Tit 2:11-14 - The Grace of God That Brings Salvation Has Appeared to All Men.
Why is it that all over the world today, Christians are celebrating? A flood of joy is rushing through Christian homes this morning, because we are together remembering the little Child who was born some 2,000 years ago in Bethlehem of Judea. Today bells are pealing. His birth is praised from countless pulpits. Millions of voices are raised to sing hymns and carols and songs of thankfulness.
And who is that Child? Whose coming into the world has brought such celebration? And why is a child, wrapped in swaddling, lying in a manger bed the center of such worldwide attention? He is the Christchild. He is the one whom God foretold. The Savior, who is Christ the Lord. He is the One in whom dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. God became one of us, took upon Himself our humanity, with all its frailty, to be born in a dark stable stall, with animals lowing. While outside a thousand angels leading the joyful procession of the shepherds to Bethlehem with their glorious song. "Glory to God in the highest and peace, good will toward men."
We have gathered here this morning to celebrate that great divine mystery, that "God was manifest in the flesh." Nothing we say or do could possible capture the infinite depths of this mystery. Human reason cannot grasp it or think it out. Even the angels are amazed that the God of all, the Creator of everything has deigned to stoop so low, to become a creature of flesh and blood, a child born in mean circumstances to a virgin. Only childlike faith can hold this brilliant truth and worship the Lord nestled there in straw and manger.
And we are happy! For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. The flood of Christmas joy flows from this truth. These words are the key, the heaven sent key to the incomprehensible Christmas miracle. The grace of God which brings salvation has appeared to all men. The gates of paradise are open. Grace, heaven, salvation open wide to all men for all time and eternity. So today, this Christmas morning, let us take delight in Paul's Christmas sermon words.
From the loftiest heights of Christmas glory and the lowliest stable stall, Paul preaches. Does he preach with sternness about the wrath of the righteous God? Does he point our attention to God's perfect Law with all its requirements? That's all true. If Paul had done this, what a frightening sermon it would be! That the righteousness of God has appeared would be such a scary thing. God hates sin. His condemnation pronounced upon us would be well deserved. It was our sin that made that rude manger necessary. It was our sin that meant that little boy was destined for a cross outside of Jerusalem, for us. But this is not what Paul preaches.
Nor does he say that the love of God has appeared. Now that would not be as frightening, but more endearing, yet a parent's love for His disobedient children comes with chastisement and discipline and punishment.
The world around us likes to imagine a god who loves even when the world continues to live without Him and spurn his love. But we must not buy into such self-deception. God's eternal love wants to save us, but God's perfect righteousness must condemn us. Paul does not preach of God's righteousness or love but rather he preaches of the grace of God that brings salvation. He preaches grace, undeserved love. He preaches of the child who reconciles God's righteousness and His love.
Grace! Grace! That's Paul's emphasis for Christmas. That's the one word that sums up Christmas. But how can grace triumph over righteousness and justice. If a debtor cannot pay his debt, should a righteous and just judge simply let him off the hook. If he did, then that judge would no longer be righteous and just. But if that judge pays the debt himself and forgives the man, then justice is served and the judge remains a righteous man.
We the debtors. If our sins are to be forgiven, a payment is required that we simply cannot make. We cannot go back in time and undo our sins. We cannot make up for them, because every time we sin, we spurn God's love and break His perfect Law.
But God Himself is there in that manger. The angels proclaim it. The shepherds proclaim it. The Christians who have gone before us, proclaim it down through the centuries. Because of His great love for us, God came down to pay our debt. Came down to do what we could not. And not with a show of force. He brought salvation by grace through faith. He entered into our human race. He lived a sinless life from the time He was conceived until He commended His Spirit into the Father's hands. And He gave that life, that perfect life, as the payment for us, to make atonement for our sins, to reconcile us to Himself as a people saved by grace.
That's why Paul preaches with such joy and zeal. That Christchild's humble coming is part of His work, work that would lead Jesus from the cradle and life to the tomb and death to the triumph of Easter morning. How can it be?
Fellow redeemed, do not trouble yourself with trying to figure out the depth and height of the riches of God's mercy in Christ. That is far beyond our meager minds. His ways are so much greater and higher and wiser than ours. Listen to His Word. Listen to God's Word, penned by Paul and preached today.
Jesus is the grace of God that brings salvation. He has appeared. It is the pivotal moment in human history, when God Himself came to save us.
But maybe you know deep down in a secret part of your heart that you have done something truly awful. Or maybe this Word doesn't seem so appealing and joyful to you today. Maybe your family is in tatters, and Christmas is a time of strife. Maybe you feel like you'd rather just hide from everything.
Remember that Paul does not say, "The grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to those who have it all together." or to those who are pious and religious, or to those who feel their sins deeply. Our hearts are often all mixed up. This is the consequence of the sin that afflicts all mankind. And that's precisely what Jesus came to save us from. He has appeared to all men.
There is not one person, not even one, in the whole wide world excluded from what Jesus did for the whole world. God did not love some part of the world, or some race, or tribe or nation more than others. God did not love some political party or just the pretty people. God loved the world, so that He gave, His only Son the lost to save.
When God's grace appeared here on earth in that stable in Bethlehem, God had you in mind. He had me in mind. He would save us. And when God's Son suffered and died in our place, God had you in mind and me in mind. And when Jesus came alive again, He did that too for you and for me. God's justice is satisfied; all our sins are paid for. God's love is satisfied; we are His beloved now, through baptism part of His family, through the Sacrament of Communion part of Christ's body, fit in every way for the glories of heaven.
Fellow redeemed, come with me, with Paul, with all the saints in your heart today. Come to the side of the manger and see in swaddling your gracious God come to save you, and rejoice. That's the tide of joy that has flooded into the homes of Christians this day, and I hope that it floods into your heart even now. What a great day of grace this is!
When you are tempted, remember where your salvation is found and go there to kneel beside the Christchild in your heart at His holy manger. Do not go back to the workaday world without resolving in your heart to hold onto this joy and share it. And today, sing the praises of Him who saved you and forgave you and has prepared a place in heaven for you. Amen.