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"For faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ." ~ Romans 10:17

BORN OF FLESH; BORN OF GOD

1/2/2023

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Christmas Day 2022| John 1:1-18| Pastor James Preus| Trinity Lutheran Church

But to all who did receive Him, who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:12-14)
 There are two Christmas miracles of which St. John writes. The first you know well: The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. What does this mean? Why is this a miracle? Who is this Word? The Word was in the beginning with God and the Word was God, St. John tells us. This is the greatest miracle. We confess it as our faith, yet no one can understand it. Jesus is true God and true man! He is God, begotten of the Father from eternity, yet He is true man, born of the Virgin Mary. He is younger than His mother, who in turn is infinitely and eternally younger than His Father. Yet, He is the same age as His Father. Had one of those teachers asked the boy Jesus in the temple how old He was, He could have responded, “On my mother’s side, I’m twelve years old, but on my Father’s side, I’m from everlasting to everlasting.”  
But how can that be? How can the Son be the same age as His Father? If the Father begets the Son, mustn’t the Son necessarily be younger than the Father? Mustn’t he necessarily come after the Father? Only if you think merely in a human way. For us humans, a son must be younger than his father, because we live in time and space and are made of flesh and blood. Yet, God lives outside of time and space. He sees creation and time laterally, not linearly, transcending space and time. The Son, or the Word was with God from the beginning and He Is God from the beginning. He was begotten of the Father, yet He does not come after the Father.
In the beginning was the Word. The beginning was when time began. Before the beginning there is no time, there is no before. Before the beginning you cannot speak of before or after. In the beginning was the Word, not became the Word, was. He already exists before time begins. God declares in Isaiah 43, “Before me no god was formed, nor shall there be any after me.” So, the accusation of the Jehovah Witnesses that the Word was a god, who became after God is against Scripture. There was no god before God and there became no god after God. Yet, the Word is God and He was God at the beginning. The Son of God is eternal.
God continues in Isaiah 43, “I, I am the LORD, and besides me there is no savior.” Yet, we heard the angel speak last night, “Unto you is born this day, a Savior.” But there is no Savior besides the LORD God! This child born today is Christ, the LORD God.
This Word, this Son of God is uncreated, because He is the Creator of all creation. All things were made through Him and without Him was not one thing made that was made. The Word, the eternal Son of the Father is God. He is eternal. He is the uncreated Creator. He is the Savior.
And He became flesh, that is, He became a human being. The word for begotten in Greek is the same word for born. We use context to determine which English word to use. So, a boy is begotten of his father, but born of his mother, yet the same word is often used for both begotten and born. The Son of God was first born of the Father from all eternity. He was born again of flesh in time and place, in the year of the census of Caesar Augustus, in the town of Bethlehem, to the Virgin Mary. He was born of a virgin, which is a scientific impossibility. Yet, it is also a scientific impossibility for God to become man. Being born of a virgin means that Jesus was born without original sin. He had a clean slate and He kept His slate clean by living a perfectly obedient life for us.
It is as St. Paul writes in Galatians chapter 4, “But when the fulness of time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law to redeem those who were under the Law, so that we might receive the adoption as sons.” (vss. 4-5) God became a man. He adopted a human body, a human soul, a human spirit, a human will. Everything that you are, that makes you human, Jesus assumed to be His own nature. God is man, man is God. That is what Christ is. And He is both God and man in order to rescue you. What He did not become, He did not redeem. Yet, He did redeem your body, soul, spirit, and will through His perfect obedience and innocent sufferings and death. God became man in order to save all men. The Son of God born eternally from heaven was born again here on earth, so that we might be born again from above.
