SAINT LUKE EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCH OF WATERTOWN
Sermon delivered
by Pastor Anthony E. Schultz
Advent 4. December
23, 2001 Matthew 1:22,23
All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: “The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel”—which means, “God with us.”
Dear People of God—rescued
from the flaming lake of fire in hell by the innocent blood of the very Lamb of
God:
Sometimes it seems we are living in
a terrible time—what with war and terrorism all around. The truth is terrorism
and war and death are nothing new. In 1914 the whole world was caught up in
war. They didn’t call it World War One—because nobody in their wildest
nightmares ever thought there would be a second World War. Read history books
from back then and they called it the Great War—the war to end all wars! There
were muddy trenches everywhere. There were chemical weapons—mustard gas so
terrible you couldn’t see—you couldn’t breathe! There were coils of barbed
wire—tanks and machine guns! The human mind was skilled already back then at
making weapons of mass destruction. The human mind was skilled at creating what
would do fatal harm to people! And yet—Christmas Eve in 1914—soldiers from both
sides stopped fighting. They put down their weapons. They came out into no
man’s land. They buried their dead. Then they exchanged gifts—gifts of
cigarettes—gifts of the brass buttons from their uniforms—gifts of cookies and
sweets. They sang songs about the newborn Savior. They played soccer. Oh, some
people said that was just a myth—make believe—soldiers playing soccer. And
yet—they really did. How do I know? They have found letters—hand written
letters from men who were there—that even say the scores. One game it was 3 to
2! For a few precious hours there was a truce. There was a fragile a temporary
peace. For some people that’s all Christmas is—a fragile temporary—even
momentary peace. It’s a time when they buy presents and eat cookies and try to
be nice—because nice is nice and not nice is what—not nice? For a couple of
days they put lights around the downspouts of their house. They put together
toys and gifts—some assembly required—batteries not included. They eat lots of
sweets—watch It’s a Wonderful Life and How the Grinch Stole
Christmas-Cindy Lowho in Whoville. Happy new year! And it’s time to
pack away the lights until next year. For God’s people Christmas is much more
than trees and tinsel—parties and presents—cookies and eggnog! For God’s people
Christmas means celebrating the powerful Gospel truth:
Pretty near 650 years before baby Jesus was born
there was a king in Judah named Ahaz. Ahaz
was not a good king. God’s people didn’t have very many good kings.
That’s pretty obvious from the fact that the few good ones they called good
like good King Hezekiah and good King Josiah. Ahaz was not a good king. The
fact is being a bad king—even a horrible king—can’t spoil the fact that God is
good. God is so good you can say God is love! That’s just how good God
is—in spite of the fact that already back in the days of Noah and Noah’s ark
God said, “Every inclination of man’s heart is only evil from childhood!” Still
the LORD—the great I AM was good to his people. When Ahaz was king Jerusalem
was under attack—under siege. You know what that must have felt like? I think
this Christmas maybe we understand being under siege better than last
Christmas. God’s Word says the heart of Ahaz and his people were shaken, as
the trees of the forest are shaken by the wind. The LORD doesn’t want his
people to be afraid. So the LORD sent his worker Isaiah to reassure the king—to
reassure God’s people. The LORD said to Isaiah, “Say to him, ‘Be careful,
keep calm and don’t be afraid. Do not lose heart because of these two
smoldering stubs of firewood…’ The kings and the armies that who had drawn
battle lines against God’s people were no more able to hurt God’s people than a
couple of sticks—all burnt and smoldering at the end! Be careful…but
don’t be afraid. Don’t be scared! The LORD sent his
prophet—his spokesman Isaiah to tell the king don’t be scared. Isaiah was
inspired to put this simple message into Hebrew poetry—to make it clear—to make
it easy to repeat—to yourself and to your neighbor. Don’t be scared. Obviously
easier said than done—especially with the army of the enemy literally camped
all around you! So the LORD was even more gracious. Again the LORD spoke to
Ahaz, “Ask the LORD your God for a sign, whether in the deepest depths or in
the highest heights.” Here was customized encouragement and comfort.
You pick the time. You pick the place. The LORD will show you in
the most graphic way—you don’t need to be afraid! The LORD is with you. He will
keep his people safe! But Ahaz said, “I will not ask; I will not put the
LORD to the test.” Sounds nice—but it wasn’t. How do I know? Then Isaiah
said, “Hear now, you house of David! Is it not enough to try the patience of
men? Will you try the patience of my God also? Therefore the Lord himself will
give you a sign: Not our God—but my God—not the LORD the Savior God—but the
Lord—the Master—the King of kings—will give you a sign. The virgin will be
with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.
It would be a miracle. A virgin—a young woman who
was pure—who never ever had “hugs and kisses” with a man—would be with
child—would have a baby in her tummy. It would be a miracle! The baby conceived
within her—would not be conceived the way every other baby ever born had been
conceived. This baby would be conceived—begun by the Holy Spirit! His father
would be our Heavenly Father. This little baby—baby Jesus would be conceived
and born without sin. If baby Jesus had an earthly physical father and an earthly
physical mother—then he would be conceived sinful—sinful from the moment a tiny
egg the size of a grain of sand—began to divide—two then four then eight—then
16—32—64 then 128 and then more! The wickedness of people cannot spoil nor
prevent the goodness of God!
