Dennis Tuuri

# Sermon Transcript – Reformation Covenant Church

The sermon text for today is Jeremiah 9:23 and 24. Please stand for the reading of God’s word.

Jeremiah 9:23 and 24. Thus says the Lord, “Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom. Let not the mighty man glory in his might, nor let the rich man glory in his riches. But let him who glories glory in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord, exercising loving kindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth. For in these I delight, says the Lord.”

Let’s pray. Lord God, we thank you for revealing your mind to us, what you delight in. And we thank you for this day and the delight that is brought to our hearts by its celebration. Bless us, Lord God, as we understand this text. May we delight in you today in Jesus’s name we ask it. Amen.

Please be seated.

An unusual Christmas text, but it seems particularly appropriate for our time and really for this day as well. The text contrasts what we think as world-changing abilities or matters of defense. Jeremiah, of course, was written to Judah in her last days, and she will die. She will be taken into captivity. She will be overrun. And this text tells us in summary form why and what their response to Jeremiah’s message of doom and gloom was. Their response is to trust in their own strength, their own wisdom, their own riches—why not thinking that these are the things that must save us.

And yet you contrast this with what really did save us, what really does save God’s people, and what is our only defense and our only joy. What we celebrate today: the incarnation of the Lord Jesus Christ and his birth. So that is what God delights in. We see not a tremendous display of power, a tremendous display of what the world would consider to be riches. We don’t see a display of what the world would consider to be wisdom.

And in fact, if we read the stories, which we’re going to do in just a moment, what we see is a great contrast between Jesus lying in a manger in the guest house—not even able to stay in the guest room, but out in the place where the animals stayed. A very low estate, weak, and you know, not able to speak. We see him contrasted with Caesar, with all of his might, all of his power, all of his riches, all of his supposed wisdom.

And then later, as the gospel accounts proceed, the contrast between Jesus soon after this is against a wicked king Herod, who plots against him with all the power, wisdom, and riches that him and his supporters in Rome can give him—to destroy this one little child. And so we see this remarkable contrast in the gospel accounts of the birth of our Savior. And really, that contrast, I think, is what we find in Jeremiah 9:23 and 24.

And it’s a contrast that not only is at the beginning of the story. It moves through the story of Christ’s death, resurrection, and ascension. And it is our only hope.

This is a particularly good text, I think, for our day and age when our nation faces difficulties, trials, and troubles. And where do we turn for help? Do we turn to realpolitik, to men’s wisdom in terms of how to deal with all the foreign problems that we are facing and that seem to grow all the time? Do we turn to a massive display of military might? Do we turn to churning out yet more riches for the richest country in the world?

And our political choices really just give us variations on a theme. You can pick your choice of which one you want to do—which kind of military might, which kind of international politics and wisdom, whether it’s more isolationism, more involvement—what kind of riches: gold-backed currency or Federal Reserve notes. But at the end of the day, it doesn’t make any difference. All of those things are attempts, apart from Christ, to do what the people in Jeremiah’s time were attempting to do—to avoid the judgments that were coming upon it. And all of them were futile.

God says, “What you want to delight in, what you want to boast in, what you want to glory in is the knowledge of me.” And for a knowledge of God, we turn to the gospel accounts of the birth of our Savior. I’m going to read the two that are given. Mark just sort of picks it up, and Jesus is working and John the Baptist comes and gets all that stuff going. The Gospel of John shows this from an eternal perspective—the creation, a new creation. But the accounts in Matthew and Luke are the ones we turn to when we think about the story that we celebrate today. So I’m going to read from those two passages.

Matthew 1:18 to 25. And as I read this, you know, have in mind what I have in mind as I chose these texts—this way of the flesh to trust in power and wisdom and riches of a worldly sort that our minds imagine. And then contrast this with what’s going on at the birth of our Savior.

Matthew 1:18-25:

Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows. After his mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Spirit. Then Joseph, her husband, being a just man and not wanting to make her a public example, was intended to put her away secretly. But while he thought about these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary, your wife. For that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit, and she will bring forth a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.

So all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying, “Behold, the virgin shall be with child and bear a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which is translated, God with us.” And then Joseph, being aroused from sleep, did as the angel of the Lord commanded him and took to him his wife and did not know her till she had brought forth her firstborn son. And he called his name Jesus.

