What We Owe One Another

What We Owe One Another

6.2.19

Homily Text: 1 Thessalonians 5:14 And we urge you, brothers, admonish the idle,
encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all.

The church is a wonderful institution - the household of God, the body of Christ, the temple of
the Holy Spirit. It’s wonderful so long as we focus on the church’s relationship to God.

But then there are the people. See if this poem rings true:

               To dwell above

               with those we love

               Ah, that will be glory!

               To dwell below

               with those we know,

               Now that’s a different story!*

July 30 will mark 47 years of ordained ministry for me. Over these 49 years I have often
remarked, “The church would be a wonderful thing if it weren’t for people.” The only alteration I
would now make is to put myself at the top of the list of those who make the church less than
wonderful.

Some, no probably most, of God’s people have problems at least some of the time. Big
problems, persistent problems. Paul tells us who they are and what our obligation toward them
is. He tells us what we owe one another in the church - what we owe to people with problems.

The commands of verse 14 - and they are that, commands - are directed not to bishops or
priests but to the congregation itself. These responsibilities belong to us all.

1. Admonish the idle.

1.1 The word “idle” means more generally “unruly” or “undisciplined.” It’s a military term that
means to be “out of step.” or “in disarray.” The picture is of an army that is marching. But, there
are always stragglers. One reason Stonewall Jackson’s corps was called “the foot cavalry” was
because he and his officers rode up and down the line of march pressing the stragglers back
into the ranks. They kept the troops together and moving.

A congregation is also an army, an army commanded by Christ. Just as it is essential for an
army that its troops keep in step and move forward together to accomplish the army’s mission,
so it is is important for church members to march together under Christ to fulfill the church’s
mission of making disciples of the nations.

1.2 The problem with unruly or out of step church members in Thessalonica was that some of
the members had become literally idle. They had quit working. The reason they stopped
working may have been that they were anticipating that the Second Coming of our Lord would
happen soon, so they reasoned, “If the Lord is coming any day now, why continue working?”
As time passed, and the Lord did not come, their idleness became a problem for the church.
The church has a responsibility to care for its needy members, so these members of the
congregation were probably living off the congregation’s benevolence. Otherwise they would
have gone hungry.

Paul hints at this problem 1 Thessalonians 3: “...we urge you, brothers..to live quietly, to manage
your own affairs, and to work with your hands, as we instructed you” (10, 11). When, Paul wrote
2 Thessalonians, probably a few months after he wrote 1 Thessalonians, the problem had not
improved so Paul addressed it much more directly: 6 Now we command you, brothers, in the
name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you keep away from any brother who is walking in idleness
and not in accord with the tradition that you received from us. 7 For you yourselves know how
you ought to imitate us, because we were not idle when we were with you, 8 nor did we eat
anyone's bread without paying for it, but with toil and labor we worked night and day, that we
might not be a burden to any of you. 9 It was not because we do not have that right, but to give
you in ourselves an example to imitate. 10 For even when we were with you, we would give
you this command:If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat. 11 For we hear that some
among you walk in idleness, not busy at work, but busybodies. 12 Now such persons we
command and encourage in the Lord Jesus Christ to do their work quietly and to earn their own
living.

Idleness is just one way Christians can be unruly. Anytime we get out of step with the ways that
Christ clearly calls his people to live, anytime we fall out of the ranks of the church as it fulfills
the mission Christ has given it, we are unruly, undisciplined. It may be that we are no longer
faithful in church attendance. Or we slip into shady business practices. Or we develop an
inappropriate relationship. Or any other significant and persistent departure from the clear
duties and responsibilities Christian living.

As Christians, we should not engage in snooping on one another, or acting as busybodies, but
we should notice when someone, who was in step with Christ, falls out of step. That means we
care about the fellowship of the church and the spiritual welfare of our fellow Christians.

1.3 What are members of the church to do about those who live unruly lives? Paul says that
others should “admonish them.” The word “admonish” means to confront another person with
words. These are not demeaning, angry, or self-righteous words. But they are straightforward
words. When we admonish we point out what the person is doing wrong, we call them to
repentance, and, if necessary, we warn them of the consequences of leading an unruly life.
It is not harsh scolding but tough and loving admonition. Paul gives us a clear example of
admonishment in the verses we read a moment ago from 2 Thessalonians.

