Christmas Eve (2025) Sermon

 He Came To Redeem Us!

Titus 2:11-14

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord and Savior, Jesus the Christ.  Amen.

Blessed, holy Christmas Eve to you! It is a joy to be in God’s house on this hallowed Eve to rejoice and praise our God for the most precious gift given.

Yeah, you bought gifts – probably armed with a gift list to help you buy specifically what people wanted? Some of you are happy with what you bought for the loved ones on your list. Some of you probably wish that you would have been able to give something more – financially it has been a tough year.

W hat did you ask to be given to you as gifts? Tools to do those odd jobs around the house? A year’s subscription to Amazon Prime? Maybe a PlayStation Portal to stream those games everywhere? Maybe a PlayStation 5 Pro, Xbox Series Elite, or the Nintendo Switch 2?

I love the commercial where he gets her a puppy and she gets him a GMC Sierrra. That ain’t happenin’ at the Jerabek home? No more puppies in our house.

Who asked for socks? Underwear? A flannel nightshirt – men or women? Some of you will be happy with what you receive, others might be slightly disappointed.

There is also this guys who makes a list and checks it twice to find out who’s naughty or nice. I remember my youth and being warned that if I did not behave all I would get is a bag of coal and another of potatoes.

Sort of sound like what God says through Paul’s pen to Titus. As Christians we are to be living in specific ways. We are not simply to be nice, we are to deny ungodliness. God and His will are to govern our every thought, each and every day. 

You are to deny worldly lusts. In other words, to be happy with whatever gifts your receive for Christmas, even another pair of socks or a three-pack of Fruit-of-the-Loom. You and I are to live soberly, watching with alert minds, for the reappearing of Christ on the Last Day. We are to live righteous and godly lives.

And no, I do not need to get into a deep explanation as to what it means to be righteous and godly. You know exactly what that means, loving God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength and loving your neighbor as yourself.

You are to be on the lookout for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ. He will return as He has promised.

When? Tomorrow? Maybe the next day? Maybe in ten years? Or He may call you home to Himself before He returns in glory. You are to be ready today, for it might happen whenever.

You and I do not do as this text advises. We do not deny ungodliness and worldly lusts as God demands and expects of His children. God looks for more than just who has been naughty or nice. God demands perfection. He examines all mankind to see who is perfectly keeping His righteous demands.

Try as I might, I do not! Nor do you! You and I are sinners. We are not waiting and watching for Christ with a sober mind focused 100% upon Him, awaiting His return. We like life in the world. We are not waiting expectantly for the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ. 

Our lives and thoughts fall far short of God’s righteous demands. Even as we sit here in God’s house tonight - even as we are to be meditating upon the birth of God’s own Son - you have other thoughts. Tonight’s great hope and expectation lies in wait under a lighted tree. Even while listening to this sermon, is your mind wandering to that box you shook and still don’t know what is waiting inside.

After the wrappers are off Will you be satisfied then? The anticipation will be gone, but will there be disappointment as well? Truthfully, worldly lusts consume us because we do not get EVERYTHING we wanted.

Remember the line from that song, “he’s making a list, he’s checking it twice, he’s gonna find out who’s naughty or nice.” Applying God’s standard of naughty and nice, none of us would receive a gift. God’s demands more than nice – He demands perfection in all our thoughts, words, and deeds. We are not perfect. We do not deserve any gifts from God.

But this is where we need to be to get the greatest Christmas present. Let’s tear off the wrapping of our first gift together.

Let’s tiptoe back in time. There in Bethlehem a bit over 2000 years ago is God’s gift for Christmas. He who created all that exists as the Word of God is now hidden in human flesh come forth from Mary’s womb.

But there the gift is only wrapped and laid in a manger.

The angels revealed to shepherds that gift hid the Savior. But He was hidden, wrapped in swaddling clothes and laid in a manger. It was not yet open for all the world to see and appreciate.

