Sermon Notes: December 24, 2025
If there is one word that summarizes all of the beautiful Scriptures and Carols we have heard this night, I believe that word is Trust.
Trust is an amazing word. All of the following words are bound together in the full definition of “Trust” – the words Faith, Confidence, Help, Protection, Firm, Strong, Steadfast….as well as the words Comfort, Consolation and Solace. As you think on the Bible passages and Carols you have heard this evening, have not many or all of those defining words been active in your mind and heart?
Allow me to go one step further. I believe that the Trust embedded throughout the Scriptures we have heard during this wondrous time of worship can be directly associated with Light.
The inverse is also the case. That DIS-trust is directly associated with darkness that accompanied the Fall of Man into Sin and Death.
In the catastrophe that started it all, the Light in the Garden was turned into Darkness when Man trusted the words of a deceiver
rather than the Word of his Creator. But wait, WHY, in the first place, is that evil serpent in the Garden at all? This question is one of the deepest questions pondered by Man. The answer we
have been given by God is the one that suffices – there are things greater than the Creation; invisible things, but no less real. The Scriptures tell of the wars and battles of the Archangel Michael and a host of other angels, battles that roar as we worship together right now – wars and battles silent and invisible to us, but no less real.
But in the visible world, the command was given. In spite of the utter and complete freedom Man had in that beautiful garden, Adam and Eve broke the one command they were told to keep, and in so doing, the world collapsed into the sad and tragic place which needed nothing short of Savior to rescue. Because of the tragedy of the Fall, the darkness which was once simply a quiet, cool and comforting Night, became ominous and filled with the fear and hatred of Evil.
2000 years later, a man and a son ascend a mountain near what would years later become the City of Jerusalem. Trust is what took him there – and he went with his son and a knife to sacrifice him. How did he do it? I believe that Abraham had full trust that, whatever the sacrifice of his son meant, that God absolutely meant it for good. Because of Abraham’s incredible trust, the Lord stayed Isaac’s father’s hand and made Abraham’s people those through whom the Savior would come.
For the next 1300 years, this same holy people would ebb and flow, trusting then distrusting the God who made them and gave them all the glory and goodness they had ever known. These were years filled with the darkness that comes from DIS-trusting a God of Love – and never forget that the perfect Love which is God, is the Love that includes perfect Justice. So it was that 1300 years after Abraham, Two prophets rise to declare that though the Kingdom of David has fallen into sin and disbelief, the God who made all of the glory that Israel and Judah had ever known will save His people yet again, this time in the most implausible and contrary to human strategy manner – through a young Virgin mother and an infant, born in a tiny, nearly forgotten town that no dignitary would even bother to visit.
What sort of men would tell such a story? Two men that Trusted God, when based on the outside world around them, there seemed no reason to do so.
700 years later, the words of these 2 Prophets had been forgotten by most. Tragically, they were forgotten by many of the very people who were the descendants of the Prophets.
But they were not forgotten by all. For suddenly, in a small town in an afterthought portion of the Roman Empire, the mighty Angel Gabriel comes to a young, unmarried girl and tells her that she is highly favored. Gabriel informs Mary that, Virgin though she remains, she will give birth to Jesus, the Son of God. Her response of humbling and standard-setting Trust:
“Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word.”
The account of Christmas gets even better. For the man betrothed to the Virgin Mary, is Joseph, one of the great men of all time. He knows how ladies get pregnant, but being a good and just man, he does not want to make his beloved Mary a public example (meaning she would have been stoned to death for becoming pregnant outside of wedlock), so he resolved to quietly send her away so what he thought was her sin and shame could dealt with privately. Why did this not happen, especially when we’re dealing with a just Jewish man who knows what the next right thing is to do? Because God intervenes, and tells this good and just man that what has happened with Mary is of the Holy Ghost. Joseph knows his Scripture, and he knows the prophecy of a Virgin being with a child called Emmanuel, and in one of the greatest acts of Trust in the history of mankind, “did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him” and took Mary as his wife and took care of her and the Christ Child.
Why is the ridicule, gossip, scorn, shunning that both Mary and Joseph surely received not mentioned in Scripture? Because the beauty, power and goodness of their Trust in the Lord so overshadowed the negatives they endured, that the negatives became as the chaff that the wind driveth away.