And then from the Gospel of Luke 2:1-20:

It came to pass in those days that a decree went forth from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. This census first took place while Cyrenius was governing Syria. So all went to be registered, everyone to his own city. Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, to the city of David which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be registered with Mary, his betrothed wife, who was with child.

So it was that while they were there, the days were completed for her to be delivered. And she brought forth her firstborn son, wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn. Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flocks by night. And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them, and they were greatly afraid.

And then the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be the sign to you. You will find a babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.” And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace, goodwill to men.”

And so it was when the angels had gone away from them into heaven that the shepherds said to one another, “Let us now go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has come to pass, which the Lord has made known to us.” And they came with haste and found Mary and Joseph and the babe lying in a manger. Now when they had seen him, they made widely known the saying which was told them concerning this child. And all those who heard it marveled at those things which were told them by the shepherds. But Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart.

And then the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them.

The sign of peace on earth is not a big strong king. It’s not a big war machine. It’s not a big Federal Reserve with the ability to turn out money. It’s a babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger, in the place where the animals lived.

Now, that contrast between what we think can deliver us and what God says did come to deliver mankind, to save us, is incomprehensible. The distance between those two is so far. It is a wonderful time of the year. I listen to all kinds of different Christmas music because what you have through the ages are millions of people trying somehow to connect to this event, to join with the praise of God in music, in contemplation of what’s happened. And it’s impossible to fully comprehend that contrast that’s pointed out between the ways of men and the way of God.

Jesus Christ—that babe lying in the manger—that babe is the riches of God. He is the wisdom of God. He is the strength of God. And that in contrast to all the other strengths, wisdom, and riches our world wants to try to put together.

Now, Jeremiah… so that’s the contrast. And as I said, we’re in similar days today. The Jeremiah text said, “Well, you know, you’re going to be conquered here.” And that’s the main message of the prophets. Oh, yes. There’s some stuff thrown in about if you repent. But that’s not the primary message. The primary message is it is over. You’re not going to repent. In fact, this very text is followed by a couple of verses. It says, “Judgment is coming upon Israel because you—essentially, even though you say you’re circumcised, you’re not.” So the message is judgment’s coming, plain and simple.

And in response to that—in response to what—what again?—the wisdom of God, what does he do to Judah? He sends an old man, Jeremiah, feeble and frail, who all he does is speak words. And of course, their response to that is to say, “Hey, we can get out of this with realpolitik. We can make alliances with Egypt. We can do all this stuff. Or maybe we could retract into our own isolationist foreign policy. Either way you cut it, apart from repentance and a turning to God in a knowledge of him, it’s not going to work.

Well, we can build up a military machine and we’ll be strong and mighty. No. Well, we can buy our way out of the difficulties. No.

Matthew Henry has some excellent comments on this text. I want to read some of them. He says, “When they were told how inevitable the judgment would be, they pleaded the defense of their politics and powers which, with the help of their wealth and treasure, they thought made their city impregnable. That was the response to the coming judgment of God. In answer to this, Jeremiah shows them the folly of trusting and boasting of all these things while they have not a God in covenant to stay themselves upon.”

Here he shows, first of all, what we may not depend upon in a day of distress, in a day of trouble. We cannot depend upon our own abilities, no matter how wise and good they seem to be in and of themselves. But he moves on from telling him what not to depend upon, right? Don’t boast in these things. But then he tells us what we are to boast in.

Let him who glories—or boast is a proper translation as well—we’re to boast in this, that we understand and know God. That’s the basis of our confidence and strength, no matter what great times or difficult times we’re going through. What is our stay and our preservation is not our own abilities.

Now, God does say there’s nothing wrong with wealth. There’s nothing wrong with military might. There’s nothing wrong with international politics or wisdom applied to our own lives. Those things are all good gifts from God. But what’s wrong with them is when we see them in isolation from God.

And at the end of the day, the Christmas story is a reminder to rely and trust in a God—even though that reliance and the thing rather that we’re relying upon looks so helpless, looks so foolish, and looks so poor as Jesus lying in a manger. But that’s what we are to do to get by and to escape difficulties and to live our lives in this way: to let him who glories glory in this, that he understands and knows me—a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ, with God. That’s the key.

