December 27, 2024 • 27 mins
There was a great gift given to us so long ago. A gift that many of us as Christians know well. In his sermon, Pastor Guy aims to remind us why this gift is so important and why we need to take it with us into the new year.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
And by that will we have been sanctified through the
offering of the body of Jesus Christ.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Once for.
Speaker 3 (00:28):
Good morning and welcome to peace. To you from Peace
Lutheran Church in Arvada, Colorado. Christmas the moment that Christ
came into the world. Today, Pastor Guy is hoping to
help us appreciate the fullness of the gift given on Christmas.
Listen as he preaches on the epistle Lesson Hebrews ten
five through ten, where the author of Hebrews reminds us
(00:51):
of the true extent of the Father's love for us.
Now here's Pastor Guy.
Speaker 1 (00:58):
So before we eat, before I even started to prepare,
I decided I was going to preach on the epistle
Lesson today. I've never preached on Hebrews chapter ten, and
I committed to it side on scene without even looking
at it. So I open it up, and this is
what I read. I want you to hear it again.
You've heard it once. You're gonna hear at least two
(01:19):
more times, are you ready? It says Consequently, when Christ
came into the world, he said, sacrifices and offerings you
have not desired, but a body you have prepared for
me in burnt offerings and sin offerings, you have taken
no pleasure. Then I said, behold, I have come to
do your will, Oh God, for as it is written
(01:39):
of me in the scroll of the book, when he
said above, you have neither desired nor taken pleasure. And
sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sin offerings, these
are offered according to the law. And then he added, behold,
I have come to do your will. He does away
with the first in order to establish the second, and
(02:00):
that where we have been sanctified through the offering of
the body of Jesus Christ once for all. So I
read through this and was like, Ah, should have chose
the gospel.
Speaker 4 (02:13):
By tons of time in it.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
And after some reflection I realized, there's a Christmas proclamation here.
There's a greeting right at the very beginning. I've never
caught it before. I want to read it just that
one verse to you.
Speaker 2 (02:22):
Verse five.
Speaker 1 (02:23):
Consequently, it says when Christ came into the world. That
is a Christmas proclamation for sure, And that really.
Speaker 2 (02:38):
Is what it is.
Speaker 1 (02:39):
That's what Christmas is. When you boil it all down,
that's what it is. It is the celebration of when
Christ came in to the world.
Speaker 4 (02:46):
So let me ask you, how are you doing?
Speaker 2 (02:51):
Are you ready?
Speaker 4 (02:53):
All prepared Wednesday's coming? Are you ready?
Speaker 2 (03:00):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (03:01):
Well good, this is a very prepared group.
Speaker 2 (03:03):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (03:06):
I always be amazed though about how we have a
tendency to make things that are unimportant become the most
important thing. I don't know if you've ever noticed this.
The first time I ran into it in the church
was when I was a d C. I was serving
up in Northern Minnesota and we had worship and I
was able to help out leading worship, and I was
in the back greeting kind of like you know you do,
and this little, sweet old lady she comes out with
(03:29):
her cane and I'm like, oh, she's so cute. And
she comes up to me and she looks right in
my face and she says, as far as I'm concerned,
service didn't even happen today.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
And I was.
Speaker 1 (03:41):
Like, like, what are you talking about. She said, the
candles didn't get lit. And I was like, oh, pastor,
you know, but I, you know, being kind of a
smart alec, I said, I'm pretty sure Jesus can overcome
some candles, and she just shook her head and out
(04:05):
she went. And I was like, wow, I'm that's okay.
Speaker 4 (04:09):
That's new.
Speaker 1 (04:12):
Little things, unimportant things, things that don't matter, become the
most important thing, cancel out God's word, his forgiveness, his
body and blood, that all goes away because the candles
were lit. And I was like, that's okay, one person, right.
But then I've seen this to be true and lots
of different areas of the church, things that traditions and
(04:33):
things that we hold to and and and we make
the small, unimportant things, the things are important to us,
but not necessarily to Jesus the most important thing. And
I've kind of seen it lived out. And you know
the place where I've seen it a lot is is
in weddings. Has anyone ever been involved with one of those?
Speaker 4 (04:52):
Right?
Speaker 1 (04:52):
So they come to your office, this young couple who
doesn't know anything about anything, because that's how it works,
right for everybody, And they come in your office and
they're just so laser focused on all these unimportant things
when what's at hand is a lifetime together, living in marriage.
And you know, from the perspective of twenty four years
in marriage, you realize that the things of that day
(05:13):
are kind of relatively unimportant compared to the having to
live together and serve together and all these things that
come along with marriage, and so you try to break
through with that, but it's just it's hard to do,
and so you just kind of ride the wave of
all the things that don't really matter.
Speaker 4 (05:30):
To get to get to the heart.
Speaker 1 (05:33):
But I gotta say, I think that the king of
all of this is Christmas. Because we just start we
heard from Hebrews what it's about that when Christ came
to earth, Right, when Christ came to this world.
Speaker 2 (05:47):
That's what Christmas is about.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
So turn your neighbor, the person you'd maybe just met,
and say, Christmas is about when Christ came to the world.
Speaker 2 (05:55):
Ready, go.
Speaker 1 (06:01):
Now, I want you to respond, thanks, I needed that.
Isn't that true? I mean we get a wound up
during this season. There are a lot of things that
we that we put on the checklists that have nothing
to do with that. Amen, Now lest I become the
grumpy old pastor. That's like, bah, Jesus is the reason
(06:24):
for the season. You're a bad Christian if you don't
just do that. Buy more Nativity scenes, right, That's that
can so easily happen as a pastor. That's not the point.
