Christmas Eve 2024
King of kings (vs 1 & chorus)
Scripture Reading:
pastor Zachary mcguire
Micah 5.2-5a
light white candle
song:
Joy to the World
Scripture reading:
pastor michael champoux
Luke 2.1-20
song:
Hark the herald
historical reading:
pastor Bobby owens
Apostle’s creed
song:
Sing we the song of Emmanuel
scripture reading:
dr. brett eckel
Revelation 12.1-6
song:
What child is this?
Homily:
dr. alex loginow
christmas Eve
Matthew 1.18-25
Introduction
“Marley was dead: to begin with. There is no doubt whatever about that. The register of his burial was signed by the clergyman, the clerk, the undertaker, and the chief mourner. Scrooge signed it: and Scrooge’s name was good upon ‘Change for anything he chose to put his hand to. Old Marley was as dead as a door nail.”
Thus begins 1 of the most famous works of literature the Western world has ever seen – Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. This novella sold sold out every copy of it’s 1st printing in 5 days when it was released and has been in print ever since. There are over 100 film and TV adaptations, countless plays, and even a video game of A Christmas Carol. The best version is obviously the Muppet Christmas Carol.
I have little doubt you’re familiar with the tale of Ebenezer Scrooge – that callous, greedy old sinner, who loved his money and hated just about everyone and everything else. As the Muppets sang of Scrooge: “If they gave a prize for being mean, the winner would be him.” On Christmas Eve Scrooge is visited by the ghost of his old business partner Marley, you know, the one who was as dead as a door nail? Chains, signifying all of his sins, weigh down Marley’s ghost who warns Scrooge that unless Scrooge repents, he will suffer the same fate. And in an effort to change the heart of Mr. humbug, Scrooge is visited by 3 ghosts – the ghost of Christmas past, the ghost of Christmas present, and the ghost of Christmas future.
Joseph’s Xmas Carol
I was thinking about A Christmas Carol this week, not only because Christmas is upon us, but also because something similar happened to Joseph here in Matthew 1. Like Scrooge, Joseph is visited in the night by a spiritual being, not a ghost, but an angel. And in the words of the angel we hear words of Christmas past, words of Christmas present, and words of Christmas future.
Words of Xmas Past
Notice 1st the angel speaks words of Christmas past. The angel addresses Joseph as son of David. The angel isn’t just using some 1st century equivalent to a last name here; no, like a Christmas turkey, there is much history, much theology, much hope stuffed into those 3 little words, son of David. Hundreds of years earlier, yhwh made a covenant with King David that David’s throne would last forever and David’s heir would sit on this eternal throne. In no uncertain terms yhwh promised King David that one of his offspring would be the Genesis 3.15 seed of the woman who would reverse the curse of sin and death.
But by Joseph’s day it had been centuries since there had been a king in Israel. The Babylonians sacked Jerusalem, destroyed the temple, and took the king into exile. The Persians allowed them to return 70 years later, but still no king. The Greeks overthrew the Persians, and the Romans overthrew the Greeks, yet in the midst of all that political theatre, Israel never had another king on David’s throne.
And what did any of that have to do with Joseph anyway? He was just your average carpenter. He was excited about getting married, but now his fiancé is pregnant and he’s not the father. So Joseph decides to divorce her quietly (in the 1st century engagement was a legal status, so to break off an engagement/betrothal because of infidelity required a type of divorce). Point being this passage is shrouded in darkness – there is the big picture, national darkness that Israel is still in a sort of exile with no king, and then the personal darkness of this one Israelite, Joseph, who thinks he’s got a two-timing fiancé, and both fall under the umbrella of the darkness that God’s promise hadn’t yet been fulfilled. God had been silent for 400 years and still no Genesis 3.15 seed of the woman; no Messiah; no eternal king.
Darkness is not where we want to live, but we must start there. If we’re going to truly understand Christmas, we must be confronted by the ghost of Christmas past. If we were honest with ourselves we would all admit that we have skeletons in our closet, and while they’re all different, they all stem from a collective ghost of Christmas past. You see, Scripture tells us that we were all created in the image of God dating back to our 1st parents: Adam and Eve. And because our father Adam broke God’s Law (1) we have all inherited a sin nature and (2) we are guilty of sin – breaking God’s Law. Like Marley’s ghost, we have fashioned our own chains of damnation through our unrighteous thoughts, words, and deeds. That’s why we feel guilt and shame; we are guilty and unrighteous before the 1 true and living God who created us in His own image.
That’s the truth and the truth is dark. I know it’s uncomfortable to sit in that darkness, but we must. Because it is in the darkness that the good news of Christmas shines like an advent candle. And the good news is for Joseph was a word of Christmas present.
Word of Xmas Present
The angel announced to Joseph: do not fear. Did you know that’s one of God’s favorite things to say? Do not fear. There are 365 occurrences of the phrase do not fear in Holy Scripture – 1 for each day of the year. Because of our sin we have ample reason to fear God, but God brings good news to us with the words: do not fear.
And the good news is that the baby conceived in Mary is from the Holy Spirit. In verse 23 Matthew reminds us that Isaiah the prophet predicted this years earlier: Behold the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel (Isa 7.14). Mary had not committed adultery; no, she is the true and better Eve, who will give birth to the serpent skull-crushing seed. Mary will bear a son who is Immanuel, which means ‘God with us.’ Mary’s baby boy is truly God and truly man.
