December 24, 2023 Evening service
Isaiah 9:2,6 2 The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shined. 6For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Church and State on the shoulders of our Lord Jesus the Christ to come, the Christ to return. We exist because of God. without God we would and could not exist. God is the light, and He gave us the light through His only begotten Son. Since the fall of Adam, we have walked in darkness. I’m not sure mankind has truly understood the darkness, I also do not believe we fully understand the light.
Our darkness is the evil inside us, the sinful nature we carry, the cross of our criminal acts. Some will say they do not sin because they feel that sin is only those acts that place you in prison. Some will say what they do is not so bad and not realize they are slanting the slippery slope and making it steeper. Our darkness comes from what we do, and what we do not do. Our darkness is so immense that we cannot see where we are taking ourselves. We continue to walk in darkness thinking we know what we cannot fathom in the dark.
But the light has come in the form of a child, in the form of a man, and in the form of a sacrifice. The light has come that uncovers the cloak of darkness and reveals the direction we are walking in. Some are afraid of the light because the darkness has become their comfort zone. But the light didn’t come to condemn those who walk in the darkness, rather, the light came to show us the right way, the true direction to walk. The way to walk is towards the light and away from the darkness. And so, the light comes to clothe us in His righteousness for He is the way.
Titus 2:11–12 11For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, 12training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age,
The light of God, Jesus Christ came at the right time to save all of God’s creation and especially mankind. The Son is given, the gift is given. The gift of salvation that humbled Himself twice to ride on a donkey, a beast of burden. Once while still in the womb of His mother Mary. Once in a triumphal entry on Palm Sunday. Jesus came to show us that He will take the burden of our sins upon His shoulders and upon the cross.
This child that Mary held, this child that Mary placed in swaddling clothes is the coming Christ, and the returning Christ that brings hope to both Jew, and Christian, that is all who believe in Jesus Christ as our Savior. May we all be led by the light and believe in Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. This child will grow to manhood and teach with the authority of His Godhood what is right and good, what is salvation and life with our one true God.
Titus 2:13–14 13waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, 14who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.
This child will also take our sins to a cross meant for those who sin, those whom we also call criminals of the darkness. But Christ’s light will shine as He pardons us from the cross and dies to redeem us from all sin; past, present, and future. And this He does for the love of the Father and the Father’s love for His creation, for us and all believers.
Let us be zealous for our Lord. It is good to be zealous for the Lord through good works. Not that our good works are a bribe, but that our good works are a zealous way to thank our God, our Savior, our life with God. Jesus’s good works leads us to the light so we can be zealous with good works that come from the light. All glory and honor given to our God.
Luke 2:1–14 13And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, 14“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”
God is pleased with His creation though we turn from Him from time to time. However, our God brought us a means of cleansing us from our sin through our Baptism and through the blood of the Pascal Lamb, sing Glory to God, sing Glory to God in the Highest. For our God is the gospel of truth and forgiveness, life and eternal life. Amen.
Written by Pastor Curtis A. May