Saint Luke Ev. Lutheran Church of Watertown

Sermon delivered by Pastor Anthony E. Schultz

Christmas 1 December 26, 2004

Galatians 4:4-7

But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons. Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Sprit who calls out, “Abba, Father.” So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, God has made you also an heir.

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

The trouble started miles away—counties away—a lady trying to cash a check at a bank where she didn’t have an account. The worker at the drive up window was suspicious and called the police. The lady in the big black SUV took off—the police in hot pursuit. Faster and faster she drove—100 maybe 110 mph weaving through traffic—squad cars right behind her—then not—then again—after her. The next thing you know—the TV news helicopter is above. It looks like one of those cops and robbers TV shows. But it isn’t! It’s real flesh and blood people. There in the intersection—a little grandpa in his big car—slowly rolling through the intersection. The SUV runs a red light—and smashes into the passenger side of the car—almost bending the grandpa’s car in two. Ambulances come—Flight for Life comes. Firemen come and cut the top off the car. It only takes a few minutes. Put the little grandpa into the ambulance—and rush him to this hospital. Surely he will be ok! He isn’t! Now what? Without Jesus—a terrible car crash like that—would ruin everything! Without Jesus—the worst thing that could possible happen—is a snow storm—ice on the road—a chain reaction crash—physical life is lost! The precious good news of Christmas changes everything. Because baby Jesus was born—we have the gift of everlasting life! This morning we sing the praises of our newborn Savior and King. Today the Christmas Gospel means:

Baby Jesus Changes Everything!

1. We were slaves
2. But now we are heirs

The part of God’s Word we are concentrating on—is from Paul’s letter to the Galatians. The People’s Bible volume on Galatians and Ephesians was written by Prof. Armin Panning—the professor who taught Greek at Northwestern College—and then at our Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary. Galatians were people who lived in Asia Minor—today’s nation of Turkey—just to the north of Iraq and Iran—just south of Greece. Paul wrote to people in this whole area saying, “Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age…” Galatians 1:3,4a Every day you hear about rescue attempts. People are in an old house. The outlets are overloaded and the house catches fire. The neighbors see the smoke and the flames and try to break in—to rescue the children inside—but the heat is too intense. They are forced back. And the people inside are overcome—by the thick dark poisonous smoke. They cannot be saved! People are trapped on the Indiana interstate! Little two day old babies—and little grandmas on oxygen—their cars stuck in a snow drift. The National Guard goes out to rescue them. The Christ-child was born to rescue us from the present evil age—the danger that threatened not just our body—but our mind, our heart, our immortal soul. Over two thousand years the danger hasn’t changed much at all. The Ten Commandments exposed the failures of people thousands of years before baby Jesus was born—and the failures of people thousands of years since! We still don’t love our Heavenly Father with all our heart, our soul, our strength, our mind. We prefer to divide our heart into pigeon holes. We give the LORD Sunday mornings—two hours—Church and Bible Class—although if the truth be told—we prefer church to last 55 to 59 minutes. If the truth be told—we think church has run over if it gets to be an hour and 5 or even an hour and 10 or 15! And—if the truth be told—we sometimes think we are just a little better for staying for Bible Class than those who don’t! The second commandment exposes the lack of control we have over our tongue. Sunday afternoon—hours—not days but hours after church—and if our football team makes mistakes—do we call down eternal destruction on them? Do we curse—when the Christmas cookies we are baking burn on the bottom? Do we curse—when we burn our fingers on the hot cookie sheets? Do we curse—when we open presents—some impossible assembly required? Do we keep the third commandment? Do we complain—Church—Friday night and Saturday morning—and then we’re supposed to come to church Sunday morning, too? Do we fear that heaven is going to be forever church—reading the whole scroll of the prophet Isaiah—all 66 chapters—and then the whole Gospel of Matthew—with singing the whole old blue hymnal between? Do we gladly hear the Word of God and keep it—or does our mind wander—all the time? If we have failed miserably to serve our Heavenly Father—how have we treated our neighbor? Do we respect our parents and teachers? Do we have murderous anger against bad drivers? Do we have sinful thoughts about cute co-workers? Do we steal? Do we gossip? Do we want what we know we can’t or shouldn’t have? Do we want it with a want that we can taste? Baby Jesus was born to rescue us from this present evil age—from the evil that continues to brew like a bitter tea bag in our sinful heart? The Christ child was born to live the life we couldn’t. Then to die the death we couldn’t—to take away all our guilt and sin.

Of all the books of the Bible that we taught in Nigeria—Galatians in one of the most important—because it teaches so clearly we are saved by grace through faith—and not be keeping the law! Paul wrote, “All who rely on observing the law are under a curse, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the book of the Law.” Clearly no one is justified before God by the law, because, “The righteous will live by faith!” And again, “You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were united with Christ in baptism have been clothed with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise!” There is this attitude—it’s in our blood—that you have to be good—do good—at least try to be good. And then God will like you. That if you scoop soup in a homeless shelter—take your clothes to Bethesda Thrift or Twice Is Nice—that if you put money in the Salvation Army Kettle—then you are one of the good guys. That bad things aren’t supposed to happen to good people like us! That’s wrong! We are saved by grace—through faith—apart from keeping the law!

