SPEAKER_01 0:00

Turn on the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. He may be seated. Well, our gospel text this morning comes from St. John's loftly introduction to his gospel. Now those first 18 verses are so rich they could potentially overwhelm us. I once taught a Gospel of John class, and that lasted for three years. Some of you might remember that. And that's nothing compared to a colleague of mine who took three years just to do the first 18 verses. So I know your roast beasts won't be waiting that long for you to return to it. Today we we're not digging a whole mind shaft, mind you. We're just skimming the rich topsoil of the gospel, and we're counting our Christmas blessings. Yes, that's the title for the sermon, if you like to keep track of that. Count your Christmas blessings, five truths about God's grace. And the key verse is there in verse 17, which says, For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. Now that conclusion is not an afterthought, though it appears towards the end of the section of our reading. It's actually the lens through which the entire prologue must be read. Grace doesn't suddenly just appear at the end, it's present from the very beginning, and it's present for you. As we move through John's opening hymn, we'll uncover five golden truths, five blessings of grace, that just happen to spell the word grace, so that's our operative acronym that we'll be using. We'll walk through the letters together from beginning to end. So G for God. John begins where Christmas cards do not. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Christmas does not begin in Bethlehem, you may be surprised to find out. It begins in eternity. Before Mary, before the manger, before time itself, the word already was eternally begotten, fully God. Now John is deliberately echoing the first words of Genesis here because he wants us to know this. The child born on Christmas morning is not a creature entering the story late. Rather, he is the author already there at the beginning. The beginning of everything. Our Nicene Creed, which we'll be reciting in a little bit, puts it this way: He is begotten of his Father before all worlds, very God of very God, begotten, not made. This is no mere prophet born on Christmas morning. This is the eternal son whom angels adore and worship, taking on our human flesh. Every Christmas carol, therefore, that calls him Emmanuel, God with us, is speaking a cosmic truth. Whether one believes it or not, this child is God's eternal word. Grace begins here. Not with so much what God does, but with who God is, our gracious God. That's G for God. Now the next letter, R. R for revelation. John moves from who the word is to what the word does from the third fourth verse. In him it was life, the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. Light reveals, light illuminates, light exposes. God does not hide himself in mystery, he reveals himself, but always on his terms. The invisible God makes himself visible when and where he pleases. The unknowable God makes himself known. Verse 18 tells us plainly, no one has ever seen God, the only God, who is at the Father's side, he has made him known. Before he was ever wrapped in swaddling claws, the Christmas hymn had it right. We sang this last night. Hail the incarnate deity. Martin Luther went so far as to say one time, outside Christ, no one can know God, for God has revealed himself nowhere except in Christ. And Luther was right. Apart from Christ, our God, it says in Hebrews, is a consuming fire. Apart from the sun, we would not survive seeing God as he is. And here's the tragedy. And John points his finger on it, frankly and honestly. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. They did not receive the revelation. The light shines, some turn away. Yet grace does not end there. But that's it for our letter R. The letter A, authority, verses 12 and 13. John now turns from rejection to gift, quote, but to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God. That word right is a crucial word for us. It's the Greek word exusia, which means authority. On Christmas Day, God does not merely visit us, he authorizes us. The word made flesh gives sinners the authority to be called children of God. Not servants, not slaves, children of God. This authority belongs to Jesus himself. Now, early on in his ministry, you might recall this incident when the Pharisees challenged Jesus, and Jesus forgave a paralyzed man's sins, and then asked for everyone to hear, which is easier to say, your sins are forgiven, or rise, take up your mat and walk home. And Jesus answers his own question, so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins. See, that same word authority returns at the end of Matthew's gospel in the Great Commission when Jesus declares, All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. And then he turns to his disciples. Go, you therefore, and make disciples, baptizing in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. The authority Christ possesses, he gives, he delegates. Even the authority that he wields to forgive sins. We heard that just this morning in the words of absolution. Even the words to speak new life at the baptismal font. These are the words that make sinners saints in heaven's eyes. This authority was born in a manger, sealed at the cross, and spoken over us in our baptism. Words of grace. Grace that grants status. What kind of status? The next letter, C. Status as children as we looked at. John immediately clarifies what this new status is and what it is not. You see, those who become children of God are born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, and you can see examples for all that in the New Testament, but rather born of God. Now, this is not about pedigree, therefore. It's not about ancestry. You can't say I'm a descendant of Abraham. It's not about human decision making, no. No one decides themselves into God's family. To become a child of God is God's domain. He decides. And God has decided to give new birth by grace through his appointed means.

unknown 8:12

St.

SPEAKER_01 8:13

John Chrysostom, early Eastern church leader, uh, he once preached, the Son of God became the Son of Man so that the sons of men might become sons of God. Christmas is not God starting a program, rather, it is God starting a family, dear children of God. And children do not live on wages, they live on promise, God's promise. And God's promise was kept in our next letter, E, for en fleshed, incarnated, became flesh and dwelt among us. The word became flesh and made his tent among us, his tabernacle, his dwelling. The eternal word took on skin. God took on weakness, therefore. The Creator became creature, like us in every way, yet without sin. Saint Augustine once preaches it this way. One birth was eternal, the other took place in time and space. The one who filled the universe could find no room at the inn, laid in a feeding trough. He became our food. This is the humiliation of God, of Christ, the one who gave the world space, himself had no room. The one who filled the universe barely filled the manger. Bethlehem means Bethlehem, house of God, a fitting beginning for the bread of life and a feeding trough. Now these five Christmas blessings, like five golden rings, one for each finger, they can and should be worn conspicuously to remind yourself as well as others of God's amazing grace. John the Gospel writer, though, does not give us mere theological musings that don't reach our hearts. Rather, they do sink deep into our thirsting hearts, and from there this theology prompts doxology, praise, as in the hymns pronounced on our lips, like this one from last night, for instance, that says, Mile he lays his glory by, born that man no more may die. Beautiful hymnity. Because Christ our Savior was born, we can be born again. And with that, having blinged out your one hand with your five golden rings, I'm tempted to just sign off there. But wait, as the psalmist says himself in Psalm 23, my cup overflows. So, yes, here's a little extra dollop of grace for y'all to get out the door today. And it's quite demanded by our text, specifically verse 17 where we began. From his fullness, John says, we've all received grace upon grace, wave after wave, and those graces continue. Those golden rings you just imagine yourself wearing, but God's grace, on the other hand, does not remain abstract. The God who became flesh still comes to you in concrete ways. In baptism, God gives new birth, not of blood, nor of the will of man, but of God. The water and the word he authorizes sinners to become children of God by way of. As in the Lord's Supper, the word made flesh still gives himself his body and blood for the forgiveness of your sins, the strengthening of your faith, and the promise of your resurrection when he comes again. Luther once said, the only God we truly know is the God who lets himself be held. And we hold him, we cling to him where he has promised to be, that is, in the water, in the bread, in the wine. So now, count your blessings from heaven. Grace by the letters, an eternal God reveals himself, a Savior who grants unparalleled authority, a Father who makes us children, and a creator who becomes enfleshed. Emmanuel, God with us, God who encamps our dwellings. There it is, your Christmas card from St. John. Grace upon grace given, poured out, and spoken. And this grace does not end when Christmas ends. This grace flows to the font. It bids us return to his table time after time. But the word made flesh still graciously lives among us. So Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas indeed. Amen. And now may the peace of God that passes all human understanding grant your hearts peace and joy forever and ever. Amen.

SPEAKER_00 13:30

We rise and confess our faith in the words of the Nicene Creed. I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible, and in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, begotten of his Father before all worlds, 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, who for us men and for our salvation came down.