Let us take our minds to Rome, 2000 years ago. Can you see a gaggle of bureaucrats coming to Ceasar Augustus and telling him “…Sire, the world must be taxed – we’ve got palaces to construct, roads to build, subjects to feed. Quickly, make a decree to make this come to pass!…” Which Caesar dutifully does. And little does he know that with the stroke of his pen, the last objection died to the Trust and steadfastness of Mary and Joseph. For the prophecy of the birth of Christ Child was that it would happen in Bethlehem, NOT in Nazareth. But now with Caesar’s decree, Joseph must go home. Home to Bethlehem, with Mary about to give birth. Yes, yes – Even the mighty Caesar Augustus obeys the will of the Living God.
Once again, in a complete upheaval of the pomp, circumstance and fireworks that men would have suggested, the Heavenly Host of God appears first, not to Kings, Rulers and High Priests, but to Shepherds and their flocks. Every minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ needs to remember this. The first people called by God to go to see the Christ Child were Shepherds watching over their Flocks – just as they are today. Those shepherds were nameless and faceless, yet they were some of the most important shepherds in the history of the world – for they Trusted the angels and rushed to Bethlehem to worship the newborn infant Lord. God is interested in those who Trust him, not in King’s who are worried about consolidating and keeping power. God is interested in Shepherds with flocks; ministers with congregations; fathers with wives and children.
God gave His servant St. John the greatest insight of all – that Light, the Light that is His Son Jesus Christ, had come into the darkness – and the darkness comprehended it not. John saw and knew that the True Light Jesus Christ:
“…was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. He came unto his own, and his own received him not.…”
No doubt, there are times in this life when the terrors, wars, torture and unspeakable behavior of unsaved men seem to be invincible. Add to that the terrors and evil of the invisible powers of the Devil and Hell, and many men often come to the edge of the depths of utter despair. If this is you or someone you know, I ask you to always, always remember that as bad and evil as all those things surely are, the Babe of Bethlehem was born in order to become a Man, so that He could undergo the most evil and hideous act that has ever and will ever occur in this fallen world – The Son of God, The Word made Flesh dwelling among us, was tortured and murdered by the very people He came to save. The absolute worst done to the absolute best.
So this evening, when you see the small light flickering from your candle, remember that no matter how dark, how evil, how seemingly invincible the darkness is………..
Trust that a light can and will shine in that darkness. And that light is Jesus Christ.
Christmas tells you and tells us all that irrespective of the timing that He deems best, the Lord keeps His promises and that the Lord Jesus Christ, whose incredible birth we celebrate with song and joy, surely and truly loves you and loves us all.
Therefore, ask yourself this question: Do you love Him? Life in a fallen world and amongst fallen men may have given you a million reasons to not love Jesus. But I ask you this night to try and forget about all the noise, no matter how loud, that is keeping you from the Lord who loves you. Forget the men who have hurt you, abused you, failed you and may have put a bad taste in your mouth about Christianity. Forget all of that, and listen to Christmas – listen to your Lord and Savior who was born in a manner only God could imagine.
I ask you this night to love Jesus. Run to Him who loves you. Love the Child who became the man who so loved you and so loved me that He was willing to die so that we both could live.
Trust Him when He says:
“whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.”
Love Jesus, Trust Jesus. He has told you this is not all there is. So to the consternation of all the world, stop rejecting your Lord and Savior and insisting on doing things your way – LOSE your life, give it up; follow His commandments no matter what it costs you, because when you do so, when you truly Trust Jesus, you are going to actually start living.
As we light the candles, listen to the words of the Carol as we do so. For just a moment, we may be able to know what it was like in the Garden before the tragedy at the Tree. For just a moment, we may be able to know what the Light coming into the
darkness is ultimately going to mean – the transformation of the darkness back to the sweet and True Light that was always behind it. The Sweet, True and Trustworthy Light that made it and everything else:
Sleep, sleep, sleep,
‘Tis the eve of our Saviour’s birth.
The night is peaceful all around you,
Close your eyes,
Let sleep surround you.
Sleep, sleep, sleep
‘Tis the eve of our Saviour’s birth.
Dream, dream, dream,
Of the joyous day to come.
While guardian angels
without number
Watch you as you sweetly slumber.
Dream, dream, dream,
Of the joyous day to come.
In the Name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost, AMEN.