[Sermon Archive]

This Week's Sermon THE NATIVITY OF OUR LORD 24 December 2008 "The Gift of Peace" Luke 2:1-20 LSB Series B Pastor Philip G. Meyer Soli Deo Gloria!

Looking back over the Christmases of the decades in which I have been alive, a theme seems to stand out: our world is pretty much a mess. Conditions don't seem to get better. In some ways, conditions seem to get worse. While we are not thinking much about war tonight, unless one has loved ones in a combat zone, we are thinking about other kinds of unrest. Economic deprivation comes to mind for many people. There is unrest about all of that. Many worry about our government's involvement in the economic distress, giving away billions of taxpayer dollars to help "save" the economy. We have a world teetering on the brink of even more war and economic collapse. There is unrest. It is not peaceful.

These conditions are hardly unique because that's the way the world really is. There is disruption, poverty, pain, hatred, betrayal, personal sorrows, and so many other things that we do not have time to list. Yet, on a night like this expectations are high. Perhaps, so many think, we can achieve peace on earth. If only we did this or that, if only we had economic conditions that were stable and fair, if only nations stopped attacking other nations, if only we could learn to live together in peace and harmony, if only we. . . .

"If only we . . . " what? The problem starts with those words, "If only we . . ." Man is not the solution, man is the problem. God's Word makes it clear that it all started in Eden when Adam and Eve disobeyed God and ruined everything that God had created. God's Creation, called "good" by God himself, was disrupted, broken, ruined by man's sin. Human beings are like children who try to glue back together their mother's exquisite lamp they broke because of their own foolishness. Such things are frequently the subject of sitcoms. We find them funny because we know that the lamp is broken and that the children will be found out.

Suffering and death seem out of place on Christmas Eve. If only there were a night when we could forget about such things . . . Yet, cruelty, suffering, hatred, and death goes on unabated tonight. Somewhere, probably right here in our own city, people are engaged in hateful and even violent acts. Sin rears its ugly head. We'll hear about it on the news tomorrow. In spite of all the evidence, many people will deny the underlying problem.

The underlying problem is man's sin. The sin of Adam and Eve, passed down from every generation to the next since the Creation, is alienation from God and rebellion against him. It was not God who changed the perfection of Creation, but Satan who tempted Adam and Eve to follow him in rebellion against God. Man lost the peace with God and with each other when he sinned. It is not popular to say such things in a culture like ours, but it is the truth. We are to blame for the mess in which this world finds itself. It is the same situation that Moses wrote about in the days before the flood of Noah:

"The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually." (Genesis 6:5, ESV)

In spite of our outward actions to the contrary, the root cause remains, namely, man's sinful heart. Man cannot be "good for goodness' sake." Man cannot be a wonderful person by simply doing the right thing because he can't do the right thing. He lacks light and power. If something positive is to be done, it will have to come from outside of man, outside of his corrupt heart. God acted when he promised Adam and Eve that he would send a Savior who would redeem them, forgiving their sins and giving them new hearts which would be turned toward him and toward the neighbor in love.

When the angel announced the birth of Jesus to the shepherds he announced the birth of the Savior from sin. In this baby all the fullness of God dwells bodily. God became man! God became one of us to do what no other human being, tainted with sin, could do, that is, fulfill the Law of God perfectly and offer a sacrifice that would atone for the world's sins, for all the hatreds, the violent acts, the deceitful acts, the self-serving acts, however else sin can be defined. He was born of the Virgin Mary, a true man, to redeem all human beings from this curse of sin and death.

With this Christ there is peace. The peace that Christ brings is not the political peace that so many mistakenly expect, but peace with God.

"Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!" (Luke 2:14, ESV)

How we love our manger scenes! Most homes have a crèche, or manger scene. It might be the most common Christmas decoration of all. Mary, Joseph, and the baby Jesus. Maybe the shepherds are there, too, and of course, the angels who spoke this wonderful news. The artwork that I chose for your bulletin cover this evening I discarded at first. I didn't like the chubby cherubim on the top as representations of God's holy angels. Angels should be seen as army troops because that's what the Scripture really calls them when it calls them the "host of heaven." Literally, it means army. But I came back to Lorenzo Lotto's painting because of one factor, the crucifix in the upper left hand corner. Lotto got the Nativity right. Here lies the infant Jesus, Son of God and Son of Man. That cross is his destiny, his mission. There on the cross Jesus made peace with God forever by means of his innocent sacrifice. That cross is the whole point of his Nativity. So the Apostle Paul writes:

"But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near." (Ephesians 2:13-17, ESV)

This is the glorious message of peace of which the angels spoke. It is the peace that comes only through a death, the death of the Christ, our Savior. Here God's gracious plan of redeeming the world comes to fruition. The work of the Christ begins already at Bethlehem. Here is God's peace in the flesh and blood of his Son born of the Virgin Mary at Bethlehem.

God's gift of peace has been announced to the world ever since. In every age all over the world the peace of God in Christ has been proclaimed to a world at war with God and at war with itself. God has promised that this message of his peace will not stop until he closes this age on the last day. The invitation of God the Holy Spirit continues to go out to all, telling them what Christ has done and still does for their salvation. Here tonight the wonderful good news is proclaimed in the Word and especially in the Sacrament. Here under bread and wine Christ comes to you in his body and blood with his peace, forgiving your sins, restoring peace between God and you, between you and your fellow man. There is a Holy Communion.

When this sermon is ended you will hear the word of God's peace spoken. When all have received the body and blood of Christ I will face you and say,

"The body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ strengthen and preserve you in body and soul to life everlasting. Depart in peace."

"Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace according to Thy word, for mine eyes have seen Thy salvation, which Thou has prepared before the face of all people, a light to lighten the Gentiles and the glory of Thy people Israel."

You go forth from this sanctuary in peace, having received God's peace in the Sacrament and having the word of peace placed into your ears repeatedly, especially as the last word you hear from your pastor's lips as he speaks the blessing. Tonight you receive once more God's Gift of Peace, this "peace of God which passes all understanding" [Philippians 4.7]. You live in this peace because it is your life. You share this peace with others because it is the greatest gift that you can give. You have received "A Gift of Peace" from God in Christ Jesus by means of his cross. May God the Holy Spirit be pleased to share that gift with others through you!