“THE PURPOSE OF HIS COMING”
The Nativity of Our Lord (Christmas Eve)
December 24, 2015
Bethel Evangelical Lutheran Church
Glenshaw, Pennsylvania
TEXT:
[Jesus] gave Himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to
purify for Himself a people for His own possession who are zealous for
good works.
Titus 2:14 (ESV)
Well, it’s that time of the year again: the time of the year when at
least some of us have all kinds of mixed feelings as the world in
which we live throws a big birthday party for the Savior and seems to
invite everyone to it--except the Savior. Call me a Scrooge if you
must, but the older I get, the more it bothers me. Everyone in the
world is eager and willing to tell you all about “the real meaning of
Christmas,” and they all have some very nice and wholesome and
commendable things to say, but precious few of them will even mention
the name of Jesus in their explanation. We react negatively to this
(or at least I do), because we know inside and out that Christmas is
all about the incarnation of our God--His coming into our world as a
Human Being just like us in every respect except that He was and
remained without sin. What’s more, we know that we have been
commissioned to proclaim this message in all the world until He comes
again in glory.
That’s the easy part--not actually proclaiming the message, but
knowing what Christmas is all about well enough to share it with
others. But there’s a more challenging thing here for us to consider.
While we may be very good at explaining that Christmas is about the
coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, are we just as articulate when it
comes to explaining why He came? You know, all of this happened for a
reason. It would be easy to just say that He came to save us, which
is certainly true, but in this evening’s Epistle Saint Paul explains
the purpose of Jesus’ coming in more specific terms. He makes mention
of two things in particular that the Savior came to do for sinners
like us: He came to redeem us and He came to purify us. Let’s give
some thought to each of these as tonight we kneel in spirit beside His
manger and contemplate the mystery of His birth.
First of all, Jesus came to redeem us. The concept of redemption is
a difficult one for most of us to understand because we have very few
parallels to it in the secular world of today. But back in the days
of slavery it was common for freedmen to purchase the freedom of their
relatives and friends who were slaves. That’s what redemption is.
Well, by sinning you and I have sold ourselves into the slavery of
sin. We have made ourselves the property of Satan and have enslaved
ourselves to a life of sin in opposition to God and His will. I know
that’s not a pleasant thing for us to hear. It wasn’t pleasant for
the Jews of New Testament times to hear either, when Jesus told them
bluntly: “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is a
slave to sin” (John 8:34). Slaves do not have any power to set
themselves free. Even more true is the fact that those who have sold
themselves into the slavery of sin are powerless to tear themselves
away from it.
But the One born in Bethlehem has come into our world to be our
Redeemer. He has bought us back from the slavery of and has made us
the free children of God. But it did not come easy for Him. The
price of our redemption was not by any means cheap. That price was,
first of all, a life of perfect righteousness lived in obedience to
the Law of God. No mere mortal could accomplish this. Mortals sin,
which is what got them into this mess in the first place. And after
that perfect life had been lived, the Innocent and Righteous One had
to suffer death in order to pay the just penalty that our sin
deserves. In order for all of that to be done for us, our Redeemer
had to be perfect God and perfect Man. And that’s why God, in His
infinite love for us, took on our human flesh and was born into our
world--all so that He might buy us back from our slavery to sin with
His perfect life and His innocent suffering and death.
But His coming means more to us than just our redemption. It also
means our purification. The text before us says that He came to
“purify [us] for Himself [as] a people for His own possession.” For
one thing, this means that He has made us guiltless in the eyes of our
God and Judge by taking our sin upon Himself and putting it to death
in His own body on the cross. I know that there are those who would
rather not “ruin” the warmth and sentimentality of Christmas by
mentioning the cross, but the truth of the matter is that without the
cross Christmas means nothing. The manger of Bethlehem always lies in
the shadow of the cross of Calvary. Because Jesus died on that cross,
our sin is a thing of the past as far as God is concerned. It’s over
and done with. And because our Savior was willing to lower Himself,
taking our place under the judgment and condemnation of God for our
redemption, He has raised us to His position of being God’s righteous
and obedient children. That’s the real miracle of Christmas.
By purifying us and making us righteous in the sight of God our
Savior has also made us “zealous for good works.” Notice that it
doesn’t say that He made us do good works, but that He has made us
“zealous for good works.” There is a difference. I don’t know about
you, but the more zealous that I am to do good works, the more clumsy
my efforts at it become. The apostle Paul had this same experience.
He writes to the church at Rome: “I know that nothing good dwells in
me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right,
but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want,
but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Now if I do what
I do not want, it is not longer I who do it, but sin that dwells
within me. . . . Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from
this body of death?” (Romans 7:18-20; 24). Nevertheless, if the
people for whom we are trying to be good know that we’re trying (and
more importantly, if they know that we’re trying because we love
them), they will accept our efforts, no matter how clumsy they may be,
and they will appreciate those efforts. God does the same thing with
us and with our imperfect but genuine efforts to thank Him for His
grace in Christ with works that glorify Him and declare His redeeming
love. He accepts it all as perfect for the sake of His perfect Son.
Christmas is much more than a sweet story about a Baby born in
poverty. It’s about the depth of God’s redeeming love for sinners
like us. Because Jesus, in love, came to us and has become One of us,
we are redeemed and purified. No longer are we the alienated enemies
of God, forever forsaking His will to follow our own desires and in
the process positioning ourselves for judgment. Because of the Child
born in Bethlehem we are now the forgiven children of God awaiting the
fulfillment of the glory that He has promised--the purified children
of God who are now motivated and empowered to live lives that glorify
God and proclaim His love for lost sinners, revealed in the Savior who
He has sent to us. May that knowledge give us every reason to
celebrate--not only during the days of Christmas, but every day that
we live on this earth. Merry Christmas!
Amen.
May the true Light which enlightens everyone, which has come into the
world, shining brightly in the darkness, be your very life. And may
the Word become flesh, Jesus Christ Himself, continue to make known to
you His redeeming grace and truth now and always. He who calls you is
faithful, and He will do it. Amen.