Sermon

December 25, 2007
Christmas Day
John 1:12-13
Pastor Ben Berger

God Gave Birth

We all love to celebrate birthdays. Today is my daughter Eliana’s first birthday. Everyone thinks that she’ll be cheated out of her birthday celebrations because, you know, it’s also Jesus’ birthday. I don’t think so. I think that her birthday is even more special because she shares it with Jesus. I just can’t believe how similar her story is to the story of Jesus’ birth. Her birth wasn’t prophesied for thousands of years or announced by angels, but I can still remember the day I found out she was coming. I can remember the beginning of labor about this time last year; Mary must have been having contractions about the same time of day. Eliana was born at 11:55pm; Jesus was born while the shepherds were keeping watch over their flocks at night. Angels again announced the birth of the Savior in glorious song; our family had to settle for me. And now every year, as we celebrate the birth of my daughter, we also get to celebrate the birth of Jesus and I get to tell her both stories. Do you realize that you have similar stories to tell? As we all celebrate the birth of Jesus, we can also celebrate our own birthdays at the same time, our birth into God’s family. As part of the Christmas Gospel, John reminds us that God Gave Birth. God Gave Birth 1) to a child (Jesus) and 2) to children (you as believers).

In verse eleven John said, He [the Word or Jesus] came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. All people are children of God because God created all people. John takes us back to creation and tells us that God created all things with the Word. When John reveals that the Word became flesh, we know he is talking about Jesus. All things and all people were created by the Word, that is, by Jesus. So, all people are children of God. As John said, they are his own.
 
But his own did not receive him. Even though Jesus created all people and claims them as his own, they do not claim him. Most reject him. Some don’t know Jesus. Now, in the information age in which we live, I have a hard time believing that someone has never heard of Jesus. Yet, many do not know that Jesus is the Word or God or their Savior. Others know and have heard but simply do not acknowledge Jesus as Savior. They don’t believe in or want the righteousness he offers them. Still others just don’t care.

Maybe you’ve heard about the city hall decoration debacle. The city thought it needed to allow displays of all faiths if it were to allow the nativity scene. Soon they were displaying witchcraft wreaths and all kinds of other things that have nothing to do with Christmas. Or maybe you’ve simply realized how many people and businesses don’t even use the word Christmas anymore; instead they wish happy holidays. [Jesus] came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him.

We should not be surprised because Jesus was born not of natural descent (blood), nor of human decision (the will of the flesh) or a husband’s will. Even though humans are created by Jesus, humans did not give birth to Jesus. No human couple decided it was time to have a child that would save the world. Jesus was not conceived in the heat of the moment or in filling any sexual desire of the flesh. And while Jesus was born of a woman, he was not conceived by two humans. Jesus was still human himself, true man in every way, except without sin.

No, Jesus was born of God. We celebrate Christmas, Jesus’ birthday, because God gave birth to a child. Rather than human decision, this birth was planned from eternity. Knowing that his own would reject him, God planned to send a Savior to save his people from their sins; he planned to send his own Son. God gave birth to this child out of love. God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16). God did not want the children he created to suffer the consequences of rejecting him, which would be eternal suffering and separation from him. So, God gave birth to a child, but not just any child. Conceived by the Holy Spirit, that child was God himself, the Word made flesh. That child is true man, born of the virgin Mary, and true God, begotten of the Father from eternity. That child is your Savior.

Today we celebrate the birth of God’s son, our Savior. We give thanks that God did not leave us to condemnation for rejecting the one who created us. We give thanks to God that from eternity he devised a plan to give birth to our Savior. We thank God for love so great that he sent his own son to be that Savior.

And as we celebrate the birth of Jesus, our Savior, we can also celebrate our own birthdays. For, just as God gave birth to a child, so also God gave birth to children. Today is also a celebration of your birthday as God’s children.

It’s not just the unbelievers of our world that rejected Jesus; we have also rejected him. We typically celebrate our physical birthdays. But physically we are born of sinful flesh. Conceived by two sinful parents, we have inherited their sinful condition. As a result we rejected Jesus.

At first we didn’t know about him. Someone had to teach us that Jesus is the son of God and the son of man. Someone had to teach us that Jesus came to save us from our sins. Even then, even now, we don’t always acknowledge Jesus as Savior. I wonder how many of us take the opportunity to proclaim Christ as Savior in the midst of the politically correct “holiday” season. Do we stand up for Jesus’ birthday or do we just want to keep peace on earth? And sometimes we just don’t care. We don’t appreciate the blessings of and from God’s word because we’ve always had them. We’ve heard, “In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree…” so many times that we don’t stop to ponder the meaning and treasure of the words anymore. And even when we set a display for Christ in our hearts, we surround him with all other displays like candy and presents and family and friends. We reject our creator and Savior.

Yet to all who receive him, to those who believe in his name, he gives the right to become children of God (12, tenses changed). God gave birth to a child, Jesus, so that he could give birth to children, believers. By virtue of Jesus’ birth you have been given the right to become a child of God yourself. Of course, Jesus’ birth was only the beginning. Jesus was born so that he could reconcile you to God, restore your relationship with him. He did that by first living a perfect life in your place. Jesus was not just the perfect baby lying in a manger; he was also the perfect man hanging on the cross. To those who believe in him Jesus credits his perfect life as their righteousness. And then Jesus died for your sins. His innocent death on the cross paid for all of the sins you have ever committed: all the times you failed to acknowledge Jesus as your Savior, all of the times you failed to appreciate the blessings of and from his word, all of the times you failed to set up a display in your heart only for him and no one else.

And after Jesus had completed his work, God gave birth to you his children by giving you faith. To those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God. Because you are God’s children by faith, you are children born not of natural descent (blood), nor of human decision (the will of flesh) or a husband’s will (13). Because we are physically born of blood, we are born spiritually dead. We cannot decide for ourselves to believe in Jesus or become God’s children. Nor do we have the desire to do so. By nature we hate God and that’s why we reject him. We can take no credit for becoming children of God.

Rather, you were born of God. God made you his child. God chose you from eternity to be his child. God planned not only to send Jesus to give you righteousness and take away your sin, God planned to give you faith in Jesus too. He gave you parents or family and friends or pastors and teachers to share God’s word with you. He made sure someone taught you that Jesus is your Savior. By that word God sent the Holy Spirit into your heart to give you faith. By faith you know Jesus, acknowledge him as your Savior and love him. And God made you his child because he loves you too. He loves the world as a whole, and he loves each of you individually.

So as you celebrate the birth of Jesus, celebrate your own birthday too. When God sent Jesus as his child, he was also carrying out his eternal plan to make you his child. As you tell your children the story of Jesus’ birth, tell them also the story of their own birth as God’s child. What a blessing to share a birthday with Jesus!

© 2007 Mount Olive Ev. Lutheran Church and School - All Rights Reserved