https://app.dropwave.io/episode/1907428e-da7a-4b35-b270-5ae47c3e19ad/christmas-eve-ad-2025.mp3

++ JESU JUVA ++

In the Name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Christmas is supposed to be life-changing. But how long does it take for everything to go back to ‘normal’? Decorations come down. Peace and goodwill seemed short-lived. Treats spoil. So you can come to the end of the Christmas season (or even on Christmas afternoon!) and feel like you missed out on Christmas. But if your Christmas joy runs out and fades away as you make your way into January, then it wasn’t true Christmas joy.

For many years, Christians have focused on the idea of ‘putting Christ back in Christmas.’ And this is a good and laudable goal. But the trouble is that you can do all the Christian stuff and still miss the point of Christmas. You can talk about the shepherds and wise men and no room in the inn. About Bethlehem and the manger; angels and the star. You can even talk about the incarnation — that God has become Man.

You can have all the information about the facts of the events and still miss the point. That’s because Christmas isn’t its own thing. It can’t be. Christmas by itself is without meaning. The only way to truly have Christmas is to also have the backstory: our inheritance of sin from our father Adam.

And you also need to have the future: that this little Baby has been born to die; to carry in Himself all our sin and to face Satan and death and hell on our behalf. If it weren’t for Christmas, there’d be no Jesus to die for us. We’d still be in our sins. It’s also no good for Jesus take on human flesh and die if it doesn’t mean rescue and life for you. That’s why Good Friday and Easter are the center of the whole Christian life.

So let us consider how to have true Christmas joy — not just today or for this season, but forever and always. We will follow the example of the shepherds in our Gospel. The shepherds are in the field. Tending their flocks. Watching for wolves. Making sure the sheep don’t wander off. Maybe trying to stay awake. Worried. Sad. Regretful. Hopeful.

But whatever they were, they were ordinary. Nothing special. That’s important. They had no special qualifications to celebrate Christmas. Maybe they had been arguing.

How about you? What’s on your mind right now? Logistics of having family in town? Eagerness for your family to leave? Missing the family or friends you don’t see anymore? Longing for reunion with those apart from you? Did you put the right presents under the tree? Will your loved ones receive them will joy? Is your mind not set on what you will give, but rather on what you’ll receive? Are you thinking about Jesus? About being in His house? About giving Him praise and thanksgiving for all He’s given you?

All of these things are important in their own way. And none of us can really free ourselves from distraction. So this makes you quite like those shepherds.

But that’s not all you need. You need more to be just like those shepherds. You need to be afraid. Specifically, you need to fear God. If you don’t, then God will not permit you to celebrate Christmas. If you’re not broken-hearted over your sin —. If you’re not full of sorrow for what you’ve done and said and thought — the things you can’t take back or make up for —. If you’re not sorry for those things, Christmas is not for you. And whatever you’re celebrating this week will be lacking Christmas joy.

If you don’t tremble at the thought of standing before God on the last day, then you should go home and tear down all your Christmas decorations and throw all the presents in the trash. Dump out the eggnog. Discard all your Christmas treats — because Christmas won’t help you one little bit.

The world never thinks about Christmas this way. For them, it’s all about the appearance of peace; the feeling of goodwill. Charming stories about Santa and reindeer and elves. Even more, the world never thinks about God this way — a God who says that not everyone gets to celebrate Christmas!?! How strange. More than strange, how terrifying! How cruel!

But all this simply demonstrates how cold and callous we have grown toward our own sin. And how hard we work to convince ourselves that God is just a kindly elf in the sky who gives only good presents no matter what. You see, we forget quite easily about God’s justice against our sin.

The shepherds see a vision of angels. We like that part. The glory of the Lord surrounded them. We forget about that part. They were terrified. We don’t like that part.

The glory of the Lord. Exodus 19 describes it this way: thunderings and lightnings; a thick cloud on the mountain; the sound of a very loud trumpet that grew louder and louder, so that all the people who were in the camp trembled. The Lord descended in fire; the mountain smoked like a furnace; the whole mountain shook. Now this glory of the Lord shone around the shepherds, and they were soar afraid. No wonder!

Not just frightened at God’s almighty power. But the knowledge that when God shows up everything you’ve ever done or thought or said is uncovered. In this way, it probably felt more like the end of the world for the shepherds than tidings of comfort and joy.

God in all His glory is far more terrifying than a bearded guy in a red suit who knows if you’re sleeping or awake, who knows if you’re bad or good. Santa judges by what he sees. The Lord judges the heart.

So consider your thoughts. Do you know them? Would you be willing to have them exposed? Are you afraid of what God sees there? If we’re going to follow the example of the shepherds, then we must be afraid.