This sermon series has reminded us that the birth of Jesus Christ was more than a gift or a promise fulfilled. It was also a covenant fulfilled. However, this covenant was challenged and nearly broken by our own sin. It is only out of God's grace that he sent Jesus Christ to intervene and to fulfill the covenant on our behalf despite our perpetual failure…

Last week's sermon looked at the birth of Jesus Christ as the fulfillment of a covenant (rather than as a gift or a promise). In this way, we saw that there was some kind of a requirement associated with the Christmas covenant. The lingering question has been: were we (or Israel) able to keep our end of the covenant?

One of the overlooked aspects of Christmas is that the birth of Jesus Christ is not only a gift or a promise, but part of God's covenant with us. What is the difference between a gift or promise and a covenant? There are at least a few, but for the purposes of this sermon series, we will focus on one. A promise is something that is freely given with no sense of obligation from the recipient. A covenant, however, is something that implies some kind of an agreement or obligation; with a covenant, there is an associated cost. When we reduce Christmas to merely a promise, we overlook the cost. As a result, we can cheapen the value of the birth of Jesus Christ…