Brent Kuhlman

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The Nativity of Our Lord:  Christmas Day                                           Trinity Lutheran Church

25 December 2011                                                                                          Murdock, NE

+Jesu Juva +

St. John 1:1-14

The Word.  That’s Jesus.  And He’s the eternal Son of God.  Been there from the beginning and beyond.  And through the Word Jesus all things were made.  “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God.  He was with God in the beginning.  Through Him all things were made; without Him nothing was made that has been made.  In Him was life.”

Word Jesus was there in the beginning doing all the God stuff.  The Father speaks:  “Let there be light.  Let there be this.  Let there be that.”  And the Word the Father speaks is Jesus Himself.  And with Word Jesus is the Holy Spirit.  Holy Spirit and Word Jesus always go together.  As the Father speaks His “Let there be …” Word Jesus is at work along with the Spirit who is the Lord and Giver of life through Word Jesus.

In the beginning was the Word.  Word God Jesus!  The eternally begotten divine Son of the Father.  “Begotten of His Father before all worlds,” as the Nicene Creed puts it.  “God of God, Light of light, very God of very God, begotten not made, being of one substance with the Father, by whom all things were made.”   

Let there be no mistake.  Word Jesus is God!  The Second Person of the Holy Trinity.   Everything is just fine and dandy.  But wait!  He does the unthinkable.  The unimaginable!  The most audacious!  God Word Jesus takes on flesh and dwells among us! 

That’s pretty dicey!  He takes some big risks here!  This opens up Eternal-Word-God-Jesus to all our rot, gunk, and filth of this messy, messed up world!  By doing this it opens up Eternal-Word-God-Jesus to being rejected!  All kinds of naughty people could say “No!” to Him!  Push Him around a little.  And if they really wanted to – betray Him, deny Him, arrest Him, kangaroo court Him, and then murder Him – all with the excuse that that is what’s best!  What kind of God would ever do that?  Allah sure doesn’t.  But Eternal-Word-God-Jesus does!

And we did it!  We, like King Herod, don’t want rivals.  We like being little gods!  And so first we get rid of preacher John the Baptist.  Make him shorter by a head!  And then we get rid of Jesus!  We shouted:  “Crucify Him!  Crucify Him!”  And if we could have, we would have shoved the Roman soldiers out of the way.  We would have taken the sledgehammer in our hands and pounded those spikes as hard as we could!  Making sure that troublemaker Jesus would never bother us again!  Never interrupt our lives ever again!

And yet He does!  He did!  Eternal-Word-God-Jesus opens Himself up to such wickedness by taking on flesh!  He insists on it.  He won’t have it any other way!  He will deal with sinners in this way:  “The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us.” 

That’s Christmas!  That’s Bethlehem!  Eternal, without beginning and without end God Word Jesus takes on flesh.  He comes to you!  You don’t go to Him!  You don’t become God!  God becomes man!  And He comes all the way down.  Incarnated!  Enfleshed!  Fully human and fully God in one person!  Conceived by the Holy Spirit.  Born of the Virgin Mary.

The Creator of the universe becomes creature in this Baby Jesus.   He sets aside His royal robes and exchanges them for a bunch of diapers.  Eternal Word God Jesus – who reflects perfectly the glory of the Father and bears the very stamp of His nature -- takes on fingers, toes, hair, a brain, lungs, stomach, a heart, and a spleen.  The Infinite becomes the finite!  The Eternal breaks into time!  In Baby Jesus God rolls up His sleeves and bares His right arm for all the nations to see.  And what do the nations see?  A tiny Baby lying in a manger.  Nursing at the Virgin’s breast.  Cuddled in her arms.  In this Baby “all the fullness of the deity dwells in bodily form,” (Col. 1).    

God Word Jesus takes on our human nature (without the stain or taint of sin) in order to SAVE sinners!  That’s the whole point!  The Incarnation is not some lark of a vacation from heaven.  God Word Jesus dwells among us to save us! 

God is not angry with you!  Really, He’s not.  If He were, He would never have taken on your flesh and blood.  He would never have become a man born of the Virgin.  Again the Nicene Creed confesses it all faithfully:  “who for us men and for our salvation came down from heaven and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the virgin Mary AND WAS MADE MAN.”

And “was made man.”  That’s the good news of John 1:14!  God dwells among sinners in order to redeem them!

How?  By taking all your sin in His Body!  And then carrying it all to Calvary in order to be damned as the Sinner in your place.  Word God Jesus who knew no sin was made to be sin (2 Cor. 5:21).  He was cursed and condemned (Gal. 3:13).  All your sin is His!  All your hell is His!  God Word Jesus dies your death!  This is why “The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us.”

And He still dwells among us sinners.  “Lo I am with you always,” (Matt. 28:20).  The crucified and risen Word-made-flesh-for-sinners-Jesus promises that all your sin is forgiven.  Where?  In the Sacrament of the Altar.  He speaks.  He gives.  His born of the Virgin Mary, Good Friday and Easter Sunday Body and His Blood to you!  “Given and shed for you,” He says, “for the forgiveness of your sins.” 

