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Series B – Christmas Eve – Wednesday, December 24, 2014 | Pr. Chris Rosebrough

Welcome to the Teaching Ministry of Kongsvinger Lutheran Church. Kongsvinger is a beacon for the Gospel of Jesus Christ and is located on the plains of Northwestern Minnesota. We proclaim Christ and Him crucified for our sins and salvation by grace through faith alone, and now, here’s a message from Pastor Chris Rosebrough:

Time Stamp	Transcript
0:27	Our first reading this Christmas Eve is taken from the prophet Isaiah chapter 9
0:33	verses 2 through 7. the people who walked in darkness have
0:39	seen a great light those who dwelt in the land of deep Darkness on them a light has shown
0:45	you have multiplied the nation you have increased its Joy they rejoiced before
0:50	you as with joy at the Harvest as they are glad when they divide the spoil
0:56	for the Yoke of his burden and the staff of for his shoulder and the rod of his oppressor you have broken as on the day
1:03	of Midian for every boot of the trampling Warrior embattled tumult and every garment rolled in blood will be
1:10	burned as fuel for the fire for to us a child is born to us a son is given and
1:19	the government shall be upon his shoulder and his name Shall be Called wonderful
1:24	counselor Mighty God Everlasting father Prince of Peace
1:31	of the increase of his government and of Peace there will be no end and the Throne of David and over his kingdom to
1:38	establish it and to uphold it with Justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore the Zeal of
1:45	the Lord of hosts will do this our second reading is taken from Titus
1:53	Chapter 2 verses 11 through 14. for the grace of God has appeared
1:59	bringing salvation for all people training us to renounce ungodliness and
2:05	worldly passions and to live self-controlled upright and godly lives in the present age
2:11	waiting for our blessed hope the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ who gave himself
2:18	for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for
2:25	his own possession who are zealous for good works the holy Gospel According to Saint Luke
2:32	Chapter 2 verses 1 through 20. in those days a decree went out from
2:38	Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered or taxed this was
2:43	the first registration when quirinius was the governor of Syria and all went to be registered each to his own town
2:49	Joseph also went up From Galilee from the town of Nazareth to Judea to the
2:54	city of David which is called Bethlehem because he was at the house and the lineage of David to be registered with
3:00	Mary his betrothed who was with child and while they were there the time came
3:06	for her to give birth and she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling clothes and
3:14	laid him in a Manger because there was no place for them in the inn and in the same region there were shepherds out in
3:20	the field keeping watch over their flock by night and an angel of the Lord appeared to them and the glory of the
3:26	Lord Shone around them and they were filled with great fear and the angel said to them fear not for behold I bring
3:34	you good news of great joy that will be for all the people for unto you was born
3:40	this day in the city of David a savior who is Christ the lord and this will be
3:46	a sign for you you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying
3:51	in a manger and suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the Heavenly Host praising God and saying glory to
3:59	God in the highest and on Earth peace among those with whom he is pleased
4:05	when the angels went away from them into heaven the shepherd said to one another let us go over to Bethlehem to see this
4:12	thing that has happened which the Lord has made known to us and they went with haste and they found Mary Joseph and the
4:19	baby lying in a Manger and when they saw it they made known the saying that had been told them
4:25	concerning this child and all who heard it wondered at what the Shepherds told
4:31	them but Mary treasured up all these things pondering them in her heart and the
4:36	Shepherds returned glorifying and praising God for all that they had heard and seen as it had been told to them
4:44	in the name of Jesus Galatians Chapter 4 verses 4 through 5
4:51	reads but when the fullness of time had come God sent forth his son born of a woman
4:57	born under the law to redeem those who were under the law so that we might
5:04	receive adoption as Sons what a blessed gift
5:09	what a blessed gift let’s return now to our text and see if we can unpack and
5:15	unwrap this gift a little bit our text begins with these words from the gospel in those days a decree went
5:21	out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered this was the first registration when quirinius was
5:27	the governor of Syria and all went to be registered each to his own town now they’d like to say there’s two things
5:33	certain in life death and taxes here’s taxes at work and I think it’s important for us to
5:40	note this that when we look at Jesus’s miraculous birth it’s prefigured in the Old Testament
5:46	even with the birth of Moses if you think about the story of Moses Moses was born in slavery and yet he was a child
5:53	who was very beautiful and his parents did not want to put him to death and so they put him in a basket set him out on
6:00	the river and then a princess rescued him and he grew up as a prince