The Word of God was wrapped in flesh and blood. He grew and became strong. Was the manchild God’s gift for Christmas? Yes and no! The gift was hidden, wrapped in flesh and blood. God’s gift of Christmas was much more than a boy growing up – yet without sin.

Was the gift was given that first Christmas or wasn’t it?

My dad liked to give a gift which holds a box that needs to be unwrapped, and in that box, another that needs to be unwrapped, and then still another inside that? Well, that is the sort of like the gift received that first Christmas – a gift, inside a gift, inside a gift, etc...

I beg you, bear with me as we continue to unwrap God’s incredible Christmas gift to you.

God’s gift of Jesus, wrapped in human flesh and blood, grew to manhood. This Son of Man and Son of God, fulfilled the will of His Father in every regard. Denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, He lived soberly, righteously, and godly. God’s Christmas gift, lived the holy life that no one before or ever since has been able to live.

We peak through the wrapping a bit. God’s Christmas gift healed the sick, made the lame to walk, the blind to see, and the deaf to hear. God’s gift for Christmas even made the dead to come alive again.

Some of the wrappings come off after they arrested Him. Evil men stripped Him, beat Him, spat upon Him, abused Him and finally nailed Him to a cross. Upon the cross, Satan believed in Grinch-like glee, that God’s Christmas present finally broken, dead and defeated. 

You and I know better. The wrappings of the grave were stripped away three days later. God’s Christmas gift unwrapped, shed of the trappings of death, Christ appeared to many – showing His power over sin and death.

But wait, there is still more! There is still more to be unwrapped. Still hidden, wrapped in the flesh and blood of His only begotten Son is the forgiveness of sins, eternal life and salvation.

Jesus purchased you from sin and the death you bring upon yourself by your ungodliness and worldly lust. United to Christ, you are freed to live soberly and righteously in this present age.  Christ was given to redeem you and me from every lawless deed, to redeem and purify us for Himself as His own special people, zealous for good works.

There is more to be unwrapped in years to come. It is unwrapped in your flesh as you live eternally in His kingdom.

You see, this day is not simply about The Baby. Easter is more than just an empty tomb. God’s gift is the entire life and work of Jesus the Christ on earth, as He came for us once – as He comes to us still – and as He will come to us again.

God’s gift purchased forgiveness, eternal life and salvation by the life and death of His Son. Merry Christmas! Christ rose from the grave, victory over death sealed! Merry Christmas!

These events are long in the past, so how is that first Christmas present yours? Is there anything left for you to unwrap today? Of course there is!

When forgiveness is spoken, the gift is unwrapped and given to you! Christ’s perfect life and death is given to you in His Word. Merry Christmas! The absolution and Word which come you isn’t some far off event that has no meaning today. This is a precious gift you receive today.

Each week, God’s children gather together to hear God’s Word speak to them. God’s Christmas gift gets unwrapped; week, after week, after week, after week.

Each and every week, hidden in words spoken by a simple man is God’s own word of forgiveness. They are powerful words, not because of the man who speaks them, but because The Word is none other than Christ Himself. That Word is God’s gifts of eternal life and salvation, all wrapped in the forgiveness of sin. Merry Christmas!

We are blessed to regularly unwrap God’s Christmas gift for Christ’s body and blood are still hidden, wrapped in the swaddling cloths of bread and wine. This blessed sacrament is a meal that feeds you and me for life eternal. Merry Christmas!

Again, God’s gift for Christmas has been given to you, and now it is again unwrapped for you. The very Word of God is coming to you even now and purifying you from every lawless deed. Christ Himself purifies you for Himself as His own special people, zealous for good works. Merry Christmas!

Do any of you remember the old commercial about the gift that keeps on giving? It is the Red Cross slogan for giving blood.

Lying in a manger, that is what the Christ Child is all about. It is all about the giving of blood – His blood – given to redeem us from our sins. He came that first Christmas to redeem us! He come every week when His children gather in His name to give to us His redemption in the gifts of Word and Sacrament.

Merry Christmas!

In the name of Jesus. Amen.