December 25, 2006 Hebrews 1:1-9

¹ In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, ² but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe. ³ The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven. ⁴ So he became as much superior to the angels as the name he has inherited is superior to theirs.

⁵ For to which of the angels did God ever say, "You are my Son; today I have become your Father"? Or again, "I will be his Father, and he will be my Son"? ⁶ And again, when God brings his firstborn into the world, he says, "Let all God's angels worship him." ⁷ In speaking of the angels he says, "He makes his angels winds, his servants flames of fire." ⁸ But about the Son he says, "Your throne, O God, will last for ever and ever, and righteousness will be the scepter of your kingdom. ⁹ You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness; therefore God, your God, has set you above your companions by anointing you with the oil of joy." (NIV)

All Hail the Power of Jesus Name

I. He's got the actions of God

II. He's got the approval of God

Merry Christmas to all of you as we celebrate the Savior's birth,

Merry Christmas. What does that mean? To some it may mean - "have a fun time opening your presents." Or "have a fun time visiting with all of your friends and relatives." Or "enjoy taking a few days off from work." That's all that Christmas means to some - watching Santa Clause movies and exchanging gifts. Unfortunately, this "Santa Clause attitude" is even being found in churches. A Missouri Synod church in Nebraska used a picture of Santa as their promotion for their Christmas service. Another Methodist church had a man actually dress up as Santa and have the kids come into their church to see him. That isn't right.

But how far do you go against Santa? Where do you stand up for Jesus? I knew one church that asked their secretary to take down a picture of Santa she had on her office window. Another lady told me that she believed Santa was just another way of spelling Satan. I can't blame anyone for being against Santa. Christmas is about CHRIST - the birth of Jesus.

So today, we will want to give Jesus the honor on Christmas. We will have no Santa Clauses in the entry way, waving children in. We will not have anyone dress up in a Santa suit and crawl through the chimney. No! We will see that God wants us to give the glory to Jesus on Christmas. So our theme for today is,

ALL HAIL THE POWER OF JESUS NAME

I. He has the actions of God.

You'll notice something different as you read this letter to the Hebrews. Usually when a letter was written, it almost always said who it was from, and who it was to. Not so with this one. The writer gets right to the point. He's eager to tell the Jews that Jesus was the Christ, the true God and true Lord. As they were going through persecutions, the Jews were going through times of doubt. They were wondering why Jesus wasn't coming to their physical rescue from their persecutions. They were beginning to doubt that Jesus really was the promised Messiah. So God wanted to assure them that Jesus was the God and Messiah that they needed and they had expected, by showing them what Jesus had done.

This is one of the most powerful testimonies in Scripture of who Jesus is. So it will also serve as a good basis for our Christmas celebration. Without Jesus, there really would be no Christmas. Look at what He says Jesus did. It says that through Christ God made the universe. Jesus created the Universe, something that only God could do. In Genesis 1:1 it says, "in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." This shows us how essential Jesus is to Christmas. If Jesus did not exist, neither would this world. The stable that He was born in, the wise men, the mother Mary, none of it would exist. Since Jesus continues to sustain everything by His Word, He is still essential to Christmas. If he didn't exist, we would have no Christmas trees. We would have no church. We would not be here. So if you want to take Christ out of Christmas, then you have to take away all of the physical attributes of Christmas. Christmas would cease to exist.

But one might object - even if Jesus wasn't born He still could have created and sustained the universe. So why do we as Christians really celebrate Christmas? What is the big deal about a child being born in a stable? The big deal, is that this was no ordinary child. This was actually God. It is truly a miracle that God could humble himself to become a man. That is something worth celebrating.

But even this is not the complete reason for the season. The writer to the Hebrews gives us the real reason behind the season as it says that Jesus came to "provide purification for sins." That word, purification, really brings to light the work that this baby would perform. One way that we often "purify" ourselves every day is by using soap and water. We used to go camping all the time when I was young. One of the things you don't do when you camp in Wisconsin is shower. You'll notice how you begin to feel after you don't wash for a while. You don't feel so good about yourself. Your hair begins to get greasy. Your legs get hairy and your beard begins to grow. You start to smell this odor that you never smelled before. The last thing you would want to do would be to show up at a party. I remember being very eager to finally get a good old shower after a couple days of camping.

If Christmas didn't have Christ, if Jesus never was born, we would all spiritually smell in God's nostrils. We would be impure in His sight. We would not look forward to meeting with God on Judgment Day. It would be as if we were showing up to God's party with uncombed hair, gruff beards, and a terrible stench. But Jesus changed that. He purified us. So that's the main reason we celebrate the Christmas season. When Jesus was born, he came to provide purification for our stinky sins. When Jesus came to this earth and lived and died for us, it's as if He built a big old water tower, filled it with water, and bought a lifetime supply of soap. There's so much water and soap that the whole world can come and clean up in the perfection of Christ. Every time we celebrate Christmas, we are remembering that Jesus came to build that water tower of forgiveness. Now every day that someone is baptized, God is drawing water from that tower of forgiveness and pouring it over another sinful soul, purifying him from his sins. Every time that you hear that Jesus lived and died for you, God is taking some more of that soap and water and making you clean. That's the main reason we celebrate Christmas. Jesus, as true God, was providing purification for sins. Only God could have done this, for Psalm 49 says that "No man can redeem the life of another or give to God a ransom for him - the ransom for a life is costly, no payment is ever enough." Thank God that Christ is in Christmas. Hail the name of Jesus. He has the divine actions of God.