There are unruly Christians. Sometimes we are those unruly ones. When that is the case, we
should receive the admonitions given us by brothers and sisters in Christ. Sometimes we notice
the unruliness of other Christians. Then we should be willing to offer a word of admonition
spoken with Christian love.

2. Encourage the fainthearted.

2.1 Sometimes at age 71 1/2, I prefer the King James Version which says, “Comfort the
feebleminded.” However, “feebleminded” did not mean then, what it means now. Paul is talking,
rather, about the “small-souled” people, those Christians who are fearful and discouraged who
are becoming fainthearted in the Christian life.

2.2 There are at least two reasons some Christians in Thessalonica were becoming
disheartened.

2.2.1 One is that from the very beginning they had experienced persecution. Sometimes we as
Christians, who are becoming, if we are not already, a minority sub-group in the United States,
feel we are persecuted, but we have not experienced much persecution of the sort that leads to
real suffering, even death. Christians in the Islamic countries and in places like North Korea
experience persecution. If you can become discouraged by the opposition to Christianity in
North America, you can understand how Christians in Thessalonica and in many places in the
world today, where they are driven out, imprisoned, lost jobs and property, and threatened with
death can become fearful and discouraged.

2.2.2 Another possible cause of people in the church in Thessalonica becoming disheartened
was a misunderstanding or lack of knowledge about the Second Coming of the Christ and
what would become of their Christian loved ones who had died. They knew that at the coming
of Christ the Lord’s people would experience the fullness of their salvation. But, since they first
learned of that hope, the Lord had not come and some members of the congregation had died.
What would happen to those who had died? Did their dying mean they would miss out on the
things promised to the Lord’s people? They did not understand that at the coming of the Lord all
of his people who have died will be raised, and then all them, whether still alive or raised from
the dead, will be together and with the Lord forever.

We know that there are many things that can lead to Christians being discouraged and tempted
to give up. A temperamental tendency toward to depression, prolonged loneliness, loss of a
spouse, disappointment in love, job loss, an ongoing struggle with temptation - all sorts of things
can leave Christians disheartened.

2.3 Disheartened Christians should be encouraged. They should not be disdained because
they are discouraged; that will only make matters worse. Empty cliches, even ones that sound
spiritual will not help. What they need is for fellow Christians to come alongside with empathetic
presence. Sometimes the most important thing at first is not to say something but to be there.
But then there comes a time for reminders of God’s faithfulness, affirmations of God’s promises,
understanding sharing of how God has seen you through in tough times.

Paul wants us to encourage one another in ways that get us back to living for Christ and serving
God’s people. Imagine going on a climb up a steep hill when you come across someone who
feels he has come to the end of his rope. He is very tired, very discouraged, and has sat down
on the side of the trail, thinking he will not, he cannot, go on. Encouragement does not mean
telling the person that you understand and that you agree that he should just stay put till
someone comes along later who can help him to back to the bottom of the hill. No,
encouragement means that you stop, perhaps sit down beside the person for awhile, offer some
comforting and strengthening words, and then say, “Come on. Let’s climb this hill together. You
can lean on me if you need to. The Lord will help us, and we can help one another.”

There are disheartened Christians. If we are disheartened, Paul wants us to be open to receive
encouragement. If we come across fellow Christians who are disheartened, Paul want us to
encourage them.

3. Help the weak.

3.1.1 The weak are those who struggle with moral weaknesses. In the New Testament era, most
of the converts were Gentiles who had not been brought up with moral code of the Jews that
was based on the Ten Commandments. The Greek-Roman culture tolerated, even approved of,
many things the Jewish people knew were wrong in God’s sight. Some of the cities where
churches were established were notoriously wicked places. This is the kind of world we are
coming to live in, where traditional morality is not the norm. When people became Christians,
they did immediately have an understanding of Christian standards. Not having an
understanding Christian morality, they did not live by the Christian understanding of right and
wrong.