But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons. At just the right time in the history of the world—God sent his Son to save us. As Pastor Gartner said on Christmas morning—God doesn’t do things the way people would. His ways are not our ways—his thoughts are not our thoughts. God’s plans—his paths—are beyond our tracing out! Baby Jesus was born in Bethlehem! Not Jerusalem—not Egypt or Babylon or Assyria. Not in Athens or Rome but in a town that 2,000 years later is more like Ixonia or Clyman than like New York or Chicago. Jesus was born 2,000 years ago—when there were no telephones—no cell phones—no text messaging—no e-mails. There were no cars or planes or trains or buses. There were no printers—no copy machines—no FAX machines. How were people supposed to communicate? How were people supposed to find out the good news that baby Jesus was born? Angels told shepherds. Shepherds told everyone they met what they had seen and heard which was exactly what they had been told by the angels! This is how the Gospel is spread—people telling people. My brother riding in a canoe down the Amazon River—walking deep into the jungle—to tell the people he finds there—baby Jesus was born to rescue you. The Christmas Gospel is spread when we tell the people who sit across from us in the lunch room at the factory or the break room at Wal-Mart! The Christmas Gospel spreads when we give a cookie and a cup of egg nog to our brother-in-law and standing by our little nativity scene—we tell them—baby Jesus was born to save them, too! Tell the people that you meet—that Jesus is their Savior, too!

When the time had fully come—God sent forth his Son, born of a woman, born under law to redeem those under law… We are a people under law. To live in this country is to live under law—law and order have a lot to do with the kind of country in which we live. Sometimes rules are very complicated—like if you go duck or goose hunting. You have to have a hunting license. You have to buy these stamps—one from the state of Wisconsin and one from the United States of America. They are stamps with paintings of ducks or geese on them that cost not a few dollars. You can buy these stamps—and not go hunting—but you can’t go hunting without buying these stamps. If you are going hunting—you have to stick the stamps on your hunting license—then sign your name right across the stamp. You have to have steel shot—not lead—which lands in the marsh and wrecks the water. You have to have this little plastic stick in your gun so that you can only put three shells in. There are all kinds of rules and regulations—what ducks you can shoot in what order. There are Game Wardens who come and take the temperature of the ducks you shoot—to make sure you shot them in the right order. It’s all very complicated—all very technical. Make a mistake and they can take your ducks—take your gun—take the truck you drove to the place you were hunting. I didn’t know isn’t an excuse they will accept. If you didn’t know—you should have! Do we understand God’s will? Do we know what Jesus expects of us? Have we read the Scriptures? The Bible is not this huge bunch of rules and regulations—you can’t do this—you can’t do that! The Bible exposes our sins—but it also talks about the greatness of God’s love for sinners like you and like me. Jesus was born of a woman, born under law to redeem people like us who were under law—so that we might have the full rights of sons!

So you are no longer a slave, but a son. We are born slaves to sin. It’s in our blood and it’s in our parents. You can be a very small person—and understand the concept that you are not supposed to touch the Christmas tree. Not supposed to take your pudgy little hand with your dimpled little fingers and touch the Christmas tree—making the needles fall off—making the breakable ornaments break. You can be a very small person and understand you aren’t supposed to touch the tree. So what do you do? Stand so close to the tree-that if you push your little belly out—in your little jammies with the feet built in—you can touch the tree with your belly button? Big people can be like that, too. Paul wrote to the Romans, “There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who searches for God. All have turned away and together become worthless. There is no one who does good, not even one. Their throats are open graves; their tongues practice deceit. The poison of vipers is on their lips. Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood; ruin and misery mark their paths and the way of peace they do not know. There is no fear of God before their eyes. Romans 3:10b-18 It was wretched sinners—slaves to sin and death—that Jesus came to rescue. The Christ child—born to die—to rescue us from the forever flames of hell. Jesus died that we might be forever free!

So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, God has made you also an heir. I watched the news—while I had my Christmas morning Highlander Grog and my instant oatmeal peaches and cream. There was the news anchor sitting down literally with a priest a rabbi and a minister—talking about this “Christmas thing!” What to do—what to do? They were all very happy—talking about common ground—loving peace and promoting forgiveness! They recommended spending more time with people who were different from you. Get to know them. Respect the traditions that make then unique. Send each other birthday cards was one suggestion they all heartily agreed on. It was all about how nice it is to be nice to the nice! Christmas is not about niceness! It’s not about sharing your cookies with home made icing. Christmas is about baby Jesus. It’s about a way—in a manger—the only way to heaven in a manger. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me!” Jesus said that! Jesus is the only way to heaven. This is the message we need to share. In love and humility and great gentleness and patience we need to share the fact that God has made you also an heir for Jesus’ sake! There is stored up for you and me an inheritance in heaven where moth and rust cannot corrupt. Where thieves cannot break in and steal. By grace alone—where our treasure is—there will our hearts be also!

To God alone all glory!

Rev. Anthony E. Schultz