All this took place to fulfill
what the Lord had said through the prophet, “The virgin will be with child and
will give birth to a son…” The Lord makes wonderful promises. Promises like
“Come to me all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest.” Promises
like “Ask and it will be given to you. Seek and you will find. Knock and the
door will be opened to you.” Promises like, “Don’t be anxious about
anything. But in everything by prayer and petition with thanksgiving present
your requests to God. And the peace of God which surpasses all understanding
will keep your hearts and minds through faith in Christ Jesus.” Promises
like, “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the
sheep…The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life—only to take it
up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have
authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again.” The
Christ-child was born into this world—to lay down his life to wash away the
sins of the whole world. I heard the other day about this new invention. You
know how this time of year—when it gets cold enough—there is sometimes ice and
sometimes snow on rivers and lakes. And sometimes people go out on that ice—out
on thin ice—and they fall through. If they are not rescued and rescued
quickly—they get hypo-thermia—they get so cold they die. There is this new
invention—invented by twin girls—just 17 years old. It’s called a creeper. It’s
about four feet long—it weighs about 23 pounds. What it does is creep out onto
the ice—by remote control—it creeps out onto the ice—with something like the
end of a rope—for the person in danger to grab hold of—so they can pull them
out. One of the obvious benefits—besides rescuing the person in danger is—it
doesn’t put the rescuers in danger. They can stand safely on solid ground—well
out of any danger! Jesus didn’t have the luxury of saving us by remote control.
Jesus became true man—became the Son of man—became Immanuel—God with us—to
rescue us!
Jesus loves you. Jesus is Immanuel—which
means God with us. A couple of weeks ago—a very famous rock’n’roll singer
died. He left behind a fortune—thought to be somewhere in the neighborhood of
$300 million dollars. That’s not as important as the fact they said he died
unafraid—and always conscious of God. What is important is—what does that
mean—unafraid and always conscious of God? Was he conscious of the fact that
Jesus loved him—that Jesus died for him—that Jesus took all his sins away. Did
he know that Jesus loved him so much that he wanted him to live forever with
him in Heaven?
Jesus loves you. Jesus is Immanuel
which means God with us. This is good news—too good to keep to yourself! I
was at the mall the other day—sitting in the food court—drinking my Starbuck’s
coffee—reading a book—when I heard this noise. Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! It was
the guy at the pizza stand. He was banging on the cutting board where they cut
the pizzas. Bang! Bang! Bang! You couldn’t miss it. When you looked he waved at
you like, “Hi there! How about some pizza? How about some spaghetti? How about
some stuffed pizza? How about some garlic bread just brushed with melted
butter? How about a cold soda on the back of your parched throat? He waited a
minute or two. I went back to my book. All of a sudden I thought I saw
something bright out of the corner of my eye. I looked up. It was the pizza guy. He was shining one of his heat
lamps all around the food court. When you looked up. When you looked his way—he
smiled. He waved. How about that pizza, huh? He waved some more. This guy did
not give up. This guy was not easily discouraged! I love that pizza guy. I love
the little Chinese lady that serves the sodas at that Italian pizza place. I
love when people are so smiley—so excited—so happy to do what they do—no matter
how simple—no matter how ordinary. When they do it with all their heart—you
can’t ignore them. When you do what you do—with love—people will notice. And
that’s when you tell them. That’s when you tell them about Jesus’ love. I do
what I do because Jesus is in my heart! There’s no other reason! Jesus is the
only reason! Not the main reason but the only reason I do what I do! Build
up—encourage—be joyful and thankful because of the Christ child. You will stand
out as different from practically everybody else—because almost everybody else
is looking at the hole—not the doughnut. Practically everybody else is the
glass of eggnog half empty—not the glass half full. Be truly joyful and
thankful and people will notice. They will notice if you are not tearing down
and complaining and finding fault. They will notice if you live your life with
a passion that is absent almost everywhere else!
Jesus is Immanuel—which means,
God with us! Christmas means Christ the Savior is born. It seems to me
there is more Christmas music on the radio than usual. There is on the first
day of Christmas my true love gave to me…”—by the Muppets—with Miss Piggy
singing, “Five golden rings.” There’s the rock’n’roll Christmas—baby please
come home to me. There’s Bruce Springsteen and his big friend with the
saxaphone, Barbra Streisand and Jose Feleciano. A new song this year is Faith
Hill singing, “Where is Christmas? Why can’t I find you? Where did you go to?”
The refrain says, “Christmas in here—everywhere!” It is, you know! Christmas is
here in God’s House—where we hear God’s Word and receive Lord’s Supper and
little babies born sinful are born again when simple water is made powerful
through the Word and promises of God. Christmas is here Christmas Eve and Christmas
Day as we remember Jesus came to be with us—to rescue us from sin and guilt and
death.
Jesus is Immanuel—which means,
God with us! On Christmas Eve in 1914 on the battle field of France—there
was a hand full of soldiers from far far away. Soldiers who didn’t know about
Jesus—who didn’t know about Christmas at all. And so when they saw people
standing about in No Man’s Land—they fired upon them again and again. And then
in the moonlight they saw a man carrying a pine tree—an evergreen tree—a Christmas
tree. They didn’t understand that at all. And so they stopped shooting. A man
carrying a tree—and there was a temporary—a fragile and breakable and short
lived peace. Almost two thousand years ago a man carried a tree to a hill
shaped like a skull. On that hill he died on that tree—bearing the guilt and
shame of the whole wide world. Because that one man died—died on a tree—we have
forever peace with God. We have forgiveness for all our sins. We have a home in
Heaven. The ultimate Christmas gift—the Christ child means real and lasting
peace—peace through the Prince of Peace—our only Savior from sin and death.
Amen! To God alone all glory!