He goes on to tell them, as I said in verses 25 and 26, that you’re circumcised, but you act like you’re uncircumcised, and judgment is coming against you. A formal participation in the church through baptism, through attendance and Lord’s day worship—none of this can be set in contrast to a knowledge and understanding of the Lord Jesus Christ, of God through Christ.

What do we know about him? “That I am the Lord exercising loving kindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth. For in these I delight.”

The coming of the Lord Jesus Christ is the thing that really is the way God will bring about loving kindness, judgment, and righteousness. God is merciful and gracious, and Jesus comes to save us from our sins. God is just, and Jesus comes to bring judgment to deliver his people from their oppressors. And God is righteous, eternally faithful. And what he has done in that event that we celebrate two thousand years ago is to do what he had promised to do in all the prophecies leading up to that great day.

So God says, “Don’t do this, but do this. Trust in that event. Remember the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ and know that in Jesus Christ are hidden all the riches, wisdom, and strength of God.”

Now there are places in the scriptures that talk about these things, and I want to look at just a couple where these same three issues of wisdom and strength and riches are described. And one is what we just read responsively in the Magnificat. Let’s focus on a couple of verses here. Verse 51 says he has shown strength through his arm. Well, how has he done that? He has done it in these three ways:

He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts. Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom. He has put down the mighty from their seats and exalted the lowly. Let not the mighty man boast in his might. And then third, he has filled the hungry with good things and the rich he has sent away empty. Let not the rich man boast in his riches.

So Mary’s Magnificat picks up the same three themes in the same order that Jeremiah presents them and says that what God has done is demonstrated his riches, his strength, and his wisdom in the Christ event.

Now, the Magnificat is not a song of praise about the birth of Jesus, is it? No, it happens before that. It’s the conception of Jesus. It’s the incarnation itself. So the wonder goes back beyond the manger. The wonder goes back to the conception of Jesus Christ in the womb of Mary.

You know, some people think G.K. Chesterton has this wonderful essay on the man from the cave, and how God turns the world inside out. Well, we don’t know that it was a cave exactly where the manger was—probably was. So Jesus is subterranean in his birth. But really, the womb is a picture of all that, isn’t it?

So in the very conception of Jesus Christ, Mary doesn’t say he’s going to do something. Mary says the Lord God has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts. He has humbled the wisdom of this world. And Mary says the Lord will humble—has humbled rather, past tense. He has pulled down the mighty from their seats and exalted them of low degree. The strength of man has been dealt with definitively by something happening in the womb of a woman.

And then finally, Jesus will correct those who don’t use their riches for him, and not will in the future, but he has sent the rich empty away and exalted them of low degree. The same three things that Jeremiah warns us against trusting in—Mary says Jesus comes to effect the removal of people who use their minds, their strength, and their riches for anything other than knowing the Lord God and his ways on the earth.

Jesus comes to affect the great reversal. And Jeremiah warned Israel, warned Judah, of that coming, that great reversal, and to subjugate all of our wisdom, all of our strength, and all of our riches to the single purpose of knowing and understanding the Lord God through Jesus Christ.

So from the conception of Jesus, this text from Jeremiah has relevance to us. And then in his ascension, we see the same things. Not quite in the same order, but in Revelation 5, verse 12, in response to the ascension of Jesus, we read that the angels sing, “Worthy is the Lamb who is slain to receive power and riches and wisdom.” Power, riches, wisdom—the same triad that Jeremiah says we’re not to boast in apart from God.

Because in Jesus Christ, he is the one who is worthy to receive all power, all riches, all wisdom—are found in him and him alone. And then, as if to give us a second witness, the same things are repeated—really with several different words—and strength and honor and glory. Strength, honor, and glory. And honor is this word—timē—a worthiness. It means medal or pay, as well as you know, praise. And so we have the same thing—riches and wisdom and the strength of God being repeated again. And then finally blessing. And then the next verse says this: “And every creature which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and such as are in the sea and all that are in them, I heard saying, ‘Blessing and honor and glory and power be to him who sits on the throne.’”

The triad again.

