Bible Passage: Luke 2:14
Pastor: Joel Jenswold
Sermon Date: December 24, 2022

Bulletin Christmas Eve 2022

In the name of, and to the eternal glory of, Jesus,

At this time each year, you very likely play a couple roles.  On the one hand, you play the role of giver.  You will be the giver of gifts.  And on the other, you will be the recipient of the gifts of others.  Each year there is this sort of “exchange” that happens.  We give…we get.  We give…we get.  Which is better?  Kids probably like the getting.  As we get older, perhaps we prefer the joy of giving.

As we gather tonight, that same thing will happen.  On this eve of Jesus’ birth, you will be both giver and receiver.  Tonight, we give, we get.  It is The Great Christmas Exchange.  How does it work?  The angels tell us how it works:  We give God the glory.  He gives us the peace.

That’s what the angels said to the shepherds.  Glory to God in the highest, and on earth, peace, goodwill to men.  What else could be said?  They had just delivered the news this weary world had been waiting to hear!  Unto you is born this day in the city of David, a Savior, which is Christ the Lord!  This is the news the world was waiting for since the fall into sin and the first promise of a Savior in the Garden of Eden.  The Lord God had promised to send a Seed of the Woman to crush Satan’s head.  The “Seed of the Woman.”  That means a woman was going to bring a baby into this world who was going to undo the damage done in the Garden of Eden.

How many times did the sun go down on another day in the world’s history without that promised Seed?  “Not today, angels.  You may stand down.  Nothing to sing about tonight.  Maybe tomorrow.”  Tomorrows came; many of them.  Nothing to sing about.  For millennia the angel choir was ready to sing, but the time had not come yet to sing.  Until…finally… that night in Bethlehem!  Now, angels, now!  Tonight!  The time has come to sing!  And only one song would do!  “Glory to God!”

You know, “Glory to God” is just another way of saying, “You did it, God!  You did it all!”  And he did.  He did it all.  We cannot look at the baby in the manger tonight and claim any credit.  Look at the baby Jesus.  God promised to send him…we didn’t ask for him.  God prophesied about the coming of this Savior through the ages; we just listened.  And then, when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under law (Galatians 4:4-5).  We cannot even slap Joseph on the back and say, “Mazel tov, old boy!  Well done!”  Jesus was not his, but was the Son of God.  There is only one thing to give God this night.  Tonight we give God all glory!

He gets the glory.  But the One whose essence is love can never be out-given.  Tonight he gives, too.  Tonight, he gives us the peace.  Glory to God in the highest, and on earth, peace, goodwill to men.  But just what is peace?  Is it a feeling inside me?  Is it a condition outside of me?  What is peace?

 The Jews have a word for “peace.”  You know it.  It’s “shalom.”  It’s more than a peaceful feeling, though that is part of it.  “Peace,” “shalom” is said to exist when things are as they should be.  What does that mean?  You want an example of shalom?  Think “Garden of Eden before sin.”  Everything was as it should be.  Humanity and God living in perfect harmony.  That’s peace.

But sin disrupted all that.  Because of sin, NOTHING was as it should be!  Adam and Eve lost their created holiness.  They became hostile to God.  They were guilty of sin, and they felt guilty as sin.  Holy impulses and desires were replaced with unholy impulses and desires.  They were now on a collision course with death, and without God’s mercy, damnation.  None of this is the way it is supposed to be!  This is the “un-peace” sin has brought!

But through the ages, the coming of the Savior was connected to “peace.”  Isaiah gave the coming Savior the name Prince of Peace (Is. 9:6).  In Micah’s famous prophecy where Bethlehem was identified as the birthplace of the Savior, he includes this about the Savior:  “…and he will be our peace.” (Micah 5:5)  Peace was the “calling card” of the coming Savior.  Making peace would cost our Savior everything.  The punishment that brought us peace was upon him. (Is. 53)  He would be punished to bring peace.  He would suffer unspeakable brutality, all hell would be unleashed on him, to make peace.  The punishment for sin was upon him, but it brings us peace…peace with God.  Blessed is the Peacemaker!

Dear friends, there is no other pathway to peace.  You will not find peace in riches and fame, in power or popularity, not in upper management nor at the bottom of a Scotch bottle.  You will not find peace in trying harder to be good, or in being “slightly less” bad than the next guy.  Peace is not found in avoiding or denying the issue of sin in your life.  You will find peace in the manger, in the cross, in the empty tomb.  In forgiveness.  In Jesus.  “Peace on earth, and mercy mild, God and sinners reconciled”  God and sinners reconciled.  Together again!  Just like in the beginning!  Just like it will be in heaven!  As it should be…shalom.

That is the great exchange of Christmas!  God gets the glory.  We get the peace. 

Amen.