And here we meet our second Christmas miracle. “He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, yet the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and His own people did not receive Him.” As wonderous as it is that God was born a man, so impossible it is to believe that men could be born of God. In our first birth, we are born in sin (Psalm 51:5). We are incapable of choosing God. Out of our hearts come only evil desires. The world, which was created by Christ did not know Christ when He came to them. His own people, the people of Israel, whom He chose out of all the nations of the world, and led by prophets and Scripture, and established as His own nation, did not receive Him. As they rejected the prophets sent before Him, so they rejected Christ Jesus, their Messiah.
Those who receive Jesus, who believe on His name did not do this of their own power. St. Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians chapter 2, “The natural person cannot accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.” The natural person, that is, the person born of the flesh cannot accept the things of the Spirit of God. Jesus said in John chapter 3, “That which is born of flesh is flesh and that which is born of Spirit is spirit.” So, in order for us to accept the things of the Spirit of God, in order for us to receive the Word made flesh and believe on His name, we must be born again, not of blood, nor of the will of flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God!
You are not born a child of God by natural birth. The union of man and woman does not produce a child of God, but a sinner, an enemy of God, dead in sin. And no will of flesh or of man can make a naturally born child of man a child of God. No cutting off of flesh or mutilating of the body, no man-made ritual or custom, no adoption, no free choice, no effort at all on man’s part can make you God’s child. This must be done by God alone through grace alone. And so, again, St. Paul writes to Titus in chapter three, “But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, He saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to His own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior.” Here, St. Paul clearly alludes to Baptism, just as Jesus does when He says that in order for one to enter the kingdom of God, he must be born again of water and the Spirit (John 3:3-6). This demonstrates that Baptism is God’s work, not ours.
We butt our heads against this. We cannot understand it. But you are not asked to understand it, but to believe it. Just as you cannot understand how a virgin conceives and bears a child, who is God, so you cannot understand how the Holy Spirit can grant you a heavenly second birth by means of water and the Word. But He does. God says so.
Yet, Baptism is not a magic ritual that saves on its own apart from faith. Baptism is a work of God, which must not be separated from the proclamation of the Gospel. John was sent to bear witness of the light by preaching. The only begotten God has made God known to us, who cannot see Him with our eyes. How did he do this? By words. Jesus, who has already been conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary, who has already suffered and died for our sins and rose again and ascended to the Father’s right hand comes to us today through words. The light of Christ continues to shine into the darkness by means of the preaching of the Gospel.
And so, you must know the miracle that is taking place still on this Christmas Day two thousand twenty odd years after that first Christmas. There is a Christmas miracle taking place in your heart! Your heart, which was born black with sin, stained worse than tar, infected worse than cancer, has been made into a dwelling place of God! You, who were born in utter sin, who could only and ever resist God now choose God. You call Him your Savior. You accept Jesus as your Redeemer! How can this be? How can you have been brought from death to life? How can that which is born of the flesh embrace the great things of the Spirit?
Make no mistake, God has done this for you. God has caused you to be born again, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of His own will. He who granted the eternal Word a second birth here on earth has granted you a second birth from heaven, so that you are indeed God’s own child. And through this faith given to you, you receive every benefit Christ gained for you by becoming a man and dying for your sins. Through faith you receive the forgiveness of sins, adoption as God’s child, and eternal life. This is a miracle accomplished by God even today.
Thou Christian heart, Who’e’er thou art,
Be of good cheer and let no sorrow move thee!
For God’s own Child, In mercy mild,
Joins Thee to Him; how greatly God must love thee!
Amen.
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December 25th, 2020

