Text: Romans 16:25-27

What is your reaction when someone gives you a really nice present? What if you receive something that is very expensive or something that has incredible sentimental value? Usually we react by thinking that we need to give them something that is as equally valuable as what they gave us. On some level, we feel like we ought to pay them back. These kinds of thoughts are also with us as we talk about the great present that we receive from our God. We want to Be Ready to Receive the gift. As we receive God’s gift, we don’t want to focus on giving back to Jesus. Rather, we appreciate the fact that Jesus gives us gifts of joy and gladness.

Part 1: We don’t focus on giving back to Jesus

We wrap up the season of Advent by focusing on that special announcement of the angel Gabriel to the virgin Mary. Gabriel informed Mary that God had chosen her for a very special role. She was going to be the mother of the Savior of the World. It is important to note that Mary was not picked by God because of anything special about Mary. Mary was a sinner just like us. She had done nothing to earn this special gift that God bestowed on her. Even after Mary heard the great news, she did not try to do something special to pay God back for this gift. Rather she humbly accepted her role as the mother of Jesus.

God is so gracious to us. He gave us his Son Jesus. God’s love has nothing to do with anything in us. The prophet Isaiah reminds us, “All our righteous acts are like filthy rags” (Isaiah 64:6). Even our best works are tainted by sin. If we offer these works before God and expect him to be pleased, we are horribly mistaken. We sin every day. We are selfish people who often put our wants and desires ahead of our God. God certainly did not send Jesus because we had earned this blessing from God. It was exactly the opposite. God sent Jesus because we could not earn anything from God. We needed Jesus to save us from our own sinfulness.

The problem for us today is that our sinful nature still tries to lead us to take credit for our salvation. Think about how people celebrate Christmas. What is the focus? Far too often people think that we should focus on helping others or even serving our God. People think, “How can I give back to the community?” or “What present can I give to Jesus?” Now we might be thinking, “What is wrong with that kind of thinking? Shouldn’t we help the needy and serve the Lord?” Yes we should. However, it becomes a problem when it completely takes the focus off of what God has done for us. Many people don’t think about why Jesus needed to come into this world. They only focus on doing good for others.

It becomes a works righteous attitude when we think that helping others is what makes us a genuine Christian. That is exactly the attitude that the Pharisees had. There was once a minister who gave a Christmas Eve message centered on the theme “What gift do you bring to the Christ child?” His entire message made people feel like they were serving God no matter how small their gift was. He made people think that even if they came to worship because their family dragged them there, they were still bringing a gift to God just by showing up in church. His message told people that the Christmas holiday is all about what we do. He made people feel safe and secure even though their lives were tainted by sin. Anyone listening to his message wouldn’t feel like they even needed a Savior.

This kind of thinking is still in our world. It can infect our hearts and we need to guard against it. We might think that if we give Jesus our time, then he will be happy with us. If we put in our hour on Sunday then he must be pleased. If we attend some of the Bible Studies or serve at church, then we are going to get the extra special seats in heaven. I say these things a little bit sarcastically but those are certainly ways that our sinful hearts want us to think. We aren’t doing Jesus some favor by being his friend. We don’t have to do a set number of good things or talk to 100 people about Jesus in order to be the really good Christians. Christianity is not about what we do for Jesus.

Christmas is part of the gospel message. Gospel means good news. It is the good news of what Jesus has done for us. The focus is on Jesus’ work, most certainly it is not about our work. God says this about Jesus, “He is the one who will build a house for my Name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be his father, and he will be my son. When he does wrong, I will punish him with the rod of men, with floggings inflicted by men” (2 Samuel 7:13-14). Jesus work was to establish God’s kingdom forever. Jesus called people to repent over their sins and he pointed them to the forgiveness that he was going to win.

Jesus took the blame for all the wrong that we do. And he was punished for those sins. Even though he himself had not sinned, he took our sin and guilt upon himself. As Paul says, “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21). Jesus never committed a sin and yet God placed our sins on him. He lived perfectly in our place, he died the death that we deserved and then he rose triumphantly from the grave.

