We Praise You, Jesus, at Your Birth - Christmas Day - December 25, 2020 - Text, Sermon Hymn, #382 - We Praise You, Jesus, at Your Birth; Scripture Readings: Luke 2:7-14; 1 Tim. 3:16; 1 John 1:1-3

Today, well, actually last night we began to celebrate, but today is the official day we begin to celebrate the birth of the One promised back in the Garden of Eden, the Messiah, the Savior of the world, God in flesh, Emanuel, Jesus. The author of our hymn for today is unknown. The hymn was originally one stanza and in Low German. In the fourteenth century it was a kind of one-stanza folk song bringing adoration of the shepherds and the angels into the tongues of the worshipers. Martin Luther took this tiny text and made it into a major hymn by adding six stanzas. So, let us look at the stanzas.
 

Stanza one, “We praise You, Jesus, at Your birth; Clothed in flesh You came to earth. The virgin bears a sinless boy And all the angels sing for joy. Alleluia!” This first stanza is a reference from Luke and the song of the angels, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased.” And there is a reference to 1 Timothy and the mystery of God in flesh, as Paul writes young Pastor Timothy and says, “16Great indeed, we confess, is the mystery of godliness: He was manifested in the flesh, vindicated by the Spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory” (1 Timothy 3:16).
 

Stanza two, “Now in the manger we may see  God’s Son from eternity, The gift from God’s eternal throne Here clothed in our poor flesh and bone. Alleluia!” Here again in stanza two we have another reference from Luke and the baby in the manger, and from 1 Timothy and the mystery of God in flesh here clothed in poor flesh and bone. What a mystery that God has taken on flesh and bone in this helpless little baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger, a feeding trough for animals.
 

Stanza three, “The virgin Mary’s lullaby Calms the infant Lord Most High. Upon her lap content is He Who keeps the earth and sky and sea. Alleluia!” Once more here in stanza three we have a reference from Luke about the baby wrapped in cloths and from 1 Timothy about the mystery of God in flesh. The young virgin Mary is holding in her lap the Lord of all, the God who keeps the earth and sky and sea in its place and yet is here in her lap as an infant human baby, what a mystery indeed.
 

Stanza four, “The Light Eternal, breaking through, Made the world to gleam anew; His beams have pierced the core of night, He makes us children of the light. Alleluia!” The fourth stanza reveals that this Child is the true Light of the world. As we have sang at other times during the Advent season and leading up to today, Jesus is the Light of the world. He is the Light shining through the darkness of our sin filled world, exposing the sin of the world and truly more importantly bringing forgiveness of sins to all the world.
 

Stanza five, “The very Son of God sublime Entered into earthly time To lead us from this world of cares To heaven’s courts as blessed heirs. Alleluia!” The fifth stanza declares that this Child, only begotten from the Father, came to bring us to His mansions in heaven. Here we have a bit of a reference to 1 John 1 where John tells us, “1That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life—2the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us—3that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ” (1 John 1:1-3). John’s words and the words of our hymn stanza declare to us the very purpose of Jesus’ birth, God in flesh who came to pay the price for sin, to give us forgiveness and to take us to heaven to be with Himself for eternity.
 

Stanza six, “In poverty He came to earth Showing mercy by His birth; He makes us rich in heav’nly ways As we, like angels, sing His praise. Alleluia!” This stanza brings us back to our reference from Luke and the angels song. Luke writes, “7And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn. 8And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. 10And the angel said to them, ‘Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 11For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. 12And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.’ 13And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, 14‘Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!’” (Luke 2:7-14). Our God, Jesus, was in heaven enjoying all the glory of heaven and yet He gave that up in order to take on human flesh and blood, in order to be born as one of us. Even more, His was not a royal birth but a birth to poor parents having an animals feeding trough for His first bed. He was born to live and do what we are unable to do, live in perfection. He was born to take our sins and pay the price of eternal death, hell for us. He was born to give, to trade His perfection for our imperfection. He was born to make us rich in heavenly ways.
 

Stanza seven, “All this for us our God has done Granting love through His own Son. Therefore, all Christendom, rejoice And sing His praise with endless voice. Alleluia!” Once more this stanza brings us back to a reference from Luke and the angels’ song and a reference from 1 John and the trinity. Greater love can no one have than this that one will lay down their life for another. As we have said before, God’s great love is seen in the fact that even before He began creating the world He knew what was going to happen. He knew that Adam and Eve would sin and bring death into the world. He knew that He would have to take on human flesh and blood in order to pay the price for our sins, that is that human life was expected for human sin. Yes, His love for us is seen in this that He still created this world and that He created us. He created us to love us and that is what He did and does.
 

We have spent twenty-seven days preparing ourselves to once again celebrate this historic event, the birth of our God in human flesh. We will continue to celebrate for the full twelve days of Christmas, until we celebrate Epiphany and the visit of the Magi, the wise men from the east. We celebrate because the birth of this Child shows what great love our God has for us. This Child, God in flesh was born for a purpose, to live for us and to die for us. Yes, as always we celebrate Christmas with the cross in focus. Following Epiphany and the Epiphany season we will celebrate the Transfiguration of our Lord after which we will celebrate Ash Wednesday and the season of Lent. The Lenten season prepares us for our Maundy Thursday and Good Friday remembrances but even more it prepares us for our Easter resurrection celebration. Our church year moves us to remember what a great God we have, what a loving God we have, what a gift giving God we have, what a forgiving God we have.
 

And as we have been reminded so I remind you once again, we worship a God who has already done everything for us and gives everything to us. It is a done deal. Jesus has already been born. He has already lived a perfect life, the perfect life demanded of us for us in our place. He has already taken all our sins, our sins of omission, our sins of commission, our sins of thought, word and deed, even those sins we have yet to commit. He has suffered and died and paid the eternal death penalty of hell for us in our place. No more needs to be done. And He has already risen from the dead. He has ascended into heaven where He is seated at the right hand of the Father watching over us, ruling over us and interceding for us. He is now waiting for the time when He will return to gather us and all the saints and take us to be with Himself in heaven for eternity. Indeed, come Lord Jesus, come quickly.
 

And so, we praise our great God because of His great love for us. We praise You, Jesus at Your birth, God in flesh made manifest. We praise You, Jesus for Your love for us, a love that knows no bounds, a love that brought You to live for us, to die for us, to rise for us, to give us forgiveness and eternal life and to promise to return to gather us and all the saints and take us and all the saints to be with You in Your kingdom in heaven for eternity. To You and You alone be all glory. Amen.