You should buy nativity scenes. I don't see any in
this this area. We should do that next year, we're
gonna get together and not we're not gonna do wreaths. Lydia,
where are you ashieving here? Yeah she's on vacation. Okay, cool,
(06:47):
good for her. Yeah we're instead of wreaths, we're gonna
make nativity scenes. We're just PLoP them in the yard.
Because people need to see Jesus, of course, And so
there's a there's a balance here, just like with the wedding.
It's gonna happen, and there's gonna be focus on unimportant things.
But at the center, at the center of it all
is that same Christmas message when Christ came to this world.
Speaker 4 (07:11):
That's what happened here, and.
Speaker 1 (07:13):
We can I mean, regardless of all the fun things
that we do and all the exciting things that we do,
and the time with family and gathering, presence and all
the rest, all of that, what must predominate us must
rise within our midst as the central point of all
of this is that message, the message from Hebrews chapter ten,
verse five, when Christ came to this world. And so
(07:36):
I think we need some help, though, because it's easy
for us. It's easy for us to get lost in
the weeds, right, It's easier for us to get so
obsessed that the candles aren't lit, that you forget that
Jesus just poured his grace upon me, upon you. That
can happen to any of us, But not when you
read Hebrews.
Speaker 2 (07:54):
Not when you read Hebrews.
Speaker 1 (07:56):
This Hebrews passage is actually pretty I see why they
tore it now after some time and study, because this
has to do with the sacrificial system, the sacrific official
system that exist, and you really don't see it until
you read in chapter nine, what's kind of been prepared here?
Because in chapter nine you have a description of what's
(08:18):
going on, and it says in chapter nine, verse eleven,
but when Christ appeared as high priest of the good
things that have come, then through the greater and more
perfect tent, not made with hands that is not.
Speaker 4 (08:30):
Of his creation, that Jesus he entered.
Speaker 1 (08:34):
Once and for all into the holy places, that temple,
not by means of the blood of the goats and calves,
but by means of his own blood, thus securing an
eternal redemption and this then is something that's foreign to
us but would not have been foreign to them. And
so this is this is kind of a weird way
to do the Sunday before Christmas, so just bear with me.
Speaker 4 (08:57):
But this is how it worked. This is how it
worked with.
Speaker 1 (08:59):
A family seeking God's forgiveness at this time. This is
how it worked. They would go to the flocks and
they would choose three four three four lambs newly born
that looked perfect without blemish, that were healthy, and they
would pull those out there, cull those out off to
(09:20):
the side, and then a few days later, as they
saw them kind of grow and you know, kind of
and see what they were going to be, they would
choose the very best lamb. As a family, the head
of the house would do this. And so imagine this.
You're the head of this house, the spiritual leader of
this house, and you go to your flocks and you
choose this lamb, the one without blemish, without mark, and
(09:40):
you bring that lamb into your home like literally, it's
becomes part of your family, into your family life. And
then so if you got little kids, would what would
you imagine little kids are going to do with this cute, fluffy,
little lamb, hug it, ride it this kid nose, kidd.
Speaker 4 (10:02):
They're gonna name it. Maybe they name it fluffy.
Speaker 1 (10:05):
You know, they got this cute little lamb in their
midst and they spend this time with them. And yet
everybody knows, every single person knows that this lamb has
a purpose, that this lamb is the one that will
be offered as a sacrifice for the forgiveness of sins
of this family, that this lamb will be in atonement.
(10:30):
And so they live with this lamb and they care
for this lam and they feed this lamb, and then
the day comes, and imagine this. You bring this lamb
that's become kind of welcomed into a part of your
family with this purpose, and you bring them into the temple,
the highest of places, and you wait.
Speaker 2 (10:46):
For your turn.
Speaker 1 (10:47):
In fact, you put a little tag around there with
your name on it, because you want everyone to want
everyone to know that this lamb is for your family,
standing in place of you, for your family. And then
the moment comes and the priest calls out your name,
and you come forward and you go to this place,
this place of sacrifice, and your job now is to
(11:09):
take a hold of the neck in the veins that
exist there and to squeeze until the lamb goes to sleep,
until it's disoriented and not able to struggle. And it's
at that moment and I didn't know this, this is
you know, I read a lot of different things in preparation,
but it's at that moment that the priest instructs you,
(11:32):
doesn't do it for you, but instructs you to nip,
just slice those veins. And then as you release pressure,
what happens. And you hold that lamb in your hands,
as the blood pours down your hand, and that lamb
dies and its life blood pours out for you in
(11:57):
your place, in your stead, and then you leave the
lamb and you take the little tag home and you
go with the forgiveness of sins, washed by the blood
of the lamb. We know the gift that Jesus was
(12:18):
on Christmas. We know it. It's a weird thing to
talk about, it's kind of gruesome, but this is how
it was, and this is who he was. He was
born into the world, he was born into our midst
and it's a serene thing we celebrate with all the stuff.
But everybody knows, at least God knows what his purpose
was His purpose was to be born into this world
(12:40):
as the sacrificial lamb for the atonement of the sin
of all the world. That this lamb, the Lamb of God,
the very son of God, would then step into our place,
that his blood would pour.
Speaker 4 (12:54):
Down on the cross and over all of us.
Speaker 1 (12:59):
And I think that's a good place to us to
start as we prepare for this week of celebration.
Speaker 2 (13:04):
In the King.
Speaker 1 (13:05):
And that's where Hebrews kind of directs us to because
it says, when Christ came into the world, after all
this talk about sacrifice, sacrifices, and who he is. It
says in that chapter nine, for if the blood of
goats and bulls and the sprinkling defile purposes, with the
ashes of heifer sanctified for the pure, fake, pure purification
of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ,
(13:27):
who through the eternal Spirit, offered himself without blemish to God,
purify our conscience from dead works to serve in the
living God. And it goes on to talk about how
he stands in our place, that this is who he is.
