As we turn toward Christmas and the Lord’s Table, I invited us to slow down and receive the gift of Christ with fresh gratitude. I told the story behind Silent Night—how a broken organ, a simple poem by a young priest, and a friend with a guitar became a midnight song that circled the globe and even hushed the guns of war for a few days. I was drawn to that fourth stanza: “Radiant beams from Thy holy face, with the dawn of redeeming grace.” Christmas marks the dawn—God’s decisive move to save. The manger sets the cross in motion. The birth of Jesus is God’s permanent answer for peace with Him.
We turned to Romans for the larger story. Paul’s theme is clear: the gospel is God’s power to save, not our power to impress. For two and a half chapters he levels the field—there is none righteous, not even one. That darkness prepares us for two glorious words in Romans 3:21: “But now.” God has manifested a righteousness apart from the law, long witnessed by the Law and the Prophets. This righteousness isn’t earned; it’s received by faith in Jesus. Faith isn’t the contribution; Christ is the object. Faith simply receives what God gives.
“All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” and all who believe are “justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.” At the cross, God publicly displayed His Son as the propitiation—wrath fully satisfied without God ceasing to be just. The Judge remains righteous, and because of Jesus’ blood, He declares the guilty righteous. That’s why self-justification must die. On Judgment Day the question will not be, “How did you do?” but, “What did you do with My Son?”
So, we come to the Table remembering that Jesus always gives the better gift—His body and blood for sinners, His resurrection as the Father’s “Amen.” If you are in Christ, the Father sees you clothed in His righteousness. Saints, not strivers. Beloved, not barely tolerated. That is redeeming grace—dawning in a manger, blazing at the cross, and still warming our hearts today.
