For Unto Us a Child is Born

Welcome to the teaching ministry of Kungsvinger Lutheran Church. Kungsvinger 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 Roseberg. In the name of.

Jesus. How did Isaiah put it? For unto us a child is born. To us a son is given. Now usually there's a lot of joy associated with the birth of a child. But we parents know that when a child is born to us usually that also involves things like worrying about how we're going to pay for dentists and shots and doctor visits and bottles and diapers and well all this stuff that goes along with caring for a child.

But you'll note that this is good news. Unto us a child is born. To us a son is given. The government shall be upon his shoulder. Have you ever stopped to think what that means? Government will be upon his shoulder.

When we think about somebody carrying a load on their shoulder we may think of Atlas carrying the world on his shoulder. But note that Christ carried our sins on his person. Carried them to the cross.

And he carried that cross on his shoulder. His name will be Wonderful Counselor, the Mighty God, Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. And of the increase of His government and of peace there will be no end.

No end. Now you'll note of our government presently peace seems to be the thing that is lacking. There doesn't seem to be a lot of that going around nowadays. So this Christmas as we consider again this amazing news.

The birth of our Savior. Consider again this text that kids did so wonderfully from memory. In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered, should be taxed.

And this was the first registration when Quirinius was the governor of Syria and all went to be registered each to his own town. You see our Savior was born under the boot of the Roman Empire. He was born under circumstances that required people to be counted for the purpose of figuring out how much money we can exact from them.

As we like to say the two things you can count on in life are death and taxes. And the world we live in, yeah there's a lot of both. A lot of both. And so this is the world that Christ was born into. Our world.

A world plunged into the darkness of sin. A world plunged into the fear of God's judgment and justice. And it says here that a fellow by the name of Joseph, who happens to be of the house of David, he also went up from Galilee from the town of Nazareth to Judea to the city of David which is called Bethlehem because he was of the house and the lineage of David.

He would have been king under different circumstances. He went there to be registered with Mary his betrothed who was with child. And the circumstances of her conception, I'm sure people were talking about it.

I mean she says that she's still a virgin and yet she's nine months pregnant. You think she's telling the truth? I wonder what the neighbors would think. Even Joseph didn't believe her at first, but then an angel straightened him out.

And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth. And she gave birth to her firstborn son. And she wrapped him in swaddling cloths, laid him in an animal food trough, a manger because there was no place for them in the inn.

And that's the interesting thing about all of this. Born into complete obscurity. The king of kings. The lord of lords. God of God. Light of light. Very God of very God. The one who is begotten and not made the Alpha and the Omega.

Who cannot even begin to plumb the depths of his majesty, of his glory, of his riches. And yet, why is it that God Almighty, the Son of God is lying in a manger on a hard, cold, packed night in Bethlehem in the middle of the winter.

And see, during that time, in the same region there were shepherds. They were out in the field. They were keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them. And the glory of the Lord shone around them.

And they were filled with fear. Now, a little bit of a note. We like to engage in proper exegesis. And so, note how the word Lord is used here. An angel of the Lord appeared. When we say an angel of the Lord appeared, whose angel is this?

Well, Lord, you could say an angel of God appeared. Right? And the glory of the Lord shone around them. How do we use that word? The glory of whom? Well, you could say God's glory shone around them. Lord, in both cases, pointing to God.

And they were all, these shepherds, seeing then the glory of the Lord, the glory of God, and these angels appearing before them, as is our lot. Rather than being filled with joy and wonder, because of fear, because of sin, they were filled with fear.

And so the angel said to them, fear not. You're harking back all the way to the Garden of Eden. That's where fear first makes its appearance. In the Garden of Eden, there are Adam and Eve. They were told by God that they were not to eat of that one tree, the tree that was in the midst of the garden, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

And there the serpent comes, the devil himself comes, and he tempts our first parents by making God out to be some kind of maniacal monster. Is it true that he's working you to the bone? He's not even let you guys eat anything here?

Eve, thrown off by the question, says, well, no, we can eat from any of the trees except for the one that's in the midst of the garden. And then she says, but we should not eat of that tree or even touch it, because on the day we do, we will surely die.

