Sermon -- Christmas Eve Candlelight Service (December 24, 2024)

Our Christmas Eve service at Good Shepherd follows the Service of Lessons and Carols.  There are nine lessons.  A short devotion was given for eight of them.  Three of those devotions are below.

2^nd Lesson      Genesis 22:15-18      

         God never lies.  His word is always trustworthy and true.  And yet, God intensified his promise by saying, “I have sworn by myself.”  There is no higher authority to swear by, so the Lord swore by himself to Abraham.  “I have sworn by myself, declares the Lord…  In your seed all the nations of the earth will be blessed.”  God would send a Savior into the world.  The Savior comes for the whole world.  God stakes his reputation and his very being on it.  “In your seed,” God promised—no, God swore—"all the nations of the earth will be blessed.”

         God had tested Abraham, commanding him to offer up his beloved son as a sacrifice.  Abraham did not understand why, but he obeyed the word of the Lord.  He was prepared to offer up Isaac as a burnt offering, even having the knife drawn and ready to kill.  The Lord stepped in.  He called a halt to the sacrifice.  The death of Isaac would save no one.  Abraham’s faith and obedience had been proved genuine.  In place of Isaac, the Lord provided a ram whose horns were stuck in a thicket.  The ram was a substitute.  It was slain instead of Isaac.

     Abraham’s son, Isaac, foreshadowed the future Son of Abraham.  The Seed of Abraham would do what Isaac could not.  He would be slain to appease God.  God the Son, the only begotten Son of the Father, the Son whom he loved, would shed his blood to atone for the sins of all the world.  When he would be slain, the Father would not put a stop to it.  There would be no substitution, and there would be no mercy.  The Son would die.  His body would be consumed in God’s fiery wrath.  The Seed of Abraham would be the substitute, slain for you. 

         God has sworn by himself: All the people of the world would be blessed.  The Seed of Abraham takes away the sin of the world.    

4th Lesson        Micah 5:2-5a       

         When God created the world, he called all things into being out of nothing.  That is how God works: He takes what is nothing and makes it into something with which he is pleased.

         The cities and troops of Israel were organized in groups of thousands, and each was summoned by name to serve the Lord.  Though Bethlehem was among the towns of Judah, they were too insignificant to be listed among the thousands.  Bethlehem was little, obscure, unrecognized—like a small town with a blinking stop light at its one cross road.

         The Lord, however, takes what is nothing and makes it into something.  Out of little, insignificant Bethlehem comes a great king.  His origins are from of old, from ancient times.  If he exists long before the promise is even made, that means he is eternal. 

         Out of Bethlehem comes a king who is the eternal God.  He comes to shepherd his people.  He will provide for all his people’s needs.  He will protect his people from all that would destroy them.  The lion prowls around looking for someone to devour, but the Shepherd-King will fend him off.  The sheep tend to go astray, but he will search for them, put them up on his shoulders, and bring them back. 

         Out of Bethlehem comes one who will shepherd his people—a Good Shepherd.  He will guide his sheep by the words of his mouth.  He will encourage and instruct so that we walk the paths that are good and safe.  He proclaims words of comfort, admonition, and peace.  The sheep who hear his words and take them to heart live securely.  The prowling lion cannot have them. 

         There are many today who consider it an insult to be called a sheep.  They believe sheep to be gullible creatures that follow anyone.  But they don’t.  The sheep follow the shepherd they know.  We know our Good Shepherd.  He does not lead us to slaughter, but to pleasant pastures.  Some may regard sheep as nothing, but they are the ones with whom God is pleased.  For he takes what is nothing and makes it something good, something beloved, something precious.  He does that for you; for that is how God works.

8^th Lesson       Matthew 2:1-12                     The Magi worship the newborn King

         The Magi sought their king.  They already had a king in their homeland.  They met another king in Jerusalem.  But that’s not what they wanted.  They did not need a king who flexed his military muscle to demonstrate his power and to strike fear.  They needed a king who was rich in mercy and soothed fears.

         The Magi found their king.  They did not care that he was an infant—at the time totally dependent upon Mary and Joseph for everything, at the time hated by Herod and later hunted by him, at the time years from fulfilling all that he had come to do.  They knew he was king, and they bowed down before him.

         The Magi praised their king.  Even though Jesus had come for their good, they presented him with their goods.  They thanked him for work he had not yet done.  They paid homage to him even though he was not yet in his glory.  They rejoiced that their Savior had come.

         The Magi confessed their king.  Their journey to Bethlehem was no small feat.  But Jesus mattered enough to them to put forth the time and effort.  They made it a priority to see him.

         The Magi were saved by their king; for that is why he came. 

         This king still comes.  He comes veiled in word and sacrament to give his gifts of forgiveness, new life, and salvation.  If you would be wise for salvation, then it is wise to put forth time and effort and priority to come and worship him.  We do not come to God’s house for his good; rather, we come to receive his goods.  It is here that our Lord Jesus Christ continues to prepare us for death, to comfort us through life, and to sustain us in the saving faith.  It is good, right, and salutary to seek him and to confess him so that you would live under him in his kingdom and serve him in everlasting righteousness, innocence, and blessedness—just as he has risen from death and lives and rules eternally.  This is most certainly true.