12/25/2020

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Nativity, Lorenzo Lotto, 1523, Public Domain
Christmas Day 2020 
John 1:1-14 
​ 
 
O Jesus Christ, Thy manger is 
My paradise at which my soul reclineth.  
For there, O Lord, Doth lie the Word 
Made flesh for us; here in Thy grace forth shineth.  
 
Paul Gerhard says that Jesus’ manger is our paradise from which grace shines forth. Why is Jesus’ manger our paradise? What does it mean that the Word lies within it or that the Word was made flesh for us? The Word lying in the manger is the eternal Son of God, whom St. John writes, was with God and was God from the beginning, through whom everything that is made was made, who became flesh, that is, was made man. That little baby in the manger, whom we remember today, is the eternal God.  
So, what does this mean? Why does Gerhardt call this our paradise? Because the Word-Made-Flesh in the manger opens the gates of heaven to all people. The Word-Made-Flesh in the manger makes our salvation trustworthy and sure. In that manger lies our victory over Satan; our conquest over death. In that manger lies our reconciliation with God, the appeasement for God’s wrath against our sin. In that manger lies our salvation. This is most certainly true.  
Why? Why does the Word-Made-Flesh in the manger mean that our salvation is true? Because the eternal Word has joined our camp! In the enemy’s camp, which is the camp of death and hell, stands Satan, that great Goliath, who towers over his victims, that great red dragon with seven heads and ten crowns, whose tail wipes out the lights of heaven. He is an evil foe who has no equal on earth. But now in our camp has entered the Word, who was with God and was God from the beginning. This is an unconquerable Champion. He cannot be defeated. For us fights the Valiant One. This is the fulfillment of God’s promise in the Garden, when he said that the seed of the woman would crush the head of the serpent. (Gen. 3:15) In the manger lies our victory over our strongest enemies. This gives us certainty for salvation.  
The Word-Made-Flesh lying in the manger means our salvation is true, because he assumed our flesh. God became a human being! This means that Jesus’ work includes salvation for all people. The Word has assumed our human nature, that is, our flesh and blood, our soul and mind and will. The ancient church father St. Gregory of Nazianzus wrote, “For that which He has not assumed He has not healed; but that which is united to His Godhead is also saved.” This means that Christ has opened the gates of heaven to all who possess a human body, mind, soul, and will. The words, “The Word became flesh” mean that the Son of God has assumed everything that we are. He is like us in every aspect, except without sin (Hebrews 4:15). Jesus took on human flesh to save your human flesh. He forever possesses a human soul to save your human soul. Jesus forever possesses a human mind and will to save your human mind and will. Are you a human? Then the Word-Made-Flesh lying in the manger is your salvation and paradise. The Word-Made-Flesh in the manger means that the Gospel is for everyone.  
And this is not only an irrefutable logical syllogism derived from the clear words of Scripture. This is the clear promise of God’s Word. God told Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob that in their seed all nations of the earth would be blessed (Genesis 12:3; 22:18; 26:4; 28:14). Christ has come to save all people. And the Apostle John makes clear that Jesus comes to shed his blood for all peoples, as he says, “He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.” (1 John 2:2) It is the intention of God that the Word-Made-Flesh lying in the manger win salvation for all people and the fact that the Word became flesh proves that all human flesh find their salvation in him.  
The Word-Made-Flesh is the light which enlightens everyone. He comes into the world to shine throughout the whole world. God makes the promise that whoever believes in him will be saved. This again proves that the Gospel is for everyone. For how can God tell you to believe in something that is not true? The Word-Made-Flesh opens the Kingdom of Heaven to everyone. He makes our salvation trustworthy and worthy of full acceptance.  
The Word lying in the manger has won salvation for all people, yet that does not mean that all people are saved. The gates of heaven stand open wide, yet that does not mean that everyone enters it. St. John writes, “He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him.” (vss. 10-11) The Word became flesh to save all flesh, but not all flesh will receive this salvation. 
In order to walk through the open gates of heaven, you must have faith. Faith, as Scripture makes abundantly clear, is not your work. It is a gift from God (Ephesians 2:8-9). Christ has already done all the work for you. Faith is trusting in the objective fact that God has saved you in Christ Jesus. That manger is everyone’s paradise, but if you do not believe it, you don’t possess it. Faith makes all the difference.  
This faith can only be acquired through the Gospel, which offers this free salvation through Christ. This is why it is so important that we continue to hear the Gospel and to receive the Sacrament. This is what creates and sustains our faith. This is what draws us to enter those gates, which Christ has opened for us.  
St. John says that all who do receive the light, who believe in the name of the Word-Made-Flesh, are given the right to become children of God, not born of blood or the will of the flesh or the will of man, but of God. The eternal Word of God was born of flesh, so that we, who were born of flesh might be born again of the Spirit. It is God’s Holy Spirit, who works through the Gospel, who causes us to be born again as children of God. This is done, most notably, in Baptism, where God’s word and promise is joined to water. And so, the gates of heaven are placed at the font where sinners are baptized. The gates of heaven are placed at the chancel, where the pastor absolves sins. The gates of heaven are placed in the pulpit, where the words of eternal life are preached. The gates of heaven are placed at the Communion rale, where Christ’s body and blood are fed to Christians. And it is faith that brings you through these gates. You receive the benefit of the Gospel in Word and Sacrament through faith. And the benefit is paradise secured by the Word-Made-Flesh.   
That stable where Jesus slept in a manger was the most blessed place on earth at that time. There is no place you’d desire more to be. Not because it was beautiful or comfortable or even that Jesus looked different than any other baby. But because in that manger was the Word-Made-Flesh, who opens the gates of heaven for us. And so, it is today, that the most desirous place for us to be is where Christ comes to us in faith, not because they look more splendid than other places, but because through faith we know that here we stand before and enter through the gates of heaven.  
Today, we can only enter through these gates through faith, which means that we do not see them with our eyes. Just as only through faith can you recognize Jesus’ manger as your paradise. Yet, the time will come when you will enter these gates with eyes wide open. You’ll see your paradise without the veil and you will spend eternity with the Word-Made-Flesh. But that is only if you enter through the gates through faith today. So, let us recognize our paradise now, so that we may enjoy salvation with our Savior forever.  
The world may hold 
Her wealth and gold; 
But thou, my heart, keep Christ as thy true Treasure.  
To Him hold fast 
Until at last 
A crown be thine and honor in full measure.  
Amen.  
 
