“And His Name Shall Be Called: Savior, Christ, the Lord”
Luke 2:11

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Pastor Kevin Vogts
Trinity Lutheran Church
Paola, Kansas
Christmas Eve—December 24, 2017

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

“The angel said unto the shepherds, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.  For unto you is born this day in the city of David a SAVIOR, who is CHRIST, the LORD.”

In our Advent and Christmas sermons this year we have been looking at some of the hundreds of names and titles given in Scripture to the Babe of Bethlehem, whose birth we are celebrating this night. On the first Christmas Eve, the angels declared THREE of these titles in their announcement of his birth to the shepherds: “Savior,” “Christ,” “the Lord.”

“For unto you is born . . . a SAVIOR.”  The Apostle Paul tells us in Galatians WHAT he into this world to be our Savior from: “The Scripture declares that the whole world is a prisoner of sin.”  The bad news is that we are all sinners, deserving of punishment, and doomed to damnation.  THAT is what you need to be saved from, that is why you must have a SAVIOR.

The Good News of Christmas is Christ the Savior is born!  Christ YOUR Savior is born!  “For unto YOU is born . . . a Savior.” 

How did he save you from your sins?  The book of Hebrews says, “He has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself. . . He is able to save completely those who come to God through him.”  The Apostle John writes, “He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.” 

An “atoning sacrifice” means a sacrifice which makes up, pays for, some transgression.  The Babe born in Bethlehem would grow up to be the atoning sacrifice for your sins, and my sins, and the sins of the whole world, by the sacrifice of himself.  His perfect holiness, his perfect life, is credited to you, and all your sins he bore in his body on the cross.

“Glory to God in the highest, and earth peace, goodwill toward men.”  That is God’s attitude toward you on account of his Son’s birth, life, death, and resurrection: peace and goodwill.  Because your Savior has taken away all God’s anger; because he himself has suffered all the punishment, for you.  Paul puts it this way in Romans, “There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”

“For unto you is born  . . . a Savior, who is CHRIST.”  The word “Christ” is really not Jesus’ last name, but a title, which is why the Bible sometimes has “Jesus the Christ” or “Christ Jesus.”  The title “Christ” means “The Anointed One.”  In ancient times kings, high priests, and prophets would be anointed with oil to symbolize taking office. The Apostle Peter says in Acts, “God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power.”  He is the ultimate Anointed One, for he is the ultimate King of Kings, the ultimate High Priest, who sacrificed himself for our sins, and the ultimate Prophet of God, who brings us the Good News of God’s forgiveness.

That explains how this Baby, born in a stable to a poor peasant family and laid in the animals’ feeding trough, in an obscure corner of the ancient world, became the #1 most influential figure in human history.  As the poem “One Solitary Life” puts it:

“He was born in an obscure village, the child of a peasant woman. He worked in a carpentry shop until he was thirty, and then for three years he was an itinerant preacher.  When the tide of popular opinion turned against him, his friends ran away. He was turned over to his enemies. He was tried and convicted. He was nailed upon a cross between two thieves. When he was dead, he was laid in a borrowed grave. He never wrote a book. He never held an office. He never owned a home. He never went to college. He never traveled more than two hundred miles from the place where he was born. He never did one of the things that usually accompanies greatness.  Yet all the armies that ever marched, and all the governments that ever sat, and all the kings that ever reigned, have not affected life upon this earth as powerfully as has that One Solitary Life.”

Over 2,000 years later, billions around the world are still celebrating his birth.  The Baby whose birth we celebrate this night became the #1 most influential figure in human history because he is the CHRIST, the Anointed One, anointed by God with the Holy Spirit and with power as the ultimate King of Kings, the ultimate High Priest, the ultimate Prophet of God.

“For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ, the LORD.” 

The wonderful works which will be done by this Babe lying in a manger are far beyond the power of any mere human.  But, he is far more than a mere human.  He is both true man, conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary, and he is also true God, begotten of the Father from eternity.  As the angel announced to 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.”

Paul puts it this way in Colossians, “In Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form . . .  For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him.”  And in 1 Timothy he writes, “Beyond all question the mystery of godliness is great . . . he appeared in a body.”

“Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.  For unto you is born this day in the city of David a SAVIOR, who is CHRIST, the LORD. . .  Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.”

Amen.