Sermon manuscript:
He rules the world with truth and grace.
That line comes from the well-known and well-loved Christmas
hymn, “Joy to the world.” “He rules the world with truth and grace.” Who rules
the world? Jesus rules the world.
Jesus being the king who reigns and rules is a theme that is
found in a lot of Christmas hymns. I’ll give you a couple examples. O Come All
Ye Faithful. O come all ye faithful to Bethlehem. Why? To behold the King of
angels. Or Hark the Herald Angels Sing: What are the herald angels singing?
“Glory to the newborn King!” Christmas is about the birth of the king.
This king was promised to come in the Old Testament. There
are so many prophecies about a great king. He would be from David’s line. He
will bring light to those who sit in darkness. He will bring righteousness,
justice, and peace. His kingdom will be an eternal kingdom. I don’t think it is
possible to overstate the importance of this great, eternal king.
But another thing that almost all the Christmas carols point
out, however, is the strange scene into which this king was born. A stable is
not the normal place to give birth for any human being, much less the great
king. Consider these opening lines: “Away in a manger, no crib for a bed…”
Didn’t even have a crib. Or: “Once in Royal David’s city stood a lowly cattle
shed, where a mother laid her baby in a manger for his bed…” Jesus being born
in a barn instead of even just an ordinary house is so strange.
In fact, for me, this aspect of the Christmas story is a
little hard to believe. When we read the Bible we shouldn’t think the people
about whom we read are so completely different than us. There’s no indication
that the people of Bethlehem were especially cruel and heartless that they
would all turn away a pregnant woman. Who among us, no matter how poor the
pregnant woman might be, wouldn’t gladly give up our room or even the whole
house if need be?
Jesus being born in a stable, it seems to me, was not because
of any meanness of the people of Bethlehem, or a matter of chance. God wanted
his Son to be born there. He created the circumstances so that it came to pass.
The net result is that God’s Son, the long-expected Savior, was born in
conditions that were much worse than you or I were born into. Even if you were just
born in a house, you were born into relative luxury compared to God’s Son. There
wasn’t even a crib to lay down his sweet head.
Why did God cause his Son to be born in such lowly
conditions? One thing that God may have been indicating is that all the things
to which we look for happiness and fulfillment are not where happiness and
fulfillment are truly to be found. We so easily believe that if only we had
some more riches, some more luxuries, then we’d be happy. Or if only we had some
more prestige. Or, even, for those of a more sentimental nature, if only I had that
Norman Rockwell Christmas, then my heart would be full.
No, happiness and fulfillment must be satisfied by something
much higher than any earthly, created thing. That thirst can only be quenched
by a relationship with the uncreated Creator. And, indeed, to bring about that
happy relationship is the very reason why this great king came.
And we see that this great king continues to be a strange
king. He was not found in big fancy palaces. He didn’t have servants so that he
wouldn’t have to work anymore or be troubled by anything. Just the opposite: he
served instead of being served. And his service continued all the way to the
end. He didn’t sit upon a big fancy throne. He was nailed through his hands and
his feet to an instrument of torture and death.
On the cross the king suffered in our place for the sins
that we have committed. With all our sins God didn’t just say, “Forget about
them. No big deal.” No, the great king came to set things right, not to ignore
wrongs. He came to bring about righteousness and justice. He suffered the
punishment that was due for our sin. By the high and holy sacrifice of the king
we have peace with God. The king has brought about righteousness, justice, and
peace, reconciling sinners to God by his death and resurrection.
The work of Jesus the king is not over, however. He sits at
the right hand of God the Father, reigning and ruling all things, but
especially his spiritual kingdom. The way that Jesus reigns and rules in his
spiritual kingdom is by sending out his Gospel, which means “good news,” so
that sinners may repent and believe in the king. So that having been justified by faith, we may have peace with God
through our Lord Jesus Christ.
This message that gets sent out is similar to what the angel
was sent to speak to the poor, lowly shepherds: “Do not
be afraid. I bring you glad tidings 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.” The angel tells the shepherds that the great king has
been born. Christ the Lord will save them.
