(Sermon by Pastor Michael D. Schultz 12/24/07)

INTRODUCTION:

O little town of Bethlehem, how still we see thee lie.  Tonight, Bethlehem is the place to be.  Whatever has accompanied you into this building (anxiety or exhaustion, lingering sickness or upcoming surgery, guilt or grief, frustration or finances or frustration over finances), whatever concerns have come with you through those doors and whatever it is that your head tells your heart you have to worry about or wonder about, you are in the right place.  God is present here and he is not keeping silent.  The almighty Lord God – Father, Son and Spirit – has what it takes and tells you what you need to know and gives you what you have to have to be able to believe and say, “Nothing can tear me away from the God who has taken hold of me.”  The message of this night comes straight from the mouth of the Lord and lands squarely in the bottom of your heart: The Lord loves you!

Bethlehem is the place to be, because…

In The Manger Is The Child Who Changes Everything

It wasn’t only the glowing brightness of the holy angels that lit up the sky that night.  The glory of the Lord shone around the shepherds.  That’s the same glowing, burning brightness Moses saw as he stood before the burning bush and realized he was only a yardstick or two away from the holy God.  In a special display of fiery light, God appeared over the fields outside Bethlehem.  One shepherd did not turn to another and say, “How about that?!”  They hit the deck.  Their awareness of their own sinfulness made them shrink with fear before the Lord.  God’s first words through his angel messenger were, “Fear not.  It’s not curtains for you.  It’s good news.  A Savior has been born for you.”  The Jesus of Christmas is the child who changes everything.  [Fear turns into relief.]

It may not always seem so, but every sin is a declaration of war against God.  In blind ignorance and brazen defiance, planet earth picked a fight with the wrong person.  If there’s one person you don’t want as your enemy, it’s God.  All the shepherds, as many as there were, all the inhabitants of Bethlehem, all the people of every age, with their arguing, lovelessness, selfishness, greed and pride have declared war against God.  Not smart.  Legions of God’s army angels appeared over Bethlehem.  They sang praise to God and announced God’s response to earth’s declaration of war against him.  Peace!  God declared peace through the arrival of Jesus.  He’s the child who changes everything.  [War turns into peace.]

When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds did not say to one another, “Let’s go see if this is true.”  “Let’s go and see this thing that has happened.  It has certainly happened; the Lord told us so.”  Whatever doubts may have ever crossed their minds before, the clear Word of God from the angels left no room for doubt on this night.  After they quickly made their way into town, there he was, just as they were told, wrapped in cloths, lying in a manger.  On this night was born the child who changes everything.  [Doubt turns into conviction.]

Who were these men?  Married? Single? Old? Young?  People who were concerned about the local economy, a shortage of rain, the plummeting price of wool?  Families to feed?  Bills to pay?  People who felt that day after day they were just getting by?  I don’t know what worries kept them up at night, but whatever their worries were they went away that night.  They returned glorifying and praising God.  They had seen the Savior, the child who changes everything.  [Worry turns into praise.]

On December 24th, 2007, with the sun set and the candles lit, people have gathered in the hush and the dim light of another Christmas Eve.  Don’t tell me that if the fiery light of the glory of the Lord were to hover fifteen feet above us inside this sanctuary and God were giving a visible sign of his presence that we wouldn’t have something to be terrified about.  Getting upset with God and demanding explanations from him, getting angry at people and dismissing their explanations – don’t we understand who loses when we fight against the Lord?  Is all the stress we’re under because we have it so tough or because we so seldom turn to God’s promises?  What do we do more – worship or worry?

It’s another Christmas Eve and we’re still so filled with sin that it’s coming out our ears.  But churches fill up tonight, and I hope and pray that for you it’s not merely a time-honored tradition or a holiday habit to come to this place where a crude cradle sits in the spotlight.  Every time we go to the Christmas gospel in Luke 2 we hear the unchanging truth that this child Jesus changes everything.  The changes he brings are still the changes we need tonight.

I don’t expect him to, but God could choose to show himself here tonight in a blaze of glory brighter than the one outside Bethlehem, but in place of fear there is relief.  The child Jesus is the Savior for you.  As an individual, you’ll want to say it for yourself: A Savior has been born for me.  Mary’s holy Son was born to take all of your sin and guilt into himself so that God the Father could kill him and condemn him for it.  You have a Savior and no sin counted against you.  [Fear has turned into relief.]

God is not going to return fire at you for firing at him.  He’s declared an eternal truce.  This child Jesus made that happen.  On earth – peace!  There’s peace between God and you because this child stepped between God and you and established peace when he offered himself.  [War has turned into peace.]

The events of this night drive away doubt.  God made you a promise and he kept it.  Wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger is the child who took your place – keeping commandments and paying for sins.  Nothing about God’s love for you is in doubt.  [Doubt has turned into conviction.]

Eight days ago at the children’s service, I could not detect an ounce of worry when young children were singing, “God loves me dearly.”  Try looking at the child in the manger and singing that to yourself and asking yourself, “Do I really have anything to worry about with God’s Son having come down from heaven to make me a child of God?”  [Worry has turned into praise.]

Relief, peace, conviction, praise.  If those are not the first words that come to mind when you list the key components of your daily life, look at the baby Jesus and see how he changes everything.

He changes everything as the Christmas message you’ve heard tonight stays with you when go back out those doors, back out into situations and settings where you run smack dab back into anxiety or exhaustion, lingering sickness or upcoming surgery, guilt or grief, frustration or finances or frustration over finances.  Take the message with you and watch how this child who is now reigning on his eternal throne walks through all of it with you and fills you with relief, peace, conviction and praise

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