Sermon
for Christmas 1, December 28, 2025
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the
heavenly places. Amen.
Matthew 2:1-12 After
Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, when Herod was king, Wise Men from the
east came to Jerusalem. 2They
asked, “Where is he who has been born King of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to
worship him.” 3When King
Herod heard this, he was alarmed, and all Jerusalem with him. 4He gathered together all the
people’s chief priests and experts in the law.
He asked them where the Christ was to be born. 5They said to him, “In Bethlehem
of Judea, because this was written through the prophet: 6You,
Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are certainly not least among the rulers of
Judah: because out of you will come a ruler, who will shepherd my people,
Israel.” 7Then Herod secretly
summoned the Wise Men and found out from them exactly when the star had
appeared. 8He sent them to
Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the child. When you find him, report to me, so that I
may also go and worship him.” 9After
listening to the king, they went on their way.
Then the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them, until it
stood still over the place where the child was.
10When they saw the star, they rejoiced with overwhelming
joy. 11After they went into
the house and saw the child with Mary, his mother, they bowed down and
worshipped him. Then they opened their
treasures and offered him gifts: gold, frankincense, and myrrh. 12Since they had been warned in a
dream not to return to Herod, they went back to their own country by another
route. (EHV)
Dear
fellow redeemed,
There is likely no Commandment of
the Ten Commandments that better demonstrates the perversity of fallen man than
the 3rd Commandment. Consider
that God felt it necessary to issue a command for our personal eternal
good. Indeed, all of the commandments
were given to protect God’s people from their own worst desires and the
wickedness of worldly people. Yet, here
is a command that logic would assume we all would want to keep, but it seems to
be a struggle for us.
In
our text, we read of a number of scholars who travelled hundreds and perhaps
thousands of miles over dangerous roads while walking or riding on pack
animals, like donkeys or camels. In
their zeal to meet the new-born King of Israel, they likely would plead with
us, Come worship the Lord!
The
Third Commandment says: You shall keep
the day of rest holy. What
does this mean? Martin Luther taught, “We should fear
and love God, so that we do not despise preaching and His Word, but hold it
sacred and gladly hear and learn it.”
One would think this would be our natural reaction to the great
blessings God pours out upon the world providing everything needed for body and
soul. Yet, how many of us have had to be
dragged to church on a Sunday morning?
When we were children, and especially adolescents, how often did we rebel
against the idea of attending church every Sunday. Yes, our parents made us go— but how harsh
and demanding, we so often thought.
I
suspect there are not very many people in our world, today, who are truly excited
to spend an hour or more in church on Sunday morning, but the question is
why? If someone at the bank was handing
our stacks of $100 bills, people would rush to get in line, but here, God gives
us the riches of heaven and so many take a so what attitude. Has God’s mercy and providence become so
expected that we’ve lost interest? Has
our love for material things superseded any desire to hear what the Lord wants
to tell us? Do we really intend to bite
the hand that feeds us? Have we
forgotten to give thanks that “Every good act of giving and every perfect
gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the lights, who does not
change or shift like a shadow.”? (James 1:17)
Now,
it would be real easy for this sermon to turn into a diatribe against all the
people out there who don’t desire to be in church as much as good old me, but let
me be clear, that is not my intention, for everything I asked above is equally
convicting for me. There must be some urge
in every sinner to put his own corrupted desires ahead of what the Lord would
want for us. Rather, than seek the help
of God, there is a part of us that wants to go our own way and seek our own
good fortune, but on our own, we are destined for the pit of hell, because we
cannot save ourselves.
The
Lord gave the Ten Commandments to Moses to be a blessing to His people. As much as they feel like restrictions, God
intended them to protect His people.
This is especially so in the case of the Third Commandment. When first given, this command required that
a day of rest be allowed for everyone: worker, slave, master, maidservant, and
even the beasts of burden. Foreigners
were also included in this mandatory day of rest. For two reasons: God knows our needs,
including our need for rest, and God intended the Sabbath day to remind us that
even though He rested from His work on the seventh day of creation, He
continues His providence for us even on the day of rest, and the Sabbath
pointed the people forward to the rest we receive in Christ. Therefore, the command moves us to focus us
on what God did and does for us.
Now,
as far as the specific day of the week is concerned, the Holy Spirit, through
James, teaches us that we don’t need to follow the strict command of Moses in
regard to the day of the week. He wrote,
“Do not let anyone judge you in regard to food or drink, or in regard to a
festival or a New Moon or a Sabbath day.
These are a shadow of the things that were coming, but the body belongs
to Christ.” (Colossians 2:16-17) All
those Old Testament ceremonial regulations were fulfilled in Christ Jesus. That doesn’t mean the 3rd
Commandment is no longer in effect, but it’s focus has shifted to paying
attention to Christ in whatever we do.
Thus, it isn’t required that we rest on a certain day of the week, but God
still wants us to take time to rest and, especially, to focus on His love. The best example and place for this is in our
weekly worship services regardless of which day of the week we chose to
worship.