And then we get to our epistle Lesson Today, which
says that when Christ came to the world. It was
known that sacrifices and offerings, that that is not what
(13:48):
God has desired, or at least it will not completely
make up for what he needs to do, but it
would be a body prepared for him in burnt offerings
and sin offerings.
Speaker 4 (13:58):
You've taken no pleasure.
Speaker 1 (13:59):
But then what we have about Jesus and who he
is and what he has said through his life and action,
is he says, behold, I have come to do your will,
Oh God, as it is written of me, and the
scroll of the book says, you have not taken. You
have not taken either desired or taken pleasure and sacrifices
and offerings, or burden offerings and sin offerings.
Speaker 4 (14:21):
But behold, I have come to do your will.
Speaker 1 (14:24):
And so even on Christmas we hear Jesus's words echoing
out over all of creation. Lord, not my will, but
yours be done. And then there's this verse ten, and
by that will we have been sanctified through the offering
(14:44):
of the body of Jesus Christ once and for all.
As you prepare your heart for Christmas, this moment when when.
Speaker 4 (14:53):
This this gift, this this on.
Speaker 1 (14:56):
This lamb of God was born into our midst and
that his per was clear, that he had no blemishes
from timing he was born into the time he was
hung on a cross in our place. That this is
the true gift, and we just need to make sure
that that predominates. Do your traditions, have your fun, do
all the rest, but make sure that predominates. If you
(15:19):
have children and family coming into your home, they should
not leave without knowing the message we share today. Amen,
be bold, be confident. What you gotta lose. We belong
to the lamb of God. Now I usually end the
(15:40):
sermon with amen, So you're probably like, are we done
or what's going on here? That's gonna be my prayer
for you, and so let's go ahead today.
Speaker 2 (15:50):
I usually a prayer.
Speaker 1 (15:51):
Pray a verse from a hymn, but I'm gonna pray
for you because there's opportunity to be witness in your neighborhoods.
There's opportunity to be witness with your neighbors. There's a
opportunity need to be witnessed of the true gift of Christmas.
And this isn't a military kind of way, like the
world is going to trash all around us. No, this
is this is a way of just proclaiming the gift
that has been given. And I pray that you especially
(16:13):
will get to do that with family and friends and
whoever you gather. Just stop, just remember and just keep
in mind for we know what the gift is.
Speaker 2 (16:23):
Amen.
Speaker 3 (16:33):
Well, good morning, pastor guy, good morning, great message. And
you know, I think that you talked about are you ready? Well,
were you ready? You know? Were you ready? And are
we ready? Are we ready to see our Lord again?
Speaker 2 (16:49):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (16:49):
You know, and that's what this is all about. But
first of all, the gift, you know, and you talked
about the whole story about the sacrificial lamb, and which
was very very very impressive and impactful.
Speaker 2 (17:03):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (17:03):
Yeah, you could say, we're people coming to church. Were
they ready to hear that story?
Speaker 2 (17:08):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (17:09):
Based on their faces, not all of them, for sure,
it was a yeah. But yet personally, I just went
back and forth on whether I found that story and
again I'm not sure how historically.
Speaker 2 (17:23):
Accurate it is, but the extent of it's the same.
Speaker 1 (17:26):
And I just thought, you know, we should probably I
should probably share this because that is what Hebrews is about,
is that Christ was the sacrifice, He was the one
that stood in the place, and he is the Lamb
of God.
Speaker 2 (17:40):
And so to preach that.
Speaker 1 (17:41):
In the most powerful impactful way is the is the task.
And so even with all those family and friends, yeah,
I mean there's a lot of family home, you know
for Christmas, sure, and kids coming back from college and
there don't know me.
Speaker 2 (17:54):
At all, you know. Yeah, I was like, no, that's
that's the job.
Speaker 3 (17:59):
So could we have another happy story to well that one.
It was very impactful for me because it made me
really think about what Christ went through, you know, and
he was on earth and with his disciples and I'm
I'm sure you know, they got along and you know,
they were they were having fun too. I'm sure they
had their their fun times together, which was illustrated the
(18:21):
wedding of kne Of. They were actually having a lot
of fun there. And but it's just kind of like
the lamb in the house. You know, they had a name,
and they were you know, loved him, and these people,
the disciples and people that knew Jesus loved him. And
and then he went through with that sacrificial lamb that
you talked about went through, but even a lot worse.
Speaker 2 (18:43):
I hadn't thought about this.
Speaker 1 (18:44):
It's not a discermon, but Jesus predicts his death three
times in the Book of Matthew, right, and they do
not like it. In fact, once he does it and
Peter he has to say get behind me, like your
ways are not my ways. And then and they don't
like it when he says he's gonna turn his face
(19:05):
to Jerusalem and they're like, don't go back there. They're
gonna kill you, right, And he's like, I know, I've
been telling you that's what's gonna happen. Yeah, And then
when they come to arrest him, you know, they there,
Peter is ready to fight, and I mean there's just
it's it's everything. It's everything that his love was designed
(19:26):
and created to be in God and everything that it's
in exactly the opposite of how we would do it right,
And it's uh and so yeah, it's a you know,
we even do this with Christmas, where we know he's
the Lamb of God and we know all these things
we've we've heard them, we've they're locked away. But when
we look at the Little Manger, we do not think
(19:48):
sacrificial lamb.
Speaker 3 (19:49):
No, you don't want to think about.
Speaker 1 (19:51):
No, who would want to think about that? Yes, and
so I kind of forced everyone to think about that.
But you know, we're just getting in a world where
it's Christmas. This is about everything else other than and
than Christ and what he came to do. And so
to just remind people that from the moment he was born,
his purpose was known at least by him and the Father.
