Rejoice, God is with you!

Looking over the Christmas cards you have received so far, you might notice some new additions to some of the families. As the Christmas cards come in or as you scroll social media, you have seen many new babies born in 2024. At first with the news of new babies there is rejoicing, but if you look long enough the impact and excitement begins to fade.

Understanding the impact directly effects the excitement surrounding a new baby. With a new baby comes life. With a new baby comes responsibility because they are helpless. The simple things of life like shelter and sustenance must be provided for the baby because it cannot provide for itself. With a new baby means giving love and attention and teaching a new curious mind all about God’s creation. And most important to understand is that with any new baby there is a new soul. With a new baby there is great and lasting impact, there is life and so there is reason to rejoice.

Understanding the impact directly affects the excitement. This was also true for Judah six hundred years before Jesus’ birth. At this time, God sent the prophet Zephaniah to minister to Judah because they lost their joy in the Lord. Israel had forgotten that 1,400 years before, God promised the old and childless Abraham and Sarah they would become a great nation through their own child, which God gave them. And that child, Isaac, carried the promise God had given generations before to Noah and generations before him to Adam and Eve. And Isaac and Rebekah had Jacob, and Jacob and Leah had Judah, and he and his brothers became the twelve tribes of Israel that grew to a great nation while enslaved, but God fought for them with his miraculous power in the ten plagues and parting the Red Sea to make them a free people. And God continue to fight for them so that they could possess their own physical kingdom. Judah’s line continued then through King David, who passed his kingdom to his son Solomon, but after Solomon the kingdom split into Israel and Judah.

About three hundred years after Israel split, Zephaniah was prophet to Judah while Israel had fallen to Assyria about a hundred years earlier. Zephaniah’s message to the people centered on the Day of the Lord, also referred to as Judgment Day. Wickedness was rampant in Judah, so they needed a wakeup call, or they would be destroyed on the Day of the Lord as we hear in Zephaniah 1,

4 “I will stretch out my hand against Judah and against all who live in Jerusalem. I will destroy every remnant of Baal worship in this place, the very names of the idolatrous priests.”

The people lost sight of the impact God had on their lives, so they became idolatrous and apathetic toward God. Yet, God was gracious to them by reminding them of wicked nations he had destroyed while being patient with their wickedness hoping they would return to him, but they were not as we read in Zephaniah 3,

7 Of Jerusalem I thought, ‘Surely you will fear me and accept correction!’ Then her place of refuge would not be destroyed, nor all my punishments come upon her. But they were still eager to act corruptly in all they did.

All of God’s judgment had no impact on the corrupt hearts of Judah.

The birth of a child had the greatest impact on God’s people. Throughout history, God made promises about the birth of a child and kept them. Judah lost sight of how those many promises brought them to be a nation and they failed to keep their eyes open for the birth of the Savior. Christmas is about the birth of the child. Each year, we talk about the same child and his impact on our lives, but the repetition does not always bring excitement. Each Christmas, the world tempts us to rejoice in the latest toys, tech and tinsel, rather than Jesus. When we stop taking the time to meditate on the impact Jesus has on our lives, choosing instead to give him a quick glance as if look at him on a Christmas card or social media post, we forget what it means that God came to be with us. Forgetting Jesus means doing life without God. Forgetting Jesus means rejoicing in ourselves for our accomplishments, but eventually we lose more than we gain in life. Forgetting Jesus means facing loss without a way to get things back. Forgetting Jesus means permanent loss and eventually facing God on the Day of the Lord hopeless, scared and condemned to hell.

If you read in a Christmas card that someone got a new baby from a stone, it would grab your attention. In our Gospel reading from Luke 3, John the Baptist shocked those who were not excited for the Messiah with these words,

8 … And do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham.

John’s point was do not look to yourself for life, for salvation. In other words, do not do life without God, without Jesus.

Jesus is the Christmas baby. Jesus came to be with us, so we are prepared for the Day of the Lord, for Judgment Day, to meet God face to face even though we have done wicked things and often forget the impact he has on every moment of our lives. You are prepared because God came to be with you. God did not leave your life and reason to rejoice up to you, he came to be the reason you have life and every reason to rejoice. This is the good news God sent Zephaniah to share as we read in Zephaniah 3,

14 Sing, Daughter Zion; shout aloud, Israel! Be glad and rejoice with all your heart, Daughter Jerusalem! 15 The Lord has taken away your punishment, he has turned back your enemy.

We shout with joy and gladness at Christmas because God kept his promise to come to live with us. Jesus was born to be lifted up for many to see, and to be judged by God. On the cross, Jesus was punished for our wickedness, apathy and time spent without him focused on all other kinds of things. Jesus was good, loving and completely focused on turning the devil away from you by taking away his power. The devil cannot accuse you because you are forgiven. He cannot have you because you are perfect through Jesus and your home is in heaven. You do not have to give into the devil’s lies and temptations because you have been brought into the kingdom of heaven through faith and your baptism, and you have Jesus and the Word of God to keep you strong and use as the weapon against evil. This is our confidence because Zephaniah 3 says,

The Lord, the King of Israel, is with you; never again will you fear any harm.

Rejoice this Christmas because Jesus is with you. This Christmas you might be filled with joy as you look over the past year because you had a baby, got a new brother or sister, graduated high school or college, got a new job or promotion, got married, etc. Give thanks to God for those blessings and use them to serve and honor God, rather than forgetting God and seeing only the worldly value or purpose in your blessings. On the other hand, this Christmas you might be filled with sorrow as this will be the first Christmas without a loved one you lost this past year, or you might have lost your favorite toy, had a friend move away, lost a job, filed for divorce, etc. In those moments, God was still with you. Even more in the moments of loss, the rest of the words of our Old Testament reading from Zephaniah 3 give us a reason to rejoice,

16 On that day they will say to Jerusalem, “Do not fear, Zion; do not let your hands hang limp.

Loss impacts all of us in this sinful world, but we are not left to fear and futility. Zephaniah continues,

17 The Lord your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves. He will take great delight in you; in his love he will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing.”

Even in a season of sorrow and suffering, God is with you. Even when you think no one understands and no one can do anything about your situation, God is with you. So, you have someone who was born to love, help, fight for, save, listen to and give you peace as we read in our New Testament reading from Philippians 4,

6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

You are ready to rejoice this Christmas because of Jesus. His first entrance into the world ended with his resurrection and ascension, so his second coming will bring rejoicing because of what he did for us first.

Looking over your Christmas cards or scrolling social media, you might notice some new additions to some of the families in 2024. At first with the news of new babies there is rejoicing, but if you look long enough the impact and excitement begins to fade. The same can happen with Christmas where we celebrate the birth of Jesus, God who came to be with us. Both the joyful and sorrowful things this time of year crowd our vision and weaken our rejoicing in Jesus’ birth. Yet, he came to take our punishment for sin, to fight for us and save us. He is our King, and we will live with him now and forever. So, rejoice, God is with you. Amen.