Text: Titus 2:11-14
Facebook live: Christ the King the word made flesh!
11 For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, 12 training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, 13 waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, 14 who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.
Away in the manger, is a beautiful hymn.
It speaks of Christ’s humanity and ours.
It speaks of his tender care and our need to have him near us always.
It speaks of the Lord’s presence and love in our lives and an eternity promised with him forever. It speaks of God’s grace.
But what is the grace of God?
Grace, a word used often in the Bible is the spontaneous love of God towards sinful people.
It is the goodness of God that moves him to love us, who are unloving and to do good to us who are undeserving of any good. Grace means that God, in his very nature, is good, kind, forgiving, and helpful to us, even though we who receive such favors don’t deserve them.
Grace means that whatever God gives us, he gives us as a free gift.
It eliminates any human merit or works to get right with God.
We cannot meet God half way for we have no ladder to climb.
We can’t pick ourselves up by our bootstraps towards God, because we have no boots.
And because our sins we stand helpless and naked before God.
Yet in his heart, there is Grace.
God has revealed his Grace in the person of Jesus Christ for the salvation of all men, the Grace of God is not only an attitude in the heart of our great God, but a feeling that moved him to action.
Go to Bethlehem look into a manger who lies there?
In that child in the manger, God reveals his grace to us that is not an ordinary child.
In that child, you see God in action and that child God is carrying us God’s eternal plan for us through that child, he is showing his spontaneous love for us planned in eternity, promised throughout the Old Testament days and brought into our world and into our lives to bring us his truth and grace.
This child is the seat of woman promised to our first parents, Adam and eve
He is the one who would crush the head of Satan and save men from Satan’s power.
This is the one of whom the angel said to Joseph, you will name him, Jesus for he will save his people from their sin.
This is the one who said the son of man did not come to be served but He came to serve and to give his life to redeem many people.
He lived a life of obedience under the law of God, which we break daily.
He died to death on the cross. The death that we deserved by our sins,
He gave himself for us to rescue us from all wickedness.
By him, we are saved from the guilt and punishment of all our rebellion against God, our self-will our pride and lusts?
Our disobedience, our unfaithfulness, our disloyalties, our broken promises. Yes, the whole sorry, lot of all the sins and transgressions. From the means you're, he went to the cross and everything that he thought, said, and did during those blessed years of his life here on earth was for you and me to rescue us from all wickedness to restore us to our original position as his children and his heirs in heaven.
And when the angel of the Lord appeared to the shepherds in the field near Bethlehem and the glory of the Lord shone around them, they were filled with fear but by the angel's good news, in, David's town, your savior was born, their fear was turned into worship.
Likewise, our fear before God is turned into worship. God has revealed to us the Grace that brings us salvation,
The angel told the shepherds that this good news for you will bring great joy to all people. This is the amazing element of saving grace that God makes known from the manger.
It was not only for Joseph and Mary the shepherds, the wise men. and all the people that Jesus met during his days here on earth.
It embraces all the people, Jews and gentiles, rulers and subjects, rich and poor well-known and those unknown, men and women, adults and children from every generation of all times in all places
Whatever your problems are, or burdens are, God is sending forth his saving grace from the manger for you. Don't pull-down the curtain of doubt or unbelief over your heart. Let the light of God’s grace shine in, for the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared in Jesus Christ, and this grace is for all people,
Dear friends.it is for you!
The grace that God reveals in the manger was given to save us not only from the guilt and punishment of our sin, but also from the power of sin in our lives. God has given us his grace, not only to hold before us a promise for the future, but also to give us power for the present.
It is a grace that transforms our lives, it changes our lives. It trains and disciplines us to live new lives in Christ.
This Christ, whose birth we celebrate today gave himself for us to rescue us from all wickedness, and to make us pure people who belong to him alone and are eager to do good so that we might gladly desire what God desires and do what he commands.
We wrestle with being both saint and sinner.
