What sort of god do you worship? Is he a mighty and glorious god sitting on his throne in the celestial heights, far removed from the filth of this world? Is he a spirit god, ghostly and ethereal, floating far above the vastness of space? This is the god that many people worship. He is an omnipotent god, full of power and might. He can, by the force of his will, do anything, create everything, or annihilate all things. Fortunately for sinful humans, this popular god is far, far away. He concerns himself with big things, like keeping the galaxies in order and balancing the stars in the firmament. He commands his heavenly hosts in cosmic battles between the forces of good and of evil. He lives in unapproachable light, in the heaven of heavens, in a glorious spirit world that bears little connection to the daily grind of life on this insignificant ball of earth. If such a god pays any attention at all to the affairs of this world, he must be remotely involved with the balance of power among the nations. He might take note of the speeches of presidents and popes, if he has a spare moment to be entertained. Maybe, if a large enough mass of humankind prays passionately for some desperate need, the far away god will listen and consider their petition.

You have never seen this god, never touched him. He has never come down from his celestial throne to visit Fort Wayne, let alone stopping by your house. He sits so far away, seemingly oblivious to your life with your hardships and struggles and pains. You have never heard him speak, but you have been told that he left a message in some old book, written thousands of years ago by some middle-eastern men. How do you worship such a god? Those who believe in him gather with like-minded folks every so often, hear some of the old book read, sing some old songs, say some old prayers. But how does any of this have anything to do with your real life? Such a god is too far away to make a difference in your daily activities. So you just come by every now and then to tip your hat to this omnipotent ghost and hope he is too busy to notice.

Does this sound far-fetched? It shouldn’t. You know full well that I’ve accurately described the American view of the supreme being, whatever he may be called. Most of those calling themselves Christian have just such a view of god. It is ingrained in the Protestant mind. God is infinite. The physical world is finite. The finite cannot contain the infinite. So you won’t find the infinite god contained in this finite world. He’s out there, somewhere, but not here. He is a spirit, and so he has no idea what it’s like to live life in this physical world. He cannot understand what it’s like to experience hunger or pain or sadness or death. These are experiences for mortals like you, not for the immortal, supreme, spiritual and celestial god.

You know better than that. You are here this holy night because the true God, the Lord of all things visible and invisible, became a Man. The only, true God, mighty and glorious, stepped down from His throne in the celestial heights, and entered into this world with all its filth and physicality. God, who is spirit and fills all the vastness of space, became flesh and was laid in a manger. The omnipotent God, full of power and might, became a newborn Babe, dependent on His virgin mother for sustenance. Holy God, who can do anything He wills and can call all things into existence by the power of His Word, became a cooing Child whose existence was threatened from the moment of His birth. That is the sort of God you worship here tonight: God made flesh, God born of a virgin, God in the manger.

Your God is the God who knows exactly what it’s like to be physical, for He became flesh and dwelt among us. Are you a tiny baby? God became a tiny Baby, born in Bethlehem. Like any baby, He suffered His rashes and infections and depended on His mother for His life. Are you a little child? God was a little Child, growing up in Nazareth. Like any child, He suffered His tummy aches and skinned knees, and was subject to His parents. Are you a maturing teenager? God was a maturing teenager. Like any teenager, He suffered His growing pains and learned responsibility from His parents. Are you an adult? God was an adult. Like any adult, He suffered His pains and losses and faced His own death. And like all mortal men, God breathed His last and died. He knows what you are going through. He’s been there. He’s suffered. He died. God was buried in a tomb.

It was for that very purpose that God became a Man, so that He could die for you. All that I just said about God experiencing what it’s like to be a Man is more than just to comfort you with the knowledge that God knows what it’s like. God became a Man for you. He subjected Himself to the Law of God, under which all men are born, so that He could keep God’s Law for you when you can not. He surrendered Himself over to death and to God the Father’s wrath against sin for you, suffering the punishment you had deserved. It was necessary that God became a Man so that He could rescue you from the sin and death which is common to all men. God’s Law demanded perfect obedience from man; God’s love provided perfect obedience in the divine Man, Jesus Christ. God’s Law demanded death as punishment for sin; God’s love provided His own death to pay that punishment.

All this is God’s great Christmas gift to you. He became flesh, lived, and died for you. And if that Christmas gift was given only once upon a time, some 2000 years ago in those fields far away where the shepherds watched over their flocks by night, then you are really no better off than all those American, Protestant fools who worship their ghostly god. You weren’t there in Bethlehem that night. You didn’t hear the heavenly hosts singing their Glorias. You never saw Christ’s natal star. You never held the Babe of Bethlehem in your arms. You never patted the Boy Jesus on His scruffy head. You never shook the divine Man’s hand. You weren’t there on Calvary to watch Him die. His Blood didn’t stain your hands when you took His Body from the cross. What difference does it make whether you are separated from God by the vastness of space or twenty centuries of time?

Here is the Christmas Gospel to you tonight: you are not separated from God, neither by space, nor by time. For God performs a miracle right here tonight that is as marvelous and wondrous as that first Christmas night. Then, God became flesh and was born in Bethlehem, taking on the Body and Blood of a Man. Tonight, God gives you that same flesh, born in Bethlehem, changing this bread and wine into His Body and Blood. Tonight almighty God enters your world, traversing both time and space. Tonight the God of all power and might enters your flesh, as Pastor Varsogea places Him on your lips and I pour Him into your mouth. You need not go to Bethlehem to see the Christ; He is here, wrapped in bread and wine. You need not go to Calvary to be washed in His saving Blood; He has sprinkled His Blood on you in Baptism will pour His Blood into you in this Supper. As you kneel before His altar, the only, true God, mighty and glorious, steps down from His throne in the celestial heights and touches you with His own Body, and forgives you all your sins. No time, no space, no sin comes between you and your God, for He gives Himself to you. That is His Christmas gift to you tonight. Merry Christmas!