Merry Christmas! Amen.  
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And the Word Became Flesh

12/26/2019

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Picture
Nativity, Lorenzo Lotto, 1523, Public Domain
Christmas Day 2019 
John 1:1-18 

 
“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.”  John 1:14 
And the Word became flesh. It is this statement right here for which we celebrate Christmas. But what does it mean? What is the Word? The Word was in the beginning with God. This means that the Word has no beginning and no end. The Word has a special relationship with the Father that nothing else has; neither angel nor human being. Not only has the Word always been with God, but the Word is God.  
Here John is teaching us about the Holy Trinity. There is only one God, yet, there are three Person’s in the Godhead. The Word is the second Person in the Trinity. He is also called the only begotten Son of the Father. He was begotten by the Father before all worlds, that is, outside of time. There never was a time when the Word was not. He has always been with God and he has always been God.  
All things were made through the Word and without the Word nothing was made that was made. This again proves to us that the Word is uncreated. This is why we say in the Creed, “Begotten, not made.” God created all things through his Word. The title Word is a descriptive name. Word has a double meaning. Sometimes when we say the word of God, we are referring to something that God has said, for example, the Holy Scriptures. Yet, other times when we speak of the Word of God, we are speaking of the Person in the Holy Trinity, also known as the Son of God. This is because it is the Son who speaks. The Father does not create anything or accomplish anything apart from his Son. So, when the Father speaks, his Son speaks. This is how closely their relationship is. Psalm 33 captures this well, “By the word of the LORD the heavens were made, and by the breath of his mouth their hosts.” Is the Psalmist speaking of the Word, which is the Person, or the word, which is his speech? Both. God speaks through his Son.  
John also calls the Word the light. This again is a descriptive name. Light means that he illumines the minds of people. The Psalmist again says, “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” (Psalm 119:105) And so, we see that the Word of God has been active throughout the history of mankind. From creation, the Word has continued to speak and enlighten mankind. And the light of the Word of God has shone through the preaching of the prophets and the writing of sacred Scripture.  
And so, with so many words we just briefly summed up what is meant by the Word. The Word is our God. He is God’s Son. Through him all things were created and continue to hold together. By him the angels and prophets spoke and the Scriptures were written. He is eternal, all powerful. He completely transcends the created world, whether we speak of the physical universe or the invisible spirits. And this Word became flesh! 
What does it mean that the Word became flesh? Well, it means that this eternal God has taken on a human body. And not just a human body, but a human soul and will. This Word become flesh is Jesus Christ himself; that little baby lying in a manger, wetting his diaper and craving milk from his mother. He is powerful enough that the mountains and oceans were formed by him and all orbs of the heavens run their course by his will, yet, he now lies bound by swaddling cloths; too weak even to control his arms. You see a simple baby; indiscernible from any other infant. Yet, you behold God in the flesh! 
When John says that the Word became flesh, he is not saying that the Word of God simply possessed the body of a man. Rather, God became man in every way that man is. A human being is made up of three components, without any it is not a human being: A body, a soul, and a will. Jesus clearly has a body. He was a baby in a manger. He walked, spoke, ate, drank, got tired, cried, was beaten and killed, after his resurrection he again showed his body to his disciples, let them touch him, and he ate in front of them. Jesus also has a human soul. Without a soul, a body cannot live. And Jesus himself said on the night of his betrayal, “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death.” (Matthew 26:38) And Isaiah prophesied of Jesus saying, “When his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days;” and “Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied.” (Isaiah 53:10, 11). And Jesus certainly has a human will, which is distinct from, yet in full conformity with God’s will, as he spoke to his Heavenly Father in the garden, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.”  