The grace of God helps me to live a godly life. That is a life that shows my respect and love for God and sincerely seeks to do those things that meet his approval, here in his house where it is fairly easy to do, but also in my daily life where it and temptation abound.
So, my whole life really becomes an act of worship to live, that kind of life.
It is necessary to reshape my thinking to change my sense of values, to redirect my will, to alter my conduct. This, only the transforming grace of God can do, by his word and through his Spirit, and that is the transforming grace that God gives me from the manger.
Sometimes you hear people ask has Christmas changed through the years?
The more important question is, has Christmas changed you?
What has the grace of God that shines forth from the manger done to improve your life?
Has it changed your desires enough so that at Christmas you are thinking more of what God gives you than what you than what the world gives?
Has it transformed your wants enough so that you can control yourself amid the excesses associated with the season?
Does the Grace of God that shines from the manger move you to love your fellow men, as much as you love yourself?
How much has Christmas changed you and me?
The Grace God reveals in the manger also trains us to wait for the blessed day, we hope for when the glory of our great God and savior Jesus Christ will appear.
This is a reference to the second coming of Christ, his coming in glory to judge the living and the dead. The second coming of Christ is probably one of the last things you expect to hear about on Christmas Day.
Perhaps you're thinking why insert thoughts of judgment into this happy Christmas morning? Doesn't judgment mean doom and gloom?
It need not, because the grace of God which appeared at Christ's first coming enables us to look forward to a second coming, eagerly, expectantly and joyfully,
So too the grace of God tied to the first coming of Christ is that which we hold to as we walk through the storms and dangers of this life to his second coming. It guides and leads us safely to our eternal home.
11 For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, 12 training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, 13 waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, 14 who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.
Away in the manger, is a beautiful hymn.
It speaks of Christ’s humanity and ours.
It speaks of his tender care and our need to have him near us always.
It speaks of the Lord’s presence and love in our lives and an eternity promised with him forever. It speaks of God’s grace.
But what is the grace of God?
Grace, a word used often in the Bible is the spontaneous love of God towards sinful people.
It is the goodness of God that moves him to love us, who are unloving and to do good to us who are undeserving of any good. Grace means that God, in his very nature, is good, kind, forgiving, and helpful to us, even though we who receive such favors don’t deserve them.
Grace means that whatever God gives us, he gives us as a free gift.
It eliminates any human merit or works to get right with God.
We cannot meet God half way for we have no ladder to climb.
We can’t pick ourselves up by our bootstraps towards God, because we have no boots.
And because our sins we stand helpless and naked before God.
Yet in his heart, there is Grace.
God has revealed his Grace in the person of Jesus Christ for the salvation of all men, the Grace of God is not only an attitude in the heart of our great God, but a feeling that moved him to action.
Go to Bethlehem look into a manger who lies there?
In that child in the manger, God reveals his grace to us that is not an ordinary child.
In that child, you see God in action and that child God is carrying us God’s eternal plan for us through that child, he is showing his spontaneous love for us planned in eternity, promised throughout the Old Testament days and brought into our world and into our lives to bring us his truth and grace.
This child is the seat of woman promised to our first parents, Adam and eve
He is the one who would crush the head of Satan and save men from Satan’s power.
This is the one of whom the angel said to Joseph, you will name him, Jesus for he will save his people from their sin.
This is the one who said the son of man did not come to be served but He came to serve and to give his life to redeem many people.
He lived a life of obedience under the law of God, which we break daily.
He died to death on the cross. The death that we deserved by our sins,
He gave himself for us to rescue us from all wickedness.
By him, we are saved from the guilt and punishment of all our rebellion against God, our self-will our pride and lusts?
Our disobedience, our unfaithfulness, our disloyalties, our broken promises. Yes, the whole sorry, lot of all the sins and transgressions. From the means you're, he went to the cross and everything that he thought, said, and did during those blessed years of his life here on earth was for you and me to rescue us from all wickedness to restore us to our original position as his children and his heirs in heaven.