6:06	now as miraculous as that all is well Jesus he did not grow up as a prince his
6:12	miraculous birth was truly of a virgin amazing story if you think about it that
6:17	God would so do this but this is exactly what he told us he would do back in the garden when he said that the seed of the
6:23	woman would crush the head of the serpent so you can say Christ is prophesied in Genesis chapter 3 verse 15
6:30	as well as even the Virgin Mary herself although how this went down is quite
6:35	interesting so we find here in our story that Israel once again is in a sense on
6:41	in slavery they’re no longer independent they’re not their own nation state they’re not
6:46	calling the shots the theocracy of Israel is long gone long gone and so here we have Caesar Augustus a
6:53	man who considers himself to be a god king taxing people and to make matters worse than the days before there were
6:59	cars before there were well decent roads and the things that we enjoy today
7:07	Mary and Joseph find themselves having to pull up stake while Mary is literally about to give
7:14	birth the text doesn’t say anything about a donkey and what we know from this text also as
7:22	well as from the preceding chapter is that Mary and Joseph are dirt poor
7:28	they’re absolutely dirt poor now if you’re wondering how do I know this well
7:34	in the next pericope for next this coming Sunday we have Mary and Joseph
7:39	going to the temple to present Jesus and to offer the sacrifices commanded by the by the the Mosaic Covenant they can’t
7:46	even afford a lamb for the sacrifice for Jesus they can only afford two turtle doves
7:52	that’s it that’s a poor man’s offering so here we find literally the House of
7:59	David reduced to abject poverty Joseph and Mary have to pull up stake
8:06	out of this beleaguered blight of a town called Nazareth you think of the Gospel of John
8:13	somebody asked the question one of the disciples asked questions can anything good come from Nazareth can anything good come from Nazareth this is I mean
8:19	where the House of David is and Mary has to travel probably on foot from Nazareth
8:26	all the way down to Bethlehem to be registered things are not looking good but all of
8:32	this is to fulfill the prophet because where did Jesus have to be born well according to the prophet he had to be born in Bethlehem the city of David and
8:39	this is how God chose things to happen you would think that if God’s going to choose the Virgin Mary
8:46	to hold and carry and be pregnant with the Messiah that there’ll be a little
8:52	bit of comfort that goes along with it well things not so good you know so we
8:57	read so they went up From Galilee from the town of Nazareth to Judea to the
9:02	city of David which is called Bethlehem because he was of the house and the lineage of David to be registered with
9:08	Mary his betrothed who is with child and while they were there the time for her to give birth came and she gave
9:14	birth to her first born son notice it says firstborn you know I hate to say this but there’s
9:22	several texts and this is one of them that kind of argues against this idea of Mary’s Perpetual virginity Jesus had
9:28	Brothers Jesus had sisters and here it says she gave birth to her firstborn so you know if that was her firstborn I
9:35	think there were others and we since Jesus had brothers and sisters I think it’s safe to say well she did not
9:40	maintain her verb genity for the entirety of her life as some would like us to believe but she gave
9:47	birth to her firstborn son wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a Manger notice here it doesn’t mention
9:53	anything about a midwife doesn’t say anything about nurses tending to her Court officials or anybody else to offer
10:00	her comfort in fact she gives birth and who’s the one wrapping Jesus in
10:06	swaddling clothes Mary Mary
10:12	so she wraps Jesus in swaddling clothes She lays him in a Manger because there
10:17	was no place for them in the end things are bursting at the seams in the town of Bethlehem
10:23	they don’t even have the ability to stay at motel 6. they’re in quite well quite a pickle
10:32	here mangers if you’ve been around barn animals barn animals are known to well
10:39	release things that make odors so they’re surrounded by animals
10:46	horse poop Ox poop goat poop urine I’m sure it just smells great and
10:53	this is where God chose to be born because that’s who
10:59	Jesus is he’s God in human flesh this was his choice Jesus is really the
11:04	one calling the shots here and this is how he chose to be born not in a palace but literally in such humble
11:11	poverty-stricken circumstances that after he’s born his mother is the one
11:16	who has to wrap him up and they’re staying in a Manger John puts it this way
11:24	regarding Jesus in the beginning was the word and the Word was with God and the Word
11:30	was God that is Jesus he the word was with God in the beginning and all things
11:36	were made through him and without him was not anything that was made that was made in him was life and the life was
11:43	the light of men and the light shines in the darkness and the Darkness is not overcome it there was a man who was sent
11:50	from John who from God whose name was John and he came as a witness to Bear witness about the light that all might
11:56	believe through him he was not the light but he came to bear witness about the light the True Light
