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Another Year of Grace

Pastor Jeremy Schultz
January 1, 2012

The giving of gifts is a shared tradition at every Christmas. Yet giving gifts, in the spirit of the song, “The 12 days of Christmas” would be highly impractical and even costly. The NY Times ran an article just a few days before Christmas stating that even though the cost of gold is slightly down, the price of five golden rings is still high. And other services such as 10 lords a leaping may be up. So if all 364 products and services listed in the song were totaled up, they would cost my true love over 100K!

Well today is the 8th day of Christmas, but we're not talking about eight maids a milking. Rather I'm going to tell you about a very special gift that God has given us in His Son...and it won't cost you a thing, at least not in the traditional sense! On the 8th day after Jesus' birth, Mary and Joseph took their infant son, we presume, to the rabbi in Bethlehem that something very Jewish might be done. In keeping with the Law of Moses, Jesus was circumcised and given the name that would eventually be above every name - Jesus. And the very fact, that this was done in keeping with the law, is what makes it such a special and priceless, albeit free, gift to you! Here on the 8th day, Jesus was placed completely under the law for all of us law breakers. He was made subject to the whole law, beginning with His circumcision, so that we might become sons and daughters of God through faith! As we get ready to enter into this New Year, today's Bible reading helps us rely 100% upon the grace of God and zero percent upon our own works!

You know what it's like. We come to this point in time every year thinking about things we'd like to do differently. So we make New Year's Resolutions...we all do...even if you're like the comic strip character Garfield who said that his NY Resolution was to not mess with perfection. You still make them. You vow to get into a better shape by eating more healthy and exercising at the gym. You undertake to pray every day and read the Bible cover to cover in 2012. And for a while, the local gym will be packed morning, noon and night. And for a while the spot for chips in the pantry will be bare. And for a while setting the alarm for five-thirty in the morning to pray and read will sound like a good idea. But by the time your pastor has finished a few short sermons on a few short readings like today, most of us will have broken our promises, if not completely given up!

In Charles Dickens's classic book, “A Christmas Carol”, Ebenezer Scrooge is taken by the ghost of Christmas Past to a scene in his life that he'd like to forget. It involved him breaking a promise and crushing a young girl's heart. The scene was of Ebenezer himself, as a young man, sitting next to his would-be bride on the bench...only instead of embracing him; she was turned away and crying. You see she was releasing him from his marriage proposal. It was clear from their conversation that Scrooge had begun to court her, as a young man, with the very best of intentions. But the life they planned to be built upon love would no longer be built at all as ambition and fortune had taken her place. Scrooge would have liked a chance to try that again. But it was part of the chain he had forged, along with all his other crimes against mankind.

Now I'm not saying that attempting New Year's Resolutions are bad. And I'm not even saying people sometimes don't live with regret...and are nevertheless still able to by God's grace to live. What I am saying is that broken resolutions, vows and promises are all reminders of the fact that we have all broken the very perfect laws of God!

God is holy. And as such, He demands perfect obedience to all of His commands. Recently a child in our extended family was running through the dining room where there were all kinds of breakable and precious items out. She was chasing her cousin and her father had already told her not to run through that room. When the child did it again, the father immediately called the child forward. “Did I not tell you not to run in that room?” And when all sorts of excuses started pouring out of the child's mouth, the dad simply said, “None of that matters. I told you not to run.” That's how we are with God. God gave us the law. First it was written on our hearts. So that all of His commands might be known to all mankind. Later, God gave the law in the form of the 10 commandments, as Walther notes in his “Proper Distinction” “to put into bold letters the dulled script of what was originally put there.” He could not have been clearer with any of His commands. And if any of it was unclear, Jesus certainly took care of that in the Sermon on the Mount.

Jesus began, “You have heard that it was said to those of old, 'You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.' But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, 'You fool!' will be liable to the hell of fire. And again, “You have heard that it was said, 'You shall not commit adultery.' But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart. And after several more such sayings, Jesus summarizes: You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect (Matthew 5).

But not a one of us can be perfect. In fact, we're a lot like the child who stands before Him filled with excuses, none of which matters. We alone are accountable to God for our actions. But ever since the fall of mankind into sin, the law was no longer able to lead us to salvation. That's why Jesus Christ had to step in and take our place under the law, beginning with His circumcision in accordance with the law, that we might become sons and daughters of God by faith!

As strange as it sounds, Jesus Christ was circumcised for you. He not only kept the 10 commandments perfectly, but all of the moral, civil and ceremonial laws - even the ones, like circumcision, that we are no longer bound to. And when Christ did, He shed His infant blood - a promise and pledge of greater blood to one day be shed. For when Christ became the spotless an unblemished sacrifice for our sins upon the cross, He shed His blood and died. So you see, the law has been fully kept on your behalf. Not one of God's laws did He fail to keep perfectly. And in His innocent suffering and death, the penalty for your sin and mine has been fully paid! And what all of this means is that we are no longer under the law, but we are under grace. And God's grace is the way we will begin this year and God's grace is how it will come to a close, even as it says in Ephesians 2: “For it is by grace that you have been saved, through faith. And this is not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not by works so that no one may boast (vs. 8-9).

The role of the law then is as it has always been. The law leads you to Christ. The law shows you your sin. It condemns you for you for failing to keep God's commands. And therefore, you have no other place to flee for refuge and security than Jesus Christ Himself, who kept the whole law for you. And by whose death and resurrection you are now forgiven and live by faith! As it says in Galatians 3, “For in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise.”

You are now free to live without guilt and without fear. Saved by grace through faith, you're free to confess your sins when you fail, knowing you have a Savior that does not! Sons and Daughters of God through baptism, you are able to live out this New Year relying 100% upon the grace of God and zero percent upon your own works. New Year's Day has now become for each of us a time not of making and breaking promises, but rather living the free life of faith in Jesus Christ.

Do you want vow with the help of God to get stronger physically and spiritually in 2012? Then do it. Do you want to grow in Christ-centered friendships and even a dating relationship? Then do it. Set your heart after those things. Live a free life of faith. And know that whenever you fail, whenever you fail...even in keeping God's Law, you have a Savior that does not. Jesus is your most precious gift on this 8th day and the whole year through! It is another year of grace. Amen.