This is the little baby that we focus on at Christmas. This child born in the manger gives us hope. He helps us to see that God loves us in spite of our great wickedness. If we ever think that the Christmas message is all about us being better people, we have completely missed the point. That would be turning our backs on Jesus and walking away from the manger. Yes we come to worship but it is not because we feel like we have to do this in order to be a good Christian. Feeling that we “have to” do something for Jesus is an improper attitude. Jesus did it all for us.

Rather than feeling like we “have to” give a gift back to Jesus. We come and see that Jesus is the one who gives us gifts of joy and gladness. Because of Jesus’ gifts, we have the blessing of a faithful heart.

Part 2: Jesus gives us gifts of joy and gladness

Our text today is another wonderful doxology that the Apostle Paul gives us. Many times in his letters and especially at the end, Paul has these sentences which proclaim the glory of God and remind us of the wonderful things that our Lord does for us. He starts out, “Now to him who is able to establish you by my gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ” (Romans 16:25). This is a good phrase to focus on because it reminds us that it is our God who works in us through the gospel message. God establishes us. The word “establish” can also mean “to make more firm.” Think about that. God the Holy Spirit first of all creates faith in our hearts and then he makes us even more firm in our faith.

Our Lord Jesus not only did everything in our place, but he also gives us the gift of faith. Jesus sent the Holy Spirit into our hearts through the water of Baptism and through the proclamation of the gospel message. Now, he continues to send the Holy Spirit to us so that our faith can grow even stronger every day. He comes to us through his word. This is why worship, Bible Study, and devotion are so important. Time in God’s Word is time that the Holy Spirit is working in our hearts. He is increasing our joy and gladness every time we are exposed to God’s Word. He also increases our joy and gladness through the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper.

Let’s look at the example of Mary. When Gabriel told her that she was going to be the mother of the Savior, she was confused. She said, “How will this be since I am a virgin?” (Luke 1:34). She understood that this was not how things normally worked. She knew that every child has a human mother and a human father. She had a humble attitude but she was still curious. Even the answer she receives doesn’t fully clarify how everything is going to work out. Gabriel says that it will be the work of the Holy Spirit. Gabriel says, “Nothing is impossible with God” (Luke 1:37). Even though Mary didn’t understand everything, she accepted her role with joy.

There are plenty of things about our God and his plan of salvation that don’t make sense to our human way of thinking. And yet, a huge part of faith is that we accept these things. We can’t fully comprehend the virgin birth. How could the eternal God have become a human being? We can’t even comprehend God’s system of justice. Jesus had never done anything wrong and yet he is the one who had to take the punishment for our sins. How is that fair? The people who did the crime should be punished. We should be punished for our sins and yet Jesus is the one who is punished. Talk about love. God loved us so much that he gave his life for us.

Our life of faith is not something we do because we are trying to pay Jesus back for what he did. We are not trying to prove that we are the really good Christians who do all the extra works so that we can have the best rooms in heaven. Rather, because of the joy that is put in our hearts, we remove the thought of “have to” from our hearts. We serve God not because we think we “have to” but rather because we “want to.” Out of love and thankfulness for everything that Jesus has done we “want to” serve him. Even when we fail, we are repentant, the Holy Spirit lifts us up and we still “want to” serve him.

Verse 26 of our text talks about God revealing his gospel “so that all nations might believe and obey him.” This is one spot where the Greek says things better. The Greek says that the gospel leads to “obedience of faith.” This means that obedience flows out of faith. It is a fruit of faith. Belief and obedience are not two separate things. They go hand in hand. Christians naturally produce fruits of faith that God has prepared for us to do. We want to do these works. We come to worship for the strength we need. God sends us the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit leads us to willingly serve our God.

Conclusion

Truly, God has given us the greatest present. We could never pay him back. There is nothing we could give him that he wants. He has everything. He created everything. If we try to pay him back with our good works, even those works are tainted with sin. We come to worship in repentance. We come ready to receive the baby at Bethlehem. We come and appreciate God’s great present to us. Jesus gives us that great joy and gladness. He sends the Holy Spirit to us to work faith in us and to keep us strong in the faith. Now we come to worship him because we want to show our thankfulness. Come, let’s rejoice as we see our Lord in the manger.