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“And His Name Shall Be Called: The Word Made Flesh
John 1:14

 

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Pastor Kevin Vogts
Trinity Lutheran Church
Paola, Kansas

Christmas Day—December 25, 2017

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.  Amen.

Our text is from today’s Gospel reading in the first chapter of St. John:  “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory.”  This is our text.

The Second Person of the Trinity has many different names and titles.  We know him most commonly and simply as “Jesus Christ.”  Some of his other names and titles include “Son of God;” “Son of Man;” “Messiah;” “Savior;” “Lord;” “King of Kings.”

In the first chapter of St. John’s Gospel the phrase “the Word” is used as a title for Second Person of the Trinity.  In our text, “the Word” refers to Jesus Christ:  “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory.”

That is what we celebrate at Christmas: “The Word,” Jesus Christ, the Second Person of the Trinity, becoming flesh, born as the child of the Virgin Mary over 2,000 years ago in the little town of Bethlehem.  The Babe of Bethlehem is God in human flesh.  “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory.”

But the phrase “the Word became flesh” also has another meaning for us.  The birth of Jesus Christ shows us how God puts his word into action.  God says that he loves us, and he puts his word into action by sending his Son to be our Savior.  “This is how God showed his love for us,” St. John writes in his First Epistle. “He sent his only-begotten Son in the world that we would have life through him.  He loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.”  God doesn’t just say that he loves us, he does something about it.  “For God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

God says that he forgives us, and he puts his word into action by sending his Son to die on the cross, earning forgiveness for us by suffering in our place the punishment our sins deserved.  “What child is this, who, laid to rest, on Mary’s Lap is sleeping?  Nails, spear shall pierce him through, the cross be borne for me, for you;  Hail, hail the Word made flesh, the babe, the son of Mary!”  Again, as St. John writes in his First Epistle: “The blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from every sin. . .  He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.”

God says that we shall have eternal life, and he puts his word into action by sending his Son to live and die and rise from the dead, as St. Paul says in 1 Corinthians, “Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep.”  “I am the resurrection and the life,” Jesus says.  “Whoever believes in me, even though he dies, yet shall he live. . .  Everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.”

The birth of Jesus Christ shows us how God puts his word into action.  God says that he loves us, and he puts his word into action by sending his Son to be our Savior.  God says that he forgives us, and he puts his word into action by sending his Son to die on the cross, earning forgiveness for us.  God says that we shall have eternal life, and he puts his word into action by sending his Son to live and die and rise from the dead, “the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep.”

“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory.”  God puts his word into action.  What about you?

In your Baptism and at your Confirmation, you committed yourself to the Lord.  To trust in him, to worship him, to serve him with your whole life.  With God’s help, put your words into action!

Another example is the traditional wedding vows, when you committed yourself to your spouse, “To have and to hold from this day forward; for better, for worse; for richer, for poorer; in sickness and in health; to love and to cherish; til death do us part.”  Those were your words in your weddings vows.  With God’s help, put your words into action.

The word “Christian” itself—what does that word mean for your everyday living?  It means, as Jesus says, that you will take up your cross daily and follow him.  It means, as St. Paul says in Colossians, that you will live a life worthy of the Lord, bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God.  With God’s help, put the word “Christian” into action in your everyday living.

“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory.”  The birth of Jesus Christ shows us how God puts his word into action.  God says that he loves us, God says that he forgives us, God says that we shall have eternal life, and he puts his word into action by sending his Son.  With God’s help, put your Christian commitment—and the word “Christian” itself—into action in your life.

Amen.

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