Advent 4 Son of God December 21, 2025
Our children and youth did a wonderful job with the Christmas program this morning. If you missed it, please watch the video.
Because of the time which we devoted to the program, we abbreviated some of the usual elements of the worship service, including the sermon. Because I did the preparation for our radio program, I have more to share than I took time to share this morning. You are invited to take a look at it here.
CALL TO WORSHIP 1 John 5:5
Who is it that overcomes the world? Only the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.
PRAYER
Lord, our God, we praise You for Your Son, Jesus Christ, for He is Emmanuel, the hope of all people. He is the Wisdom that teaches and guides us. He is the Savior of us all. As we hear Your holy Word proclaimed this morning, open our minds to understand, and open our hearts to receive the gospel of Your Son Jesus Christ and to trust in Him for salvation. These things we ask in His holy name. Amen.
FIRST READING Acts 9:1-20 RSV
This passage tells the story of the conversion of Saul, who came to be known as Paul. For us on this particular occasion, verse 20 is our key verse. It speaks of what Saul did and said after his conversion. Here is that verse:
20 And in the synagogues immediately he proclaimed Jesus, saying, “He is the Son of God.”
PASTORAL PRAYER
God of might and of mercy, we come to You this morning, asking that You would bless those for whom this Christmas will be an especially difficult one. Bless those who have lost their jobs since last Christmas. Bless those who have lost family members since last Christmas. Bless those who are concerned about their health and about their medical bills. Bless those who are unable to give gifts to their children. Bless those whose grown children have forsaken them.
We ask You also to bless those of our friends and family members who are suffering from illness or injuries. Give strength and hope to
Wade & Phyllis, Helen, Kaylee & Annie, Troy, Rick & Carla, Roger, Wanda, Nate, Elmer, Mary, Shirley, Judy Corbin, Lara, Sylvia, Maverick, Imogene, Cam, Eleanor, Jeff, Bloop, Gary, Dick, Lisa Kesecker, Randy Koontz, Betty Maxwell, Betty Hefner, Jerry, Joan, Sandy, Devin, Kathy, Ralph, Judi Kernaghan, the McCoys, Steve, Bob, Patricia, Margaret & Ken, Pat, Bobby, Pam, Ropes, Jessica, Patsy, Jean, Donald & Fern, Teressa See, Melinda, Kenny, David, Darwin, Ruby, Todd, Dan, Jack & Susan, Doug, Geneva, Mark, Hayden, Randy Walters,, Raymond, Kevin, Brook, Betty Williams, Lisa Wilson, Ed, Georgie, Greg George, Pat Duffie,
Bless those who have lost loved ones in recent days. We pray for the families of
Betty Chehi, Riley Combs, Roger Cullers, Harold Davis, Judi Kernaghan, Linda Saville Frame, Kevin Tompkins, Shirley Wolfe, Charlene Zirk,
Bless all of these as only You can. Bless the many others whose needs are on the hearts and minds of all those who are listening to this program. And grant us assurance that we and all these whom we love are constantly in Your care. These things we ask in the name of Christ Jesus, Your holy Son. Amen.
EPISTLE READING 1 John 4:7-17 RSV
Verses 13-15 are particularly helpful.
13 By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his own Spirit. 14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son as the Savior of the world. 15 Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.
GOSPEL READING Luke 1:26-55 RSV
26 In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, 27 to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary. 28 And he came to her and said, “Hail, O favored one, the Lord is with you!” 29 But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and considered in her mind what sort of greeting this might be. 30 And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 31 And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus.
32 He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there will be no end.”
34 And Mary said to the angel, “How shall this be, since I have no husband?” 35 And the angel said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God.
36 And behold, your kinswoman Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son; and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. 37 For with God nothing will be impossible.”
38 And Mary said, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.
39 In those days Mary arose and went with haste into the hill country, to a city of Judah, 40 and she entered the house of Zechari′ah and greeted Elizabeth. 41 And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit 42 and she exclaimed with a loud cry, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! 43 And why is this granted me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? 44 For behold, when the voice of your greeting came to my ears, the babe in my womb leaped for joy. 45 And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfilment of what was spoken to her from the Lord.”
46 And Mary said, “My soul magnifies the Lord, 47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
48 for he has regarded the low estate of his handmaiden. For behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed; 49 for he who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name.
50 And his mercy is on those who fear him from generation to generation. 51 He has shown strength with his arm, he has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts, 52 he has put down the mighty from their thrones, and exalted those of low degree; 53 he has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent empty away. 54 He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, 55 as he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his posterity for ever.”