And then the devil continues his lies. You will not surely die, because God knows. God knows that on the day you eat of that tree, oh, you're going to be like God. And God doesn't want you to be like Him, because He's jealous.

He's capricious. He's evil. He's wicked. He wants to keep you from having your best life now. He's trying to hold you back, hold you down, because he's threatened by you. That's the Roseboro official paraphrase, by the way.

But that's the gist of what's going on there. And Eve, our first mother, mother of all of us in a very real way, she listened to the serpent, ate the fruit, and then her husband also ate. And then they realized they were naked.

And then when they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, they hid themselves. And the text says they hid themselves because they were afraid. And God called to them, where are you?

And they said, we hid ourselves, because we were afraid, because we were naked. And the rest is history, right? It is that one sin that has plunged us into the misery that we all experience. It is that one sin that we all have inherited.

This is the thing that has plunged our entire race into death, spiritual and physical, into rebellion against God, fear of the night, fear of spiders, fear of... name the fear, right? How many different phobias are there?

Some sane, some crazy, some unique, some common. But this is a world where being fearful might be a smart thing, because you never know what can bite you or kill you or drag you. You never know. I mean, just driving to the grocery store is a dangerous thing.

You can die doing that, especially this time of year. So you know that there's the shepherds seeing the holy angels of God, and the first thing they have to say to them is do not be afraid, fear not, because we have not come to strike you down, we've not come to wage war against you, we've not come to give you what your sins deserve.

No, far from it. We bring you good news of great joy that will be for all people, people of every nation. For unto you is born this day in the city of David, and listen to the words, a Savior who is Christ the Lord.

Let those words sink in for a second. This is good Christology, this is good theology for you theology nerds. Christ the Lord, remember, an angel of the Lord appeared, the glory of the Lord shone around them, both times, Lord was pointing to God.

And here these angels are telling us exactly who Jesus is. He is the Messiah, that's why he said Christ. But to say he's the Lord is to say that he's none other than God himself. God himself, born of the Virgin Mary, born in Bethlehem, born what does this mean?

You see, this is a mystery that is profound, but one that should give us comfort, one that should assuage our fears, because God is up to something amazing. In fact, in Titus chapter 3 it says this, when the goodness and the loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy.

And so fear not, you who are here tonight, fear not, because your sins, although you have deserved and earned God's wrath, fear not. These angels bring us good tidings that God himself, the one whom we have sinned and rebelled against, because of his great love, his great mercy and his compassion and kindness, has sent himself to us in a tiny little package, as a baby, born in Bethlehem, born under the law, born to go to the cross, to bleed and to die for your sins and mine.

And so, with this announcement, unto you a Savior is born, the sign is given that you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger, and then with this announcement, this great sign of God in human flesh, as a baby in a manger, suddenly and spontaneously the angels break out in worship, and the whole multitude of the heavenly foes began praising God, saying, glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased.

And when the angel went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, let us go over to Bethlehem and let us see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us. And so they went with haste, and they found Mary and Joseph and the baby lying in a manger, and when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told to them concerning this child.

And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them. But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart, the shepherds returning, glorifying God and praising God for all that they had seen as it had been told to them.

So, brothers and sisters, fear not. Unto you is born a Savior. You see, when the goodness and the loving kindness of God our Savior appeared in the form of a baby, He saved us. That's why Christ came.

He saved us not because of works done by us in righteousness as if somehow we could save ourselves, but He saved us according to His own mercy, by the washing of regeneration, by the renewal of the Holy Spirit whom He has poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that having been justified by His grace, we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life, this cold winter's night.

Here, consider the great gift that God has given us, the gift of Himself. Come, born of the Virgin, come to die for your sins and mine, so that we would have nothing to fear, have peace with God, that we might live and have a hope of an eternal inheritance, all given out of the glorious grace of God and His rich and lavish mercy that He has had on us, His sinful creation.

I can think of no better gift than this. Merry Christmas. In the name of Jesus.

Amen.

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And again, thank you for listening.