St. Luke Ev. Lutheran Church

Sermonette by Pastor Anthony E. Schultz

Christmas Eve, December 24, 2007

Luke 2:10,11

And the angel said unto them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.”

People of God—rescued from the flaming lake of fire in hell by the innocent blood of the very Lamb of God:

There was a gas station up north—in a little community of about 2,000 people. A little place—kind of like Mayberry—where everybody knows everybody. There was a gas station up north—where the little worker guy punched in the codes to set the price at the gas pump for the next day—before locking up the station store where they sell soda—bottles and cans of every size and flavor. The little store where they sell a zillion different kinds of candy bars and gum and beef jerky and doughnuts and coffee—and those little hotdogs that go around and around and around on those hot metal rollers. The price for a gallon of gas was supposed to be $3.30. But he didn’t hit the buttons right—and the gas pump was set to sell gas for 33¢! Then the little worker guy—turned off the inside lights—locked the door—and went home. He didn’t realize—when—through the night—people stopped at the gas station—to use their credit card to buy gas—they would only be charged 33¢. Well—the first person came in—swiped their card and started pumping gas. The amount of gasoline wheel was spinning as fast as usual—but the money wheels were really slow. Three gallons of gasoline—and it didn’t even cost $1! How cool was that? Six gallons and it wasn’t even $2. This had to be some kind of mistake! Nine gallons and it was less than $3! This first person filled up to the top! Then you know what they did? They called all their friends and relatives—in the dark—in the night—in less than 2 hours—they sold almost 600 gallons of gas. 42 people came and pumped all the gas they could. Finally the police noticed people were lining up to buy gas—late into the night--something must be wrong. They called the owner who quickly realized the mistake! Now—what would you do—if you realized—by mistake they were selling gasoline for 33¢! Sure—sitting here in church on Christmas Eve with all these children watching—what am I supposed to do? Call the owner and tell him about the mistake! Of course that’s what you are supposed to do! And if you were sitting in church on Christmas Eve—you would remember the right answer! But if you were in the cold—in the dark—thinking how those big petroleum companies are making zillions of dollars and you don’t have enough money to buy all the presents you want to buy—what would you do? Would you call your children and your best friends and tell them to come and fill up—three gallons for a dollar? Or would you do the right thing—because if you don’t—you will get a flat tire for payback for stealing gasoline? That’s how our sinful hearts and minds work! The Christ-child was born—to live a life without sin—to die for all our mistakes. That’s the Christmas Gospel—Christ crucified to rescue me from my sins! Even the sins of doing the right thing—for all the wrong reasons!

What a wondrous gift—the little Christ-child. That little baby was in fact the Son of God! His tiny little hands would learn to take home made ink and to painstakingly copy the Scriptures on pieces of home made paper. Those little hands would grow up to learn how to hold hand tools—to make very practical things out of wood. Those strong gentle hands would never ever lash out to hurt anyone. Those strong gentle hands would hug little people when he said—“Let the children come to me and do not hinder them—for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these!” Those hands would reach out and hold the scriptures in the synagogue in Capernaum and unroll them and read his Father’s Word—then roll it back up and say—today this promise of God’s grace is fulfilled right here among you! These hands would touch what was unclean—people who had leprosy—and make their skin as soft and new as a newborn baby. Jesus’ hands would touch unclean people—with wounds that bled—and make them whole and strong—better than new. He would touch eyes and they would see—even before their mind understood how to process all the images that suddenly came flooding in. Jesus’ hands would touch crippled legs—and people would literally jump up and down and dance with happy feet! Jesus’ hands would touch the unclean—the dead—and make them alive again! Jesus—the Lord of life—had little baby hands that one day would be pierced with nails—that would be hammered into a splintered blood and sweat and tear stained cross—where Jesus would die to save us from all our sins! This holy night—we thank and praise him. And every Sunday—we praise him—here—in this place. We have Lord’s Supper here—where simple unleavened bread—and a sip of wine are at the same time the miracle of his body and blood! This baby was born to die—born to die on the cross to rescue us from all our sin and guilt and shame!

Unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior---which is Christ the Lord! It never ceases to amaze me—the punishments that are handed down by earthly courts. There is a Federal Court in Missouri—that sentenced a man named Michael for unspeakable crimes against children. This man confessed to doing horrible crimes. Because his crimes were so terrible he was sentenced to 74 life sentences—without the possibility of parole. That means even if this man should live to be 104—old and feeble—weak and wrinkled—you can’t feel sorry for him and let him out of prison. Now just the other day—he was sentenced in another court. The prosecutors wanted the sentence to be 30 years! I don’t understand why—since he is never ever getting out anyway. Even the prosecutors were surprised when the judge said the sentence would be 170 years! 170 years on top of 74 life sentences. That’s when the defense attorney went outside and said, Michael “is a pretty good guy!” A pretty good guy? Oh, they said—he just said that—so Michael can’t turn around and say his lawyer didn’t try hard enough! A pretty good guy! Is that how we think of ourselves? I’m a pretty good guy! I make mistakes—like anybody—but most of the time I’m busy visiting people in the hospital and shut-ins—teaching God’s Word to little people and writing sermons and devotions. How much trouble can you get into—doing jobs for Jesus? I do sins all the time! And so do you. We are on thin spiritual ice as soon as we start to think—I’m not perfect—but at least I’m better than those guys you see on the news wearing orange suits and covering their faces in shame—scuffing in literal shackles—sentenced to lifetimes behind bars to keep good people safe. We are wretched sinners that deserve the forever punishment of hell. We are spared. We are saved. We are forgiven for the sake of the little Christ-child!

Unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior—which is Christ the Lord! Someone in my family the other day got one of those cards with the little computer chip in it. You open the card and it sings out loud, Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you very much! Thank you thank you very much--we really mean it! Thank you thank you thank you thank you! I love that card! Thank you, thank you! Open it—and they start singing! How do you thank Jesus? How do you thank the Christ child? What do you give to the one who has everything? Give him your heart-

If you drive around enough and listen to Christmas music—you are bound to hear the Emerson, Lake and Palmer—Lake guy sing a song called “I believe in Father Christmas”. Did you ever really listen to the words? “They sold me a dream of Christmas. They sold me a silent night. And they told me a fairy story till I believed in the Israelite…Hallelujah noel be it heaven or hell the Christmas you get you deserve.” Did you get that? Hallelujah noel be it heaven or hell the Christmas you get you deserve!” We do not get what we deserve! We deserve eternal destruction—every single one of us. On our own and by our self—we deserve the flaming lake of fire in hell. But because of the Christ child we receive the most precious Christmas gift of all—the gift of eternal life!

We have a new Christmas ornament this year. It’s little Linus standing all alone. You push this little button and a tiny light shines on him. And Linus recites Luke chapter 2. And the angel said unto them, “Fear not. For behold I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord!” That’s what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown. Amen!

To God alone all glory!

Rev. Anthony E. Schultz