Christmas Day

SERMON

Text: Luke 2:19

But Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart.

In Christ Jesus, the miracle and meaning of Whose birth we have come to ponder, dear fellow redeemed:

This past summer my family and I were privileged to travel to Europe. While in Germany we visited a monastery famous for the beer brewed by its monks. Our trip included a tour of the monastery’s church. It was an elaborate church filled with all sorts of ornamentation, but its altar stood out as the most grand of the spectacles within those walls. It was a double altar. The lower altar presented the nativity scene in grand style, but then above it in a second tier stood a figure, with outstretched hands and golden rays proceeding from its person. Now, you would assume that the figure would have been the ascending and ruling Jesus, but it was not. It was Mary. If you looked closely she was standing on and above a triangle representing God. Clearly, the imagery was intended to venerate and, yes, even worship the Virgin Mary who was depicted as standing above God!

This past Saturday the New York Times carried an article describing the efforts of a Professor Mark Miravalle of the Franciscan University of Steubenville, Ohio to petition the Roman Catholic Church to elevate Mary to the status of co-redemptrix. Pope John Paul II has frequently spoken of Mary in just such terms. Should this happen it would be claimed that Mary shared in our redemption with Jesus, and that she together with Jesus worked out our salvation.

Mariolatry, which is what such devotion to the Virgin Mary is called, is a far cry from the Scriptural description of Mary and her role in God’s story of salvation. Mary was God’s chosen instrument to bring Jesus into this world, but she still recognized that she was a sinner in need of redemption as our children pointed out last night. In our text Mary is not presented as exalting in her role and position, but rather quietly pondering all that had happened on that first Christmas Day two thousand years ago. LET US join Mary this morning as we PONDER THE MIRACLE AND MEANING OF CHRISTMAS!

I.

What were the things that Mary pondered on that first Christmas after the shepherd departed? We are not told specifically, but I would imagine that she pondered the wonder of the miracle of Christmas—that Jesus was God’s Son. She no doubt thought back to the appearance of Gabriel nine months before in Nazareth, when she was at first startled, but then accepting of the announcement that she would conceive a child through the power of the Holy Spirit and give birth to God’s Son. It was a miracle—a one of a kind and the only time that such a thing would occur in the history of mankind. But that was, after all, exactly what God had promised to do, for He has said through Isaiah 700 years before, “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel” (Isaiah 7:14). Oh, yes, there were people would not believe her story. Joseph did not at first, but it was true and it had happened. God was faithful and had done exactly what He had promised to do!

We are living in a day when unbelief has once again entered the church. There are many within external Christendom today, who deny the virgin birth and consequently deny the deity of Jesus Christ. Ponder with me for a moment this question: What if Jesus were not God’s Son? What if Jesus’ father were Joseph, or a Roman soldier—as many theological teachers now suggest? Why then the Scriptures would not be true, would they? Then Jesus could not be our Savior, for no mere man can save us from our sins. No, it is the fact that Jesus was true God that accounts for the fact that Jesus’ death removed our sins. Paul, in addressing the elders of Ephesus, urged them, “Take heed to ‘all the flock’ to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood” (Acts 20:28). If Jesus were not God’s Son, why then He would be merely a teacher of morality. Salvation would not be a work completed by God’s grace and bestowed upon us by faith as a gift. Rather, it would be a work incomplete—a work in progress and left in our hands. We would live not in certainty and in uncertainty regarding our eternal salvation and our motivation in life would not be love, but rather fear.

My dear friends, thank God we need not ponder such a thought! Rather, we can with Mary in awe and wonder ponder the miracle of Jesus’ birth as the Son of God!

II.

What did Mary ponder? The shepherds had come to adore her Son. We are told that they returned to their fields telling everyone they met concerning what they had heard and seen. They no doubt told Joseph and Mary about the message of the angels, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men” (Luke 2:14). No doubt Mary pondered that message, which expressed the meaning of Christmas—that Jesus would win the struggle against Satan, mankind’s greatest foe, thereby establishing peace between God and men and restoring our relationship with God the Father. What a powerful message the angels brought. They were not talking about a potential peace, perhaps possible and perhaps obtainable sometime in the future. No, they spoke of an objective peace, which was and is a reality through Jesus Christ. We are at peace with God, for the Bible tells us, “God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to use the word of reconciliation” (2 Corinthians 5:19). That peace, which we by faith enjoy, is to extend to all others and does so extend when every believers strives to live in love with others!

We are living in a day, however, when many view Jesus as essentially a failure. Having denied that Jesus is true God and our Savior—having suggested that Jesus is but a teacher of the “golden rule,” it is obvious, they say, that Jesus’ work remains unfinished in this world. Ponder with me for a moment this question: What if Jesus had not won? If Jesus’ words, “It is finished” (John 19:30) do not mean that His work of our redemption is done? If Paul’s words, “In Him (that is, Jesus) dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; and you are complete in Him” (Colossians 2:9-10) do not mean that Jesus as true God has given us everything we need regarding our personal salvation, then we are left to fend for ourselves. Then, everything ultimately is up to us. Then salvation is not a matter of grace, but of works—our works. Then, again, our lives would be driven by the fear of God’s divine wrath and judgment, rather than motivated by His expressed grace and mercy. Then we would have to find some way, some how to overcome Satan on our own. Life would become a fearsome process, for there would be no assurance that the ultimate victory would be ours. Oh, no, in fact the victory would be very much in doubt.

My dear friends, thank God that we need not ponder such a thought, but rather with Mary we can with awe and wonder ponder the meaning of Christ—that Jesus has won the victory and given us the peace of God!

III.

What did Mary ponder? Perhaps, and I would imagine quite often, Mary pondered the grace and faithfulness of God in sending His Son. By doing so He had fulfilled 4,000 years of prophecies beginning all the way back in the Garden of Eden (cf. Genesis 3:15) and ending with Malachi’s promise of the coming of the “Messenger of the covenant” (cf. Malachi 3:1). The birth of Jesus assures us of the fact that God’s Word is true and that it can be trusted. It is, as the Scriptures declare, the foundation of our faith and the rock upon which we can build our lives with confidence. In the midst of all of the issues of motherhood as well as in the midst of all of the complications of sin in the world, not the least of which was the early threat of King Herod to Jesus’ life described in the Gospel of Matthew, Mary must have had peace as she pondered the faithfulness of her God.

In order to stress the importance of the Christmas message, I would ask you to ponder with me one last question: What if Jesus had not come? It is a startling thought at first, is it not? It merits our attention, however, for if you think about it our lives would be dramatically changed. If Jesus had not come, there would be no Christmas. We would not be here at Immanuel, for there would be no Immanuel as there would be no other Christian churches. If Jesus had not come there would be no Christians. There would be no New Testament lessons to read and there would be no carols to sing. Much of our world’s art would not have been painted. Much of our world’s literature would not have been written. Much of our world’s music would not have been composed. Many of our world’s buildings would not have been built. Most of the world humanitarian efforts would not have been started. Western culture would not be what it is today, nor would the culture of our world have developed as it has. Salvation aside, it must be admitted that Jesus Christ has had more influence on the world than any other single individual. If Jesus had not come, our lives would be changed completely, and we would be the poorer for it!

My dear friends, let us thank God that we need not ponder such a thought. Rather, with Mary may we ponder all of these things so that both the miracle and meaning of Christmas might fill our lives with faith and with hope. Jesus did come! Jesus is God’s Son! Jesus has won! This is the miracle and this is the meaning of Christmas! Amen.

—Pastor Paul D. Nolting