[Sermon Archive]

This Week's Sermon THE NATIVITY of OUR LORD 24 December 2009 "The Joy of Christmas" Luke 2:1-20 LSB Series C Pastor Philip G. Meyer Soli Deo Gloria!

Many of our Christmas hymns and carols have lots of references to joy. It's hard to find one that doesn't find joy as one of the emotions expressed at the birth of Christ. The angel's announcement leads with this thought.

"And the angel said to them, "Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord." (Luke 2:10-11, ESV)

Tonight again, the "good news of great joy" that a Savior has been born for the world is proclaimed the world over. For 24 hours straight, the announcement of this great joy is spoken in thousands of languages in even the remotest corners of the earth. Even in space the words have been spoken.

The birth of Christ is a time for great joy because he is the Savior of the whole human race. There is joy because a Savior has been born for us, the One sent by the Father to be the One who brings forgiveness, life, and salvation to fallen humanity. The birth of Christ means a rescuer has come, a Redeemer has been born.

A Savior has been born! Perhaps the basic question must be asked yet again: "A Savior from what?" A Savior from sin and its consequences, namely, eternal death and hell. Christ is also the Savior "to" something, namely eternal life in the presence of God. Heaven and earth are united in the birth of this Savior. The Nativity of Our Lord proclaims that sin, death, and hell are no more! Their defeat was assured with the birth of this child. His life would be the fulfillment of all that the angel's words implied. This Child would re-establish peace between God and man by offering his perfect life into death.

The birth of Christ is a time for great joy but the time of Christmas is not necessarily a time of great joy for many people. The angel first had to tell the shepherds not to fear at his appearance. Fear takes the joy out of life, and that is one of the reasons that so many people, even Christians, have a hard time experiencing joy. It's hard to have joy when looking at our world. The headlines smack us in the face day after day. The economy is in shambles and no one seems to have a handle on it. Record numbers of people are unemployed, worrying about how to meet tomorrow and its challenges. Violence raises its ugly head even on this holiest nights when the Gospel of peace is again broadcast to the world. Hatred continues to cause unrest and war. What joy there is tonight will be fleeting for many people. By tomorrow they will again be found drowning in their sorrows.

Sigmund Freud spoke of "barren joys," things that are not really joys at all but only seem to be. Sadly, many will fill their empty lives with these "barren joys" and wonder why there are still filled with sorrow. They will attempt to find their joy in things that cannot last and cannot bring true joy, whether it be the pursuit of material gain, sensual pleasure, the accumulation of power over others, or even in family.

As I look out on the congregation this evening at both services, I know that this has been a difficult year for many of you, to say nothing of the visitors who have joined us this evening. There have been tragedies and disappointments. Some have suffered economic reverses as a result of the recession. It has been reflected in our congregational life as well. Others grieve over the loss of loved ones. Others suffer illness and losss of health. Dreams have not been fulfilled. Life has been hard. Of that there can be no doubt.

But, dear friends, there IS joy tonight, a joy which transcends human misery and suffering. It is the joy that a Savior has been born for us in Bethlehem and everything that this means. The cause of all human misery is sin, the sin of our first parents and the sin that you and I have contributed to it as well. Imagine all the world's sin piled in a heap. It would be a heap so large that we cannot imagine it. Christ was born to remove that sin from humanity. "A Savior, who is Christ the Lord" has been born for us! God has intervened in this miserable world in a decisive manner. He has sent our Redeemer, our Rescuer, our Savior. Even though it would be some 33 years before his work would be accomplished, the heavenly choirs of angels shouted for joy! God was setting things right by solving man's sin problem. He sent a Savior, his only-begotten Son, true God, into the world also as a true man born of the Virgin Mary. He would accomplish what no human being even could. He would reunite God and man forever in a bond of peace.

Perhaps you think your grief is too deep, too strong to be overcome by the joy of Christ's birth. Hear once again the story of Paul Gerhardt, the most famous German Lutheran hymnwriter of all, whose hymns have found their way into more languages and cultures than any other hymnwriter, wrote some of the most joyful hymns of all time. Many people are unaware that Gerhardt's life was filled with disappointment and tragedy.

Most of his life was lived during the Thirty Years' War which ravaged Germany. Because of this cruel war, Gerhardt did not begin his life's work until age 44, when he was ordained a Lutheran pastor. The plague ravaged Europe and thousands died. Gerhardt experienced trouble in the ministry because of the strife of the government edict forbidding Lutheran pastors to preach Lutheran doctrine. Gerhardt could not accept the government edict and was removed from office. Two years after this, his wife died. Three of their five children died in infancy, and then one of his remaining two sons died. Gerhardt was left with a six year old son. It was out of the great sorrows of his life that he wrote such magnificent comforting hymns. His hymns do not dismiss his great sorrow, but through all of it Gerhardt continued to express joy, a joy that could not be shaken by all of the disappointments and tragedies he had experienced. When one knows these circumstances one is even more amazed at the confidence and joy which his hymns proclaimed. It is his deep Christian feeling, devotion, and conviction based in God's redemptive work that make Gerhardt's hymns so enduring and comforting to those experiencing times of both joy and sorrow in the 21st century.

