Sermon -- Christmas Eve (December 24, 2025)

GLORY TO GOD.  GOOD WILL TOWARD MANKIND.

LUKE 2:1-20.

In the name + of Jesus.

    Chances are, you are going to open gifts tonight or tomorrow.  Even though you may be excited to see what hides under the wrapping paper, the gift is not the only thing that matters.  Each gift will have a tag on it to let you know who the gift is from.  Who the gift is from matters just as much as the gift.  It is a statement about the love and concern the giver has for the one who receives the gift.  If all that mattered was the gift, we would not care if a gift was given anonymously.  We would just want the loot.  But it does matter.  We want to know whom to thank for their consideration and their generosity.

     When the angels sang the heavenly hymn above the fields of Bethlehem, they spoke of two gifts that were given: Glory to God, and Good Will to Mankind.

     The angels sang, “Glory to God in the highest” (Luke 2:14).  Who gives this glory, and why?  Before we ask that, let’s ask this: Why does God need glory?

     Even if we did not meet tonight to sing praises to God, God would not be any different.  He would still be all-powerful.  He would still be all-knowing.  He would still be holy.  He does not need us for any of these things.  God is glorious no matter what we do or say or think.  If God did not send his Son into the world to save sinners, God would not be any different.  So, if anyone wants to argue that God does not need glory from us, then it should also be noted that God did not need to save us, either.  God is the same, with or without us.

     But God did not want to be without us.  God loves what he has created.  When sin ruined the relationship between God and mankind, God acted to restore it.  “God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life” (John 3:16).  While God is glorious for being all-powerful, all-knowing, holy, and so on, we give God glory because he loves sinners and saves them.

     The angels sang their song of praise when God sent his Son into the world in human flesh.  The angels did not benefit from the birth of a Savior.  The angels do not need to be saved.  But the angels do marvel that God loved mankind so much that he became one of us.  That is why the angels sang, “Glory to God in the highest!”

     We who benefit from this Savior have all the more reason to give glory to God.  When we sing our songs of praise, we do not merely praise God for being pure and powerful.  We praise God for humbling himself to take on flesh that would be cut by a crown of thorns and pierced by nails and spear.  We glorify God for submitting himself to live in the same troubled world we live in—to experience mockery, slander, sorrow, pain, injustice, and death. 

     The Lord did not do this just to experience what we experience.  He did it to deliver us from the evils which infect the world and infect our own hearts.  God became a human of flesh and blood so that his flesh would be rent and his blood would be poured out as a sin offering.  This sacrifice made by the righteous God for unrighteous men appeases the Father in heaven.  This is why we give glory to God.  The glory of God is that he is “the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, and overflowing with mercy and truth, maintaining mercy for thousands, forgiving guilt and rebellion and sin” (Exodus 34:6-7). 

     The angels sang, “Glory to God in the highest” (Luke 2:14), because they witnessed God’s love for mankind.  We sing, “Glory to God in the highest,” because we benefit from that redeeming love.  We glorify God because his love moved him to become one of us, to pay for our sins, and to open heaven up to sinners.  When we sing our hymns, we don’t offer up bland words of generic praise.  The best praise does not tell God what we think of him; the best praise retells what our Savior did for us.  For example: 

          Christ, from heaven to us descending
             And in love our race befriending,
                In our need his help extending,
                   Saved us from the wily foe.

          Jacob’s Star in all its splendor
             Beams with comfort sweet and tender,
                Forcing Satan to surrender,
                   Breaking all the powers of hell.

          From the bondage that oppressed us,
             From sin’s fetters that possessed us,
                From the grief that sore distressed us,
                   We, the captives, now are free.
          “Come Your Hearts and Voices Raising” by Paul Gerhardt (1607 – 1676)

     Glory to God because he has taken up our cause and saved us from death and hell.  Glory from the angels.  Glory from mankind.  Glory to God.

     While our glory goes to God, the greater gift by far is God’s gift to us: Good will toward mankind.  The angels proclaimed this good news to shepherds who often did not receive the good will of their society.  They were usually the undesirables.  Yet, they learned that God had a desire for them to be his.  The angel proclaimed to the shepherds, “I bring you good news of great joy, which will be for all people: Today in the town of David, a Savior was born for you.  He is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:10-11). 

     God’s good will toward mankind did not merely come in a proclamation, but in a person.  God’s good will came in that Bethlehem baby.  The baby in the manger is the Lord.  He who created the world comes to be with his creatures.  He who grants and sustains life comes to live among us. 

     To the shepherds, the angel said, “This will be a sign for you: You will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger” (Luke 2:12).  That meant Jesus was a peasant, just like the shepherds were.  When they heard that the Christ was wrapped in strips of cloth, they would have thought, “That’s how our wives wrap our babies!  He is not in some palace that we have no chance of entering.  He is one of us.  He comes for the likes of us!”  God’s good will is not toward some of mankind.  It is good news of great joy for all the earth. 

     At Christmas time, we hear a general appeal for people to have good will toward one another.  It is odd to me that this message receives such emphasis at this time of year.  But maybe it receives such emphasis because Christmas time can reveal the worst of us more than the best of us.  When we go to the store, wait for parking, shop among self-absorbed crowds, and stand in long lines, our good will toward others ran short.  The stress of year-end deadlines boiled over into rude remarks and office squabbles.  The pressure to produce the perfect Christmas magic in our homes made our homes unpleasant.  And while family gatherings seem like a great idea, family rivalries can flare up and arguments from the past can get renewed.  Our good will toward mankind takes a beating at Christmas, and it gets withheld throughout the year as well.

     If this is how we feel about our fellowman, what should God think of us who commanded us, “Love your neighbor as yourself?”  God does not put limits on this love, as if to say, “Love your neighbor, well, if he deserves it.  Love your neighbor, well, unless he is a jerk.  Love your neighbor, but only if he loves you back.”  On the contrary, this is what the Lord says, “If you love those who love you, what reward do you have?  Even tax collectors do that, don’t they?  If you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others?  Do not even the unbelievers do that” (Matthew 5:46-47)?

     But God’s good will toward mankind goes without limits.  The angel declared, “I bring you good news of great joy, which will be for all people: Today in the town of David, a Savior was born for you” (Luke 2:10-11).  The Savior comes for all people—for those who are rude, tired, stressed, snarky, bitter, sad, jealous, petty, abusive, addicted, and adulterous.  That is because the Savior comes to pay for the sins of the world.  His love goes beyond covering minor indiscretions or social faux pas, but he also covers great and shameful sins.  Rather than pick and choose which sinners aren’t that bad, Jesus acted to suffer and die for all.  Rather than debate which sins are serious and which are insignificant, Jesus paid for them all. 

     Jesus proves God’s good will toward mankind.  He does not leave you to wallow in guilt or to languish in your sins.  He delivers you from the guilt, rescues you from the punishment, and reconciles you to God.  He even restores shattered lives and mends broken hearts.  The grace he bestows is greater than your sins.  The joy he brings endures even in the face of death.  God is faithful in his love and lavish with his forgiveness.  The Lord Jesus has taken your sins away from you.  The only way they can condemn you now is if you take them back.

     If you are unwrapping gifts tonight or tomorrow, you might get exactly what you want.  Or you might not.  Loved ones take their best guess at what they think you will like or what you can use.  They mean well, even if they don’t do that well with their gifts.  But our Lord gave the supreme gift that is useful, beneficial, and necessary.  A Savior has been born for you.  He is Christ the Lord.  Through him, God bestows his good will.  And we give glory to God.

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