Speaker 3 (20:12):
Right. So right, Yeah, And indeed, the incredible gift that
we were giving when when God gave us his son
and to do what he's doing, What an amazing gift
that was. And you know, it's we talked about when
I got home. We're talking about you know, it really
makes the gifts that we buy for others and things
(20:32):
like that, and what Christmas was, what has become Like
you say, with those gifts, how how miniscule those gifts
are compared to giving us God giving us his son.
I mean, that's just I can't even fathom that the
giving of a son for for us and and we're
(20:53):
not good people. I mean, you know, he gave it
to us because we were so sinful.
Speaker 2 (20:59):
Were not good people.
Speaker 3 (21:00):
That's right.
Speaker 2 (21:01):
Yeah, that's what love looks like.
Speaker 3 (21:03):
Oh, unbelievable. And when I when I kind of equate
that to the lamb. The lamb was unblemished, he he
was sinless. The lamb, you know, was just the beautiful
little lamb. You know when you think about that, that's
what Christ was all about. He's just he was. He
was beauty, yeah, you know, and just the no sin
(21:25):
in his life and doing what he did and there
for us. But yet he had to be he had
to die for us. Otherwise we were doomed. So we
he had to do that.
Speaker 1 (21:37):
Yeah, we had, We had what our heart's lung for,
which is that Paradise lost. God walked walking in our
midst He was God with us. We had him with us,
and yet our sinful, broken natures drive us to the
place where we put him to death. And we can
say that's a historical thing, that the Jews are the
(21:57):
ones that drove that process, or you know, or blame
it on everybody, but it's the human condition. It's the
human heart. Each one of us, left to our own
put God to death in our lives every day.
Speaker 3 (22:09):
You know.
Speaker 1 (22:09):
That's what sin is, is rejection of Him and putting
him to death. And so this is like, you know,
when I went back and forth on whether to share
this story, you know, with kids, being present whatever.
Speaker 2 (22:21):
I'm like, you know, you got to say it out
loud because sin is a big deal.
Speaker 1 (22:26):
And it's not only do we minimize Christmas and the
message of Christ, but we minimize that to sin and
how what it took, like what it is that God
was willing to pay that we may live in the
freedom of his son's victory. And it's yeah, you just
can't minimize it, like there's you know, you're not gonna
(22:46):
hear it anywhere else. It's not like it's in the
public square anymore. It's the only place you're going to
hear it is here.
Speaker 3 (22:54):
After church, we talked about that. There was a small
group of us and we were talking about what God
did for us giving us his son. And but one
thing that came up and we talked about with the lamb,
you know that you described was the shedding of the blood.
And one of the questions that one of the guys had,
he was kind of scratching his head. He goes, well,
you know, there's a significance there. What is it with
(23:16):
shedding the blood, shedding the blood of the lamb, but
then also more significantly, shedding Jesus's blood. The significance of
that can you help folks do that?
Speaker 1 (23:27):
Yeah, I mean that was that was what God's That
is what God asked of his people for the forgiveness
of sins, is that they would have an atonement, that
they would have an animal, and that the all of
the life blood of that animal would be shed on
their behalf and then offered to the Lord. So for us,
(23:48):
it's just kind of hard to grasp that that would
be a thing. You know that it's probably in our
kind of peda animal loving world, you know.
Speaker 2 (23:56):
Where there's where dogs are literally everywhere. Yes, I'm sure,
like you can't go.
Speaker 1 (24:00):
To a restaurant, you can't go to the hospital, you
can't go anywhere without pets. That so this is kind
of shocking. But the idea, the way God set it up,
is that that blood then would wash you clean. And
so so that's what I thought was so powerful about
that story. Again, and I'm not sure about its historical accuracy,
but the way that.
Speaker 2 (24:21):
The author of that story wrote it was.
Speaker 1 (24:24):
That the priest didn't do this for you, You did
it for yourself, because it wasn't the priest sins that
this animal's blood was being shed for, it was yours.
And then the just the graphic of that blood then
running over the hand as you let go of it,
like literally washing over your hand.
Speaker 2 (24:41):
I was like, Okay, that's pretty powerful.
Speaker 1 (24:43):
And that is you know what Christ's blood has done
for us, that he would pour out his entire life,
a life that is perfect without blemish, that he may
atone or stand in your place. And so when we
say washed by the blood of the Lamb, that's what
we're talking about.
Speaker 3 (25:02):
Very good. Well, I guess the whole idea in the
in the driver behind the sermon that you that you
gave us was Jesus is really the reason for all
of this and how we forget it and he you know,
it's it's simple to say Jesus is the reason for
the season. Well, yeah, that's true, but that's just like
(25:23):
kind of very scratching the surface. You know.
Speaker 5 (25:26):
Jesus is is everything is everything for us with us
with without him, holiday season here, with Christmas and New
Year and everything else and all of it is this
kind of reassuring, regenerating and we're going to come back
next year strong with our podcast.
Speaker 2 (25:45):
Yeah. But hey, Merry Christmas. Same to you, thank you
for joining us, for peace. To you at peace Lutheran
Church in.
Speaker 1 (26:06):
Arvada, Colorado. If you have no church home, we'd be
delighted for you to join us at five six seven
five Field Street in Arbana. Services are at eight and
ten thirty am, with Bible classes for all.
Speaker 2 (26:19):
Ages at nine fifteen am.
Speaker 1 (26:22):
You can easily access our services online on our YouTube
channel Peacearbada at YouTube dot com, or wherever.
Speaker 2 (26:30):
Podcasts are found. Coming this January, tune in to the
new video podcast at peacetou on.