The sermon hymn this evening is one of those. If you wish to look at it, it is Hymn 360. Lutheran Service Book includes only six stanzas of the original fifteen stanzas. I want to quote from an earlier translation and include a few stanzas not in our hymnal.

1. All my heart this night rejoices
As I hear Far and near
Sweetest angel voices.
"Christ is born," their choirs are singing
Till the air Everywhere
Now with joy is ringing.

2. Forth today the Conqueror goeth,
Who the foe, Sin and woe,
Death and hell, o'erthroweth.
God is man, man to deliver;
His dear Son Now is one
With our blood forever.

5. If our blessed Lord and Maker
Hated men, Would He then
Be of flesh partaker?
If He in our woe delighted,
Would He bear All the care
Of our race benighted?

6. He becomes the Lamb that taketh
Sin away And for aye
Full atonement maketh.
For our life His own He tenders
And our race, By His grace,
Meet for glory renders.

7. Hark! a voice from yonder manger,
Soft and sweet, Doth entreat:
"Flee from woe and danger.
Brethren, from all ills that grieve you
You are feed; All you need
I will surely give you."

8. Come, then, banish all your sadness,
One and all, Great and small;
Come with songs of gladness.
Love Him who with love is glowing;
Hail the Star, Near and far
Light and joy bestowing.

Hymn #77 from The Handbook to The Lutheran Hymnal
Text: Luke 2:11
Author: Paul Gerhardt, 1653
Translated by: Catherine Winkworth, 1858, alt.
Titled: Froehlich soll mein Herze springen
Composer: Johann Crueger, 1653
Tune: Froehlich soll mein Herze

Joy is bestowed, bestowed by God. This magnificent gift is given in Christ. You and I do not have to produce joy in our lives because we would fail miserably. We would have only the "barren joys" of which Freud spoke. Our joy comes from God! He produces it in us by his Holy Spirit.

The Psalmist wrote:

"You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore." (Psalm 16:11, ESV)

And again:

"For you make him most blessed forever; you make him glad with the joy of your presence." (Psalm 21:6, ESV)

In the presence of God there is joy. Where God is, there is joy. Ahh, to be in the presence of God! Dear friends, this night the angel announces that God has come in the person of Christ and that his dwelling is with us. God is with us! He is Immanuel! God is here among human beings whose lives are beset with all sorts of sorrows. There in the stable you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths lying in the manger. There is Christ. There is your Savior, come as a real flesh and blood baby, to be with us forever, never to leave our sides.

Oh, but the sorrows and griefs we have encountered. They are real. They hurt. But listen to the prophet Isaiah as he describes the work of this Savior:

"Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted." (Isaiah 53:4, ESV)

Christ has carried your griefs and your sorrows in his own body to the tree of the cross where he has made and end of them. Why, then, should we hang on to them? If they are redeemed in Christ, then we have no reason to wallow in sadness because it denies who Christ is and what he has done!

Where God is, there is joy. God is here right now. No, I don't mean that as many Christians do, having to be content with some ethereal presence of God, of him sort of floating around, but in a concrete way. Christ is present here now according to his flesh. He dwells among us in Word and Sacrament, especially in the Sacrament of the Altar where he gives us his true body and blood, the same body and blood as lay in the manger, not some symbol of it. We Lutherans call it the Real Presence. Christ is here in his grace and mercy by means of his true body and blood for the forgiveness of your sins. He is here to strengthen and preserve us in the true faith until the fullness of our joy is revealed in his nearer presence.

Luther's paraphrase of the Nunc Dimittis begins "In peace and joy I now depart." Peace and joy go together. Peace with God has been made by Christ, and if there is peace, then there must also be joy. The aged Simeon had longed to see God's salvation, and as he held the Christ Child in his arms he was at peace and joy filled his heart. God had acted for his people. Here is Immanuel, God-with-us. He is Immanuel for you, too! And receiving him in his true body and blood you again depart in peace and joy, a peace and joy that shall never end!

For you there is a joy that transcends the sorrows of life. The birth of Christ transcends these miseries of life. All that ultimately makes us miserable and sad has been overcome in the birth of Christ. Tonight we hear the Christmas angels sing their glad hymn:

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

Give glory to God because he has sent our Savior, Christ the Lord! And this great, good news, removes all fears and fills our hearts with unending joy, a joy that shall last for all eternity!

"Joy to the World! The Lord Is Come!"