THE PRAYER FOR ILLUMINATION

Almighty Father of everlasting love, we pray that in Your faithfulness and mercy You will cause Your face to shine with favor upon us through Your Son, Jesus Christ; and that, through Him, You will send upon us anew the Holy Spirit. Come, O Holy Spirit! Come to illumine our minds and to warm our hearts with the grace and truth of Jesus Christ! Speak to us, Lord Jesus, by the ministry of the Spirit among us and within us, through the Word of Holy Scripture; and grant us faith to receive and to rejoice in You, the living God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

THE ASCRIPTION OF PRAISE:

Praise and glory and wisdom and thanks and honor and power and strength, be to our God, forever and ever. Amen!

THE SERMON

It might seem odd, or unexpected, that Romans 5:6-11 would be the Scripture reading on this third Sunday in Advent, less than ten days before Christmas, and the sermon’s focus, "Jesus Christ: ‘crucified, dead, and buried’" might seem a little bit untimely. A sermon on the death of Jesus might seem much more appropriate during the season of Lent, in those weeks leading up to Holy Week and Good Friday. But in this year’s observation of Advent, we are focusing on the question, "Who is Jesus Christ?" and that question cannot be answered fully or correctly apart from His death. Now, hold that thought, and dwell on it: The question, "Who is Jesus Christ?" cannot be adequately, fully, rightly answered without focusing upon His suffering and death.

That is the reason that when we celebrate His birth, with white lights which symbolize His purity and power as the Light of the world, and decorations of gold which bespeak His kingship, and the green trees and wreaths which symbolize eternal life through Him, there are also red ribbons, red dresses, red sweaters, and red poinsettias which remind us of the blood of Jesus Christ shed for sinners. When you see the red ribbon on the green wreath, remember: eternal life comes only through the blood of Jesus Christ. His birth and His death are so closely related that we cannot rightly think of one without the other.

Beginning with His conception in the womb of the virgin Mary, the eternal, all-glorious Son of God humbled Himself, laid aside His rightful glory and, as Philippians 2:7 says, "made Himself of no reputation" (NKJV), or as the NIV puts it, "made himself nothing" and began to enter into the life of human suffering in this fallen world. Theologians call this the "humiliation" of the Son of God. By His miraculous conception in the womb of the virgin Mary and His birth as a human baby, the Son of God came down to us, all the way down to us, to live a human life as one of us in this weary world, to share in our sufferings and "to taste death for everyone" (Hebrews 2:9).

His whole life was lived under the shadow of the cross. That does not mean that He suffered physical pain everyday, or that everyday of His life was filled only with the burden of the cross which stood before Him. No, but it does mean that from the time of His birth, the mark of suffering and death was upon Him, and the cross was foreshadowed throughout His life even from infancy. Not long after Jesus’ birth, when King Herod heard the news of the birth of "the king of the Jews," he gave orders to kill all the male children two years old and younger in Bethlehem and the surrounding area. The shadow of cruel death pursued Jesus even as a child. Very early on in His public ministry, He faced opposition which threatened and foreshadowed His death (Mark 3:6). And throughout His teaching, when speaking of Himself, He spoke clearly of the significance of His death: "...the Son of Man came ...to give His life a ransom for many" (Mark 10:45). Listen again: "the Son of Man came ... to give His life" — there’s Christmas and Good Friday in one breath. And there are many other verses we could quote, such as John 10:30, "I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep," or, of course, Jesus’ words on the night of the Last Supper, "This is my body, given for you ... . This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you" (Luke 22:19-20).

The point here is that from His infancy, and throughout His ministry, Jesus lived His life under the shadow of, and with His face turned toward, the cross. And so, in the Christmas season, we must remember that we celebrate His birth because of the significance of His death. Think about that: we celebrate His birth because of the significance of His death.

Now, of course, His life was important because in His life He entered into the full reality of human life in a fallen world. Through His birth and life as one of us, the immortal, invisible, eternal God of heaven and earth entered into our experience. Now if that doesn’t fill you with awe and wonder, then there is something terribly wrong with your soul. If the miracle of Christmas, that God came into this world as a man, doesn’t blow your mind, then you’re probably brain-dead, or spiritually dead. But it was for your salvation that the Word of God became flesh and lived upon the earth, and it was necessary for Him to do so for our full redemption. The Son of God had to become Man in order to experience, endure, and overcome death for you and me. This He was born to do.

