Bible Passage: 1 Timothy 3:16
Pastor: Joel Jenswold
Sermon Date: December 25, 2025

Bulletin Christmas Day

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

Do you like a good mystery?  Many people do.  They like to read “mystery novels.”  Or they like to watch “mystery” movies.  To us, the concept of mystery suggests something unknown.  This comes out in the way we say we don’t know the answer to something.  We sometimes say, “It’s a mystery to me.”

The story of Christmas is a good mystery.  Let me explain.  It is not a mystery in the sense it is a good “whodunnit.”  But the Bible uses the word “mystery” in a little different way.  The Bible uses the word “mystery” for things that we would never know, could never know unless God tells us.  A “mystery” is a truth that God must uncover, or REVEAL.  Here is the great mystery of this day:  He [God] was manifest in flesh.”

You and I would never know God came in flesh unless God told us.  Mary and Joseph and the shepherds would never have known what was going on unless God told them.  And so the angel Gabriel told Mary, The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.  So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. (Luke 1:35-36)  God also had to reveal this to Joseph.  An angel also came to him and revealed, Do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.  She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins. (Matthew 1:20-21)  The shepherds would have had no idea what was going on, but to them also it was revealed, Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you.  He is Christ, the Lord! (Luke 2:11)  Without the revelation of God, the birth of Jesus is just another birth.  Perhaps even a confusing one, “Why all this to-do over this birth??” But in the full light of God’s revelation, we say, “God was manifest in flesh.”

In our text this mystery is called the mystery of our devotion.  This truth, God in man made manifest, is at the center of our faith and life.  It makes us tick.  It is our everything!  It is central to our theology.  It is the center of our worship.  It is the great motivation in our lives.  Think about it.  Without God-come-in-flesh, without the incarnation, there is no Christ.  And if there is no Christ, there is no Christ-mas, no Christ-ianity.

What becomes of religion without the incarnation?  No mystery in this one!  It becomes the same, predictable, repetitive formula.  Show me a religion without the incarnation of God’s Son, and without studying it at all, I will tell you what it is all about.  It will be some variation on this theme:  be good.  Maybe “good” is defined as following that religion’s special set of rules and standards.  Maybe “good” is defined as following the dictates of your conscience.  Maybe “good” is defined simply as “doing the best you can.”  Maybe “good” has been dumbed-down to “just don’t be as bad as THAT guy!”  Without the incarnation, religion always devolves into this, “You must save yourself.  YOU are your Savior.  Now, off you go!  Good luck!”

But with the incarnation, everything changes!  Just the fact that God takes on flesh must give me pause.  “Why does he take on flesh and bone like me?  Is there something wrong with mine?”  Yes!  Horribly wrong!  Dreadfully wrong!  Irreparably wrong!  Damnably wrong!  Sin.  My flesh and blood body is infused with sin, infected with sin.  It has a guilty smell about it.  It is too weak to work its way into God’s favor.  And so God’s Son takes on flesh to do what we cannot with ours!  With his flesh-and-blood body, he lives a perfect life.  Jesus crosses every “T” and dots every “i” of obedience to God.  And then he does what only God can do.  He says, “Put that obedience on their account.”  With his body he lives the perfect life you are supposed to!  That is great “incarnational theology!”

But there is more.  God-in-flesh pays the debt you racked up.  You have used your flesh-and-blood to commit many sins and offenses against God.  Have you ever seen that dye that is invisible except when you put it under ultraviolet light?  Sometimes detectives use it to solve crimes.  What if sin was like that?  Every time you touched sin, you picked up this dye.  You can’t even see it.  Until you are under God’s holy, ultraviolet light.  What parts of your body would be covered in dye?  You should be ashamed of yourself.  And should too.  But God’s Son has taken on flesh!  And when he hung on that cross, he was covered in that dye!  God shined his holy, ultraviolet light on Jesus and Jesus’ flesh and blood was covered in dye, in sin!  And so God punished him, his body, in your place.  Now you have forgiveness.  Forgiveness means that when God shines that holy, ultraviolet light on you, no sin shows up!  That, my friends, is great “incarnational theology!”

Today we hear a great mystery story!  Not because it leaves us wondering and hanging in suspense, not because it is dark and obscure and its meaning remains hidden. But precisely the opposite!  Today is crystal clear!  It is as clear as the nose – the real flesh and blood nose – on the face of God-incarnate, Jesus!  The ancients called this the “magnum mysterium.”  The Great Mystery!  God has come in flesh!  Alleluia!

Amen.