Christmas Eve Sermon — Rev. Craig Stephans

please be

seated let us pray oh father I pray that

this evening your kingdom would come and

that while we can't see the angels we

can't see your heavenly Throne we know

that you are present be present in our

hearts be present to speak to us be

present to make yourself known to us

we ask in jesus' name amen and now while

every head is bowed and every eye is

closed raise your hand if you have

watched a Hallmark Christmas

show I mean there's something about him

that really grips us we love to see the

story come together and the hearts break

but then they're melded together again

in love and romance it's stories like

that that surround Christmas time

whether it's a dramatization of romance

or whether it's an animated show for

children but adults too really like the

Grinch or Charlie Brown Christmas we

even had one of the songs that's

featured in Charlie Brown Christmas

today in our our music those stories are

so entertaining and they can serve to

draw Us in to the Christmas story but in

the midst of all of those stories they

can

overshadow the story of Christmas the

story that we read part of today from

Luke's gospel and we can allow the

truths of the true Christmas Story to

become like white noise or like

wallpaper that we know they're there we

know what it is we see it hear it all

the time but we pass by as we look for

these

other trappings of the holidays so I

want to zero in on some of the truths of

the Christmas story for us today and for

always because as the Angels proclaimed

to the Shepherds and this is a message

not like any that has happened before

when Heaven is open and a whole

multitude of angels appears to people in

the midst of confirming a message and

that message is good news of great joy

so what is the good news of great joy

for us to really hold on to as the

message and the truth of Christmas

well I want to highlight three elements

that relate to the father to the son and

to the Holy Spirit and I want you to

hold these tightly in your heart and in

your mind and in your life during this

Christmas season the first is that God

created You In His Image and likeness

and loves

you now that's probably not news to you

if you've been in church at all if

you've heard the Christian story The

Christmas Story at all you know yeah

yeah there's a God he created Me In His

Image and likeness he loves

me but have you really experienced the

reality of that recently that you are

not an

accident yes we have all made mistakes

in our lives but each of us is not a

mistake each of us is not abandoned

we're not even put at a distance by God

he created us in His image and likeness

and he loves us today

regardless of what has come in our lives

or in the history of humanity God loves

us today God the Father who loved the

world and all that is in it the people

so much that he gave his only begotten

son that whoever believes in him should

not perish but have eternal life the

reason this story is the Son of God

becoming man becoming Born Into the

world is because God made us in His

image and likeness and loves us

even today the

psalmist declared this truth back to God

so well in Psalm 139 beginning in verse

13 He said to God for you formed my

inward Parts you knitted me together in

my mother's womb I praise you for I am

fearfully and wonderfully made wonderful

are your Works my soul knows it very

well my frame was not hidden from you

when I was being made in secret

intricately woven in the depths of the

the Earth your eyes saw my unformed

substance in your book were written

every one of them the days that were

formed for me when as yet there was none

of them you were created in God's image

and likeness and he loves

you I think his message to us always if

we could hear it it's a message that's

taken from the song of songs the words

of the lover to his beloved let me see

your face let me hear your voice for

your voice is sweet and your face is

lovely this is the love that inspired

the Incarnation of Jesus

Christ and not only are you made in the

image and likeness of God and loved by

God the Father God the son Jesus Christ

died to save you because of that

love this is a personal story for each

and every one of this each and every one

of us this child that we celebrate being

born was born for you because God the

Father the Son and the Holy Spirit knows

you and loves you and knows each and

every one of your

days Jesus said himself greater love has

no one than this that he laid down his

life for his friends there is no greater

love than the love behind within and

that flows from this story love for you

from God Paul said it this way in Romans

58 God God shows his love for us and

that while we were still sinners Christ

died for

us in the midst of all of your sin God

sees you knows you and loves you and

Jesus died for you and God raised him in

victory over death and

sin and exalted him to his right

hand and has poured out his holy spirit

so that each of us because of that love

can be with God forever in his paradise

in his kingdom in the new heavens and

the new Earth that will come Jesus loves

you so much that he came into the world

as the child that we read about

today and he dies to be with you and he

dies to be with all of us in a paradise

of his father and he dies in obedience

to his father in who is Father who loves

us and so willed for his son to die for

us

and the Holy Spirit the Holy Spirit who

overshadowed Mary and conceived Jesus in

her

womb he is here today and is loving you

even now and desires for you to be

filled with himself and with the love of

God the same holy spirit that conceive

Jesus in the womb of Mary is present

today to fill you and to pour God's love

into your

heart he is god with us the spirit of

the father and the son he is the

presence of God's love for us and that

is the impact of the Christmas story for

us today that God is here a god of love

not here to punish us not here to

condemn us here to even woo us with his

love and his goodness and his Beauty

this is a

story that impacts our lives this is a

story that can transform Our Lives

leading us from death to life from

Darkness to

Light from being bound in our sin to

being free in God's love and

goodness I love a scripture from Psalm

64 it is an imperative to those who

hear to cry out to God in response to

his love in response to his salvation to

say to God turn O Lord deliver my life

save me for the sake of your steadfast

love there is nothing that I've done

there is nothing that you have done that

could earn Jesus coming into the world

dying for us giving us

salvation but his steadfast love is what

we cling to it is because of his

steadfast love for us that he does save

us and so we can cry out to him turn

Lord deliver me save me for the sake of

that

love that inspired God the Father to

send his son that inspired God the son

to die that inspires God the Holy Spirit

to be present to make this truth and

this salvation known to us save me oh

God for the sake of this love save me

for the sake of This Love that I might

be filled with that love that it might

flow to me that I might be a messenger

and a witness of this Christmas Story

not just on the day of Christmas but on

the every day of my life in this

world we had a family service today at

4:00 which was wonderful and joyous and

there were so many babies oooing and

awing and some screaming and

crying but they are all so cute and and

you know those of you who are members

and come to church here you know those

babies and you know that that if there

was a circumstance where any of those

mothers said hey would you hold my baby

for a minute none of you would would

turn away in fact some of us are waiting

for that opportunity well imagine even

more if you were in that

manger around the time that Joseph and

Mary are there and after Mary has given

birth to Jesus and he's there in the

swaddling cloth and maybe you're there

when the Shepherds come to tell the

story and Mary has to adjust something

and she holds baby Jesus and says to you

would you hold my baby would you receive

Jesus and hold him for for a

moment would any of us refuse to receive

that baby and hold

him well he is here today no longer a

baby but the King of Kings and the Lord

of lords who loves you and is saying to

you himself take me receive me into your

life not just for a moment but for

eternity you cannot imagine the love

that I've come to give

you if you haven't done so receive him

into your life for the first time if

you've done so a million times receive

him again for the millionth and first

time receiving him in fullness giving

him all the areas of your life that he

came to save and came to

purify and as we leave here today I want

to inspire you with that message and

example of the Angels who came declaring

to the Shepherds of this good news of

great joy that will be for all

people the Savior has

come let us be bold like those angels

and even like those Shepherds who after

visiting Mary and Joseph and seeing

Jesus went glorifying and praising God

for all that they have seen and

heard

tonight during this Christmas season

take the opportunities of all the

openings that God gives to you and

glorify him and praise him by making

known which what you have seen and heard

what you know to be true about this God

who loves us and came to give us

salvation as the greatest and

everlasting gift that we could ever want

amen