The LCA provides this sermon edited for lay-reading, with thanks to the original author.

Advent 4BRomans 16:25-27

NOW FOR THE GOOD NEWS …

Most of the time, we enjoy buying or making gifts to give to others. Few joys on earth surpass the joy of giving. Most of us have found the words of Jesus to be so true: “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” However, each pre-Christmas season we seem to be getting busier. When time seems to be running out with our busyness of preparation and we still need to buy gifts for others, the chore can become tedious. It feels like a pressure rather than a pleasure.

Just before Christmas a saleswoman was showing a new doll to a father. “This one is just like a little girl. When you lay her down, she closes her eyes and goes to sleep.” The father looked sceptical, replying, “I guess you never had a little girl.” What parent doesn’t sympathise with this girl’s dad, especially with daylight saving? Who of us doesn’t get very tired and a little frustrated at this time of year? There’s so much that still needs to be done before Christmas Eve. And each year we seem to have less energy to do it than before. We desperately need something to revive our flagging spirits and get us on top of things again.

St. Paul points us to the healing medicine we need. Today’s sermon text brings to a climax the most influential letter ever written. If ever a letter changed the course of history, and multiple times at that, it was St. Paul’s letter to the Romans. The word that God spoke through Paul significantly changed the lives of Augustine, Luther and Wesley and the movements or events that followed in their wake. The book of Romans takes us to the very depths of our being. A “new you” can leave this church here today because of it. The Christ who came at Christmas can enable you to live as if your life has just begun anew. He promises that He will no more remember your past. He wants to turn a guilty conscience into a good conscience. “If anyone is in Christ, they are a new creation, the old has passed away, the new has come.”

There is a plant in Jamaica called the “life plant”. It is almost impossible to kill or destroy any part of it. If you detach a leaf from the plant and suspend it by a string or a wire, it does not wilt and die. It sends out threadlike rootlets, which take in moisture from the air. Before long, new leaves begin to grow. The Gospel of the grace of God is the “life plant” of the world. Wherever the Gospel goes, it takes root in the lives of the people. No environment, however charged it may be with sin, selfishness and entrenched wrong, can kill the everlasting Gospel. Jesus offers you, not just life after death, but life, new life now, before you die. The mercies of the Lord are new every day. Our Lord Jesus is the Giver of new beginnings. He can make and keep you His own despite a quick temper, your tendency to worry too much or your fear of dying. The Gospel is good news for all who are confronted with their own inability to progress spiritually.

Christ’s forgiveness is greater than our biggest sin. The joy of the Gospel is that it wipes out every sin, declaring us holy and then gradually transforming us from within. The Gospel is able to turn old attitudes of self-concern into new attitudes of mercy and compassion. The more Christ grows within us, the more we forget ourselves and our own concerns. Jesus lived His whole life for others and now enables us to do the same. He invites us to live the Gospel and put it into practice in our daily

lives. His Gospel speaks into every part of our life. As Christ treated us so much better than we deserve, so we too are enabled to treat others better than they deserve.

We treasure the gifts those near and dear give us. A lot of love goes into those gifts. So it is with heaven’s gift of a Saviour to our world. God assures us of our future through Jesus. God wants us to share in His family forever. In the face of death, the New Testament proclaims the good news of the sure and certain hope of the resurrection unto everlasting life. The good news of the Gospel brings the certainty that death is not the end but the beginning of life, not an eternal separation from God, but the departure to be forever with God.

It was not the morality of the Sermon on the Mount that enabled Christianity to conquer Roman paganism, but the belief that Jesus had been raised from the dead. His resurrection means that life is no longer a dead-end street in which each day simply brings us closer to the grave. The good news of the resurrection means that guilt and despair are dealt a deadly blow. Their power to destroy our enjoyment of God’s good gift of life is broken. We now thrill to those wonderful words “There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ (Romans 8:1).” Instead, we can look forward with breathless anticipation to the glorious liberty of the children of God. The best, for which this celebration of Christmas is preparing us, is still to come.

Therefore we can say “It’s great to be alive!” Part of Jesus’ good gift to us is life abundant now, life in all its fullness and goodness. The Gospel enables life to start becoming the beautiful thing God wants it to be. The Gospel sometimes seems too good to be true. But then it alone is the truth that can set us free. Its truth is embodied in Jesus of Nazareth, God’s mercy and love in the flesh.

Jesus refuses to stand aloof from the mess in this world. He came at Christmas to identify with every stage of human life with all its deprivations and hardships. Jesus refused to take it easy while here on earth. From His birth onwards Jesus didn’t seek any special advantages or privileges. He knew weariness, temptation and betrayal firsthand. He never looked down on anyone. He never put anyone down, but sought to lift up the downcast and despairing. He can do the same for you in these stressful days before Christmas.

“Come to Me, all you who are tired from carrying your heavy loads and I will give you relief”, He says. What a welcome invitation! “Cast all your cares on Him, for He cares for you.” Discover this for yourself this week. You’ll never look back again. Truly, the Gospel is full of treasures that want to overwhelm you with their splendour. May this truth, this good news of great joy, possess every fibre of your being now and forever.

Amen.

May the peace of God, which surpasses all human understanding, so that it will guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.