Speaker 1 (26:38):
YouTube dot com, or listen wherever podcasts are found. Now
from the entire broadcast team at Peace Lutheran and Arvada,
I'm Reuben Hollenbeck, and may the peace of our Lord
be with you now and always and
And by that will we have been sanctified through the
offering of the body of Jesus Christ.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Once for.
Speaker 3 (00:28):
Good morning and welcome to peace. To you from Peace
Lutheran Church in Arvada, Colorado. Christmas the moment that Christ
came into the world. Today, Pastor Guy is hoping to
help us appreciate the fullness of the gift given on Christmas.
Listen as he preaches on the epistle Lesson Hebrews ten
five through ten, where the author of Hebrews reminds us
(00:51):
of the true extent of the Father's love for us.
Now here's Pastor Guy.
Speaker 1 (00:58):
So before we eat, before I even started to prepare,
I decided I was going to preach on the epistle
Lesson today. I've never preached on Hebrews chapter ten, and
I committed to it side on scene without even looking
at it. So I open it up, and this is
what I read. I want you to hear it again.
You've heard it once. You're gonna hear at least two
(01:19):
more times, are you ready? It says Consequently, when Christ
came into the world, he said, sacrifices and offerings you
have not desired, but a body you have prepared for
me in burnt offerings and sin offerings, you have taken
no pleasure. Then I said, behold, I have come to
do your will, Oh God, for as it is written
(01:39):
of me in the scroll of the book, when he
said above, you have neither desired nor taken pleasure. And
sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sin offerings, these
are offered according to the law. And then he added, behold,
I have come to do your will. He does away
with the first in order to establish the second, and
(02:00):
that where we have been sanctified through the offering of
the body of Jesus Christ once for all. So I
read through this and was like, Ah, should have chose
the gospel.
Speaker 4 (02:13):
By tons of time in it.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
And after some reflection I realized, there's a Christmas proclamation here.
There's a greeting right at the very beginning. I've never
caught it before. I want to read it just that
one verse to you.
Speaker 2 (02:22):
Verse five.
Speaker 1 (02:23):
Consequently, it says when Christ came into the world. That
is a Christmas proclamation for sure, And that really.
Speaker 2 (02:38):
Is what it is.
Speaker 1 (02:39):
That's what Christmas is. When you boil it all down,
that's what it is. It is the celebration of when
Christ came in to the world.
Speaker 4 (02:46):
So let me ask you, how are you doing?
Speaker 2 (02:51):
Are you ready?
Speaker 4 (02:53):
All prepared Wednesday's coming? Are you ready?
Speaker 2 (03:00):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (03:01):
Well good, this is a very prepared group.
Speaker 2 (03:03):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (03:06):
I always be amazed though about how we have a
tendency to make things that are unimportant become the most
important thing. I don't know if you've ever noticed this.
The first time I ran into it in the church
was when I was a d C. I was serving
up in Northern Minnesota and we had worship and I
was able to help out leading worship, and I was
in the back greeting kind of like you know you do,
and this little, sweet old lady she comes out with
(03:29):
her cane and I'm like, oh, she's so cute. And
she comes up to me and she looks right in
my face and she says, as far as I'm concerned,
service didn't even happen today.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
And I was.
Speaker 1 (03:41):
Like, like, what are you talking about. She said, the
candles didn't get lit. And I was like, oh, pastor,
you know, but I, you know, being kind of a
smart alec, I said, I'm pretty sure Jesus can overcome
some candles, and she just shook her head and out
(04:05):
she went. And I was like, wow, I'm that's okay.
Speaker 4 (04:09):
That's new.
Speaker 1 (04:12):
Little things, unimportant things, things that don't matter, become the
most important thing, cancel out God's word, his forgiveness, his
body and blood, that all goes away because the candles
were lit. And I was like, that's okay, one person, right.
But then I've seen this to be true and lots
of different areas of the church, things that traditions and
(04:33):
things that we hold to and and and we make
the small, unimportant things, the things are important to us,
but not necessarily to Jesus the most important thing. And
I've kind of seen it lived out. And you know
the place where I've seen it a lot is is
in weddings. Has anyone ever been involved with one of those?
Speaker 4 (04:52):
Right?
Speaker 1 (04:52):
So they come to your office, this young couple who
doesn't know anything about anything, because that's how it works,
right for everybody, And they come in your office and
they're just so laser focused on all these unimportant things
when what's at hand is a lifetime together, living in marriage.
And you know, from the perspective of twenty four years
in marriage, you realize that the things of that day
(05:13):
are kind of relatively unimportant compared to the having to
live together and serve together and all these things that
come along with marriage, and so you try to break
through with that, but it's just it's hard to do,
and so you just kind of ride the wave of
all the things that don't really matter.
Speaker 4 (05:30):
To get to get to the heart.
Speaker 1 (05:33):
But I gotta say, I think that the king of
all of this is Christmas. Because we just start we
heard from Hebrews what it's about that when Christ came
to earth, Right, when Christ came to this world.
Speaker 2 (05:47):
That's what Christmas is about.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
So turn your neighbor, the person you'd maybe just met,
and say, Christmas is about when Christ came to the world.
Speaker 2 (05:55):
Ready, go.
Speaker 1 (06:01):
Now, I want you to respond, thanks, I needed that.
Isn't that true? I mean we get a wound up
during this season. There are a lot of things that
we that we put on the checklists that have nothing
to do with that. Amen, Now lest I become the
grumpy old pastor. That's like, bah, Jesus is the reason
(06:24):
for the season. You're a bad Christian if you don't
just do that. Buy more Nativity scenes, right, That's that
can so easily happen as a pastor. That's not the point.
You should buy nativity scenes. I don't see any in
this this area. We should do that next year, we're
gonna get together and not we're not gonna do wreaths. Lydia,
where are you ashieving here? Yeah she's on vacation. Okay, cool,
(06:47):
good for her. Yeah we're instead of wreaths, we're gonna
make nativity scenes. We're just PLoP them in the yard.