SERMON “The Son of God”
Luke tells us in the first chapter of his gospel that Gabriel was sent by God to the city of Nazareth, in Galilee. There he visited a woman named Mary. Mary was betrothed to a man named Joseph, but they had not yet begun to live as husband and wife. Gabriel said to Mary, “Hail, O favored one, the Lord is with you!” He said, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. Behold, you will conceive and bear a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus.” Gabriel went on to tell Mary, “He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give to Him the throne of His father David . . . .” This fits with what Matthew tells us about Jesus being the Son of David.
Gabriel said, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God.”
First, Gabriel says that this Son will be called “the Son of the Most High,” and then he says, “. . . the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God.”
“Will be called” is a first century Jewish expression which means more than we twenty-first century American Protestants might think it means. Raymond Brown is one of the leading authorities on the scriptures which relate to the birth of Jesus. His commentary on the first two chapters of Matthew and the first two chapters of Luke is nearly 600 pages long. I don’t know of any better authority to consult on the meaning of any part of the first chapter of Luke. I trust him completely when he says, “In this instance, ‘calling’ brings to expression what one is, so that it means no less than ‘he will be.’”
In Isaiah 9, there is a prophecy which is often read during the Advent season. Isaiah says:
The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light;
those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shined.
3 Thou hast multiplied the nation, thou hast increased its joy;
they rejoice before thee as with joy at the harvest,
as men rejoice when they divide the spoil.
4 For the yoke of his burden, and the staff for his shoulder,
the rod of his oppressor, thou hast broken as on the day of Mid′ian.
5 For every boot of the tramping warrior in battle tumult
and every garment rolled in blood will be burned as fuel for the fire.
6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given;
and the government will be upon his shoulder,
and his name will be called “Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”
Isaiah is prophesying the gift of a Son. And He is telling us Who this Son is. When Isaiah says that this son will be called “Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace,” he doesn’t just mean that some people will call this Son these things. He doesn’t just mean that some people will think that this Son is some or all of these things. No, Isaiah is saying that this son will be the Wonderful Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, and the Prince of Peace.
And in our reading from Luke, the angel Gabriel isn’t just saying that some people will call Jesus “the Son of the Most High” or “the Son of God.” No, what Gabriel is telling Mary is that her Son will be the Son of God.
When I was in college, my father served as a pastor in Webster Springs. He had a circuit of seven churches in Webster County. Dad followed Calvin McCutcheon there when Calvin came to Moorefield in 1976. At the time, there was a prominent man in Webster County known as Sheriff Given. He never served as sheriff of Webster County, or any other county. And his legal name was not Sheriff. When he died about twenty years ago, his lengthy obituary in the Buckhannon paper did not give his real name. The headline said “D.P. ‘Sheriff’ Given,” and thereafter, throughout the article, it simply called him Sheriff.
Sheriff was elected as a county commissioner, and he was elected to the West Virginia House of delegates several times, and he had a significant role in getting some important laws passed. But he never was elected sheriff, and he never served as a sheriff. He was just called sheriff. Why was he called sheriff? I don’t know. Margaret Pack, a lovely woman who belongs to our church in Moorefield, is from Webster County. She knew Mr. Given. I asked her about Mr. Given. She doesn’t know why he was called sheriff either.
Jesus is called Son of God many times in the scripture. In the book of Luke, the angel Gabriel calls Him the Son of God, and demons call Him the Son of God. And, at the baptism of Jesus, God says to Jesus, “Thou art my beloved Son; with thee I am well pleased.”
Mark introduces Jesus as the Son of God in the very first verse of His gospel. And Mark tells us that both at the baptism of Jesus and at His Transfiguration God spoke of Jesus as “my beloved Son . . . .” Twice in Mark, demons confess Jesus to be the Son of God. And then, Mark tells us that after Jesus dies on the cross, a Roman army officer declares, “Truly, this man was the Son of God.”
In the gospel of Matthew, Jesus is called the Son of God by demons, and by His disciples, and by the same Roman military officer who is mentioned by Mark. Twice in Matthew, God the Father says, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”
In the first chapter of John, Jesus is called the Son of God by John the Baptist and by the apostle Nathaniel. In John 3, Jesus says, “. . . God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” And then He goes on to say, “Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.”
Jesus calls Himself the Son of God again in chapter 5, and again in chapter 11. And Martha says to Jesus, “. . . I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God . . . .”
In chapter 20 of his gospel, after telling us about the resurrection of Jesus, John says, “Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name.” Our AWANA children recently learned a song based on this passage.
In Acts 9, St. Paul preaches about Jesus, declaring that He is the Son of God. And Paul calls Jesus the Son of God in four of his epistles: Romans, 2 Corinthians, Galatians, and Ephesians.
