Christmas Eve Candlelight Service - 2013

Christmas Readings and Hymns
Bethany Lutheran Church
Pastor Gregory L. Jackson

Hymn 77:1-6 All My Heart This Night Rejoices 2.25

The First Gospel
Genesis 3:15 And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.

KJV Isaiah 40:1 Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. 2 Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned: for she hath received of the LORD'S hand double for all her sins. 3 The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. 4 Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain: 5 And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it. 6 The voice said, Cry. And he said, What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field: 7 The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: because the spirit of the LORD bloweth upon it: surely the people is grass. 8 The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever. 9 O Zion, that bringest good tidings, get thee up into the high mountain; O Jerusalem, that bringest good tidings, lift up thy voice with strength; lift it up, be not afraid; say unto the cities of Judah, Behold your God! 

The Place of Jesus’ Birth 
KJV Micah 5:2 But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.

#102 O Come All Ye Faithful 1:7

KJV Isaiah 9:2 The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined.

Virgin Birth
KJV Isaiah 7:10 Moreover the LORD spake again unto Ahaz, saying, 11 Ask thee a sign of the LORD thy God; ask it either in the depth, or in the height above. 12 But Ahaz said, I will not ask, neither will I tempt the LORD. 13 And he said, Hear ye now, O house of David; Is it a small thing for you to weary men, but will ye weary my God also? 14 Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. 15 Butter and honey shall he eat, that he may know to refuse the evil, and choose the good. 16 For before the child shall know to refuse the evil, and choose the good, the land that thou abhorrest shall be forsaken of both her kings.

Incarnation
KJV Isaiah 9:6 For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. 7 Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this.

#109 While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks 1:35

KJV Matthew 1:18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost. 19 Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing to make her a publick example, was minded to put her away privily. 20 But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. 21 And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins. 22 Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, 23 Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us. 24 Then Joseph being raised from sleep did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him, and took unto him his wife: 25 And knew her not till she had brought forth her firstborn son: and he called his name JESUS.


Sermon – God in the Flesh, The Incarnation, Immanuel (God With Us)

Today I was thinking especially about the stars and the Old Testament prophecies. As Luther wrote, all the heavenly bodies were part of this miraculous birth. What is the greater wonder – that all the prophecies were fulfilled, or that the Star of Bethlehem was formed in the sky to lead the Wise Men to Jesus?

The Roman Empire helped too. The family had to be enrolled in their home town, so they went to Bethlehem, where David came from – 1000 years before. That was well planned, too.

There are only two attitudes about religion. One is that the Bible is the absolute truth, revealed by God through the Holy Spirit, inscribed by men with their individual personalities. This was the united witness of the Christian church until rationalism began to undermine the clarity, efficacy, and inspiration of the Scriptures. Rationalism first took away from the divinity of Christ, then from salvation in Christ – justification by faith. In other words, this attitude was kidnapped by the second attitude, although the trappings still remain.

The other attitude about religion is that various men and cultures across the ages have had deep thoughts and therefore have invented world religions that express their own values, universal truths in the sense that everyone thinks about life, death, sin, forgiveness, and eternity. For those people, the Christian Faith is an interesting commentary on culture and worth studying for that reason.

The difference is faith and non-faith. Those without faith cannot see what the Scriptures unfold for us. The more they explain away, the less they see. The more they dismiss what is clearly taught, the more frantic they become to prove their case. That is why atheistic religion professors do so well in academics, whether the big state universities or the private, elite colleges. Nothing makes unbelievers smile more than expressions of unbelief, especially the polemical type.

One “Lutheran” professor was quoted as denying all the truths of the Bible and smirking, “God has not struck me with lightning.” But worse – the power of God’s Word had struck him blind. He left an impression, because the person who quoted him was someone I met at an inerrancy conference, when the minority view got together for some fellowship among those who still believed that the Bible teaches the truth.

This is especially striking with the Isaiah 7 and 9 prophecies – with the Messiah being called Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace, and Mighty God, and God with us.

The Virgin Birth receives plenty of attention, as it should, but it parallel with the divinity of the Messiah. In the Old Testament days, the concept of the Son of David being God Incarnate is difficult to imagine. And yet the words were there, and they heard those words from Isaiah for centuries. The Jewish people knew the major and minor prophets better than we do now, so the fulfillment of the prophecies fostered faith as Jesus was revealed, first to the shepherds, to the people in the Temple (as a baby and a youth), still later in His earthly ministry.

God’s way of teaching us is to give us one part of the concept at a time, until we can grasp more of the complete picture. We can never grasp all of it, but it continues to grow in our minds as we learn more and more.

The revelation to Ahaz was – I will give you the greatest miracle of all time – the God-Man born of a Virgin – Immanuel God with Us.

The revelation to the shepherds was the angelic host singing that the Savior, the Son of David was born. Various aspects of the revelation of God test our understanding of the Scriptures. We can even see that in New Testament, where sermons aimed at Jews emphasized the fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecies. But that did not mean much to non-Jews, so other appeals were made. When Gentiles became Christians, they learned about the Old Testament and how that prepared Israel for their Messiah.

The Nativity itself warms our hearts, as Luther says. The ordinary things of life are used to illuminate God’s grace for us. Instead of a mighty apparition of the Savior, we have a child born in a stable, placed in a manger, and adored by common shepherds.

So one part of Christmas is God with us – the divinity of Christ, His Virgin Birth. But the other part is His humanity, born of a woman, a tiny baby who cries and nurses, yet He formed the mountains, the stars and plans as the Creating Word.

Human reason cannot grasp this, but faith drives reason to understand as much as possible. One FB friend wrote today, “Dogs are divine.” I added, “Dogs are divinely created” and got a like from that person. There is quite a difference – though we abuse English all the time, making ice cream or chocolate “divine.”

When we sing the hymns of faith, we witness to these great truths. The greater the author, the more profound the expressions. It is no wonder to me that Luther and Gerhardt, who both related to children so well, wrote the best hymns of all.

Like the Fourth Evangelist, they expressed the eternal truths of the Bible in the simplest terms, and we grasp those truths better because of it.

Recently a young woman in college wanted to emphasize how important music was to her. She began her talk by asking, “How did God announce the birth of the Savior to man?” The answer was – Angels singing. He used music to reveal Jesus to man.

Therefore music is blessed by God as the means by which we are able to express our emotions and faith together. It is like praying, but praying with our souls (to borrow from Luther again).

This is the message – that God saw our weakness and our need for forgiveness. Knowing that we could not atone for our sins or do enough to make up for them, He sent His only-begotten Son to us, first to teach us about faith in Him, and second to die on the cross and rise from the dead for our salvation.

Luke’s Account
KJV Luke 2:1 And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed. 2 (And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.) 3 And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city. 4 And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:) 5 To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child. 6 And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered. 7 And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn. 8 And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9 And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. 10 And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. 11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. 12 And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. 

#646 Silent Night 4:38

Heavenly Host
Luke 2:13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, 14 Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men. 15 And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us. 16 And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger.

The Prayers and Benediction


#87 Joy to the World 1:20

Christmas Eve Candlelight Service - Tonight at 7 PM Central

I tested Ustream, and the broadcast was working fine today. I emailed them to spray their servervs with WD-40, and it worked.

Tonight's service will be saved, but also broadcast at 7 PM Central.

If we have a problem again, I will provide the service on Christmas Day instead.