3.1.2 In addition to moral weakness based on a lack of understanding, there is moral weakness
associated with besetting sins. Besetting sins are sins to which we are particularly vulnerable.
Christians can experience strong temptations that seem to overwhelm their defenses.

There are patterns of sinful behavior that are hard to get rid of. There are sins which we hate but
which we nevertheless commit repeatedly. There are sins whose power we think is broken,
only to find ourselves falling back into them when circumstances and temptations line up.

3.2 It is clear that some of the Thessalonian Christians did not yet conform their behavior to
Biblical sexual morality. In chapter 4, Paul reminds them of what he had taught them when he
was with them: 3 For this is the will of God, your sanctification:that you abstain from sexual
immorality; 4 that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor, 5
not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God; 6 that no one transgress and
wrong his brother in this matter, because the Lord is an avenger in all these things, as we told
you beforehand and solemnly warned you. 7 For God has not called us for impurity, but in
holiness.

They needed to understand and live by God’s sexual standards.

3.3 Sexual sins are not the only sins, though they are for many the most powerful. There are not
only sins of the body but sins of the mind and heart. Not only lust but arrogance, envy, malice,
jealousy, covetousness which Paul says is idolatry, and many other sins that are strong.

3.4 Paul says we must help the weak. Helping does not mean redefining sin or reinterpreting
morality. It does not mean ignoring sin, pretending it doesn’t exist. It surely on the other hand it
does not mean gossiping about others’ sins, or self-righteously condemning others for their sins,
or rejecting those who struggle with sins.

Helping means standing by and with those who struggle. It means going and finding them when
they fall. It means using your strength to support them in their weakness. It means praying for
them and with them. It means using God’s Word to instruct and build them up. It means
encouraging them to walk the pathway of holiness and righteousness with you.

Suppose someone falls into quicksand. What do you do to help them? You don’t jump into the
quicksand with them. But you don’t ignore them or walk on as though their emergency did not
exist. You might think, “I need to help them but I sure don’t want to get dirty doing it.” So you get
ten foot pole, and you reach it out to them, and say, “Grab hold, if you can, and pull yourself out
while I hold onto this pole.” But that’s not what it means to help. To  help someone is to get as
close to them as you can and reach out your hand for them to take hold of. You pull them out
using your strength. When you have pulled them near you wrap your arms around them and get
them out of the muck. That’s what it means to help a weak Christian. Helping other Christians
who fall into moral failure is not always neat and clean. It can be messy and complicated.

There are weak Christians. When we are weak we need to accept the help of others who are
stronger. When others are weak, we need to do all we can to help them.

4. Be patient with them all.

Paul has spoken about the unruly, the disheartened, and the weak.

4.1 Now he writes about everyone. And he says we must be patient with everyone. To be patient
with others means to be forbearing toward them, to put up with them, to hang in there with them.
It means not to get irritable, not to get angry, not to quit on each other.

We need to have patience with the unruly, the disheartened. and the weak. We may get an unruly
person back in step and before long may look around and see he has fallen out of the ranks
again. We can encourage a disheartened person and find that person has lost heart again. We
may help a weak person out of a moral fall only to find that he has fallen again. It takes patience
to deal with problems and the people who have them.

4.2 But it takes patience not only to deal with people who have these specific problems but to
deal with all Christians. Why? Because we are all at best works of grace in progress. We offend
one another by our sinful attitudes, words, and actions, often without even being aware we have
done anything wrong. We irritate one another by our foibles and idiosyncrasies. All our
interactions with other Christians are of sinners with other sinners.

4.3 How can we be patient with one another? One way is to remember how much we need
patience. We offend and irritate others and more often than we know. Another is to remember
how often others have been patient to us. Most important is to remember how patient God is with
us. If God were not patient with us, we would constantly be under his displeasure. If he gave up
on us when we deserve it, he would have written us off long age. We needed his forbearance
and mercy when we were still under his wrath. We need it now as Christians because of our
many sins and our slow progress in the Christian life. If f God has been patient with us, how can
we refuse to be patient with one another?

What do we as believers in and followers of Christ owe one another?

Admonish the unruly.

Encourage the disheartened.

Help the weak.

Be patient with everyone.

