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December 24, 2001
Christmas Eve
Luke 2:11
Pastor Robert Raasch

What Child Is This?

1. This is the Child Promised of Old
2. This is the Child Born as Savior

Just for a moment this evening, I'd like you to imagine that you had never before in your life, heard the word, "Christmas." Maybe it's because you grew up in some distant foreign country, or were raised on a deserted desert isle, or maybe you come from another planet. Whatever your place of origin, imagine that suddenly you are transported to a city called Appleton and you are given the assignment: "Find out what Christmas means."

Tell me, do you think you could come up with an accurate answer? As you paged through the newspaper ads, as you listen to the radio, or watched the Christmas specials on TV. As you roamed through the Mall and talked to people on the street-what do you think you would you conclude that Christmas was all about? Do you think you'd come up with an accurate description of the true meaning of Christmas?

Personally, I have my doubts about that one. I mean, if someone were to base their evaluation purely what they see and hear in our world today, how could they not come to the conclusion that Christmas is about shopping for presents. Christmas is about Santa and reindeer, it's about parties and lights. At the very best, it's about peace and good will toward men.

That reminds me of a word association exercise that a psychology professor once gave his class of university students. The professor asked his class to write down the first thing that came to mind when he said the word, "Christmas." What do you think they wrote? "Tree, holly, mistletoe, turkey, gifts, holiday, carols, Santa Claus"-but not one word about a baby born in Bethlehem.

If you were a foreigner investigating the meaning of Christmas in 2001, how long do you think it would take you to cut through all the extra stuff, all the excess baggage, all the trees and trimmings, and find that Christmas has something to do with the birth of a baby. And even if you determined that-maybe by looking closely at one of the manger scenes displayed around town, or by listening very carefully to some of the Christmas carols-even if you determined that Christmas has something to do with the birth of a child, don't you think that would still raise a question in your mind? I mean, all of this celebration for the birth of one child? C'mon, children are born every day. The maturity wards are filled with them. What's so special about this child? Why all the hoopla over the birth of one baby? I mean, what child is this, anyway?

What child is this? You know, that question is more than just the title to a popular Christmas carol. It's also a question which, sooner or later is asked by everyone who comes in contact with the Christmas story. I mean, it was probably asked by the people around Bethlehem when they heard the shepherds "glorifying and praising God for what they had heard and seen." Those townspeople were probably all thinking to themselves, "What child is this?" And in our world there are still little children pointing to the nativity scene and asking, "Mommy, who's that baby?" Even adults can find themselves asking, "Yeah, what is the true meaning of Christmas? Is it really about some child born 2000 years ago? Is that what we're celebrating?" Please, will somebody tell me:

What Child Is This?

What child is this? Fortunately, you and I do not need to try to answer that question by looking in store windows and reading newspaper ads. No, we have a much more accurate record of who this child is and what he's come to do. We have God's holy, inspired Word. And so on this Christmas eve, let's look to Luke's gospel account to see who this child is. We'll see that this is:

1. This is the Child Promised of Old
2. This is the Child Born as Savior

You realize that there has been no birth in the history of the world that was predicted more accurately than the birth of Jesus Christ. Think of the promises which the Prophets made regarding the birth of the Messiah. 700 years before Jesus was born, the prophet Micah pointed to Bethlehem Ephrathah as the place of the Messiah's birth. The prophet Isaiah predicted that child born who would be called "Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, and Prince of Peace." In the 49th chapter of Genesis, Moses promised that the Messiah would come from the tribe of Judah, and later the prophet Samuel narrowed it down to the family of David. Finally, Isaiah makes the most incredible promise about the birth of this child. He writes, "A virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel, which means 'God with us'".

Think about that a minute. All those are promises made way before Jesus was born. And yet, all of them were perfectly fulfilled in is birth. It's one thing to commemorate the birth of some famous person centuries after he was born. But to speak specifically about the details of Jesus' birth centuries BEFORE he was born-that's truly remarkable.

Of course, I'm not the only one who thinks so. In the 2nd century A.D. a man named Justin Martyr spent years searching for truth in the philosophies of his day. But he couldn't find it. Then someone pointed out to him how the prophets of old had foretold the coming of a Messiah, and that those prophecies had been fulfilled in the person of Jesus Christ. This lead Justin to make an in-depth study of those Old Testament prophecies and, to his own amazement, he came to the unmistakable conclusion that Jesus of Nazareth was the promised Son of God. In his own words, he said, "To describe a thing that should come to pass long before it is in being, and to then bring that declaration to pass, this or nothing is the work of God."

On this Christmas Eve, we join Justin Martyr in recognizing that the Child born in Bethlehem is proof enough that Christianity is like no other religion in the world. That Child is the Father's proof that he keeps his promises, not only his promises about the place and circumstances of His Son's birth, but also all of the other promises he's made to us as well.