The
point is to direct us to Jesus who is our Sabbath. The word, sabbath, means rest. Jesus is literally our rest from the curse of
the law, our rest from Satan’s overbearing domination, and our rest from
condemnation and eternal torment.
In
our text, we see two types of people wanted to meet Jesus, or at least that said
they did. Those magicians or wise men
from eastern lands came seeking the new King of Israel. They wanted to worship Him because they
believed that the promises given to Old Testament Israel were true. A King would come out of Israel to rule the
world in peace and love, but we might add that they likely didn’t know that
Jesus’ kingdom is not and will not be of this world. However, look at how they devoted themselves
to the promise of the King. The
travelled a great distance, spending who knows how much in time and resources
to do so. Then, they diligently sought
information on where to meet Jesus.
Finally, once they arrived at the home in which Jesus, Mary, and Joseph
were staying, they prostrated themselves in devotion to the new-born King and
opened their treasures to pour out gifts of thanks and praise.
On
the other hand, King Herod claimed to be interested in honoring this new King
of the Jews, but there was no sincerity in his spoken wish. Rather, out of fear of losing his position as
king, Herod wanted to eliminate a potential rival to his reign. So, which type do we resemble? Do we bow down before the Lord in humility
and thankfulness and devote our treasures and possessions to honoring Christ
and helping His kingdom grow? Or is
protecting our own domains more important to us?
Troubling
questions, I suppose. Regardless of how
we might feel in the moment, I suspect there are very few of us who could
honestly say we have never put our own desires ahead of honoring Jesus. Like with every other commandment, we soon
see that we are indeed great sinners.
Sinners who need the Savior.
That
brings me back to why a faithful believer might wonder why anyone wouldn’t
want to be in church, study his Bible, and meditate on God’s Word, pray,
praise, and give thanks. If we actually
understand what God did, does, and will do for us, what could stop us from
dancing continuously in joy and songs of praise? What holds us back from shouting from the
rooftops of God’s love for us? We know
the answer is sin. Our fallen nature
tends to listen to the devil’s twisted lies.
He tells us we don’t have time to put worship over work. He tells us our leisure activities are more
important than hearing what we have heard many times before. He tickles our ears with ideas that the
message is boring. The truth is, we have
a battle within.
Not
too surprisingly for you, I hope, I have good news for you. The Good News begins with this: Throughout
His whole life, Jesus gladly and willingly heard what God in heaven had to
say. From infancy on, Jesus eagerly
desired the learn the Scriptures His own Spirit had caused to be written, but
in His state of humiliation, Jesus had to learn that just as much as we
do. Throughout His days on earth, Jesus
regularly sought counsel with His heavenly Father in prayer. He offered up the required gifts at the
temple, even though He is the giver of all good things to us. Jesus did those things for you and me and for
all people, so that we could be credited with righteousness through faith in Jesus.
So
now, why should we be excited to come to worship? Does this poor pastor claim to be a great
speaker who will knock your socks off with his brilliant oratory? Well, you all know there is nothing further
from the truth. Our worship here isn’t
about me, and if I should ever make it so, throw me out. Instead, faithful worship services are first
of all God’s service to us. Before we
return thanks, God is serving us with healthy portions of good spiritual
food. Faithful services are God freely
forgiving our sins and offering His mercy and grace week after week and day
after day. God implores you to hear His
Word regularly and often, because our weak souls need continual refreshment.
God
also invites and encourages our prayers.
In addition, we are encouraging each other with our presence in this
gathering of the body of Christ. Imagine
the pain we would feel if our physical bodies were torn apart and never brought
back together. That destructive force
would also be in play for our souls whenever we fail to seek God’s face in
worship. And rest assured, God meets us
here in His holy Gospel, and especially in the Lord’s Supper of bread and wine,
in which Jesus personally delivers to you His own body and blood that was
sacrificed for your sins, as a token and medicine to bring you restored
forgiveness of all sin and to strengthen your faith and your soul for a life of
service and to keep you in His grace unto life everlasting.
Again,
I would ask, how can we not want that more and more? Jesus told His disciples, “If anyone loves
me, he will hold on to my word. My
Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.” (John
14:23) This is one of the many reasons
we gather for worship services. Our God
loves us to serve us with spiritual healing.
He feeds us for eternal life with every preaching of His Gospel. He dwells with us through His Word, both read
and heard. On top of that all, He
encourages us to build each other up through mutual expressions of our
Christian faith. The Holy Spirit
inspired the writer to the Hebrews to say, “Let us also consider carefully
how to spur each other on to love and good works. Let us not neglect meeting together, as some
have the habit of doing. Rather, let us
encourage each other, and all the more as you see the Day approaching.” (Hebrews
10:24-25)
Dear
friends, the day of judgment indeed approaches quickly. Will we be ready? It is God’s intention to have us ready and
rejoicing to meet our Savior when He returns in glory. Let every part of our being spend our lives
with the joy filled intention, Come worship the Lord! Amen
The peace of God, which surpasses all
understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Amen.
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