12:02	which gives light to everyone was coming into the world he was in the world and
12:08	though the world was made through him yet the world did not know him he came
12:14	to his own and his own people did not receive him but to all who did receive
12:20	him who believed in his name he gave the right to become children of God who were born not of blood
12:27	door of the will of of the flesh nor of the will of a man
12:33	but children born of God and the word became flesh and he dwelt among us and we have seen his glory
12:40	glory glory as of the only son of the father full of grace and truth
12:47	that’s who Jesus is he’s God in human flesh the God who spoke the universe into
12:53	existence in six days the one who said let there be light and there was light
12:58	the one who called to the great light in the sky and said Son and the one who
13:05	called to the Lesser light and said Moon that very one chose to be born literally in a barn
13:16	this tells us something about God Jesus was right his ways are not our
13:22	ways his thoughts are not our thoughts who of us would have ever written the
13:28	story where God is born in a barn and he’s doing this for us to give us
13:34	eternal life story turns a little bit in that same region there were shepherds out in the
13:41	field keeping watch over their flock by night and an angel of the Lord appeared to them in the glory of the Lord Shone
13:47	around them and they were filled with great fear
13:54	who could blame them who can blame them who of us could stand in the presence of a Holy sinless Angel
14:02	who beholds the very face of God and not fear and tremble and it makes sense too
14:08	I mean if you think back to the fact that Jesus is Promised in the Garden of Eden
14:15	there’s also an account of Angels in the Garden of Eden and after our fall in a
14:21	sense angels are not technically our friends because we’re at war with God
14:28	when we’re brought to penance and faith in Christ they minister to us they protect us
14:34	but prior to that well we’re actually born hostile to God and they are our mortal enemies and you think about the
14:40	job that God gave the angels in Genesis let me read it to you from Genesis chapter 3. I’ll begin with the cursing
14:48	of the serpent Genesis 3 14. here’s what it says the Lord said to the serpent because you have done this cursed are
14:55	you above all livestock above all Beasts of the field on your belly you shall go in the dust you shall eat all the days
15:02	of your life and I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your Offspring and her Offspring he
15:09	shall bruise your head and you shall Bruce his heel to the woman he said I will surely
15:16	multiply your pain in childbearing and pain you shall bring forth children your desire shall be for your husband and he
15:22	shall rule over you and to Adam he said because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the fruit
15:28	of the tree which I commanded you you shall not eat of it cursed is the ground because of you in pain you shall eat of
15:34	it all the days of your life thorns and thistles which shall bring forth for you and you shall eat the plants of the
15:40	field and by the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground for out of it you were taken for
15:47	you are dust and to dust you shall return the man called his wife’s name Eve in
15:55	the Hebrew because she was the mother of all the living and the Lord God Made For Adam and his wife garments of skin and
16:01	he clothed them and then the Lord God said behold the man has become like one of us knowing good and evil now lest he
16:08	reached out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat and then live forever therefore the Lord God sent him
16:14	out of the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken he drove out the man and at the east of the
16:21	Garden of Eden he placed the cherubim these are angels and a flaming sword
16:26	that turned every way to guard the way to the Tree of Life
16:31	flaming sword holy cherubim this had to be a sight that if you were
16:38	just to look at it with your own eyes you probably would have shaken out of your boots
16:44	this is a scary and awesome thing and this is the type of relationship now
16:50	that man because of our sinful nature in a sense by Nature has with angels so
16:56	seeing an angel could be well an experience that would leave you dead
17:02	so here we have the Angels showing up to the Shepherds out in the middle of their
17:09	field and it says the angel of the Lord appeared to them the glory of the Lord showed around them and they were all
17:15	filled with great fear can you blame them but the angel said to them
17:21	fear not the angel is there to comfort for behold
17:26	I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people
17:32	For unto you is Born This Day in the city of David a savior who is Christ the lord
17:41	those angels who knew their buddies who had been put on guard in the Garden of Eden with the Flaming sword to keep the
17:47	men out that they’re no longer harbingers of God’s justice ready to threaten and to
17:54	punish instead they’re here to announce good news to us and this news that the
18:01	Angels announced to the Shepherds this news is also good news to us
18:06	because it’s not to who just the Shepherds that Christ is born but Christ is born for us and this calls for us to
18:14	believe the same way the Shepherds did for you see unto you is born in the city of David a savior who is Christ the lord