Because people need to see Jesus, of course, And so
there's a there's a balance here, just like with the wedding.
It's gonna happen, and there's gonna be focus on unimportant things.
But at the center, at the center of it all
is that same Christmas message when Christ came to this world.
Speaker 4 (07:11):
That's what happened here, and.
Speaker 1 (07:13):
We can I mean, regardless of all the fun things
that we do and all the exciting things that we do,
and the time with family and gathering, presence and all
the rest, all of that, what must predominate us must
rise within our midst as the central point of all
of this is that message, the message from Hebrews chapter ten,
verse five, when Christ came to this world. And so
(07:36):
I think we need some help, though, because it's easy
for us. It's easy for us to get lost in
the weeds, right, It's easier for us to get so
obsessed that the candles aren't lit, that you forget that
Jesus just poured his grace upon me, upon you. That
can happen to any of us, But not when you
read Hebrews.
Speaker 2 (07:54):
Not when you read Hebrews.
Speaker 1 (07:56):
This Hebrews passage is actually pretty I see why they
tore it now after some time and study, because this
has to do with the sacrificial system, the sacrific official
system that exist, and you really don't see it until
you read in chapter nine, what's kind of been prepared here?
Because in chapter nine you have a description of what's
(08:18):
going on, and it says in chapter nine, verse eleven,
but when Christ appeared as high priest of the good
things that have come, then through the greater and more
perfect tent, not made with hands that is not.
Speaker 4 (08:30):
Of his creation, that Jesus he entered.
Speaker 1 (08:34):
Once and for all into the holy places, that temple,
not by means of the blood of the goats and calves,
but by means of his own blood, thus securing an
eternal redemption and this then is something that's foreign to
us but would not have been foreign to them. And
so this is this is kind of a weird way
to do the Sunday before Christmas, so just bear with me.
Speaker 4 (08:57):
But this is how it worked. This is how it
worked with.
Speaker 1 (08:59):
A family seeking God's forgiveness at this time. This is
how it worked. They would go to the flocks and
they would choose three four three four lambs newly born
that looked perfect without blemish, that were healthy, and they
would pull those out there, cull those out off to
(09:20):
the side, and then a few days later, as they
saw them kind of grow and you know, kind of
and see what they were going to be, they would
choose the very best lamb. As a family, the head
of the house would do this. And so imagine this.
You're the head of this house, the spiritual leader of
this house, and you go to your flocks and you
choose this lamb, the one without blemish, without mark, and
(09:40):
you bring that lamb into your home like literally, it's
becomes part of your family, into your family life. And
then so if you got little kids, would what would
you imagine little kids are going to do with this cute, fluffy,
little lamb, hug it, ride it this kid nose, kidd.
Speaker 4 (10:02):
They're gonna name it. Maybe they name it fluffy.
Speaker 1 (10:05):
You know, they got this cute little lamb in their
midst and they spend this time with them. And yet
everybody knows, every single person knows that this lamb has
a purpose, that this lamb is the one that will
be offered as a sacrifice for the forgiveness of sins
of this family, that this lamb will be in atonement.
(10:30):
And so they live with this lamb and they care
for this lam and they feed this lamb, and then
the day comes, and imagine this. You bring this lamb
that's become kind of welcomed into a part of your
family with this purpose, and you bring them into the temple,
the highest of places, and you wait.
Speaker 2 (10:46):
For your turn.
Speaker 1 (10:47):
In fact, you put a little tag around there with
your name on it, because you want everyone to want
everyone to know that this lamb is for your family,
standing in place of you, for your family. And then
the moment comes and the priest calls out your name,
and you come forward and you go to this place,
this place of sacrifice, and your job now is to
(11:09):
take a hold of the neck in the veins that
exist there and to squeeze until the lamb goes to sleep,
until it's disoriented and not able to struggle. And it's
at that moment and I didn't know this, this is
you know, I read a lot of different things in preparation,
but it's at that moment that the priest instructs you,
(11:32):
doesn't do it for you, but instructs you to nip,
just slice those veins. And then as you release pressure,
what happens. And you hold that lamb in your hands,
as the blood pours down your hand, and that lamb
dies and its life blood pours out for you in
(11:57):
your place, in your stead, and then you leave the
lamb and you take the little tag home and you
go with the forgiveness of sins, washed by the blood
of the lamb. We know the gift that Jesus was
(12:18):
on Christmas. We know it. It's a weird thing to
talk about, it's kind of gruesome, but this is how
it was, and this is who he was. He was
born into the world, he was born into our midst
and it's a serene thing we celebrate with all the stuff.
But everybody knows, at least God knows what his purpose
was His purpose was to be born into this world
(12:40):
as the sacrificial lamb for the atonement of the sin
of all the world. That this lamb, the Lamb of God,
the very son of God, would then step into our place,
that his blood would pour.
Speaker 4 (12:54):
Down on the cross and over all of us.
Speaker 1 (12:59):
And I think that's a good place to us to
start as we prepare for this week of celebration.
Speaker 2 (13:04):
In the King.
Speaker 1 (13:05):
And that's where Hebrews kind of directs us to because
it says, when Christ came into the world, after all
this talk about sacrifice, sacrifices, and who he is. It
says in that chapter nine, for if the blood of
goats and bulls and the sprinkling defile purposes, with the
ashes of heifer sanctified for the pure, fake, pure purification
of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ,
(13:27):
who through the eternal Spirit, offered himself without blemish to God,
purify our conscience from dead works to serve in the
living God. And it goes on to talk about how
he stands in our place, that this is who he is.