It is important for you to understand that when Scripture says, “The Word became flesh” that flesh includes a human body, soul, and will, because everything the Word became, he became in order to save it. You have a human body, which is dying. The Word took on a human body in order to give your body eternal life. You have a human soul, which deserves to be cast into hell forever on account of your sins. The Word took on a human soul in order to save your soul. You have a human will, which has rebelled against God’s will and made you guilty before him. The Word took on a human will, so that he could perfectly obey God in your place and fulfill the will of God for you. This means that when we say, The Word became flesh, what we are saying is that God became all that is necessary to save you from sin, death, and hell.  
Yet, why does he use the word flesh? Why didn’t he say that the Word became a human being, as in other places of Scripture it calls him a man? This is to point to his work here on earth. Flesh is what you sacrifice on an altar. The Word became flesh in order to prepare himself to be sacrificed for your sins. He took on your human blood, so that he would bleed that blood for you. He took on your flesh, so that his flesh would be pierced for your transgressions. His soul itself is a holy offering to God. And because he does all this while remaining the Author of Life (Acts 3:15), this sacrifice makes your salvation certain.  
And dwelt among us. These are important words that we should not quickly overlook. Jesus Christ, true God and man, dwelt among human beings. Real eye witnesses saw him. They touched him. They spoke to him and listened to what he said. There are lots of myths in pagan religions about gods coming down to earth and taking on human form. This is not a myth we are talking about. We are talking about the real, historical event when God became man and dwelt among us. God himself lied in that manger. God himself hung on that cross. God himself lied in that tomb. God himself, permanently untied to our human flesh now dwells in heaven, interceding for us.  
The word for dwell is related to the word tabernacle, which causes some people to turn the word tabernacle into verb. The point is that the tabernacle in the Old Testament, where God dwelt in the Most Holy Place, was a prophecy about Jesus. As God dwelt with his people in the tabernacle, so God dwells with his people in the body of Jesus Christ.  
And we have seen his glory, glory as of the only begotten Son of the Father, full of grace and truth. These witnesses of Christ Jesus witnessed the only begotten Son of the Father. When they saw Jesus, they saw their God! This is why wisemen worshipped him along with all his disciples. When they witnessed Jesus, they witnessed their salvation. They saw him die and rise from the dead and ascend into heaven. This means that a man dwells in heaven, at God’s right hand, who has been with God from the beginning and indeed is God. Our human flesh sits on God’s throne! That is the certainty we have in our salvation!  
The Word became flesh in order for you to receive grace from God. Christ came to save you. And he continues to shower you with his grace; even to dwell with you through his Word; to come to you in his very body and blood in the Sacrament! When we believe the Gospel and receive the Sacrament, we believe that this is from the Godman himself, who has won for us salvation.  
This is most certainly true. Jesus Christ is truth. The Word really did become flesh. Christ Jesus truly did die for our sins and rise for our salvation. And he truly sits in heaven interceding for our salvation. Jesus Christ is truth. We truly eat his very body and blood for our forgiveness and salvation. If the eternal Word could become flesh, it is a small thing for him to give us his flesh and blood in bread and wine. This is truth. Our God does the impossible to save us. Our God has become man for us. Our God has won salvation for us. This is what is meant by, “And the Word became flesh.” Merry Christmas, Children of God. And happy New Year. Amen.  
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Christmas: What We Have in Common

12/25/2018

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John 1:1-14 
Pastor James Preus 
 