Jesus: Our Sacrifice and Shepherd

Our Sacrifice and Shepherd

Second after Easter

Text: 1 Peter 2:24,25

Here is the part of God’s Word I want us to consider this morning, 1 Peter 2:24,25: He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.

What would Jesus do? That is what many people think Christianity is all about. Jesus is our Example. We should think as he thought, live as he lived, do as he did. And, yes Jesus is our Example. Peter says so: “Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps.” Peter is writing to Christians who suffer under unjust authority: citizens living under pagan government, servants working in households with harsh masters, wives living with unbelieving husbands. Peter says Jesus is our Example. Be like him when you suffer.

But Peter does not leave it at that. Jesus is much more than our Example. He is our Sacrifice and our Shepherd.

1. Jesus is our Sacrifice.

“He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree.” There was an elaborate sacrificial system in the Old Testament. At the heart of it was how to deal with sin. An animal, such as a bull, or goat, or sheep, was chosen and taken to the altar. The person offering the sacrifice confessed his sins over the animal. That symbolically transferred the guilt of the sinner onto the animal. We can imagine a sinner saying, “I have sinned. I have broken the commandments. I have not loved God with my whole heart and my neighbor as myself.” Then the priest would plunge a knife into the body of the animal. The animal would bleed out. Then the priest would put the body on the altar where it would be consumed by fire. The animal died in the place of the sinner. However, the writer of Hebrews tells us “...it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins” (Hebrews 10:4). Those sacrifices could only point to the Sacrifice that takes away the sins of the world. Jesus took our sins on himself and died in our place.

But Jesus was not placed on an altar. He died on a cross. His body hung on a tree. That is very important. God told his Old Testament people:  “And if a man has committed a crime punishable by death and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree, his body shall not remain all night on the tree, but you shall bury him the same day, for a hanged man is cursed by God” (Deuteronomy 21:22,23). A man who was executed and whose body hung on a tree died under the curse of God. This is one of the stumbling blocks that kept Paul and other Jews from considering if Jesus might be the Messiah. How could the Messiah hang on a tree and die under God’s curse?

Have you ever wondered why Jesus cried out on the cross, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” It was because Jesus was dying the cursed death for sins on the cross. Whose sins? Peter says, “(Jesus) committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth” (1 Peter 2:22). When Jesus died our sins were transferred to him, and he suffered the penalty our sins deserve. He died in the outer darkness cut off from the mercy of God, under God’s curse. Paul came to see this and wrote: “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree” (Galatians 3:13).

Some of us probably grew up singing, “What can wash away my sin?” an answering, “Nothing but the blood of Jesus.”  And perhaps the words of the Anglican poet William Cowper, “There is a fountain filled with blood drawn from Emmanuel’s veins, and sinners plunged beneath that flood lose all their guilty stains.” Sin makes us guilty before God. Sin brings down on us the curse of God. But Jesus took our guilt and died the cursed death we deserve. He is God’s sacrifice for sin.

Why? “that we might die to sin and live to righteousness.” Our natural condition is that we are alive to sin and dead to righteousness. We are sinners by nature and by conduct. We cannot do anything that is truly righteous as God judges righteousness. But Jesus took our sins into his own body and died under God’s curse so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness.” When we put our faith in Jesus and his sacrificial death for ours sins, we die to the power of sin to condemn us and send us to hell. We become alive to the righteousness that is in Christ. We are freed from the guilt and curse of our sins, and God treats us as though we possessed the perfect righteousness of Christ.

It is our death to sin’s curse and this coming alive to righteousness that makes it possible for us to begin to live lives that please God. The death of Jesus enables us to die to sin’s controlling power and and to come alive to the renewing power of God’s righteousness. Sin is a lying dictator. It promises us life and pleasure. It tells us that doing God’s will is not in our best interests. But Christ died so that, freed from sin’s condemning power, we no longer have to do what sin tells us to do but are able gladly to conform our lives to the righteous life of which Jesus is the Example.