I can remember starting practice for Christmas Eve several years ago. We started walking through the motions, and then we had the kids sing their first song - "I am so glad when Christmas comes." They didn't sound too glad. So I reminded them of when Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey. All of the children were yelling, "Hosanna to the Son of David." They were excited to see their King come. I reminded them of who they were singing to, and what do you know, they sang louder. When they were reminded of who Christ was, it moved them to sing louder.

Sometimes we need to do that, even during the Christmas season. The Jews were not easy to convince that Jesus was the Christ. They had grown up expecting a political and physical Messiah who would give them a physical kingdom. So the writer to the Hebrews continually pointed them back to the one source of authority that the Jews looked to. He pointed them back to the Old Testament. He let the Word of God inspire them to honor Jesus as the Christ. So as we look at the text, we will see that we should hail the power of Jesus' name, not only because he has the actions of God, but also because

II. He has the approval of God.

All of these verses in the second section of our Scripture are quotes of the Old Testament. They are predictions, declarations of God, telling us who Jesus is. First of all, it says that Jesus is the "Son of God." These were predictions made in Psalm 2 and 2 Samuel chapter 7, predicting that this Son would be a ruler and inherit an everlasting kingdom. This would be no ordinary Son. The people were to expect great things from Him. It's kind of like how you expect great things out of certain kids. Peyton Manning and Eli Manning are both expected to be great quarterbacks because of their father who was a professional NFL quarterback. So when God's Son would come, God said that He would be the King and Ruler of the earth, who would have an everlasting kingdom. When Jesus was on the Mount of Transfiguration and at Jesus' baptism God declared to all that He was His Son. Jesus was the One that they were waiting for. The Old Testament showed that Jesus had the approval of the Father, proclaiming Jesus to be His Son.

This wasn't all that God had to say about Jesus. He also said that "all God's angels worship Him." Angels were very important to the Jews. Fleet as the wind, they carried God's messages to some; ferocious as fire, they executed his judgments to others. Through the angel Mary heard God's message in Luke 1:26-38, and through an angel King Herod felt God's judgment in Acts 12:23. Angels were the ones who delivered the words of God to the Old Testament writers. But that's all the angels can be - messengers and servants under God's complete control. Jesus was and is much more than that. He is no mere messenger, but the eternal ruler of all. Even these powerful angels bow down and worship Jesus, because He is God. Once again, God approved of Jesus in the Old Testament.

Finally, God assured the Jews with more quotes of the Psalms that Jesus was no ordinary man. He had exalted Jesus above any normal man. His kingdom would last forever. (Psalm 45) He would rule in everlasting righteousness as God. All of these quotes of the Old Testament were like hammers driving the truth further and further down the Jews spiritual hearts. They worked to penetrate their blockades of unbelief. These Old Testament Scriptures helped to prove that Jesus was no ordinary man. He was and He is the eternal God - more than an angel. More than a human. He is the everlasting King. The Son of God. How do we know? God says so.

This is so important for us to remember during the Christmas season. The Jews seemed to be tempted to make Jesus into just another angel. They were going to demote Jesus. This is what many others are doing with Jesus today. They may come to Christmas services because it makes them feel good. They may come to watch the kids sing. They like to sing the songs because of the melodies, but they don't really think about what they're singing. Jesus isn't just a cute little baby that we like to coo and make baby noises to. We don't just come to Christmas services because we like singing the songs. He isn't just a decoration that we put on our tables. There's a real person, a real meaning behind those manger scenes. Jesus is more than a decoration or a folklore. God said that Jesus is more than just a little baby. He is the true Son of God, who came to live and die for our sins. He has God's approval. That's why we give Jesus the praise at Christmas time.

In the movie Monty Python's Holy Grail, there is a story of a bunch of men who are chasing after a holy cup. They chase high and low, looking for this one special artifact. As they are chasing after this cup high and low, they come upon a guardian of some kind of bridge. What is surprising, is that this guardian is just a little rabbit. Some of the men say, "it's just a rabbit." But as they approach this tiny rabbit, it had the power to jump twenty feet in the air, and kill all of them. It's looks were deceiving. It was actually a very vicious rabbit.

This Christmas season we have approached the stable. We have had a picture drawn in our minds of a little gentle baby sitting in a little manger. Such an innocent picture of gentleness. Some think that this Jesus was just a nice little baby, no more, no less. Some even say he was less than that. They say he is just a folklore. But don't let that picture of the baby in the manger deceive you. This is no mere baby that we have come to see. This is the Son of God. This same baby created the heavens and the earth. This same baby provided eternal salvation for all of us. This same baby is the one who has inherited an eternal kingdom. This same baby is now a fully grown man and true God, ruling in heaven and earth. Remember that this little baby has the actions of God. He has the approval of God. Remember that this Little Baby is God. Jesus is our Lord and our God. All of you, hail the power of Jesus. Without Christ, there would be no Christmas. He is the reason behind the season. Amen.