And then we get to our epistle Lesson Today, which
says that when Christ came to the world. It was
known that sacrifices and offerings, that that is not what
(13:48):
God has desired, or at least it will not completely
make up for what he needs to do, but it
would be a body prepared for him in burnt offerings
and sin offerings.
Speaker 4 (13:58):
You've taken no pleasure.
Speaker 1 (13:59):
But then what we have about Jesus and who he
is and what he has said through his life and action,
is he says, behold, I have come to do your will,
Oh God, as it is written of me, and the
scroll of the book says, you have not taken. You
have not taken either desired or taken pleasure and sacrifices
and offerings, or burden offerings and sin offerings.
Speaker 4 (14:21):
But behold, I have come to do your will.
Speaker 1 (14:24):
And so even on Christmas we hear Jesus's words echoing
out over all of creation. Lord, not my will, but
yours be done. And then there's this verse ten, and
by that will we have been sanctified through the offering
(14:44):
of the body of Jesus Christ once and for all.
As you prepare your heart for Christmas, this moment when when.
Speaker 4 (14:53):
This this gift, this this on.
Speaker 1 (14:56):
This lamb of God was born into our midst and
that his per was clear, that he had no blemishes
from timing he was born into the time he was
hung on a cross in our place. That this is
the true gift, and we just need to make sure
that that predominates. Do your traditions, have your fun, do
all the rest, but make sure that predominates. If you
(15:19):
have children and family coming into your home, they should
not leave without knowing the message we share today. Amen,
be bold, be confident. What you gotta lose. We belong
to the lamb of God. Now I usually end the
(15:40):
sermon with amen, So you're probably like, are we done
or what's going on here? That's gonna be my prayer
for you, and so let's go ahead today.
Speaker 2 (15:50):
I usually a prayer.
Speaker 1 (15:51):
Pray a verse from a hymn, but I'm gonna pray
for you because there's opportunity to be witness in your neighborhoods.
There's opportunity to be witness with your neighbors. There's a
opportunity need to be witnessed of the true gift of Christmas.
And this isn't a military kind of way, like the
world is going to trash all around us. No, this
is this is a way of just proclaiming the gift
that has been given. And I pray that you especially
(16:13):
will get to do that with family and friends and
whoever you gather. Just stop, just remember and just keep
in mind for we know what the gift is.
Speaker 2 (16:23):
Amen.
Speaker 3 (16:33):
Well, good morning, pastor guy, good morning, great message. And
you know, I think that you talked about are you ready? Well,
were you ready? You know? Were you ready? And are
we ready? Are we ready to see our Lord again?
Speaker 2 (16:49):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (16:49):
You know, and that's what this is all about. But
first of all, the gift, you know, and you talked
about the whole story about the sacrificial lamb, and which
was very very very impressive and impactful.
Speaker 2 (17:03):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (17:03):
Yeah, you could say, we're people coming to church. Were
they ready to hear that story?
Speaker 2 (17:08):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (17:09):
Based on their faces, not all of them, for sure,
it was a yeah. But yet personally, I just went
back and forth on whether I found that story and
again I'm not sure how historically.
Speaker 2 (17:23):
Accurate it is, but the extent of it's the same.
Speaker 1 (17:26):
And I just thought, you know, we should probably I
should probably share this because that is what Hebrews is about,
is that Christ was the sacrifice, He was the one
that stood in the place, and he is the Lamb
of God.
Speaker 2 (17:40):
And so to preach that.
Speaker 1 (17:41):
In the most powerful impactful way is the is the task.
And so even with all those family and friends, yeah,
I mean there's a lot of family home, you know
for Christmas, sure, and kids coming back from college and
there don't know me.
Speaker 2 (17:54):
At all, you know. Yeah, I was like, no, that's
that's the job.
Speaker 3 (17:59):
So could we have another happy story to well that one.
It was very impactful for me because it made me
really think about what Christ went through, you know, and
he was on earth and with his disciples and I'm
I'm sure you know, they got along and you know,
they were they were having fun too. I'm sure they
had their their fun times together, which was illustrated the
(18:21):
wedding of kne Of. They were actually having a lot
of fun there. And but it's just kind of like
the lamb in the house. You know, they had a name,
and they were you know, loved him, and these people,
the disciples and people that knew Jesus loved him. And
and then he went through with that sacrificial lamb that
you talked about went through, but even a lot worse.
Speaker 2 (18:43):
I hadn't thought about this.
Speaker 1 (18:44):
It's not a discermon, but Jesus predicts his death three
times in the Book of Matthew, right, and they do
not like it. In fact, once he does it and
Peter he has to say get behind me, like your
ways are not my ways. And then and they don't
like it when he says he's gonna turn his face
(19:05):
to Jerusalem and they're like, don't go back there. They're
gonna kill you, right, And he's like, I know, I've
been telling you that's what's gonna happen. Yeah, And then
when they come to arrest him, you know, they there,
Peter is ready to fight, and I mean there's just
it's it's everything. It's everything that his love was designed
(19:26):
and created to be in God and everything that it's
in exactly the opposite of how we would do it right,
And it's uh and so yeah, it's a you know,
we even do this with Christmas, where we know he's
the Lamb of God and we know all these things
we've we've heard them, we've they're locked away. But when
we look at the Little Manger, we do not think
(19:48):
sacrificial lamb.
Speaker 3 (19:49):
No, you don't want to think about.
Speaker 1 (19:51):
No, who would want to think about that? Yes, and
so I kind of forced everyone to think about that.
But you know, we're just getting in a world where
it's Christmas. This is about everything else other than and
than Christ and what he came to do. And so
to just remind people that from the moment he was born,
his purpose was known at least by him and the Father.
