther's Epistle Sermons.
Welcome, welcome to earth, Thou noble Guest,
Through whom the sinful world is blest!
Thou com'st to share my misery;
What thanks shall I return to Thee? (85,8)
Oh Lord Jesus, when you came to earth long ago, you found no room in the inn. Behold, our hearts are open; oh, enter in and live and remain in them until we are with you in your Father's house. Amen.
Quote the text here: 1 Timothy 1, 15.
Dear friends in Christ Jesus!
If man has heard and seen the same thing very often, it is his way no longer to be surprised at the most amazing thing, but calmly to consider it as something familiar and commonplace. What a miracle the birth of every child is! But who is still amazed at that? What a miracle that out of a little kernel of wheat should grow a stalk,from the stalk a head, and in this head nourishing flour! But who is still amazed at that? And alas — I must add today — what a miracle God performed on the first Christmas Day of the world! But today who wonders greatly at that?
Oh, the incomprehensible indifference of the human heart! God becomes a man in order to save man; that is the Christmas message. This miracle surpasses all the miracles which have ever occurred. Though it took place on earth, it even outdoes all those miracles which took place in heaven so far that Peter says, the angels desire to look into it.
Bear in mind, my dear friends, God is in all people; "in him," says Paul, "we live, and move, and have our being." Acts 17,28. Yes, God lives in grace in the hearts of all pious Christians; that is why Paul calls them God's temple. Now although one can say of such Christians that God lives in them, one cannot say that they are God. On the other hand, God was united with the Christchild in such a way that one must not only say: God lives in this child, but also: This Child is God. In him God became a man so that God united with the human nature to form one person. Oh, what an incomprehensible, unsearchable miracle! The eternal, almighty God who made, sustains, and rules heaven and earth and everything which is in them, becomes a mortal weak infant who has a human mothers, who must clothe and feed him, lift and carry him, cherish and protect him!
And yet more! The most amazing of all is that God did not become a man because man had been such a lovable, pious, holy, and glorious creature that God desired to enter the holy family of man. No; man had fallen from God, became his enemy, and thereby became inexpressibly miserable, and that is why, yes, that is the very reason why God became a man. He wanted to deliver man from the misery into which he had hurled himself by his fall from God.
Oh the miracle of God's love! When the pious church father Ambrose ponder this miracle of God becoming a man, he was inspired to exclaim boldly, "Oh blessed guilty sins, which earned such a Redeemer!" Luther testifies in one of his Advent sermons, "If we could grasp and measure in our heart the greatness of this blessing, we would die for very joy."
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Well then, on the basis of our text, let us In this hour ponder with one another:
HOW GLORIOUS THE INCOMPREHENSIBLE MIRACLE OF CHRISTMAS IS
1. How Worthy of Our Faith, and
2. How Worthy of Our Acceptance.
I.
My friends, before God does something, no human being can be his counselor and tell him what is proper for him to do as God; but after God has done it and revealed it to men, then we human beings can by God's grace in a measure recognize how glorious, how worthy of God it was. That this is so God himself has indicated, when he said to Moses, "Thou canst not see my face;...thou shalt see my back parts." Ex 33,20.23.
The same thing is alo true in what God has done when man had fallen into sin and thus into temporal and eternal misery. No man, no angel, no creature could have given God the answer to the question: What shall I do with fallen man? But after God revealed to men what he did, every person can with joy and amazement recognize how glorious, how worthy of God this deed was.
Paul indicates that in our text when he says, " This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners." What is said with the words: "This is a, faithful saying," means according to the original text; " It is ABSOLUTELY WORTHY OF BEING RELIED ON." The apostle means to say; it true that the Son of God came into the world and became a man in order to save sinners; this seems, to be absolutely unbelievable. But ponder this miracle and you will soon become convinced of how worthy of our faith it is.
And is that not actually true, my friends? Bear in mind: God has two opposite attributes which belong to his essence. On the one hand, he is inviolably holy, righteous, and true, and on the other, full of infinite love, grace, and mercy. What should he do, when man had transgressed his holy law? Could he without further ado forgive man his sins and take him into heaven? No, absolutely not; if God would have done that, he would have ceased being a holy and righteous God. Is not he an unjust judge who frees or pardons all criminals? Does not God himself say in his Word: "He that justifieth the wicked, and he that condemneth the just, even they both are abomination to the Lord"? Prov 17,15. And should God himself do that? Never!
God had not only written his law in man’s heart at his creation, but he had also threatened man with the punishment of temporal and eternal death, if he would transgress his law. Had God without further ado pardoned fallen man, he would have declared before all creatures with this deed that he was not true. He would be like a weak old father, who utters all manner of threats and commands to his children but carries neither out. No my friends, as certainly as God is holy, righteous, and true, so certainly could he not retract his law nor fail to carry out his threats; so certainly must every letter of his law be fulfilled. Christ had expressly sworn the solemn oath: "Verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or tittle shell in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled." Mt 5,18.
Now as we mentioned above, God is also full of infinite love, grace, and mercy, yes, a moving, eternally overflowing ocean of love, with which he surrounds his creatures. According to this love he could want to do nothing else than
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rescue mankind who had become so miserable through his own fault, could only have wanted to save him.
And what did (God do to save sinners and yet have his holiness, righteousness, and truth triumph as well as his love, grace, and mercy? He himself became a man and in man's place paid the immeasurable guilt by his life and death. Even as a new-born Child we see him today in deepest humility, clothed in miserable swaddling clothes, lying in a manger, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world; holiness and love, righteousness and grace, truth and mercy now reconciled extend their hand in benediction over him.