I heard on the radio the other day that in order to keep the peace this time of year, especially with this divisive political climate we’re in, we should focus on what we have in common instead of what divides us. Now, this seems like pretty good advice. Instead of arguing whether we should build a wall along our southern border or pull our military forces out of Syria, focus on what unites us as a country and as human beings. The holidays aren’t the time to argue about things out of our control.  
Yet, while this may seem like sage advice, focusing only on what we have in common often times leaves out discussing Jesus and his miraculous birth, because belief in Christ is not something all Americans hold in common. And so, this peace-making advice leaves out the Prince of Peace this Christmas season. And when we see what Scripture says we hold in common, this advice can be disastrous, since St. John tells us the world did not know Jesus. Yes indeed, what we humans have in common is our natural inclination to reject Jesus.  
Yet, risking departing from this advice, let us focus this morning on what the whole world sadly does not hold as a common belief, but what we Christians hold to be true, the story of the incarnation of our God.  
St. John tells us that Jesus is the eternal Word, who was with God and was God from the beginning. All things were made through him and without him was not anything made that was made. So actually, we have learned another thing that we all have in common. All things were made through Christ. This means that all of us were made through him. We all have this in common.  
And John tells us that this Word became flesh, that is, the Son of God became a human being. This happened when Jesus Christ was conceived in the womb of the Virgin Mary and first revealed his sacred face to mankind when he was wrapped in swaddling clothes and laid in a manger.  
Now, all Christians confess this. We have this in common. Most are happy stopping there. It’s a nice story, but if we delve too deep into its meaning, we are bound to find disagreements among even Christians. And this is true. If we look for the meaning in this miracle, we are bound to find disagreement. Why did God become a human being? Well, to save us. To save whom? To save the whole world? Tragically, many Christians deny this. Although Scripture teaches that Jesus died on the cross for the sins of the whole world, there are still many, who say that Jesus only died for some people. The rationale goes something like this. If Jesus died to save everyone, yet some people are not saved, that means that Jesus’ died for some people who are not saved. That means that his death failed to save them. God cannot fail. Therefore, Jesus could not have intended to save everyone with his death. This is called the limited-atonement. Jesus died to save some, but not others. It’s a logical syllogism, yet it is completely unbiblical.  
The correct biblical teaching is that Jesus died to save everyone. This is why St. John says, “He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for our sins only but also for the sins of the whole world.” This is the biblical teaching called the Universal Atonement. And this is why John the Baptist bore witness of Christ, that all might believe through him. Jesus died with the purpose of saving all people.  
And this intention is shown from the very beginning. Proverbs 8 says that when Christ, who is called Wisdom, was with God creating the world, he was “delighting in the children of man.” (vs. 31) And this is why John 3:16 tells us the Word became flesh, “God so loved the world that he sent his only begotten Son.” God loved the world. And he sent his Son to save the World.  
When the Word became flesh, he joined himself to the entire human race. Not just Jews. Not just Christians. To all mankind. Jesus shares your flesh and blood. He is a descendent of Adam just as you are. Jesus took on flesh and blood in order to save all who share his flesh and blood. Christmas declares God’s intention to save all people. Christmas declares God’s intention to save you. And here again, we find something we all have in common. So again, you can follow the politically correct radio advice I mentioned earlier and talk about Jesus this Christmas, because he came to save us all.  
Jesus came to save all people, however, not all people are saved. This is a tragedy, yet it is true. Those who teach that all people are saved apart from faith in Christ teach Universalism. Universalism is a dangerous teaching that kills faith. Yet, Universalism has infected many Christian denominations like a malignant cancer, which spreads rapidly. It is an attractive teaching, because it simply throws out hell. There is no condemnation in the teaching of Universalism. Everyone goes to heaven. That means that you don’t have to repent of your sins or believe in Jesus to be saved.  
Yet, this is not what Scripture teaches. Rather, “to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.” Again, Jesus says, “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” (John 3:17-18) 
So, it is clear that apart from faith in Jesus, there is no salvation. But this is because apart from Jesus there is no salvation. Jesus saves us and no one else does. And we receive Jesus through faith alone.  
So, it is true that God desires to save everyone, as 1 Timothy 2 declares that God “desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” Yet, some are not saved. So, people conclude that the difference must be in us. It is up to us to choose God. If we accept him, we are saved. However, Scripture is clear that the natural person cannot accept the things of the Spirit of God. Because of our sinful condition, we cannot choose Jesus (remember, that’s one thing we all have in common). This is why St. John writes, “But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.”  
You can’t will yourself to be a Christian. You cannot by your own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ your Lord or come to him, but it is the Holy Spirit, who calls you by the Gospel, enlightens you with his gifts, sanctifies and keeps you in the true faith. In other words, you are born a child of God by the will of God.  
This is what it means to be saved by grace. You did nothing to cause God to come down from heaven and be incarnate in the womb of the virgin. You did not convince Jesus to go to the cross nor did you raise him from the dead. Neither did you do anything to accept Jesus into your heart, but God did this for you through the working of the Holy Spirit through the preaching of the Gospel. The Holy Spirit enlivened your heart, so that you could accept Jesus. The Holy Spirit gave you a new birth through the washing of regeneration. This was done in your Baptism. And the Holy Spirit continues to keep you in this true faith through the preaching of the Gospel and the Sacrament.  
This is how the Holy Spirit made you a Christian, a child of God.  And this is how God sanctifies and keeps the entire Christian Church on earth in the one true faith. We call the Christian Church the Communion of Saints. That is, a community of holy people, that is, people, whom God has made holy. A community in which each member has something in common, one Lord, one faith, one Baptism, the same Holy Spirit dwelling in us. In this communion of saints, we are united by our faith in Christ Jesus.  
So, this holiday season, let us focus on what we have in common as children of God and what unites us as Christians. Jesus Christ, born to save us. He has united himself to us physically by assuming our human nature and he has united himself to us spiritually by granting us a new birth by the Holy Spirit. God forgives all our sins for the sake of Christ’s death and resurrection. This is what we have in common. This is what unites us. And there is no greater bond than that. Merry Christmas. Amen. ​
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Christmas Day Sermon 2017:Immanuel so that Jesus

