Audio Recording Sermon manuscript: The way that we are saved as Christians is that we are united with Christ so that there is a sharing that takes place between him and us. We share what belongs to us. Christ shares what belongs to him. We hold all things in common. The result of this sharing is that Christ receives our sin so that it becomes his own. He dies in order to atone for the sin that we could never rid ourselves of otherwise. He shares with us his righteousness, life, and status. Jesus is the only begotten Son of God. We receive the status of divine sonship when we are baptized into him. All these thoughts are prominent during this Christmas season. At Christmas we think about how the Son of God became man and was born of the Virgin Mary. In this way he joins us in our condemnation and misery so that he could lift us up and help us. It is an amazing thing, that we don’t quite understand, how God intertwines himself with human beings so as to bring about their eternal happiness. Since God has joined himself with us human beings, and he will forever be intertwined with us in Jesus Christ, we may know that our salvation is certain. Christians find hope and joy in this sharing that God does with us. Our Christmas songs all ring out with this message: Joy to the world, the Lord has come. Hark the herald angels sing. Away in a manger. Gloria in excelsis Deo. Go, tell it on the mountain. All these songs announce the Gospel, the good news, that in Jesus God and sinners are reconciled. Unto us a Savior is born. Immanuel, God is with us. Jesus is the best gift at Christmas. One thought of the shame of our sins or the punishments of hell must quickly convince us of that. But it is good for us to see how this gift is different than other Christmas gifts. With all other gifts the recipient of the gift can choose to either take the gift or leave it. If you like some gift you can treasure it and be entertained with it. If you don’t like some gift you can toss it to the side. You can toss it in the trash. The one who receives the gift maintains absolute control. That’s not how it is for those who receive the gift of Christ. First of all, for anyone to truly receive the gift of Christ, it is necessary for the Holy Spirit to perform the miracle of faith. If it were left up to any of us, as far as we are by nature, we would not welcome Christ the King, but would see him as a threat to our dark plans. All Christians are converted despite themselves by the power of Almighty God. Jesus says, “You did not choose me. I chose you.” So this is very different than any normal gift. The gift of Christ is also different in the way that it does not allow those who truly receive him to remain unchanged. If the person remains unchanged, then that is proof that the gift was either not received, or the person believed for a while but then fell away. Jesus’s parable of the sower of the seed helps us here. The seed that the farmer sows is the Gospel of salvation—the promise of sharing of all things together with Jesus. Some of it falls on the path and it never sprouts. Some of it falls on certain types of soil where the person believes, but then falls back into their old ways. Some of it falls in good soil and the life of that seed is transformed so that it bears much fruit. God’s gift of salvation in Christ is such that it cannot be something that you tuck away in a cupboard somewhere, and you pull it out whenever it might be convenient for you to use it—at Judgment Day, for example. You cannot remain in your happy relationship with greed or lust or pride or lying or manipulating or domineering or ambition or any of the other things that seem to hold out promise for giving us happiness. The old values get overshadowed by the new values that we receive together with Christ so that the old values lose their glory entirely. The new values that we receive in Christ are the ones that he teaches us in the Sermon on the Mount and elsewhere in the Gospe