This is crucial and the church has always confessed such; Pastor Bobby led us earlier in the Creed and we confessed together that the Lord Jesus was “conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary.” Jesus is truly God – He is the 2nd person of the Holy Trinity, the only begotten Son of God, who took on flesh and dwelt among us. And Jesus is truly man – Jesus has a human nature; a body and a soul, but Jesus is without sin. It is because the Lord Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary that he is without sin. We inherit original sin from our father Adam, but Jesus was not conceived of a man and woman; he was conceived of the Holy Spirit and the virgin; Jesus did not inherit original sin.
So the angel announces: You shall call his name Jesus for he will save his people from their sins. Jesus is the Greek translation of the Hebrew name Joshua, which means, “yhwh saves.” Jesus indeed is yhwh who saves. Jesus saves through his active righteousness – because Jesus didn’t inherit original sin, because he was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary, Jesus is without sin. Jesus obeyed God’s Law perfectly in thought, word, and deed; Jesus never did anything wrong and never left anything undone; Jesus always loved God with his whole heart and Jesus always loved his neighbor as himself. What Adam failed to do by breaking the covenant of works, Jesus succeeded in keeping the old covenant and inaugurating a new covenant; Jesus is the last Adam.
Jesus also saves through his passive righteousness. Jesus took his active righteousness, his sinlessness to the cross where he died in the place of his people, bearing the wrath of God and atoning for our sins. And because the Lord Jesus is without sin, death could not detain Jesus and he resurrected from the dead on the 3rd day. On the cross the sins of God’s people were imputed to Jesus so that by faith Jesus’ righteousness is imputed to the church – his name [is] Jesus for he will save his people from their sins.
So this ghost of Christmas present confronts you now – do you have faith in Jesus? The Reformed tradition has long defined faith as comprising 3 elements: knowledge, assent, and trust. So as you self-reflect on whether your faith is in Christ start by asking if you know Jesus. Do you know that God is your holy creator, that you have sinned against Him and are guilty and deserve eternal conscious punishment in hell? Do you know that while we were still sinners Christ died for us; that his name is Jesus because he will save his people from their sins?
Second, ask your self: do I assent to this good news? Not simply do I know the message of Jesus, but do I assent to it? Do I confess it and not deny it? Do I acknowledge the validity of these truth claims?
Finally, ask yourself: do you trust in Jesus? Have you transferred your trust from anything or anyone else, including yourself, to Jesus alone? Are you resting the full weight of eternity on Jesus the same way you’re resting your full weight in your chair right now? I pray you do because it is the only way you can be saved from your sins.
If the Holy Spirit has worked regeneration in your heart, then God has given you the gift of faith. And if God has gifted you faith, you will repent. Repentance is not faith, but is the result of faith and those who have faith will repent. To repent means to confess your sin and turn from your sin. Have you confessed your sin or are you deceiving yourself? Have you turned from your sin or do you just feel guilt and shame and then continue in your sin. Repentance is the result of faith – if you will not repent, if you will not confess your sin and turn from your sin, then you need to reflect on whether you actually have faith in Jesus or not because those who believe, repent.
Christians repent initially and then we repent all of our lives. We all have so many different sins we must repent of on a daily basis, but maybe on this night especially, you should consider if you need to repent of being a scrooge. Scrooge’s love for money resulted in the disregard of others. Is that true of you? Are you a scrooge? Does your wallet grow fat at the expense of others? If so, repent. Confess that sin and turn from that sin.
Word of Xmas Future
Faith is how Jesus saves us initially – how we’re justified – but we are also waiting for the day when Jesus will fully and finally save us – when we will be glorified. Advent and Christmas are not only about the 1st advent of Jesus, not only about the ghost of Christmas past and present, but advent and Christmas also speak to the 2nd advent of the Lord Jesus, the ghost of Christmas future. One day the Lord Jesus will return to raise the dead, judge the world, and make all things new and on that day Jesus will ultimately save his people from their sins. There will be no more sin and no more death.
On that day we will fully experience Jesus as Immanuel because we will see him as he is. Jesus will forever be God with us. And while we long for that new world every day, we feel it a little more acutely during advent. Bonhoeffer said, “Our whole life is Advent – a time of waiting for the ultimate, for the time when there will be a new heaven and a new earth.”
Conclusion
Do you have that hope this Christmas Eve? A Christmas Carol ends in hope. Scrooge realized that no one misses him when he’s dead, in fact, many rejoice! This realization results in a change of heart and Scrooge repents of his malice and greed and embraces charity and community. There are seeds of gospel truth in the worldview behind this Dickensian classic, but the truth is that Charles Dickens embraced a Protestant Liberal worldview, a sort of Unitarianism, if anything at all, and so his message is that the rich should care for the poor, people should love each other in the spirit of the brotherhood of man and the fatherhood of God and this will make the world a better place, and that is the goal. Love for humanity and charity toward the poor are good things, essential things, even non-negotiable things, but they are not what save us from our sins, and salvation from our sins is the good news we all need.
A word that doesn’t save us from our sin is as dead as Marley; it’s as bound as Marley’s ghost, but St. Paul tells us that the Word of God is not bound (2nd Tim 2.9). No, the Word was in the beginning with God and the Word was God and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us – conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary. And the Word was crucified, dead, and buried and on the third day the Word rose again from the dead, and the Word ascended to heaven where He sits at the right hand of God the Father almighty, from whence He shall come to judge the living and the dead. And it is through this Word alone, through Jesus alone, that we can say, “God bless us every one.” Merry Christmas!