1/1/2018

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Picture
Matthew 1:18-25 
 
Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. 19 And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. 20 But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” 22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: 
23 “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, 
    and they shall call his name Immanuel” 
(which means, God with us). 24 When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife, 25 but knew her not until she had given birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus. 

Before Joseph had come together with Mary she was found to be pregnant. Joseph had to think about this. Of course, he wasn't thinking how this could have happened. Joseph knew how women got pregnant. Rather, because he was a merciful man, he was thinking how to divorce Mary, while causing the least amount of shame to her. Yet, Joseph didn't know. He didn't know how Mary became pregnant, because Mary became pregnant in a different way than any women has ever become or ever will become pregnant. Mary is a virgin. And she's pregnant with a child. There was no man. Jesus has no human father. This was done by the power of the Holy Spirit, without any flesh or blood or will of a man. This pregnancy was a miracle.  

Now, why is it significant that Mary was a virgin when she conceived and gave birth to Jesus? The prophet Isaiah tells us, "They shall call his name "Immanuel, which means, God with us. Jesus does not have a human father. Rather, the Holy Spirit caused him to be conceived from the flesh of the Virgin Mary. The child is sinless. He did not inherit original sin from Joseph. And the child is God. His name, Immanuel doesn't simply mean that God is with him the way God was with the prophets and King David, and spoke through them. No, this title Immanuel means that the name-bearer is God. God is with us forever by joining our human flesh to himself.  

Our Gospel lesson clearly identifies the Word as God. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." And Scripture clearly says, "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us." God is with us in the flesh of Jesus Christ.  
Jesus is 100% God and 100% man. He has a human body just like us. He has a human soul, just like us. He has a human will, just like us. Jesus is like us humans in every way, except he is not corrupted with sin as we are. This same Jesus is God, the God who created all things. Through him all things were made and without him was not anything made that was made. And this same God is now a created human being, even a young baby in a manger.  
And why is it so important for Jesus to be true God and true man? The angel tells us: "You shall call his name, Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins." The name Immanuel is strongly connected to the name, Jesus. Immanuel means God with us. Jesus means, The Lord saves. Jesus had to be Immanuel in order for him to be Jesus. Only God become man could saves us from our sins.  