So from the conception of Jesus to his ascension, the bookends are reminders to us of what Jeremiah 9:23 and 24 says—that what we celebrate this day is the riches of God, the strength or might of God, and the wisdom of God—the birth, the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Now, the New Testament says a lot about these characteristics of riches and wisdom and strength. And in fact, in First Corinthians chapter one, our text from Jeremiah is actually quoted, or at least alluded to. But probably actually, literally quoted. It’s actually quoted as well in Second Corinthians 10:17. But I want to read from First Corinthians 1:18-31. And you’ll see that this culminates, or has as its center, this same text—not to boast in our own wisdom.

In this case, for the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God—the strength of God found in the foolishness of the cross.

So now we have conception, birth, the cross, and the resurrection and ascension related to this triad of virtues of God—his strength, his might, his riches.

For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?”

Here we are with a whole world filled with people singing praise to God, singing songs of victory that Mary began for us two thousand years ago—because God has made foolish the wisdom of the world. He has demonstrated who he is so that we might know him in the birth of a son wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger, more likely than not in a cave. Weak, not able to speak, poor.

“Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? And has he not made known his wisdom? That his ways are not our ways in what we celebrate today.”

For since in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, yet it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. For Jews request a sign, Greeks seek after wisdom. Well, the Jews got the sign that night. Glory to God in the highest. Why? Well, the sign is a baby—a weak baby of no means, of no ability or strength at that point in time, seemingly from human sight. The sign that God’s power, wisdom, and riches had come was a baby.

“The Jews request a sign. Greeks seek after wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified. To the Jews, a stumbling block, and to the Greeks, foolishness. But to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.”

For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, nor many mighty, nor many noble—those are the rich people—are called. Well, those the… there’s the triad again, you know. And it’s funny how churches don’t have a lot of rich people in them, and they don’t have a lot of very powerful people. And we don’t even have a lot of wise people from a world perspective coming to church, coming to the body of Christ every Lord’s day.

It’s a reminder not to put our trust in those things, but in knowing God and our relationship to him. That in Christ, when we seek to understand things, not on the basis of worldly wisdom, but on the basis of the knowledge of Christ—when we seek to exercise strength by being weak in ourselves, as Paul said, then we are strong. And as we seek to apprehend the riches of God’s grace and mercy, then we are truly rich. And the Lord God may grant money on top of that, but those are the source of true… And then conversely, if we think that somehow we’re circumcised, we’re baptized, we’re part of the church, we’re called Christians, and don’t look to Jesus for how to understand our lives, how to go about having victory, strengthen our lives, and how to go about proper stewardship of the resources that God has sent us, then we are with the most foolish of people.

“God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise. God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty. And the base things of the world and the things which are despised, God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are.”

God has chosen the foolish things of the world—the foolishness of angels singing praises to God for a baby. God has chosen the weak things. What’s weaker than a baby? Or even weaker yet: the conception of Jesus in the womb of Mary.

God has chosen the base things of the world, those that have no external value or glory. And surely the child in the womb or the newborn child who is poor. All that Jesus has are the swaddling clothes he’s wrapped in—even those are not his.

“God has done this that no flesh should glory in his presence.”

We don’t boast of our own wisdom and strength or riches, but of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. That as it is written, “He who glories, let him glory in the Lord.”

And there’s the citation. So Paul gives us an extended treatment of what this text from Jeremiah means. And it’s all about the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, his conception, his birth, his going to the cross, his resurrection, and his ascension. Therein is hid all the glories of God.

Jesus Christ represents the strength of God. In Ephesians it talks about the power of God. Ephesians 1:19 and 20: “What is the exceeding greatness of his power toward us who believed, according to the working of his mighty power which he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places.”

God receives all glory because his power is beyond all power of men and is connected directly to what we celebrate today.

Ephesians 6:10 then says, “My brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might. Don’t be strong in your own power. When you’re weak, you’re strong because then it drives you to be strong in the might and power of the Lord Jesus Christ.”

The riches of God are hidden as well in Christ. Ephesians 1:7 says, “In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace.”

Ephesians 1:18: “The eyes of your understanding being enlightened, that you may know what is the hope of this calling, what are the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints—that we might know proper riches.” God has opened our eyes by his grace. He has shown grace to us. He has performed faithfully what he has promised to do in his loving kindness. He shows us where true riches are to be found.