And when the angel of the Lord appeared to the shepherds in the field near Bethlehem and the glory of the Lord shone around them, they were filled with fear but by the angel's good news, in, David's town, your savior was born, their fear was turned into worship.
Likewise, our fear before God is turned into worship. God has revealed to us the Grace that brings us salvation,
The angel told the shepherds that this good news for you will bring great joy to all people. This is the amazing element of saving grace that God makes known from the manger.
It was not only for Joseph and Mary the shepherds, the wise men. and all the people that Jesus met during his days here on earth.
It embraces all the people, Jews and gentiles, rulers and subjects, rich and poor well-known and those unknown, men and women, adults and children from every generation of all times in all places
Whatever your problems are, or burdens are, God is sending forth his saving grace from the manger for you. Don't pull-down the curtain of doubt or unbelief over your heart. Let the light of God’s grace shine in, for the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared in Jesus Christ, and this grace is for all people,
Dear friends.it is for you!
The grace that God reveals in the manger was given to save us not only from the guilt and punishment of our sin, but also from the power of sin in our lives. God has given us his grace, not only to hold before us a promise for the future, but also to give us power for the present.
It is a grace that transforms our lives, it changes our lives. It trains and disciplines us to live new lives in Christ.
This Christ, whose birth we celebrate today gave himself for us to rescue us from all wickedness, and to make us pure people who belong to him alone and are eager to do good so that we might gladly desire what God desires and do what he commands.
We wrestle with being both saint and sinner.
The grace of God helps me to live a godly life. That is a life that shows my respect and love for God and sincerely seeks to do those things that meet his approval, here in his house where it is fairly easy to do, but also in my daily life where it and temptation abound.
So, my whole life really becomes an act of worship to live, that kind of life.
It is necessary to reshape my thinking to change my sense of values, to redirect my will, to alter my conduct. This, only the transforming grace of God can do, by his word and through his Spirit, and that is the transforming grace that God gives me from the manger.
Sometimes you hear people ask has Christmas changed through the years?
The more important question is, has Christmas changed you?
What has the grace of God that shines forth from the manger done to improve your life?
Has it changed your desires enough so that at Christmas you are thinking more of what God gives you than what you than what the world gives?
Has it transformed your wants enough so that you can control yourself amid the excesses associated with the season?
Does the Grace of God that shines from the manger move you to love your fellow men, as much as you love yourself?
How much has Christmas changed you and me?
The Grace God reveals in the manger also trains us to wait for the blessed day, we hope for when the glory of our great God and savior Jesus Christ will appear.
This is a reference to the second coming of Christ, his coming in glory to judge the living and the dead. The second coming of Christ is probably one of the last things you expect to hear about on Christmas Day.
Perhaps you're thinking why insert thoughts of judgment into this happy Christmas morning? Doesn't judgment mean doom and gloom?
It need not, because the grace of God which appeared at Christ's first coming enables us to look forward to a second coming, eagerly, expectantly and joyfully,
So too the grace of God tied to the first coming of Christ is that which we hold to as we walk through the storms and dangers of this life to his second coming. It guides and leads us safely to our eternal home.
It helps us retain the joy of the shepherds, the devotion of Joseph and Mary, and the worship of the wise men and enables us to look forward to the second coming as eagerly as a child waits for the coming of Christmas. And when that day comes when at Christmas, it'll be the eternal Christmas.
Yes, there is more to Christmas than what we see or hear on the surface, let's not be satisfied with the externals of the sea said let's look beneath the surface for the deeper blessings God gives!
In the name of the Father, and of the Son + and of the Holy Spirit!
Amen
Concordia pulpit Rev. Willian Graumann 1972 modified
In the name of the Father, and of the Son + and of the Holy Spirit!
Amen
Concordia pulpit Rev. Willian Graumann 1972 modified
No comments:
Post a Comment