Romans 6:23

December 21 2016 Sermon Midweek 4

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

From Heaven Above

Service Four: The Gift of Life

The free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 6:23

A verse in the Prologue to the Gospel of John gives us these beautiful words: "For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace" (John 1:16). It should be clear to us by now in this Advent/Christmas sermon series that in Christ we receive many, many gifts. They are not the kind of gifts that we exchange, return, or discard because they don't last. It's grace upon grace, upon grace, upon grace, these gifts in Christ, and they last.

That's the way it is with the gift of life which Jesus gives. The apostle Paul calls it "eternal life." Life itself is a precious gift. Every living thing finds its life in the Spirit of God who has breathed its life into it. That breath of life animates everything from an ant to a plant to a cow to a human being. It has been that way since the beginning of creation. God is not just a creator but a life-giver.

In a fallen world infected with sin, though, life is anything but eternal. With the onset of winter in many parts of the world, the reality of death is all around us. The life God breathes into every one of His creations only lasts a short time. American poet Robert Frost put it this way:

Nature's first green is gold,

Her hardest hue to hold.

Her early leaf's a flower;

But only so an hour.

Then leaf subsides to leaf.

So Eden sank to grief,

So dawn goes down to day.

Nothing gold can stay.

(From The Poetry of Robert Frost, Edward Connery Lathem, ed. Henry Holt and Company, 1969)

It is somehow fitting that Christmas should come at the start of bleak winter and its season of dying. Experience reminds us why Jesus came. As hard as a tree may strive to hold its leaves, death will have its way. As perseverant as an old dog may be to cling tenaciously to life, death will have its way. As hard as an old soul struggles to stay a while longer with friends and family, the breath of life received from God is exhaled one last time. Eden's grief becomes ours again.

We sometimes forget what Jesus was up against. It wasn't just sin, but the consequence of sin. "The wages of sin is death," the Bible tells us (Romans 6:23). Old souls - and young - die because sin takes them there. And it wasn't just death Jesus faced, but the devil who held the power of death over our lives. As Hebrews 2:14 puts it, "Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil."

Death was Jesus' ultimate enemy. So an eighth grader in Bible study asks the insightful question, "But why did Jesus have to die? Why couldn't He just have gotten a really bad headache?" The answer? Jesus had to die because the only way He could conquer death was to go headlong into it and then come back to life again. So if someone asked Jesus why He had been sent by His Father, if someone asked Jesus for His personal mission statement, this is what He would say, "I have come that they may have life and have it abundantly" (John 10:10).

So Mary's baby, God's own Son, grew up to defeat death single-handedly. Destined for a cross from the fall in the Eden, He came, He died, He rose, and He conquered! The result? Eternal life for all who place their trust in Him! As you open your gifts this Christmas, your heart will no doubt soar as you get just what you wanted or just what you needed. If you can pause for a moment, though, and focus on the little one in the manger, even for just a few seconds, it will come to you — the greatest gift of all is the one He gives me, the gift of eternal life! Then with joy and gratitude you can fill an old Hebrew phrase with enough meaning for eternity: "L'Chaim! To life! To eternal life!" Amen.