Ephesians 2:7 says that in ages to come, he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. Riches of his grace. You know, I don’t know if you’ve ever thought about those phrases. It’s a common phrase in the New Testament, but again, it’s to show us where true value is found. Now, riches are good. They’re God-created things. Other things, but they all stem forth from the grace of God found in Jesus Christ—that Jesus lying in the manger that we celebrate today. The grace of God, Jesus who saves his people from their sins.

Philippians 4:19 and 20: “My God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. And now to God our Father be glory forever and ever. Amen.”

Colossians 1:27: “To them God will make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.”

And then in First Timothy chapter 6: “Commend those who are rich in this present age not to be haughty nor to trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God who gives us richly all things to enjoy. Let them do good, that they may be rich in good works, ready to give, willing to share, storing up for themselves a good foundation for the time to come that they may lay hold on eternal life.”

God’s riches are found in Jesus Christ. And God calls us not to get rid of all riches, but to use those riches for the purpose of the kingdom of Christ—that they understand and know me. This is what we’re to boast in. This is what we’re to glory in. And the knowledge of God is that as he has been gracious, so we’re called to be gracious. We’re to use our riches to serve the kingdom and to serve the people that God sends us to.

In Hebrews 11:26, we’re told that one of the great saints of old esteemed the reproach of Christ—Moses. This is talking about greater riches than the treasures in Egypt, which he looked—when he for, he looked to the reward. The great riches of God are found in the person of Jesus Christ.

Now, those are the things. That’s the contrast. Jesus is the source of all riches, strength, and wisdom. And God delights in these things. God delights in true riches, true wisdom, and true strength, which is another way to say that God delights in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Isaiah 42:1 says this: “Behold, my servant whom I uphold, my elect one in whom my soul delights. I have put my spirit upon him. He will bring forth justice to the Gentiles.”

God delights in these things, but they’re not abstract virtues. He delights in the person, the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ to affect loving kindness, justice, and righteousness—to do these things in the context of the world. What God delights in is his son, his beloved son.

Second Peter 1:17: “He received from God the Father honor and glory with such a voice came to him from the excellent glory, saying, ‘This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased.’”

This is the one whom I delight in, God said. He says it at his baptism. He says it at his transfiguration. Jesus Christ is the beloved of the Father. He is the one that God delights in because he has come to affect loving kindness, justice, and righteousness in the world.

As a result of that, we’re to delight in what God delights in. We’re to delight in the Lord Jesus Christ. And that’s what today is all about. What greater delight can we find than what we delight in today—the source of all delight, the Lord Jesus Christ.

And Jesus Christ is who he is expressed in the context of his word. And so we read in Romans 7:22 that Paul says he delights in the law of God. What’s your delight? If God delights in the Son, who is the word made flesh, what’s your delight today? And I would hope it’s the same thing. God delights in the Lord Jesus Christ, and we’re to delight in him as well.

He has made us accepted, Ephesians says, in the beloved, in the delighted one. And so our delight is to be in the law of the Lord. Psalm 1:2: “But his delight is in the law of the Lord. And in his law he meditates day and night.”

The law is a revelation of the character of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so we delight in the word of God. We delight in his law.

Psalm 40:8 says, “I delight to do your will, oh my God. Your law is within my heart.”

Psalm 73:25: “Whom have I in heaven but you, and there is none upon earth that I desire or delight in besides you.”

That’s the proper response to the delight of the Father for the Son—is for us to join the Father in delighting in the Son and in subjecting all of our thoughts, all of our riches, and all of our strength to the purposes of the Lord Jesus Christ. Praise the Lord.

The Psalmist says, “Blessed is the man who fears the Lord, who delights greatly in his commandments. Psalm 119:35: ‘Make me walk in the path of your commandments, for I delight in that path.’”

May the Lord God give us that delight in the Lord Jesus Christ—not seeing it separated from his word, but the word revealing him to us.

Isaiah 66:4: “So will I choose their delusions, bring their fears on them, because when I called, no one answered. When I spoke, they did not hear. But they did evil before my eyes and chose that in which I do not delight.”

