2024 Christmas Eve Service

Christmas is about giving and it’s about coming together and being

together. God gave to the world Jesus for the forgiveness of sin, then God

the Father sent the Holy Spirit into the world upon Jesus’ ascension to

dwell, God Himself dwelling, in the hearts of men and women. So, just

simple math here, God gave Jesus and the Holy Spirit as a result of Jesus’

finished word on the cross, just to be with us! That is what Christmas is all

about! Giving and coming together and being together!

Restoration, celebration, and presentation and even supplication, giving to

us all that was lost and all that was needed in order to be made well. These

were the two motivations of God in Jesus stepping into His own creation.

Four hundred years before Jesus was born there was a prophet who was

given a word from God that we read in Malachi 4:2 that proclaims, “The

Sun of Righteousness shall arise with healing in His wings!” After that was

given, four hundred years then pass without another word from God.

Essentially, God was silent to His people…

After that period of complete silence, God dispatched the angel Gabriel to a

city of Galilee named Nazareth. It says in Luke 1:27-28 and Luke 1:30-33,

“To a virgin, betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of

David. The virgin’s name was Mary. And having coming in, the angel said

to her, “Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you

among women. Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.

And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and

shall call His name Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of

the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father

David. And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His

kingdom there will be no end.””

Shortly after that, God dispatches another angel and speaks again, but this

time to Joseph. Matthew 1:19, “Joseph, her husband, being a just man, and

not wanting to make her a public example, was minded to put her away

secretly. But while he thought about these things, behold an angel of the

Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not be

afraid to take to you Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is

of the Holy Spirit. And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His

name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.”

Nine months later, God dispatches yet another angel and speaks again but

this time to Shepherds. Luke 2:8-14, “Now there were in the same country

shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night.

And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the

Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid. Then the angel said

to them, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy

which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of

David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be the sign to you:

You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger.” And

suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of heavenly host praising

God and saying: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace,

goodwill toward men!”

God broke His silence to the world with the giving of His Son, Jesus. The

birth of the Savior of the world is surrounded and immersed in glad

tidings, good news of great joy, supernatural hope and wonder, AND, the

entire occasion and cast of characters is replete, it is filled with fear and

difficulty and problems (exactly the state of the world without the Savior).

Mary was a young woman. Unmarried. And she is going to have a child!

What will people think? What will her father think? What will her soon to

be husband think? Will he stay with me? No doubt she would in that

moment remember, but Jesus is the King of kings. He is the Lord of lords.

The Savior of all the world. But, what will this Child’s upbringing look

like? Everyone will know He’s not Joseph’s. Will He be harmed as soon as I

am not around? And again, in that moment, but this is the Savior of the

world! You must go on…, strengthening herself!

I will be shamed, ridiculed, even those that say they believe when I tell

them what happened and who Jesus is, how can I ever know for sure they

believe me? Ah, but this is the One that was promised, the Messiah, the

Almighty…, you have to keep going. And she did… Intensely difficult!

Joseph was a good man. With a good reputation. Young and in love. Mary

was the excellence of his world. And she’s pregnant? Devastation.

Discouragement. Depressed. Heart-broken. And then God tells him, but

Joseph, this is Jesus and He is the King of kings, the Lord of lords, the

Savior of the world…, you must go on. But my father will be ashamed of

me… Something he’d probably never experienced. His brothers and sisters,

friends, what would they think? Would they even want to be his friend

anymore? Ah, but this is the One the world has been waiting for. The Hope

of the nations, the Savior of the world. You must go on!

Oh, but will I be able to even provide for Mary and for Jesus? Will anyone

give me a job or want to do business with me? What if I fail? Ah, but

Joseph, Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life and through Him the sin of

the world will be dealt with and forgiven…, you must go on… And he did.

The shepherds out at night, startled by the supernatural and charged with

carrying a message. Leaving their flock and worshipping a baby born in a

barn. We will lose everything! Our livelihood will be scattered and all will

call us fools… Ah but in that moment, they remember and encouraged one

another… but this is the Savior who is Christ the Lord…, we must go on…

And they did.

All of this without what we have today and that is the gift of the indwelling

presence of the Holy Spirit. God Almighty Himself!

In each of the proclamations of Jesus’ birth a consistent line given by the

angel was, “Do not be afraid.” Because the coming of Jesus was

surrounded and immersed in glad tidings, good news of great joy,

supernatural hope and wonder, AND, the entire occasion and cast of

characters is replete, it was filled with fear and difficulty and problems.

And yet each of them knowing who Jesus was and what He had come to

do, all went on and did what was right and carried on in what God had

asked of them…

And the result was what we celebrate at this time of year that we call

Christmas. The coming of the prophesied and promised King of heaven to

forgive the sin of the world and bring salvation, peace and good tidings,

good will, God’s will toward all men… To bring man, lost to sin, back into

contact and family fellowship with a holy and perfect God!

Jesus was the first gift… He was the gift of and from the Father to the

world. For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that

whosoever would believe in Him would not perish but have everlasting life!

But He was not the only gift…, there would come one more. One that

Mary did not have or ever receive. Neither Joseph nor the shepherds…

Jesus says in John 14:16, “I will pray the Father, and He will give you

another Helper, that He may abide with you forever. The Spirit of truth.”

Jesus also says of the gift of the Holy Spirit in John 14:26, “He will teach

you all things, and bring to your remembrance all the things I said to you.”

Christmas is about giving because it was first God that showed how much

He loves you that He gave Jesus. And then it was again the Father, because

of the atonement and redemption and forgiveness accomplished by

Jesus that yet gave again sending the Holy Spirit into the hearts of those

that would receive Him. And now, as strong and heroic as Mary was, as

Joseph was, as the shepherds were, you and I have the power of Spirit and

power and presence of the Person of God within us able to navigate and

brave and ultimately to prevail through all things…

Christmas is also about being together and coming back together. It was

these gifts…, first Jesus and then the Holy Spirit and now through those

gifts there is no more separation between God and man. He sent those gifts,

Jesus to purify the heart and the Holy Spirit to dwell within the heart…, He

sent those gifts to you and to me to simply be with us… Emmanuel; God

with us!

Whatever you think God is…, He is more. If you think you are loved, you

are loved far more than you know. If you think God is good, He is far

better than we know. If you think God is powerful, He is far mightier than

we know. If you think God wants to give to you, He wants to give to you

far more than you know. And if you think God wants to be near to you

always no matter where you are in life, what you’re going through or how

you are doing well or not…, God wants to be near to you FAR more than

you know.

Christmas is about the gifts after all! The gift of Jesus Christ, the gift of the

Holy Spirit, the gift of eternal life, the gift of the forgiveness of sin, the gift

of family and coming together with God Most High! I pray you have

received these gifts given for the whole world and specifically given for

you!