Christmas Eve
Titus
2:11-14
12/24/15
Unless you have been living under a
rock, you are aware that Star Wars Episode VII – The Force Awakens opened in
theaters last week. The much anticipated
follow up to the previous two trilogies of movies is on track to break all
records for financial success. It has
also been declared a success by even the most avid Stars Wars fans, as it has
recaptured the feel of the original Star Wars trilogy in an engaging and fun
movie.
I took the kids to see it last
Friday. Though they have seen the six previous
Stars Wars movies many times, they had never seen any of them in the theater
when they were released. After all, Amy and I saw the last of the movies the
day before Matthew and Abigail were born.
I was seven years old when the first
Star Wars movie was released in 1977. From the beginning of the movie – when a
massive Imperial Star Destroyers passes over head pursuing a rebel ship
carrying Princess Leia – I knew that I had never seen anything like it.
That feeling of wonder continued to
the very end, in the climactic battle as the rebels seek to destroy the massive
Death Star space station. Before the
attack, the smuggler Han Solo is shown rebuffing the pleas of Luke Skywalker as
he tries to persuade Han to join the rebel attack. Han Solo doesn’t believe in any cause except
himself – and besides he owes Jabba the Hut money and needs to repay it.
The rebels and Luke Skywalker press
home the attack on the Death Star as they seek to launch torpedoes down a
ventilating shaft. One by one they are
destroyed by Imperial tie fighters, until finally, only Luke Skywalker has a
chance as he races down the trench structure of the Death Star towards the opening.
Three tie fighters are closing in on
him – the middle one piloted by the villain Darth Vader. Darth Vader has locked in onto Skywalker and
is just about to destroy him. Then
suddenly, one of tie fighters explodes.
The movie cuts away to show Han Solo cheering in the cockpit of his ship
the Millenium Falcon, and then it shows the Millenium Falcon rushing down
towards the Death Star. Surprised, the
second tie fighter moves abruptly and hits Darth Vader’s ship. Vader is sent spinning out into space as the
other tie fighter collides with the wall and explodes. Han Solo shouts, “You’re all clear kid. Now let’s blow this thing and go home.” Han Solo and the Millenium Falcon appeared at
the critical moment in order to save Luke Skywalker and the rebellion itself
from the evil Empire.
The epistle reading for Christmas
Eve speaks about another story which is cosmic in scope. We are reminded that in the birth of Jesus
Christ at Bethlehem, God’s grace appeared in our world in order to save us from
the evil empire of Satan, sin and death.
He has worked salvation for us now, and because of that salvation we now
live in ways that set us apart from the world. Yet we do so knowing that we
looking for one more appearing of the risen Lord.
Martin Luther observed that while
the Gospels tell us what happened with Jesus, St. Paul tells us what it
means. Tonight we hear in our Gospel
lesson about the birth of Jesus Christ – a birth that is announced by angels to
shepherds. Now certainly the Gospels do tell us what the events mean. After all,
we hear the angel announce, “For unto you is born this day in the city of David
a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.” Luther’s point is that Paul assumes we know
about the events themselves. Instead he
focuses only on what they mean for us.
Paul begins our text by saying, “For
the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people.” This is how
the apostle puts the events of Christmas Eve into his own words: “the grace of
God has appeared.”
In Paul’s letters, “grace” is the
completely undeserved loving favor of God.
It is the love of God directed towards us which we do not deserve. We don’t deserve it because as sinners we
have rebelled against God. We have said
by our actions that we want other gods.
We want ourselves to be the god of our own life. We want the unholy trinity of me, myself and
I to be the center of our universe. As Paul goes on to say in the next chapter:
“For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various
passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others
and hating one another.”
And yet … God loved us any way. Paul says in Galatians, “But when the
fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under
the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive
adoption as sons.” The grace of God appeared as the One conceived by the Holy
Spirit was born to Mary in a stable in Bethlehem. Jesus Christ, who is true God and true man,
was born because God desired to bring salvation to all people. In his undeserved love, he wanted to bring
salvation to you.
The grace of God appeared in the
incarnation of Jesus Christ. But this
was only the beginning. Paul says Jesus is the One “who gave himself for us to
redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own
possession.” The baby Jesus in the
manger grew up to be the man on the cross – the man on the cross in your place. He gave himself on your behalf. He took your
place – your sin – and received Gods’ judgment so that you never will.
Tonight we celebrate the birth of
Jesus Christ. We rejoice in the fact
that he exited the darkness of Mary’s womb as he was born and brought his life
out into the world. Jesus was born in
order to die. But then on the third day
he exited the darkness of the tomb and brought his new resurrection life out
into the world. Jesus is the second Adam
who has provided the answer to sin, and has begun the life that will be ours.
Because of the birth, death and
resurrection of Jesus Christ, everything has changed. In fact, Paul says that we live in a new and
unique moment in human history. Paul
calls it the “now age” in our text. We live in the time when the grace of God
has appeared, bringing salvation and the resurrection of the Last Day. That is what is already here. And because of
what God has done through the work of his Spirit, Jesus causes us to live like
it. Paul says in our text that the saving
grace of God revealed in Jesus trains “us to renounce ungodliness and worldly
passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present
age.”
The Spirit of the risen Lord who is
in us – the same Spirit who will raise and transform our bodies when Christ
returns – causes us to renounce sinful ways and to embrace the ways of
God. You received the Spirit in the
waters of Holy Baptism. There he gave you new spiritual life. Paul says in the next chapter, “But when the
goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not
because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy,
by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured
out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior.”
Paul says you are not saved because
of works. You are not saved because of
anything you do. After all, it is the grace of God that saves which appeared
on Christmas Eve. You receive this
salvation by faith as a gift. But when
we turn to how faith acts in love,
that’s a different story altogether.
After all, Paul says in our text that Jesus is the One “who 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.”
When it comes to loving our
neighbor, now we are all in when it comes to doing. As Paul says in the next chapter after
talking about the regeneration that occurs in Holy Baptism: “The saying is
trustworthy, and I want you to insist on these things, so that those who have
believed in God may be careful to devote themselves to good works. These things
are excellent and profitable for people.”
You become the means by which God cares for those around you. Martin Luther said that you become the pipe
that delivers God’s love. The love that
you have received by faith, you now pass on in deeds through the work of the
Spirit.
We never do this perfectly. It is always done in conflict with the old
man in us – the continuing presence of sin that characterizes the now and not
yet of the “now age” in which we live.
For while we celebrate the appearance of the grace of God on Christmas
Eve which brought the “now age” in which we live, we also know that all is not
yet complete. Sin still exists. Death
still exists. The end of these things has
begun in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, but it is not yet fully
here for us. We need to listen to Paul
tonight when he reminds us that we are still “waiting for our blessed hope, the
appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ.”
We rejoice and celebrate tonight
that the incarnate Son of God was born in Bethlehem on Christmas Eve. In his first coming the grace of God has
appeared bringing salvation to all people. But the coming as a baby in a manger
was only his first coming. And now as God’s people we are to live as those who
are looking for his second coming.
This is our blessed hope. Yet tonight reminds us that the word “hope”
does not connote any uncertainty. Instead, this hope is one of eager and
confident expectation. It is a hope that
knows Jesus came on Christmas Eve. It is a hope that knows Jesus rose from the
dead and ascended into heaven as he was exalted. And so it is a hope that lives in the
knowledge that Jesus who is still the incarnate One will come in power and
glory once again.
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