Sermon for New Year’s Day 2012 Name and Circumcision of Jesus
Circumcision and Name of Jesus: New Years Day 2012
Grace and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
God’s Word for our glad hearing and learning is the Gospel for this New Year’s Day, from Luke chapter 2.
And at the end of eight days, when he was circumcised, he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb. ()
Let us all pray,
The old year now hath passed away; We thank Thee, O our God, today That Thou hast kept us through the year When danger and distress were near.
Oh, help us to forsake all sin, A new and holier course begin! Mark not what once was done amiss; A happier, better year be this. Amen.
Dear brothers and sisters of our Lord Jesus Christ,
Again, I extend to each of you wishes for a very blessed and happy New Year, begun this day, January 1, in the 2012th year of, and in the Name of, our Lord Jesus.
And to our new officers and board members who, in just a little while, will be installed, I wish not only God’s blessings on your upcoming service, but also sincerely wish to extend my hopes and prayers for a year of God’s blessings upon all our endeavors as we work together here at Immanuel. He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it. (1)
The New Year, 2012, is not even a half day old. How have people started it?
Some, we know, are starting the new year in bed sleeping off the festivities of last night. And, when (or more likely, if they get up sometime today) they will also start this new year with a terrible headache and a sick feeling in their stomachs and bad taste in their mouths.
Too much partying will do that.
Too much drinking and getting drunk will especially do that to you.
And to those who are Christians and who carried on that way they would do well to heed the Word of God and of Jesus our Savior who warns, “watch yourselves lest your hearts be weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and cares of this life.” ()
And also the words of the holy Apostle Paul who writes in , “And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit”
And also, “Do you not know that the unrighteouswill not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.” ()
You see, my dear friends, as we heard in last evening’s New Year’s Eve sermon we have a choice about these matters and you have made a different choice. You have chosen to start the New Year 2012 here in the Lord’s house, and to begin it in the Lord’s name.
So just what does it mean to begin the New Year in the Lord Jesus’ name? It means that we have faith in Jesus; that we believe in Him as our Savior; and that we recognize Him as our Lord.
And what does it mean to begin a new year? It means that another year has passed.
Growing up my family always watched the ball drop from Times Square in New York City. My mother was from out east and living in the Midwest that was something that still connected us with her side of the family. Back then it was Guy Lombardo and his Royal Canadians.
When I recall celebrating New Year’s Eve’s past I am reminded of those who are gone: loved ones and friends. To begin a new year means we have left behind loved ones and friends either in the past year or that another year is added to the years since we’ve parted–since they were removed–by God’s mercy–from this valley of sorrows and tears.
Beginning a new year means we are made well aware enough of the effects of sin, and of our own sins. Recounted for us at this time of the year are all the evidences of sin in the world. Of sin’s curse. Of the suffering and alienation that sin has brought upon mankind.
In our own lives we see this as we watch ourselves age. As we are confronted by illnesses and weaknesses. As we take honest assessment of ours lives and of ourselves and recall our sinfulness the many ways break God’s commandments:
Jesus says in ,
“For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness.”
Also, we read in :
Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
Beginning the New Year in the name of Jesus means that we stand before the Lord’s altar and can only begin with prayer, saying “Lord Jesus, God’s Son, have mercy upon me, a sinner.”
That we come today confessing our sins and our unholy lives and thoughts and words and actions. And that we desire to be made clean of them so that we may proceed in this new year as God’s children holy and without and sin and filthiness to our lives.
And that can only happen when we begin this new year in our Lord’s name.
What does the Lord’s name mean? In our short Gospel reading this morning we learn that our Lord’s name is Jesus. Jesus is the name given by the angel. It is a name that comes from heaven and is the name by which we are saved.
Jesus means Savior and we recall how the angel came to Joseph in a dream and told him that he was to call his name Jesus, “for He will save His people from their sins.” Jesus is God made flesh. God coming from heaven to dwell among us. God acting in time to bring about the redemption of lost human beings such as ourselves.
It is appropriate to remember this on new year’s day and so close to our celebration of Christmas because in it we see the true meaning of Jesus’ birth; His coming into this world; His being conceived by the Holy Spirit of the virgin Mary. The Roman census, the journey to Bethlehem, His birth and the manger. Of the angel’s words and the glad tiding’s of great joy: unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. ()
All this makes sense when we see it on God’s timeline of redemption for us. Paul writes in ,
But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. ()
And also in Ephesians chapter one,
In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. ()
Notice how Paul speaks of the redemption we have is in Jesus’ blood. That’s what makes speaking about the circumcision of Jesus’ on the eighth day (New Year’s Day to us) so perfectly sensible–and, I would even suggest, so joyous.
In the recalling of the shedding of the baby Jesus’ blood we see His active obedience of placing Himself under the Law of God and submitting to the ancient demands that were part of God’s will for His people from whom would also one day come the Savior of the world.
Then we also recall the greater shedding of His holy, innocent blood on the cross for us on Calvary, where he passively fulfilled the Law on our behalf and on behalf of all mankind–by paying sin’s price.
Recalling the circumcision of our Lord is not just a way to rain on the parade of New Year’s celebrating. It is the only way to begin the New Year for it draws our attention to the source of our redemption which is the blood of Jesus poured out for us, and makes us holy people of God and redeemed–washed clean in our Baptism. As such we can rejoice and go confidently into the New Year knowing we do so with the Lord’s blessing.
St. Paul also writes in :
And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.
(And, as we heard last night)
What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can beagainst us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died – more than that, who was raised – who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. ()
What then does it mean to begin the new year in the Lord’s name to you? It means doing so with the promises of grace and every blessing. It means having the baby born of Mary in Bethlehem as your Savior. It means that the blood poured out on your behalf also comes to you today to drink, so that it might sprinkle your soul and make you forgiven and holy before God. It means you can go confidently into this New Year 2012 knowing that God is on your side and with you.
It also means that all your sins and foolish mistakes, no matter how terrible they might have been are left behind and forgiven and forgotten. It means that 2012 is for you and for all of us the year of our Lord, our Savior, our King, and our God.
It means that whatever may come, and that whatever by earthly standards may seem wrong and even sad and despairing. That in Jesus’ name it is all made right and joyful when we live in faith in Him and in His name every day of this year.
May God grant this to each of us, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.