Gives His precious divine Body and Blood into your mouths – your bodies.  Dwells in you!  Becomes one with you.  That you may enter into great glory.  That your flesh and blood, skin and hair, hands and feet, stomach and back will reside in heaven as He does.  So that you can boldly defy the devil or whatever evil assails you.  For bodied and bloodied with the Lord’s Body and Blood in the Sacrament your entire bodies belong in heaven as heirs of heaven’s kingdom.  And that will take place on the Last Day when Jesus reveals Himself in glory and raises your bodies from the grave.  Christmas consummated!  The “so what” of the Eternal-Word-God-Jesus becoming flesh and making His dwelling among us.

Have a joyous Christmas Day! 

In the Name of Jesus.

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St. Matthew 1:22-23

Virgins don’t have babies!  And God is way up there somewhere!  Right?

Ask any doctor.  Ask any man.  Ask any woman!  They’ll tell you that a virgin cannot have a baby. 

Ask the religion experts.  Ask the philosophers.  They’ll give you the answer.  God is stuck up in heaven.  He can’t enter our time and space.  He can’t get involved in this rotten, wrecked, world – or our rotten, wrecked lives.  He can’t dirty Himself with all our rot, gunk and filth.  He doesn’t dare taint Himself with our sin let alone the stench of our death.  For God to be God He must stay away and concentrate on Himself.  Think about Himself.  Talk to Himself.  Look at Himself.  Live for Himself.   

So since God can’t come down to you – YOU’VE GOT TO MAKE YOUR WAY TO GOD!  YOU’VE GOT TO CLIMB A LADDER TO HEAVEN!  How’s that been working for you?   

We hear just the opposite of the world’s wisdom tonight!  St. Matthew records the facts.  The truth!  Facts that go against all reason, experience, and all wisdom! 

The first is this:  the virgin named Mary IS pregnant.  Not by a man.  Not by Joseph.  She got pregnant through the power of the Holy Spirit-filled sermon preached into her ears by archangel Gabriel!  Just as the prophet predicted hundreds of years earlier!  “The virgin will be with child and will give to a son.”  This virgin Mary did give birth. 

The second fact, just as Isaiah predicted, is this:  the Baby in Mary’s belly – conceived by the Holy Spirit, is no ordinary Baby.  Her Baby is Immanuel.  And Immanuel means “God with us.” 

Yes, you heard that correctly!  That Baby is God!  God is that Baby!  God is with us in that Baby!  When you see that Baby you see God!  There is no doubt about it!  Baby God Jesus is with us in all the muck and mire of our lives.  He comes into our time and space.  He interrupts our wrecked world and our troubled lives. 

Why?  For you, that’s why!  For you and for your salvation!  “To save His people from their sins!”  To save you from your sins.  Baby God Jesus is the reason for this season – AND MORE! 

He is the reason – the only reason -- for your salvation.  For He allowed Himself to be tainted!  Yes, the Holy One of God, Jesus “who knew no sin was made to be sin,” (2 Corinthians 5)!  That’s Calvary!  That’s the Friday we call “Good!”  On Him was laid the iniquity of us all (Isaiah 53).  And so He was cursed.  He “redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us,” (Galatians 3:13).  “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46).  Suffering the damnation of hell! 

And then He dies!  God not only is Immanuel – God with us – but He dies!  As the only atoning sacrifice for sin! 

What is your sin?  Some you know.  Some you don’t.  Some you can’t quit.  Some you fight against with gusto.  Others you love to do.  Some bother you.  Some don’t.  I tell you that Immanuel God With Us Jesus died for all of your sin!  He didn’t leave any out of His bloody Good Friday death.  His birth is for you.  His death is for you. 

Tomorrow, He has more gifts for you.  Not under your tree.  Not in your stocking.  Will you come and receive His gifts?  Will you take the time to get out of bed?  Millions of Christians all over the world will gather to receive His gifts.  And what are these gifts?  Exactly what He says and promises in the Sacrament of the Altar:  “Here, eat this bread.  Here, drink this cup of wine.  This is My Body and this is My Blood given and shed for you for the forgiveness of your sins.” 

With such a Jesus – born of the Virgin – Immanuel, God with us – Immanuel, God with us on the cross -- bearing all our sin and answering for them – God dead and damned in our place – God shedding His blood and offering His body in sacrificial death for sinners – with such a Jesus – IMMANUEL, God with us and for us in the Sacrament -- YOU’RE NEVER THE SAME AGAIN.

And that’s spelled F-A-I-T-H!  Faith – it can’t live without Immanuel God Jesus and all His abundant and gracious giving at Christmas, Good Friday, Easter, Pentecost and every Lord’s Day.  Faith – it always depends on Him and Him alone!  The God-Man born of the Virgin – Immanuel, God with us!  God FOR YOU!

Have a happy Christmas!

In the Name of Jesus.