Yes, this miracle is so great that the mind neither of men nor of angels can grasp it. Tell me: could God have done a deed more worthy of our
faith than such a one in which all the perfections of God are mirrored as you see here, which shine as clearly as the rays of the noonday sun? Can there be a miracle which would be more worthy of faith than this miracle of miracles?
Oh my dear hearers, do not become bewildered that today so many no longer want to believe in this miracle of their redemption. This happens not because this miracle is not worthy of our faith, but because, as the apostle writes: "The god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the. light of the glorious Gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them." 2 Cor 4,4. But you, my dear friends, plunge in faith only the deeper into this, as St. Paul writes, "great mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh."; Tim 3,16. This miracle will then seem ever more worthy of faith and become more and more glorious until finally with All the angels and elect you will see it there unveiled full of heavenly delight in inexpressible joy and blessedness from eternity to eternity.
II.
My friends, the apostle not only says in our text: "This is a faithful saying", or what is the same, that is absolutely worthy of being believed, but he also adds, " And worthy of all acceptation." that is according to the original text, a word most WORTHY OF BEING ACCEPTED BY ALL, " that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners." And let us ponder this.
My friends, if the miracle of Christmas were not true, therefore not worthy of our faith, if we dared not accept it, this would work only a passing astonishment, but would not bring us salvation, nor work joy in us. But praise God! The miracle of Christmas is also one worthy of our acceptance, for it took place to save all men. That is why St. Paul immediately adds, " Of whom I am chief," in order to show that even he appropriated the miracle of Christmas. That is why the prophet Isaiah rejoices: "Unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given." Is 9,6. And the angel at Christmas Eve cried to all men in those shepherds, and also to all of us: "Unto you is born this day a Savior."
You see that every person can not only in faith say: " Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners," but he should also say he came to save me, me a sinner. He who can not triumphantly exclaim at the end of the Christmas festival: Christ Jesus came into the world also for me, saved me, is bom also for me, was given also to me, is also mine, has celebrated the Christmas festival in vain, and all he has from Christmas is an amazement which will quickly vanish away.
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Therefore accept this glorious miracle of Christmas joyfully! I do not speak to those who do not want to accept it because they wish to live on in sin. With the exception of these, there are four main reasons why so many men do not accept the blessed miracle of Christmas. The first, because their hearts are bewitched by the joys and wealth of this world; the second, because their heart is burdened by the cares of this life; the third, because their heart is so cold, dead, and sated; the fourth, because their heart is oppressed by so many and such great sins.
Ah my dear hearers, who let the joys and wealth of this world restrain you from joyfully receiving the miracle of Christmas in your heart, bear in mind: the things of this world are nothing but empty soap bubbles, which shimmer a few moments in beautiful color and burst asunder at death. Though you. may be very wealthy, in death you are as poor as the poorest beggar; even if you build your grave out of marble, your soul will step before God's judgment throne naked and then everything will depend on bringing Christ with you; otherwise you are eternally lost. True fortune and joy does not live in the pompous world and its palaces but there in Bethlehem's stall, not in your gold and silver coffers lies the true treasure but there in the manger.
My dear hearers, do not let the cares of this life restrain you from joyfully receiving the miracle of Christmas in your heart. How can your worry about your present poverty or misery help you or your dreary prospect for the future? You merely double your misery. Cast all your care on the Lord Jesus, accept him joyfully, and you will even in deepest tribulation be "exceeding joyful" with Paul and learn to sing with our Paul Gerhardt:
Why should cross and trial grieve me?
Christ is near With His cheer;.
Never will He leave me!
Who can rob me of the heaven
That God's Son For my own
To my faith hath given?
Nor my dear hearers, should the fact that you feel so cold, dead, and sated restrain you from accepting the blessed miracle of Christmas with your whole heart. Bear in mind, Christ Jesus is such miraculous food which not only satisfies but also makes the sated hungry when they eat, and such miraculous drink which not only quenches thirst but makes him thirsty who drinks. Yes, Christ is such bread which not only nourishes the living but also gives life to the dead. Christ himself say: "I am that bread of life, which cometh down from heaven and giveth life unto the world." Jn 6,48.23.
Finally my friends, do not let your sins restrain you from joyfully accepting the blessed miracle of Christmas, even if your sins are ever so great and ever so many, even if you have turned your back to God for ever so long and dedicated yourself to serve the world, even though you may have fallen ever so often. Bear in mind " Christ Jesus," according to our text, " came into the world," not to save the righteous, the upright, the saints, and the faithful, not even to save the small sinner but, as our text says, to save " SINNERS ", that is, all sinners, the great as well as the small, the old as well as the young, the poor as well as the rich, yes, to save even those who like Paul before his conversion, had been a fearful persecutor of the Church of God and thereby of Christ himself. The sicker,the more miserable, emaciated, and ugly a child is, the more his mother' heart breaks' when he cries; the more miserable a sinner you are, the more your Savior's heart breaks over you if you came to his manger in tears.
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Well then, my dear hearers, go home joyfully and when you enter your room, imagine that your little room has become Bethlehem's manger in which Jesus lies, and let him be and remain your guest from today until your death. Whenever you run an errand, imagine that you are walking the fields of Bethlehem, where the heavenly host praised God and where the angel of the Lord says to you: Unto you is born the Savior of sinners. Yes, may Jesus from today on be the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the Ending, the One and the All, until he no longer lives with you in the vale of tears, but you with him in his heavenly mansions, where you will drink deeply from the sea of his love forever and ever. Oh, that we were there! Amen.