And, “By his wounds (we) have been healed.”  What does Peter mean? He is thinking of the prophet Isaiah who makes it clear what the sufferings and death of Jesus accomplished: “But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed” (Isaiah 53:5). He was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. The chastisement that was necessary for us to have peace with God was laid on him. His wounds are those that heal us from the chronic and incurable sickness of sin the infects every part of us. The worst sickness we have is not the physical ailments we have and which one day will take our lives. The worst sickness is the sickness of sin. The wounds of Jesus heal us from sin’s power to condemn and control us.

Jesus died with the guilt of our sins laid upon him. He died on the cross under God’s curse. He died that we may die to the curse of sin and come alive to the blessing of Christ’s righteousness. He suffered that we might be healed from fatal disease of sin.

2. Jesus is our Shepherd.

Jesus is not only our Sacrifice. He is our Shepherd. We were straying like sheep, but have now we have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of our souls. Again Peter is thinking about the prophecy of Isaiah: “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all” (Isaiah 53:6).

We may think that what we need most is to be under our own control. This, we think, is freedom - doing what we want to do. But Peter and Isaiah tell us that freedom is an illusion. This kind of freedom is like the freedom of sheep who have no shepherd. They do not know where to go to find food, water, and safety. They need a Shepherd to guide them, provide for them, and protect them.

If we are left to ourselves we will make a ruin of our own lives. We may not perceive it at first or for a very long time, but, if we do what we want, we are headed for danger and ultimately destruction. But Jesus is our Shepherd. He is the Good Shepherd who laid down his life in order to save ours. He is the Shepherd who knows us personally and intimately. He calls us by our individual names to be his sheep. We hear his voice, and we follow him. He unites us to his flock, the church, which he loves and died for. He leads us to green pastures where there is wholesome spiritual food and to quiet waters where there is refreshing spiritual drink.

When our path leads us to dark valleys - valleys where there may be danger lurking, valleys where we face the unknown, valleys that make us afraid - we will not be alone. He will be with his. His rod by which he protects us and his staff by which he leads us will comfort us. And, when at last we must walk through that last dark valley that leads from this world to the world to come, he will be there with us, to protect us, and to guide us safely home.

He is not only our Shepherd, but our Overseer or Bishop. Shuler and I are under the oversight of our Bishops. Our Bishops are our pastors who care about us, watch over us, and protect us. Bishops also watch over the churches, the people of God whom we serve, in the same way.  

But our Bishops are “under-Bishops.” Jesus is the true Bishop or Overseer of our souls. When we were children, our parents were our overseers - they watched over us. If we had good parents, they loved us, provided for us, protected us, disciplined us, and guided us. Good parents are not harsh but tender overseers whose great concern is the true welfare of their children. Sometimes, as adults, we long for the days when we had parental overseers.

We wish there were someone to watch over us, to care about us, to protect us, to make sure we are OK.  When I was a child I learned that my Daddy was trustworthy, that he was absolutely committed to me. As an adult, sometimes when I was in trouble I would call him and just hearing his voice would comfort me.

You may have been disappointed to find that someone you thought cared about you and would watch over you for your good is not there. My Daddy is not there because cancer took him away from me. But there is One who will watch over you everywhere you go, day and night, twenty-four seven, no matter what. That is Jesus.

After Jesus fed the Five Thousand he made his disciples get into their boat and set out across the Sea of Galilee, while he stayed to pray. It was a tough night on the sea for the disciples as they sailed against a contrary wind and waves. But Mark tells us something important. From the mountainside where he was praying “(Jesus) saw that they were making headway painfully for the wind was against them” (Mark 6:48). They thought they were on their own but Jesus was watching over them. He went to them walking on the water, and when they became terrified because they  thought they were seeing a ghost, he said, “Take heart; it is I; do not be afraid” (Mark 6:50). It may feel to us that we are on our own with no one watching over us, but Jesus is always watching over us. He comes to us by his Word and the sacraments, made alive by the Holy Spirit, and says, “I am here; I am with you. It’s OK. Don’t be afraid.”

We were wandering astray, but we have returned to Jesus our Shepherd and Bishop. We did that when we first put our faith in Jesus as our Savior and Lord. But we have strayed since. Peter knew that. On the night Jesus was betrayed Peter was very confident that he would never forsake Jesus. He believed he would die for Jesus. But, when Jesus was arrested, Peter, like the rest of the disciples, ran away. Eventually he made his way to the courtyard of the house where Jesus was being tried by the Jewish authorities. Three times he was questioned about his relationship with Jesus, and three times he denied his Lord. Peter went astray. But Jesus, the Good Shepherd, after his resurrection found Peter on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, and gently led him back to the Shepherd and Bishop of his soul.