18:22	and this will be the sign for you you’ll find a baby wrapped in swaddling
18:27	clothes and lying in a manger and suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the Heavenly hosts praising
18:34	God and saying glory to God in the highest and on Earth peace among those
18:39	with whom he is pleased now quick aside you know the internet is quite the
18:45	fascinating piece of technology in fact there’s a great quote on there that there’s a quote from a very famous
18:51	person who goes like this don’t believe everything you read on the internet signed Abraham Lincoln
18:57	great piece of advice but if you if you’re on the internet you’ll notice that there’s kind of a rise of a lot of
19:05	people within Christendom who are falling into what I would consider to be just an egregious error and that is is
19:11	that they somehow are believing that celebrating Christmas is somehow a sin
19:17	somehow it’s really in a sense you know worshiping Pagan deities or that it’s
19:22	somehow a pagan practice that got smuggled into the church that’s all hogwash it’s all Pious sounding hogwash
19:29	and the reality of this situation is is that I see in this text
19:34	Angels who are partying and praising God and have good news to announce and
19:40	they’re doing it on Jesus’s birthday if the angels can celebrate the birth of Christ
19:46	then certainly we can too and so don’t let anybody steal your joy with these Pious sounding arguments that
19:52	somehow it’s it’s a sinful thing to celebrate Christmas if that were the case then these Angels were truly the
19:58	greatest Sinners of all time but they’re not they’re shouting and praising glory to God in the highest and
20:05	on Earth peace among those with whom he is pleased this kind of Echoes Psalm 98 which is another Christmas song
20:12	which which is read during this time of the year let me read it to you oh sing to the Lord a new song for he has done
20:20	marvelous things his right hand and His holy arm have worked salvation for him the Lord has
20:27	made known his salvation he has revealed his righteousness in the sight of the Nations he has remembered his steadfast
20:34	love and faithfulness to the house of Israel all the ends of the Earth have seen the salvation of our God make a
20:40	Joyful Noise to the Lord all the Earth Break Forth and joyou a song and sing praises sing praises to the Lord with a
20:48	liar and with a liar the sound of Melody with trumpets and the sound of the horn Make a Joyful Noise before the king the
20:55	Lord let the sea Roar and all that fills it let the world and those who dwell in
21:01	it let the rivers clap their hands and let the hills Sing For Joy together before the Lord for he comes to judge
21:08	the Earth and he will judge the world with righteousness and the peoples with equity
21:14	indeed glory to God in the highest that he has had mercy on us and he has worked
21:19	such a great salvation by sending us the promised seed of the woman to crush the
21:25	head of the serpent for you see there in the manger in that rough wood of the
21:30	manger which is Jesus’s cradle that foreshadows his cross and so Jesus is
21:35	well on his way now to the cross and he’s there for us you think of that song
21:40	that we sang last week What Child Is This who’s laid to rest on Mary’s lap is sleeping one of the verses says Nails
21:48	spear shall pierce him through the cross he bore for me for you hail hail the
21:54	word made flesh the babe the son of Mary this is something to be joyful about
22:02	so when the angels went away from them into heaven the shepherd said to one another let us go over to Bethlehem and
22:09	see this thing that has happened which the Lord has made known to us they recognize that the message was
22:15	given by God himself to the angels to deliver to them and so it says notice it
22:21	says which the Lord has made known to us not the Angels but the Lord that’s that’s the way it is with Messengers
22:26	when somebody comes and gives you a message from somebody else the messenger means nothing so in other words just
22:33	keep that in mind when dealing with me I’m just the messenger you know I have words from God
22:40	so they went with haste and they found Mary and Joseph and the baby lying in a Manger just like they were told now if
22:49	you think about it I mean if you had a camera crew in Bethlehem and maybe you were covering the story the news was
22:55	being splashed across the screens back 2000 years ago Bethlehem packed for
23:01	taxation right people from all over coming to being registered there’s no place for anybody to stay it would look
23:07	like a packed town and so there in the packed Town it would be like no big deal
23:13	if you saw and over here we’ve got this family and oh you just had a baby and you’re in a Manger oh wow that shows you
23:19	how packed it is it’s really not that great of a sign if you think about it
23:25	pack Town small family lady just gave birth they’re in a Manger they’re making do but see the thing is without a word
23:32	from God we have no idea how to understand the theological significance of what’s taking place and what people
23:38	are seeing because the sign is that the Babe is in a Manger
23:43	but the theology is is that he’s Christ the King who’s born unto us so because
23:50	we have that Revelation from God we can look at something as ordinary and common as a baby in a manger and understand the