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St. Luke 2:8-20 “Born of the Virgin Mary” Part Two

And so the Virgin Mary gives birth!  The only virgin ever to conceive a child by the Holy Spirit’s Word preached into her ears by archangel Gabriel.  The only virgin ever to carry a baby to term.  The only virgin to ever give birth to a baby!  Baby Jesus – true God and true man in one Person!  God is that Baby!  That Baby is God!  No other God than the Baby Jesus born of the Virgin Mary!  Incredible! 

Do you see what’s happening here?  God has come to earth!  He is the Baby Jesus!  God reigns on the earth in the helpless infant!  God, who rules the entire universe, nurses at Mary’s breast!  God, who formed the mountains and set limits to all the oceans, must rely on Mary to change His diaper!  When you see the Baby on Mary’s lap you see God!  When you see the Baby in the manger you see God!  “The fullness of the deity dwells” in the body of this Baby (Colossians 1:19)!   

You don’t have to climb up to heaven to find God!  In fact, you can’t even do that!  That’s impossible!  He’s way down here!  Mary’s Baby!  Who for us men and for our salvation CAME DOWN FROM HEAVEN! 

And because of this Baby-God-Jesus born of the Virgin Mary heaven breaks open!  Heaven comes to earth!  That’s why you can see the angel and the heavenly host!  Baby-God-Jesus is the Gate of heaven!  The Gate to heaven!  Where Baby-God-Jesus is on the earth – all heaven is there! 

Baby-God-Jesus born of the Virgin Mary is to be preached!  And so the angel preaches to shepherds.  Providing the meaning of this miraculous birth!  “Do not fear shepherds!  Do not fear people of Trinity!  I bring you good news!  Gospel!  It will give you great joy!  And many others too!  For this Baby-God-Jesus born of the Virgin Mary is Christ the Lord.  And He is born FOR YOU!”   

There you have it!  Why is Jesus born of the Virgin Mary?  FOR YOU!  FOR YOUR SALVATION! 

Jesus is born as pure gift!  “For you” language is gift language.  When someone gives you a gift, he says, “Here, this is FOR YOU.” 

Jesus is given “for you” because you are a sinner! He is the Deliverer who comes into the depth of your misery -- poor miserable sinner!  So miserable in the sin department that you don’t even realize it.  Or you refuse to admit it!  You falsely believe and confess that you’re pretty good!  Not perfect, of course, (who would say that?) but certainly not that bad! 

Wrong!  Dead wrong!  Sinner to the core!  Rotten to the core!  Held captive by sin’s power!  And part of your sin is that you don’t believe you are captive!  You think you are free!  But instead you are a slave!  How miserable!  Truly! 

And so Baby-God-Jesus comes! If He doesn’t there would be no forgiveness – no redemption for you or for anyone!  So He comes to take up all yours, mine, and the world’s poor miserable sin into Himself!  To answer for all your sin!  To take the wages of sin into Himself on the cross:  death and hell’s damnation! 

Yes, Baby-God-Jesus is born to die!  For you!  You now have peace with God.  God’s favor rests on you!  And that’s salvation! 

The shepherds are the first to hear this good news!  They rejoice in the preaching of the Gospel into their ears!  What joy!  The Savior is here!

So off they go!  Just as they are told.  God-Savior Jesus is wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.  They are amazed.  The Baby is God.  God is the Baby.  For them.  For their salvation.  And Mary treasures all this and ponders it all in her heart!  For it is absolutely amazing!  So incredible!

The shepherds are directed to Bethlehem to see Baby-God-Savior-Jesus born for them. And they did it!  No questions asked.  Nothing stood in their way.  No excuses!  They made haste.  Who wouldn’t?  So there they go!  To receive Him as gift!  And to give Him the highest worship anyone can:  FAITH!

You are directed to hear Jesus’ preached and taught Word at home and in the divine service on Sundays.  You are commanded to be baptized in the Triune Name.  You are exhorted to repent!  You are directed to eat and drink in the Sacrament of the Altar. 

Who gave these mandates to you?  Not angels!  But Jesus Himself!  For now He is wrapped in the Word connected with water, bread, and wine.  Not swaddled in cloths anymore.  Not lying in a manger anymore.  Not sitting on Mary’s lap. 

Now He is swaddled in His Word.  Coming to you as gift!  Pure gift.  “Given and shed for you for the forgiveness of your sins” is what He promises in the Lord’s Supper!  He gives you His Body and Blood (born of the Virgin – crucified and risen from the dead) to eat and drink with your mouth.  And there, at the altar where Jesus comes for you, all heaven is here with the angels, archangels and all the company of heaven.  In the Lord’s Supper “you’ve come to the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God … and to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly,” (Hebrews 12:22)!  The Sacrament of the Altar is the gate of heaven.   

This is great news for you who are troubled by your sin!  For Baby Jesus is Christ the Lord – FOR YOU!  He is God in the flesh – FOR YOU!  He gives Himself into death for your redemption!  And so the angels still sing and we with them in the Gloria in Excelsis:  “Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to men [that’s all of you] on whom his favor rests.”  All because that Baby Jesus born of the Virgin Mary is God and God is that Baby! 

In the Name of Jesus.        

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