That’s one of the most wonderful things about Jesus. When we stray, he goes and finds us, and we brings back. How often can you return to Jesus, your Shepherd and Bishop? As often as you wander astray.

Perhaps that is the word he is speaking to you now. He says, “You’ve wandered away. But I have not rejected you or given up on you. Come back to me. Come back to the flock from which you’ve wandered. It’s OK. It’s not too late. I am still the Good Shepherd. I am still the caring Overseer of your soul.”

The Gift God Gave

The Gift God Gave

Collect for Christmas Day and Sunday After

Almighty God, who hast given us thine only-begotten Son to take our nature upon him, and as at this time to be born of a pure virgin; Grant that we being regenerate, and made thy children by adoption and grace, may daily be renewed by thy Holy Spirit; through the same our Lord Jesus Christ, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the same Spirit ever, one God, world without end. Amen.

Have you ever known someone whose purpose in life was to turn lighthearted occasions into serious ones? Maybe it’s a birthday party. People are eating cake, laughing, and singing “Happy Birthday!” Then this person comes into the room, asks all to be quiet and give him their attention. He then offers a five minute prayer about the miracle of birth, the need to number our days, and the responsibility to live serious lives. The celebration is over.

We might be tempted to feel that way about Thomas Cranmer’s  Collect for today. Christmas is a day of joy and cheer. Yet there is not a heavier, more serious collect in the Prayer Book than the Collect for Christmas Day. However, the purpose of the Collect is not to take away from our glad annual remembrance of Christ’s birth but to deepen our understanding and appreciation of what his birth means. It calls our attention to two profound truths - the truth of Christ’s incarnation and the truth of the Christian’s regeneration.

1. The Incarnation of Christ

The first truth is the truth of the incarnation, or the enfleshment of Christ.

1.1 The Story. The story of Christ’s birth is so familiar most of us could tell it without reviewing it.

Mary, a young teenage girl was engaged to a carpenter named Joseph. An angel appeared to her and told her she would have a son. This greatly perplexed Mary as she could not understand how she, a virgin, could have a child. However, the angel assured her that the Holy Spirit would overshadow her and by his power she would conceive a son. When he was born, she should name him Jesus.  

Joseph, a righteous man, was deeply concerned when he discovered Mary was pregnant. He was preparing to legally end the engagement when an angel appeared to him in a dream and told him not to be afraid to take Mary as his wife for the child conceived in her was of the Holy Spirit. Joseph also was told to give the baby boy the name Jesus for he would save his people from their sins. Joseph and Mary married, though they did not have marital relations till after the baby’s birth.

Near Mary’s due, the government decreed a census should be taken and each man should return to his ancestral home to register. Joseph and Mary traveled from their home in Nazareth down to Bethlehem, a trip of about 90 miles that took somewhere between 4 and 10 days. In Bethlehem they found lodging in a stable. There Mary gave birth to her son.

That night in the fields nearby there were shepherds caring for their sheep. An angel appeared to them and announced that in Bethlehem a Savior had been born for them. When the angels left the shepherds quickly went to Bethlehem to see the child. After they had seen the baby they returned to the fields praising God for all they had seen and heard.

Sometime later a group of Magi from the east arrived in Bethlehem. When they found Jesus, Mary, and Joseph in a house, they went in, worshiped Jesus as King, and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

(Or, in the interest of time: We all know the story of the Virgin Mary, and her fiance, Joseph. Of the angel who told them to name their son Jesus. Of their journey of 90 miles from Nazareth to Bethlehem to register for a census. Of the birth of Mary’s baby in a stable in Bethlehem. Of the angel who announced to shepherds that a Savior born and the angelic host who sang, “Glory to God in the highest!” Of the Magi who were guided by a star to Bethlehem where they found and worshiped the Child.)