Sin is a serious problem. All human beings are sinners. We inherited this from our first parents Adam and Eve. Because Adam sinned, all of us his children are born in sin as King David laments, "Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me." (Psalm 51:5) And this sin is not just a little hick up. Sin corrupts us completely. Ephesians 2 states, "And you were dead in the trespasses and sins, in which you once walked." And in Romans 7 St. Paul confesses, "For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is in my flesh."  Sin corrupts completely. And sin isn't anything to laugh at. It is wickedness. Sin causes us to not believe in God. It causes us to hate God and our neighbor. Evil thoughts, murder, adultery, fornication, theft, these all flow from within us, because of our sin. Our selfishness, our ability to hurt others by what we say and do, this is sin.  

And sin has serious consequences, even more serious than the shame it causes our conscience and the pain it causes our neighbor. The wages of sin is death. And sinners fall short of the glory of God and are condemned to hell. So, all of us are wholly corrupted by sin. And sin kills us and condemns us. So, yes, we need to be saved from sin.  

And this is why it was so necessary for Christ to become a man. And this is why it is so marvelous that God now dwells with us. Sin corrupts us so completely and rules our heart like a pilot steers the rudder of a ship. Ephesians 2 states that in our sin we "follow the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience." Satan surely is at work in us. His desire is to corrupt us completely with sin. If it were possible, Satan would love to be incarnate himself and join himself permanently to our human race. But as successful as the devil is, he cannot himself become man. And as deeply as sin has corrupted mankind, so that no human being is without sin nor can anyone free himself from the bonds of sin, sin is not essential to be human.  

When our God became man, he did not become a sinner. He did not inherit Adam's sin. Yet, he still became entirely human. Sin isn't essential to be human, meaning, it is possible to be a human and to be without sin. There is no human being who has been or will be born without sin, save alone Jesus Christ. That is because we are all corrupted humans. However, God did not create us to be sinners. Christ did not become like a human in every way. Christ became a human being without sin.  

And so, as successful the devil was and as completely sin has corrupted our race, the devil could not become human nor could sin become the essence of humanity. Yet, God has become man. God has joined our race more closely than Satan or sin ever could. And he did this so that he could defeat Satan and sin on our behalf. With the confidence that our flesh and blood now sits enthroned in heaven, we can taunt Satan and sin when they attack our conscience, as Paul Gerhardt wrote in a stanza for O Jesus Christ, Thy Manger Is, which is not included in our hymnal:  

Be still, O foe!/ Dost thou not know: 
My Friend, my flesh and blood, in heav'n is seated? 
What thou didst smite/ The Prince of might 
From Jacob's root to glory elevated! 

God is man forever. We are sinners now, but the day will come when we will no longer be tainted by sin. Yet, God will still be our brother. God became Immanuel in order for him to save us from the corruption of sin and the molestation of the devil. If Satan wants to attack us, he must attack Christ. For sin to condemn us, it must condemn our God! 

Immanuel with no sins of his own took our sins from us, so that he could die for them in our place. God stepped on the scale in our human flesh and raised our sins up so that their debt could never weigh us down again. This is the message the angel is telling Joseph when his virgin bride became pregnant. This is what God is telling us through Isaiah by naming this child God-with-us. This is why the baby in Bethlehem is given the name The Lord Saves!  

God became man without the help of man. Joseph didn't do anything to cause Mary to become pregnant. In fact, by his doing nothing God was able to secure for us that Immanuel has come. It is impossible for sinful flesh to cause God to save. Likewise, there is nothing your sin corrupt flesh could do to cause you to be born of God. This too is God's doing. To receive the benefits of Immanuel, you must receive him through faith. Sin cannot believe. So, God must bring a birth by the Spirit. Our Gospel lesson states, "But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God." And our Epistle states, "He saved us, not by works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of rebirth and renewal of the Holy Spirit." It is through the power of the same Holy Spirit, who caused Jesus to be conceived in the womb of the Virgin Mary without Joseph's help, that you are reborn through the work of the same Jesus.  

Christmas is about the Lord saving us by becoming Immanuel. He did this without our help. He always saves without our help. It is the only way he does save. And this is what makes our salvation certain. God has done it. He has defeated Satan and sin for us. He is our Immanuel.  He is our Jesus. Amen.  ​
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    Rev. James Preus

    Rev. Preus is the pastor of Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church in Ottumwa, IA. These are audio and text of the sermons he preaches at Trinity according to the Historical Lectionary. 

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