The sermon for December 24 was based on Luke 2:1-15.

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

"Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men." Without doubt this song of the angels is the most familiar of the Bible's Christmas songs. It has been used in the public worship of the Church from the second century, included in the chant known as the Gloria in Excelsis, which you will find in the Sunday liturgy. This hymn of the angels has been used in many popular Christmas songs, including the one you sang earlier in this service. The words Gloria in Excelsis are even used on Hallmark cards in expressing Christmas greetings. Even the unbelieving world, then, is familiar with this Christmas song of the angels. But the world cannot understand the heavenly message which the angels sing, a message of God's glory and of His peace and good will toward men.

"Glory to God in the highest!" When the angels sang of glorifying God, they did not mean that anything could be added to God's glory. In and of Himself, God is supremely glorious, glorious beyond the power of men or angels to conceive and express. But here this glory of God is recognized by His creatures and proclaimed by them. The heavenly choir calls upon all creation to join in the grand symphony of praise to God in the highest heaven.

God Himself created this world with all its many creatures, both visible and invisible, for the great purpose of glorifying Himself. Even the lower creatures of God: sun and moon and stars of light; heavens and space, fire and hail and snow and rain, fruitful trees and all cedars, beasts and all cattle, creeping things and flying fowl; even these works of God give Him glory by showing forth His greatness and power and wisdom, and by serving the needs and wants and pleasures of God's highest creature, man, and even, as He became a Man, serving God Himself.

The Christmas Gospel shows so beautifully how the works of nature gave God glory on that night when He visited creation in the Person of Christ. The hay that formed the bed of the newborn Babe gave Him glory in its softness. The lowly beasts of the field lent the little Child the warmth of their bodies to warm the stable. The stars of the sky shone their gentle light over the Savior's birth. Indeed, creation bowed in humble service to its Lord, born in Bethlehem.

The angels, God's invisible creatures, also impressively proclaimed the glory of God. An angel announced the birth of St. John the Baptist and of Jesus Christ Himself. An angel appeared to Joseph in a dream to explain to him that Mary was a pure virgin with Child by the Holy Ghost. And, in this text, you see that the angels announced the birth of Christ to the shepherds, and sang the first Christmas carol.

In the angels, God's messengers and ministers, you have a perfect example of how the Creator is glorified by His creatures. As at Christmas, so at all times the angels of God are singing His praises, doing His commands, listening to His Word, and thereby giving glory to God in the highest.

Visible and invisible creation gave glory to God in the highest. Certainly, then, the highest of God's creatures also ought to give glory to God. And so man gave glory to God, as those humble shepherds made use of their opportunity to go and see and worship their newborn King. Soon afterward Simeon and Anna, and later the wise men, would give glory to God for the sending of His Son. God had given them intellect and speech and wisdom, and these they used to give God glory. They sang His praise; they bent their knees before their newborn King; they presented Him with gifts. That is how the first Christmas was celebrated, in accord with the angels' song, "Glory to God in the highest."

Note well the most important aspect of this Christmas celebration: it puts God's glory first. Mary's song, the Magnificat, begins, "My soul magnifies the Lord." Zachariah's song, the Benedictus, begins, "Blessed be the Lord God of Israel." The angels begin the same way, "Glory be to God on high." As for the shepherds, they returned from visiting the Christ Child, "glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen." [Lk 2:20] Likewise the Epiphany wise men, when they visited the Babe, did not first offer their gifts, but, "They saw the young Child with Mary His mother, and fell down and worshipped Him." [Mt 2:11]

"Glory to God in the highest," is first and foremost in celebrating the birth of Christ. But is that how you celebrate Christmas? How much of your Christmas preparation is done to the glory of God? Truth be told; much of what passes for Christmas preparation is done to your own glory. That is always the tendency of your self-centered human nature. Even as you give gifts to others, it is not always done for pure motives. You often give with the expectation of getting something in return. Or you give for the smug satisfaction that you are a charitable person. How often do you give to others because the love of Christ constrains you? How often is your gift to another given out of your gratitude for God's incredible Gift to you? If your giving is not flowing from your faith in Christ, then your Christmas giving is not pleasing to God. "Whatever is not from faith is sin." [Rom 14:23] If, on the other hand, your giving is an expression of the faith you have been given in Christ, then the very thoughts of your heart will join your words and actions in giving glory to God in the highest.