Again, Isaiah, like Jeremiah, the reason for the judgment is that God’s people—marked by the covenant sign, attending covenant renewal worship, having the exterior name and having a civil religiousness to them—yet they did not delight in God and in his ways. And when that happens, God gives us over to unreasonable, irrational fear, trepidation. He brings judgment upon us.

God says to us today, “This event that we celebrate, so much and ponder over and imagine, is the coming of the wisdom, strength, and riches of God. And we must delight in these things, or there is no hope in any other. All the riches in the world, all the armies in the world, the brightest men in the world will be doomed by God to hell and perdition apart from a subjecting of all these things to the babe lying in the cradle—yea, to the incarnate one in the womb of Mary who has affected already the reversal of all things.”

So that’s our choice today. What do we delight in? What do we boast in? What are we pleased with ourselves about? And we’re at the beginning of a political season. The whole purpose of every candidate that I’ve heard so far is to cause you to delight in something other than Jesus. Liberal, conservative, doesn’t make any difference.

I don’t care, you know, in terms of economics, for instance, if you’re a non-Christian Austrian economist or if you’re the guy who started the other system—what’s his name? Can’t even remember. Keynes. Yeah. It doesn’t make any difference. Choose your poison. Either one’s going to turn into dust in your mouth apart from repentance and a return to a knowledge of Jesus Christ—that in him all the riches and strength and wisdom of God are found.

That’s what we do this day. We delight and celebrate in the incredible implications of the conception, incarnation, life, death, burial, resurrection, and ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Next week we’re going to sing this song, but I wanted to close by reading from these lyrics. This little babe. This really is such a moving picture of what I’ve tried to talk about today—the contrast between fallen man’s perception of wisdom and strength and power and riches as opposed to what God says. From Jeremiah’s prophecy through the Magnificat into the song of the angels that we join with in worship every Lord’s day, affirming that all riches and strength and wisdom are hidden in Jesus.

And specifically, as we think about it today, in his birth:

This little babe, so few days old, is come to rifle Satan’s fold.
All hell doth at his presence quake, though he himself for cold do shake.
For in this weak, unarmored wise, the gates of hell he will surprise.

With tears he fights and wins the field. His naked breast stands for a shield.
His battering shot are babyish cries. His arrows made of weeping eyes.

His marshals, ensigns cold and cold and need, and feeble flesh is his warrior’s steed.
His camp is pitched in a stall. His bulwark but a broken wall.
The crib his trench. Hay stalks his stakes. Of shepherds he his musters makes.

And thus, as sure his foe to wound, the angels’ trumpets alarm sound.
My soul, with Christ join thou in fight. Stick to the tents that he hath plight.
Within his crib is shest ward. This little babe will be thy guard.

If thou will foil thy foes with joy, then flit not from this heavenly boy.

Let’s pray.

Lord God, it is our desire to live the rest of our lives not trusting in our own strength, our own wisdom, our own riches, our own abilities, our own ways to get out of problems and difficulties. Help us to be a people this year, Lord God, as we move into a new year, who flit not from this baby boy, who turn to Jesus Christ for all wisdom and strength and riches and all the answers to all of our needs. May we trust him today. And more than that, may we rejoice with the angels: Glory to God in the highest. That the sign of peace on earth, goodwill to men, has come. And that sign is that child in the manger.

Bless us, Lord God, as we seek to delight in the Lord Jesus Christ. In his name we pray. Amen.

—

O little town of Bethlehem, how still we see thee lie.
Above thy deep and dreamless sleep, the silent stars go by.
Yet in thy dark street shineth the everlasting light.
The hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight.

For Christ is born of Mary, and gathered all above,
While mortals sleep, the angels keep their watch of wondering love.
O morning stars together, proclaim the holy birth,
And praises sing to God the King, and peace to men on earth.

How silently, how silently, a wondrous gift is given.
So God imparts to human hearts the blessing of his heaven.
No ear may hear his coming, but in this world of sin,
Where meek souls will receive him still, the dear Christ enters in.

O holy child of Bethlehem, descend to us, we pray.
Cast out our sin and enter in. Be born in us today.
We hear the Christmas angels sing the great glad tidings tell.
O come to us, abide with us, our Lord Emmanuel.