23:57	theological significance and understand exactly who that is without the word of
24:03	God it’s just an ordinary event but with the word of God it’s something that calls us
24:09	to believe and to have faith and to have hope and to trust so
24:15	they made known the saying so they went with haste it doesn’t say they just dawdled they actually got up and hoofed
24:22	it they were running probably a little bit winded they found Mary and Joseph the baby lying in a manger and when they
24:27	saw it they made known the saying that had been told to them concerning this child and all who heard it wondered at
24:34	what the Shepherds told them but Mary treasured up all these things pondering them in her heart and that’s the reason
24:40	why we know what happened by the way because Luke opens up his gospel with basically saying I’ve made an orderly
24:46	account and talked to the eyewitnesses and I wrote all these things down so the question is how did Luke come up with
24:52	all of this stuff the answer is he didn’t he sat down and had a cup of coffee with Mary and said Mary would you
24:59	explain to me the circumstances by which our Lord was born she said I’d be happy to let me tell you
25:06	what happened and she does that’s where all of this came from all of this report there’s only one person who was alive at
25:12	the time who could have given this report and that’s Mary herself and so we know here from this text that
25:18	Mary treasured up all these things pondering them in her heart and the Shepherds returned
25:24	not disappointed not underwhelmed they returned glorifying and praising
25:31	God for all that they had heard and seen as it had been told to them
25:38	and so here’s kind of the irony of it we’ll come back here there’s God and human flesh
25:45	in a Manger not a palace born to set us free
25:50	and Philippians describes Jesus’s Incarnation this way Jesus Christ
25:56	who though he was in the form of God he did not count equality with God a thing
26:02	to be grasped instead he emptied himself by taking the form of a servant or slave
26:09	and being born in the likeness of men and being found in human form he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the
26:16	point of death even death on a cross so we can’t talk about the manger
26:21	without talking about the cross because here is the god of the universe King of Kings Lord of lords the Alpha and the
26:28	Omega the beginning and the end the one who is and was who is to come
26:34	he’s chosen to empty himself of all of that empty himself why to rescue you
26:43	to rescue me because every single one of us needs rescuing all of us
26:50	foreign sinners the sons of Adam daughters of Eve born
26:55	with their sin conceived in sin enslaved to sin cannot
27:02	set ourselves free but God sends a hero God sends a savior
27:08	and his first move is not with flexing power but instead is to be born and
27:15	there’s God in human flesh looping his diapers crying because he’s
27:20	hungry nursing at the breast of Mary all of these
27:27	Earthly humble things he’s done them for you he’s done them for me
27:35	and so this is good news and because he humbled himself and became obedient to
27:40	the point of death even death on a cross that says this therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name
27:48	that is above every name so that at the name of Jesus on the last day every knee
27:53	should bow in heaven on Earth and under the Earth and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God
28:00	the Father course Titus says but when the goodness and loving kindness of our savior
28:08	appeared just think about those words goodness
28:13	loving kindness of God our savior appeared
28:19	he saved us that’s right the nature of God is kindness it’s love
28:28	it’s Mercy it’s forgiveness he truly does not desire the death of
28:34	any of the wicked but his true hope is that all would be brought to repentance
28:40	and he’s paid the ultimate price for us but when the goodness and the loving
28:46	kindness of our God and savior appeared he saved us not because of Works done by
28:52	us in righteousness but he saved us according to his own Mercy by the washing of regeneration and
28:59	renewal of the Holy Spirit whom you poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ Our Savior so that being
29:05	justified by his grace as a gift we might become heirs
29:10	according to the hope of eternal life and so this Christmas Eve
29:17	as we celebrate and Ponder the great mercy and gifts of God and sending us our savior
29:23	understand this all of this was because Jesus was going to the cross and he went to the Cross to redeem to save you but
29:31	he also rose again from the grave and you too will rise again you too will see
29:36	this King face to face you will see him in all of
29:41	his glory and you will not shrink back and not have to hear from him fear not because he will not say such things to
29:47	you because he has washed you he has redeemed you and here at this table he feeds you with his body and his blood
29:54	and he has you and he’s not going to let go of you and he is going to bring you
29:59	with him into eternal life new Heavens new Earth forever because God is good he
30:06	is merciful and he is kind and this night we celebrate the fact that tonight
30:11	he said to us a savior let us believe let us hope
30:18	because that’s what this night and this day is all about in Jesus name amen
30:24	[Music]

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