In like manner the Gospel goes out in our day. Just as with
the angel and the shepherds, not everyone hears it. The shepherds heard it;
others did not. Likewise, not everyone is in a church tonight. And even though
people might hear about the great king, not everyone believes it. Whether a
person believes or does not believe does not just depend on their attendance or
lack of attendance. Whether a person believes or does not believe is dependent
upon the reigning and ruling of Christ the king. When and where it pleases him
the Holy Spirit creates faith in those who hear the Gospel. They believe in the
king. As John says, “Those who believe in Jesus’s name
are children of God—born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor the
will of man, but of God.” Children of God
This is all to say that Jesus’s reigning and ruling right
now at the right hand of God the Father is very special. If you believe in this
king—if you turn away from your sins and hate them, if you believe that Jesus
is the king who saves you—this is God’s doing, and it is marvelous, but how
marvelous it is is only apparent to the eyes of faith. There is no outward
kingdom of Christ right now with magnificent signs and wonders. He rules by his
Word and the Holy Spirit. He converts. He brings people out of darkness and the
fear of God’s punishment to the light, to forgiveness, to being confident before
God because of what Jesus the king has done.
Although Jesus reigns and rules as king in a hidden way
right now, it will not always be that way. There is more to come with Jesus’s
kingdom. He isn’t done as he sits at the right hand of God the Father. He will
come again to bring his reigning and ruling to completion. He will come again
on the last day with power and great glory to judge the living and the dead. At
that hour, when the trumpet sounds, the dead will be raised, and he will give
eternal life to all believers in Christ.
Although this day will be tremendous and awesome, some might
say “dreadful,” it is a continuation of all that this king has been doing since
the beginning. When he comes on the last day he will accomplish yet more
righteousness, yet more justice, yet more peace. Jesus will accomplish yet more
of the kinds of things we read about him doing in the Gospels. Jesus went about
casting our demons, healing diseases, giving sight to the blind, hearing to the
deaf, raised the dead, so on and so forth. Jesus was working to bring to
nothing anything that was evil, sad, fearful, mean, painful, and so on. These
will be brought to nothing once and for all on that great and final day. The
king will see to it.
Thus we have a real parting of the ways depending on whether
you believe in this king or not. What do we say about these evils? These evils are
so easy to find, so easy to Google, so easy to do? We have evils on the outside
and evils on the inside. Even if we were to do everything relatively well time
marches on and our bodies get old. Things aren’t as fun as they used to be. I
think we could come up with a good long list—and we wouldn’t have to work too
hard to do it.
The parting of ways is with the philosophers in our midst.
The philosophers throw up their hands and say, “Too bad! That’s life! There’s
no changing it! Might as well just get used to it!” To which a believer in
Christ should say: “The Lord rebuke you!” Because there is the king, God’s Son,
things will not just go on as they always have been. There is nothing evil that
is going to endure. Whatever is evil is doomed. The king is going to see to it.
A great change is in store for everyone and everything.
This is good news. It’s strange good news, in a way, because
the evil that the king has come to destroy is surely found also in us. You
can’t keep holding on to that evil. The king won’t allow it. The king is on the
march. The king is going to be victorious. As our epistle reading said, “He is going to purify for himself a people for his own
possession.” Being purified is often not a very pleasant experience for
the thing or the one who is being purified.
This is where I think it is important to keep in mind who is
doing the purifying. Is God, who is purifying, good or evil? Is God for us or
against us? Surely God is for us. That is the meaning of Christmas. God is for
us. What more proof do we need than that he sent his Son to be king, being born
in a barn? In addition to all the strange things I’ve been pointing out
tonight, God’s love for us sinners is strange in that he gave up Son, his
dearest treasure.
So if it is good news even that we should be purified, that
the darkness we love by nature should be replaced by the light, then what do we
have to complain about? Anything evil is doomed. Anything evil is so utterly
temporary. God’s kingdom, on the other hand is eternal. His kingdom is
unstoppable.
Behold, I bring you glad tidings of
great joy, for unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is
Christ the Lord.
No comments:
Post a Comment