And yet, the thing that makes this makes the birth of Jesus truly amazing, truly worth celebrating is not where or how he was born, but rather, what he was born to be. The angel clearly announced the role that this child would play in the history of mankind when he said, "Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord." What child is this? II. This is the Child Born to be Savior of All.

Now, there is a concept that you won't find in the secular Christmas's celebrated by so many people today: Jesus as the Savior. Sure, people will talk about the shepherds and the star; they'll talk about Mary and Joseph and the babe. They may even go so far as to grant that Jesus was an actual historical figure, a great teacher, a wonderful example of humanity. But Jesus Christ, as Savior of sinners? No, that's going a bit too far.

And yet, if you think about it, what's the point of celebrating Christmas if Jesus is not the Savior? I mean, if you would delete the angel's announcement that a Savior had been born, you might still have a pretty good story, what with the manger and the swaddling clothes, the shepherds and the star. But, that's all it would be-a good story. It would not have any real application for our personal lives in 2001. It would not have any eternal significance for our world. But the fact is, the angel did announce that Jesus would be the savior-and suddenly the birth of that one child means everything!

So exactly what does the Christmas story mean for you and me today? Well, it means a number of things. First of all it means that God Almighty has taken a personal interest in our world, for time and eternity. In the wake of the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, a lot of people found themselves asking, "Where was God in all of this? Doesn't God care about what went on there?" Or maybe more specifically, "How can I know that God cares about what's going on in this world?" How can I know? I can know by looking into a manger. In Jesus Christ, the perfect Son of God, you and I have the unmistakable proof that God cared enough for our world to send his very best. Because Jesus Christ came into this world to live and die in the place of every single sinner, you and I can be sure that the tragedies that occurred in New York and Washington DC do not need to equate to eternal tragedies for the souls involved. What did Jesus tell his believers? "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies."(John 11:25 NIV) In other words, the birth of Jesus as Savior turns the death of believers into nothing less than the passage to heaven.

The second thing the Christmas story means is that God has made it perfectly clear what the world's biggest problem is. The world's biggest problem is not terrorism, or racism, or economic collapse. It's not AIDS, or drugs, or crime. It's not poverty, pollution or nuclear war. No, the ultimate problem in our world is: SIN. That is, mankind's innate rebellion from God. It's the human desire to live for self rather than living for God and others. Sin is what keeps nations at war; families in turmoil, and lives in disarray. Every since our first parents chose to disobey God in the Garden of Eden, sin has been at the heart of every problem in the world, in our families, and yes, in our lives as well.

Isn't that the truth? I mean, what is it that most often robs your life of peace and joy? What are the things that are currently separating you from God, things that are weakening your relationship to God? Is it your inability to control your anger, control your passions, control your consumption of alcohol? Have you allowed your job, or your free time, yes, even your sleep to become more important to you than your spiritual life, or the spiritual life of your family? Are you frustrated by your own lack of self-discipline, or your inability to do what you know is right? Are there times when you wonder where you stand with the God who judges the very thoughts and attitudes of the heart?

My friends, the more you think about what God demand and how far short of those demands we've fallen, the more you realize the grip that sin has on us by nature, the more you feel the burden of sins' guilt-well then, the more truly precious are the words of the Christmas angel, "Today in the town of David, a Savior is born."

That's right. A Savior. Not a policeman to lay down the law in your life. Not a coach to bark at you for messing up again. Not a psychiatrist to lead you to learn to love yourself. No friends, that child born in Bethlehem came to be your Savior. Someone who loved you enough to place every one of your sins on his shoulders and then be sent to hell in your place. Someone who in exchange for your sins has given you his holiness as a free gift. Someone has made put you at peace with God and given you the power and the reason to live a life of love toward God and your fellowman. Wow! The more you think about it, the more you realize you and I truly have a lot riding on that little Babe of Bethlehem.

Earlier I asked you to imagine that you were someone who had never heard the word Christmas. That was meant to be a purely hypothetical situation. But the reality is, there are a lot of people who truly are in that situation today. People who don't know what Christmas really means. People who don't know that Christmas is the fulfillment of God's promise to send his Son to rescue mankind from sin and hell forever. And do you know what that means for you and me tonight? It means two things. First, it means that we still have a job to do. We have a message to share with people about what that baby in the manger has done for them. And it means that we have a reason to be here tonight thanking and praising God. For you see, out of all the people in the world today, God has led you and me to know something that will truly change our lives. By God's grace alone, through the revelation of the Holy Scriptures, you and I can look at that baby in the manger and truly know beyond a shadow of a doubt: What Child This Is! To God be our praise and glory today and every day. Amen.