Jesus is also called the Son of God four times in Hebrews and seven times in 1 John. 1 John 4:15 says, “Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.”
1 John 5:5 says, “Who is it that overcomes the world but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?” And 1 John 5:12 says, “He who has the Son has life; he who has not the Son of God has not life.”
And the book of Revelation also tells us that Jesus is the Son of God. Altogether, we can find at least three dozen passages in at least a dozen books of the New Testament which affirm that Jesus is the Son of God.
But He isn’t like Sheriff Given of Webster Springs, who was only called Sheriff. Jesus isn’t just called the Son of God. He is the Son of God.
Very early in the life of the Church, believers expressed what they believed about Jesus in a very simple creed. This creed said, “Jesus, Christ, Son of God, Savior.” The Greek letters with which these words started spelled out Ichthus, the Greek word for fish. And that is why the fish was an early Christian symbol for Jesus. So, not only are we able to find three dozen passages in a dozen different books of the New Testament which tell us that Jesus is the Son of God, but we also have evidence from the history of the Church that in the early days of the Church this was what Christians believed and affirmed.
But what does it mean that Jesus is The Son of God?
Let’s start with what it does not mean. First, let’s understand that we are not talking about biology here. The Romans believed that their gods had had sexual relations with human women, and had children by them. Such a notion would be absolutely repugnant to those of the Hebrew faith. When Jesus speaks of being the Son of God, He is not talking about biology. He is not talking about sex between God and a human woman.
I believe in what the Nicene Creed says. That no longer seems to be fashionable in many of the pulpits in our land, but I do indeed
. . . believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God,
eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, Light from Light,
true God from true God, begotten, not made, of one Being with the Father . . . .
And, yet this creed may be answering questions which most ordinary Christians, and most of our neighbors, are not even asking. Perhaps, when we answer the question as to what it means that Jesus is the Son of God we should come up with a practical, down-to-earth answer which will help people to live out their calling to follow Jesus.
In practical terms, to be the Son of God means to be one with God. It means to have a deep, loving, spiritual relationship with God. And it means to be obedient to God.
In every one of the gospels we can see this kind of a relationship between the Father and the Son. One of the best indications of this kind of relationship is the way that Jesus addresses the Father in the Garden of Gethsemane.
Mark tells us in the fourteenth chapter of his gospel that when Jesus prayed He said, “Abba, Father, all things are possible to thee; remove this cup from me; yet not what I will, but what thou wilt.”
The term abba is a very intimate term for father. Some even translate this word as Daddy. Jesus clearly Has a close and loving relationship with the Father.
I looked through our hymnal to find Christmas hymns which proclaim that Jesus is the Son of God. I was surprised that there are only a few which do. One well-known Christmas hymn which does proclaim that Jesus is the Son of God is “Silent Night, Holy Night.” The third stanza says,
Silent night, holy night, Son of God, love’s pure light;
Radiant beams from Thy holy face with the dawn of redeeming grace,
Jesus, Lord, at Thy birth, Jesus, Lord, at Thy birth.
This morning at Duffey Memorial we will be singing “O Come, All Ye Faithful.” Many people are familiar with the first stanza of this hymn. I like the first stanza. But there is another stanza that I like even better, and it is one which most people don’t know. In the hymnal which we have at Duffey Memorial, it is the second stanza. It appears to have been inspired by the book of John, and by the Nicene Creed. It says,
True God of true God, Light from Light Eternal,
Lo, he shuns not the Virgin’s womb;
Son of the Father, begotten, not created,
O come, let us adore Him, O come, let us adore Him,
O come, let us adore Him, Christ the Lord.
Jesus is the Son of God. He is true God of true God. He is Light from Light Eternal. He has all the power that the Father has, and all the authority that the Father has.
Because He is the Son of God, He can atone for our sins. And Because He is the Son of God He is the only perfect example for us.
Does it matter whether we believe that Jesus is indeed the Son of God? The bible says that it does. In 1 John 5, we read, “He who has the Son has life; he who has not the Son of God has not life. I write this to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life.
PRAYER
Father, as we prepare to celebrate the birth of Your only begotten Son, the scriptures remind us of many reasons for us to give thanks. We thank You for this Son Who came into this world, bringing with Him the same Love that You have, the same power that You have, and the same grace that You have. We pray that You would open our hearts, that we might receive Him and trust Him fully, and guide our feet, that we might follow Him faithfully in all our days on this earth. These things we ask in the name of Jesus, Your Son, the Holy Child, our mighty Savior. Amen.
BENEDICTION 2 John 1:3 NRSV
“Grace, mercy, and peace will be with us from God the Father and from Jesus Christ, the Father’s Son, in truth and love.” Amen.