1.2. The Meaning. The story we know, but by itself the story is just a story. We have to ask, “What does it mean? What is the significance? What is God doing in this story?” This is where the profound theology of the Collect enriches our understanding:

“Almighty God, who hast given us thine only-begotten Son to take our nature upon him, and as at this time to be born of a pure virgin.”  

• God has a Son. He has many adopted sons and daughters, but only one begotten Son. When we say Christ is the only begotten Son, we do not mean that there was a time when the Father existed and the Son did not or that the Father brought forth the Son at some point in eternity past. We mean that like a natural son, he has the same nature as the Father. We read this morning from Hebrews 1: “He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power” (1:3). We read from St. John this morning that in the beginning there was One John calls the Word, who already existed when time began; he was with God the Father in a close relationship yet was distinct from God the Father; but that does not mean he was less than God, for John tells us that he was God. There could be no stronger affirmation that the Son of God is himself God. Making sense of the Christmas story begins with the only begotten Son of God.

• God gave his only begotten Son to us. What is the most valuable thing you have? For most of us that would not be something like a job or house. It’s a person, perhaps a spouse of child. To whom would you give this most valuable person? You and I probably would say, “No one - I would not give to anyone the person I love most.” You would surely not give someone you love to an enemy who hates you, and most certainly not to someone who would mistreat and abuse the person you love. But God loves and so God gave. “God so loved the world he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). What God values most - the Son with whom he shares perfect love and harmony - he gave to us sinners who inhabit this sinful world.

• God gave this Son to take our nature upon him by being born of the Virgin Mary. He did not stop being God, but he became one with us in our human nature, fully human in every way except for sin. St. John tells us that “the Word became flesh” - the Word, who is himself fully God, became flesh, became fully human.

• The human nature he took to himself was the weak and mortal human nature we have because of the curse of sin on human nature. The writer of Hebrews shows us how far Christ went in identifying with us:

Since therefore the (we) children (we whom he came to save) share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil...Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted (2:14-18).

Christ became one with us in our human nature so that he

could redeem our human nature. He shared our nature so that he could obey the commands of God’s law for us and provide us with a righteousness acceptable to God, which we receive by faith. He shared in our human nature so that he could assume responsibility for our sins and suffer the penalty for our sins. The result is that by faith in him, we are forgiven and reconciled with God.

The Collect calls us on Christmas to remember the story and understand its significance. The Son of God became incarnate by the Virgin Mary to save us from sin, death, and judgment.

2. The Regeneration of Believers

The Collect goes on to focuses on our regeneration and our becoming the children of God:

Grant that we being regenerate, and made thy children by

adoption and grace, may daily be renewed by thy Holy

      Spirit…

We who are Christians have been regenerated by the Holy Spirit. This is the beginning of our spiritual life and is marked and sealed by baptism. We were generated, or conceived and born, once by our natural parents. But there is another generation - a re-generation or a second birth by  which we become the children of God. St. Paul wrote of this second birth:

But when the goodness and 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, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, (Titus 3:4-6)

We are saved by God’s initiative and mercy not by the good things we do. Just as the Holy Spirit came upon Mary so that a child was generated within her, so the Holy Spirit comes to us and regenerates and renews us so that new life in Jesus Christ begins.

Not only are we regenerated and renewed but we also become the children of God. We read from St. John’s Gospel about the connection between the miraculous new birth and our becoming children of God:

... to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.

Why did they believe in his name so that God gave them the right to be his children? St. John explains:

…(they) were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God (John 1:11-13).

Christians, like everyone else, have experienced an ordinary natural birth. But we have also experienced a second supernatural birth, have believed in the name of Jesus Christ, and are now children of God.

But the Christian life is more than saying, “I’ve been born again, believed in Jesus, and become a child of God so all that I need has already happened.” No, if we are born again and the children of God by adoption and grace, then we earnestly desire that the new life and faith that have begun in us will continue and grow all our lives. So we pray with the Collect that we may be “continually renewed by the Holy Spirit.” As we come to Christ’s Table on this Christmas morning to commune with him, let us pray that the Holy Spirit who has begun a good work in us will continue to renew us day by day so long as we live until at last we are made like Christ in his now perfect humanity, and enjoy the life that is eternal.