Nature, angels, and man-all these join in a majestic symphony of glory to God. But there is still Another, higher than the angels, higher than man, who in a supreme and altogether different way gives glory to God in the highest. That One is the Child whose birth the angels proclaimed in their Christmas Gloria. It was this stupendous fact that God's own Son, who is the brightness of God's glory and the express image of His Person, had now been revealed in the flesh and had come to redeem His people, it was this stupendous fact that caused the angels to exclaim, "Glory be to God on high!" In the miraculous Virgin Birth, in the perfect life, in the death on the cross, in the majestic resurrection of the Son of God, the glory of the Father is set forth in all its fullness. Christ did not only tell men of the glory of God; He showed them that glory in His own Person. "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth." [Jn 1:14] When St. Philip asked Jesus to show them the Father, the Savior replied, "He who has seen Me has seen the Father." [Jn 14:9] Jesus is the glory of God in the highest.

The next part of the angels' song concerns peace, "And on earth peace." In the beginning, there was peace on earth. Man was created in perfect harmony with his Creator, and was at peace. But the fall into sin changed all this. Sin robbed man of his peace of mind by giving him guilt. More importantly, sin robbed man of peace with God. "'There is no peace,' Says my God, 'for the wicked.'" [Isa 57:21] Sin also destroyed peace between men, and brought instead strife and bloodshed. You see all these things already in the first family. Adam fled in fear from the face of God because of sin. Cain killed his own brother, Abel. And so the bloodshed continued and magnified.

You life also is marred by a lack of peace. From the common stress of rushing through Christmas to broken relationships, broken hearts, broken bodies, and broken minds, you suffer a lack of peace on account of sin. The worst effect of sin is a lack of peace with God. Everywhere, always, the effect of sin is discord, unrest, violence, and the utter absence of peace.

True peace, therefore, is a dearly bought treasure, attainable only when God repairs the broken peace as your sins are forgiven. There are plenty of false prophets running around this time of year, talking a lot about peace. But without forgiveness in Christ, there is no peace. The people of old were taught the tremendous price of true peace through the shedding of the blood of thousands of animal sacrifices, all of which pointed to the shedding of the blood of Christ, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. The blood of this perfect Lamb, Jesus born of Mary, cleanses you from all sin [1Jo 1:7], and thereby establishes peace between you and God.

Thus it is most appropriate that the angels sing of peace on earth. Peace is the direct result of Christ coming to earth. Without Christ, you are an enemy of God. With Christ, you are at one with God, because by His perfect life and sacrificial death, complete atonement has been made. The peace which Christ brings, and of which the angels sing, includes all the blessings of Christ's coming. On the night of His birth, this peace was proclaimed; so also on the night of His betrayal, Jesus said, "Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you." [Jn 14:27] And in the epistles of St. Paul, you find this message of peace re-echoed, "Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." [Rom 5:1]

Peace with God is the great gift of Christmas. It is the gift of God through the Lord Jesus Christ. This peace is based only upon God's mercy toward you in Christ, and not upon your own worthiness. The angels sang of "Peace on earth, good will toward men." This good will is the good will of God Himself toward men, His favor toward those for whom He died. Because of His good will and favor toward men, toward you, He gave the Gift of His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should have eternal life and peace. This is the heart of that angel-song so marvelously chanted that first Christmas Eve, "Glory be to God on high . . ." and the proclamation of the peace on earth and the favor of God toward men, which the Babe of Bethlehem purchased for you, and for all people.

And so you have come here this late Christmas Eve to receive peace from God. And so you have received God's peace. He gave you peace as He absolved you from all your sins. He is giving you peace now as He reminds you of His promises in the preaching of His Word. And in a few minutes He will give you the peace of the Lord in His own Flesh and Blood, peace incarnate, in His Holy Supper, the true Christ Mass. And as you kneel before His Body and Blood, you will be giving God your highest glory by receiving from Him His Christmas gift: forgiveness in Christ, the source of all peace. Amen.

The Peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

Last Updated: 7/15/2008