Speaker 3 (20:12):
Right. So right, Yeah, And indeed, the incredible gift that
we were giving when when God gave us his son
and to do what he's doing, What an amazing gift
that was. And you know, it's we talked about when
I got home. We're talking about you know, it really
makes the gifts that we buy for others and things
(20:32):
like that, and what Christmas was, what has become Like
you say, with those gifts, how how miniscule those gifts
are compared to giving us God giving us his son.
I mean, that's just I can't even fathom that the
giving of a son for for us and and we're
(20:53):
not good people. I mean, you know, he gave it
to us because we were so sinful.
Speaker 2 (20:59):
Were not good people.
Speaker 3 (21:00):
That's right.
Speaker 2 (21:01):
Yeah, that's what love looks like.
Speaker 3 (21:03):
Oh, unbelievable. And when I when I kind of equate
that to the lamb. The lamb was unblemished, he he
was sinless. The lamb, you know, was just the beautiful
little lamb. You know when you think about that, that's
what Christ was all about. He's just he was. He
was beauty, yeah, you know, and just the no sin
(21:25):
in his life and doing what he did and there
for us. But yet he had to be he had
to die for us. Otherwise we were doomed. So we
he had to do that.
Speaker 1 (21:37):
Yeah, we had, We had what our heart's lung for,
which is that Paradise lost. God walked walking in our
midst He was God with us. We had him with us,
and yet our sinful, broken natures drive us to the
place where we put him to death. And we can
say that's a historical thing, that the Jews are the
(21:57):
ones that drove that process, or you know, or blame
it on everybody, but it's the human condition. It's the
human heart. Each one of us, left to our own
put God to death in our lives every day.
Speaker 3 (22:09):
You know.
Speaker 1 (22:09):
That's what sin is, is rejection of Him and putting
him to death. And so this is like, you know,
when I went back and forth on whether to share
this story, you know, with kids, being present whatever.
Speaker 2 (22:21):
I'm like, you know, you got to say it out
loud because sin is a big deal.
Speaker 1 (22:26):
And it's not only do we minimize Christmas and the
message of Christ, but we minimize that to sin and
how what it took, like what it is that God
was willing to pay that we may live in the
freedom of his son's victory. And it's yeah, you just
can't minimize it, like there's you know, you're not gonna
(22:46):
hear it anywhere else. It's not like it's in the
public square anymore. It's the only place you're going to
hear it is here.
Speaker 3 (22:54):
After church, we talked about that. There was a small
group of us and we were talking about what God
did for us giving us his son. And but one
thing that came up and we talked about with the lamb,
you know that you described was the shedding of the blood.
And one of the questions that one of the guys had,
he was kind of scratching his head. He goes, well,
you know, there's a significance there. What is it with
(23:16):
shedding the blood, shedding the blood of the lamb, but
then also more significantly, shedding Jesus's blood. The significance of
that can you help folks do that?
Speaker 1 (23:27):
Yeah, I mean that was that was what God's That
is what God asked of his people for the forgiveness
of sins, is that they would have an atonement, that
they would have an animal, and that the all of
the life blood of that animal would be shed on
their behalf and then offered to the Lord. So for us,
(23:48):
it's just kind of hard to grasp that that would
be a thing. You know that it's probably in our
kind of peda animal loving world, you know.
Speaker 2 (23:56):
Where there's where dogs are literally everywhere. Yes, I'm sure,
like you can't go.
Speaker 1 (24:00):
To a restaurant, you can't go to the hospital, you
can't go anywhere without pets. That so this is kind
of shocking. But the idea, the way God set it up,
is that that blood then would wash you clean. And
so so that's what I thought was so powerful about
that story. Again, and I'm not sure about its historical accuracy,
but the way that.
Speaker 2 (24:21):
The author of that story wrote it was.
Speaker 1 (24:24):
That the priest didn't do this for you, You did
it for yourself, because it wasn't the priest sins that
this animal's blood was being shed for, it was yours.
And then the just the graphic of that blood then
running over the hand as you let go of it,
like literally washing over your hand.
Speaker 2 (24:41):
I was like, Okay, that's pretty powerful.
Speaker 1 (24:43):
And that is you know what Christ's blood has done
for us, that he would pour out his entire life,
a life that is perfect without blemish, that he may
atone or stand in your place. And so when we
say washed by the blood of the Lamb, that's what
we're talking about.
Speaker 3 (25:02):
Very good. Well, I guess the whole idea in the
in the driver behind the sermon that you that you
gave us was Jesus is really the reason for all
of this and how we forget it and he you know,
it's it's simple to say Jesus is the reason for
the season. Well, yeah, that's true, but that's just like
(25:23):
kind of very scratching the surface. You know.
Speaker 5 (25:26):
Jesus is is everything is everything for us with us
with without him, holiday season here, with Christmas and New
Year and everything else and all of it is this
kind of reassuring, regenerating and we're going to come back
next year strong with our podcast.
Speaker 2 (25:45):
Yeah. But hey, Merry Christmas. Same to you, thank you
for joining us, for peace. To you at peace Lutheran
Church in.
Speaker 1 (26:06):
Arvada, Colorado. If you have no church home, we'd be
delighted for you to join us at five six seven
five Field Street in Arbana. Services are at eight and
ten thirty am, with Bible classes for all.
Speaker 2 (26:19):
Ages at nine fifteen am.
Speaker 1 (26:22):
You can easily access our services online on our YouTube
channel Peacearbada at YouTube dot com, or wherever.
Speaker 2 (26:30):
Podcasts are found. Coming this January, tune in to the
new video podcast at peacetou on.
Speaker 1 (26:38):
YouTube dot com, or listen wherever podcasts are found. Now
from the entire broadcast team at Peace Lutheran and Arvada,
I'm Reuben Hollenbeck, and may the peace of our Lord
be with you now and always and
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