[Sermon Archive] - [Weekly Devotional Guide]

This Week's Sermon THE EPIPHANY of OUR LORD 06 January 2010 "Unwrapping the Gift" Matthew 2:1-12 LSB Series C Pastor Philip G. Meyer Soli Deo Gloria!

For many centuries the Church celebrated the birth of Jesus on 06 January, this day which we know as Epiphany. It was not until the fourth century that Christmas was celebrated in December, when the birth and Epiphany of our Lord were divided into two separate occasions. The Church viewed Epiphany as the more important of the two events. The word Epiphany means "manifestation," or "showing forth." What is manifested? Jesus as the Son of God and Son of man. Jesus is manifested as the Christ, the Promised Savior. Epiphany reveals Jesus as God's Son and Mary's son, the Savior of the whole world. So, Epiphany is all about making the Christ known.

This sounds like a simple task, but it has not been, even from the days of Jesus. It's much like that beautifully wrapped gift under your Christmas tree. There is much to like about the package, but once opened, one must understand the gift. Maybe you've gotten one of those beautifully wrapped gifts when, once you opened it, you were puzzled by what it was. We gave our daughter-in-law a singing, insulated travel mug. At first, she didn't know what to make of it, even as she played the music. Of course, I took a photo of this and sent the photo to the rest of the family. Our daughter Jill could not understand why Lauren was excited about an insulated travel mug for coffee. She didn't know the "Hoops and YoYo" characters. They're animated characters from Hallmark. It didn't make sense to one who wasn't aware of why this mug was special.

In some ways, that's how we can look at Christmas and Epiphany. They are events that must be understood as complementing each other. The latter explains the former. They need unveiling to one who does not know them. The mystery must be explained.

Four times in our Epistle Paul uses the word "mystery." Mysteries must be revealed. A mystery is "a secret or mystery, too profound for human ingenuity."¹ God has to explain what his gift to the world is and what it means. That's what Epiphany does, and as we go through the Epiphany season we'll see how God explains this gift more and more through the Gospel readings. Jesus will be revealed more and more and he will unveil more and more of God's heart to us. So Paul wrote:

"When you read this, you can perceive my insight into the mystery of Christ, which was not made known to the sons of men in other generations as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit. This mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel." (Ephesians 3:4-6, ESV)

At Epiphany God unveils his heart to the world, that he had planned the salvation of the whole world, Jew and Gentile, in this Christ born at Bethlehem, worshiped by angels and men.

It has not been an easy task because sinful human beings always want to corrupt what God has said. Satan tempted Adam and Eve by asking that question, "Did God really say . . .?" And he keeps whispering that question into the ears of people even in our day. "Did God really say . . ." that certain thoughts, words, and actions are sins? The challenge in our day is explaining to such a sin-soaked world that sin is still sin and that God has wrath against those who commit these sins. It certainly seems to us in the Church that there are no sins anymore, except that of the sin of being intolerant of real sin! Sinful man will always minimize his sin even if, at the same time, he denies God's existence!

It is challenging to talk about sin in our day because most people don't want to hear about their sins. They never have. Even the chosen people, the Jews, didn't want to hear their sins condemned by the prophets. They silenced most of them by killing them. Yet, God would not be silenced because he kept sending more prophets to announce repentance.

It is not true that God no longer considers sin to be sin. Homosexuality is still a sin as is stealing. God has not relaxed the demands of his Law. He hasn't made a revision, something more up-to-date in keeping with the "enlightened thinking" of our age. Nor has God wiped the sins of coveting or lying about your neighbor off the pages of Holy Scripture. In fact, Jesus tells us that not one "jot or tittle"-the smallest marks in the Hebrew alphabet-shall be relaxed or pass away. Death still awaits all people because of sin.

The real mystery is that in the flesh and blood of Jesus God himself has carried human sin-all of it!-into the death of this Christ. God has condemned your sin in Christ. By the blood of Jesus God has forgiven all people, whether they are Jews or Gentiles. It makes no difference because all are under the same condemnation because of their sinful birth. No one is better off than another because of this, but in Christ, all stand under the same grace and mercy of God.

This is the mystery of which Paul writes! God separates us from our sin and death and brings us to himself through this Christ. In writing to the Colossians, Paul says:

"Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church, of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God that was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known, the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to his saints. To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ. For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me." (Colossians 1:24-29, ESV)

Did you hear how difficult this task is, even for one like the Apostle Paul? The mystery is revealed in Christ but not all want to hear that it is only in Christ that one has God's favor. Many still want to think that they can somehow earn this favor by their own goodness, or that God accepts them as they are, unrighteous and full of sin, but that's a delusion. If that were true-which it is not-then there would be no need for God to reveal it in Christ! He could say to you, "Man, just figure it out for yourself. You can do it! I'm not really serious about this sin stuff." No, it must be revealed by God, and this he does through the flesh of his Son, Jesus Christ. Through him alone God lifts us out of the kingdom of darkness and places us into his kingdom of light and life.

"Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you." (Isaiah 60:1, ESV)

The light of Christ shines on you! God's true glory has risen on you in Christ. It is the mystery of a love that goes to such depths as a disgraceful death on a cross. It is a love that must be revealed because human beings cannot comprehend how such love operates without the enlightenment of God the Holy Spirit. God must show us! He must reveal his purposes and plans to us because we can never discover them lost in the darkness of our sin and death. That is Epiphany, God unwrapping his Gift to the world and explaining who this Gift is and what he does. So Paul wrote to the Corinthians:

"Thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift!" (2 Corinthians 9:15, ESV)

This Epiphany is for the whole world. Getting out the word of this mystery revealed is the Church's mission, the Church's blessed privilege. I don't want to say "task" because that is a law word. Put it in the context of the Gospel. I don't even want to say that God has given his Church her marching orders because those words, too, speak like Law and not Gospel. Perhaps Paul has said it best:

"Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving. At the same time, pray also for us, that God may open to us a door for the word, to declare the mystery of Christ, on account of which I am in prison- that I may make it clear, which is how I ought to speak." (Colossians 4:2-4, ESV)

The Church proclaims the mystery. She does not argue people into the kingdom of heaven, she proclaims the mystery and trusts that God the Holy Spirit will fulfill his promises in bringing many to salvation in this Christ.

You and I see Jesus in his full manifestation as the Son of God and our Savior. Tonight we celebrate that with great gusto and joy!

In the name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

¹William Arndt, F. Wilbur Gingrich, Frederick W. Danker and Walter Bauer, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature : A Translation and Adaption of the Fourth Revised and Augmented Edition of Walter Bauer's Griechisch-Deutsches Worterbuch Zu Den Schrift En Des Neuen Testaments Und Der Ubrigen Urchristlichen Literatur, 530 (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1996, c1979).