And so His death was not simply the consequence of His human frailty and mortality, nothing more than the ending of His physical life, the inevitable expiration of His earthly existence. No. Nor was He the unwilling victim of unfortunate circumstances in a cold and cruel fallen world. No. No, His death was the climactic and "most successful," most effective, most powerful moment in His earthly ministry. By His death, He accomplished the purpose of His life! Now, can that be said about anyone else? Contrast this remarkable reality with the life and death of other historical figures and you will see the uniqueness of Jesus Christ — you will see Him for who He really is! Name any historical figure you wish and ask yourself this question: Was the purpose and mission of his or her life fulfilled and accomplished by his or her death? No. For every other so-called "good" or "great" person who ever lived, death was either the tragedy that cut short that life or the whimper which marked their mortality. Not so with the death of Jesus Christ; for with His death, Jesus Christ perfectly fulfilled and accomplished His life’s purpose. His death was neither a tragedy which cut His life short nor the whimper of His mortality, but the triumph of His mission — which the angel announced to Joseph before His birth, "...he shall save his people from their sins" (Matthew 1:21). We celebrate His birth because of His death. You cannot say that about anyone else who ever was, or ever will be, born in human history.

But, you see, Jesus was born into human history to do that which God the Father had sent Him to do. The birth and death of Jesus show forth the love of God for helpless, hopeless sinners such as you and I. Romans 5:6 says,

You see, at just the right time (or, at the "appointed time," the "critical time"), when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since we have been justified (i.e., made right with God and have peace with God) by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him!

Just as God the Father sent His Son into the world, "in the fullness of time" (Galatians 4:4), so also "at the right time ... Christ died for the ungodly." John 3:16 says that "God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son ..." and Romans 5:8 says that "God demonstrates his own love for us in this: while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." The giving of the Son, the sending of the Son, in the birth of Jesus Christ was an expression of the Father’s love for sinners; and the death of the Son brought that love to full expression, for "while we were yet sinners," Christ died for us.

What a wonderful word of love that is! And do you really understand and believe that Jesus Christ died for the ungodly, for sinners. Jesus was not born and did not die for "good people," for "deserving people", and not even for "pretty good people." First Timothy 1:15 says, "Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners." Did you hear that? "Christ Jesus came into the world ... to save sinners." That’s Christmas and Good Friday in one short verse. When you see the red ribbon on the green wreath, remember: eternal life comes through the blood of Jesus Christ.

Now, of course, we celebrate His birth because of His death in light of His resurrection from the dead. It would not have been enough for Jesus to have died for us if He had not also risen for us. And we would not celebrate His birth were it not for His victorious resurrection. There would be no Christmas if there were no Easter. But the point for us today is to see the power and significance of His suffering and death. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, has been through death for us! Hebrews 2:15 says that the eternal Son of God "shared in (our) humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death — that is, the devil — and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death." Jesus died to break the power of the devil and the power of death over our lives.

Some of you, on previous occasions, have heard me ask this question: "Can God die? Can the immortal, invisible, eternal God die?" No! God cannot die. But could God become a Man? And if God could become a Man, could God then as a Man experience human death? Could God, would God, become a Man who could and would enter into the depths of human experience, even the depths of death itself?! Now do you see what God has done? Now do you see why there is a red ribbon on the green wreath? The eternal Son of God has plunged Himself into the depths of death for you. He has been there for you. He has done that for you. And He has undone death by the power of His resurrection and has declared that all who trust in Him shall share in His victory of everlasting life.

And dear friends, Christ was born for you. He was and is not only God’s gift to the world, but God’s gift to you — the most perfect gift you could ever need or desire. Think with me for just a moment what the Scripture means when it says, "...while we were still sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8). First of all, we can say that this verse applies to us, just as Christ’s death applies to us, because we all are members of the fallen human race. And so there is a general application of His death. But how can you and I say personally for ourselves that "while we were still sinners, Christ died for us," when we know that Christ died before we were ever born? How was His death personally related to you and me, other than the fact that we are members of the human race?

Here is the wonder of the gospel, the wonder of Christmas for you and me, personally. When God the Father sent His Son into the world, He had you in mind. When Jesus Christ suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried, He had you in mind. When Jesus Christ cried out on the cross, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" suffering the anguish of hell, He had you in mind, and in His heart. It was for you.

God said to the prophet Jeremiah, (Jeremiah 1:5), "Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you. Before you were born, I set you apart." Psalm 139:16 says, "All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be."

God knew you, and ordained all the days for you, even before He created you. And remember, all things — including you — were created by and through and for the Son of God, Jesus Christ. He, the eternal Son of God knew you and me, when He died on the cross. He knew all about me. He knew me in my sins. The eternal One whose knowledge transcends all time, knew me in my rebellion against Him. He knew all about my hardness of heart and darkness of mind. He knew all about my folly and my frailty. He knew what a self-destructive soul I was, and He saw the sins that I have now in my life committed — the real and actual, hurtful, hateful, selfish, stupid sins — that I have really committed, and He took those upon Himself. And He knew the pain that I would cause myself and others, and the ungodly disgrace which I would bring upon God’s name. He saw the judgment on my head, the dreadful curse hanging over me, and the boiling wrath to come. And knowing me, and knowing you, He came into the world, to place Himself in our stead to save us from our sins. "You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. ...God demonstrates His own love for us in this: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us."

When you see the red ribbon on the green wreath, remember: eternal life comes through the blood of Jesus Christ. To God be the glory! Amen.