John 3:16-18
Christmas Eve
Pastor Ron Koehler
Grace—Benson/Vail, AZ
December 24, 2019
“For God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18 The one who believes in him is not condemned, but the one who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only-begotten Son of God. 16
This is what tonight is all about, isn’t it? I know it’s not the details of Savior’s birth— we’ll hear that in a few minutes—but this is Christmas: God sending his Son into the world. I know there is a lot of other stuff when it comes to Christmas and our celebrations of it. There are, perhaps, a few more smiles and a little more cheer as we have encountered people at stores and restaurants. “Happy Holidays” and a few brave “Merry Christmases” replaced the “Have a nice days” from people. There’s a little more joy as kids are off of school—at least for the kids!—and some people get vacations from work. Happiness spreads as families get together. The food and treats are a little more special. And of course, giving and getting presents is nice too. But Christmas is about something bigger than family or presents or vacations or more smiles and happier greetings or treats. It is really about love—and not the love of all those things that make the season magical. Christmas is about the love of God: For God so loved the world… We’ve heard something already tonight that reminded us that the world isn’t so lovable! The sinfulness of Adam and Eve has been passed through the great family tree of all people right down to you and me. I can appreciate that this is not the kind of thing we’d like to talk about on a joyful Christmas Eve, but I have to tell you that if we don’t talk about it, you can’t understand the love that brings the true Christmas joy that God wants for all people and that many don’t know at all. The very fact that we celebrate Christmas, that God had to send his only Son into the world, reminds us that there was trouble here. The world-full of people was perishing and would not have eternal life! That’s what sin does, it separates people from God. Each person of the world has sin; we are all unholy, imperfect. Even if you could be on “Christmas behavior” every day of your life, it wouldn’t be perfect, would it? Because even Christmas behavior includes some irritation with people, selfishness, greed, jealousy…well, I could go on, but you know your thoughts and actions while you’re driving around or sitting at the Christmas dinner table or even opening presents around the tree. Even at this most special time, we don’t get it right. And all of those sin-tainted words and thoughts and actions are enough for God to rightly declare that you cannot live with him in heaven when you die. This is tragically bad news.
But the message of Jesus in John chapter 3 is the gospel, which literally means “good news!” God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life. God…so…loved…the world. This unholy, unlovable world of people was loved by God anyway. It’s called grace— undeserved love. That’s the kind of love God had for you and me. That’s the kind of love that moved God the Father to send his only-begotten Son into the world. “Only-begotten.” That’s a different word, isn’t it? The sense of that word is “one of a kind” or “unique.” There is only one Son of God, only one who is eternally God and who was also born of a woman into this world. Jesus is truly God’s Son and truly human, Mary’s son. Our Savior came from heaven to earth to save the people of this world from their condemning sin and from eternal damnation. He did that by being born in Bethlehem, just as the Bible tells us. And from his first breath in that stable all through his 33 years, he lived perfectly—never sinning, never disappointing, never angering his Father in heaven. When he willingly went to his death on the cross, he did it to offer his perfect life of love as a sacrifice for our sin. He was condemned instead of us. We celebrate his birth tonight, but we know that was just the beginning of the road to his cross…and that it didn’t end there! He rose from death, proving his victory over sin and death that the devil! All of this was prompted by God’s love! God did not want to see sinners have to be separated from him eternally because of their sin. He did not want to condemn us. His love was so big that he sent his own Son…and Jesus’ love was so big that agreed with his Father and he came through Mary’s womb and into a stable and manger to begin his work of love. He did NOT come to condemn the world, to shake his fist in anger at sinful people. He came to save sinners, including you and me. And so we have a promise here from the lips of Jesus himself: The one who believes in him is not condemned. If you believe that God so loved the world that he sent Jesus to save you, and you believe that Jesus loved the world so much that he gave his life for you, then you are not condemned now and you will not be when you die. You will not perish, but have eternal life. This is God’s gift of love to you. This is Christmas. I know, there’s a lot of other stuff with Christmas—and it is great stuff. I love it too. But none of that matters, really, if you don’t know what Christmas is truly about. Christmas is about something bigger than family or presents or vacations or more smiles and happier greetings or treats. It is really about love. Christmas is about the love of God: God so loved the world. You are part of that world he loved, which means he loves you too. There is nothing else in our Christmas celebrations that matters more than knowing that Jesus came to save you. May that be the gift you treasure most. Amen.