Sunday, December 21, 2025
Fourth Sunday in Advent (Advent 4A)
Text: Romans 1:1–7
Sermon Audio
As we gather… As we prepare for Christmas, we probably have travel plans, gifts, and meal preparation on our minds. As we examine our appointed Epistle lesson for today, Paul wants to re-focus us on something more important than any of those things. In the beginning of his letter to the Church in Rome, he describes the two natures of Christ. He is the Son of David according to the flesh, and the Son of God by the power of the Spirit. Because Jesus became human in the womb of the Virgin Mary. He can take our place. Because He is the Son of God, He is divine, and can take on our sins and sorrows and give us eternal life. This Christmas promise is greater than any holiday plans we may have!
Christmas is so close we can almost taste it, only four days away. With our Christmas decorations set up in our church and in our houses, I want to take these last moments before Christmas to zoom in on the baby in the manger, to scratch beneath the surface to ponder what’s going on inside.
Our reading is from Romans 1 which seems like an unlikely reading for the Fourth Sunday in Advent. However, we’ll see how it connects to the deeper mystery of the incarnation, namely, that God became man in the person of Jesus Christ. Today we learn: JESUS, FULLY GOD, BECAME FULLY MAN FOR ALL MANKIND.
First, I. Jesus, fully God, became fully man for the prophets of old. First, let’s unpack what I’m talking about. We read that the prophets spoke, “concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh” We learn that Jesus was descended from David according to the flesh.
That means that Jesus is 100% human. As a human, he has an earthly mother like you do. As a human, he has ancestors and can trace His ancestry all the way back to King David. As a human, the little baby in the manger could feel pain, He got hungry, and He suckled at His mother’s breast. As a human, He was tempted yet did not give into sin. As a human, He died. Jesus, being descended from King David, is fully man.
We also read Jesus “…was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord,” This means that Jesus is 100% God. Jesus is the Son of God, the second person of the Trinity. As God, He has the power to do miracles. As God, He has the power to forgive sins. As God, He is able to pay for the sins of the whole world. As God, He acts as the mediator between us and the Father. Indeed, as Isaiah inspired by the Holy Spirit writes, Jesus is Immanuel, God with Us.
Our text from Romans begins, “Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures,” Jesus Christ came to save the people of the Old Testament.
It all began with the prophecy in the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve had disobeyed God and introduced sin and death into the world. Yet the Lord gives this promise to them. God speaks to the serpent saying: “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.””
This offspring of Eve would be fully human. As a human, He would walk this earth and interact with His people. He would be the prophet like Moses to speak God’s Words. He would be the sign, Immanuel, God with us, who is not only 100% human, but also 100% God.
Jesus’ incarnation fulfills the promises that God made to His people never to leave them. God walked in the Garden of Eden with Adam and Eve. God talked to Moses as a man speaks to his friend. God dwelt in the midst of the people in the Tabernacle and later in the Temple. Indeed, John writes, “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” The prophets of old would have loved to see God in the flesh, and indeed the Son of God, the second person of the trinity, became man for them.
All of God’s people sinned and fell short of the glory of God. Even the best prophets failed perfectly to follow the Lord. Moses murdered a man. Isaiah lamented that he was a man of unclean lips and lived in the midst of the people of unclean lips. Jeremiah shouted that God tricked him into serving as a prophet, and that being a prophet was no fun at all. Jonah fled in a boat in the opposite direction of where the Lord was calling Him to go.
Yet Jesus became human to be faithful Israel even when Israel was faithless. He was the faithful prophet when other prophets fled or rebelled. He was the perfect sacrifice for sins when bulls, goats, and other livestock simply wouldn’t cut it.
Moving on to our second point, II. Jesus, fully God, became fully man for your grace and apostleship. Paul mentions that it is through Jesus Christ our Lord “…we have received grace and apostleship.” First of all, Paul is talking about himself.
Paul received grace, that is, undeserved favor and mercy from Christ. When he was a Jew, he persecuted Christians. He sought to find favor with God apart from following Jesus. Yet Jesus, both God and man, intervened and talked to Paul on the road to Damascus, blinding him and calling him to turn from his evil ways.
After the Holy Spirit brought Paul to faith, Paul received a calling as an apostle. To be an apostle is to be a sent one to proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ. And Paul went. He logged many miles traveling all across the Mediterranean preaching this Good news of Jesus. Paul was an apostle in a special way in that he received a call directly from Jesus.
But Jesus, this little baby born in a manger, is fully God and fully man for your grace. As you approach Christmas, you will inevitably sin between now and next Sunday. You might lose patience with your family. You might worry rather than trust in God. You might drink too much. There’s no shortage of ways that the week ahead is filled with occasions to fall short of God’s glory.
Today, you need to know that God became man in the person of Jesus Christ for your grace. God in the person of Jesus Christ was born of the Virgin Mary so that He as a human could live the perfect life when you couldn’t. He was the perfect son. He never worried but trusted His Heavenly Father to care for Him. He never drank too much. He became fully human so He could fully take your place when you fall short.
What’s more, fully human, He took your sins, not just the ones you will commit next week, but He took your sins of the past, present, and future to the cross. And He carried those God sized sins on His human shoulders and those sins died with Him. He rose again to proclaim that all that is left is God’s mercy, grace, and peace for you.
But Jesus being fully God also means that we have the strength of the Lord Almighty in our midst. Jesus is indeed God with us, Immanuel. This means that the future is not uncertain to Him. He walks alongside you. You leave this place empowered in the week ahead. We read Paul’s letter to Titus, “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age,” The grace of God trains us and enables us to overcome sin.
Which brings us to our last point: III. Jesus, fully God, became fully man to bring about your obedience of faith for your neighbor. Paul continues with Romans 1, verse 5 that we have received grace and apostleship “…to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations,”
Certainly, we in the Lutheran Church emphasize the message of Christ’s forgiveness. That is a great thing! However, sometimes the message comes across as, “Don’t mess up too much, see you next week.” We can be overly obsessed with minimizing sinning. We get so occupied with damage control that we don’t see room to build.
But we have received grace and apostleship to follow Jesus who is fully God and fully Man. The week ahead is filled with opportunities to share with others the joy of Christ’s birth with your family and friends. Some of these people you only see once or twice a year. This is a great opportunity to shine the light of the Christ child upon others!
Say a prayer before the family meal. Don’t say, “I can’t go to church because my family’s in town.” Say, “Hey everyone, I’m going to church, do you want to come with me?” The ones that choose to stay home are going to be fine without you. Sing a Christmas hymn.
What’s more, Jesus has got this. Jesus, fully God and fully Man, goes with you in the week ahead. He sends His Holy Spirit upon you to make you Holy and witness to others through your words and actions. You have something to give. You have the love of God to share with others. You have the light of the Christ child. The nations need to know, and the nations start at the friends and family that you’ll see between now and the New Year. What a great opportunity!